The band converted an empty warehouse in the heart of their native Sheffield into their own multi-purpose studio to create their new album You Are We. It’s not the first time they’ve had their own space – 2010’s debut EP The North Stands For Nothing was recorded at a home studio called The Barn – but with this new space, which was built with the band’s own money, they’ve taken things to the next level. “There’s always been a very DIY aspect to this band,” explains vocalist Lawrence ‘Loz’ Taylor, “so going it alone a bit more now just reiterates that to everyone. The Barn was a very important place for us – it’s where we grew as friends and it was where we hung out and could be creative – so the idea with this new space is that it gives us a lot more creative space. There’s a studio and live room, and we have space now to achieve what we want to achieve as a band. This place is going to house us for a good few years.”
It’s also a place where the band aim to break down the barrier even more between themselves and their fan base. Tonight at 7pm, While She Sleeps will launch the music video for “Hurricane”, which was filmed at The Barn with many of the bands fans coming to take part in the video. “Now more than ever,” adds Sean Long (guitar), “our fans know that it’s them making all of this possible for us. The divide between artist and fan is ridiculous, because there are no fans without the artist and there’s no artist without the fans. They go hand in hand together as one absolute thing, and I really like that we can see that in play with what we’ve been doing. It’s very reassuring to see that support right in front of us.”
Made with Carl Bown, who also produced their previous 2015 album Brainwashed, the songs that comprise You Are We are full of as much force, focus and determination as ever. The likes of “Hurricane” and first single “Civil Isolation” continue the band’s trajectory as one of the most inspiring, riotous and important voices in British music today, demonstrating both their continued musical evolution and their incisive social conscience. Yet while these are brutal anthems that paint a vivid picture of a post-Brexit Britain, they stand as both the most universal and most personal songs of the band’s career.
Preorders are available at 24Hundred.