The Sundowners

(This feature first appeared in issue #67 of Shindig! magazine. For the full unedited Q&A, click over the jump at the bottom of the post.)

The Wirral quintet come of age with new LP Cut The Master. Duncan Fletcher gets caught up in its lush majesty.


It's no surprise that an album as fully realised as Cut The Master results from deep, encyclopedic musical listening and a love of cult horror films. Though references are many, the band's sound is unique. Lead guitarist Alf Skelly explains their influences - “ I was listening to a lot of Rotary Connection, Radiohead and I've always been obsessed with Scott Walker, Axelrod, DJ Shadow. 'Great Beauty', the first track we recorded was inspired by the film The Great Beauty and Scott Walker's 'The Plague'. The whole album references a lot of music we love - Jane Weaver, Townes Van Zandt, Nancy Priddy, Wendy & Bonnie, Common People, Can, Christine Harwood, Martin Denny, United States of America, Mammas and Papas, The Yardbirds, Gainsbourg's Melody Nelson and an underrated band who have inspired us from the start - Shocking Blue.”

The heart of the record however lies in the dual female harmonies of Niamh Rowe and Fiona Skelly. Niamh expands on how two voices are better than one - “I really love Simon and Garfunkel's arrangements for harmonies, they're not obvious at all, I have no idea how Art thinks of them, they just weave so beautifully with each other. Another heartfelt pairing I love that is Emmylou and Dylan on Desire, she can sing with anyone and it will sound amazing but there's something so emotional and endearing of their voices together.”

Unlike their self-titled debut LP which was shaped by three years of touring, Cut The Master was written and arranged in the rehearsal room then recorded at Liverpool's Parr Street Studios. Alf is keen to recognise the input of elder brothers James and Ian (The Coral) - “We had taken the recordings as far as we could and James came in and breathed new life into it, he took out a lot of layers, back to how we'd do it live... James is a really great producer, he gets straight to the point, he works so well alongside Ian and Rich Turvey who both go above and beyond for us, we wouldn't be where we are without any of them.”

Finders Keepers supremo Andy Votel also co-produced a couple of tracks and provided short cinematic interludes between the tracks. Alf explains how their friendship developed after playing the Finders Keepers stage at Festival No.6 last year - “We got up and performed Can's Monster Movie with Malcolm Mooney who is the real deal. We'd rehearsed in Hoylake playing 'Mary, Mary So Contrary' and 'Yoo Doo Right' with him in our backward seaside town! He couldn't get his head around a bacon butty so he signed it for me haha! I still have it! It was one of the best gigs I've been involved in... Andy made the album for us, he brought the edge we wanted with his instrumentals, there's no plug-in or pedal that can do that. The way he is about music he's a one off - he told Niamh "I don't polish a turd, I turd a polish" which cracked us up! We're working on a few more bits with him this summer that we'll be announcing soon.”

Cut The Master is out now on Skeleton Key

(Click over the jump for the full Q&A)

Sundowners - Cut The Master

(This review first appeared in issue #66 of Shindig! magazine.)

Skeleton Key CD / LP

“Times change and we move on” sing Niamh Rowe and Fiona Skelly on album opener 'Before The Storm'. Indeed they do. The Sundowners have blossomed from their Byrdsian roots into confident, forceful purveyors of contemporary psychedelic rock. Cut The Master, their second long player is in part produced by The Coral's James Skelly and Finders Keepers supremo Andy Votel, with the latter providing short cinematic interludes between the tracks. A nice touch which aids the album's flow but it's the band and the songs that are the real stars here.

Space-rock, folk-rock, sinewy bass-lines, propulsive beats and a synthy ambiance combine into a truly special brew. And then there's those dual female vocals. Low points? There aren't any. This is modern psychedelia at it's best, an album that hits big with analogue textures and timeless melodies. The Wirral five-piece have stepped up. There must be something in the water up there!

Archive Interview #15 - James Skelly

As part of an occasional series I'll be posting archive interviews, pieces and reviews I've done for other sites over the years. This is a short but sweet interview I did with James Skelly (The Coral) centred around the release of his Love Undercover LP back in 2013. The Interview originally appeared on Subba-Cultcha.

June 3rd sees the release of Love Undercover, the debut album by James Skelly & The Intenders. Skelly is best known as the main vocalist and songwriter in The Coral, a band that have released a string of critically acclaimed albums, gaining Mercury nominations and the respect of their peers along the way. It's now three years since the last album Butterfly House. With no new Coral material on the horizon, having abandoned sessions with producer John Leckie for a sixth album half way through, the various members have kept themselves busy with side projects and solo albums. James' brother (and Coral drummer) Ian recently released his his album Cut From A Star, a record that maintains the Coral's gentle psychedelia. Hot on its heels comes older brother James' effort with new backing band The Intenders. It's an altogether more soulful, rootsy affair. though with just enough of The Coral's folk-rock to keep the faithful happy. Keen to point out that it's a group effort, the band will be touring throughout the summer (dates below). We caught up with James prior to the album's release to talk soul music, psych bands and gap years.

Harmonic Distortion – The album's opening track “You've Got It All” was co-written with Paul Weller. How did that come about and what's he like to work with?

James Skelly - He sent me a demo, but it had no words on it. He asked me if I could finish it, so I wrote the words and the chorus, and then we finished it in his studio. Ian loved the song and thought it would be right for the album, so I rang Weller and asked him if I could use it. He said yes.                                              

HD – There's are real live band dynamic on the album, and I know you're keen to point out the rest of the band's input on the album. Who have you got playing on the record and was there an instant chemistry when you all first got together in the rehearsal room?

JS - I played guitar & vocals, Paul Duffy - guitar, organ, & vocals, Alfie Skelly - guitar, Nick Power-piano, Ian Skelly - drums, James Redmond -bass. We've all played with each other before and we're all close friends, so it was very natural.                                                                                                                                                                                        

HD – You've worked with some big name producers in the past, whereas this record is self-produced. You obviously feel at home in the studio, are there any plans to do any more production work either for yourself for other artists?

JS - Yes, I love being in the studio and I've been working with a couple of young bands, Sundowners and The Circles, It's something I’d like to get into.                                                                                                                              

HD – Without going as far as to call Love Undercover a soul album, there's a definite Northern Soul/R&B vibe going on. Would that be an indication of what you've been listening to recently?

JS - I've always loved blues and soul music, I go through phases but that’s what I always go back to.                                    

HD – I'm really enjoying your song “Searching For The Sun”, could you tell us a little bit about how you wrote the song and what inspired it.

JS - I've had that song for a while, we demoed it with The Coral, then I demoed it. I ended up with something inbetween the two versions.               

HD – The songs on Love Undercover come across as less oblique than your songs for The Coral, there's a tenderness and warmth to a lot of the songs too. It seems to me these songs are a lot more personal than much of your previous work, would that be a fair observation?

JS - I'd say the songs are more direct. I wanted to get to the heart of the matter. I thought the lyrics on Butterfly House were as good as I was going to get in that style, so I felt it was time for a change.   
                                                            

HD – I'd say there's a good case to be made for having one of the most instantly recognisable male voices from the last decade with Love Undercover containing some of your best vocal performances, there seems to be a real sense of spontaneity and joy in them. Who would you say were your main influences as a vocalist?

JS - Van Morrison, Steve Marriott, Ronnie Spector, Dion DiMucci, Bob Marley, Sam Cooke, John Lennon, Ben E. King, Robert Johnson, Willie Deville, I could go on, but I'll leave it there.                                                                                                                                                            
HD - Would you say there was less pressure and expectation on this record than say there would be on a Coral album?

JS - In a way, because I only had to answer to myself, but I'm my harshest critic, so it didn’t make a big difference.              

HD – Sorry to bring up the C-word but I have to ask, it's three years since Butterfly House was released, is there likely to be another Coral album or tour at any time in the near future?

JS - Yes, I hope so, it has to be right though, I wouldn’t want to do it just for the sake of it.                                                          

HD – Your song “I'm A Man” has that Arthur Lee-style Mariachi vibe on it, I'm assuming you still dig Love, Beefheart and all? Do you keep up with any of the current crop of psychedelic flavoured acts such Temples or Jacco Gardner?

JS - I've heard Temples, it's good but there's a lot of lo-fi stuff around, I’m waiting for a young band to come and smash it.

HD – The song “Darkest Days” is a sublime ending to the record, with warm sentiments that characterise much of the album. Do you find yourself getting more drawn towards introspection as you get older?

JS - I've always been like that, I'm just hiding it less these days.                                                                                          

HD – You've been releasing critically acclaimed music for over twelve years. So many flavour-of-the-month bands have come and gone, yet you're still around, without courting the gossip columns, and still making great music. What do you put this longevity down to?

JS - I'd still be doing it even if no one was listening. It's all I know. I get the impression a lot of bands are just on a gap year.