So, when did it all go right for Sugarthief?

After a sold out launch event at The Sunflower Lounge last night, today marks the release of Penkridge band Sugarthiefs fourth single ‘When Did It All Go Wrong’.

Formed in the summer of 2015 by brothers Jordi and Jack James and featuring ex-school mates Luke Owen and Reece Downton, the band had a very successful 2016 establishing themselves both within the local scene and beyond. This began when the group released debut single ‘New Ends’ that saw the band receiving regular plays on both BBC Introducing WM and Amazing Radio before dropping second single ‘Crowing Youth’ that saw them being invited to perform an unplugged live session for BBC Birmingham. These two tracks led to Sugarthief becoming the first band to be included via submission of a demo on the Flying Vinyl music subscription service. This then led to a succession of headline shows at well known Birmingham venues such as The Oobleck, The Sunflower Lounge, O2 Academy, The Victoria as well at Hoxton Bar & Kitchen in London.

The band’s latest single sees them channelling a sense of indie-rock nostalgia of the mid-00’s with a sound not far removed from early Arctic Monkeys, Reverend & The Makers and The Strokes that’s certain to take the band to the next level in 2017. ‘All of these songs are really about my view of the world’ says frontman Jordi. ‘As a typical teenager I like to question everything I read, hear and see. You start to unearth different emotions and experience new feelings, and music helps me to explore and express these’.

‘The title of the song, When Did It All Go Wrong, seems more apt now than when we wrote it – but the track is really about people’s ever growing fear of rejection or desperate need for recognition.’ Accompanied by a pastel tinged video, ‘When Did It All Go Wrong’ provides an assault on the visionary senses that harks back to a vintage age of video making. ‘The video brings together the typical stereotypes seen every day on social media sites – all fighting for attention instead of just living their lives.’

When asked about what the future holds ‘We really want to just keep on writing more songs and performing them to as many people as possible. The past 12 months have been great fun and a fantastic experience, the more we play, the more we learn and the more people we meet... we just want more! The dream would be to play some of the bigger more established music festivals - we’re playing Bands on The Beacon in Walsall in July and have just been selected to play ‘When in Manchester’ festival on the ‘Flying Vinyl’ Stage. Our launch show at The Sunflower Lounge is sold out - which is amazing, as Circa Waves and Magic Gang play the same night in town. We will have a couple of other headline gigs later in the year, and are hopeful of supporting more bands as they tour through Birmingham. We also want to get back in the studio soon too - as we’ve got some amazing new songs written. The plan is to crowd fund an album or EP - we are all poor students so any money we get from ticket sales or merchandise sales goes straight to recording music.’

Having been listed as one of 20 Birmingham Bands You Need To Hear Now on Fred Perry Subculture as well as being spun by Steve Lamacq on his BBC Radio 6 Music show, the future looks very bright for this Staffordshire four piece. ‘It was such a buzz when Steve Lamacq played us on BBC Radio 6! BBC Introducing WM and the other local stations have been really supportive - hopefully as more people hear us and the words spreads we’ll get more national airplay, but we have no illusions - there are a lot a great new bands in the Midlands - let alone the UK… all hoping for a little break. We really appreciate any support we receive and it’s so cool that the Express & Star is talking about new music and new bands. The West Midlands often gets overlooked but there is such amazing talent out there - go to a gig and see for yourself - it’s million times better than watching a manufactured talent show on TV!’

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