If small venuesclose, the upcoming bands are screwed

THE SHERLOCKS’ KIARAN CROOK TELLS GARY PARKINSON WHY THEY’RE ON A MISSION TO PUT GRASSROOTS MUSIC BACK WHERE IT BELONGS...

KIARAN CROOK is supposed to be on holiday, but he’s not really. Talking to us from Corfu, The Sherlocks frontman certainly looks the part: in his baggy white T-shirt and frayed denim bucket hat, he resembles a Stone Rose on dress-down Friday.

But Kiaran is not a man to sit idle. He’s enjoying the Greek island with typical gratitude. ‘The weather’s been good to us,’ he says, as if that’s defied the odds – but he’s not so much relaxing as recharging between recording and touring, trying to ‘chill out before the madness starts again’.

Like many of us, The Sherlocks spent a pensive pandemic waiting for the chance to enjoy live music again. Unlike many of us, live music is their livelihood – and its absence was damaging not just emotionally but economically, for the smaller venues reliant on gigs and for the staff who work there.

Which is why The Sherlocks are setting out, from tonight, to tour smaller venues than their clout commands, supported only by local bands whose development was clattered by Covid.

As Kiaran explains in his warm South Yorkshire accent, they’re giving something back. ‘Everyone’s had a bit of an ‘orrible time of it over the last 18 months,’ he grimaces. ‘A lot of bands split up – upcoming bands relying on gigs to keep the band going, that bit of money to pay for the rehearsal room.

‘We’ve always tried to give people a leg-up, getting them on supports and sharing their music. But it’s not just the bands, it’s the venues, the staff, the roadies. So we thought, let’s do the small venues and put a bit back into the grassroots. Hopefully more bands will do the same.’

As they unveil material from their much-anticipated third album, World I Understand, and after sharing bills with names such as Liam Gallagher, Kings Of Leon and nd Kaiser Chiefs, it’ll be a change of scene to play Blackburn’s Electric

Church, Reading’s Face Bar, Preston’s Ferret and Grimsby’s Docks Academy. Academy But any band from Barnsley is unlikely to outgrow its boots.

‘A lot of our fans first saw us in a 100-cap venue or even smaller,’ Kiaran remembers. ‘You can have a lot more fun in small gigs and you never know what’s going to happen – I’ve had microphones smashed into my mouth, people falling over onto the stage, but it’s all in good spirits. If them venues close, the next generation of bands are pretty much screwed, simple as that.’

Named after the printable part of a popular but profane ‘well-obviously’ retort, The Sherlocks bubbled up in the middle of the last decade. Kiaran’s vocals and guitar were backed by big brother Brandon on drums, plus another pair of local brothers – Josh (guitar) and Andy (bass) Davidson.

Inevitably billed as the next Arctic Monkeys, with whom they share not just an accent but a handy knack of welding anthemic tunes to boisterous twin-guitar alt-rock backing, they ascended the buzz staircase from Steve Lamacq to ever-later festival slots to big-name supports.

Debut album Live For The Moment hit Number Six in 2017, and two years later big support slots with the Kaiser Chiefs at Leeds’ Elland Road and The Kooks at Manchester’s Castlefield Bowl heralded the second album, Under Your Sky.

It was to be showcased in arenas, but for medical reasons the promo tour was pushed back to February and March 2020 – at which point reality sickeningly swerved for all of us.

‘It was just bizarre,’ says Kiaran, recalling the unfolding pandemic. ‘I don’t really watch the news at all, so I only realised it got serious when the pubs shut. We were on tour, playing down south, and our American tour got cancelled. Then all the gigs started getting cancelled.’

Under such conditions, bands either break up or adapt; The Sherlocks did a bit of both. The brothers

Davidson had already decided to return to civvy street. ‘They’d been in the band for ten years, they’d put the graft in, but they wanted to get a normal job because this definitely isn’t a normal job’, and the Crooks only had one option. ‘We said we need to get cracking and get some people in.’

Luckily, soundman Nick Gizzi had two recommendations off the bat: Alex Procter and Trent Jackson. ‘Alex is funny, proper likeable, and he’s class on the guitar as well, which always helps,’ smiles Kiaran, before dropping a little showbiz secret about his new mate: ‘He used to be in a Sex Pistols tribute band, years ago, but Nick said he’s the best guitarist he’s ever been in a band with.’

While Alex, 27, banters with the brothers – Kiaran is 25, Brandon, 28 – the 20-year-old Trent brings a different dynamic.

‘It’s good because he’s the complete opposite of Alex, who’s more confident and funny as owt, while Trent’s super-quiet and he’s just chilled,’ says Kiaran. ‘We’ve got a good mix, and with Covid we’ve had the time we needed. With every practice and every gig we’ve got tighter and tighter.’

Their numbers replenished, The Sherlocks piled in the van and down to legendary Welsh studio Rockfield, roping in producer Dave Eringa, who’s spent 25 years recording the Manic Street Preachers while also taping talent like Roger Daltrey, Wilko Johnson and prime-era Kylie Minogue – not to mention a bunch of young hopefuls from Yorkshire.

‘We recorded early singles Chasing Shadows and Will You Be There? with Dave,’ recalls Kiaran, ‘and we always wanted to work with him again. He’s one of the nicest blokes I’ve ever met, hilarious. He’s got a proper good ear for it, especially drum sounds – and his guitar sounds are just insane.’

Reinvigorated by the new recruits and the need to make up for lost time, Kiaran thinks The Sherlocks have rediscovered their initial effervescence. ‘Our first album had something special about it – the energy, the guitars in your face. On that second album, we lost a bit of the raw edge that you have as a young band. I think we got it all back and more on this album.

‘It’s a beast,’ he grins, visibly excited. ‘It’s literally banger after banger after banger – all the way through, even when you get to the graveyard spots, it’s just constant tunes. It’s 100 per cent our strongest album.

‘I know every band says that when they’ve got an album coming out, but I know for a fact this one is. The songs feel super-strong this time around, every tune’s an absolute monster.’

With that, he’s affably on his way back to the pool. But as he does his lengths, he’ll be building up his strength – there’s bangers to serve up. Just watch out for flying microphones.

The Sherlocks’ Keep Our Independent Venues Alive tour kicks off tonight at Electric Church, Blackburn, and runs until October 29, thesherlocksmusic.co.uk