Introducing…. Skies Turn Black

We caught up with Skies Turn Black to talk late-night van hysterics, broken hearts, bad habits, and bending genre into something neon-lit and unmistakably theirs. With feet rooted in college camaraderie and minds sparked at uni, Skies Turn Black are carving out a distinct corner of heavy music. Drawing from power metal, metalcore, dance, synthwave and pure nostalgia, they’ve channelled chaos into catharsis on Broken Hearts & Bad Habits

Click Roll Boom: Tell me about you – how did the band get started?
Skies Turn Black: A couple of the lads have been friends since college and sixth form and started playing in bands together from being 16. Then at uni is where we met everyone and this version of Skies Turn Black was born.

CRB: How would you describe your sound, and how has it evolved since you first started?
STB: When we started it was very reminiscent of bands like Lamb Of God, Avenged Sevenfold, Bullet for my Valentine, then we released the first album No Place Like Home and got branded a power metal band, which really wasn’t what we were expecting. We got that there were influences of power metal in there but I wouldn’t have described our entire sound as that.
Now, things have developed further, taking the influences from bands like Avenged, Bullet, Dragonforce and mixing them with an electronic element. Taking influence from guitar-driven heavy metal and incorporating features of dance music. Our brand of metal can chop and change genre, to go from being rich in 80s heavy metal nostalgia with riffs and huge choruses to keytar-led synth sections with aggressive drops that still pack that heavy punch.

CRB: Who or what have been some of your biggest influences, musically and beyond?
STB: As a band we do have quite a varied taste and varied influences, which is probably why the final product we’ve created with Broken Hearts & Bad Habits is such a mix. Collectively, our influences would be the likes of Avenged Sevenfold, Dragonforce and Pendulum, which makes sense listening back to the album.
Beyond music, yet still within music, Neil Peart is probably my biggest influence. For a man to be one of the best drummers in the world, yet still be so critical and reflective of his own playing is incredible. As well, the resilience he showed overcoming such heartbreaks that he faced in his life is unbelievable. An absolute genius.

CRB: What does your songwriting process typically look like?
STB: For this record, most of the songs started out as just voice and piano, and we'd build the instrumental around the song after. This allowed us to focus more on the hooks and make sure the songwriting was really solid.

CRB: Can you tell us about the themes behind Broken Hearts & Bad Habits?
STB: DW – There’s a lot of themes throughout the album that are brought up and challenged. A lot of the album is very inward-facing and quite reflective which I think is interesting. Especially considering how many of us have written from the same point of view on different personal challenges that ultimately come down to being about a bad habit or a broken heart situation. The Angel into More Than That is a nice example of a Bad Habit song going into a broken heart song. Angel is very much a sexy tune and talks about having a bit too much of a good time with someone who you ultimately know is not right for you. To then be going into MTT straight after and have a reflective outlook on the same situation, holding yourself to a higher standard to what you want from life and more specifically a partner.

CRB: How do you approach experimenting with new sounds or ideas when creating music?
STB: There was a lot of experimentation with sound on this record. Sometimes playing around with synthesizers would lead to finding a sound that inspired a whole section and the intention of that part could totally change musically because it is being presented in a way that was totally unprecedented to even us.

CRB: What’s been one of the most memorable moments in your journey so far?
STB: Strangely, the most memorable moments I would say we have had as a band are the things that come with spending a load of time together and being such good friends. The last tour we had, when we were all together in the van heading to gigs was a highlight. Talking absolute rubbish and crying laughing is the main thing I remember from that tour. The gigs are fun and that’s absolutely why we do what we do. But the bits where you are hanging out with your mates is what sticks with you.

CRB: What was the thought process behind the artwork for Broken Hearts & Bad Habits?
STB: DW – When we set out the moodboard for the album it was very 80s. Very neon. Very Stranger Things. That’s the vibe we got from the album. A nostalgic 80s feel but totally modernised. So we searched high and low for an artist who could really nail this for us, and we actually found our fave Toni Vingle by accident! I was having a scroll through FB and Toni’s mum had posted a piece of her artwork in an Electric Callboy fan group I’m in of the Elevator Operator poster and I thought it was class. So after actively searching for weeks to find someone we got a bit of serendipity and found Toni who has nailed the artwork.

CRB: How do you prepare for live shows, and what do you aim to bring to your performances?
STB: We want to create a dynamic live performance that has energy. That’s a pretty tricky thing to do when the music that you’re playing is actually pretty difficult! So the boring answer is we have to do reps and reps of songs to get them to a point where we know them inside out so we can then have the freedom to move around to the extent we do for a live show. The instrumental section in Angel we would just have on loop running and running it till we felt as comfortable as we can be.

CRB: How do you balance creative expression with staying connected to your audience?
STB: You have to be genuine throughout any creative expression. If you’re not and you are creating a fabricated reality of what you are writing about, what’s the point? When you write a piece of music that exposes your own vulnerability, ultimately that leaves a huge door open to connect with how someone else is feeling too. A lot of the topics addressed in BH&BH are things very personal to us, but that doesn’t mean that we are alone in feeling this way and others will have had these kinds of experiences.

CRB: What do you hope listeners take away from your work?
STB: Everyone listens to music for different things. We discuss this between us sometimes. Personally, I get excited by the substance of a piece of music, the meaning, the things that have inspired a feeling that resonates. Rob on the other hand has said he just loves the vibes and shit being really cool. Which is absolutely fair. Each to their own, but both sides of the spectrum cover our work I reckon. It’s got that deep meaningfulness to the songs that people can become attached to, but it also has the vibes because it is just fun. It’s odd thinking about that—it’s both music one can choose to take completely seriously as well as not treating it as serious and taking it at face value. Ultimately, something that can appeal to everyone.

CRB: What does the future hold for you – any plans or goals you’re excited about?
STB: We are craving some festivals. That’s the goal. Something further than the UK maybe? Maybe. Right now we have a decent chunk of album 3 done so we are already looking at what the next album cycle is going to be looking like.