This week our ‘Track Of The Week’ is by the wonderful Static Satellites. Based between Glasgow and West Lothian the indie rockers have not long released their latest track ‘Smokescreens’ as part of their debut EP campaign. The bands EP is set to be released on Friday 14th May.
‘Smokescreens’ is an excellent new track to get us all excited for the upcoming EP. The single incorporates distinctive rich vocals from the bands frontman, Ross mixed with gripping guitar hooks creating the perfect sound. Static Satellites have their own unique sound that you can hear throughout previous tracks like; ‘The Symphony’, ‘Fortify’ and ‘Waster’.
We were lucky enough to speak to the bands drummer about the single. Here’s what Ciaran had to say:
You’ve just brought out ‘Smokescreens’, what inspired you to write the track?
Smokescreens is a song which was entirely born and created in the studio by all of us. Usually, our songs start off with an acoustic demo which Ross sends around our group chat and then when we get into the rehearsal studio, we blend all our ideas together and take it from there. It’s a system that has worked well for us, and the end result is a song that sounds completely different to the original demo. With Smokescreens, things were a little different. It was a song without any original demo, it was created by all of us at the same time and in the same room. We’re so pleased with how it’s turned out.
How have you found the reaction to the track so far?
The reaction since we released the song has been great. The launch day was one of our most successful and given we only announced the song a week before we were amazed at the positive reaction it got. The song is going to feature on our debut EP ‘As The Dark Unfolds’ which is coming out in May. As a standalone track, Smokescreens is one of my favourites but as part of the full EP it fits right in and compliments our others songs perfectly, so I’m excited to see how people’s reaction to that too. We took a bit of gamble with Smokescreens. Unlike our other singles we had only played the track live once. It was at our headline show at Broadcast in Glasgow in February 2020 which turned out to be our last gig. The reaction we got that night persuaded us to get it recorded as soon as we could, and we’re really glad we did. We can’t wait to play it live again.
How has the band dealt with lockdown?
No doubt lockdown has been tough. We realise however we aren’t in the same situation as others. We’re lucky in a sense that none of us rely on music as our main source of income, so we’ve all still been able to work our days jobs during this time which I know hasn’t been the case for so many people around the country. Lockdown has given us an opportunity to plan what we wanted to do next, and gave us time to think how we wanted our EP to look and sound. I’m guilty of jumping feet first into a new project without thinking too much about it, so it’s been good to have time to sit back and think ahead.
Who are the bands biggest influences at the moment?
The best part about this band for me is that we all draw our influences from completely different places. I am a big fan of bands such as The Twilight Sad and The Clash, while Ross likes people like Bon Ivor and The Howel & The Hum. Sam is a huge Muse fan while Ally likes bands such as The War on Drugs. All these influences seep into Static Satellites songs in subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, ways.
What other up and coming Scottish bands are you listening to at the moment?
I have been listening to a tonne of music since lockdown started, far more than I normally would. My vinyl collection has exploded to the point I’m quickly running out of space to store them all. In particular I have been really enjoying Zoe Graham’s most recent EP, as well as the new albums from Mt Doubt, Medicine Men, Vukovi, The Gracious Losers and Man of Moon. Recently I’ve been listening to the new Mogwai and Arab Strap albums a lot.
What else can we expect from Static Satellites over the next few months?
We are releasing our debut EP ‘As The Dark Unfolds’ on Friday 14th May. This has been a long time in the making and we’re really excited to finally get it out there for everybody to hear. It was recorded by Mark Morrow in his Edinburgh studio, and it’s basically a collection of all our favourite live tracks from the almost 3 years we’ve been a band. If you’ve seen us live, then you will undoubtedly recognise the songs. If you haven’t, then it gives a great flavour of a Static Satellites gig and how no two songs on our set are the same. It really sucks we aren’t able to play a launch gig, but we’ve got some ideas up our sleeves so it won’t be the last people hear of us this year.
Make sure you keep up to date with the band here:
Facebook: @staticsatellites
Instagram: @staticsatellites
Twitter: @staticsats
Timeless Music Promotions 
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