Interview with Clear Vinyl: ‘Everyone goes through love and loss and has an emotional rollercoaster at some point in their life’

Chesterfield, UK-based band Clear Vinyl released ‘Tonight’ earlier this month, a tribute to their frontman’s mum and the importance of friendship.

The band comprises Josh Feeley (vocals), Sam Hutchinson, (lead guitar), Ed Holmes (drums), Jonjo Caton (guitar) and Jack Cooper (bass). Feeley and Caton are the only two original members of the band, although they all know each other from school. Their name came about because their late drummer, James Umney, worked at Debenhams and saw the words ‘Clear Vinyl’ written on a box of gloves and thought it could be a good name for the band. Umney was tragically killed in a car crash in August last year.

In their video for new single, ‘Tonight’, Feeley stars as a loveable clown whose best friend is a balloon. Bringing together raw emotion, honesty and energy, Clear Vinyl have produced another banger, one that Umney also plays on. ‘James is on everything we’ve released, including ‘Tonight’,’ Feeley said.

They actually wrote ‘Tonight’ more than a year ago: ‘We’ve been sat on this song for just over a year now, it’s odd really because its meaning seems to hit the spot now more than ever,’ said Hutchinson.

‘With ‘Tonight’, I wanted to write something more personal’

The track is also a tribute to Feeley’s mum, who passed away from cancer earlier this year. ‘We found out a couple of years ago that she had cancer and I channelled everything from that into this song,’ Feeley said. ‘With ‘Tonight’, I wanted to write something more personal. It’s about wanting to be with someone you can’t be with, for whatever reason. My mum was still alive then – thank god – but so many people can’t see their loved ones, so it’s extending a hand of friendship. There’s the line ‘we correlate on the TV screen’, it felt right because a situation can seem one way to you and different to someone else. My mum got to hear it a lot.’

The frustration comes across in the lyrics: ‘I’m latched on to your heart but I’m slowly giving up, I’m breaking the walls down, so I can climb to the top.’

The video came about because they couldn’t get together during lockdown. Feeley lives with his girlfriend Phoebe – who also filmed their videos for ‘That Feeling’ and ‘Foolish’ – so his bandmates tasked him with coming up with a concept for the video. ‘We’d seen a bit of ‘IT’ and it got me thinking that he’s got the balloon in his hand constantly, hasn’t he? So I thought we could use that and turn it on its head a bit. It’s the first time they’ve put full faith in me. They’ll let me run with it next time,’ he laughed.

Clear Vinyl are also starting to experiment more with their sound, according to Feeley: ‘It’s still us but our next set of stuff is leaning more into elements we haven’t used before – rocky and with synthy dancey vibes!’

Their next single is likely to be ‘Show Me How To Live’: ‘When James died, we talked about what we wanted the band to stand for,’ Feeley said. ‘I was watching an old 90’s film and the idea for the lyrics came from that. The song’s about wanting to run away from your problems, to escape and live your life a little. Everyone goes through love and loss and has an emotional rollercoaster at some point in their life.’

Umney did the majority of their demos, according to Feeley: ‘He put down the parts, Jonjo has taken over that role,’ he said. ‘He was keenly involved in the songwriting. We had loads of songs ready to go and we still have a lot of demos that he’s on that might not see the light of day but they’re special to us.’

Holmes, who has replaced Umney, is an old friend of the band. ‘He’s amazing,’ said Feeley. ‘We had a couple of people try out but we couldn’t help but compare them to James. Ed was a close personal friend before James passed. He was a natural fit, so we went to James’ family to ask if it would be ok.’

‘It’s been tough but we all know he’d be so proud of this’

Last year, the band paid tribute to their late drummer with a near sold-out memorial show at The Leadmill that raised over £4,000 for Jessie’s Fund, which helps children with complex needs or serious illness to communicate by using music. As Feeley put it: ‘It’s been tough but we all know he’d be so proud of this, it’s his drums on the track and he will always remain part of this band. His family are our family, they still come to our gigs.’

Since 2019 when Clear Vinyl first emerged, they have supported bands such as Fatherson, Saint Raymond and Vistas, alongside appearances at Sound City, Hit The North and an international stint at Schlossgrabenfest in Germany.

Feeley is a big fan of metalcore band, While She Sleeps, from neighbouring Sheffield: ‘ They scream and stuff but it’s more their work ethic and how they connect with their fans that I admire. I’m inspired by their attitude. I’m inspired by local bands, you know, where you play with them a lot, you get chatting over a beer. I like learning from other people. There are a lot of fanatics in Sheffield who love music!’

And while lockdown has been tough, he says that COVID-19 has made people more aware of the need to support their local bands: ‘Gigging is what a lot of musicians use to relieve stress. If they’re stuck at home in lockdown, they might need to rely on someone to help with their mental health, which is a priority.’

Feeley understands this only too well, having suffered a breakdown himself during the first lockdown: ‘I was broken,’ he said. ‘When James passed, I focused on the band to try and support everyone. They’re still struggling with it, we all are. And then my mum passed. You don’t want to burden anyone with your problems but I got to the point where I had to just say that I wasn’t ok. Until you’ve been there, you don’t know how hard it is. I’m coming out the other side now. When we can get back into the studio, we can let out the emotion.’

Now he is channelling his own experiences into helping others. ‘You’re doing the music for you, people are connecting with it and you want to make sure they’re ok. It’s important for bands to engage with their fans. I’ve had people reach out to me and maybe you can help them through a dark patch. You don’t have to live at 100 miles an hour and you don’t know when your last day will be but lockdown makes you focus on what you want for yourself.’

(Photo from left to right: Jack, Josh, Sam, Ed and Jonjo)