Bartees Strange at Reading 2025 on his love of Bloc Party & why Jack Antonoff is the plumber of pop

NME

NME caught up with the genre-spanning star backstage at Reading 2025 to talk about his brand-new music, horror fandom and being inspired by TV On The Radio

Transcript

00:00oh I don't know this one a new Ari Aster movie oh wow okay slick Midsommar yeah

00:11very slick he did hereditary yes yeah very did uh the one with Joaquin Phoenix or whatever the

00:17dream sequence one is weird right but yeah it's good um so I mean what I like the some

00:24big horror movies for you over the years like classics okay well I think hereditary is probably

00:31my favorite horror movie of the 2000s wow like other than get out I mean get out and hereditary

00:36or neck and neck um all timers I'm a big Halloween fan a lot of these are pretty normal mentions yeah

00:44but they think why they're right but um you know there are some other ones like the German movie

00:48funny games yes one of that's a deep one for me um I also love a lot of giallo movies um good night

00:56there's a French one that I'm thinking of that I cannot remember right now oh my god oh my god

01:00oh my god martyrs right I don't know that one one of the most brutal body horrors you will ever watch

01:06in your life wow okay insane movie yeah have you watched weapons I haven't seen it yet my film of

01:13yeah it's insane I can't wait I was gonna watch it yesterday in Leeds oh yeah but I didn't I was

01:20like let me wait until I get back to the states so me and my girlfriend can watch it but I really

01:24am excited to watch weapons I don't want to ask you to psychoanalyze yourself too much but

01:29but um what do you think it is that you like so much about horror movies why do you think you

01:32respond to this uh this this this genre I don't know but I have a feeling so it's like I feel like

01:41when I was growing up I was kind of scared of everything like life was kind of scary for me

01:47and there's something about horror movies and knowing that they're not real that's actually

01:52really calming to me yeah it's like you can do anything in a movie and it's okay it's safe yeah

01:58so I can experience things that are really scary and almost feel like I'm in a hug it's nice horror

02:05movies really calm me down in a way that nothing else can a body horror feels like a hug for you

02:11body horror is not my favorite calm down vibe what's your favorite come down by a movie like

02:16it follows yeah okay you know or like talk to me or even freaking um god the guys that just did

02:24talk to me did another movie oh bring her back that's like a I will make dinner to that movie

02:30that is a brutal film so good yeah it was very very good it was maybe a bit too brutal for me

02:35the mom is so creepy I was like you're killing in the same way that Tony Collette is absolutely

02:43killing I was like you are you're so scary because you're so real like you're like the woman who

02:49adopted a kid and is like a little fucking weird yeah that's uh Stanley Hawkins whose whole thing is

02:54that she's like she plays nice characters she was in Paddington yeah that's what makes it even

02:59weird I forgot she was in Paddington man I love horror movies I could talk horror movies all day

03:06me too me too okay so uh you were talking about growing up there you were born in the UK originally

03:11in Ipswich which is two hours from here so not too far Ipswich yeah uh and then you grew up in

03:17Oklahoma right yeah so what's it like for you when you come back to the UK is it like I'm home or does

03:22it is it it feels like another place it feels kind of weird it's kind of hard for me to say it's home

03:26because I didn't live here that long I lived here probably five six years you know but I do have

03:32a appreciation for it and there's a lot of things about me that wouldn't be the same if I wouldn't

03:36have been born here like I kind of knew that the world was bigger than the places I was living

03:42because I lived here yes you know like I knew there were other places and so I was always curious about

03:47the music that was happening here and that's how I found out about like Burial and Jay Paul and

03:51like so many artists that the Klaxons um Inter Shikari like so many bands and people that I

03:57would have never found if I just focused on where I was at so well you know I still listen to like

04:02Sorry You're Not a Winner and like all that shit I don't know Golden Scans or whatever I like it

04:07uh and you're a big fan of uh Block Party Silent Alarm as well yeah they were here uh this weekend too

04:13I heard it was really good yeah it was awesome uh what like what what spoke to you about that album

04:19because you would have been in the States when you were listening to that so well I heard Helicopter

04:23on FIFA and I was like who is this this song's amazing and then on Fuse I saw a live performance

04:30and I was like he's black right I was like oh whoa that's so cool I'd never seen that and so

04:39I was in love with it and the drummer was insane I remember being in love with the drummer and

04:45thought that the guitar parts were so amazing and it was so downhill it was just incredible music

04:52I loved it urgent um uh TV on the radio is uh Tunde Adebin Pei was singing your praises to NME uh not

05:00too long ago oh and it was sort of in the context of that actually I think he was he was asked a

05:07question about representation of people of color in guitar music right and uh and he was talking about

05:13how there was not that many people that he could look to but he kind of found it awesome that people

05:18looked to him uh and then your name came up as someone that he was pals with so what's your

05:23relationship like with him and did you grow up seeing him when you were younger too yeah man I

05:27remember I saw them playing on Letterman when I came home from football practice um it was just on

05:31in the living room and they were doing Wolf Like Me that was the moment yes I remember just being

05:36like I want to be like him that guy is the coolest guy I've ever seen in my life well that's Tunde

05:42but yeah we're buddies we talk every once in a while nice uh because I mean their music was always

05:47like a little bit weirder and kind of more left field as well so obviously I get you know get the

05:52representation thing be very powerful but also just the music itself was like a little different

05:56and kind of weird compared to what else was out there yeah I think that's why I connected with it

06:01because I think the first time I heard it I was like I've never heard anything like this

06:04like when I heard Block Party I was like I know I had a reference for it you know it was like it was

06:10like a lot of things that were happening but it was just like cooler but the tv stuff I was like

06:15this feels like hearing Radiohead or or something or it's I don't know how they're doing it and I

06:21have to see it you know yeah I saw them like I've seen them so many times like since like as a kid in

06:27high school like I love them wow um I mean I can imagine someone having that reaction to horror because it

06:33doesn't really sound like anything else that's out there and I think one of the kind of um

06:37most surprising or contradictory things about um the record is that it was partly produced by Jack

06:44Antonoff he's like Mr. Mainstream uh Taylor Swift guy right um and I know that the you've said that

06:52the record was essentially finished right or close to finish by the time he got on it and he like

06:56tweaked a few things yeah but he he added a lot I mean he helps me kind of take it from like 80 to

07:03100 percent for sure and there were some songs that completely came alive like once he got involved and

07:09I he's really good man I really like him what was he actually doing to the to the songs to to help you

07:15for example like all the structures and stuff stayed the same and a lot of all the lyrics and all that

07:21stuff but like for example too much he just kind of made that song sound like it was from outer space

07:27like all these weird ship noises and like the synths and the swells the dynamics were all things

07:34that he was able to kind of build around the framework of my production and um on songs like

07:39wants needs like he just helped me just like punch it up and simplify it um and he like made my bridge

07:46work the bridge didn't work and he started sampling parts of other songs on the record and bringing

07:51them in and it was really amazing the dude's freaky yeah well I mean he's one like producer of the year

07:57that the grammy's like three times yeah I think it was like three times in a row yeah I mean but what

08:02does he do that other producers don't do what does he got I haven't worked with all the other ones but

08:07one thing I do think is like like I produce a lot of records now and I think the biggest thing is like

08:13you become who you're working with right and you help them take a few extra steps they wouldn't

08:20normally take and the way you do that is by building trust and getting to a point where it's

08:25like at the beginning they're only going to listen to you so much but by the end they should trust you

08:30with everything right right and he's no one's better than that than him at that wow and and I think

08:35it's because he kind of approaches records like a plumber he's like not a precious guy like he'll pull up

08:42he's there early he's working hard like everything's set up like he every idea you we can throw it up

08:48the wall no idea is bad he's not a tremendously talented player so when he plays it disarms the

08:55situation right because he's not a freaky guitar player or drummer he's just like good at getting

09:01the ideas out so after he plays you're like oh well I can play that better and then you're like

09:05it becomes a conversation like you it's very low stakes and it becomes like really beautiful stuff

09:11because he has great taste like the guy's great that's amazing jack antonoff the plumber of pop

09:16I think he is he's like a blue collar pop guy like it's sick that's awesome yeah uh I mean you just

09:23put our record so I always feel bad asking about this but where's the new material no I'm gonna

09:28record in January probably are you actually yeah so you got stuff stuff ready to go yes what can you

09:35tell us it's just something simple I've kind of done all I need to do with the big stuff right like

09:41everyone knows I can produce and like I can make a thing sound cool and I can do all the

09:45this blah blah I'm gonna do something small wow yeah so you're gonna self-produce or you're gonna

09:50get the the plumber of pop back I'm gonna just do it how I always do it I'll probably start it by

09:54myself and probably I don't know I'm definitely gonna show it to Jack just because we're friends

10:00like that's the thing like Jack and I are just kind of buddies now so I'm just gonna like go over to

10:05this house and awesome play it for him and if he's like I have an idea I'll be like cool let's go play

10:10with it well I can't wait to hear it yeah but thank you so much for your time yeah of course great to

10:15chat yeah good talking to you

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