New music Friday has rolled around again and this week marks the release of Sheffield outfit Lostboy’s first new music of 2022. The fourpiece have blessed our ears with their latest offering ‘Weight’, the lead single from their upcoming EP Love Among Angry People which is set for release on May 6th.
We had a chat with frontman Max Clutterbuck about the new single, recording the EP and the band’s upcoming UK tor!
Would you like to say a few words to introduce yourself to our readers?
My name is Max and I’m the frontman of a musical outfit called Lostboy.
Can you describe your sound in 3 words?
Eager, loud and biting!
What inspired your band name?
My mum is a massive fan of the film The Lostboys so in my childhood I had to watch that many, many times. More times than anyone should have to watch it. The name sort of resonated with me on a personal level because I’m never too sure which way I’m going and where I’m going to be and I feel lost half the bloody time in what I’m meant to be doing so it seemed pretty apt really.
I was fortunate to get an early listen of your upcoming single ‘Weight’ which is set for release later on this month and it sounds amazing by the way! What inspired the track?
‘Weight’ is about the idea that we all carry round, in different capacities, this metaphorical baggage, and for each of us that weighs a different amount depending on what it is and who you are and how you can handle those pressures. I think, for me, the song is about my want to let go of what was weighing me down coming into this new year and bring that uplifting feel of a release and letting go with the song. To be honest, half the time I don’t really know what they’re about until I write them, then I’ll be thinking about how I came up with it after. It’s a very strange self-analytical process; I’m constantly learning stuff about myself that I didn’t know!
And your EP is set for release in May, what should fans expect to hear on this release?
I’ve never been so proud of a body of work, the last EP we did was brilliant but we’d never released something as extensive as that with that many songs dropping at once. These songs for me just feel a lot rawer and more honest, it’s very much just me writing with the headspace that I had coming out of lockdown and getting back out into the world and realising how people treat each other and the ways some things have changed. Sometimes for the best and sometimes not so much. It’s a personal journey for me that I thought was worth sharing because I think other people will probably understand a lot of the stuff that’s going on in those songs.
What are some of your influences for the EP, musical or otherwise?
I take a lot of influence from people you might expect when you’re listening to the music; I’m a massive Strokes fan, I love Oasis, I love The Smiths, I’m a massive Pulp fan too so a lot of the newer stuff especially vocal melody wise I take influence from them. I think some of the songs, especially ‘Weight’, I wanted to have the guitars almost speak for themselves so there will be phrases in songs where I say a particular lyric and its almost like my lead guitarist answers me with the guitar. Its like a Fleetwood Mac-esque way how they would do it. I think that’s something that runs through the EP and I think it sounds quite fresh so I’m really excited to see what people think. We wanted the songs to generally kick better as well; we had the best experience playing live and getting back out there after covid and that energy 100% came into the studio with us. All four of us were able to record together for the first time in ages because obviously covid held us down, so it’s really got a live energy I think people will get behind. I get excited playing them so hopefully people will get excited listening to it! 9:08
How was the writing and recording process this time around?
It was completely different to when we did the ‘Bad News’ EP because that was solely myself Joe Cross, he’s the bass player for Courteeners, sat in the room we just recorded all the parts ourselves very much lead by me. This time the lads were able to put their own stamp on it, we all did our own thing on this EP. We got to the studio and the songs were written already by me in private then I’d bring it to the lads and they were able to play their own parts so it felt a lot more like the band together live when we were recording which comes across in the songs I think. That said, that’s with the exception of one song and that’s the last song on the EP; it’s called ‘Change’ and we actually wrote that in the studio during the session so that song didn’t exist before and we wrote it in a day. Its possibly one of my favourites on there its fucking class.
May will also see you guys embark on a string of live dates, are you looking forward to returning to live performance?
Yes! We are so excited. When we came out of lockdown and were finally able to play the shows we’d had to push back the EP had just came out those were the best shows we’d ever played. They were absolutely kickin’, everyone was so keen for it and everyone knew the words, we’ve never had that before. We are very much one of these bands who are just starting that journey of having people care about what’s going on and it still shocks me every time I hear someone sing a lyric back. But, with that in mind, the next shows that we’ve got planned we’re playing so many venues and so many cities we’ve never touched, we’ll see so many fans that haven’t had the chance to catch us yet and we’re so excited about it. We cannot wait to get back out playing live again
Which city are you most excited to play and why?
That’s like being told to pick your favourite kid! I think I’d have to say Sheffield, every time we play in Sheffield it’s mental, they’re all mad for it. Manchester is absolutely kicking as well, and Bristol as well in fairness. Whenever we come down to Bristol everyone rocks up and really brings their A game. There are some new players on the new tour schedule that I think could be contenders for that position so we’ll see. We can let them fight amongst themselves!
Do you have any recommendations for any new music coming out of Sheffield at the moment?
I mean lots of people by this point know who they are but Reytons are absolutely killing it in Sheffield at the moment. We have met them a few times and we got on really well! I’ve actually had the bass player from The Reyton’s testicles on my face, it’s that sort of relationship but yeah they’re absolutely class. There’s also a band that I love from Sheffield called Oh Papa, it’s a completely different scene to what we do; its almost soundscapey, shoegaze, almost folk influenced but they’re ace you should check them out!
What’s your favourite fruit?
Mango. I’m a mango man; dried, blitzed up in a smoothie or any which way. Love it!
Thanks a lot to Max for taking the time to chat to us. Don’t forget to check out ‘Weight’ for three and a half minutes adrenaline-soaked indie goodness, and follow Lostboy on all the socials below.