The Band: SAD BOYS CLUB

The Release: ‘YEAH PEOPLE TALK BUT YOU’VE FORGOTTEN HOW TO LIVE'

The Format: FOUR TRACK DIGITAL EP

The Release Date: OUT NOW

The Tracklisting:
1. ‘DON’T LET IT GET TO THAT’
2. ‘SILVERLINED’
3. ‘MACHINE GUNNERESS’
4. ‘TWIN SISTER’

The Digital Link: smarturl.it/sadboysclub_yeahep

The Truth: SAD BOYS CLUB are from Crouch End in Northern Londonshire. They now consist of Jacob Wheldon (vocals), Tom MacColl (drums), Jake Chatterton (guitar) and Pedro Caetano Leite (bass / vocals). ‘Yeah People Talk But You’ve Forgotten How To Live’ is their debut EP which includes recent slinky single (and Huw Stephens favourite) ‘Silverlined’.

The ‘Yeah People Talk But You’ve Forgotten How To Live’ EP also includes the deceptively jaunty ‘Machine Gunneress’, which coincidentally makes an appearance on the new This Feeling ‘Big In 2019’ compimilation, featuring 30 tracks by a ragged bunch of new noise terrors festooned across two blood red vinyl albums as per this link here: https://www.blood-records.co.uk/product/this-feeling-big-in-2019-gatefold-double-album-signed/

To celebrate the release Sad Boys Club head out to these sad boys clubs here: JANUARY 19TH: LONDON HOLLOWAY ROAD NAMBUCCA
(This Feeling show with Zuzu, Lacuna Blue, The Estevans and many more)

MARCH 2ND: BRIGHTON GREEN DOOR STORE
(Hidden Herd Sptlght show with Hey Charlie, Dead Naked Hippies, Currls)

MAY 4TH: LIVE AT LEEDS FESTIVAL 2019
(with Metronomy, Sundara Karma, Tom Grennan and many, many more)

The ‘Yeah People Talk But You’ve Forgotten How To Live’ EP’s lead-off track ‘Silverlined’ is intelligent, literate alt.rock in excelsis, a huggable Cure-esque ‘80s pop beat underpinning Jacob’s concerned vocals while the shiny chorus encapsulates their casually effervescent happy/sad gothpop vibe. And the rest of ‘Yeah People Talk But You’ve Forgotten How To Live’ is similarly contradictory: chillingly challenging, but breezily accessible; intellectually leftfield, yet daytime-radio-friendly. This is defiant, flighty alt.rock that is secretly looking for a comprehending cuddle.

Such is smart life with Sad Boys Club, the newest saviours lurking on the alt.rock block. Over the past year or so they have self-released a furious flurry of hyper-excellent singles with names like ‘Know’, ’15/01’, ‘American Spirit’ and ‘Sleepyhead’, all of which mixed modern shiny pop palavers with classic alternative tactics. The end results are a touch like the mythical missing link between The 1975 and Placebo but with perhaps an added splash of Smashing Pumpkins, a waft of The War On Drugs and a crafty thimbleful of The Cure here and there.

It’s onstage where the fragrant theatrics and occasional bellowing outbursts of Jacob really hit their straps, arms a’twirling and fringe a’whirling as he embodies the snarling / smiling sadness of the boys club behind him. And if these anthems for the broken-hearted sound like the soundtrack to immense teenage angst then little wonder – Sad Boys Club have been dabbling in the dark art of songwriting since their pre-teens and some of those furiously excellent singles were written when they were barely 15 years old. Small wonder that singer Jacob should have some supreme words of wisdom to impart about each of the EP tracks, much like this:

‘Don’t Let It Get To That’
I wrote DLIGTT with Fred MacPherson over a few sessions that took the best part of a year. Writing with Fred is some of the most fun you can have in a bedroom, there’s a lot of heavenward pointed fingers, air guitar solos, beatboxing. It's the second track we’ve written together, the first being a song called ‘Ultimate Super Megababe’. He can have that one for Spector. DLIGTT felt like the natural introduction to the EP, thematically and sonically. It’s about navigating disconnects, hurt, all the darker underbelly that comes with meaningful relationships. Let love win. Pedro’s production on this track is formidable - it feels like a bold first stroke for the world we’re trying to create.

‘Silverlined’
‘Silverlined’ was the first song I wrote with this project in mind, I think. I was quite taken with Dua Lipa’s track ‘Be The One’ at the time (I still am), it had a charm I wanted to re-contextualize, a danceable melancholy. We’re a happy-sad project aren’t we? I wanted to wrap this idea of social masks, of difficulties to express full truths in a mask of itself. Melodically, it feels like a love song, which in a sense I suppose it is, but its love is desperate and concerned as opposed to the romantic, John Hughes glamour it’s presented with; there’s a tension.

‘Machine Gunneress’
The Machine-Gunneress in a State of Grace is a Hans Bellmer sculpture. I came across it several years ago. it’s a visceral piece of work, extremely disturbing. I’ll let you seek it out for yourself. It’s not been too easy of a time being Jewish recently - it’s disrupted many of my friendships. This song considers one in particular: it’s a love letter to him, a plea for a return to the better times, for some understanding. It’s a statement; there’s some anger there, but it’s not a political record; it’s anti-politic, it's mostly cathartic. I still consider him a brother.

‘Twin Sister’
This began as a wild Haim-via-Duran Duran-via-‘I’ve just bought a new sample pack’-inspired instrumental Pedro sent me. It took a while to sculpt the dynamic urgency we were after but I think the boys ended up capturing that with a lot of clarity. It’s a real mood. The lyric is an internal duologue between the person you think you are and the person you were meant to be at this point. It’s a space I find myself returning to over and over again; Mary is a harsh judge.

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