Toothless

Your debut solo album, The Pace Of Passing, is out on Friday – how would you describe it in three words? Alright, alright, alright.

Where did the name Toothless originate from and how do you feel it relates to you? There was a drawing I saw years ago that pictured a tiger biting a boys head off with a caption that read, “even toothless she can still bite off a boys head”. I really liked the idea of something being underestimated… People don’t really expect the bass player from a band to go and do something by themselves.

How did you find the recording process differed from being in a band to going solo? Its different in most ways. With this record I wrote and recorded everything at home by myself, I would then take the tracks into Jack’s studio to rerecord the vocals and drums and change the sounds that weren’t working. With Bombay I was mainly playing the bass and normally in a big established studio.

In both The Sirens and Sisyphus there are a lot of references to clinging on to something that seems to be getting away. If you ended up with the choice of only one album to hang on to for the rest of your life, what would it be? I know this is cheesy but it would probably be this Toothless album. It’s my baby. I was involved in everything from the artwork to production. I don’t have the same connection to any other record.

When the first 10 years of Bombay Bicycle Club culminated at Earls Court in 2014 you performed a duet with David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, how did this materialise and how was this experience? The show we played at Earls Court was the last one ever there, literally the next day they started turning it into flats. Pink Floyd was the first ever gig at Earls Court in 1978 so it seemed like a fitting send off for the venue to play a Pink Floyd song with David Gilmour. To be honest i don’t remember a whole lot about it, probably because of nerves… or perhaps the afterparty…

Is there one specific moment in your career so far that you feel stands out? Playing the first headline show with Toothless at the Moth Club in London was a real moment for me. I’ve played in bands for years and have played shows that are far bigger but the feeling wasn’t the same. It was amazing to have done something by all by myself for once.

It’s your dream festival and you get to book the three headliners, who would you choose and why? They can be dead or alive. Dead or alive, Elvis, Keith Richards. I would call it Dead Or Alive Festival.

Finally, what does the future hold for Toothless? Have you started thinking about album number two or will it be time for Bombay again? Yeah I’ve already started writing the next Toothless record, I’ve got about four songs so far and I am planning on finishing it within the year. There are no plans to do Bombay for the foreseeable future! This is my main focus now.