Empty Days Club: ‘It felt exciting to try something out of our comfort zones’

A self-dubbed supergroup is on the horizon; emerging from the desolation left by the sweeping hand of a pandemic, musicians extending beyond the Leeds grasp have joined forces to create something fresh and ultimately uplifting in a time of uncertainty.

With Leeds group Talkboy in the driver’s seat, members of Catholic Action, Diving Station, The Golden Age Of TV, The Howl & The Hum, Marsicans, Sea Legs and the Empty Days Club House Band have invested their lockdown time into making an EP like no other. With every section of each song recorded remotely, communications exclusively done via various phone lines and little to no experience in working this way before, on the surface the formation of a record seems like an impossible task. But it is exactly this in a time of hardship that makes the project such a success.

When we think of the past few months, not a lot of good comes to mind. There’s been endless struggle, negativity and complications, all taking a big old swing at musicians and the industry they’re a part of. Yet born out of this difficulty is new material, new subject matter and a new way of creating art, all of which are reflected in the music produced in Empty Days Club.

Speaking of the EP, Calum Juniper of Talkboy sees the project as a way to push barriers by having more voices in the conversation. “We’re fortunate in that our main challenge is fighting the boredom of lockdown. With that in mind, it felt exciting to try something out of our comfort zones. In a six-piece band, it can sometimes feel like too many cooks, so we thought we’d double down by bringing even more people to the table.”

With artists hopping on board left, right and centre, it was clear it wasn’t just Talkboy who felt that that collaboration might be a way to open new doors when the real one was bolted shut. Talking with James of Marsicans, it’s clear that they were quick to see the artistic upsides in taking part in such a large project. “We got an email from Talkboy saying ‘Do you want to get involved?’. It was pretty early in lockdown, so we were very settled into twiddling our thumbs at that point and we jumped at the chance. We don’t think bands collaborate enough. Because there’s already three or four of you in a band usually that’s kind of your club but I think bands should offer themselves more possibilities because most other genres collaborate, share ideas and work as a community, but indie bands can be a bit and we’re insular. It was really nice, there were no plans with it, you just do what you want to do and we’re really happy with the song. It’s basically about doing nothing but we’re really proud of it.”

It’s surprising to hear that a release covering so many different artists didn’t result in a feeling of claustrophobia, each new addition to the team not tumbling over one another, but what’s even more surprising is how clean and uncluttered the EP is after all that’s gone into it. There’s no loose-ends to be tied, tracks that sound unintentionally muddy or a sense of overcompensation, EDC knows what it is and knows how to work beyond Talkboy’s capabilities alone. It’s not about who comes out on top in this project, there’s no fighting between artists over creative license that’s audible in a confused mishmash, Empty Days Club is entirely about the ethos of collaboration more than the task of actually doing it.

In similar sincere fashion, Talkboy are also donating all profits from sales of the EP to the NHS, in support of helping the doctors and nurses get access to the relevant PPE they need whilst battling Covid-19. The EP in full will be available for download on the 2nd September, with the final two singles from the EP dropping this month. Talkboy are also set to release their debut EP early next year.

https://emptydaysclub.bandcamp.com/album/empty-days-club-volume-i