Roman Candle is delighted to welcome We Were Promised Jet Packs to St Mary's Creative Space, Chester. Special guest Savage Mansion.

Tuesday 13th September 2022, 7.30PM. Tickets £16 advance from See Tickets.
 

WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS
 

Since releasing 2018’s ‘The More I Sleep The Less I Dream’, We Were Promised Jetpacks’ Adam Thompson, Sean Smith and Darren Lackie have embraced change head-on. Amicably parting ways with guitarist Michael Palmer, leaving a notable empty fourth corner in their practice room, it marked a transitory moment in the band’s acclaimed career, and one that would be cemented by events to come.
 

Entering 2020 as a trio with a handful of songs written and a small tour under their belts, the world around them came to a sudden halt. Yet despite the unquestionable hardship that the lockdown brought with it, for a band looking to rebuild following a dramatic change, it also proved to be a blessing in disguise.
 

“I guess it ended up being a lot more collaborative between the three of us,” Sean notes of their fifth studio record, ‘Enjoy The View’. Unable to meet in person, the album began to take shape across countless files bouncing back and forth between their respective Edinburgh homes. As well as providing the space to think more broadly about their own roles in the band, isolation also allowed them to approach their collective sound in new ways.

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“If you’re trying to write a part when two other people are smashing their instruments it’s not the easiest thing,” Adam laughs. “Writing remotely, you could mute parts and work on things in your head. It just gave us a bit more creative freedom to try different things.” For Darren, separated from his kit, drumming became an entirely digital venture. “I could be a bit freer,” he notes, immediately backed up by his bandmates. “It was nice for Darren to have the space to try something he normally couldn’t,” Adam smiles, celebrating the opportunity for the trio to switch up their song writing process.

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With the space to focus on the structure of the songs over what is immediately possible in a practice room, the band shifted gears. “We’ve always considered ourselves a live band more than a studio band,” Darren notes, explaining how the past twelve months have forced a change. “This was more about focussing on making a really great album rather than thinking about how we play it live. Let’s make an album that’s just slightly different for us.”
 

The result, ‘Enjoy The View’, is also the product of a more settled band. Fifteen years into their career, the trio are more focussed than ever. “We are doing this for ourselves and the people who like our music and get something out of it,” Adam gleams, “I’m really excited about being able to show them the new record.”
 

“I’ve had a really nice time writing this album,” he states matter-of-factly, signalling his appreciation to his bandmates. “We’re all very appreciative of the people who are still listening to us,” Darren adds, “it pushes us to keep getting better”. Nodding to both the band and their ever-loyal fans, Adam agrees. “It is very much our band, and we do this because we can do it together.”

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SAVAGE MANSION

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Savage Mansion is a vehicle for the songs of Perth-raised singer and guitarist Craig Angus, elsewhere featuring a revolving cast of musicians including Andrew Macpherson and Jamie Dubber (Catholic Action), Lewis Orr (Martha Ffion, Space Rocket Garage Band) and Beth Chalmers (Martha Ffion, Molly Linen).

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Craig - who was previously in a band called Poor Things, and also plays guitar with Martha Ffion - made his debut under the Savage Mansion name in 2016 with a cassette tape EP released through Aberdeen label Cool Yr Jets. Quickly drawing attention for a high energy live show and Craig’s melodic and eloquent slices of guitar rock, the band were invited to open for Frightened Rabbit at Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom and drew the attention of Johnny Lynch (Pictish Trail) who offered to release the ‘Do You Say Hello To Your Neighbours?’ single on Lost Map. The track was championed by the likes of Lauren Laverne, Marc Riley and Gideon Coe at BBC 6 Music, and was boosted further by an endorsement from Bob Nastanovich of Pavement/Silver Jews fame.

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After impressing further with festival shows at Lost Map’s Howlin’ Fling and Electric Fields, Savage Mansion decamped to Chem19 Studios in Glasgow to record debut album Revision Ballads over the course of two rapid weekends, wearing their influences proudly for the world to see from the Velvet Underground’s no-fi swagger to Pavement’s easy, sing-speak vocals and R.E.M.’s shimmering guitar tones. The group recorded their second LP Weird Country in London with producer Chris McCrory. An anthemic and confident collection of songs, inspired by the musical storytelling of The Kinks and The Replacements, Weird Country expands on the punk sensibilities of Revision Ballads, exploring the chaotic turbulence of the modern world, and trying to find a place within it, with musical and lyrical nuance.

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When 2020 ground to a halt, it could have been the end for the band. Although critically acclaimed, the release of Weird Country was overshadowed by a state of collective panic, a litany of cancelled tour dates, and plans not so much put on the backburner as thrown out the window of a van somewhere between Glasgow and Birmingham. But instead, with the excellent Golden Mountain, Here I Come, they’ve doubled down, solidifying their reputation as one of Scotland and the UK’s most prolific emerging guitar bands, and as a hardworking collective drawing from a diverse palette of musical and literary influences. Re-emerging as a five-piece, they’re back with a record that’s hook-laden, poignant, and cryptic. It’s indie rock that’s both an instant feast for the senses and a rich tapestry of sounds and words to pore over and savour.

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“It could be our first record as a band,” says Angus. “In many ways it is, to the extent that we toyed with changing the name of the band. But you forget it's a f*cking pain naming a band in the first place, so we stuck with it.”

Recorded with the band’s live engineer Ross McGowan (Kaputt, Dananananaykroyd) at Chime Studio in Glasgow, the more collaborative aspect of the band’s third album is palpable. “It was the first record we made with Beth on keys,” Angus says, “so there were five people actively having a say about musical direction, whereas in the past the songs were 80 to 90% fully formed before they got to rehearsal rooms. We reworked a lot of the songs beyond recognition this time. I had to let go of a lot of the expectations I had, and it’s a stronger body of work as a consequence, more adventurous.”

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Golden Mountain, Here I Come is released on Friday 25th February 2022, on Lost Map Records.