The Record Club: Bastille's Dan Smith on how he writes the hits

The alt-pop band are releasing a very special new vinyl for Record Store Day.

Bastille's Dan Smith shared his songwriting secrets in a very special Record Store Day edition of The Record Club.

To celebrate the forthcoming 2023 Record Store Day on April 22, the alt-pop band will be issuing an exclusive limited edition vinyl for their fans; a brand new pressing of their MTV Unplugged set, recorded in 2021 and including performances of their hit songs Pompeii and Happier across the 15-track set list.

Speaking to Jess Iszatt last night (April 20), Dan explained how he normally constructs the song for the band, revealing that he takes a very unique approach.

"When I write, I write straight into the computer," he shared. "And I write straight into Logic, so often the production and the song-writing [process] are all melded into one.

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"So generally, I write the full version first and then try and think about how to strip it back. I think with [the MTV Unplugged record] there's a really easy version where you just play everything on an acoustic guitar."

Explaining how he approached re-tooling some of the band's biggest hits, like Pompeii and Happier, he continued: "We wanted to be a bit more interesting than that. Which ones are on the piano? Which ones are on the Melotron? We like to think of it as an album, an interesting gig with different sonics for each song to shine through."

Designed as a book club for albums, The Record Club in association with Bowers & Wilkins is a bi-monthly livestream, hosted by BBC Music’s Jess Iszatt, on Facebook Live, Twitch, Twitter and YouTube Live every other Wednesday.

Fans are encouraged to order the selected album from their favourite local record shop either in-store or on home delivery, listen to it in full, then tune into the broadcast armed with their questions for the artist and a chance to win a prize.