Bastille at Indie22: Dan Smith on bringing new music to rock Mitchelstown   

Bastille are undergoing a revival on the back of recent album, Give Me The Future, and the Co Cork event is on their summer touring schedule. We also have a round-up of the other highlights of Indiependence 

Dan Smith and Bastille return to Indiependence in Mitchelstown this July 

Bastille’s Dan Smith is the nice guy who finished first – eventually. Ten years ago, the UK pop band released their debut major-label single, Overjoyed. It was the beginning of a streak of hits that included Bad Blood and mega-smash Pompeii, which, with its “Eh-eh-oh, eh-oh” refrain, sounded like a song from Disney’s The Lion King if the Lion King featured lyrics by Cyberpunk guru William Gibson.

But their mix of pop, indie angst and shiny melodies did not go down well with critics at that time. They were savaged in the press, with George McFly-lookalike Smith mocked for his spiky, Beaker-from-the-Muppet Show hair (long since shorn).