A Chat with SpünDay (29.06.2020)
SpünDay is a band from South Wales who formed after watching Melt Banana perform at Clwb Ifor Bach. Since then, the band has released ‘Show Me Your Speedface‘ and are hitting us with their second release ‘Once Upon a Time in Essex’. We sat down with Paul Sheppard (PS) from the band to talk about their new release, their music and much more!
OSR: There is an interesting story to your song ‘Once Upon a Time in Essex’, how did you come up with it?
PS: I think the stories of Barrymore Westbrook and Harvey are fascinating and (to my mind) can spark a whole other fantastical fairy tale. I find if you can assemble the right ingredients to a story, three former entertainment titans, the cold-blooded execution of gangsters in a Range Rover, a sample from an Action Bronson track (Let Me Breathe) and copious amounts of guitar pedals the song writes itself.
OSR: You are from a small town in Wales, how did you get into the music industry?
PS: It’s a compulsion. Being able to make music in your own home studio has been one of the wonderful advancements in technology, you just need a laptop and the software and you’re up and running. I’ve got my own solo project Set Phasers to Scunge as well as SpünDay. I’ve got a lot of creativity when it comes to music.
OSR: Do you play any musical instruments? If so, which ones?
PS: I play guitar and produce our music and videos.
OSR: What was the most challenging aspect of your current release?
PS: Definitely the production side of things. There’s so much to learn and so much you can get wrong. Our sound is unique and it’s important that this comes across in our recordings.
OSR: What is your song-writing process?
PS: I’ve got loads of random bits of music, verses, choruses, beats, whatever and the job then is to marry them up with my notebook of lyrical ideas. As I said earlier, once I find a connection, however disparate the characters, the song just flows. We’re finishing a new track at the moment that connects the kid from The Fall song ‘Winter’ (the one who looked like a victim of a pogrom) with William Burrough’s son William Jr with a sample from The Bug song ‘Skeng’. It’s called ‘Junior’s Speedball Blues’. Burroughs and Mark E Smith are recurring features in my songwriting.
OSR: Who are you inspired by?
PS: Guitar wise, my heroes are the ones who have redefined the sound of the guitar. People like Kevin Shields, Tony Iommi and Ichirou Agata from Melt Banana. As soon as one of their songs starts you know it’s them, they have a distinctive sound. That to me is the pinnacle of excellence.
Lyrically, the aforementioned Mark E Smith and William Burroughs along with JG Ballard. I get a lot of inspiration from movie quotes and samples. That can spark off fresh ideas certainly.
OSR: When you create music, what is your personal purpose or goal?
PS: I want to be able to add something valuable to the musical canon. I want the listener to have the same feelings and rush of emotions that I get when listening to a great song or lyric or passage of music.
OSR: If you can have your fans remember one thing about you, what would it be?
PS: He can’t sing, but he tries.
OSR: What are your favourite and least favourite venues to perform?
PS: We love all the venues.
OSR: What are your plans for the next year?
PS: Next up will be the release of ‘Weekend Dads’ which paraphrases Shakespeare and features rollercoasters and Go-Go dancers. Preview video available on TikTok now. We will then be releasing our debut album which is provisionally titled The Bright Spark of Low Heeled Boys.
Thanks to Paul Sheppard for chatting with us! You can find more about SpünDay on their YouTube, Instagram and Spotify.
