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Oozing baggy Britpop swagger, rebellious mischief and echoes of greats like Blur and The Stone Roses, SULK‘s debut record Graceless is applauded by industry insiders. Wonderland caught up Jon Sutcliffe, the frontman of the northern quintet to grab a free exclusive download of their new single ‘Flowers’.

How did the group come about?

A few of us were friends from back in Harrogate, we moved together to London with an old band. We met Tomas at a psychedelic night watching one of our favourites The Tamborines. Tomas told us he was forming a new band around some great demos he had recorded in his bedroom. Once we heard them we wanted in!

Where do you think you’ll fit into the market within the current industry?

In a way I don’t think we do fit. We have kind of existed one our own hence that’s probably why we are not bigger. I don’t personally hear the bands the industry chooses to champion having the same assets as us. It’s like melody and well crafted songwriting is no longer the flavor of the day, it all seems to be about who’s got the most connected friends. I feel the industry tries to choose what we should be listening to instead of what we actually like. The bigger picture for me is that SULK and our fans help kill off this trend and can open the door for more like-minded bands to have a chance

Your sound is very 90s Britpop inspired. Who were your favourite bands as you were all growing up?

I think from listening to our music the clues are quite obvious and that is intentional. We carry our influences on our sleeves. I was and still am into bands like Curve, Love, the Roses to name a few.

So… Oasis or Blur?

For me it was both. I think most people were the same, they are and were both great bands with their own thing going on and you can see with them both being as successful as they were there was plenty of room for both of them.

Can you tell us a bit more about your new single ‘Flowers’?

It’s one of the first songs that Tomas ever played to us and we have been playing it for quite some time now, but it never seems to get stale. The song is fresh and full of optimimism and that can never be seen as a bad thing, plus the playing on it is outstanding!

And the album Graceless? It’s got crazy hype around it in the industry…

A proper album with no fillers. The record was well thought out and works as one solid piece with tons of potential singles. I feel lucky we had such a catalogue of songs to pick from and feel we got it 100 percent right. Graceless is the perfect start to SULK’s LP catalogue

What would you consider to be the best gig you’ve played to date?

My personal favourite was supporting The Dandy Warhols. Our van broke down and we only just made doors. There were no soundchecks due to us being late but it didn’t seem to matter. We as a band just played a great set with no time to think what had happened in the day. We totally smashed it to a great receptive audience, there was an amazing vibe to the whole evening.

What else is happening for you guys this summer? Any festivals?

This summer is all gonna be about SULK live and our agents are currently putting together a tour. There are a few festivals on the cards and hopefully more will be added. The album will be out and we know we are going to have to put more effort to get it out there. It’s gonna be hard work in a good way.

SULK’s debut album Graceless is out 15th April on Perfect Sound Forever. Pre-order it here. sulktheband.com

Words: Shane Hawkins

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