Blood Sport (human) drummer Sam Parkin talks about Sheffield, metronomes and Brian Eno

If you haven't heard about them yet, you probably will soon. Nick, Sam and Alex are Blood Sport, one of the most exciting acts to come out of the Sheffield music scene. They've come a long way since their first cassette in 2011, polishing their sound with every new release. Their recent LP, Life in Units is a polymorphous blend of contagious, rhythmic complexity.

by Roxana Soica / 22 Apr 2015

Pictured above: Nick (vocals &baritone guitar), Sam (drums &percussion)
and Alex (guitar &drum machine)

They've been very busy lately, playing a number of shows around Sheffield, including one with Vision Fortune at The Lughole. Some lucky Londoners have also had the chance to see them live at Café Oto, one of the coolest music venues in the metropolis. They have also played here, at CADS, several times, sometimes DJing and other times as a band.

All of them have been involved with CADS in some form or another, doing various things and being part of the hub of activity that CADS is in the Sheffield art scene.  But why do music in Sheff?

There’s a strong DIY culture associated with Sheffield that CADS embodies and lots of other organisations around the city do as well. Even though it’s a big city, the cultural scene is quite small and everyone pretty much knows each other. It’s pretty easy to meet like-minded people, feel included and practice cheaply. And the city has such strong music history... It pretty much ticks all the boxes; it’s like a breeding ground.

Listening to an album that's as daring and innovative as Life in Units, I couldn't help but wonder where their sound comes from and what sort of music the guys listen to. It turns out that Sam and Nick bonded over one of the most interesting albums of the '80s: David Byrne (Talking Heads) and Brian Eno's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, now regarded as a high point in both musicians' discographies.

Alex was a big fan of the album too. It’s a fusion album where all of these different genres are pulled together to create something that sounds really unique. It’s all made of sampling and it was released at a time when that was a new medium. More recently we've explored this whole era of music in post-punk in the late '70s/early '80s. There were some experimental bands like Cabaret Voltaire and Clock DVA who used synths and drum machines as well as live instruments in really innovative ways and which proved to be very inspiring for musicians at the time.

Life in Units artwork by Nick Potter

All of the guys are pretty involved in the city's art and music community, but there's one space in particular that they are fond of.

The Audacious Art Experiment is our spiritual home. It’s where we practised for about two years and released our first EP on the label, too. Luke came to one of our gigs and reached out to us when we were really young as a band. We've since been involved in the Audacious space, we've played there a lot of times, we've run shows and Nick and Alex are still involved in running some of the nights and the label.

They're all 'soft southerners', as Sam jokingly tells me, yet the North has embraced them and they, it. Having met in Sheffield while at university, Sam and Nick started jamming in the summer of 2010, while Alex got involved later that year. The fourth member of the band, I would suggest, is the drum machine, an element that has become an essential part of their sound. They only adopted it recently and, by all accounts, they seem to be getting on pretty well with it.

At first it was a bit of a shock to the system, especially in terms of how you can play creatively with a drum machine. It sort of felt like playing to a metronome which was a bit constraining. We've worked out a 'system' where Alex, playing the drum machine, responds to what I’m playing and then I respond to that. We start with minimal counterpoints and gradually build it up. It’s something we've had to learn how to creatively utilise but we all really enjoy it now. And it features centrally in the new material.

The new material?!

We’re writing more new material and we've got a new EP coming out on Blast First Petite  this year, which we're trying to make a bit of a break from Life in Units with, as it’s the first material featuring the drum machine. This new EP will show the music we've been writing and playing over the last year. It’s more relentless, but also darker, in a way – I guess you’ll have to find out!

Blood Sport are going on tour from April 24. Check out their Facebook page to find out about dates around the country and be ready for a record release show in Sheffield after the tour, sometime in May.

To buy and listen to their music, check out their Bandcamp site. For more awesome artwork by Nick, follow him here: nickpottereyefood.tumblr.com