The Spook School

Edinburgh power pop heroes The Spook School always inspire a crowd as they jump and sing along to their upbeat and glittering songs about mental health, the spectrum of gender that is far from binary, and celebrating the sadness that comes with life. Something that will never go amiss at a Spook School show is the comedic banter between the band and the crowd (not surprising considering three of the four members met at a comedy course at university in Edinburgh), and was gleefully apparent when sitting down with them for an interview.

Entertainment is one of their greatest goals in performing live, as guitarist Adam Todd describes. “I don’t think any of us have particularly long attention spans for watching music or in a live setting, so we try and make sure that a show that we would do would be a show that we wouldn’t get bored by.” Especially considering the heavy topics covered by their songs, things that the crowd might be going through themselves and finding it tough to get through, it’s important to them to offer not quite an escape from them, but a celebration in spite of them. “We really like making sure that the people coming to the show know that they can celebrate and be joyous and that kind of stuff,” drummer Niall McCamley adds; “It’s easy to wallow, when it’s really fun to fire tiny party glitter things on yourself and roll about on the floor.”

In addition to that, they write songs for people to relate to and feel less alone when they hear them, and then take the next step to make the space feel safer for everyone involved. Diet Cig, who they toured around the UK, Europe and the states with for a good couple of months last year and

at the start of this one, are wellknown for being one of the many bands now requesting gender-neutral toilets to be made available for attendees, and it’s there that The Spook School learned just how far they can take control of not only the show but the venue they play it in. “Trying to do things at our live shows, even if it’s not a part of the

actual show,” guitarist Nye Todd says, “to make the space welcoming for people is important.” Niall agrees, and links back to Adam’s point on taking what would make them feel comfortable to implement in to the entire atmosphere of a show.

Drummer Niall McCamley at Belgrave Music Hall in Leeds on their album release tour (May 2018)

The band have recently released their third album, Could It Be Different?, receiving widely-spread and well-deserved critical praise for another record that handles topical issues ranging from finding the empowerment to walk away from an abusive relationship (see the infectiously catchy and teeth-grittingly angry “Still Alive”) to mental health in various forms (see the sweet indie-pop in “Less Than Perfect” and “Body”). Recorded and produced by the talented MJ from Leeds’ Hookworms, he brings a new shimmering shine to the band’s grit but without hiding it away. “He gives us the time and he doesn’t treat us like kids, even when we act like it,” Niall says with a laugh. “It was a very welcoming environment. It felt more comfortable in terms of less of an imposter syndrome maybe, being in this magical studio where you shouldn’t touch anything should it break.” Nye agrees: “It’s also working with someone who’s excited about the music that you’re making, and believes that it can be good, which is nice. That definitely helps.” As a band that finds an accessible atmosphere such as this important in many other aspects, it’s important to find someone who

implements that same control and acceptance in a space they might not feel comfortable.

Accessibility in other forms, however seemingly unattainable at this point, is something else the band points out when asked what they would change about the industry as a whole. Adam wishes there would be more funding going to the arts that aren’t just classical music and ballet (a place where a large majority of it is going to at the moment), in order “to make doing music in a professional fashion something that’s attainable,” he explains, “particularly for people from lower-income backgrounds.” Bassist AC Cory agrees, and builds on the idea of taking pop music more seriously: “There’s also that culture of music not being proper work. As in, you should be grateful you’re doing this and enjoying it in your spare time, and you’re not deserving it; it’s free money or whatever, because it’s a hobby. It’d be nice

to see an attitude of it being real work that is good for society.” Seeing how hard this band, and the others around them, including those behind the scenes making the festival run, it’s no wonder they’re still working towards and hoping for better treatment from onlookers who consider them to be “hobbyists.”

For now, though, the band are just hoping to continue to write and continue to tour, though whereabouts after their album tour might well be unknown. “We tend to be a band that says yes to a lot of things,” Adam explains (which is how they ended up continuing their tour with Diet Cig, only meant to be in the UK originally), “so a lot of the time, we’ve not particularly planned what we’re doing that far in advance, but someone will say, do you want to do this thing? And we’ll be like, oh yep!” No matter what they do, though, no doubt it’s going to be just as fun as the band always are.