The Sherlocks are widely recognised as one of the most consistent and likeable UK bands of the last ten years. Three albums deep with a fourth just around the corner, the band have long been selling out shows, drawing big crowds at festivals and delivering stadium-ready, guitar-driven indie. COVID saw a transitional period for the band, with two of the members bowing out and being replaced, but the charisma and craft of the four-piece outfit has only been augmented by the fresh line up.
2023 has seen The Sherlocks gearing up for the release of their fourth studio album. Entitled People Like You & Me, the new LP is set to be unveiled on 11th August, and is poised to be their most explorative, energetic and enduring album to date. We’ve been teased with the sonic direction of the album with three single releases so far. “Sirens” hits all the indie-rock sweet spots, with hazy lead guitar and a soaring hook. “Don’t Let It Out” flaunts the band’s newly found experimental tendencies with 80s-esque synths and heartfelt emotional resonance. Most recently, the band offered up the album’s title track, which is a dance pop banger that promises further generic dexterity on the anticipated forthcoming body of work.
The band have patterned with the Ben Sherman Global Artist Foundry, which is a forward-thinking incentive between artist and brand, with the ethos of harbouring creativity and aiding musicians at every level, from unsigned to established. Music has been an essential element in Ben Sherman’s DNA since being founded 60 years ago, and with the Global Artist Foundry they are set to continue supporting creatives across the scene.
We connected with The Sherlocks’ guitarist and vocalist, Kiaran Crook, discussing the band’s work with Ben Sherman, the process of making their defining fourth album, and their most significant career moments to date.
Watch the campaign video…
Take in The Sherlocks latest single, “People Like You & Me”…
Read the exclusive interview…
Who and what influences you as a band?
Honestly, anything. We listen to a lot of new bands, obviously a lot of old stuff. I think we all listen to slightly different things when we’re away from each other, which helps. We’ve obviously got a love for indie and rock’n’roll and Motown. I think we all bring our own influences to the table which widens our inspirations. I think you’ll have heard it on the last album and you’ll hear it on the new record too. I think it’s good – it’s definitely easier to write tunes for me personally because you just feel like you can write anything and try different stuff rather than being put in a box and feeling like you’ve got to just write a certain way.
You’ve supported massive artists and played huge shows over the years – is there one that has stood out to you?
There’s been so many. Reading and Leeds the first time was big. We kind of blagged a spot on the Festival Republic stage. I think we were the first band on at like midday on the Friday so people would probably have had a good night on Thursday. We weren’t sure if people were gonna turn out and honestly it was overflowing at Leeds and Reading was so busy, they were just insane. I think that was a moment when we realised how many people knew us. There’s obviously been others like supporting Kings of Leon… Sheffield arena was crazy because I always wondered what it’d be like to play that arena.
This Autumn you’re heading out on your biggest UK tour yet! How are you feeling about it?
Good! The new album is out in August so will be out by then. We’ve got a couple of months to learn lyrics and stuff and then we’ll be fine tuning the setlist. It’s nice, we’ll have four albums to pick from and we’ve never been in a band to shy away from playing singles. That’s obviously what people want to hear the most. It’s a good problem to have to be fair we’ll stick to the ones that people want to hear and then it’s just a case of which album tracks we play. It’s going to be fun.
Do you reckon you’ll mix it up between shows or play quite a rigid set?
We used to keep it pretty rigid and just try and master that, not mess around too much and then we’ll get tight with it . We tend to have ones that stay. The other problem is trying to leave what are considered your best tracks to the end.
What has been the process of creating the new album, People Like You & Me?
This is the most off-the-cuff album we’ve made. With the album before, which we made during COVID, I think I had the songs, or most of the songs, written before we went to the studio. The challenge with the third album was trying to learn the tunes. We only had one in-person band rehearsal, we’d be practising over Whatsapp and sending videos. Then we just went straight down to the studio for three weeks, and figured it out and that just seemed to work. Probably a bit of luck involved as well.
This new album, the challenge was that I didn’t finish the songs off properly. We wanted to get into the studio more quickly. Which is why I think everybody liked what they heard from the demos, the ideas and stuff. They weren’t finished songs so it was pretty intense, basically having to write a second verse to every tune and sometimes a chorus whilst recording. All I had for these tunes a lot of thee time was the chords and then a bit of a melody and maybe a verse but there was so much work to do.
Sonically and stylistically, how is the album different and similar to your previous LPs?
It’s the same sort of thing, genre wise. It’ll always sound like that because if I’m singing and Brandon’s drumming, and we’ll all have his input and output. But I do think it’s different. I think we’ve done a lot of like subtle things that we wouldn’t normally do. The last album, we worked with a producer who was straight up rock music. This time, we worked with someone slightly younger who is more into programme stuff that we haven’t really delved into before. I think what you’ll get with this album is the more you listen to it, you’ll probably hear more intricacies each time, little samples and such. We made quite a bit of ground up by doing that. We’ve always been like, if it sounds good, then we’ll use it. It doesn’t matter if it’s played on a 20 grand keyboard or one from charity shop.
Thematically, what is the new album delving into?
It’s basically what the last couple of years have been like, just stories from going out drinking and relationships and all the usual stuff people tend to write about to be honest. But I think that I’ve enjoyed making this album a lot more. I think I enjoyed it this time by stepping back into the song and trying to get back into same headspace. There’s never really one definite message that we’re trying to say, it’s just a collection of songs that have been made over the past couple of years.
What about the opportunity with Ben Sherman resonated with you?
Ben Sherman to us is a classic, smart brand. You’re going to get something timeless. We’ve been surrounded by that culture and style and music. So it’s something we’re comfortable with and we’ve always appreciated that kind of vibe.
What are the origins of the collaboration?
I just got told about working with Ben Sherman and that we were going down to do a photo shoot. It was sick. We had the most fun we’ve had on a photo shoot, sometimes photo shoots can be a bit tedious but everybody there was proper up for it.
Which one of you of the band wears the most Sherman?
Probably Brandon.
What does the future hold for the Sherlocks?
At the minute, we’re just doing loads and loads of gigs, like pop up record store sort of gigs, stripped back acoustic sets. Just doing that, rocking up at pubs, obviously set it up before people are turning up to get this new album sent to them. Intimate shows where it’s like 150/200 people. We’re just having a good laugh. We’ve got a couple of festivals this summer then straight into the tour in October, UK first and then having literally a couple of days off before we’re going straight to Europe for probably the biggest European tour we’ve done, going to a few places we’ve never been. Then in the background, probably recording more music and getting the fifth album ready. Just keeping busy!
