Skyes

14Although males continue to dominate the music industry, an incredible female-fronted band called SYKES is one act that is tipping the scales. Hailing from across the pond in London, England, the three-piece electropop rock band consists of Julia, Will, and Kristian. Upon spending a summer on the Vans Warped Tour in 2016 and releasing the Younger Mind EP, the group has been making moves in the US market over the past year and a half. Garnering their style from a number of influences, they have found that bigger pop songs and songs with huge melodies and guitar riffs help them develop their eclectic sound. “We grew up listening to everything from The Beatles and Queen, to Radiohead and The White Stripes,” reveals Julia.

Before SYKES formed, the trio met in university while spending their days pursuing majors that had nothing to do with music. Instead of continuing with their degrees upon graduation, they took a different approach—the group instead moved to London to further their musical careers, and they don’t regret this decision for a second.

A year ago, SYKES released their latest EP, Younger Mind, and it’s clear that their sound and direction have changed and their songwriting improved since Out of Your Hands four years ago. With this latest effort, teamwork and collaboration were instrumental in making the new songs what they are. “We love getting in a room all together and throwing ideas around,” Julia explains. “We normally start with a guitar riff, a chord sequence, or a vibey synth sound. It varies for every song though. Sometimes, you also need to just live with a song by yourself for a while before putting it out there for everyone else. But it doesn’t really become a SYKES song until we’ve all touched it,” she continues.

It’s not uncommon for some musicians to have a different musical setup between the studio versions of their songs and the ways that they interpret those songs in a live setting. But for their Younger Mind EP, the band actually drew inspiration from their live performances. “We wanted to inject the energy from our live set into this record, so we spent a lot of time perfecting the balance between live drums and programmed drums and the way the songs would flow in a live environment,” Kristian describes. “We are so happy with the sound we achieved,” he adds.

Evidently, SYKES aren’t the only ones satisfied with the finished product; fans are ecstatic about the direction their sound is headed, and the band has received tremendous feedback in response. To the band’s surprise, they were even selling out of physical copies—both old and new— while on tour, proving that the age of music isn’t just digital.

As many bands soon discover, touring is the tried and true way to score new fans, even when performing alongside bands outside of their genre. This has definitely been the case for SYKES. An accomplishment in the trio’s career, and also a challenge, was surviving their first time on the Vans Warped Tour in 2016, a festival with punk and hardcore roots. Initially, the band was nervous about doing the two-month tour overseas, but, by the end, they were completely happy with how everything panned out. Kristian gives more insight into their experience, detailing, “We were a little apprehensive going into the tour, as the music we make is quite different to a lot of the other Warped bands. [But] after our first show, we knew it was going to be the most amazing summer. The crowds were big, and the new fans we made throughout the tour were so open to hearing new music and supporting the band.”

Aside from being away from home for so long, the biggest obstacle was really just preparing for the tour. “Preparing for Warped Tour [was a challenge]. We wanted to make sure every aspect was successful, so we spent a lot of time on our set, designing all the merch, and preparing ourselves for the crazy hot weather. All the hard work definitely paid off,” Will shares.

On top of touring, SYKES find that radio plays and festival performances have been a huge help and accomplishment for them in boosting their careers forward. “We have a lot of support from BBC London and the BBC Introducing team. They have certainly been instrumental in helping us grow as a band, considering we playlisted our single, ‘Best Thing,’ on BBC Radio 1 and secured a major festival spot at T in the Park last year,” Kristian confirms. Reflecting on their experiences thus far, the band highly recommends that any British bands starting out put their music up on the BBC Introducing site, because it’s a quick and easy thing to do that can ultimately have a tremendous effect.

Upon releasing the Glimmer Remix EP, the band hopes to continue on with making music that connects with people all over the world and also provides positive vibes. With this in mind, their main goal is to keep writing songs that they personally love without worrying about what audiences will or won’t want to hear. “The chances are that if you write songs that you love, other people will love them too,” Julia affirms. At this point in SYKES’ career, she’s not wrong.

PHOTOS LORI GUTMAN

STORY COLLEEN CASEY

INTERVIEW MICHELLE BALZER