Watford’s Gold Key have unveiled the title track from their forthcoming debut album Hello Phantom in the form of a lyric video.
”Hello, Phantom’ is about not being able to escape your worries. When it feels like they follow you around, almost as if they have manifested themselves as phantoms and are hiding in the shadows. When there is something weighing on your mind it can feel like it never quite goes away and that it is only a matter of time before your worries haunt you again’
– Steve Sears, vocals
In the Summer of 2016, school friends Laurent Barnard and Steve Sears decided it was time they made a record together. Having worked together on music in the past, with Steve producing albums for Laurent’s punk band, Gallows, they had a joint vision to really push the musical boundaries of their careers to date. Acquiring local drummer Jack Kenny (Nervus / Blackhole) to the freshly coined Gold Key, the line-up was completed in Autumn when James Leach (Sikth) joined on bass.
‘I’ve never wanted to be a stagnant musician’, explains singer Steve Sears, ‘We’re constantly trying to push ourselves out of the comfort zone, whether that’s through learning to play the mandolin or using furniture for percussion’.
2017 has seen the band put the finishing touches to their debut effort Hello Phantom, which paints a truly epic landscape, capturing progressive influences from the likes of Bowie and Floyd, presented in a more agitated package. Abrasive, fuzzy bass meets soaring falsetto vocals, and angular guitars driven by primal percussion – it’s no wonder that early reviews have cited similarities spanning widely from Queens Of The Stone Age to Radiohead.