Red Sky Dawn is an incredibly inspirational band from Macclesfield. In some ways, they remind me of Belle and Sebastian, particularly given the use of live strings in the arrangements of their tunes. Likewise the lilting interplay between vocalists Sam Timson and Jessie Leask calls to mind not only Belle and Sebastian but the Beautiful South, another favorite of mine. The core of the band consists of the aforementioned Timson and Leask along with Charlie Candlish on lead guitar, Josie Candlish on bass and Alex Walton on drums/percussion. Other musicians who play on their enchanting new EP The Man Who Stole the Sun are harmonica player Pat Clarke, violinist Georgie Bloomfield and cellist Libby Hamilton.

How did Red Sky Dawn come together?

Sam says: It all began with an open mic. Just a couple of us attempting to write our own songs and trying them out in a really supportive atmosphere at a pub called the Kings Arms in Wilmslow. We got the bug for writing and performing. Before we knew it, we had this ball of energy drummer – Alex – behind us and the whole thing just kicked up a gear. Charlie created his guitar sound. Josie learned bass in no time at all. Then the newest member Jessie arrived – writing top songs, as well as singing, playing sax and keyboard. We’ve had Georgie on violin for one gig to date, and we’re just hoping she’ll stick with us because we love what she brings. There’s a lot of trial and error – and failure – as with all bands, but there is a belief that we can write and we can play that keeps the whole thing together.

I’m struck by the fact that you use real strings, particularly given the ease of using synths and other plugins to get a fairly realistic sound these days. What was behind that decision?

Charlie says: For us, the use of real strings was more about getting the right people rather than the right sound. The violin solo in ‘Red Sky Dawn’ is the perfect example of this because none of us in the band would have thought to play what Georgie played. In fact, we had no idea that there was even potential for a violin solo, she just surprised us with it once we pressed record! These string players have a completely unique musical background in comparison to the rest of the band so they can see things that the rest of us don’t.

From an engineering perspective, is it difficult to record strings? What’s involved?

Charlie says: With regards to the actual recording of the strings, we mic’d the sound of the bow on the string, the f-hole and used a room microphone. Each song had a slightly different balance of the microphones; when we wanted the strings a bit more distant, we used the room microphone and then used the bow microphone when we wanted the strings to be more present.

And from a logistical perspective, how did you coordinate all of the moving pieces involved in completing the EP? Was everyone in the room together, or did the musicians record their parts separately?

Josie says: The core sound of all of the songs on the EP was recorded as a live performance in a rehearsal room because we wanted people – festival organisers, who’ve ignored us so far – to be able to see or hear that we could actually do that.

Then we recorded overdubs – and, as we did that, we kept coming up with more and more creative ideas. We wanted to hear harmonica and mandolin on Mr Jones. We brought in a great harmonica player in Pat Clarke. Charlie did some mandolin playing. Alex would keep turning up with congas, triangles, wind chimes. He insisted on trying them all. It was great fun! He’s grown up in musical circles. He really knows his stuff. And he knows some great, young musicians too. Like Georgie Bloomfield who played violin for us. And Libby Hamilton who did some amazing cello lines too.

Your press release mentions that the band prides itself both on recording original material and also employing talented local musicians – young and old. Why are both of those ideas important to you?

Alex says: We love the creative process! It’s a really powerful feeling to be able to tell our stories through the songs and we each get to add our own creative interpretation through our own instruments. Bringing in talented local musicians allows us to see our songs from different perspectives. It’s interesting! We just let them do their thing and suddenly there’s a whole new dimension to the song that we didn’t even know was there. We’ve been taken aback also by how delighted these really talented musicians have been to be asked to play on the songs. I think they love the idea of playing a gig, rather than a concert. And many love also the feeling of spontaneity, of being able to freestyle, rather than simply stick to notes on a page.

Your press release also mentions your somewhat nostalgic sound. What draws you to sounds from the past?

Josie: We are all big fans of a lot of bands from the 60s, 70s and 80s and that definitely comes across in our songs. But, although there is a crossover, we all seem to have our own unique musical tastes as well. So, when we come together to write songs, I could for example write a 60s-style bassline and Charlie could write an 80s-style guitar part. It’s difficult to pin us down to a specific decade but it’s always reminiscent of the late 20th century.

Those songs from the past seem so much more human than songs do now. We noticed that some of those old songs shifted tempo a little during the song. They weren’t put down mathematically on some grid. So that was behind us thinking we’ll do them live and then overdub. It meant Charlie couldn’t just loop stuff through a song because there might be a slight tempo shift between the first chorus and the second chorus for instance. So we had to get the musicians to play right through and that meant that new ways of playing bits and pieces of the songs would occur to us. It made it much more creative.

The title of the EP, The Man Who Stole the Sun, calls to mind David Bowie’s The Man Who Sold the World. Is there a connection?

Josie: Actually, Alex cleverly came up with the EP title by linking together the titles of the songs. ‘The Man’ is Mr. Jones. ‘Who Stole’ refers to ‘Love Is A Thief’ and ‘The Sun’ to ‘Red Sky Dawn’.

However, we’re delighted if anyone makes a connection between our music and David Bowie’s since he is a great influencer of ours.

I saw on Twitter that you may have hoodwinked your drummer, Alex Walton, into joining the band. What’s the story there?

Josie: Hoodwinked is the perfect word for it. We were in a bit of a sticky situation at the time because we had gigs coming up and we didn’t have a drummer. We knew of a few people we could ask but most of them either weren’t interested in being in a band or were already in a band. So, we needed to take a different approach. I knew of Alex because we both went to Fallibroome Sixth Form  in Macclesfield and I’d been told he was a really good drummer and percussionist. So we found him on Instagram and there he was playing the drums amazingly along with the cheese grater and various other kitchen utensils. We were impressed! This time, instead of just outright asking him to join the band, we decided to say we were desperate and really needed him to play with us for just one gig at his school. That gig never happened due to covid but by this point we’d managed to charm Alex into staying! I’d like to think he doesn’t still think it’s a temporary arrangement!

I also see that you’ve been making the rounds of open mic nights. What’s the difference for you between playing live and recording? Do you have a preference?

Jessie: Playing live always has such a buzz to it. You get back what you give from the crowd. Having people cheer you on and singing the words you wrote back to you just gives you so much energy it makes you put on so much more of a performance. And just having fun with the band is what it’s all about. If you make a mistake you can’t change it because it’s happened, but you can laugh it off and it’s not intimidating knowing the rest of the band have your back! Recording can be hard knowing that this will be what people repeatedly listen to, so you want to get it perfect but can be hard if you’re self critical. Having said that, hearing your song come to life starting at the very basics how you wrote it and ending up with the song that was only ever in your head is so incredible. Recording is also such a creative process. You can try anything and everything and decide which bits you’ll keep, so it’s always so much fun just hearing all the different versions of a song and how the song develops. 

What’s next for Red Sky Dawn?

Josie: Our ambition is to get to a festival this summer! I have been applying to loads of them. On the night of the EP release I was up until about 2:30 am just applying to festivals because that’s the most important thing to us this year. We’ve always loved the gigs where multiple bands play because that’s where you meet people – so a festival would be awesome!

Thanks for taking the time to talk to me!

Thanks Marc for your amazing support of our band.