"If you don't know Leeds, you don't know rock n roll"; Black Box Recorder return to the city after viral hit

When Billie Eilish shared the 1998 track ‘Child Psychology’ with her millions of followers recently, perhaps in many ways she knew (or hoped) it would reignite a fire for one of British indie’s most sophisticated, cynical, and "culty" bands: Black Box Recorder.

“I think it’s great that a song we wrote almost 30 years ago has been discovered en masse by a young generation,” reveals Luke Haines of the group. “The kids are cooler than their old folks, who were too square to get it.

“It's great that now the actual kids have spoken - and they are listening to what they want to without the intervention of gatekeepers.”

Those gatekeepers at one point included how the track had been handled in the United States, with rumours that the song was banned from media outlets.

Luke wasn’t sure if “it was officially banned” or if “it just was never played because of the incorrectly perceived message of the chorus.”

“In the US,” he reflects, “MTV reversed the chorus.”

But the renewed interest in the band through the viral hit has led to the group emerging from a 17-year 'sleep' to perform a huge show in London in late May, but to warm up, the band is performing at another hallowed venue, the Brudenell Social Club here in the city on May 19.

As for whether he hopes these new fans will move beyond the viral hits to explore the rest of the band's discography with intentionality (rather than just following a streaming algorithm), Luke's attitude is one of classic indifference.

“I don’t know how people are listening or arriving at the music they listen to,” he admits. “I don’t care, I have no control over these matters, so it doesn’t concern me.

“It would be like trying to control the weather”

A Rite of Passage

Reflecting on the city’s musical heritage, Luke considers performing in Leeds a necessity for any alternative band, citing local legends like Gang of Four and The Mekons, as well as The Who’s famous live recordings.

For him, the choice of the Brudenell Social Club was an easy one, having performed at the venue six or seven times throughout his career.

“It’s a great sounding room, always a nice audience and they do great pies in the club room next door, and there’s a great Indian takeaway just round the corner," Haines says. "What else do you need?”

His history with the city goes back to his first performance in 1987 at what was then Leeds Poly, where at age 19, he supported The Go-Betweens with his first band, The Servants.

As Haines puts it: “If you don’t know Leeds, you don’t know rock n roll”.

Looking back at the musical landscape of 1998 compared to today, Haines describes the era of Black Box Recorder’s debut as "not so much another country but another universe".

While he remains indifferent to the algorithms of the modern age, he acknowledges that the path for new artists has become significantly more difficult.

“The pros back then would be that you could get a band together, and if you were good enough, someone (a record company) would give you enough money to record an album, AND go on tour, and if you were really lucky, you wouldn’t need to get a job," he reflects.

"Now, if you’re a bunch of young chancers, I don’t know how you’d get anything going. The only thing I would say is that the good will often out”.

"Disciplining the children"

Despite the long hiatus, Haines is adamant that this return to the city is about "vindication, redemption and celebration" rather than a simple exercise in nostalgia.

For the band, stepping back onto the stage is a way to reclaim their legacy.

“The reason we wanted to do these shows was to feel like we could ‘own’ the songs again," he explains.

“While we’d been sleeping, our children (the songs) had gone out into the world and made a name for themselves, we thought we should come and give them some discipline before making their way out into the world again”.

As the "children" return to Leeds to receive their long-awaited discipline on stage, Haines will likely be heading for that Indian takeaway just around the corner.

After all, when you have rock n' roll, a "great sounding room," and a legendary pie, what else do you really need?

Black Box Recorder will be performing at the Brudenell Social Club on May 19 with support from To The Lighthouse. Tickets are on sale now through See Tickets.