Eagle eyed readers may recognised Tom Aylott’s name as the former editor of these very pages. Having hung up his Punktastic boots almost two years back, he has since become a stalwart of the DIY punk scene, having in recent weeks played in support of Brandon Reilly of The Movielife, Kris Roe of The Ataris, Kevin Seconds and Sam Duckworth, to name but a few. This is balanced against his part in Rob Lynch’s touring band, a venture that brought him and split EP collaborator Jonny Ward together.
“Sometimes you just want to do cool shit with one of your best friends, and that is exactly what this split represents,” Aylott explains. “Jonny and I have been playing in Rob Lynch’s band together for a while now, which led to me putting out an EP by Jonny’s band Maycomb through Speaking Tongues back in 2014. Fast forward over some bonding that involves stories I can’t go into publicly, and we ended up speaking about combining our solo efforts while we were in recording the new Rob Lynch record last year with Sam Duckworth and Jay Malhotra at Amazing Grace. It came to be that we went back to Amazing Grace for a few days at the start of February, and this 4 track split came out of those sessions.”
“Tom booked some studio time earlier this year, and basically forced me to write these songs,” Jonny Ward adds. “If you crank the volume and listen extra closely, you can hear the soft crunch of him twisting my arm. I wrote them both a couple of days before/on the train down to/while recording, and Tom is probably about 90% to thank/blame for whatever feeling you’re feeling while you’re hearing what you’re hearing. Up until now, anything I’d committed to a hard drive in a solo capacity had been dreadfully sad, and I wanted a break from that, so ‘Tethered’ and ‘Unbound’ are love songs; as inextricably intertwined as the love that bore them. Working with Jay, Sam and Tom was an absolute joy, and the end result is something I like a lot. I hope you do too. I hope Tom does too.”
The split record showcases both individual styles whilst celebrating their joint influences. Aylott’s sometimes quirky vocals accompany often socially charged lyrics, complimented by the EP’s denser sounding latter half courtesy of Ward. Together they provide an exciting snapshot of the punk scene’s continued influence on singer-songwriters, and their ability to craft moving and relevant music.
The split release will be available from the 12th May via BandCamp. In the meantime, you can stream the four tracks in full exclusively below: