Blueprint Kid: Bridging Eras with Retro Vibes and Indie Flair

Meet Blueprint Kid, the London-based indie-pop/rock duo blending the best of vintage and contemporary sounds. Hailing from Bolton and Middlesbrough, Olly and Lewi bring together the smooth sophistication of Steely Dan with the raw energy of The Strokes. Their friendship, sparked by a chance encounter at a cinema, translates into a lyrical style that's both visually rich and rooted in everyday life. With singles like "I Won't Explain A Thing" and "(Don't Stop) Tryin' To Break My Heart," Blueprint Kid is carving out a unique space in the music scene, and their upcoming third release promises to close out 2024 on a high note.

1. Your music is influenced by both contemporary guitar tunes and vintage artistry, with inspirations ranging from Steely Dan to The Strokes. How do you blend these diverse influences to create your unique sound, and what specific elements from each inspire you the most?

OH: I think the musicianship on display with Steely Dan is the greatest seen in popular music. I wouldn’t for a second suggest we are even on the same planet as those guys but their music has definitely shaped our tastes and inspired us to become better players. I remember getting tickets for my Dad’s birthday to see them in London. They blew us away. The Strokes are another touchstone that have informed so many guitar bands from the 00s onwards and their staying power can’t be overlooked. I guess we want to strike a balance between the old and new.

LM: Yeh - initially I think as well that was just an effort to, kind of suggest that we had influences from different eras - sort of like our own and our parents’. But it also described how we talk about directions we take stuff, like ‘oh this one has like a Strokes instrumentation but a glossier quality’, for example. 

2. Your lyrical approach has been described as having a visual and storytelling quality, akin to the kitchen sink dramas of day-to-day life. Can you share some of the themes or stories behind your upcoming E.P., and how your experiences shape your songwriting?

LM: Funny you should say, I think we're working under the title of Domestic Arrangements. 

OH: I’ve always liked the idea of talking about the banal everyday stuff set to the backdrop of a pop song. But, let’s be honest it’s all about love really. I mean, we’ve got a song about an airfryer and even that’s really about love! It’s inescapable. Sometimes they’re personal songs that we’ve experienced but other times I like to write from the perspective of someone else, be them fictional or real. I think there’s a real freedom in that approach.

LM: Weirdly I'm always a little bit more abstract and tangential. There's usually some image that comes to mind for me which gives me a way in. If it's one that we're doing together Olly will see the messy (and honest) human-ness in it. There's a song about a corner chair where I went off on some mad voyage of imagination and Olly just chimes in to say that we can think of it in terms of a couple of people and their actions as well. Team effort and all that. 

3. Blueprint Kid formed after a chance meeting at a cinema screening. How did this encounter lead to the formation of the band, and how does your friendship influence your music and creative process?

OH: Honestly such a lucky chain of events led to us meeting. I was working on a film as a runner and became close friends with the writer. Then the writer became friends with Lewi as they both frequent the same cafe up in Boro. Our writer pal then wrote another movie and they had the premiere at Leicester Square and he invited us both which is where we met. We owe it all to him really.

LM: Olly only told me the other day that on the night out after that screening he took himself off to the loo to listen to the new Arctic Monkeys tune that had just dropped at midnight! Love that. 

OH: I’m sure Turner and Co hadn’t intended the first listen of ‘There’d Better Be a Mirrorball’ to be in a cubicle with my phone speaker pressed to my ear whilst Sean Paul bled through from the other room but I simply couldn’t wait.

4. With a growing following and monthly listeners in cities like Chicago, London, and New York City, how do you engage with your audience and what strategies do you use to build and maintain your fan base across different regions?

LM: Still figuring that out, really! The news that people from such varying places listen to us is great. Funny, but definitely class. 

OH: Agreed, this side of it still feels very alien. It’s mind blowing to think that people from all over the world are listening to us. God bless the algorithm. I

LM: Oh, I'm also open to it just being, like, our mam and my sister with various VPNs set to Chicago or whatever. But really I think authenticity seems to be the thing - far too much work performing. I don't know whether Brooklynites are really bothered what a couple of northerners are up to. But maybe some content about rail infrastructure and ticket prices. 

5. As you work on your first E.P., what are your goals for 2024 and 2025, and how do you plan to continue evolving your sound and artistic vision while staying true to your retro, indie-pop roots?

OH: I think the most important thing is that we continue to just have fun making music together. We’ve tried to keep very open minded about our ‘sound’ and tend to just follow our gut instincts. As a result some of our upcoming tunes sound quite different from our first two releases. But we’ve tried to maintain a clear through line across all our work.

LM: I reckon we could test our arranging skills a bit more. There's a charm to straightforward tunes I think, but it might be nice to come up with something that has some tasteful, but interesting sequences in it. That or channel some Arthur Russell or something.