Music is often talked about as a great form of therapy, whether that be listening to it or creating it, there is a lot to be taken from a song that can hit you lyrically where you live. Clear Vinyl, an up and coming Sheffield band have this quality in spades, and their new single ‘Show Me How To Live’ is a wonderful mix of personal lyricism and sugary, energetic guitar melodies that burrow their way into your brain and never want to leave. Clear Vinyl is currently made up of Josh Feeley (vocals), Sam Hutchinson (lead guitar), Ed Holmes (drums) and Jonjo Caton (guitar), and you should learn these names because you will be hearing them a lot more shortly.
This recent direction from the band is best explained by frontman Josh Feeley, who said that they wanted to push their sound in a new direction after having spent lockdown listening to bands like Stereophonics, Go West, and Earth, Wind and Fire. Although it hasn’t always been this way, the previous incarnation sounded like bands such as latter-day Bring Me The Horizon and heavy pop-punk influences. Josh said:
“We spent two years writing, and came back with a completely different sound.”
Lockdown has brought about this shift in direction, with excellent results and the band couldn’t be happier.
“We now want to write music that people can dance to and have a great time too,” Josh says.
The band worked with producer/friend Antonio and others in the creation of ‘Show Me How To Live’, which is a track that’s euphoric and optimistic even with its darker undertones. It was mental health that has shifted the lyrics in such a personal direction:
“back then no one really spoke about the feelings that much, and they just let it get on top of them, and we spent a long time just being very reserved. And I think when we finally opened up, this whole wave of emotion and storytelling sort of like flown into one and I just had loads of lyrics to play with.”
Lyrically ‘Show Me How To Live’ comes from a place that deals with past experiences of toxic friendships, relationships, memories and things that you would rather forget. The song goes on to say how if you can surround yourself with people that care about you and support you, then you can achieve anything. The band carry this message of hope with them, and that their music is a safe space, and this is carried on when Josh says:
“if there’s anyone out there who’s going through a really bad situation or doesn’t have anyone to speak to, we hope that they can reach out to us and so our inbox is always open.”
The band is in no shortage of personal trauma, with the death of beloved drummer James Umney, who tragically was killed in a car accident late last August. One of Josh’s favourite memories of a gig they played involves James when playing at Schlossgrabenfest festival in Germany. James and Jack had a few too many the night before and the sight of playing in front of thousands of people terrified them.
“It’s just a memory I’ll have and cherish forever because they were just so scared, but they just couldn’t stop giggling.”
When I asked about the chances of an EP or more new material soon, I was teased with:
“I just can’t wait to show you guys really because I’ve got so much music coming, like we’ve been busy over lockdown cause we’ve not been able to gig.”
You’ll be able to hear more of the new material on tour when the band return to the road and blast their new songs across venues again.
When I asked him about the thing he misses about touring, his response was that of any professional musician passionate about his work.
“It’s seeing everyone, it’s seeing the faces at the gigs and that connection that you have with the crowd, I do miss that.””
It’s no wonder Josh misses the connection of other people, something everyone has lost over the last year of lockdowns. The people smiling, singing, laughing and dancing around will return, and when it does, it’ll be Clear Vinyl’s time to shine.
