It’s been nearly a year since The Black Skies released their debut single ‘Unchained’.
Since then, they’ve performed gigs, worked with other musicians and developed their sound.
And now they are about to launch their latest single. Featuring Hellbound Glory and co-produced by George Shilling (Oasis/Primal Scream), it is a cover of Nina Simone’s Feeling Good, and launches on all streaming services on 30 March.
YorkMix caught up with members James Handley and Luke Falkingham to discuss the band’s development, new projects and exciting collaborations that are on the horizon.
What’s the year been like since you release your first single?
It’s been a crazy year for us as a band! We’ve taken on three incredible musicians, Tom on drums, Michael on bass and Benny on rhythm guitar and turned the band into a five piece. We did our first gig which went crazy with 170 people in the audience, so that was mad! – James
What’s been your best gig so far?
I feel like the best gig we’ve performed would be at Headrow House in Leeds with The Sound of Modesty and The Dunes. We didn’t have as many people come to the show as our gig at The Crescent in December, but I believe as a band we performed at our best and the sound there was incredible – Luke
How have you changed as a band?
I think we’ve changed in a lot of ways as a band. It’s been a bit of a learning curve for me as I’ve never been in a band, and I’ve never performed or anything like that. This all just started as a way to not go crazy during the lockdowns!
So going into the studio and recording with professionals who are using all of these technical terms was pretty strange, to say the least. I’m learning more and more every day, and the way that I and Luke write the songs is getting stronger every time we lock ourselves in for a jam session – James
Do you have more plans for gigs?
Yes we do! We have shows later on in the year in Nottingham and Whitehaven and we are currently looking to book shows in major cities like London, Manchester and Edinburgh as well as playing gigs locally – Luke
What does the future hold?
Our goal right now is to keep putting out the best quality tunes we can, get on as many gigs as we possibly can, and put an album together and get touring. I don’t feel like we’re asking for much, we only want to take over the world… – James
How has it been recording your new single?
We have been fortunate enough to meet and work with our new friends in Hellbound Glory, Leroy Virgil and Chuck Bradley, and collaborate on a cover of Nina Simone’s ‘Feeling Good’, which is going to be released at the end of March. The recording process for this single was much quicker compared to ‘Unchained’ as we were working to a deadline, so naturally, there was more pressure to get the job done but we managed it well – Luke
Find out more about The Black Skies on their website, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube