Seafret: 'We went from 4m monthly listeners on Spotify to 13m'

Returning home from a European tour, they found themselves unable to gig to promote the record in Britain. With Sedman in Bridlington, where the band formed, and Draper now living in Leeds, they had to resort to sharing song ideas over WhatsApp to keep themselves busy. Out of that has emerged Wonderland, arguably their strongest album to date.

“It was just having that time to reflect on everything we’ve done as well I think helped with the inspiration of the album,” says guitarist Draper on a video call. “We’ve been so busy for years with touring all over and not really stopping to think. We had two weeks when lockdown started of doing nothing, then we cracked on. We had to do something.”

Singer Sedman says: “You get into that cycle (of albums and touring) then to step out of it for a second, you realise we’ve actually achieved quite a lot here already, and it’s good to reflect and have space to write from that angle.”

Casting his mind back to March 2020, Draper recalls: “We were on tour when it all started happening (with Covid), it was following us around Europe. We were in Switzerland and we were on national telly there because it was the last show before the country got shut down, then we got back to the UK and it started getting a bit weird and a bit scary.

“I think it was strange for everybody, but it was very strange for us because we were in the middle of working, we were on tour and then the next day you’re back at home sat on your settee watching This Morning.”

Sedman remembers: “We were hearing about bands having their tours cancelled either before they’d set off or they were just about to set off, and we were thinking ‘we’re so lucky that we haven’t lost any shows’. We were kind of like in our own bubble in this little bus driving around and then eventually we got the phone call saying the shows are going to have to be cancelled and we were thinking ‘it’s caught us up at last’. But we did manage to do a fair few of the shows that seemed safe at the time, we wouldn’t have gone ahead with any if it wasn’t.”

The lockdowns afforded Draper time to polish his production skills. “I got myself a new laptop and a new interface and just started learning production, so that really helped me,” he says. “It felt fresh and new because I hadn’t really delved into it before and then alongside of writing I can produce all my ideas as well, I think that really helps with being inspired.”

“That helped me as well,” says Sedman, “because (Harry) send me ideas which to write to that are so much more like a body of work. There are more lines, there is more instrumentation that I could pick up on when I’m writing lyrics. Sometimes it would just be acoustic guitar and I would write to it but then we’d know full well that it would end up in a big song.”

Having had “the privilege” in the past of working with such well-known producers as Steve Robson (Miley Cyrus, One Direction) and Cam Blackwood (Florence + The Machine, George Ezra), Draper felt comfortable with expanding his role. “If you’re interested it’s hard not to pick up on things when someone’s doing them in front of you very well,” he says.

During the preliminary stages of making the album, both Sedman and Draper became first-time fathers. Sedman readily admits parenthood changed his perspective. “Your whole world just flips, it’s just amazing how it changes you for the better,” he says. “I feel everyone should go through it, because it’s just the most incredible thing. It’s so inspiring. Where you were driven before to do things if you were providing for your family, you’re seriously providing if you’ve got your own little life to look after...that makes you work harder.”

It’s made him even more of their fans who have stuck with Seafret ​​​​​​​through the loss of previous record deals. “The response you get online just keeps us steered,” he says. “They’re just so into it, the comments that they write. With social media it reaches all around the world and some of the countries that I’ve never even heard of are listening to it​​​​, that’s a big thing. We’ve always had that support, so that keeps us going when it gets tough.”

The surprise adoption on TikTok of their 2015 song Atlantis certainly seems to have whetted appetites for their new album. “We went from four million monthly listeners on Spotify to 13 million,” says Draper.

“We and the label felt that it’s kind of a pick-and-drop society on TikTok, so we did expect to get this huge growth once it was going viral and then for it to drop off because people follow and then unfollow quite quickly, but a lot of them seem to have stuck around,” says Sedman. “We’ve seen that they’re digging into our catalogue as well as listening to our newer stuff. It’s been a huge thing for us.”

“You can’t plan that stuff, but it’s just amazing,” says Draper.

“It’s what every label is trying to get every act to do, and it just happened like that,” beams Sedman. “The Atlantis hashtag had 1.7 billion shares on TikTok. You hear the buzz and go, ‘does anyone want to buy a T-shirt?’”

Wonderland is out now. Seafret play at Leeds University Union Stylus on Thursday April 20. www.seafret.com/