In a heartfelt conversation with Kav Sandhu of Blitz Vega, he reflects on the creative journey behind their new album, Northern Gentleman, born from a deep connection with late bassist Andy Rourke. Sandhu shares how vinyl listening shaped his music experience, discusses the evolution of today’s artists, and reveals the special meaning behind album cover art that captures the enduring friendship of Kav and Andy.

Northern Transmissions: Hey Kav, how’s it going?

Kav Sandhu: Yeah man, all good. What about you?

Northern Transmissions: Great, thanks for taking the time to chat with us today. I’m dying to know, who are you listening to these days? What music fills your day-to-day?

Kav Sandhu: I mean, it just depends what type of mood I’m in. When I’m at home in England, I have my vinyl collection. I sort of approach it in the same way as you would approach sitting down to watch a TV show or a movie. Because I felt that at some point over the last, like 10 years, I stopped listening to music the way I used to listen to it.

That’s probably because of how quick the world is with music releases. I would listen to everything on streaming, which is absolutely fantastic for me to check out new bands and get stuff suggested to me. But when I’m listening to vinyl, it tends to be more of an experience. Sitting down, relaxing, pouring a drink or whatever, and just kind of, going back to stuff that I like. You know, whether it’s a Neil Young record or a Dylan record. Generally, I listen to The Beatles and the Stones, bands like that. I have a lot of vinyl from artists like the Stone Roses and that kind of era of British bands as well.

Yeah, with streaming, it allows me to just have tracks on all the time. Sometimes a song will just hit me, and I’m like, oh, cool. I’ll go and investigate that band and you really find so many great artists that way. I’d hate to pick just one out right now. Because I’ve got so many great friends who are doing stuff. I don’t want to upset anyone.

The new generation of artists they’re a little bit different to the ones who I grew up with. I suppose things have changed with the social media age. It’s not all about how you look or the image. I know that’s always been extremely important to bands, and it’s been something that connects you with certain audiences. Obviously the goth, indie scene with the Cure. And your lad bands from the UK, like Oasis and stuff, have a certain look. I understand that. But it feels like there’s a new generation of artists who seem to be a little bit more about the music again. Which is nice to see, and rather than how they come across on social media.

I think that’s important, and it’s great to see so many platforms for artists. And for vinyl to be making a comeback. That was one of the most important things for me to discover new artists was the record shop, a local shop in my hometown of Leicester, called Rockaboom. And when you would get your pocket money, I’d always jump on a bus into town to go to the shop. I’d buy these seven inches for like 50 P and just buy as many as I could. It’s that kind of thing that allowed me to discover new stuff. Looking at front covers and deciding if I wanted to listen. And I feel that you’re more invested in it, when you’ve bought it and you’re holding it, so you’ll give it a few more plays before you know if it’s for you.

Northern Transmissions: I think that’s a great answer. Like you said, it’s almost overwhelming, in a sense, at how much is coming out and how many different places you can access music. But in its own way, I think it’s incredibly exciting, especially because you can have people in their bedroom producing a full album. Was there anybody in particular that really inspired you to start writing, in your early years?

Kav Sandhu: No, not anyone in particular. I was always really really connected with music, even watching TV, sitting at home. If there was a song on a show I would immediately be pulled towards the music rather than the dialog. We used to watch a show called Top of The Pups when I was growing up in the UK. There would be bands on the show and although they were miming a lot of the time, it was still a great way to see these bands and their songs being performed. I remember Nirvana doing, like, a kind of really strange performance. I thought it was really cool because the vocals were live, and Kurt Cobain sang kind of in a slow real low voice, which at that age was pretty cool.

The main trigger for me was my aunt, I think she was, she was moving houses or something, and she left her vinyl collection at my parents house. She was a real sort of 60s, 70s kid. She had everything from Zeppelin records, stones records, Beatles records, kinks records, Dylan records. Her collection was incredible. So when I was around six years old, my granddad would pick me up from school, and he didn’t know that I wasn’t allowed to touch the record player. So, I’d come home from school and just basically pick through the records. And I remember listening to Sergeant Pepper for the first time, and for a six year old, that was quite a spiritual experience and life changing moment. So, yeah, that was my sort of first introduction to what I call proper music. I guess I became a fan of those artists.

I suppose the first band that I discovered for myself, or was introduced to me, was when I was watching TV in the UK called BBC Two. There was a show on there called Head Bangers Ball. And there was a live performance of Guns N Roses playing the Ritz in New York and there was this band of pirates with crazy outfits and these mad guitars. And I just immediately warmed to it and found it really cool. I decided at that point that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.

Northern Transmissions: I love that. I really appreciate the in-depth answer. How did you and Andy meet and then how did Blitz come into formation?

Kav Sandhu: Originally, we met when I was about 17. I was in a band from my hometown, and we were playing up in Manchester. At the show there were lots of people from other bands, members of New Order, The Smiths, Oasis, and The Stone Roses. Andy was there with Manny from the Stone Roses and his wife Imelda. Andy was just really kind after the show, and just a really humble and lovely man to be around. He was full of encouragement. We really hit it off and stayed in touch.

I would bump into him over the years, just again and again at different shows we’d be playing. Then fast forward quite a few years to 2007, I was playing Coachella with Happy Mondays, and Andy was DJing that day. So we, we just hung out after the show, and he said to me, because he was always really kind and complimentary and really liked the way I played or sang or whatever. So he said “We should do something at some point.” And I was like, “Yeah, yeah, cool. Let’s do it.” Nothing happened until 2016. I was running these events at the Regents theater, and Andy was coming over to DJ. I invited him to the studio, and he came to record a track and played bass. And that was in December 2016 and after he laid down his bass parts he was like you know we should start a band. I was like, “Yeah, we should, we should start a band.”

We didn’t even have a band name. We weren’t really thinking outside of the studio. We just recorded and recorded and enjoyed making music. Our keyboard player, Asa Brown, was there as well and we had different people coming in and playing with us. Finally, we officially announced the band, gave it a name, and we were ready to tour in 2019. But with Andy battling his illness through that period we canceled that US tour. We just went back to rehearsing and he would be on the mend then it would come back and then we’d cancel again. We did a small thing at Abbey Road where we played live and recorded live. Also we did a small TV show in the UK where we played three songs. Anyway, we’d started rehearsing in LA. Had everything ready to go, and we were just about to go on a run of shows, but then a few weeks after that he was off having treatment again. Although we’d set the band up to be a touring band, we kind of had to make a decision at that point to focus on the studio. And it was so important to him. He would literally be in Sloan Kettering in New York one day, and the next day he would be on a flight to LA. I’d pick him up at Burbank, go check him into his Airbnb, and then we’d be in the studio for days on end. That’s kind of how it went for five or six years. Especially in 2022 to 2023 when it was really beginning to finally take hold and everything seemed to be speeding up. That’s when we really sort of focused on finishing the last bits of recording for the album.

Northern Transmissions: Awesome. What was the inspiration behind the album’s title?

Kav Sandhu: Northern Gentleman? Well he used to just crack jokes. He was such a gentleman, actually very very kind and well mannered in a lot of ways. We’d have a lot of banter. You know, laughing a lot in the studio. So I would just be like, Oh, you’re such a northern gentleman. The album was titled after he passed. I was trying to describe him to my label partner, and I just described him like that [A gentleman]. Gemma and Woody, they both said, “Oh, that’s what you should call the album.” It made sense because I really wanted to use a picture on the front cover of Andy anyway. That picture was a moment where everything was too perfect. At that point, we were about to play gigs and had the recordings. We were really happy in the studio and he was at his best. So that picture has a special meaning.

Northern Transmissions: That’s really cool to hear, I love knowing the backstory behind album names. And it really felt like each song on this album connected. That there’s a meaning to every song, right?

Kav Sandhu: Yeah, each song, there’s around 17 songs that were finished for the record. We got it down to 10 songs that were picked for the album. All kinds of have a very special place for both of us and the band. We went on a journey, Blitz Vega, covering all the different sorts of stuff. I suppose when you’re making a record for six or seven years, it’s like quite a lot of time. A lot of changes in the world. So, yeah, so those 10 songs were kind of special. We picked them together. He [Andy Rourke] chose the track order. All the songs have a lot of meaning, which is kind of the idea of an album, I guess, haha.

Northern Transmissions: Yeah, absolutely. You can feel the authenticity through it. Is there anything else that you want to talk about, or anything you didn’t get to share that you would want to?

Kav Sandhu: No, just that the album comes out on September the 27th and yeah, give it a listen. It’s something that meant the world to Andy. He just wanted as many people to listen to it as possible.

Northern Transmissions: Right on. Thanks, Kav, I appreciate it.

Kav Sandhu: Thank you so much

order Northern Gentleman by Blitz Vega HERE