Bright Light Bright Light has been touring across the UK with renowned pop-band Erasure, and on the 12th of February he hit Nottingham.
This is not Rod Thomas’ (the singer’s real name) first time opening shows and working with big acts though – in fact, he is pretty accustomed to a bit of star power. We sat down with him to find out about his thoughts on Nottingham, his creative process, and why a bagel can be the best thing ever…
You’re on tour with Erasure! How has this been going?
Great! They’re my favourite band so I get to open for them, which is pretty cool. The shows have been great, it’s all been pretty fantastic. The crowds have been really varied and hilarious, and really up for it. And yeah, get to play songs for people that don’t know us yet.
What’s been your favourite part so far?
The shows, really. When you’re on tour you don’t get chance to take anything else in, and there’s a lot of time on the motorway and sitting around in dressing rooms and stuff. So when you do actually get to go on stage it’s pretty magic. It’s really nice, and their team that are helping us out are just wonderful. It sounds really good on stage and feels really good as well, so kicking off a cold January/February with shows is great.
Is this your first time in Nottingham?
No, we played at Rock City with Ellie Goulding in 2010, and I’ve played with Elton John in 2014. Plus I played a little show at Lee Rosy’s tea room a long time ago.
What do you think of it in general?
I really don’t know it well enough, the problem is when we come here we literally come for the show and then leave again, so you don’t see very much. I found a great record shop today though, and it’s very pretty, plus driving in through the countryside is just gorgeous.
Your name was inspired by a quote from 80s horror film The Gremlins – what made you choose this?
I honestly don’t know! I do love the film a lot, and I was trying to think of some kind of Monica, that popped into my head straight away and I don’t know why, but I couldn’t think of anything better.
Your most recent album Choregraphy was inspired by dance sequences from your favourite films – what was the process of producing this?
I really watched a lot of films for inspiration, and I wanted to channel the energy and joy you get from watching those kinds of sequences, so I wanted to create an album that was great to listen to and great to perform on stage, because I was planning on touring again a lot.
You’ve done collaborations with big names like Elton John and the Scissor Sisters – what do you enjoy learning when working with these sorts of artists?
Perspective – they’ve all got a really different take on the music process, the music industry in general, they’ve all got different influences… Our ages stagger so much, they teach me about songs I didn’t know about, and the process of starting to write a song is very different a lot of the time. Not many of them wrote the songs with me, but I did also write a song with Babydaddy from the Scissor Sisters, and his world is very different to mine. So that was a cool melting pot, and I get to use a different side of my brain working with somebody else. Their personalities and energy bring a lot to the mix, and that’s really fun. Getting to have a laugh whilst making music with people is really good.
On the side, you run a daytime dance party called Romy & Michele’s Saturday Afternoon Tea Dance – can you tell me more about this?
Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion is a film that I based it on. It’s just a stupid name really from a film I love, but the idea is that I just play music that you can’t always get on a dance floor at night because it’s not necessarily high energy enough. I play girl group stuff, songs from movie soundtracks, B-side, remixes. Songs that you don’t know and that you do know, so people can learn about artists they’ve not heard of before, so it’s a nice way for people to mingle with people that they wouldn’t come across. I make playlists so people can go and dig their own record crates out, and inspire people to give a shit about music again. It’s hard because with Spotify and such, people forget to actually search for music again as they’re just passively given stuff on a playlist, so I’m trying to get people to think a bit more about what they’re listening to again.
If you were to describe yourself as a kind of sweet, what would it be?
It would be a… Oooh, a custard cream! Is that sweet or a biscuit?
Well, it’s a sweet thing to be fair!
It’s not the one that you’d necessarily think of, but when you do have it you love it.
If you were trapped on a desert island, what 3 things would you take with you?
It’s hard because some things that I’d take require another thing, like a record player or a record. I would take an instrument, either my saxophone or piano,. It depends on how I’d get to the island as well… Oh my god I don’t know the three things… I’d also take an umbrella, and a pillow. It does help a lot!
If you were about to have your last meal, what would it be?
It’s so random if you don’t live in New York but a bagel, with turkey, swiss inside, so like a juicy bagel sandwich. It’s so amazing, it sounds so boring, but if you have it and it’s done right it’s the best thing in the world.
Would you have a drink with that?
A gin and tonic!
What are your plans for the future as an artist?
Same thing I do every year – write a new album, tour it, write a new album, tour it. I’ll be doing that until I keel over probably. I really like making music and doing that whilst working with lots of people, so lots of collaborations. Last year I did music for a TV series, so I want to do more work with composition rather than just pop.
Read our review of the show here, and check out the playlist below for a taste of his music so far:
By Eve Smallman