The Sherlocks

Meet indie/alternative rock band The Sherlocks from Sheffield!

Lead singer Kiaran Crook and brother Brandon on the drums sharing insights on band life and their new album World I Understand making it into the UK Top 10. A new line up since 2020, with guitarist Alex Procter and bassist Trent Jackson joining the band, The Sherlocks have followed up sold-out shows and two albums with an electrifying third record that includes their latest single Sorry.

Just after the last show of their record store tour we sat together with Kiaran and Brandon, both packed full of passion and contagious energy to chat about the upcoming UK Tour hitting venues such as O2 Academy Islington in April and if Sheffield Wednesday or boxing would win the race.

 

 

Brandon: Let’s rock and roll

Let’s just start with the first question then! I’ve heard that you had two gigs this week as you finished your record store tour! So how has that been being back on stage, the crowd, the energy…

Kiaran: They´ve been very good yeah. Most people do them to sell the albums. I think for us it was the same and it always felt like work you know. But this time with this album we’ve really enjoyed them to be fair. We had Alex and Trent with us and the sound was just so good! We definitely enjoyed these gigs a lot more and the turnout has been incredible. We had plenty of people turning up.

 

That’s amazing! Great to hear. So let’s start at the beginning and maybe you can summarize The Sherlocks journey from day one to today.

Kiaran: We started back then in 2010 with me, Brandon, and two other members and we did two albums over a 10-year period. Then in March 2020 we had just come off a UK tour and the other two wanted to leave the band. They just wanted to get a normal job so me and Brandon just carried on. Looking for new members we found Alex and Trent, both suggested to us by our old sound guy and we connected straight away. We went down to Rockfield Studios not knowing them at all, which was pretty strange to be fair but once we recorded the album and got to know each other!

 

 

You two are brothers. I’m thinking about having my siblings working with me, that would be my absolute nightmare haha, so how does the dynamic work having family members in the band?

Kiaran: Yeah it’s not too bad. Pretty funny actually haha. It´s not like a job you can take too seriously. Being in the band doesn´t feel like you’re working… there’s not really the opportunity to fall out that much or feel like you´re doing more hard work than your brother.

 

So tell me about the songwriting process in the band. Are you all involved or does someone take the lead?

Kiaran: I probably take the lead. I’ll come to band practice with some ideas. Maybe with some demos, I record with GarageBand, and then ideally we go to the practice room and that’s when really everyone says what they think. We just keep on jamming over and over until it sounds good.

We even record the band practice. A lot of good stuff actually comes out of them.

 

 

Sounds like proper teamwork then! Coming now to your new release World I understand. Whilst the world is slowly but surely reopening you are ready once again to conquer the stage. Why would this album have more importance to you compared to the others?

Kiaran: I think we took normal times for granted and now we just appreciate it all 10 times more. People have missed gigs and I think they are now just starting to realize how they play a big part in all our lives. Same when we were making the album, we felt lucky that we actually can go to the studio and create it. We spent three weeks in the studio from the beginning till we finished.

Brandon: This album is more important to us because on the first two albums we were with a good-sized record label but we’ve done this new one all on our own and with our own label (TeddyBoy Records). So everything we’re trying to achieve with this album means a lot more to us especially when we do well.

 

Overall the album has a great mix of styles but other than your previous single Games You Play, you paired electric sounds and powerful basslines with dance-orientated tunes. What inspired you for your new single Sorry, when you compare it to the last one?

Kiaran: Yeah the song is quite dancy. At some point, you just have to make a decision about where you want to go with it. I think we were listening to the demo and then we actually just started getting into drum beats and stuff like that. It was just a point we were all like ‘this is a dance tune’ and we decided to start treating it that way. I think we’re at the luxury of having 2 albums out already and we can try out new stuff. But as soon as we started recording it we all loved it and it definitely felt out of our comfort zone.

 

 

Do you have a favourite song on the album or one that is the most fun to perform on stage?

Brandon: Ohhh… the song I love to play live is Falling but that is probably because we haven’t had the chance to put many new songs in the live set. I can´t really choose a song. It´s definitely the most complete album we’ve got. We did an intro which we never had before! I genuinely like all of them haha!

 

Did you ever have any doubts before you’ve released the album, were you nervous about it?

Brandon: I wouldn’t say nervous. We’re normally excited sitting in the studio and chatting like ‘Oh my God this is going to sound fantastic’. For the first album, we were mega excited, for the second one it felt a little bit rushed and now this album is complete like no record we’ve done before. Visually as well, we absolutely nailed it with the artwork and fans saying the vinyl is like a piece of art in itself.

 

Coming from a performing background myself I get it if someone feels anxious or so before going on stage. Do you guys have a ritual to prepare for a gig if the nerves come up, or are you just excited to get out there? 

Brandon: We aren´t nervous really ha. We always just have a good time, normally having a couple of bottles of beer. I mean me and Kiaran have done it now for 11 years. For Trent and Alex, the first gig they played was a festival in Sheffield, so they have normally always played for 200 people and then they walked out to 40,000 people. I can imagine they get excited but I´ve never seen them nervous either. Especially after covid, it’s just fun to play and everyone wants to have a good night.

 

 

This is a good one… after the shoot we asked you what you’d like to chat about and you gave us 4 topics. I want you guys to rank these in importance to the band and give us reasons why. It was Sheffield Wednesday FC, nnooker, boxing and bowling

Kiaran: Hahaaha!! What did you say in the end?? Balling??

Brandon: Yo Kiaran might be a secret baller that I don’t know about! No idea I don’t know where balling comes from hahah.

Kiaran: I remember haha. I think he just misunderstood boxing!

 

Okay haha let’s stick to Sheffield Wednesday, snooker, and boxing then. How would you rank these in importance to the band? 

Brandon: (still laughing) Sheffield Wednesday has got to be on the top. We just had a new kit launch with them. They were bringing Sheffield T-Shirts for us to sign, it was unbelievable really. Personally, me and Kiaran are huge boxing fans and snooker and stuff like that. To be honest, it shouldn´t have been balling (bowling) it should have been golfing haha!

 

Amazing we add golf then.

Brandon: Yeah add a little golf in there.

Kiaran: I think Sheffield Wednesday is at the top as me and Brandon are from there. We only have two teams there and we obviously don’t speak about the other one haha. Then it´s always boxing. Brendan says golf. That’s massive! We´re always golfing. We´re not really good but we enjoy it!

 

Great! We´re already coming to an end with my last question. Tell us about your upcoming UK tour in April and what does the future hold for The Sherlocks?

Brandon: Music wise we’ll just stick to what we´re doing really. The last album really connected us so we continue doing it the same way and probably bringing a new single out in summer for festivals!

 

We’re really looking forward to that and I wish you the best of luck with that. Thank you guys so much for your time!

Both: Yeah thanks was great chatting with you!

 

World I understand is out now, for more info and tour dates visit www.thesherlocksmusic.co.uk

 

Words by Caroline Emilia Hawks

Photography Harry Livingstone

 

You don't have permission to register