Sad Boys Club have released their second EP ‘Four Shades Of The Transitional Phase’.
With support already secured from Radio 1 (Huw Stephens) and BBC Introducing (where they were named Artist of the Week), Sad Boys Club have made themselves heard in the indie scene, including their recently announced future slot at Newcastle’s Hit The North Festival in 2020.
Speaking of their new EP, lead singer Jacob Wheldon explained: “The title really tells you what the EP is ‘concerned’ with; I’m wary of reducing it further than that. Half explores my personal experience of loss and anxiety, an absence of direction maybe, and the other half deals with the profound affection I have recognized for the people who supported me through that time. I think it’s an optimistic record, I hope people find reason to see it that way.”
To celebrate the EP release, we caught up with Jacob to discover 5 tracks that influenced ‘Four Shades of the Transitional Phase’.
The Cure – (I Don’t Know What’s Going) On | Listen
This song came to me at a time when I needed something heavy, sincere and direct. Ross Robinson’s production on this is phenomenal, he convinced one of the biggest bands in the world to stand on top of each other in a small confined live room and just bash out songs. We kept repeating to ourselves that, if anything, we wanted this EP to be honest and direct. So, during pre-production, I immediately went to this song as a reference to what we wanted to achieve.
The 1975 – I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes) | Listen
By now you may be able to tell we love song titles that are in brackets (long live emo). It’s a bit of a weird time in which we live in (to put it lightly). Facts have become debatable, information is being spread out without any scrutiny and so much energy is being placed in supporting ideologies instead of actually trying to listen to one another. This song is a brilliant reminder that the only way around it is if we start talking about things openly. It’s incredibly motivational to see a band three albums in still trying to develop their honesty.
Pinegrove – Rings | Listen
Dealing with mistakes and being more patient about yourself is something we’re slowly trying to learn as a collective. Pinegrove have the ability to make these issues universal and almost comforting, like it’s something we have to experience in order to grow. Sonically, it’s very grounding to listen to something so raw and for a lack of a better word; homely. We recorded this whole EP ourselves, there was no outside input and we had to learn to embrace its imperfections along the way. Also: slide guitars.
Van Morrison – Astral Weeks | Listen
There’s an extended family outside the four of us who had a massive input to the sonic world we were trying to achieve. On ‘Kukachu’ for example, there’s a beautiful string section played by Anna Argiros and Kristin McFadden (Prima Queen). Van Morrison is rightfully acknowledged for his lyricism and voice, but the instrumentation on ‘Astral Weeks’ is just heavenly. We tried to pay homage to the outro string section and its ability to take you to a kinder and stiller place. For us it worked as the end credits to the journey the EP took us on.
Phoebe Bridgers – Would You Rather | Listen
We’re still trying to recuperate from the emotional roller coaster she took us at The Roundhouse a couple of weeks back. Don’t think I’m too ready to talk about it, but this has been a consistent reference point we return to whenever we get too lost.
You can stream Sad Boys Club ‘Four Shades of the transitional phase’ via Spotify below: