Skylights: 'We’ve achieved so much more than we ever set out to'

As he limbers up for his band Skylights’ biggest ever show in their home city, guitarist Turnbull Smith is in reflective mood. After a successful year in 2023 following the release of their album What You Are, the four-piece from York looked poised to make further progress in 2024. However, the last 10 months have not panned out as they had hoped.
Skylights onstage. Picture: Stephen DobsonSkylights onstage. Picture: Stephen Dobson
Skylights onstage. Picture: Stephen Dobson

“Last year we did Leeds Beckett (University Students Union) which sold out in a week, we did the Beach Ballroom in Aberdeen, which was made famous by The Beatles, it’s a 1,000 capacity venue and an absolutely beautiful place, it’s literally a ballroom by the sea with a bouncy dancefloor and balconies, so in November I was looking at moving forward and getting some shows for this year,” Smith recounts.

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“But it’s been a bit of a sad time for me. I treat everyone as a friend, but unfortunately things just didn’t work out with our promoters and managers and I felt let down with the whole thing because I found out it was more about making money than being a team.

“We released Time To Let Things Go, which got to number two in the vinyl chart which was a dream come true and we had a brilliant video filmed in Aberdeen, but we were hoping for festivals and big summer shows and nothing really came up.

“We signed up for (York) Barbican at the end of last year, and I was thinking this is a big show, this is going to be a tough sell, but we were basically told if we played it then we’d get a couple of festival slots this year, but that never came about so I had a bit of a moan on social media.”

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It led to a “falling out” with Skylights’ promoters, who pulled out of the Barbican show. “At first my stomach dropped,” Smith says. “I was thinking we’ve got loads of overheads here, so I contacted the Barbican, but then I realised we’ve sold enough tickets to cover the costs. So then I decided we’ve got a little bit in the budget, let’s make it big.”

After pulling victory from the jaws of defeat, the band decided to invest in lights, pyrotechnics and a new sound system. Smith says: “I thought with the money we’ve made off the tickets and not having to pay the promoters, we’re just going to put it back into the show and make it extra, extra special.”

Skylights have two other bands along for the ride. The Serotones feature Duke Witter, whose father Rick sings with Shed Seven; their guitarist is Sonny Leach, son of former Shed Seven drummer Alan. “I get on really well with Rick and Alan and I actually supported Rick Witter and The Dukes in my first band when I was a teenager,” Smith explains.

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Pennine Suite, meanwhile, have been asking to support Skylights for some time. “I just thought the moment was right,” Smith says.

With less than 100 tickets left to sell for the 1,800 capacity venue, Smith is buoyant. But he says his anthemic indie rock band are not about to make further plans. “I thought let’s just end the What You Are era on a high then after the Barbican show we’re going to have a hiatus, we’ll have some time off and just re-evaulate,” he says. “It’s been an amazing time, we’ve had an album in the top 100 Official Charts, we’ve reached the top 40 in the sales charts, we’ve had lots of success for a part-time band and it’s been sensational.

“We’ve played on the TV, we played Leeds Arena and we’ve achieved so much more than we ever set out to. I thought with the frustration we’ve had this year, let’s put the frustration to bed then after the Barbican we’ll re-evaluate and see what we’re doing. We don’t really have any plans but I’ve always got songs written.”

Skylights play at York Barbican on Saturday November 2. https://www.skylightsyra.co.uk/

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