We had a chat with molten hot indie rock noisemakers The Reytons about their latest single ‘Jealous Type’.
For the past few years, South Yorkshire indie rock outfit The Reytons have been building a reputation as one of the most explosive and vital acts of the UK music scene, with their riotous and boisterous live shows garnering almost legendary status. Recently the act seem to have really come into their own musically, tracks such as the measured and thoughtful ‘Shoebox’ and the blistering and uncompromisingly chaotic ‘Red Smoke’ provide showcases of the range and the intangible energy and cutting edge that the band possess.
Latest single ‘Jealous Type’ sees the band continue their stellar run of form, with their trademark razor sharp and often blunt critiques of life as a young adult in 21st century Britain taking center stage. The most remarkable thing about the sound and world that The Reytons have created is that even on the tracks where they seem to slow things down or strip things back a bit, there is always a sense of raucousness and volatility and danger that permeates a great deal of what they do. The act are renowned for galvanising audiences and stirring up carnage wherever they go, and with such a consistent stream of bangers being released and new EP May Seriously Harm You and Others Around You just around the corner, this shows no sign of slowing down when venues open their doors again. We had a chat with the exciting band to find out a bit more about their latest triumph.
What’s the story behind Jealous Type?
Jealous Type follows the story of a couple who are on the rocky side of it all and end up bumping into each other on a night out, where the bloke insists he isn’t jealous and the faults aren’t in him but at the end of the day should really know himself deep down that he is Jealous and the root of the problem. The video shows the concept in a different, funnier vibe but essentially it’s just a social commentary on a relationship that’s falling apart because the fella is a dick.
What was the process like putting the track together?
For this track in particular it all came about quite strangely compared to our normal methods when it comes to writing. Before we would have spent the time together all four of us and bounced ideas and vibes off each other in our studio, but with covid and how quickly all that came about it actually ended up being a series of whatsapp messages and recordings bounced back and forth with a lot of thumbs up and thumbs down. I ended up setting up a makeshift studio space in the conservatory, robbed some gear from our studio and set up shop for quarantine and the start of the EP was just a long process of coming to terms with a new way of writing together whilst being restricted to our own homes and not getting to really see each other. It was great when we could actually get back together once we had rough demos and ideas and all these voice recordings to be able to take things to the studio where we could all just write the tracks together and have that face to face input, but it was definitely a learning curve, and it definitely opened our eyes to how dependant we all are on each other to get the sound we want!
You have a reputation for having a galvanising kind of effects on audiences that can often descend into chaos, do you write with this in mind?
Like everything we do, it was a massive shock to us when we realised how mental our crowds went! We had never wrote songs with moshpits and all that shit in mind, we just wrote riffs and hooks that we loved! And people start throwing themselves about to our slow stuff so it’s definitely not because we’re playing the heaviest shit we can, I think its genuinely just down to the fact we’ve created a community of absolute mad heads! We love it though… But no, we’ve never really had the chaos in mind, I think all of us will agree chaos is just something that follows us about! No idea why…
What is the message that you want to get across to fans of yourselves in terms of the struggles things like social media and mental health, especially given the current social climate?
The majority of our songs are based on the social commentaries of what we see, have seen and stories we have grown up hearing and knowing. Social media has its benefits and its revolutionised the accessibility of everything, but it equally takes over everything and eventually I think everyone gets tired of it and feels the strain of how vulnerable social media can make people. I guess if anything just stay safe on it all, especially in the current climate we’re in. If you need help with something, or feel down about the world reach out to someone. Give yourself a break from it all now and then, don’t believe everything you see on social media… Remember, people only post what they want you to see.
What should we expect from the EP as a whole following what we’ve heard so far?
Red Smoke and Shoebox are both as far apart from each other as they could be so there is definitely room for a surprise. The next release is still a surprise to us, so hopefully people listening will enjoy it. Shoebox was the slowest track on the EP so I think you should expect energy, witty lyrics and definitely expect more announcements after the EP has been released. We didn’t let the world stop turning for ourselves and through all the shit that’s been going off we’ve managed to make ourselves busier than ever, and that’s certainly not changing after the EP has dropped. We aren’t expecting any holidays any time soon!
May Seriously Harm You and Others Around You is out Feb 19th via Scruff of the Neck.
