Making gothic splendour go pop, Manchester’s glammed-up synth gang, Sugarstone underline a year of eyeliner-and-wires histrionics with their latest single, PINK DUCT TAPE. Released on Tri-Tone Music, the extended four-minute ‘electropera’ arrives a day prior to their headline show at The Eagle Inn, Salford on Sat 18th December 2021, bidding farewell to the old and ringing in the new in an entirely appropriate setting of bare brick, beats and sweat.
The long shadow of Depeche Mode, the industrialism of Nine Inch Nails and the pioneering, soldering-iron-happy innovation of Cabaret Voltaire are three elements in the adhesive that binds the four-piece’s creative initiative. Rid of the need to raid college technology cupboards for transistors or transport synths the weight of a modest family saloon to gigs, Sugarstone make modern gains on their electro heroes with iPad-based song building before taking their creations into the studio.
To push Pink Duct Tape into the realms of instant, horror-pop earworm each homespun element was taken into Parr Street Studios, Liverpool and assembled with the help of renowned producer, Alex Quinn (SPINN. She Drew The Gun). Adding to the chill of the already black-ice-cool ambience that swirls around them, Sugarstone lift lyrical inspiration from the pages of some of the most famous, heart-stopping thrillers of film and classical literature to tell a fictitious story of a kidnapper who uses Pink Duct Tape as a fluorescent trademark.
The band says: “Pink Duct Tape lyrically follows a fictional horror concept delving deep into the true dark side of Sugarstone. Inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the Penny Dreadful, plus Hollywood villains Hannibal Lector and Jack Torrence. A recipe for a truly unnerving audio experience.”
Sugarstone’s 2021 has seen a rapid resurgence on stage and off for the band, re-emerging in April as if fresh from a 1986 Radio One Roadshow with the dancefloor-ready stomp of Angel Boy. Getting back on stage, including a run of festival appearances including third-billing at Preston’s Glastonferret alongside Red Rum Club and The Skinner Brothers, propelled the band through the warmer months which concluded with September’s perfectly-constructed, big-chorus single, Chasing Days.
Formed of Joe O’Haire and George Miller on vocals and guitars, Brandon Calvert on bass and Ben Wilson on all forms of percussion, Sugarstone’s glamourous robotics flickered into life in the steel and stone towns of Lancashire before they headed, as a fully formed unit, to the aspirational, big city. Together since 2017, the band has already shared stages with contemporaries including Calva Louise, Strange Bones and Kid Kapichi.
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My life is a soundtrack, i track my life through music, photography is my passion, my escape, my expression. Without both i have pieces missing, thankfully i’m blessed and get to combine both.
Born in Manchester, lived in Australia for 22 years where i was heavily involved in the Australian Music Industry, firstly in bands (Singer) and then managing bands (all original), I moved back to the UK, Wales specifically 10 years ago and married my childhood sweetheart and life is good.
