Bad Boy Chiller Crew (BBCC) member Gareth Kelly chats to T&A

The trio from Bradford are known for their whacky antics, wobbly bassline and no-frills demeanour and they will find out later this afternoon whether their second ever album – “Disrespectful” – has made it to the top.

Earlier this week, the Official Charts revealed BBCC were in a five-way battle for Number 1 and then announced yesterday the threesome were in a tussle with some chap named, Ed Sheeran, for top spot.

Kane, Clive and Gareth Kelly – better known as GK – are arguably the city’s most famous and successful export of recent times and could cement that title if their brand-new album makes it to Number 1.

RELATED NEWS: Bad Boy Chiller Crew hit Number 2 with 'Disrespectful' and boast highest new entry

“Disrespectful” was officially dropped last week (February 18) and the group have been in the throes of a mini-tour to celebrate its release.

It has been a busy few weeks for the group, with the boys also launching an initiative to support food banks.

The T&A’s Brad Deas sat down with GK for an exclusive interview on Monday night, before BBCC took to the stage at The Wardrobe, Leeds for two shows (7pm and 9pm).

Here’s what else GK had to say:

You’re only four months on since your first proper tour, about to start your second one, how are you feeling for it?

“Yeah, it’s mad, wow, I don't even think we've been rested from the last tour, I don't think we've got over the last tour and bam automatically we're here on tour again.

“And this is just like the mini-tour for the album, then it’s gonna be the big tour, then it’s gonna be the overseas tour – America, Australia, New Zealand – it’s going to be epic.”

Do you enjoy the more intimate venues like this, which do you prefer?

“The intimate venues like this are good because you get to see, close-up, people and the festivals, because they’re so big, you just see hands and people shouting, jumping about – these smaller venues, you actually see people’s faces and it’s a different feeling from the festivals.”

Is that something you thrive off, the interaction, I know from being at St. George’s Hall, I could see Clive, for example, was really buzzing off that, yourself?

“Yeah (chuckles) yeah, it is, it is. "We love all our fans, whether it's a small crowd, a big crowd, whatever.

"When we're on stage we just go into like, it’s a zone we go into, I don't know how to describe it, but once we're on that stage, whether there's one person or a thousand people or ten thousand people, it’s just the same, we give it our best shot."

You’re expanding, you’re developing, making such a huge name for yourselves, going back to the beginnings, what does Bradford mean to you?

“Bradford means everything to me. If anyone would be called Mr Bradford, it would defo be me, because everything, from being born at BRI to becoming who I am now, all my family have been in Bradford, Bradford is what made me and it’s what made the boys.

“That’s Bradford to the world.”

Speaking of “Disrespectful”, the album, I’ve had a listen myself, it seems you’re developing a bit as a group – there’s BMW, which I’d say is a bit more of a different sound, and you’ve got your slower ones in there, like Stick Around, but you’ve still got the roots there of the bassline in there, how would you describe you’re developing as a group?

“When you think of Bradford music, bassline automatically. Bradford is massive on bassline and it’s what we got brough up around, yeah.

“With our tunes and what we’re doing now, we’re tweaking and doing this, we’re trying to find different sounds, but we’re just showing that we’re becoming so versatile, and we can do actually almost anything, any sound, any genre, that’s what it is.

“But we still always manage to have a little bit of organ (chuckles) in the background, whether it’s a girly tune, a meaningful tune, a skanky tune, whatever it is.”

On that note, BMW is my favourite, I liked all the others before as well, but there always is that one that seems to be an absolute banger, how do you keep dropping banger after banger?

“That’s the thing, when we get in the studio, we’re just as excited as you. We don’t know what we’re gonna do next in the studio.

“We don’t know if it’s gonna be an anthem, a banger, a skanker, we just don’t know.

“When we get in there, and because we’ve got such a nice team round us – a couple of pals – everyone throws ideas in and next minute, bam, we’ve got somet there and then we go with that then.

“We’re like ‘yeah yeah yeah, that’s good’.

“It could be totally opposite from what we’ve released last week, or the month before, or whatever, and that’s why we are who we are, because no one knows what they’re gonna get next.”

Part of that development, it very much started, didn’t it, with the antics on social media and whatnot – that’s still there, it’s still part of your core, but there seems to be more of that focus on the music, is that something you’d go with, or how do you think that side’s developed?

“Yeah, definitely, we started from the comedy videos, absolutely.

“We do miss them, because that is where the fun is. Even though the fun’s here in music, it’s a lot more serious and mainstream now and you’ve got to be absolutely on point.

“It’s serious now, jokes aside, it is serious.

“But we’re still not trying to do it ‘til we’re f**king... do it ‘til we run ourselves into the ground, we still want to have a laugh.

“But we would like some sort of comedy series to come as well. We’ve done a documentary, we would like to do somet funny documentary, like – what is it – a bit like Keith Lemon used to do, mocking people and stuff, to a funny standard nowadays and just having jokes, having a laugh, taking p**s out of people, that sort of thing.”

I was going to move onto that, can you see yourself becoming TV personalities. That’s a big part of what I’ve noticed about you guys, each of you individually stand on your own, but also really well as a group too.

“Yeah yeah yeah yeah. Yeah, definitely, we’ve all got our own mad little weird characters about us, we are definitely.

“Kane, he’s the music magician, I’m the front spokesman, Clive’s the absolutely maniac and that’s why it works so well as a group and that’s why it’s unbreakable.

“And that’s how it works so well, but yeah we are literally different in our own little ways.”

Can you see yourself, I know you used to be on the Bradford scene and I’m going to get to the important question in a minute, as a group, yourself, in the future ever opening a club, or a bar back in Bradford, or anywhere for that matter?

“You know what, me leaving school and DJing from a young age, I’ve always been about clubs and I’ve always been about promoters and stuff.

“On the outside looking in, it is absolutely stressful, it is really, really stressful.

“As much as I love my own town, and I adore Bradford, the people and the nightlife, it’s not as – how do I say it – it’s pretty wild. For someone at our status to be dealing with somet like that, it could detriment who we are.

“So we’d rather just leave it to people who are doing it and good luck to ‘em and that sort of thing.”

On that note, how do you feel about Village closing down?

“Village closing down to me, that is where I started, literally Village, wow, if I have had some nights in there, that is my place.

“Village is what started off Gareth Kelly, that’s what started off Bad Boy Chiller Crew, we’ve gotta give it credit. Even though people have slandered it and have said this and that about it, it’s not the nightclub, it’s the place we live in and it’s the world and that’s just what goes on.

“If you start saying, ‘oh well he did that there’, we’d have no club to go to. It is what it is.

“I did wish I did a set on the closing night, but I was busy elsewhere.

“But Village will always remain in my heart, because it’s where we had our first ever, I had – not my first DJ set there – I had my, that’s where I got my name and it’s where Bad Boy Chiller Crew had their first ever set and that was it.

“A lot of memories in Village, made lots of friends and, yeah, I’ve lost some sweat cells in that place, mate.”

(Starts laughing)

The overseas, you mentioned the tour’s going overseas, what sort of appetite is there for you guys over there? Like you say, you do have the more mainstream stuff, but you’re also very unique – is there that appetite for Bad Boy Chiller Crew over there?

“Yeahhhhh, I think it’s mad. I think with the Americans, we’re going out to America in June, we’ve got Las Vegas and New York, so like East and West coast, and it’s just, how can three numpties from Bradford have the opportunity to go and play live to the mainstream over in the States – it’s mad.

“But I think because we’re not just music and we’re a bit comedy as well and we act a bit stupid, the Americans love that, because we’re acting that stupid, so they’re like, ‘oh who are these guys, these guys are crazy’.

“Like Clive with his mullet, sort of thing (chuckles), it’s that, it’s that whole vibe and I think that’s what it is.

“Australia, Australia, they support UK and America, so they’re like inbetween, so they like love us anyway.

“But if you check our Instagram posts and our comments and stuff, all it is is, when you coming to Australia, when you coming to America, when you coming Canada and it’s like, ‘woah’.

“I thought maybe a bit of Europe first, but nah just straight to the promised land.”

What’s the roof on this for you, where’s the ceiling? Or are you gonna blow it off?

“Yeah, mate, that’s it. We want to become like the 2022, up-to-date Beatles - like rockstars of the world, of the new world.

"And, yeah, I think (chuckles) it's happened in such a short space of time and we had a dream together and I didn't think it was gonna come this fast and far, but it has.

"But, yeah, hopefully get a couple of good years out of it - hopefully not too many, because I don't think our bodies would be able to cope with what we do.

"And then live for the rest of our lives chilled with our families and just having it nice and that’s it.”