Skylights release their brand new single ‘SKIES ARE BURNING’ before a landmark show and hiatus.
The band say the single marks the end of their ‘WHAT YOU ARE’ era and is being released prior to a landmark gig at the largest indoor venue in their home City of York, The Barbican, on Saturday 2nd November, after which they will be taking a planned hiatus.
Rob Scarisbrick: ‘The song is a feel-good euphoric anthem, that has been going down great with the crowd at our gigs. The lyrics are just me day dreaming on a hot summer’s day’.
‘Skies Are Burning’ is dreamy and nostalgic, fast paced with a great energy throughout. Another great track to add to their roster of songs.
The York Barbican gig is their biggest selling show to date and is all but sold out, with supporters travelling from around the UK to be there and join the celebration. To say it will be an emotional night for the band and their loyal, passionate followers is an understatement. Skylights have carved their very own niche in the UK independent underground music scene and have created a community around their music, which includes an eclectic array of sports and media celebs including the BBC’s Mike Bushell, Josh Warrington, Guy Mowbray, Gaetano Berardi, and Westlife’s Nicky Byrne to name but a few.
Yorkshire’s very own Skylights release the new music video for their fantastic single ‘Time To Let Things Go’. It’s an uplifting but melancholic and emotive song, with the signature SKYLIGHTS sound. The music video shows off the amazing location of Aberdeen and clips of the bands gig at The Lemon Tree.
Turnbull says of the music video :
“Although we are a York based band we have been travelling up to play gigs in Aberdeen for a few years now and it’s become our second home as we have moved up to bigger and bigger venues there each time. On one of our visits I was introduced to local Videographer, Glen Cairns, who came across like a top man, so we asked him to film our gig at the Lemon Tree. He did an amazing job, and we knew straight away we wanted him to make the video for Time To Let Things Go. He was very busy with the birth of his first child, but he managed to fit us in and film around our biggest gig in Aberdeen at the legendary Beach Ballroom, what a night! Glen did a wonderful job of capturing that emotional night and the character of the people there and the Granite City itself. We are really pleased because we have a huge connection with Aberdeen. The people are fantastic and have really looked after us and made us feel welcome. So to have this video filmed there was brilliant. We know a local girl called Jenna who works with Glenn, and she was more than happy to star in the video – she’s done a fantastic job, and we’re really proud to have her representing our song. The city of Aberdeen looks absolutely beautiful in this video.”
Yorkshire’s anthemic rock‘n’rollers SKYLIGHTS release their huge new single ‘TIME TO LET THINGS GO’ out now.
With stunning artwork by Paul Evans (Painted Papillon Smile), the limited 7” Vinyl comes in translucent blue with previous digital-only release REBELLION on the flip side, while the CD comes with two additional exclusive live tracks.
It’s an uplifting but melancholic and emotional song, with the signature SKYLIGHTS sound. Guitarist Turnbull Smith says: “It reflects on life as if every moment has been written in a book; good and bad experiences, pivotal decisions and hard choices where you have had to let things and people go, no matter how hard it was to do, to ultimately change your path in life for the better”.
The release signals the start of another exciting year for these underground indie heroes, regarded by many as ‘the people’s band’. SKYLIGHTS play Magna, Sheffield on 20th April, alongside The Enemy and The Farm, and have an exciting hometown headline show lined up for later in the year at York’s largest indoor music venue, details TBA in due course. More big live shows are in the diary and new tunes are promised for 2024, details to be announced soon.
Infusing Britpop and post punk influences, Skylights have built a strong and unrivalled reputation and a loyal, passionate following through memorable sold-out headline shows in venues across the UK, festival appearances (inc. TRNSMT) and amazing support slots (inc. Cast & Shed Seven) since their debut single release in 2020.
Hard work, relentless gigging, and social media interaction have helped to build their growing fanbase, which includes a surprisingly eclectic array of sports and media celebs including the BBC’s Mike Bushell, Josh Warrington, Guy Mowbray, Gaetano Berardi, and Westlife’s Nicky Byrne to name but a few. Previous singles ‘Enemies’ and ‘Darkness Falls’, and their debut album What You Are have all hit the UK Physical, Vinyl and iTunes charts.
The band are going from strength to strength with each fantastic release, the support from their loyal fans and amazing sell out shows. It’s the start to an exciting year ahead for Skylights.
Check out the fantastic new single out now on all streaming platforms.
Holy Coves’ Welsh, singer songwriter Scott Marsden sits down with some of his favourite bands and artists on the independent music scene to discuss their story and how they got started, the independent music scene in general and their future plans, for the Music Scene Wales’ independent music series. So far the series has included conversations with Welsh band The Now, English bands Skylights, The Shed Project and The Heavy North and Scottish band Dictator. You can read each conversation below.
REBELLION is an intense 3 minute “short sharp shock” rock n roll song, in the same vein as 2022’s ‘OUTLAW’, the lead track from their exceptionally well received debut album ‘WHAT YOU ARE’, which achieved several Official UK Chart positions including #34 in the UK Album Sales Chart and #2 in the Indie Breakers Chart
Inspired by front man Scaz’s love of punk rock attitude and the Sex Pistols, the song conveys the thoughts and experiences of many cocksure young men during global and UK events since early 2020, without being overtly political.
Scaz said:
“It’s a good old-fashioned punk/rock song with a bit of menace and bite, sticking two fingers up to the powers that be – in the nicest possible way.
It came out of our experience, the frustration of feeling cut off from the world in the prime of your life back in 2020/21
It’s a reflection of what many people experienced every night in the UK and everywhere else country, with no socialising, no sport etc. Its not a political statement, but it is about frustration with the government at that time. A frustration that nearly bubbled over into rebellion.
It’s not advocating rebellion it’s a reflection of how things felt at that moment in time.
This song and our last single Outlaw both reflect the times we went through as mates in a band, and our amazing audience.
Our next single, out in summer, reflects us moving on from that.”
REBELLION signals the start of a new wave of releases from the band, which will lead to their 2nd album, due in 2024.
It will be followed in early summer by another new song in a completely different and more reflective style.
2023 has already seen the band play sold-out shows in new cities, with more ahead of them, and a deeply loyal and engaged audience waiting for their next move.
Truly a band of the people’, Skylights bond with their supporters is admired and envied by many more established artists.
SKYLIGHTS are now adding significant festival slots to the diary, inc. TRNSMT in July – appearances hard earned from ‘walking the walk’ through their sell out shows, strong work ethic, integrity, and constant engagement with fans.
Holy Coves singer song-writer Scott Marsden sits down with Turnbull Smith from Skylights to discuss the bands successful comeback and their plans for the future.
Scott – Skylights, your a four piece band, I know your from Yorkshire but are you from York?
Turnbull – Yeah were from York.
Scott – So give us an introduction to yourself. for Music Scene Wales, this is the first time they’ve heard of you so who are you and where are you from?
Turnbull – Were Skylights were from York and were all mates from school and we started playing in a band when we were 24. My mate Johnny came round and said ‘Do you wanna start a band?’ and then I got my mate Tom …. on drums, this was in 2008 we needed a singer and we were absolutely rubbish, we tried a couple of singers but it didn’t work and then we just got Johnny’s brother in. We bribed him. We did a few gigs and then we stopped doing it.
Scott – When did you stop?
Turnbull – Probably about 2011 or 2012. We stopped playing, we didn’t do anything for about seven years I sold all my equipment, got rid of it all. I was sick to death of the whole industry. Its the graft that you have to put in with zero reward as you can imagine.
Scott – Yeah I know what you mean.
Turnbull – All the messing about we were doing to play to about five people to the point where we were doing gigs and we weren’t even getting paid for it. So it was costing us to play gigs and no one was turning up. When we first started we won a couple of battle of the bands, well we got to the final anyway, we had loads of mates but then when your playing the same songs to your mates over and over again it starts dwindling out and then its trying to find that next step. We just sacked it off we actually did the song ‘YRA’ in about 2010 before we stopped playing and then we came back 2018. So basically my wife had been nattering me, she actually said, god bless her, as I was in a few bands and she really liked an older band of mine called 66 and she used to listen to the CD alot in the car and she always said that she really likes 66 which was nice, but then 2017 she says ‘Oh I stumbled across a Skylight CD and I put it on and you know what I was surprised, it was really good, I think its better than your band before’. I thought ‘Its about time you said that’. But I didn’t think anything of it. Then she was like ‘Aww it would be great if you could do it again, we could have another night and we could see all our friends’. Our friends are still about. I didn’t want to be doing it again, I thought its a waste of time, its so much graft for so little reward and Iv sold all my gear. And she says ‘Well Iv organised events before, hire some gear, I’ll sort the venue all you have to do is come play’. Bear in mind this is my wife so I didn’t really have much choice! I was like ‘Listen, its such a drag I don’t want to do it’. She calls our singer who’s one of my best pals as well, he kept ringing me up all the time saying we should do it again, I’m like mate I don’t fucking wanna do it, I really don’t wanna do it. At the time i couldn’t think of anything worse. My wife kept pestering me, he kept pestering me and so I was like all right we will do one gig, we’ll do one show and I spoke to a mate of mine a local promoter called Tim Hornsby, he ran Fibbers.
Scott – Oh I know Fibbers I played there along time ago with Holy Coves. Loved that venue.
Turnbull – Nice! So yeah Tim was the promoter, so I messaged Tim saying can you get us a gig at fibbers, he says ‘Yeah sure’. But unbeknownst to me when I used to play Fibbers seven years before it was 200 capacity, so that would of been perfect.
Scott – Did they bump it up?
Turnbull – They moved it, I didn’t know, but they had moved it so now it was a 700 capacity venue! so I’m like well this is fucking ridiculous. I’m only coming back for one show, there’s gonna be my Mum, Dad and my Wife stood in this fucking massive room were gonna have to pay about 800 quid to hire the place, this is a disaster!
Scott – Your thinking its the worst first gig back!
Turnbull – I’m getting extremely anxious about it. We have a practice and it was absolutely shocking, we hadn’t played for years, I borrowed some equipment from the studio, it was just terrible. So I got on social media and started sending out the song ‘YRA’. It was stolen from a Yorkshire chant mainly by Leeds fans but other teams have sung it. Its the Yorkshire army song ‘YRA’. So I got on social media, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and I must have been blocked at least a thousand times cos I just spammed everyone I didn’t give a monkeys. I was so panicked about this gig that I just didn’t give a crap and so I just sent it to everyone. I mean everyone! Everyone with Leeds United in their title, anyone with music in their title, you name it. The amount of blocks I got was quite incredible. But then I started getting feedback, it was only a Soundcloud clip…you can tell when I get going talking!
Scott – I like this! I’m the same, I’m letting you talk cos this story is great.
Turnbull – We recorded in 2010 so this is now 2018, to my genuine astonishment people were saying that they loved this song.
Scott – So how were you sending it to them?
Turnbull – Id just say ‘Hi, were a band called Skylights, please listen to this song, let me know what you think’. Spamming like that, like I said getting blocked left, right and centre. Down the line people actually unblocked us and started following us, makes me chuckle. I don’t know why but the guy that runs the social media group at Leeds he messaged me about two days later on Insta saying ‘Hi mate, I like your song, do you mind if we use it in a video?’ that would be mega! Bearing in mind we haven’t played yet, haven’t played a gig in eight years and then the next day the 2018/2019 season which kicked off in August so this will have been June/July time they used our song as the song of the season for Leeds. The video got about half a million views, and it got people asking ‘What’s this song?’ so that worked really well.
Scott – That’s the exposure you need isn’t it.
Turnbull – Definitely that’s how you get that next step. The thing with this band, the first time round I used to think we were cursed with bad luck but since we’ve come back we’ve just had good luck all the way really. With the 700 cap venue we’d sold about 200 tickets so I’m thinking its gonna be alright, I got a phone call four days before from Tim saying the roof at Fibbers had a leak and the gig was off, he calls me back and tells me not to worry he’s got another venue which is 250 capacity called The Crescent which is a cracking little venue. We sold it out in the end. So this one off gig we were doing turned out to be a sell out and Leeds had used our song. We played a show, I had a mate of mine there and we had a band on support who are disbanded now, I cant remember what they were called but they were pretty damn good, I was in the pub afterwards and my mate was like ‘Whatever you do don’t have them supporting you again.’ So Im like what do you mean? He says ‘I don’t want to go into it too much just don’t have them again,’ ‘Are you trying to say they were better than us?’ ‘Yeah they were better!’
Scott – Brilliant, that’s one of the best opening stories I’ve heard. But its not over yet is it?
Turnbull – No it’s not over yet. So, we did the show. We had a damn good night, Tim the guy who promoted the show, he messaged me the next day asking if we fancied opening for Tom Hingley. We sold about 100 tickets for the show we were meant to be first on but we sold that many tickets that they put us as the main support.
Scott – Thats great!
Turnbull – I just hounded people. We played the show and Tom Hingley’s band members came out to see us afterwards and they told us we were the best support they’d ever had. We all suffer from a massive lack of confidence, I don’t know if he was just saying it or just being nice cos we had sold some tickets but he said he really loved it. Then a guy that runs a magazine in Leeds called the ‘Square Ball,’ its a Leeds fanzine, its got a massive following. This was back in 2018, I tweeted him asking if I could send him my song and he asked for my phone number. He said he was thinking about managing bands and asked what we thought about him managing us, well it was only me doing it at the time, so it couldn’t do any harm.
Scott – So he became your manager?
Turnbull – Yeah it was only briefly, he booked us a gig at the Brudenell Social Club on a Thursday night and it was middle of winter and we got in there and the place was dead, it was a quiet night, it was a good night but there weren’t many there. It was one of them free gigs so all the free tickets went but none of them fucking turned up. So we played the show and we asked ourselves if this is really working.
Scott – Puts you into a bit of a downer again doesn’t it?
Turnbull – Yeah we were on a bit of a downer, we weren’t sure if we were going to carry on. we decided we’d play Leeds. On a Thursday it’s tough to get anyone down, its freezing cold. So let’s give it a go on a Saturday night. No one would have us in Leeds, literally no promoter would touch us it was bizarre! I’m emailing all these promoters, we had a reasonable CV, we had our song used at a massive football club.
Scott – You sold a few tickets too, that goes a long way with promoters.
Turnbull – Yeah! We sold York, fair enough we struggled on the Thursday a little bit but no one would touch us so I finally got hold of the Belgrave Music Hall and the guy there said ‘Listen, what I can do for you, you can hire the venue for £400, we will give you a sound engineer and couple of security on the door but it’s your show to do whatever you want with it’. So I paid him £400 upfront and I hoped to hell we’d sell some tickets. We needed some supports, we found a band that were really good but they don’t pull a big crowd and I got a young fella called Tom …..
Scott – And where are these bands from?
Turnbull – All from Leeds, so I got like three local bands, it was one of them like, fucking hell were gonna need some bands to sell some tickets. This Tom, it was was his first ever gig, it was an acoustic gig. I asked him if he wanted to play a show and he was like ‘I don’t know, I’ve never done one before.’ I told him this opportunity is all yours mate and he fucking brought an army of people down! We sold some tickets, next thing I know the thing was a 400 sell out the week before and were like fucking hell hows this happened?
Scott – And your spirits gone back up, your all intrigued again aren’t you?
Turnbull – Yeah, you know what this music games like! like bipolar isn’t it! bearing in mind I’d hired the night in my name and I wrote on a sheet of paper what time people were gonna go on I stuck it on the wall and I went out and I got fucking pissed! It was just carnage at the venue, people were nicking passes from behind the DJ stand people were nicking the booze from behind the bar, there were fights going off everywhere. It was just wild, it was an absolutely brilliant night!
Scott – It was a good atmosphere then, when you say wild you mean in a good way right?!
Turnbull – Yeah! in a good way it was really good, people were chanting songs, it was mint and that was like the start of it all.We played the show and the crowd just went mad, we had never played to that many people before, it was full, stacked right to the back and this felt like wow fucking hell! we’ve made it! It was mint, a lot of it was down to the supports, we played absolutely shit, but the atmosphere was mint, it was fucking great.
Scott – You might think it was shit but to the crowd they obviously thought it was great.
Turnbull – Everyone seemed to love it, bizarrely.
Scott – Brilliant.
Turnbull – So it all went from there, I think that was the turning point of it all. After that we brought out ‘Enemies’. I had already sent ‘YRA’ out to a boxer called Josh Warrington, so Josh added us on Instagram, I’ve been to the majority of his fights. We got in touch with a guy who was playing for Leeds who liked our tunes too, he shared our stuff and he sent us a signed shirt actually which is proudly hung on my wall and always will be. So with the Josh connection I messaged saying can you have a listen and he got back to us saying he really like our stuff, and do we know Soccer AM?
Scott – I know soccer AM, so how did you do that? Was it another spam thing or did you have a direct contact?
Turnbull – No, a mate of mine Harvey messaged saying ‘Have a listen to these lads’ and he started following us, then about three months later he said I’m gonna write a list of bands that were gonna get on the show this year, he put the list out and we weren’t even fucking on it! You know what its like, its like fishing, you chuck your rod in the water and if you get a nibble you’ve got a bit of luck but chances are your not gonna catch anything in the music game. But then about 2 hours later he put another Instagram post out saying ‘I forgot this one’ and he had just us on our own so we ended up with out own post, so I was like ‘Oh brilliant!’ Then we had a song called ‘Enemies’ and I had a demo of it..
Scott – I’ve heard ‘Enemies’ I like it.
Turnbull – Thanks mate, I sent the demo to Josh and he got back saying he really liked that song and he’d never said that about any of our other tunes so he must of liked that one and he was fighting in a few months time on Sky so to promote his fight he went on Soccer AM someone had seen a few pictures of us and Josh at shows. They messaged me asking if we wanted to come on Soccer AM and play a song and that Josh is gonna be there.
Scott – Oh wow what an experience.
Turnbull – So were all together and we have a backstory so I thought ‘brilliant’. We did have plans to go on a stag do but they only gave us a weeks notice so I rang to say to the lads ‘your gonna have to cancel the stag do, were gonna be playing live on telly’.
Scott – Did they cancel it?
Turnbull – Yeah but like anything in music, nothing is that simple, at the time we were just using in house sound engineers. They asked us who our manager was, I was like ‘well its me’. We had a manager but his wife got quite ill, she’s ok now thank the lord but she got quite unwell so he said he was sorry but that he had to take a step back. He did a lot for us so were always gonna be thankful for that but at the time it was just me doing it. We needed our own mixing desk and we needed a sound guy, well the show was on in 5 fucking days!
Scott – So you had to organise that for Soccer AM?
Turnbull – We had to get a sound guy, a mixing desk and hire equipment, so it was like shit what are we gonna do here? We had used this bloke, Dave once at The Wardrobe in Leeds so I was scouring social media trying to find him, so I’m ringing him up on messenger so I ask him what are you doing on the weekend? I’ve got two shows on the Friday and Saturday, how much would you want? he said X amount. I said if I pay you more can you come down to London and do the sound for us on Soccer AM. he was like ‘fucking hell I don’t know’ I said to him I need you to say yes. He said he could but I told him he needed a sound desk as well and he was laughing, so he went round loads of pubs trying to get a decent quality sound desk, we got one in the end and everything was sorted, it was just a few days of panic.
Scott – Of course, but you made it happen, you made it work.
Turnbull – We got down there and we had the best weekend, absolutely superb.
Scott – Tha’ts amazing for a lot of these bands, especially the younger generation. I see this Soccer AM, what it means for them, its like the mecca. I grew up with Soccer AM, it’s amazing, I would love to go on it myself, it’s a prestigious event for people in music and it does a lot for independent music, a lot for independent bands.
Turnbull – Oh massive, they do so much.
Scott – You got to respect that, it’s not always about the mainstream for them, it’s about helping these bands break through.
Turnbull – It’s to help bands out. A few weeks after this was the first time I had ever heard of this virus. They were gonna have Twisted Wheel on the week after us but they were saying they can’t have them on cos they had been in Italy, whats going on in Italy? And they said there was some virus going round there and then Covid just shut everything down. Actually we did two gigs York and Newcastle the week after Soccer AM which were both brilliant and then that was it for a couple of years or however long it was.
Scott – So what do you do when it all shuts down? I remember how I felt in lockdown, I was supposed to make this record I’ve just released now, I didn’t get to make it until afterwards. Did you guys fall into a bit of a rut during that time or were you all happy and positive? What happens for you in lockdown?
Turnbull – Well we’ve never been the most pro active band to say the least.
Scott – But you don’t look like that from the outside!
Turnbull – When I get obsessed with something I get obsessed, its quite an easy process, I’ll literally come up with a few chords and if I’m feeling inclined because I do all the girly songs, I’ll just sing it, I’ll do it on my phone, if its a bit more rocky I’ll send to Skaz.
Scott – So do you write the songs or is it a mixture of both of you? Are you the main song writer?
Turnbull – Well I do everything on guitar first.
Scott – So it comes from you.
Turnbull – Yeah and if I’m feeling like having a sing song, I cant sing, I’ll sing along with Skaz. Skaz has a good nack with songs like ‘YRA’.
Scott – Is Skaz your singer?
Turnbull – Skaz is our singer, he’s got a good imagination and he’s got a nastiness to his songs whereas I’m quite girly. But it works its a really good mix to be honest, it’s like ‘Darkness Falls’, that chorus, I must of written that when I was 18, just a kid and ‘Nothing Left To Say’ is one I did as a kid. So a lot of these songs are just tunes I did in my bedroom when I was a kid
Scott – So how old are you all now? You said you went to school together.
Turnbull – It’s rude to ask people their age. I’m thirty-nine mate.
Scott – Well I just turned forty myself. When your talking and telling me your story your timeline is so similar to mine, when I’ve gone away from music and when I’ve come back, its literally like for like.
Turnbull – So Covid hit, we had just released a gig at Leeds university and I’ve always wanted to play to a university capacity, you know that you just need to know the right people or you got to be able to play.
Scott – You’ve got to have a bit of a fan base, have something where you can sell tickets.
Turnbull – Or know the right people ha! It was always a dream of mine to play a university. So we got to lock down and our Leeds university gig went on sale and we sold it out in nine days. Actually we booked Brudenell Social Club and I was desperate to play at a university, I treat all our gigs like it’s our last one and I said to our manager ‘Listen if we sell out the Social Club can we play the uni?’ And he said to do two nights at the Social Club, I said to him ‘ I’m not asking you, I’m telling you if we sell the club out were playing the uni’. The tickets went out on sale, this is just after Soccer AM so it was perfect timing, I had been on nights I woke up about 11am and I looked at my phone and I had about twenty missed calls off Skaz I rang him up, he tells me we sold it out! I hung up, I didn’t even say bye, I rang our manager and told him to get us in the uni, I told him if you don’t get us the uni were not playing the Brudenell Social Club. Within five days we booked the university and we sold it out in nine days. That was probably the peak of this band. Couple of years ago just when Covid started that was when we peaked, tickets sales-wise and then fucking Covid come and after about a year the gig had been rescheduled four times, another gig had been postponed about four times I was starting to think is this ever going to go back to normal?
Scott – At the time everyone was in limbo.
Turnbull – I was having a wonderful time, kids were off school so I was spending quality time with my kids and my wife, I was doing one week on one week off at work so my work was still solid I had no worries at work so everything was really good to be honest but then when the gig finally came it was fucking mint, finally got to do it. About two years ago a fella called Jim Frasier started following us on Twitter and I started chatting to him and it turned out he was part of the youth academy in Aberdeen, he was mint. We came to do a show and he had told the whole of Aberdeen about us. We sold out Drummonds which is 300 capacity and we moved it to Unit 51 and we had a cracking night. The people we met there were unreal and Skaz says ‘lets write him a song’ so in ‘Outlaw’ the actual chorus is nicked from a football chant in Aberdeen and they play it before every match now.
Scott – That’s fantastic
Turnbull – It’s just really taken off in Aberdeen.
Scott – some of the best moments is getting your song played at a football match, what a feeling.
Turnbull -It’s amazing, it never gets old. I know that all this is going to come to and end sooner or later so you just have enjoy it while it’s happening. We played The Tunnels and it was absolutely unbelievable, honestly I can’t even tell you what it was like, it was insane, they were all singing, we were stood backstage and you could hear them all singing, they were doing loads of chants and when we were going on stage it was like when you watch a boxer doing their ring walk! People were like reaching out and grabbing us, it was absolutely hilarious.
Scott – You’ll have to get yourselves your own robe like a boxer!
Turnbull – It was brilliant in Aberdeen, we had fun in Glasgow. We sold The Lemon Tree out dead quick this time and we’ve got so many mates there, we always arrange to meet people before the show and we go and have a few pints with everyone.
Scott – That’s great, so your like the band with the most best friends.
Turnbull – The thing is me and Skaz we’re always chatty to other people, I always like to meet new people.
Scott – I can relate to your story, I’ve been there myself. There’s times when I have walked away from music. 2012 was the year for me, I’d just had enough of the music industry and my manager and best friend had passed away. This time when I’ve come back to music I’ve had to learn how to manage a band, get the team in place and so it feels like I’ve pressed the reset button. I understand the struggles you guys have been through. I wanted to ask you a bit about the album, how did that come about getting the recordings done? Is it something you did in lockdown, inbetween or did it come afterwards?
Turnbull – Well we had a few of them recorded from the first time around, I think we had five or six already recorded and then we just did them in dribs and drabs really. During lockdown we actually wrote and released ‘Darkness Falls’ which did quite well and then after that we just chucked a few songs together, we had a couple of old mixes that we edited and we just got 10 tracks and shoved them all together really.
Scott – That’s an honest way of recording because it’s the band in that time frame, that’s how you all come across to me, straight as fuck, no bullshit. I can guarantee your all loyal to each other. You should all be proud of what you guys have achieved especially since you made your comeback. I know you say you’ve pretty much winged it, it might feel like that to you guys but there’s thought and planning behind it, a bit of luck along the way as well as meeting the right people. You’ve done all this yourselves boys you should be really proud of it all. Who produces your music?
Turnbull – So there’s a guy called John I’ve worked with him forever, he used to be in York and he produced all my old bands and then he fucking disappeared! This would of been 10 years ago maybe longer, I got hold of him in London and we dragged him up to our end. We dragged him up from London every time we needed to record a song and it’s only recently that he’s gone and got a full time job and we cant get hold of him anymore! I have two new songs getting done at Young Thug in York, we’ve got a couple of new songs coming.
Scott – Who’s going to be working on your new album or is it just a couple of songs. whats the plan|?
Turnbull – We’ve got about five songs written, two of them are pretty much done. Johnny Hooker from Young Thugs in York. I’ve had a lady called Julia who’s just put some violins down for me to finish off one of our songs. It should be getting mixed tomorrow so were not a million miles away.
Scott – So you have new music on the way?
Turnbull – Yeah but it might be 3 or 4 months before it’s released.
Scott – That’s not long away really. It costs a lot of money to get the right team, to work with all these professionals. There’s a bullshit side of that as well, there is a bullshit side to the music industry that unfortunately you have to do a bit of it to get to a certain level.
Tunrbull – 90% of it is and that’s why all the people that support us are generally sports men and women. We’ve got some Olympians that support us, footballers and boxers, I cant think of any musicians ha!
Scott – Well I’m a musician and I’m a fan.
Turnbull – Actually I take that back cos Shed Seven have been absolutely great.
Scott – So festivals, have you got any plans?
Turnbull – Who knows?! I’m trying to think of something, there’s more chance of my granny coming back to life than us being offered a slot at a festival its just one of them things, if they cant make money out of you then they’re not gonna fucking ask you and that’s how it rolls.
Scott – I’d of thought Reading and Leeds festival, you’d think they’d have you guys on there because you bring a crowd.
Turnbull – They don’t want to know.
Scott – That doesn’t make any sense at all and it’s the reason I set up my own DIY label after getting ripped off loads of times, it’s the reason I do Music Scene Wales. I can put my own shows on. It’s like what you guys are doing, your creating something yourself and that’s what we want show these younger bands, There’s a way of doing things where you don’t have to do it their way. Some of these bands don’t know what it takes. You have to get some management, some representation, there’s so many different ways of doing it. You guys have got something where you can give back to the industry, these independent bands can see what your doing from the outside.
Turnbull – We did try the route of BBC Introducing and all that stuff but they just didn’t want to know.
Scott – it’s another clickey scene, I’ve been there myself, we get some radio but not enough. The playlists are all clickey, its all who you know. A lot of it is middle of the road music. With social media whats your go to platform for communicating?
Turnbull – Twitter. At the end of the day, if you’ve got no goals, like we didn’t have any goals at all then you cant fail. We didn’t sit in a room and say right this is what we want to achieve, we were like ‘oh fucking hell were doing a bastard gig, now were gonna have to practice’ and then everything just rolled into the next!
Scott – One day at a time kind of thing.
Turnbull – Yeah, 42 Records asks me if we want to release and album and we thought that sounded like a good idea.
Scott – Where are 42 Records?
Turnbull – Manchester
Scott – And they released your first record?
Turnbull – Yeah I think we’d done Soccer AM and the gig at the university and I got asked to do a zoom call with some Australian record label, I had a call with him and he was saying you can be big in Australia and America, tried that big sale with me, I’m a bit older I’ve got two young kids and a job, I ain’t going to be flying to Australia to be playing shows anytime soon. We hardly ever leave Yorkshire! So i thought to myself, well if they’re interested in us then maybe someone a little closer to home might be so I just happened to message 42 records on Twitter asking would you be interested in working with us, they got us some artwork done for the ‘Enemies’ single. I think it was already out on socials, so we just released the CD of ‘Enemies’ with 42 Records. We’d got the CD done and I looked through the charts and saw that there was a physical singles charts. So I put a campaign together, lets get it to number one. I got it into the local press, put it all over Twitter and I kept getting bollocked from 42 Records as apparently there’s some rule that says you can’t do a campaign to get it in to the charts, I think its a total load of rubbish.
Scott – Record labels do that on the sly anyway.
Turnbull – But the record labels own the charts. I just slammed it everywhere, we sold a shed load of them and it got to the night and were all in my mates pub in the middle of lockdown and it got to number fucking two were wondering if we should we be happy? Then we released ‘Darkness Falls’ we were all waiting in the pub for it to come in the charts and it never even charted, it wasn’t even in the top 100 so I rang 42 Records to say ‘What the fuck has gone on here?’ and the record label contacted the charts dug out all the information it could and ended up updating the charts on the Monday, this has probably never been done before, and were at number eleven. The company that counted the records thought that we were just some shitty independent band and wasn’t even going to put us in the charts!
Scott – That speaks volumes, you just know that’s happening alot.
Turnbull – We emailed the shop that sold the copies and asked what position we would have been and he said number one. Bearing in mind ‘Enemies’ was number two. It was quite unbelievable. So I’m crying myself to sleep emailing every fucker I could get hold of who works for the charts company saying it’s been my dream all my life to get number one and its been taken away from me. So were stuck at number eleven and Phil the record label guy tells us we probably are number eleven and that were lucky we even got in.
Scott – Number eleven is still an achievement. We’ve just done ‘Top 70 albums of 2022’ I don’t know if you saw that you appeared on Music Scene Wales? I think you were at number 30 or something near that.
Turnbull – Nice, I gotta say if your not first your last ha!
Scott – It’s all about what your doing next. What gigs have you got coming up?
Turnbull – Glasgow, Aberdeen, Middlesborough, Leeds and Leeds
Scott – That’s a good run of gigs coming up. Your smashing it mate! I really appreciate your time today and taking the time to talk to myself for Music Scene Wales.
Turnbull – No worries, thankyou.
Skylights have just announced they will be playing TRNSMT in Scotland on the 9th July and have just announced their new single ‘Rebellion’ to be released in March.
”an awe-inspiring record full of vivid freshness” – Wales Arts Review
“Influenced by the Siberian and Mongolian wilderness, as open and vast as the limitless sky around them, ‘ETO’ perfectly captures the trio’s growing confidence with its open-hearted soaring melody’s and lyrical vulnerability.” – Music Scene Wales
2. The Heavy North – Electric Soul Machine
“Electric Soul Machine is solid proof of The Heavy North’s songwriting abilities and command of their instruments plus a good knowledge of their sound and genre with a unique touch. It has well-thought dynamics that’ll have your undivided attention right from the 1st note” – Rock Era Magazine
“This album is packed to the brim with the kind of upbeat refrains and harmonies that’ll have you dancing along (in your chair if you must) from start to finish.” – Music Scene Wales
3. Holy Coves – Druids and Bards
“Druids And Bards is a powerful album which deserves your time and attention. If there is any justice it will be up there in the next couple of months in the end-of-year ‘Best Of’ lists.”- Louder Than War
Druids and Bards is a superb, flawlessly-crafted album, as close to perfect as any I’ve heard this year. Every track is outstanding, making for a joyful listening experience from start to finish. Holy Coves are back, and then some! – Eclectic Music Lover
4. Fontaines D.C.
“The Irish band’s third album is a fierce, dirge-like thundercloud of ruination” – Independent
“Jason Pierce returns with a sonic feast. The man also known as J. Spaceman delivers a dense, orchestrated record that is as solid as it is sprawling, proving that he’s a master of sonics. – NME
“A sweet din of magnificent melodies.” – The Guardian
6. Sea Power
“One of their best works…these dynamic, grandiose anthems are worth getting to know.” – Standard
“A hopeful and defiant record that rails against ugly, insular points of view.” – NME
7. The Brian Jonestown Massacre
“Brian Jonestown Massacre is out of this world, quite literally. Highly prolific and ever-present in the alternative-indie scene.” – Clash Music
“Immersive. Beautiful. Everything you could want from a 180grm black vinyl LP.” – Music Scene Wales
8. The Black Angels – Wilderness of Mirrors
“It’s all part of an astonishing cinematic tapestry. This album will leave you so wobbly and weak-kneed, you might have to take a few days off work to recover. Headphone melter of the year so far, for sure.” – Louder Sound
“Heavy vibes. Floaty. Cinematic. Committed.” – Music Scene Wales
9. Goat – Oh Death
“Oh Death is an extremely well put together, cohesive and dynamic album. It offers trippy and wild afro-beats with jazz infused psych rock, louder and more aggressive than Goat has ever sounded.” – The Sleeping Shaman
“It’s as confusing as hell, but it’s also thrilling, occasionally daft, and deliriously, gloriously imaginative. Goat’s best album.” – Louder Sound
10. Voldo – Melting Pot
“Altogether, as an album, it works really well, with the group’s customary taste and precision balanced against a new looseness and a return to earlier, funky playing patterns. That’s more than enough to make it the best Booker T. album in some time, the Memphis Gas of the Year, and a Major Rock Event for everyone.” – Rolling Stone
“Everything here is what you want from an all time great album.” – Music Scene Wales
11. Bob Vylan – Presents The Price Of Life
“Fiercely relevant, furious punk anthems. The London duo’s alt-rock tracks about inequality will speak to a wider audience than their previous album did, but they also never soften their edges.”- NME
12. Lewca – Friday Night Rockstar
“Lewca smashes it with his release of the debut album, Friday Night Rockstar. The Brixton-born but French-living artist comes at us from Paris with love, humour, melancholy, and a bag full of drugs. This album is sexy and relentlessness.” – Up To Hear Music
13. Hippies vs Ghosts – Giamocs
“Giamocs oozes class from beginning to end.” – Music Scene Wales
14. Josienne Clarke – Now & Then
“There is heartfelt emotion laid bare on this most personal of song cycles.” – Folk Radio
15. Suede – Autofiction
“A renewed sense of urgency – and enjoyment – pulses through this punchy, passionate comeback” – The Guardian
16. Wet Leg – Wet Leg
“An instant classic debut that justifies the hype” – NME
17. The Shed Project – The Curious Mind Of A Common Man
“They’re here for a good time, they wear their influences on their sleeves and couldn’t give a fuck what anyone else thinks” – Louder Than War
18. The Shop Window – A 4 Letter Word
“A 4 Letter Word is the much anticipated follow up to their 2021 debut The State Of Being Human.” – Louder Than War
19. The Telephones – Prosaic Turbulence
“The Telephones mix and unfold in a very beautiful and successful way their influences which come from bands of the 60s such as The Byrds, Love, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, and The Doors etc.” – Gew Gaw
20. The Smile – A Light For Attracting Attention
“Attention is the brighter star in the Radiohead extended universe — maybe even the brightest — because the music balances beloved old sounds and new ideas while the lyrics speak pointedly to modern horrors.” – Vulture
21.The Battery Farm – FLIES
“FLIES is a valiant effort from The Battery Farm whose ferocious and distorted sound really feels the anguish and anger of modern-day society. The instrumentation is hard-hitting and experimental, the vocal variety matches the moods and themes of the album and shows how far the group is developing their sound from their previous EP.” – RGM
22. Florence &The Machine – Dance Fever
“Wonderful wildness from the most thrilling pop star of her generation In its commitment to euphoria, ‘Dance Fever’ is an album that looks forward to the release of all the pandemic’s pent-up energy at this summer’s festivals” – Independent
23. The Snuts – Burn The Empire
“Urgent excitement holds together the many twists.” – NME
24. Adam Walton – Afal
“Afal is an album that gets under the skin, that lingers and whispers at you in the darkest corners of your day.” – Wales Arts Review
25. Bjork – Fossora
“One of her hardest-hitting albums.” – The Guardian
26. Nova Twins – Supernova
“If you like music with attitude, passion and ferocity then this album and Nova Twins are most definitely for you. ‘Supernova’ really is a half hour of power and it will do nothing but continue to push this incredible band on their upwards trajectory!” – Full Pelt Music
27. Gwenno – Tresor
“Keeping “the Cornish language alive and singing Written in Cornwall and sung almost entirely in the local tongue, this album is as beautiful and strange as the county itself.” – Standard
28. Warpaint – Radiant Like This
“This comeback is a tribute to what you can accomplish when creating with people you love, proving the band can’t be tied to a specific scene.” – NME
29. Bastions – Majestic Desolation
“Majestic Desolation is a brief flash of ferocity. But in spite of its shortness, it leaves a lasting impact long after the final chords have rung out.” – Kerrang
30. Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard – Backhand Deals
“An invigorating blast of 70s power-pop that just about avoids the realms of pastiche thanks to some smart observational writing and irresistible guitar hooks.” – Guitar
31. The Skinner Brothers – Soul Boy II
“The Skinners Brothers sound is expertly varied and crafted, and you cant help but get slapped with little busts of familiarity. Senses are awaken by new tunes that you will feel like you’ve moshed to before. Think of it like this, if the restaurant menu was filled with all the big indie rock acts well The Skinners Brothers latest offering would be the mixed grill. Yummy.” – All Music Magazine
32. Skylights – What You Are
“Their emotive and raucous tunes fit the live indie-rock atmosphere without a doubt.” – RGM
33. Arctic Monkeys – The Car
“The band’s musical purpose comes through crystal clear in the elegant strings and subtle riffs cleverly woven throughout album, resulting in the most mature work the band has ever released.” Rolling Stone
34. Pixy Jones – Bits n Bobs
“It’s an eclectic mix ranging from experimental and psychedelic, synth-infused pop numbers, to the known and loved 60’s Beetle’s-esk rock harmonies – as well as the odd country blues nugget thrown in which is paired with the occasional Pixy Jones twist. Talk about an album living up to its name. Consisting of 13 tracks in total, ‘Bits n Bobs’ is truly a solid launch to any solo career.” – Hive Magazine
35. Deja Vega – Personal Hell
“With a sonic bang of pure power that screams along at breakneck speed throughout, which burns but never crashes. It’s already a contender for one of the albums of the year and I swear you will play this over and over again.” – Louder Than War
36. Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band – Dear Scott
“Can music really save your mortal soul? Maybe…Maybe not… But after listening to the new Michael Head and the Red Elastic band album Dear Scott you will surely think it can.” – Louder Than War
37. Alvvays – Blue Rev
“A subtle but satisfying expansion – The Canadians’ third album is still identifiably Alvvays, but the hooks here are sweeter, the instrumentation brighter, the energy more palpable.” – NME
38. James Domestic – Carrion Repeating
“He’s put words and music to vinyl and the results make compelling listening. Carrion Repeating is an album of eleven genre-less observational tracks, documenting our pitiful existence.” – Louder Than War
39. Horace Andy – Midnight Rocker
“Over the past five decades, the legacy of Andy’s voice has reflected his music’s history. Just as the acetate of a dubplate wears with each play, giving the genre its uniquely decaying instrumental quality, so his voice has matured from the clean, high-register clarion call on breakout single Skylarking into a richer, more vulnerable tenor. His first collaboration with British dub pioneer Adrian Sherwood, Midnight Rocker is the perfect showcase for this late-career sound, revisiting a selection of Andy’s earlier material in addition to six new tracks.” – The Guardian
40. Peaness – World Full Of Worry
“Peaness have delivered the aural equivalent of a sugar rush that leaves you exhilarated but with a bit of a come down. It won’t be long before you’re listening again though, and want to take again and again. A brilliant debut from a trio I’m looking forward to catching live soon.” – Louder Than War
41. Joe Adhemar – About The Soul
“Joe Adhemar is a genuinely individual voice with a genuinely individual view of the world. Which is giving listeners the chance to appreciate someone who stands apart from the crowd.” – Subba Cultcha
42. Just Mustard – Heart Under
“Just Mustard are a band completely at one with their sound, and with Heart Under they have well and truly mastered the art of atmospheric rock.” – Loud And Quiet
43. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Omnium Gatherum
“The album is a smorgasbord of delights for any and all fans. Omnium Gatherum is proof that the band are enjoying a newfound freedom of being unshackled from their own self-imposed limitations to work albums through individual styles. Everything is on the table to be devoured, a pure feast of aural pleasure.” – Louder Than War
44. Weyes Blood – And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow
“And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow gently bombards you with one fantastic tune after another.” – The Guardian
45. First Aid Kit – Palomino
“Palomino’ flits between the certainties and uncertainties of love with ease, strengthened by deeper musical experimentation that won’t alienate longtime fans. Another gem in First Aid Kit’s consistently good arsenal of timeless, harmony-rich roots music.” – NME
46. Jessie Buckley & Bernard Butler – For All Our Days That Tear The Heart
“The actor and the former Suede guitarist deliver a beautifully produced folk-inflected set that showcases Buckley’s magical voice.” – The Guardian
47. Foals- Life Is Yours
“Foals headed into this process as a lean, mean, party-starting machine. The opening title track showcases that taut approach, warm optimism and fixed focus as Afrobeat rhythms greet Yannis comes blinking out of lockdown, rave-ready, can in hand.” – NME
48. The Myterines – Reeling
“Reeling’ is gripping throughout, and the band always seem ready to ascend to another level.” – NME
49. Columbia – Embrace The Chaos
“A life-affirming set of songs that will smash whatever stands in its way. For once, we alternative types beg the gatekeepers to put up barriers. It’ll only be that much sweeter when Columbia destroys them!” – Travellers Tunes
50. Kula Shaker – The Once and Future King
“It’s a cracking slice of psychedelic rock at it’s best and a great return from the quartet who brought us the brilliant K back in the mid nineties.” – Louder Than War
51. Wrest – End All The Days
“The act’s new collection of songs End All The Days paints pictures and creates unparalleled snapshots of days gone by, of memories not so pretty. Lyrically, the songs are poised expertly, and are poetically balanced.” – I am Tuned Up
52. Hot Chip – Freakout/Release
“One of the most consistently entertaining electro-pop outfits of their generation have released their most introspective album yet.” – NME
53. Yard Act – The Overload
“A wonderfully wacky debut…The Leeds band’s debut is a wild ride through their Yorkshire upbringing, and the curly characters they picked up along the way.” – NME
54. TVAM – High Art Lite
“Listening to TVAM’s fierce and fiery new long-player, ‘High Art Lite’, feels like a dress rehearsal for this unavoidable solar apocalypse. The album is surf garage in a furnace. A synth orgy in a barbecue pit. A blistering barrage of fervent guitars and guttural synths, washed in plastic luminosity like a nuclear spill at Wigan Pier.” – Electronic Sound
55. Mother sun – Train Of Thought
“The album includes many of Petrucci’s finest solos, but the overall impression conveyed by the record is of unstoppable, if murky, power.” – Louder Sound
56. Orange G – The Void Bereft
“Beautifuly crafted songs with outstanding vocals.” – Music Scene Wales
57. Ben Pagano – Exploring Dreams
“Ben Pagano enthralls on the rousing “Feeling Down,” navigating both spacious synth-laden soundscapes and impassioned rock with cohesive success.” – Obscure Sound
58. Mike Legere – Memory Forming Clouds
“Awonderful slice of raw emotion.” – Up To Hear
59. Shadow Bones – In Another Life
“This beautifully written album is one that tells of Lukes demons and vulnerabilities through his sweet lyrics full of emotion.” – Music Scene Wales
60. Big Thief – Dragon New Warm Mountian I Believe In You
“They are a band you absolutely want to love – female-fronted, searching and sensitive, organically grown, tackling themes like the infinite as well as confessionals about love and loss.” – The Guardian
61. Moor Mother – Jazz Codes
“A stunning continuum of Black music.” – The Guardian
62. Gabriels – Angels & Queens – Part 1
“Brooding gospel soul with a shimmy and a stomp.” – The Guardian
63. Ezra Furman – All Of Us Flames
“Returning to familiar sounds of vintage girl groups and rock’n’roll, Ezra Furman writes trans pride and existential fear into an album that reveals the full strength of her vulnerabilities.” – Pitchfork
64. The Reverse Cowgirls – Fortis et Fidus
“While never losing the cow-punk fervour of its predecessors, Fortis et Fidus is a markedly different beast, lyrically poignant and musically inventive with key tracks.” – Louder Than War
65. Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Cool It Down
“A triumphant, rewarding return.” – NME
66. Red Hot Chili Peppers – Return of the Dream Canteen
“An Overwhelming Feast.” – NME
67. Wunderhorse – Cub
“Teenage punk evolves into a rock’n’roll troubador.” – NME
68. The Lightning Seeds – See You in the Stars
“See You In The Stars` is a welcome return to Lightening Seeds and it has it`s kind of yin and yang moments throughout with some really upbeat tunes and some more reflective and thoughtful life musings.” – Maximum Volume Music
69. Pale Blue Eyes – Souvenirs
“Heartwarming optimism is what characterises their debut from the get-go. Souvenir begins with frenetic electropop opener ‘Globe’, its underpinning rich vocal and twinkly synth doubling calling to mind OMD and New Order, and the chanted “you got this” call and response oozing hope and self belief.” – Clash Magazine
70. Woodoo Man – Y Nos
“The album draws on the artist’s love of solitude. It is a celebration of the beauty of the night and its mystery as he urges us to free our minds and open our hearts to the unknown.” – Music Scene Wales