Band Of The Week #103 - Sad Boys Club
This week’s Band Of The Week is rising London quartet Sad Boys Club, who have just dropped their sophomore EP ‘Four Shades of the Transitional Phase’. Lead singer Jacob Wheldon took a moment to talk to us about the release, and to reflect on the past year for the band.
Your EP is out now, and is called ‘Four Shades of the Transitional Phase’ - what’s the meaning behind it’s title?
The EP was going to be titled 'i wonder, when i wake up, if everything is gonna start spinning out again?' which is the end credit lyric of the record. The day before we had to upload it Pedro called me to say he didn't think it felt quite right but we didn't really have anything - 'four shades of the transitional phase' was something my therapist said in our session later that day, I threw it at the guys and it stuck. The songs collectively are about growth and perspective I think.
What would you say were the key inspirations when making the EP?
Difficult question really, the process of putting together this record took several months - that's a lot of life experience, a lot of listening, a lot of mistakes, a lot of fallouts in the group chat. We wanted to create something more intimate than we had before.
The EP was produced by your bassist, Pedro Caetano Leite, what was the reason behind that choice? Did you feel keeping it within a closer network helped created something more true to yourselves?
Apart from the very first recordings Sad Boys Club made, Pedro has always produced and mixed our work using the rest of us as a soundboard; it's a fundamental part of how we work and how he and I write together, the songs grow in stages that are as much production-focused as they are compositional, this is pOP MUSIc
Do you have a favorite lyric on the EP and why?
Not yet I don't, no. Chris (guitarist) likes to shout "but the devil's in the mirror, it's a lie, it's a deceit" on a track called '666' with me so we'll run with that - Chris isn't one for big explanations he just says "it's amazing".
With 2019 coming to an end, what do you feel have been your top highlights this year?
The whole year has been a highlight of all of our forays into music to be honest. We've played some amazing shows with some amazing bands and we're very grateful to the various people supporting what we're doing and getting it out to new people. But, the EP is our highlight - it's the record we all wanted to make when we were first falling in love with music I think, it feels equal parts honest and present as it does nostalgic. We’re very excited at how we're growing sonically and as an artistic collective, we're finding our stride. It's been creatively satisfying to a next level, we're itching for 2020, we've never had more of an appetite for it.
And what does 2020 hold in store for you? Any clues on your plans for it?
We already have a years worth of songs ready to put out, I haven't thought about how we want to do that just yet but things are just getting busier and busier and better and better that's all I can say at this point... (I'm pretty sure this is what my PR told me to say, I don't remember, it sounds pretty good)
With the EP coming out, you also have your biggest headline show to date at Colours on the 7th December - what can we expect from that show? And any special plans to celebrate the EP release?
The venue do these deadly hot chicken wings called 'Vipers' - it nearly killed Pedro a few weeks ago, he called me up the next day in a rage and tried to quit the band, he wasn't in a good way. He got high as balls off it. We're all gonna do them and hope for the best. Tom once snorted a bunch of chilli flakes and didn't even flinch so I reckon he'll be okay. I'm worried about me and Chris.
Sad Boys Club’s new EP is out now, and will see off 2019 with a headline show at Colours in London on the 7th December 2019.