Sheffield rockers BLACK SPIDERS make good on their return with the announcement of a brand new album.
The self-titled album will be the band's third, following on from Sons Of The North, released in 2011.
After nearly a decade as one of the UK's best loved and fastest rising rock bands, the Spiders checked out in 2017. However, during the summer of 2019, singer/guitarist Pete Spiby and guitarist Ozzy Lister reconnected and new songs began emerging thick and fast, resulting in nearly forty new tracks. Before they could hit the studio, though, the world was knocked sideways by Covid-19. Not to be deterred, and thanks to the magic of the Internet, the band reconvened virtually, only entering a real studio (Axis in Doncaster) with regular producer and engineer Matt Elliss when it was deemed pandemically safe to do so.
“It’s certainly been a strange process, in unfamiliar territory,” explains Spiby. “We started to look at how we could do it given the restrictions and not only that, but we had to replace our original drummer too. More obstacles throw in our way to smash through. We found a way. For us and probably most other bands, we would usually take a riff or song idea to a rehearsal and thrash it out ‘till we either had something or it ended up in the song graveyard! This time around we couldn’t do that, so myself, Ozzy and on occasion Adam Irwin (bass player) started to send ideas back and forth until we had something to work with in GarageBand. We got to a point where we had enough song ideas with basic structure to go into a studio proper, at a convenient time, to put something down. It was at this point when we had to look for a new drummer.”
The lucky recipient of the band's drumstool is none other than Planet Rock Radio DJ Wyatt Wendel...
“I've never joined or worked with a band in this way EVER,” he laughs. “2020 certainly made it surreal. One minute I'm making some online drum videos for a radio station and then Pete pops up and asks if I'm busy. In the second minute I'm asked if I'd like to record some tracks. The third minute I agree. Soon after I'm in a studio recording tracks I've only heard demos of, having NEVER met the band or rehearsed, and it was all done on a wing and a prayer. In a weird twist of fate none of this would have happened without the pandemic of 2020! Funny how things can work out….”
The band made their reappearance in November 2020 with the release of the brand new digital single 'Fly In The Soup', the first new Black Spiders music in six years.
The reception to the track more than convinced the band that the world was indeed ready for a new Black Spiders album. With all the tracks in place, they just had to come up with a title...
“It wasn’t hard picking a title for the album," says Spiby, "as we decided that the focus should be on the band, not the album title, so we decided not to have one. It was the easiest thing of the whole process. Let the music do the talking…."
Released through Cargo Records on 26 March, Black Spiders is available to pre-order here.
Check out the album trailer...