Hey guys... It's been a while.
I'd always said we'd never be a band to set up a funding page to ask for support... That somehow we'd find away to make ends meet no matter what. All of us have always maintained part time jobs to sustain our passion with the hope that one day we'd catch a break and be able to make our dreams a reality. We've been through so much as a unit over the past couple of years and are ever stronger for it. After an incredible 2019 with highlights such as supporting Bloc Party, festivals like Truck and Isle of wight with rammed tents, playing 30+ UK wide dates in 2 months over Freshers events and on tour with our good friends Bang Bang Romeo at the back end of 2019. All of this ongoing while trying to work out the best way to put out the music we'd spent all our creative efforts on during our time together.
After the November tour we really took the time to meticulously plan & our 2020 had a really nice ring to it... We would finally put out some music that spoke about the highs and lows of what we had been through together in the form of Sunlight & For Heaven's Sake. Two songs cut from the same cloth, laced with this message that... you know... Everything's going to be ok.
I don't know about you but the world already had a bit of a dystopian feel to it... even with the rose tinted glasses we wear. I could go on about how Sunlight was written the first day I heard about this new virus at the back end of last year... but sometimes it's not always a good thing to be proven right... Regardless, as I obsessively watched this parasite get progressively worse and change the world as we know it, I had these two songs so I could reap what I sowed a little bit: To keep going through times of turmoil.
December came and we took a trip to Brighton, where it has always felt like a second home to us. We set out to record with our good friend the multi-talented Jake Smallwood (of the band White Room) at his home studio. We've shared so many amazing nights together over the years with mutual friends, dancing into the early hours, talking about the songs that shaped us, I knew Jake would really capture the vision of what we were trying to portray. We know he is equally as proud of how these songs turned out & could easily write a whole essay about how thankful we are to him! However, getting these put to vinyl will give us a chance to thank everyone involved a little more personally too.
These recordings were passed on to another teenage icon of ours, Mike Fraser. Someone who had monumental input on records that formed exactly who we are as people... not just a musicians. To be considered alongside the names he has worked with is still completely mind blowing. Both songs sound came out better than we could have ever imagined.
Having these songs alone is never enough... February came and we knew with them being the first taste of concrete music we put out we needed to set the scene with some music videos. Without going into too much detail I feel like we managed to achieve this. We shot Sunlight with a team of people we absolutely adore and captured were able to capture our vision perfectly... knowing that TFL would have a very different look after this whole ordeal. Looking back on the video now is so surreal considering it was filmed on the day of the First death of COVID in the UK (splattered across the newspaper in the Cafe Scene) and it ended up being only a week before social distancing measures were put in place. We literally wouldn't have been able to film it any later. Again completely mind blowing.
Finally we had some music out and though the world seemed to be falling apart, the sun was shining. With the pandemic our big opportunities to get these songs heard dissolved with most other aspects of normal life. This meant our debut hasn't been as widely received as maybe it would've been. I suppose there's little point pining over what could've been, all things considered we are just so humbled that any one at all is using us as part of the soundtrack of their life, bracing this storm but looking up at the Sun with a bit of hope when the clouds part briefly.
Lockdown hit... and I'm just gonna be honest here. My mental heath took an absolute battering. Just as thing's seemed to be going our way... the realisation that the very thing that had been keeping me going over these past years was pulled from beneath our feets. Not to sound like an X factor sob story... We're all in the same boat I know... but to be sat in the same four walls day in day out and delete every gig from our calendar really hit hard. I've always been really disenfranchised with the way things work now with streaming and social media ECT... probably why we always chose live shows as the most efficient way to share our music.
With all this in mind, the response to everything we have been doing is overwhelming and we couldn't be happier for it. Well... Unless maybe we could put them to wax? We appreciate £10 is a bit spenny but we're gonna have to make 'em all ourselves which will get costly with how many times we're likely to spill glue all over the packaging...
As well as this we'll come up with some rewards for anyone who helps us reach the goal and hopefully the target we've set will mean everyone who donates at least £10 will get a vinyl delivered to them... We'll only be able to press a certain amount due to the funding and obviously it might take some time to get them made with the way the world is sitting right now... 'til then we are working crazy hard on some new songs we are super excited about which will be out as our first EP at some point over the next couple of months... With some more homemade videos as what else can we do?!?!
If you've read this far thanks for baring with us... It's a massive weight off to let everyone know where we are at... Just maybe 2020 can still have a nice ring to it despite everything going on.
Yours Truly
LNHM