Blitz Vega are releasing their album, Northern Gentleman, on September 27th. The Blitz Vega project was born in 2016 as a new venture between The Smiths’ bassist Andy Rourke, and guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist Kav Sandhu, aka Kav Blaggers. It expanded to include Asa Brown (keyboards/backing vocals), Thom Arizmendi (guitar), Greg Gent (guitar/backing vocals), and Craig Eriksson (drums) for studio recordings. There was a wealth of music that Blitz Vega managed to write, record, and complete along the way, but the project was anything but smooth sailing, as Rourke faced an initial bout with cancer, followed by the seismic impact of the pandemic on music, and lastly the return of Rourke’s illness, from which he eventually passed in Spring of 2023.
Kav Sandhu has spent the time since then following Rourke’s wishes by readying Northern Gentleman, titled in honor of Rourke, for release, and planning a series of live performances of the music by Blitz Vega. I spoke with Kav Sandhu about his creative relationship with Andy Rourke, their difficult but rewarding road to creating this music, and the multi-genre experimentation that arose naturally when working on Northern Gentleman.
Reading about the history of this music, about your friendship with Andy, and then listening to the songs, made me think about the theme of connection. Being on your own creative journey can be kind of isolating, but you and Andy managed to have this connection and create this project. That idea comes out in some of the songs, too.
The idea with this record was also that so much was happening around us, that the studio was just our own bubble, where we were able to close the door and just lose ourselves. Recently, when I was listening to the whole album again, I realized, by listening to the lyrics, that we were on a journey when we were making it. There was a lot of getting lost and searching for something on this record. I am probably still searching for whatever I am looking for, and I suppose it’s a journey for peace, at least peace of mind.
Some people say that success is happiness, and that’s probably right. A lot of people can never find complete and utter happiness, but you have your moments. This album was just really honest. Andy gave me the confidence to express myself, and every song was a feeling. We didn’t plan things and say, “This needs to be about this.” It’s bittersweet to say this, but it was most definitely the most enjoyable recording and creative process I’ve ever been a part of. That’s partly because of the way that Andy approached it, which left an impression on me, the rest of the band, and the rest of the Producers involved.
Whatever was going on, whatever was happening in everyone’s individual lives, as soon as we got into the studio, that was left out there, and we were just doing our thing and enjoying it. Andy, obviously, had this illness hanging over him during most of the recording sessions for about five of the seven years, but not once did he make us feel like he was suffering or finding it difficult. He had a big smile on his face, he joked, and enjoyed playing bass. He used to say to me, “All I want to do is play bass!” And he did. Everything came so naturally. When you’re a kid, you try to envision what being in a band is about and making music, and this is the project where I felt like I finally got there. If I never made another record after this record, I’m cool.
This was all very much focused on the studio, right? You all didn’t get much chance to play together back then, due to the pandemic, but you are now taking the music on the road.
We couldn’t tour. We couldn’t play shows. We played one full live band show in LA, and that was the only full show we did together. We had to cancel three US tours because every time we started to get going, something happened. First, his illness came back, and then the pandemic hit. That meant the focus was just on creating, and recording, but that helped us, in a way, because we didn’t have any distractions.
As a side-note, is the show you’re mentioning the one we see clips from in the music video for “Lost Myself”?
Yes, that’s the one! That’s footage from the show. We also did three shows at a live TV thing, in February or March of that year, 2019, and a live thing at Abbey Road that year, with a small audience, so House of Machines in LA was the only show that we played with Andy. We’ve done more shows now, including two shows in London, and two in Edinburgh. But that was a special gig. I’d love to go back and play it again and again. LA is a city that treated us very well, as outsiders, though I was based in LA for 12 years.
The Indie and Alternative audience and music scene really helped us and supported us. It was only right to play there. People had traveled really far to see that show, even though we’d only announced it ten days before. We actually couldn’t get everybody into the venue, because we didn’t realize that so many people wanted to see us! [Laughs] So the only way to keep everyone happy was that Andy signed everybody’s Smiths records. He spent over two hours signing records, and he enjoyed talking to people.
I’m so glad you videoed and captured that show. I actually managed to see Andy perform at Madison Square Garden, opening for The Killers, in 2022 with Johnny Marr. And it was a great performance that he, very clearly, enjoyed. It seemed very obvious that live performance was quite important to him.
Yes, it would frustrate him that we couldn’t play it live. It was a regular source of conversation. We were going to play New York City, which was his turf since he’d been there since 2009, but it couldn’t happen. Until March of 2023, he was still talking about going on the road with the band. We were beginning to look at penciling stuff in for October 2023. When it became clear to him, more to anybody else, that it wasn’t going to happen, everything became about making sure that the album was exactly what he wanted. I would fly over from LA to New York and go and see him. I’d play him the final mixes, and he’d give me his notes. We’d go back, make changes, then return to see him. We wanted to do everything in person because that’s the way that we had done stuff so far.
I also really wanted to see him and spend as much time with him as possible. We were able to sit together and go over the record, and he was just really happy with it and proud of it. He just wanted people to hear it. He was extremely clear about which songs he wanted on the album because we had recorded 17 tracks. Andy always wanted it to be a 10 song album, so we got it down to 10 songs and we were pretty much on point for song order.
I was actually meant to see him at the time that he passed. He passed on a Friday, and I think I arrived in New York from the UK on the Sunday. I went to the studio, and while Andy’s notes were fresh, I worked with Will Kennedy, who’s a co-producer on the album. We just focused on trying to finish the mix side of things. It took about three or four attempts to push through it, but we got there in the end. It was done by July 2023, and it just felt exactly right. That was the process.
I wish that we could’ve played more shows, but when I look back on all the studio experiences we had, it was studio or nothing, so it really did focus things. We do live in a world where we have to do so many things as musicians, but really it’s pretty simple, you want to make music and play some gigs. Focusing on the studio gave us a lot of freedom to be creative.
If we look at the story of making this record in the times surrounding the pandemic, and alongside Andy’s illness, the fact that the two of you dealt with so much frustration, but didn’t let that impact the music, is remarkable. How did you overcome that frustration to keep the music in focus?
It had a lot to do with Andy, really. If stuff that’s going on feels too heavy, sometimes I can shut down a little bit, but Andy was on the phone constantly. [Laughs] He just didn’t stop. He’d be calling, saying, “What’s going on? Okay, I’ll be on a flight and in the studio tomorrow. What’s going on with the single?” He was like that, just constant. And he also had this amazing ability to just be positive all the time, and just crack jokes all the time. He made light of every situation. He would make stupid comments when a situation seemed too serious, making everyone around him laugh, myself included. We just enjoyed each other’s company, and the band’s company, so much.
The pandemic really impacted us, because we couldn’t be in a studio together. I came back to the UK. Andy was still in Los Angeles, and was in the middle of treatment, so he had to do tests before he could fly. Once we were working remotely, it was difficult. I set up my studio in England, and worked from home. The song “Strong Forever” was recorded pretty much remotely. Andy had set up a studio in New York. But that’s how we finished the album. By the time we recorded the end of the record, Andy wasn’t able to travel at all, but we had recorded all that we needed to.
The album is not only multi-genre, but the songs themselves feel multi-genre. From what I can tell, that’s typical of your work in the past, combining things from different types of Rock, and even Hip-Hop, and heavier music. Was that combination something that you and Andy had in common, or is it just something that happened through being open to collaboration?
It just happened, because we’re both music fans first. We would live and breathe music, and hear something that we’d be excited about. When you’re growing up, you want to be part of a tribe, whether you’re an Indie kid, or a Goth, or whatever you’re into. You associate with a group of people, maybe even dress the same. But for us, we were past all of that. I didn’t really fit anywhere as a kid, either. I was just into music, whether it was Neil Young, or The Chemical Brothers, or Metallica. I didn’t limit myself. That was always my way of thinking. Obviously, I’m a guitarist first, then a songwriter, and then a vocalist. So really, I just absorb stuff, and whatever comes out, comes out. That’s how both me and Andy thought about it. He didn’t have any limitations, and he was just really open to anything and everything.
One moment, we might have more of a Hip-Hop breakbeat, and we’ve got DJs on there, then on the other hand, you have straight-up Punk-influenced Rock ‘n Roll. It was liberating for both of us, actually, just playing and recording with no concern about whether people would like it or not. Andy would crack jokes, saying, “That’s a bit Stones-y.” or “A bit like Bowie.” And we love those artists, so we’d connect on stuff like that. We also had some different influences since he was 15 or 16 years older than me, growing up at different times in music.
We connected on classic artists, but I also had this whole era of Grunge and what people call Brit Pop, like the Oasis era, and all the dance music that was coming out of the UK. Andy was also around Manchester when house music was making an impact, but he happened to be in The Smiths as well, and he was also into punk. If you’re really into music, you could be touched by anything if you’re open to it. I think that’s important. Just have a listen, and if you like it, it’s cool.
