Interview: Speak Easy Circus - Sewn Up

Speak Easy Circus are a band from the United Kingdom, Glasgow who released their track 'Sewn Up' on 26 November. The production is very interesting and addictive so that the listener doesn't feel like stopping and after listening is unable to think of anything else other than 'Sewn Up'. The band has gone to great lengths to make sure everything is polished and sounds wonderful. I must admit that there is nothing accidental in this production and everything is coherent with each other. Speak Easy Circus gave many interesting answers to my questions in the interview.

By Kamil Bobin

Discovered via Musosoup

Hey Speak Easy Circus, super nice to have the chance to chat with you. What have you been up to over the past year in this big old mess?

We have really been enjoying get back out and playing some shows again! We are based in Scotland so over the last 4 months or so we have been able to start playing some gigs, which has been amazing.

We have also been releasing some music! We are fortunate enough to be able to record some new songs at the end of last year and we have been thrilled at the response to the singles we have put out over the course of 2021 - 'Lions Should Hunt', 'Company of Men' and now 'Sewn Up'.

What are you working on at the moment?

At the moment we are working towards releasing a larger project next year. We have loved putting out singles but we want to challenge ourselves with something bigger, either another EP or maybe even an album.

Your latest song is 'Sewn Up'. Can you tell us more about the making of it and if there were any unusual things happening during the process?

The song is actually based on a real life experience I had of learning how to sew jeans together after my favourite pair broke. I realised that I was constantly replacing clothes instead of fixing them - something that would have been common place a few years ago - and so I decided to write a song about why that was the case.

When you are working through problems in your work, who do you talk to?

When I bring songs to the band we often all then start to interpret the main ideas and each member of the band starts to bring their own influences. This means that if we come across any musical issues we tend to bounce things off each other until we get something that works.

Lyrically it is a little bit different. Lyrics tend to be the hardest part of songwriting for me and they quite often come slowly. If I am struggling with a certain song then I normally chat with the band/friends etc and that way I can normally make it work!

How useful has social media been for you?

Social media is incredibly useful for an artist as it means you can connect with a large number of fans (and potential fans). It has been especially important whilst we were all in lockdown. I do think though that there can be a tendency to over emphasise social media presence - if your songs and live show aren't good then your social media isn't necessarily going to help you all that much.

What is the biggest challenge of being an artist?

I think the biggest challenge of being an artist is the logistical and financial parts of creating music. I think most artists decide they want to do this because they have ambitious plans and ideas, the hard bit is actually making that stuff happen!

What are your long term goals?

All we want to be able to make a living writing and playing music we love.

Do you have a mentor or coach?

We have plenty of people who we are able to ask for advice etc, and Glasgow has a strong music scene so there are lots of people that we look up to and chat with about music related stuff.

What memorable responses have you had to your work?

We have had such a wide ranging response to our music, I think probably because each song has sounded very different. We have been called everything from jazz to punk to alternative - I think I speak for the whole band when I say we take that as a compliment.

What are your plans for next year?

We are really looking forward to recording and releasing more music next year - we have been working on lots of new stuff so we are very excited for that to come out.

We are also in the midst of planning some more shows around Scotland and also the UK. After being starved of live shows for so long we can't wait to get back out there!