As we begin to ease out of these ever turbulent times, the sun is (hopefully) set to shine and gigs are (even more hopefully) just on the horizon. With this said, now seems like the perfect time for the glistening pop of Spang Sisters. Fresh off the release of their latest single, ‘Jenny’, Rachid and Jules had a chat with us about lockdown, the new single and their upcoming album.

So the first question I have for you guys is how’s lockdown been treating you?

Rachid: Ahaha, it was a long winter. But, it’s been okay…but I hope it’s coming to an end, I couldn’t do it again. We got a lot done, musically so that was good.

Jules: We had quite a creative time, because I know some people found it quite stifling being locked in the house.

Did you guys manage to get quite a bit done then?

R: Yeah, I think so. We wouldn’t have had the time otherwise. Also we’re in a pretty good spot because we live across the road from one another and can mike quite a lot of noise from home. We have a studio at home anyway, in Jules’ bedroom

J: I don’t really like meeting new people anyway so it was all good really ahaha. I don’t get my inspiration from what’s out there.

And you’ve recently released your new single, ‘Jenny’, can you tell us a bit about that?

J: Sure, ‘Jenny’ is one of our oldest songs. Its quite acerbic in its tone, obviously. We shalln’t disclose who it’s about, but we all know a Jenny at the end of the day.

R: It was kind of a Balzacian tale. It’s one of those songs talking about a socialite.

J: A sort of social climate dilatant cautionary tale…I think that was the rehearsed blurb ahaha.

There were some lyrics in the song about people trying to get on guestlists, is this something that happens in a band, do these people from your past crop up again?

R: Uhm, yeah. In the music industry there are these people who pride themselves on who they know and where they can get you. So the songs kind of about those people that you meet.

J: Yeah, we don’t actually wanna be on the guestlist.

R: …But we do though!

And whilst listening to it, I found there was quite a Motown feel to it.

R: Oh definitely.

J: We were kind of going for that sort of production style. I mean the chords kind of dictate the production at the end of the day. That arrangement could only have ever ended up Motown.

Where there any particular artists that influenced those production or chord choices?

J: Definitely. I can trace the linage of that song to, ‘Slip Away’ by Clarence Carter. Something about that tremolo guitar riff was the starting point. But I mean, with Motown there’s a lot of examples we could go through.

And with lockdown hopefully coming to an end, are you guys hopeful that gig’s will happen?

R: Yeah! I’m quite hopeful for that! We’ve got a few things set up, but nothing concrete. You never know what will happen. And with our new band, we’ve never played a gig so it’s hard to pin in dates because everyone has their own projects as well. But hopefully we’ll do an album launch in May, but that might have to be socially distanced.

Is there anything you can tell us about the upcoming album?

R: “Album” is quite loosely used in this example because it’s quite a short thing. It’s only about 20 minutes.

J: It’s not an album.

R: It’s a mini album really. I guess its content makes it an album because there are skits and whatever. There are 9 tracks, but a few of them are less than a minute.

J: But you’re really getting your money’s worth, it’s quality.

R: A lot of the songs we’ve had for a while and we just wanted to get them out, and there’s a few newer ones.

J: The thing is, in a lot of ways, it’s us clearing out our back catalogue. But because we did it all in one go it does feel cohesive.

And with it coming out in May it seems like the perfect summer accompaniment

J: I mean we wanted to get it out this time last year. We already had it done by then. But then everything kicked off.

R: We were just going to quietly release it in October, but then it got picked up by a guy who wanted to give it more of a grand industry release. Which was great! He got us linked up with the distributor who are now getting it pressed up onto vinyl.

J: I’m glad we waited because it makes so much more sense it coming out with this weather. I know it sounds lame saying we’re a, “sunshine band” but it’s the truth.