Neu Baby in Vain add fire to the flames

Thanks to The Kills, this Danish trio have big-deal support slots under their belt. But with a killer instinct, they want to go way bigger.

Words: Jamie Milton
Photos: Emma Swann
6th June 2016

Tour buddies rarely get to re-kindle their flames three times in a row, but that’s been the case for Baby In Vain, who’ve been recruited to support The Kills on successive tours. “Nobody does that,” the Danish group readily admit. But last month’s DIY cover stars have clearly taken a liking to the sludgy aesthetic and intense mood of the trio’s early output.

Back in 2014, they were put forward as a potential would-be support for Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince. They were “in a pile” to choose from, and they were pick of the bunch. “They chose us! Alison chose us!” vocalist / guitarist Lola Hammerich beams.

It all sounds rosy, a musical match made in heaven. Not quite. “To be honest I’m sick of being a support band,” claims Lola, and her bandmates are in agreement. “It’s weird,” starts fellow guitarist / vocalist Andrea Thuesen. “The first time we toured with The Kills, we had the feeling, ‘We never wanna be anything else beyond this. We love being a support band. We can do this for the rest of our lives.’” But the novelty’s worn off. Baby in Vain want to be centre stage, and they’re not wrong for thinking they deserve a step up.

This year’s ‘For The Kids’ EP is a ferocious, twisted mission statement. If Josh Homme packed the deathly march of their ‘Muscles’ track, he’d be declared a genius. ‘The Urge’, meanwhile, finds the trio ditching guitars in favour of gloomy, Trent Reznor-ready synths.

‘Martha’s View’

"To be honest I’m sick of being a support band."

— Lola Hammerich

Closing track ‘Jesus Freaks’ is pick of the bunch, and apparently it’s about Jesus being killed by gangsters - always a bonus. “Well it’s not really literal!” replies Lola. “It’s just the Jesus within yourself. It’s killed by the Mafia within you,” she continues, somewhat abstractly. “Mainly, it sounds cool to sing!”

This itch to go further is “probably a good thing,” notes Andrea. “Because then we have to work hard to get beyond the supporting act thing. Right now it’s a lot of travelling and a lot of hard work for very little,” she says. This EP packs more purpose here than a cheetah on the prowl - it sounds like they’ve been ready for the next level for some time. Give or take a few more support slots, and they won’t have any problem snatching the spotlight.

LIE, CHEAT, STEAL, KILL

Almost every Baby in Vain song has an in-depth, bizarre story to match. Take ‘The Urge’, for example. “I have some friends and they talked about what the worst thing in the world would be,” Andrea remembers. “They both said, ‘If my boyfriend cheated on me.’ And it just seemed so strange to me. I can think of a lot of worse things. I don’t believe that people are meant to live in monogamy, so. And I was watching a series on Netflix about serial killers, and in a weird moment I made that connection, between the urge to cheat and the urge to kill.”

Photos: Emma Swann. Baby in Vain's new EP 'For the Kids' is out now via Partisan. Taken from the June 2016 issue of DIY, out now. Subscribe to DIY below.

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Tags: Baby In Vain, Features, Interviews, Neu