Pronounced ‘Brains’ for their love of B movie zombie horror films, the Brussels four piece went on to remove the vowels to create their name BRNS, in a way of taking the piss out of other popular bands MGMT and SBTRKT; a joke, that they admit, three years on really isn’t that funny anymore. We caught up with lead singer Diego from the up and coming indie-pop band, in the midst of their European tour, to chat about their influences, the release of the new album, Patine, and what it’s like to share the stage with the likes of YEASAYER, Cloud Nothings and SUUNS.

Hey Diego, can you introduce BRNS to our readers who may just be coming across your music?

We’re a four piece, based in Brussels, creating an indie-pop sound with our own twists. We take influences from hip-hop rhythms, and noisy experimental sounds. In the band we all have such a huge range of tastes, it sounds cheesy to say, but we like to listen to a bit of everything to get as many influences as possible. We love really great pop music though, and take a lot of inspiration and influence from that. Radiohead and lots of indie bands from the US are always our main source of inspiration though, which we love to listen to.

You’re currently touring the new album, Patine, at the minute. Before you started recording did you have a particular sound in mind for the record?

Well, as it always is, everything was written before we even went into the studio, we knew exactly what we wanted for our sound and production as soon as we entered the recording process. We usually go about recording 20 second demos of every track before we record the full thing ourselves, so from that short snippet we know exactly what we want the sound to be like, and the general ambiance of each track.

With this album we wanted to create something that was different from the last EP, which had more of a cranked up, loud sound. With Patine we wanted to create some more space, more room to breathe. We wanted each track to have a range of different intensity’s, some neutral, some still loud.

You’ve supported and shared the same stage with some incredible bands, YESAYER, Cloud Nothings and SUUN, just to name a few. Is there anybody in particular you look forward to playing with?

We’re so lucky to play the amount of shows all across Europe that we do, so we get to support and share the stage with some really cool bands. Because we end up bumping into the same bands at different shows, you ultimately end up become fans and friends with them. We’re playing in Switzerland next week, and theres a band called Peter Kernel who we love, and have played with a few times. This time we just want to go and catch them play their gig, and then party with them after, it’s great to be introduced to so many people making great music.

Are there any particular venues you look forward to playing?

We were so excited to do the UK part of the tour, its always a really exciting for us to play there. You get a great crowd, and this time we had such a brilliant turn out to every show, apart from Glasgow-maybe it was too cold for people to leave the house and come and party with us.

The band are currently in the midst of you European Tour, what sort of thing are you listening to on the road at the minute?

We’re really into The Districts new album, an American band that we discovered when we played in Manchester last year. They were sharing the stage with us, so we joined the crowd to listen to them, and what they’re doing at the minute is really special, so that’s a constant listen on the road. Also we’re really into Alex G – he creates this really nice lo-fi pop sound that we’re all enjoying.

Have you started planning summer shows or festivals yet for this year?

We’ve got a few festivals lined up already, and we’re really excited to be playing South By South West in Austin, we’re going to head across there for a week and just enjoy the sun and music.

What’s next for BRNS in 2015?

We really want to split a 7inch with another young French band and create something really exciting and fresh. We like the idea of collaborating and creating something completely new together that challenges what we know.

Thanks Diego!

Patine is out now via Louis Records.

Katie Muxworthy