This week, Eve Lonergan caught up with Skies Behind ahead of their Hopefully/Somewhere Tour.
As the biting November winds blow, and grey clouds cast a wintry gloom, Carrigaline band Skies Behind are forecasted to cast some light across Ireland and the UK in their upcoming tour.
The day before their opening gig in Dublin, Joe Clarke and Dan Sheedy gave The Carrigdhoun a glimpse behind the scenes of what it is to be an independent artist today.
“If you're waiting around for opportunities for anything, especially music, you'll just be disappointed every time,” Joe says. “We spent the first five years of this band just hoping someone would ask us to do something. It was only when we started just doing things people were like: ‘oh my God, it's amazing’.”
“If you want something, you gotta go ask for it or make it happen yourself.”
Consisting of Dan Sheedy on vocals and guitar, drummer Joe Clarke, guitarist Richard Brett and bassist/trumpeter Hugh O’Connor, each member brings a unique insight, creating an aural identity that is distinctly Skies Behind.
With individual influences from metal to country-folk, electronic to jazz, Skies Behind have curated their own sound.
“I think what's really weird about this band is that no matter what we write,” Joe reflects, “regardless of the vibe or genre, if Richard’s playing guitar, Dan is singing, I’m playing drums and Hugh’s playing bass, it’ll sound like Skies Behind.”
For Skies Behind, collaborative songwriting is a process of communication. Whether that involves translating theory into practice, or defining the lyrics of a song, they give each other the space to express themselves.
“We’re going through our 20s, as hard as that is, and as men, the way we have learnt to communicate with each other more openly has been really powerful,” Dan reflects, “like just actually sharing how we feel, as simple as it is.”
“It’s something that we’re still learning to get better and better at, but it translates into everything we do because everything we do is collaborative.”
It’s this cohesion that seeps through the tracks on Skies Behind latest EP, The Spaces. Released in January 2024, The Spaces is a tunnel of sound, with hammering drums, biting guitar and thickened by a potent bassline. It takes you in from its dreamlike, pulsating intro and doesn’t let go until you're out the other side.
With a quick energy and an edge of defiance, the tracks on The Spaces all have a point to make. “I think we sometimes write songs in batches, “Dan explains. “Our last EP, was all written in like six weeks in the summer last year and they all feel really correct together.
“There’s a narrative arc going through, but also the sound of it feels right.”
With eight tour dates, starting in Dublin’s legendary Whelans and culminating in an intimate acoustic gig in Cork’s The Roundy, the Hopefully/Somewhere tour follows a route the band curated based off their January The Spaces tour.
“I think we were very selfish about how we did it this time, the places we had the most fun last time, we booked again,” Joe reflects.
Being an independent band allows them to have a certain level of control over their work, including touring.
“We have no backing whatsoever,” Joe explains. “We work with a manager over in London, but she's part of the team, we're cohesive.
“In January we did a fully independent Irish and UK tour, supported by Culture Ireland,” the Carrigaline native continues. “On that tour, we expected nothing and we got way more than we ever could have thought we could.”
This scrappy attitude is a signature of Skies Behind, who take a grassroots approach to the music industry.
“There’s a real power to it, doing the whole DIY element of music,” Dan reflects. “That’s why Cork is great, because you can just kind of do whatever you want and if it’s good then other people will get on board.”
“There’s a real long history of DIY music in Cork. It’s really special and I think when bands embrace that, you get so much back for it. Even when it’s a lot of work, what you create is really cool.”
Three years ago, they launched UnCorked, a showcase of Cork’s best and brightest on the iconic Everyman stage.
“Immediately after COVID, there were no gigs on. So we threw one massive gig,” Joe says.
“It’s been a really nice way of getting people to know each other because we try to take bands from different genres that might not crossover, they can form connections,” Dan reflects.
However, Joe sums up planning the event in one word: “stressful”.
“There’s some money involved. There’s time involved, it takes about six or seven months to plan and run UnCorked,” he explains. “That involves posters, liaising with the venue, organising tests, managing production schedules, doing health and safety regulations, the list goes one or on.”
Thankfully, they’re not completely alone. The tight-knit music community in Cork means that there is always someone willing to help out.
“This year was the most hands off we’ve been with it. We tried to get a bit of a committee involved with heading it up,” Dan says.
“Bands get super excited and I get thanked more in my life than I do at UnCorked,” Joe laughs. “People are like ‘thanks for having us’, like you deserve to be here, stop thanking me!”
As an independent band, Skies Behind are no strangers to doing things for themselves, and UnCorked is no different. Creating a space for rising talent is an instrumental part of the band’s approach to breaking the industry.
“It’s stressful, it’s like a lot of things on the tour as well,” Dan says. “Nobody asked us to go on tour and nobody told us how to go on tour, and nobody asked us to have UnCorked or told us how to organise it. We just did it.”
“If you want to do something, and you think you can do it yourself, then you can do it yourself. Because if you do it yourself, you do it right.”
Curating their innovative, scrappy, hopeful energy and distinct sound has evolved and changed over the years, but Skies Behind are still looking upwards, squinting into the sun and the potential for the future.
Although their tour has already kicked off, you can catch the Carrigaline natives on their final stop, an acoustic set in Cork’s The Roundy.
“It’ll be a Skies Behind show that’s a different interpretation of our songs,” Dan says. “It’s very intimate, very small, very weird and quirky.”
“Four-part harmonies is kind of our new writing style at the moment,” Joe reflects, “So when we go acoustic, it’s an opportunity to really hear those sparse and delicate harmonies.”
Packing up their five seater car, with a drum kit in the boot and a roof box for their equipment, the Hopefully/Somewhere tour is shaping up to be a scrapbook-worthy trip. Gearing up for the two wintry weeks ahead, it’s clear that wherever they go next, Skies Behind are creating their own path.
“The biggest lesson we’ve learned is that you have to trust what you’re doing and keep doing that and blindly follow it,” Joe reflects.
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