Interview: With Doug Adams of Sky Larkin
Nylvi caught up with Doug Adams from Sky Larkin just before the release of their debut album on Wichita Recordings and heading off on their debut UK headline tour around the UK and Europe.
Doug, tell us a little about yourself.
I’m Doug, I’m 24, and I’ve just bought 2 turntables by mistake.
You play bass in the band Sky Larkin on Wichita. You’re being pretty innovative with how you’re releasing music now. Why start with a 7 vinyl and then go onto release a watch of all things, and how does that work?
Well I think to some extent Vinyl has become a novelty item, particularly for single releases, not many people play 7’s any more, tending to stick to mp3s (I may just be speaking for myself here) so we figured that for the physical release for the single it didn’t matter whether it could be played or not. We went through a few ideas and eventually came to the watch, I wanted to do Charles + Di style commemorative plates, but alas, they’re a bit difficult to post.
There’s been a fantastic response to the watches though, the 70 or so that were available online went within a few days, there are some in Rough Trade, Pure Groove etc and we’re taking as many as we can on tour. I keep promising them to friends and then remembering how few we have, WAGs are getting them though of course.
Up until this week I’ve spent the last few years without a record player, slowly collecting records, if I’m in a town and have enough local currency for a record I’ll try and buy one, but this week i’ve bought myself two turntables from ebay as a christmas present. I actually only meant to buy one, leaving the other one with a really low bid thinking I wouldn’t win, then got home one night to find that I had… I don’t even really want it.
So we’ll see what happens when I have an actual player, I love playing vinyl, and I adore the way it sounds, I’ve got records that I haven’t got on any other format so I’m looking forward to that. There’s something more satisfying about it to me, I haven’t bought a CD for years, but I get promos and things. They just don’t seem as special to me, I’ve got records on my shelf that my parents bought 40 years ago, I can’t see me passing on any of my CDs to my children…
I’ve been playing bass since I was 13 or 14, and have been in a band most of the time since then. It was something to do in rural north wales, and I was taught by my best friend, who happened to be an amazing guitarist and also have a soundproof practice room/studio in his garden. So we spent a lot of time in there, and with our band “Sick Fashion” (yeah, I know…). I’ve been in a post rock and a folk band since but’ve always played music with friends and family.
I met the other members of Sky Larkin through my housemates, did a couple of demoes of Katie, and met Nestor playing a brick, a jam jar and a dustbin lid at 4 in the morning at a house party. A couple of years later Lindsay left Sky Larkin and I offered to help out temporarily. 2 years later….
Sky Larkin – Beeline from Sky Larkin on Vimeo.
I don’t think it is really, there seems to be a resurgence in buying, particularly at shows. I know a lot of people who don’t buy vinyl from shops but will always try and buy it straight from a band, and we sell quite a bit on tour. I think with the increase of people just using mp3s there’s a desire for something more physical, something you can hold and look at and enjoy, mp3s will never off this and for a lot of people vinyl does.
We get gold lettering on the 12, which is pretty snazzy… other than that, no.
What future is there for vinyl?
I think there’s always going to be a need for vinyl, people will always love the sound of it, and with people moving over to getting the majority of their music from the internet (legal or otherwise) there’s going to be more of a need for a physical format. Certainly amongst people I know, the trend seems to be going towards mp3 and vinyl, and away from CDs.
I love it though.
weareskylarkin.com / myspace.com/skylarkinskylarkin / thegoldenspike.co.uk
Photo Credit: Liam Henry (Doug is far right).
Tags: Doug Adams, Sky Larkin, Wichita Recordings
