Beauty School talk us through the process of creating their latest album ‘From Now On’, available now via Rock Sound exclusive white and glass split vinyl.
We’ve all heard of Midwest emo – but what about some Northern gloom? When it comes to gut-wrenching introspection, Yorkshire alt-rockers Beauty School are giving their melancholic American peers a run for their money. Dropping the veil of ‘Happiness’ that kept their 2022 debut from delving too deep, ‘From Now On’ is an ode to suffering, the agony of nostalgia, the persistent sting of mourning. It’s a sonic realisation that life isn’t all that easy – but with great sorrow comes even greater tunes.
Opening on the poignant assertion that “we suffer the same gloom”, Beauty School’s sophomore record sets itself up as it means to go on. Yet, while the gloom is persistent, its delivered like a gift; melancholy seems to glow, served up in a whirl of bright alt-rock hooks, pop-punk buoyancy and vulnerable reflections. At times you’re howling along to the anthemic ‘When I’m Feeling Down’ or losing yourself in the glistening might of ‘Okinawa’s agoraphobic reflections, all before ‘Astel’ cuts through the riffs with poignancy, a warm injection of acoustic woe in the midst of the noise.
Whether you’re drawn to the youth-yearning ‘Old Rotten Teeth’, the terrified reflection on mortality that is ‘Reaper’, ‘From Now On’ is one hell of a modern emo record. We thought we’d sit down with the Leeds lads themselves to dive deeper into their smorgasbord of angst…
Rock Sound: There’s a lot of nostalgia around being in your mid-20s and younger on this record – were you all friends around then? How long have you known each other?
Dan Shaw [Guitar]: “So Joe [Cabrera], our drummer Charlie [Thomas] and other guitarist Jordan [Hill], all went to the Leeds College of Music together. Then I met them all through playing in bands in the area. We ended up meeting Grant [Beeden Clayton] when he covered for me during honeymoon, and he was just too good to let go of. So now we’ve got three guitarists and that’s that.”
RS: How has the transition to three guitarists been?
Dan:“When Grant joined, he started adding extra bits to tracks off of the debut during live shows. So now those tracks all have a new life when we’re performing live. Which is great – we love to defy people’s expectations, throw in a crazy half-time switch up here and there. ‘Pawn Shop Jewels’ has probably changed the most live – it sounds nothing like the original track any more.”
Charlie Thomas [Drums]: “In terms of tracks changing, we used to perform ‘The Fall’ before our debut. It’s on the new record, but it has an entirely different sound now.”
Joe Cabrera [Vocals]: “One day I just rang up Dan and was like ‘right – we’re gonna reuse ‘The Fall’. Dan would only agree if we re-wrote it, so that was the compromise.”
RS: You’ve all grown a lot since those days – even since 2022’s ‘Happiness’ you’ve matured quite a bit. How do you think that you’ve grown as people since you started the band?
Dan:“I think the world’s a very different place now, in comparison to when we released our first album. I think we were a little naive then – realistically, we’re six lads who work full time. Since then we’ve changed our expectations, come to terms with things. It’s just about keeping out heads above water.”
Joe: “I think it helps that we started this band as a way of just being creative. When we started playing together in 2012 while in University, it was just a way of spending time together. We’ve experienced a lot since then – our lives have changed and we can’t just skip work like we used to skip lectures – but we make time for the band. It’s our opportunity to process what’s going on in our lives, and there’s no pressure.”
Charlie:“When you just do it for fun, there’s no worry about what the ‘future’ holds. If you get obsessed with trying to ‘chase’ something, that desperation ends up chasing you in return and making you miserable.”
RS: Do you feel like that lack of pressure is how you’re able to be so authentic on record? There’s no desperate ‘chase’ to follow trends, just an honest desire to express yourselves?
Dan: “Definitely. For me, when I write songs, it’s therapy. There’s nothing else to it. It’s my way of saying what I might struggle to say to people in my life. If I’m feeling like shit, I’ll write a song about it. If I’m feeling a bit happier, I’ll write a song about it…”
Joe:“Not too sure about that. Still waiting for that ‘happy’ song, mate…”
Dan: “I’ve tried so many times! It always just sounds cheesy!”
RS: I mean, even without having ‘goals’ or expectations, you’ve ticked off some amazing achievements. You’ve even got Dan Campbell from The Wonder Years on the new record for ‘Reaper’…
Joe:“That was insane! The Wonder Years have always been a big influence on me – all of us! In that whole spike of DIY pop punk in 2011 to 2014, we used to offer our uni halls as a place to crash on UK tours. We’d have them sleeping on our floor. But Dan Campbell wanting to work with us… I wrote the words to ‘Reaper’ in the van, not knowing they’d be sung by Dan eventually. But he loved the song and was instantly up for it.”
Charlie: “I was in the office at my day job and saw the email come through with Dan agreeing and I was just thinking ‘nope, can’t react, it’s too early to start crying in the office…’”
RS: They often say there’s the curse of the ‘sophomore slump’ – was that ever on your minds while writing this record?
Joe: “Well, this record started out as an EP but it just organically grew and became a full album. So we weren’t thinking of it as the follow-up, at first. But Grant also changed everything – he used to produce our demos, and he really ‘understands’ music. Now, me and Dan will come up with the story and concept of a song and Grant can shape it. We essentially describe it like six year olds – ‘I want the drums to go boom, boom…’”
RS: That makes perfect sense to me.
Joe: “Exactly, right? But then Grant gets out the guitar, starts messing around on the MIDI and it’s perfect.. He’s such a technically gifted musician. It’s really helped us grow while writing this album.”
Grant: “I’m a musical translator.”
RS: What would you say is the most important song on the new record?
Dan: “The opening pair of tracks, ‘A Part Of Everything’ and ‘Seeds For The Roses’, are about the death of my grandad. It’s reflecting on the rough time we had at his funeral. My family also lost both my grandad and my grandma in the space of eight months, so it was a really hard time. I wanted the start of the record to capture that moment, how difficult it was.”
Charlie: “The drumming was also difficult… the guys were trying to push their boundaries songwriting, but they were also pushing the physical boundaries of what I am capable of playing. There’s a video of me in the studio essentially having a breakdown, snapping drumsticks and like I’m throwing my toys out of a pram. But we got there…”
RS: What would you say is the best lyric on the record?
Joe: “Lyrically, me and Dan really make every track feel quite special. We’re really good friends, so we’re quite emotionally connected, so writing together just works…”
Dan: “We’re very similar – similar upbringings and role models within the family. So we’re good at seeing from each other’s perspective.”
Joe: “Exactly. So, when Dan’s struggling, I find it easy to step into his shoes, and its the same case for him. Like, Armitage’ is a great example. It’s my old surname – it was my dad’s. He left the family when I was around 20, and that song is all about the struggle me and my brother went through at the time – and it’s interesting because the lyric ‘your sons, your little boys, filled their houses with toys’ was written by Dan. It’s another example of just how emotionally in sync we are – it spoke so deeply to me, gave me words for feelings I didn’t know how to get down.”
Dan: “That’s what happens when you’re two working class Leeds Lads… you end up with some kind of symbiotic brain function or something.”
Joe: “But we did also have some fun with it. ‘Lately’ is quite a silly one lyrically. I decided to see how many times I could put the word ‘lately’ into the track…”
RS: The ‘Lately’ drinking game must be lethal…
Joe: “I don’t even know how many times we got it in, honestly.”
RS: Looking forward, what are you hoping this record does?
Grant: “Again, there’s never expectations. Anything that happens is a bonus.”
Joe: “We’re just riding the wave, wherever it takes us.”
Dan: “Yeah, I’m happy with anything that comes our way – unless it’s a 3am video shoot. We did that for ‘Lately’ and I don’t ever want to do that again.” Joe: “That warehouse… every breath felt like you were filling your lungs with dust and dead stuff. Never again.
‘From Now On’ is out now via Slam Dunk Records.
Rock Sound has teamed up with the band to offer this exclusive white and glass split vinyl, limited to just 100 copies.
To get your copy, click the image below or visit SHOP.ROCKSOUND.TV.
