British Sea Power
Interview Cameron Cook
Photography Jinjoo Hwang
I just bought a fetching little coffee mug at the the Music Hall of Williamsburg’s merch table that reads “BRITISH TEA POWER”. There are also shirts emblazoned with the words “HERON ADDICT” (insert image of waterfowl here) and “ARE YOU READY FOR VALHALLA?”. British Sea Power’s merch makes me feel like their music makes me feel: stoked and slightly bemused. With monikers like Noble, Yan and Wood, British Sea Power have always lived their aesthetic to the fullest, which tonight includes band members in corduroy britches tucked into their wool socks. More Alpine ski lodge than Music Hall of Williamsburg, you may think, but the crowd are lapping it up – and might we add, it’s been some time since I’ve been in an audience quite that committed to drunken fandom. Remember that girl with the huge Man United bicep tattoo (even though she as clearly from Connecticut or something) who used to be up front and center at every Britpop show circa 2004? That was basically the vibe.
Not that I’m complaining. It’s hard to keep the hairs on the back of your neck still when BSP launch into a loud-as-fuck version of “Who’s In Control?”, the scorching album opener from their new, quasi-flawless album Valhalla Dancehall (Rough Trade, 2011). In the years since their fêted debut release The Decline of British Sea Power (Rough Trade), all the way back in 2003, BSP have deftly mutated from woodland weirdos to the premiere purveyors of anthemic British rock, the anti-Kasabian, a band whose musical heft can be measured by how many grown men are yelling every lyric in unison while their eyes twinkle with nostalgia (which judging by this show, is quite a few). Keeping in line with Valhalla, the band then launch into “We Are Sound”, and its steamboat chug-a-lug propels the rest of the set dutifully onwards. Even if the band neglect to trot out oldie fan favorites like “Remember Me”, the emotional peak of the performance is brought on by “Waving Flags” lead single from British Sea Power’s Mercury Prize-nominated 2009 album Do You Like Rock Music? (Rough Trade), and I swore I actually saw people start holding hands a swaying, in a non-ironic fashion! In Williamsburg! That is the true strength of British Sea Power, and why the have survived so long as a band with no real competition: leave your hipster stylings behind, grab a taxidermied fox or something, breathe in the guitars and let loose your inner punk rock tree-hugger.
