Bodega Interview

We took a pew with Nikki Belfiglio and Ben Hozie of Bodega in Norfolk’s finest reclaimed church – the Norwich Arts Centre. I’d suggest reading on for truly enthralling conversation on endemic consumerism, and rock fascism; Parquet Courts even get an astute mention. Look, I feel as though if you’ve got this far… stride onwards. I get some of you literally can’t help yourself and have already considered hopping back on Instagram to endlessly scroll. In fact, this piece is probably in your interest. Bodega can help you. For god’s sake, I can help you. Rest and relax…

In the song ‘bookmarks’, and throughout the album, you critique the ‘digital age’. Do you ever feel disheartened when people film on their phones at gigs? Or is the irony funny? 

Ben: Ummm no I don’t because people are gunna do it anyway and y’know I’m very against ‘rock fascism’ – and what I mean by that is when someone tells some what to do from a stage. I really hate it. Y’know that could be something as simple as “alright everybody put your hands up”

Nikki: You’ve gotta lead by example. It’s kinda obnoxious when a band stops the show to try to take power back in some weird way. Like Jack Black screaming that whole like…

Ben: It’s Jack White… Jack Black is the comedian. 

Well Jack White famously advocates the ‘Yondr bag’, you put your phone in a small compartment and it locks for the entirety of the show. What do you think of that? 

Nikki: I think I understand… He’s interested in this purist attitude… you can tell that in his music in some ways, like in his blues / rock obsession.

Ben: No I just would never ever wanna do that, because imagine if someone’s just at the show looking up the song lyric, or just messaging a friend like ‘can you bring me a beer’ or maybe something really bad happened in their family and they want to keep in touch… It’s up to the people listening to enjoy a show however they want to…

Nikki: And by the end if we’re playing good then no one’s filming it! Ben: And if they are, it’s free videos for us, which is cool.

Nikki: The (Grateful) Dead always encouraged free recording of their music which is why there’s so many bootlegs of their albums. I think that’s partly one of the reasons why they started their cult status – because people were able to listen to their music without going to a show first.

Ben, I read somewhere that you think the digital age thing will naturally run its course. Could you elaborate? 

Ben: Yeah it’s gunna go through different phases. We’re in this weird phase… I guess people call it the web 2.0 where it’s user generated content now. So everything is about the individual now. Every person is curating their personality to be kind of like a minor celebrity in a weird way. I feel like that’s gunna get old sooner or later. I’m not entirely sure what web 3.0 is going to be. Hopefully it will be more like the earlier days of the internet…

Nikki: Also in a cultural way, y’know melenials, they’re later to have babies than other generations, like maybe when they start having babies in 20 years from now the kids will see their parents on social media and will rebel against them being like ‘I’m not having any social media, that’s what my parents did’… you know that kind of thing?

In a similar sense to the Yondr bags, do you ever think there’ll be government intervention of mobile phones to prevent the ‘dumming down’ of people? 

Ben: What I do think will happen is we won’t have phones anymore. They’ll be totally integrated, we’ll become androids essentially. The phones will be like in your wrist or… you’re laughing but the technology is already there. …and when you pay for stuff you’ll just use your finger print or whatever… there’s already stuff like that. When we’re having this conversation now there’ll be ads to the side like looking at Nikki ‘-as brought to you by burger king’ or whatever…

That’s quite a scary thought. Black Mirroresque. 

Ben: I think people will accept it though because people want access to all their conveniences. They’ll put up with it just like how we put up with it now. 

Nikki: I think that’s like the worst possible way the future could unfold in some ways… it could be classier… I don’t think the ads would be just popping up like ‘brought to you by burger king’ or something…

Ben: Well that’s exactly what’s happening on your screen. Our screens are so integrated into our field of vision that they’re not separate from everything else.

Nikki: It’s so integrated into the capital culture, hopefully we’ll grow and learn that the way that ads work is that they are actually causing mental health issues and stress. They’re manipulating right? They go into your subconscious and tell you to buy things you don’t need to buy. And, I’m hoping at some point we will realize this and the government will put a ban on ads… 

Ben: I just think at the end of the day; people just do love being consumers. There’s not a person in the western world, even the biggest anarchist, that doesn’t just deep-down love the state of consuming. It’s just like having a warm blanket – it’s comforting and cosy. 

What do you think of the venue? 

Ben: Well it’s really beautiful. Just first impressions. We were playing in libraries earlier this week where it’s so bright… I think rock music in particular just feels better when it’s dark – when you have some sensory deprivation or something… 

Nikki: I think the Norwich Arts Centre is really cool because they really strive to work on their plastic intake…they’re giving us water bottles to take with us on the road because they wanna make an impact in that way – for bands to not use so many water bottles… they’re also trying to cut their CO2 emissions… it just got funding for it, I think that’s really progressive for a music venue. 

I’ve got down here that Austin Brown of Parquet Courts recorded your new album? – that’s so cool. How was the experience?

Ben: Yeah. It was great. I mean, we’re obviously big fans of Parquet Courts so it was cool just to hang out with him. We’ve become quite close friends. 

I read somewhere that he didn’t know he’d be recording the whole album, and you kind of tricked him into it?  

Ben: well he just said ‘I’d like to help you guys out and record a few songs…’ I think he meant like 3 or 4, and we showed up with 17 or 18. 

Nikki: 17, I think. 

Do you feel Bodega and Parquet Courts’ sound have intertwined since working working with Austin?  

Ben: Umm I don’t know, I mean we’ve been around each other, I guess… Honestly I doubt it though. I think the truer answer is: we’re both drawing on similar things from the past. For example, there’s one song called “I’m not a cinephile” that I wrote in the style of Parquet Courts, before I met them, and I talked to both Andrew and Austen, cause it’s almost the same chord-idea as their song light up gold, I was like ‘have you guys noticed that I do the light up gold thing?’ …they were like ‘oh well we were just doing the Wire thing’… and I was like ohh, so I’m doing Parquet Courts doing Wire… And I’m sure Wire was just like ‘oh we were just doing… Velvet Underground...’  

People also draw comparisons to: DEVO, ESG and LCD Soundsystem. How do you find that?

Ben: It doesn’t bother me ‘cause they’re all great bands so… And I Understand that’s how the music fan brain works; I compare stuff to stuff all the time. But a lot of those bands, I don’t think we have many things, spiritually, in common with, but I think there are similarities. A big challenge for us now that we’re writing new stuff is to evolve in a way that will allow us to become more and more our own thing… I want to defy people’s expectations, so they can’t just be like… I hate it when people use the word ‘post-punk’, for example. I mean obviously we draw from the post-punk vocabulary, and we did so very self-consciously, but post-punk was a very specific historical moment - of like 4 years, literally happening after punk, and I think a lot of the things that we’re responding to now is the 25 years that have happened in between. 

Favourite British bands?  

Nikki: Electrelane. No one knows them. They were from Brighton and had an album in 2004 called The Power Out which is just one of the greatest British albums ever made because… It’s all women, that’s not what makes it great, but like it just has a certain sensibility that I find interesting, that I kind of just really enjoy. 

My favourite British band would probably be The Fall. Well they’re not so much a band… although I do think there were bands. There were like 4 definitive Fall line ups. My favourite might be: Mark Riley, Steve Hanley, Karl Burns, and Mark…

Last but not least… Slider or the Goose? 

Ben: A slider or a goose…? 

Yeah. 

Nikki: I’ll be a slider, he’s definitely a goose. 

I have some beers for you, as promised, homebrews. 

Nikki: What! You put ‘BOGEGA’!?

Ben: … ‘meets Slider and the goose!’ (laughs) 

Nikki: Okay this is the best blog ever!

Ben: I don’t even want drink it just because it’s so beautiful

And there we have it folks. Their words… not mine, although I’d be inclined to agree. Art-punk rockers have been officially inducted to the Slider and the Goose wall of interview fame. Right up there by themselves. I guess that’s what true punk is all about right? … right?

Slider & the Goose