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Bastille’s “Helter Skelter” Moment? “WHAT YOU GONNA DO???” Track Review

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British indie pop band Bastille just unleashed their newest single “WHAT YOU GONNA DO???,” stylized in all caps with three question marks to, you know, really give you that ~edgy~ feel. This latest song sets many firsts for the group: the tune is arguably Bastille’s most rowdy, punk-inspired anthem to date with a little help from Blur’s Graham Coxon on guitar and vocals; it’s their first song in the key of G major, which is notable considering frontman Dan Smith continually claims that the majority of their discography is “depressing;” it’s the band’s shortest single; and it supposedly features Smith’s highest note that he has achieved with his full chest voice on a studio recording (a G4, in case you’re wondering).

With the intent of making a rock track for the sake of being in your face and as loud as possible, this is relatively Bastille’s “Helter Skelter” outing, albeit much more brief (and of course not comparable to The Fab Four). But although this is the band’s largest step into rock territory, “WHAT YOU GONNA DO???” still has its shortcomings in other aspects.

Lyrically, the tune is nothing new in Bastille’s catalog. It primarily revolves around people being glued to their phones and how the media has the power to influence us because they’ve “got us listening.” These sentiments hearken back to earlier tracks like “Doom Days” or “Power” or “Blame” or “World Gone Mad” or “Million Pieces” or really any other song that tries to offer social commentary in some way since the lyrics are rather broad and widespread (like most of their repertoire). While it’s an important message, Dan Smith seems to have wrung it out dry on paper one too many times. How is this any poetic progression from their last record Doom Days? “WHAT YOU GONNA DO???” merely encapsulates half of the ideas presented on its full-length predecessor, causing it to feel trite and overdone.

Musically, “WHAT YOU GONNA DO???” is something fresh and new but only to an extent. Sure, this is Bastille’s most all-around rock song to date, though one could argue that their “heaviest” tunes come in the form of “The Draw” or even their blander indie rock efforts like “Blame” or “Warmth.” (I am a fan of Bastille, but you must admit that they weren’t really blazing any new trails sonically with 2016’s Wild World. It’s a solid LP, but it wasn’t a groundbreaking new sound in the alternative scene.) “WHAT YOU GONNA DO???” also missed a wonderful opportunity to display a guitar solo from Graham Coxon. It would have perfectly sufficed as a bridge section and allowed the group to squeeze in one more chorus repetition before the end. But instead, they cut the tune short at 2 minutes and 11 seconds after just two go-arounds of the verse-chorus dynamic.

On a positive note, “WHAT YOU GONNA DO???” does give us a glimpse at what may be to come on the band’s next record. While this lead single may have fallen short on a few fronts, it indeed showcases what Bastille is capable of and what direction they might be moving in next. It’s a catchy pop rock rager, meant to feel aggressive and fast-paced. I can’t dock the band too much since they did achieve what they set out to do. I just believe they could have pushed the envelope even farther. (Perhaps my standards are a bit high because Bastille is one of my favorite bands.)

Let me know what you think about the new single down in the comments below, and if you’re a fan of Bastille, I post lots of Bastille-related content over on Reddit if you’d like to check it out!

Explaining (Almost) Every Pop Culture Reference on Bastille’s ‘Doom Days’

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This is a post copied from my Reddit account u/0verjoyed. I originally published this post on the subreddit r/BastilleCult. Click here to check it out.

So Doom Days is chock-full of references to historical events, literature, films, music, and more. This is my attempt to identify those references and provide explanations for them. I’m fairly certain this is NOT a complete list because there are probably some I overlooked or didn’t catch on to. These lyrics are all taken from the official album lyric booklet. Feel free to add on in the comments below and give further insight to the ones I’ve pointed out!

Quarter Past Midnight

  • “It’s a quarter past midnight” – Pretty sure this refers to the Doomsday Clock. (Also see the tour poster artwork.) The Doomsday Clock is a “clock” routinely updated to represent how close humanity is to the apocalypse/global catastrophe. The closer the time is set to midnight, the closer the world is to ending. So if it’s a quarter past midnight (12:15), the world is certainly ending and in total disarray.

  • The Sirens – A girl group from the UK, popular in the 2000s. This reference is intentionally ambiguous; one could interpret it as “the sirens,” i.e. police/ambulance/emergency sirens, signaling chaos or “the end of the world.” But it is also meant to be interpreted as The Sirens, the music group being played on the speakers.

  • “Love Will Tear Us Apart” – The most well-known song by the band Joy Division. I find it rather fitting since DD contains the songs “Joy” and “Divide.” This song tends to come up a lot later on.

The Doomsday Clock being set to 100 seconds to midnight in 2020
The Doomsday Clock being set to 100 seconds to midnight in 2020

Bad Decisions

  • “Love me, leave me, rhythm of the evening” – Not confirmed, but I have an inclination to believe that this is a reference to the song “The Rhythm of the Evening” by Gary Numan. “The Rhythm of the Evening” begins with the line “Love me,” and the first verse of the song ends with “The rhythm of the evening / Will tear us apart again,” which harkens back to the Joy Division reference in QPM. (“Love Will Tear Us Apart”)

  • “London’s Burning” – Although this isn’t officially distinguished in the lyric booklet, it could be interpreted either at face value or it could be a reference to the song “London’s Burning” by UK punk rock band The Clash. The song was written by Joe Strummer and Mick Jones. May I also mention that Dan (as a solo artist) and Bastille participated in the Strummerville Summer Sessions in 2009 and 2011, respectively? Strummerville is part of the Joe Strummer Foundation which promotes new music in the UK.

  • Groundhog evening – This more than likely refers to the 1992 film Groundhog Day where the main character becomes trapped in a time loop, repeating the same day over and over again. This relates to the lyrics “We lost track of time.” (Also, the film’s cover has a giant clock on it, so there’s that lol)

  • Kubrick’s Hollywood – Stanley Kubrick is a renowned film director, particularly successful in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. Some of his films focus on the end of the world, such as the dark comedy film Dr. Strangelove, a personal favorite of mine, which revolves around threats of nuclear warfare during the Cold War that could potential lead to global destruction (apocalypse vibes, you know). One of Kubrick’s most popular films, of course, is A Clockwork Orange, based on the novel of the same name which is set in a dystopian Britain (hi, dystopia in the UK again). This is probably the film Dan was primarily referring to.

The Waves

  • “We Never Never give up on a lost boy life” – Okay, multiple things, so stick with me. First, “Never Never” is capitalized as such in the lyric booklet. I believe this capitalization could refer to the 2003 album Never, Never, Land by UK electronic artist UNKLE. This album contains samples from the songs “She’s Lost Control” and “New Dawn Fades,” which are originally tunes by (you guessed it) Joy Division. Second, Neverland is the fictional setting of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, home to the Lost Boys. Peter Pan is the captain of the Lost Boys, and Peter Pan is known as “the boy who wouldn’t grow up.” Dan is implying that they never wanted to give up their youth (“Winter of Our Youth” has entered the chat). Peter Pan is also later mentioned in the song “Doom Days” in the punny line “We’re gonna Peter Pan out,” which suggests that Peter Pan is also meant to represent the overall sense of escapism and not wanting to confront the tragedies around them and the troubles of becoming adults. In “The Waves,” this is outlined in the following line: “So here we are escaping from the world outside.”

  • The Twilight Zone – The popular TV series surrounding strange fantastical, psychological, and at times horror-filled alternate realities or unusual sci-fi events. The pilot pitch for the series focused on a time travel adventure. (Have I mentioned the concept of time enough yet?) The series’ creator/producer Rod Serling also wrote the tele-play Noon on Doomsday. Hmmmm

Million Pieces

  • The King – This is capitalized in the lyric booklet, and I’m not 100% certain on what it could be referring to. I tend to interpret it as calling political leaders clowns, but the capitalization leads me to question if it is referring to something specific. (?)

  • “Fear and Loathing” – This may refer to a couple different things. First, the novel/film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which has a lot to do with drugs and hallucinations. The film features the song “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplane. Rabbits are mentioned a couple of times on DD: “We’re gonna rabbit hole down” in “Doom Days” and “I’ll be your rabbit in the headlights” in “Those Nights.” The song “White Rabbit” was influenced by Alice in Wonderland, which can easily be related to drugs and hallucinations. This psychoactive theme plays into “don’t pull me down from the ceiling,” i.e. being high or on an acid trip as a mode of escapism. Also, the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland was constantly running late and losing track of time. Now, this might be just a coincidence, but the second thing “Fear and Loathing” may be referring to is the song “Fear and Loathing” by UK artist Col3trane. The music video for this song is a time-warping narrative, and the title of the project the song is from is called BOOT, an acronym for ‘Breathing Out of Time.’ Can I make the time thing any more obvious? lol If the lyrics in “Million Pieces” are not a direct reference to Col3trane’s song, then Col3trane’s song is just another heavy reference to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

The White Rabbit checking his pocket watch
The White Rabbit checking his pocket watch

Doom Days

  • Something in the Kool-Aid – This is a common colloquial saying to imply that people are essentially being brainwashed somehow. The idiom originates from when cult leaders (ironic, huh) would force their followers to “drink the (poisoned) Kool-Aid” and blindly accept their indoctrination, particularly the Jonestown Massacre incident.

  • Portraits in the attic – A reference to The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. The meaning of this quote is to say that someone’s appearance hasn’t aged or deteriorated over time, that they’ve had their portraits in the attic where they can be kept in pristine condition. In the context of the lyrics, “Last couple years have been a mad trip / How’d you look so perfect?” is the writer asking another person why and how the past few years haven’t taken a toll on them the same way those years have taken a toll on the writer.

  • Final days of Rome – Fairly self-explanatory, but when you look into the reasons why the Roman Empire fell, it really adds some more meaning. Factors that may have contributed to the fall of Rome: poor economy, overspending on the military, government corruption, power struggles and instability amongst political leaders, widespread disruption due to changes in popular religious beliefs, and, last but certainly not least, climate change. Hm, funny how history repeats itself. These reasons are obvious parallels to many of the challenges currently facing society. “Doom Days” also discusses religion to an extent, criticizing traditional religious practices that tend to cherry-pick what they want to believe in and how these practices can wear down the progression of society.

  • The blue pill – This is a reference to the 1999 film The Matrix where the main character must choose between a red pill and a blue pill. The red pill represents harsh reality and unpleasant truths, whereas the blue pill represents the idea of “ignorance is bliss.” Saying “We’re gonna choose the blue pill” furthers the sense of escapism and wanting to remain unaware in order to avoid swallowing the bitter pill of reality. This line perpetuates the ideas from “Million Pieces.”

  • Rabbit hole – This is another Alice in Wonderland reference, i.e. falling down the rabbit hole into insanity or to escape reality.

  • Third act – This refers to the principle of Chekhov’s gun. It is a storytelling tactic utilized throughout literature/drama to ensure that every aspect introduced in the plot is important. The idea of the gun is “if you put a rifle on the wall in the first act/chapter, it must go off by the third.” The third act is typically the climax of the plot, the culmination, the pivotal shift, the breaking point, etc. The gun must go off. By saying that the “doom days” are the third act, Dan is saying that the metaphorical guns people have hung on the metaphorical wall must go off. Traditions and tensions of the past must be confronted. Injustices must change. The sociopolitical climate must shift. So forth and so on. The line continues, though. “Third act, love now.” This insinuates that love will be the thing that brings about change, the thing that sets the gun off. Perhaps love will tear us apart in the best way.

  • Peter Pan – Like I explained earlier, Peter Pan represents the overall theme of escapism and not wanting to “grow up,” which in the context of DD might be more than just confronting adulthood. It could also mean not wanting to confront all the current issues circulating in the world. This is continued with the line “We’re gonna stay naïve tonight.”

Red pill or blue pill?
Red pill or blue pill?

4AM

  • This isn’t a pop culture reference or anything, but I see a lot of people getting the lyrics wrong in this song so I just wanted to clear it up lol The official lyrics for the chorus of “4AM” are “Here, here, my family – you are my familiar, you are my famiglia.” Famiglia is Italian for family. Not sure why Dan wanted to throw some Italian in there, but hey, why not lmao

Joy

  • This one also isn’t a reference to anything, just another lyrics clarification. The word “Joy” is actually capitalized throughout the song, meaning that Joy is more than likely the name of the person Dan is writing about. It’s another intentionally ambiguous lyric since it can be interpreted as the emotion of joy or Joy as a person.

So that’s the list so far! Like I said, feel free to add on to this or contribute any further insight. :) Still avoiding tomorrow.

r/BastilleCult - Explaining (Almost) Every Pop Culture Reference on Doom Days

Pandemic Artist Relief: Music in the Time of Covid​-​19

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How Artists Are Helping Other Artists Stay Afloat During Quarantine

2020 has proven to be one of the strangest years in many of our lifetimes. With the pandemic spread of COVID-19, multiple facets of society, the economy, and our personal lives are in disarray, and most notably, the music industry is struggling. Due to social distancing measures and stay-at-home policies sanctioned by local, state, and federal government, live music events have been canceled from city to city. Record labels have been delaying upcoming albums from numerous major artists in light of this, considering an album’s performance can be widely impacted by its accompanying live tours.

But what about the little guys? Indie artists are like the small businesses of the music industry, and they’re struggling more than anyone else right now. Many independent artists find their music-related income in playing gigs, which also gives them publicity and the opportunity to be picked up by talent scouting agents. With the current lack of live shows and many people becoming unemployed, indie artists are relying on the internet more than ever right now.

But the music doesn’t stop. Etai Fuchs, an independent artist himself, started up Gardenhead Records and with help from Gabriel Loredo, a member of the band Unicorns At Heart, and Blue Salt Records, he set out to make a compilation project for small artists. The compilation consists of unreleased songs and covers exclusively available on the new collection. They describe the project as “a compilation to raise money for musicians who had shows cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic” and stated “all of the proceed are going to the artists!”

The compilation features the following artists: Checkmate, Rut, Strange Weekend, Bluish, Bunny Boy, Kicksie, Pictoria Vark, Etai, Equipment, Jordana, Firesites, Pen Palindrome, Shnayto, Swim Camp, Jackson Tarricone, Beach Freaks, Jungheim, Unicorns At Heart, Mexican Slum Rats, Joynoise, How I Became Invisible, Pinkshift, Lake Alden, Pretty Ugly Boy, Werner Von Der Heide, and Jeffrey Lewis. The compilation includes 26 exclusive tracks, all bundled together for the great price of $10. (You can give more if you’d like!)

Click here to check it out!

During these odd times in our society, projects like this are crucial in helping out independent musicians and shining a light of hope for those in rough situations.♠