Fresh off the back of a hectic summer festival schedule, Reytons are back on the road with the Uninvited Tour, a precursor to the release of their second studio album What’s Rock and Roll, which will see them hit Newcastle NX on December 3, 2022. We sat down with the band’s lead singer Jonny Yerrel to chat about the new album, the tour life, and the expanding into Europe.
You've just announced your new album, What's Rock and Roll. How excited are you to be releasing it?
Yeah, we're really excited for it. We're a fully independent band, so I feel like the whole campaign is built on the idea “no label, no backing, all Reytons,” and we're just trying to prove now that we've got to this point where we really can do it ourselves, and you don't need a massive budget or loads of experience behind you to achieve these things, you've just got to have a lot of passion and work hard. We've got a lot of great supporters out there as you can see on this tour that are really backing this band, and we're just really excited to see what we can achieve 100% independently.
How do you think this album measures up to your first?
Yeah, I think so. In terms of the style and the production we try and step up the production and the quality wherever we can, but in terms of the style, you know, we enjoy what we do. We're not trying to change that. We're not trying to go travel the world and find ourselves. We're just trying to do what we enjoy, so there's not too much change in style or genre, but I feel like it's our best work yet and I'm keen to see what people think when you get to listen to it.
Have you been happy with the reception for the singles you've released?
Yeah, definitely. 'Avalanche' follows a more predictable Reytons track, it's the first thing that we're dropping off the album, so it had to come with that energy and hype. With 'Cash in Hand and Fake IDs', I would be keen to see the response for that one because it's not as obvious a style for us, it is a little bit different to what we usually do. I feel like some fans aren’t quite sure about it and some have loved it, but I'd rather make music where people absolutely love it or absolutely hate it rather than have people just go "Yeah, it's alright.” We're not trying to move the goalposts, we're just trying to step up what we've done in the past. We know what the fans like, so there’ll be more stories, more catchy riffs and just stuff that you can get out there and have a good time to.
Can you tell us a bit about some of the inspirations behind the album?
I think the biggest inspiration we've had on this new album has literally been our supporters. We're at a point now where we're lucky enough to be on tour, most of the shows sold out months in advance so thinking about them shows and what the people in those pits want to hear, that's our inspiration. I know it sounds daft, but we're also our own inspiration in the sense that we’re enjoying the ride that much. We always think how can we make this bigger?
Let’s talk a bit about the Uninvited Tour. How’s it going so far?
Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. Rock City on Friday night was probably one of the best gigs we've done to date, and we’ve done quite a lot of gigs, but something has changed with the energy. I don't know what shifted but it’s a lot wilder than it has been and it was already fucking wild to start with. There's a lot of venues that I can't wait to play like The Barrowlands in Glasgow and Leeds O2 Academy, which is sort of a hometown show. These are massive rooms as well. We're playing NX in Newcastle, another big room. We leave every gig we do thinking "It can't get any bigger like this. This is great. I'm happy with this," but then it exceeds expectation every time you go back out so yeah, it’s just been wild, mate. It's a rollercoaster.
I think the biggest inspiration we've had on this new album has literally been our supporters
Your show at the Boiler Shop back in March was electric. Are you looking forward to coming back to the Northeast?
Oh, absolutely, yeah, one of my one of my favourites. Newcastle is a very similar city to where I'm from so it does mean a lot going there. What I liked about the Boiler Shop was it has a little balcony so you can see the venue before you go on, you're up there looking down you can kind of feel what's happening before you get to walk out, some venues you just have to go out blind, but I really enjoyed seeing the atmosphere build. It's something different in the water up there, isn't it? I can't wait to get back at it.
Who were your support acts for this tour?
We’ve got The Clause, which are a Birmingham band, we were playing O2 Institute on the same night and we all got talking. They're just a great indie band and the crowd loved them, so we got them out on tour. Then there's Lottery Winners from Wigan, great, great band, really tight but also just fucking really funny, really good entertainers, they are a genuinely tough act to follow, really tricky. They’re all hilarious, they get everyone in a good mood. If you don’t like the people you’re with, tour just isn’t possible. You do get exhausted especially with some of the nights where you're going on like four hours sleep if you're lucky and you're gonna get ratty with people and if they're not in good nature to start with, it's not gonna work. You don't have to be in each other's pockets all the time, but you're in the same building and that's enough, so you have to have a laugh and they definitely tick all the boxes for us.
It's a rollercoaster
What is your most memorable live show experience?
I mean, obviously from first time we played O2 Academy in Sheffield maybe, that was something I never thought we'd get to do. It felt amazing at the time but going into festivals like TRNSMT or Victorious when you’re at opposite ends of the country and then you walk out and everyone's singing your songs back to you word for word, that's kind of mind blowing. We’ve just come back from the Netherlands, and again everyone was singing word for word, but then they can't even speak to us after because there's that language barrier. They know our songs but we can't even communicate, all we can say is thank you at the end of it. I think that's really opened my eyes this year. I think every gig we do we're just so grateful to be there. If every gig we do is the last one we ever do we'll die happy.