Modern Sky UK News

Winner of Channel 4’s ‘The Piano’, Brad Kella
releases his debut album, ‘Phoebe’s Melody’.
Since winning the show, Brad has recorded with
world renowned string arranger Rosie Danvers in
RAK Studio, sold out The Liverpool Philharmonic,
played The Royal Albert Hall and sold out two
nights at The Southbank Centre’s Purcell Rooms.
Brad has also worked alongside John Lewis for
last year’s Christmas campaign, as well as
Liverpool Football Club and EA sports, as he was
nominated as a super fan and ingrained into the
‘FC25’ game.
Brad is also going on a 36-date tour supporting
Gary Barlow across the UK and Ireland.

Welcome to KOKO, Lottery Winners’ most adventurous album, while also home to their most infectious songs yet. Having played to over half-a-million people at their shows in 2024 alone, it’s a captivating album which will only see that fanbase continue to grow.Short for Keep On Keeping On, KOKO’s 12 tracks include a beautiful ode to friendship, a deliriously catchy duet with Reverend And The Makers’ Jon McClure about being unhealthily obsessed with your ex, a literally escapist chantalong funk anthem, a power ballad featuring Nickelback’s Chad Kroeger, a tender song of regret, plus the most uplifting, celebratory songs about panic attacks, ADHD and being expelled from school you’ll ever hear. There’s even a dance routine. Following on from The Lottery Winners’ third album ART (Anxiety Replacement Therapy) reached No 1 in May 2023. This is set to be another big release.

Brooke Combe, a rising Scottish singer-songwriter, delves deep into her soulful roots with her new album Dancing at the Edge of the World. This album marks her most authentic work yet, blending rich, emotive vocals with contemporary soul sounds. Brooke’s music captures the essence of heartbreak, empowerment, and self-discovery, resonating with a broad audience.

Miles Kane returns with a blistering new album One Man Band, out August 4th on Modern Sky Records. Miles returns to his guitar hero best on One Man Band as he focuses on big hooks and even bigger anthems. Sharp, infectious, urgent and packed to the brim with singalong moments, it’s Miles on the top of his game. A deeply personal record, Miles returned to Liverpool to work on the album. The album’s first offering is the exuberant indie banger ‘Troubled Son’. A raw, pop-driven indie, made for festival stages. “It’s about the struggle we all have in life,” Miles said of the track. “Sometimes we have our shit together and sometimes we don’t. This is me acknowledging my faults and my fears and showing the journey I’m taking as I try to figure it all out.

On their debut album, Manchester’s Delights are stepping into an electrifying new world of sound. Their first full-length record introduces a wider sonic palette that reflects their collective tastes through an appreciation of legacy and their hometown forebears, with vibrant nods to funk, soul, disco, psychedelia, classic rock, and stadium-sized indie-pop. “This is the only moment you have your debut album,” reasons drummer Leo Willis. “So you can step outside your comfort zone and experiment.”

“Oh My God! I’m So Alone.” is the third full length album from Liverpool’s premium Indie-Pop group, SPINN. A noted step away from their earlier sound “OMGISA'' feels like a major step forward for the trio. Reflecting upon the alienation and uncertainty they have felt in their early twenties, SPINN have taken inspiration from the people, places, films and books that they have come to know and love, and built an album with the aim of helping to navigate the daunting landscape of adulthood in mind. Built on the band’s underdog spirit, refusal to buck to trends, and their ability to articulate complex emotion through well written pop music, “Oh My God! I’m So Alone” is an album which perfectly exemplifies why SPINN are a band with such staying power, worthy of maintaining their place on the wider Indie scene whilst so many of their peers have fallen by the wayside.

Pop band Deco have announced their debut album, Destination: I Don’t Know released 6th September on Modern Sky. Deco have become the UK’s most intriguing viral pop acts, capturing millions with their social media mashups and earning themselves some famous fans along the way; though far from a flash in the pan online-only endeavour, the quintet emerged with this stunning debut album after building their reputation on the live scene.

Western Approaches, a fitting title for a band who's spent much of the last two years living their American dream, however you'll find its origins are a lot closer to home.

An old World War II Naval base in Liverpool city centre shares the same name and it's no coincidence. The album was conceived on the docks, a new location for the band and again much closer to home for the boys.

It seems the further afar they play the tighter their grip on their roots become, playing their biggest headline show to date in Bootle a small town in North Liverpool where some of the lads grew up.

"He’ll always be a man of his people, but Jamie Webster’s message has cut through hearts all over the land since the folk troubadour’s debut album ‘We Get By’ in 2020. The songwriting may have evolved from those defiant early days on the acoustic guitar, but the hard-hitting storytelling that made his name remains as he continues to give a voice to the masses through towering anthems to hold close through uncertain times.
Though born from frustration and adversity, Webster's music has always managed to encapsulate a sense of unity and togetherness through tough times. Take the breakthrough single ‘Weekend In Paradise’ which distills a living for the weekend ideology of the working classes. An anthem just about everyone working nine to five can relate to, the flagship single speaks volumes of the journey so far as it surpasses 20 million streams on Spotify alone. His second album ‘Moments’ charted in the Official UK Album Chart #3, Indie Chart #2, Official Vinyl Chart #2, Scottish Album Chart #2. The scale of public support for the songs of singular, life-as-he-sees-it-singing, aspirational indie voice of Jamie Webster looks set to reach new heights as he announces the release of his third album, 10 For The People, on Fri 2 February 2024 with Modern Sky UK. While working confidently towards his third Top Ten album chart finish early next year, Webster’s Pied Piper-pull is set to draw a previously unimaginable 40,000 fans to one place as he also announces a HUGE outdoor headline show at Sefton Park, Liverpool on Fri 12 July 2024. "

"He’ll always be a man of his people, but Jamie Webster’s message has cut through hearts all over the land since the folk troubadour’s debut album ‘We Get By’ in 2020. The songwriting may have evolved from those defiant early days on the acoustic guitar, but the hard-hitting storytelling that made his name remains as he continues to give a voice to the masses through towering anthems to hold close through uncertain times.
Though born from frustration and adversity, Webster's music has always managed to encapsulate a sense of unity and togetherness through tough times. Take the breakthrough single ‘Weekend In Paradise’ which distills a living for the weekend ideology of the working classes. An anthem just about everyone working nine to five can relate to, the flagship single speaks volumes of the journey so far as it surpasses 20 million streams on Spotify alone. His second album ‘Moments’ charted in the Official UK Album Chart #3, Indie Chart #2, Official Vinyl Chart #2, Scottish Album Chart #2. The scale of public support for the songs of singular, life-as-he-sees-it-singing, aspirational indie voice of Jamie Webster looks set to reach new heights as he announces the release of his third album, 10 For The People, on Fri 2 February 2024 with Modern Sky UK. While working confidently towards his third Top Ten album chart finish early next year, Webster’s Pied Piper-pull is set to draw a previously unimaginable 40,000 fans to one place as he also announces a HUGE outdoor headline show at Sefton Park, Liverpool on Fri 12 July 2024. "

Miles Kane returns with a blistering new album One Man Band, out August 4th on Modern Sky Records. Miles returns to his guitar hero best on One Man Band as he focuses on big hooks and even bigger anthems. Sharp, infectious, urgent and packed to the brim with singalong moments, it’s Miles on the top of his game. A deeply personal record, Miles returned to Liverpool to work on the album. The album’s first offering is the exuberant indie banger ‘Troubled Son’. A raw, pop-driven indie, made for festival stages. “It’s about the struggle we all have in life,” Miles said of the track. “Sometimes we have our shit together and sometimes we don’t. This is me acknowledging my faults and my fears and showing the journey I’m taking as I try to figure it all out.

"London alt rock band Sad Boys Club have announced their debut album Lullabies from The Lightning Tree will be released 5th May via Modern Sky. Today the band have also announced new EU and UK tours for the spring and shared the album's lead single and its accompanying video ""To Heal Without a Scar (Is a Waste Of a Good Wound)"".
"

"Manchester band The Lottery Winners have announced their forthcoming new album ‘Anxiety Replacement Therapy’, out on 28th April on Modern Sky Recordings, which will feature collaborations with Boy George, Frank Turner, and Shaun Ryder.
A mammoth step forward, ‘Anxiety Replacement Therapy’ is on one level a set of 10 absolute anthems (and three interludes from a mystery narrator). These are mass singalongs in waiting from a band who’ve specialised in bringing people together over their previous two albums. "

Extremely limited edition 7” vinyl pressing of Red Rum Club’s infectious new singles Vanilla and The River.

After recently kicking up a dusty, desert-pop storm on their US tour, Liverpool’s funk-infused, brass-driven rock sextet are offering their new wave of American fans a chance to take home a slice of Scouse swagger in the form of a super limited two-track 7” record.

Armed with unapologetically catchy melodies and oozing with an instantly likeable charm, the band have captured the true essence of their personalities on these two new singles. ‘Vanilla’ takes a vicious side-swipe at mundanity and provides the perfect antidote to “vannilla” living with its infectious hook, vibrant brass melody and brooding vocal delivery. Meanwhile, unreleased track ‘The River’ sees the band delve into their emotive side and produce an uplifting and heartwarming song that radiates a feel-good party atmosphere that will make you forget all your troubles in an instant.

Never afraid to wear their hearts on their sleeve, Red Rum Club have distilled the rock and roll flair, endearing lyrical honesty and hip-shaking musical energy of their wide-ranging discography into two tracks that epitomise them as a band. After releasing three albums in as many years, the group have truly refined their unique sound, combining the authentic grit of their native northern England with an eclectic, groove-laden funk sensibility and this exclusive new 7” is the perfect way to sample that concoction in its truest form.

Freedom – the debut album from Leah Weller – a modern soul soundtrack to her head spinning twenties turning into empowered, contented thirties. Completed last year, Weller’s first complete album follows a decade-long career on catwalks, in front of cameras and making dancefloors shake, constantly on the move and with music as a constant companion. Finding the escape route out of anxiety-inducing mix-and-match career moves with the stability of love, the slowdown of repeated lockdowns and, finally, motherhood, Weller’s race is now to be run at her own pace with a collection of songs set perfectly to her flow.



Gathering nine, finely-tailored songs together with a drum beat of support from producer and collaborator, Steve Craddock, the collection speaks, much rather than screams, of finding the sweet spot between the need for hope, however naïve, and the truths that only experience can spell out.

Freedom – the debut album from Leah Weller – a modern soul soundtrack to her head spinning twenties turning into empowered, contented thirties. Completed last year, Weller’s first complete album follows a decade-long career on catwalks, in front of cameras and making dancefloors shake, constantly on the move and with music as a constant companion. Finding the escape route out of anxiety-inducing mix-and-match career moves with the stability of love, the slowdown of repeated lockdowns and, finally, motherhood, Weller’s race is now to be run at her own pace with a collection of songs set perfectly to her flow.



Gathering nine, finely-tailored songs together with a drum beat of support from producer and collaborator, Steve Craddock, the collection speaks, much rather than screams, of finding the sweet spot between the need for hope, however naïve, and the truths that only experience can spell out.

: Following support from Mojo, 6Music, Amazing Radio, BBC Introducing and beyond, alongside their first headline dates, shows with The Coral, Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard and more, The Dream Machine have announced details of a vinyl release that collect together each of the band’s four track EPs in one place. Volume 1 - 3 features the twelve tracks released on Volume 1: Sacrements; Volume 2: On The Water and Volume 3: Pooch Slingers’ Wild Round-Up.

The Dream Machine are a four piece from Liverpool who tap into that city’s free flowing wellspring of glorious psychedelic melody; the latest in a long line of dreamers who effortlessly create the kinds of tunes that lodge deep inside your brain and refuse to move on. Twelve of those tunes can be heard on Volume 1 - 3, the collection of The Dream Machine’s EP releases of 2021/22.

Finding that luck, love and letting things roll works out for him just fine, Michael Head leads his Red Elastic Band into a fresh chapter with optimism and some of the best music of his career, announcing his new, Bill Ryder-Jones-produced album, Dear Scott will be

released on Fri 27 May 2022 via Modern Sky UK. Operating as renewed friends, family and fearless communicators in sound, Head also leads close-knit band of brothers out on their first full UK Tour.

Finding that luck, love and letting things roll works out for him just fine, Michael Head leads his Red Elastic Band into a fresh chapter with optimism and some of the best music of his career, announcing his new, Bill Ryder-Jones-produced album, Dear Scott will be

released on Fri 27 May 2022 via Modern Sky UK. Operating as renewed friends, family and fearless communicators in sound, Head also leads close-knit band of brothers out on their first full UK Tour.

Drawing inspiration from Buddhist teachings and the hopeful attitude of frontman Johnny Quinn, Liverpool-based four-piece Spinn return with news of their second album Outside Of The Blue – via Modern Sky UK.

Outside Of The Blue acts as a lynchpin sonically and thematically. Written in the immediate aftermath of a panic attack, following a drive down to Birmingham to work on material for the album, the lyrics poured out in just half an hour. Instead of embodying that place of anguish it’s filled with light and an appreciation of unconditional love.

Never stuck for inspiration, people-powered and newly electrified singer-songwriter, Jamie Webster watched the world get weird and channelled every wicked turn into a new, 10-track album, Moments, set for release on Fri 28 January 2022. Following last month’s teasing single, Days Unknown, Webster reveals the follow up to last year’s number six-charting debut with new, rallying-cry single, Going Out.

Melding together two short stories, one of Paul and the other Annabella, Webster’s renowned people-watching prowess, setting vivid pen pictures of neighbours and strangers in his native Liverpool to music, switches to pin-sharp short fiction for Going Out. Cutting

across the strange absence of empathy for Britain’s young, Webster uses his characters to spell out the loss, frustration and rebellion of the twenty-somethings stopped in their tracks by recent circumstance and a tangle of incomprehensible rules.

Never stuck for inspiration, people-powered and newly electrified singer-songwriter, Jamie Webster watched the world get weird and channelled every wicked turn into a new, 10-track album, Moments, set for release on Fri 28 January 2022. Following last month’s teasing single, Days Unknown, Webster reveals the follow up to last year’s number six-charting debut with new, rallying-cry single, Going Out.

Melding together two short stories, one of Paul and the other Annabella, Webster’s renowned people-watching prowess, setting vivid pen pictures of neighbours and strangers in his native Liverpool to music, switches to pin-sharp short fiction for Going Out. Cutting

across the strange absence of empathy for Britain’s young, Webster uses his characters to spell out the loss, frustration and rebellion of the twenty-somethings stopped in their tracks by recent circumstance and a tangle of incomprehensible rules.

Once again melding relatable words of life, love and late nights to the hip-shaking grooves that have ignited numerous festival stages, irrepressible indie-soul-funk six-piece Red Rum Club return with their head-bopping new single, Nightcalling. Their first new material of 2021, the pin-sharp, three-minutes of pure cocktail-swilling, dancefloor-carving magic heralds the release of their third album, How To Steal The World, announced for a Fri 12 November 2021 release via Modern Sky.

Unaccustomed to the new ‘wait and see’ conditions of modern living, Red Rum Club bottled their impatience, wrapped up their worries and gathered their thoughts together in cathartic writing and recording sessions for album number three. Reacting with force


to dark winter lockdowns and the extended live break, Nightcalling is a story of new love set to the beat of a smooth soundtrack that’s as close to the sound of red-hot Miami as it is the band’s wind-blown, native Mersey.

Once again melding relatable words of life, love and late nights to the hip-shaking grooves that have ignited numerous festival stages, irrepressible indie-soul-funk six-piece Red Rum Club return with their head-bopping new single, Nightcalling. Their first new material of 2021, the pin-sharp, three-minutes of pure cocktail-swilling, dancefloor-carving magic heralds the release of their third album, How To Steal The World, announced for a Fri 12 November 2021 release via Modern Sky.

Unaccustomed to the new ‘wait and see’ conditions of modern living, Red Rum Club bottled their impatience, wrapped up their worries and gathered their thoughts together in cathartic writing and recording sessions for album number three. Reacting with force


to dark winter lockdowns and the extended live break, Nightcalling is a story of new love set to the beat of a smooth soundtrack that’s as close to the sound of red-hot Miami as it is the band’s wind-blown, native Mersey.

Keeping the faith and facing the future, Times Are Changing puts a full stop on pandemic talk for unstoppable indie-pop four-piece Lottery Winners, as the four-piece release the fizzing anthem into a newly optimistic world. The first single from their newly


announced, upcoming, second studio album, Something To Leave The House For, the band has penned the soundtrack to hugging old friends, the rebirth of live music and those summer festivals just around the around the corner.

For front man and songwriter, Thom Rylance, working through the darkness of Covid meant surviving Covid, tying the threads of an unravelling mental state into a new body of work now emerging as bright, arms-aloft bursts of positivity. His famed ‘note to self’, the emotive An Open Letter To Creatives and the band’s sensational, viral collaboration with Nickelback with the Rock Star Sea Shanty were just two moments of levity in a time dominated by the dark clouds forming overhead. Now he and the band are moving on and moving up.

“If something so bleak and harrowing can hit us all, totally out of the blue, and change our lives, then by definition that must mean that something beautiful can too.” says bassist and vocalist, Katie Lloyd (bass and vocals) as Lottery Winners start the next leg of their adventure with Times Are Changing, reflective, ready to party and no less ambitious than before.

Their mammoth, 14-track new album, Something To Leave The House For, follows their 2020, self-titled UK Album Chart Top 30 debut with a Fri 24 September 2021 release via Modern Sky UK, promises to document the tumultuous times and the path back from despair. In true Lottery Winners style, every truth and life lesson is dressed in glass-half-full, wildly optimistic, radio-friendly pop, hip-swinging beats and bittersweet tenderness.

Phobophobes new album Modern Medicine follows the band’s critically acclaimed debut album Miniature World, released 2018 via Ra Ra Rok Records, which received the accolade of being 6Music’s ‘Album of the Day’ following heavy support from Lauren Laverne, Steve Lamacq and Iggy Pop. Press coverage was a who’s who of tastemakers clambering to define their undefinable sound ….”dark and dreamy” (DIY), “gothic” (Clash), “unique warped pop” (Best Fit); and live the band were invited to tour with Killing Joke including a date at London’s Roundhouse, and a headline slot at the Rise Stage at Green Man Festival.

All songs on Modern Medicine were written and arranged by Phobophobes** except ‘Hallow Body Boy’ which was written and arranged by Phobophobes and Jessica Winter. The album was produced by Phobophobes and recorded at El mirador Studios, Andalusia, Spain during the summer of 2018, mixed by Dave Emery at ‘Assault and Battery,’ and mastered by Nick Watson at Fluid Mastering.

**Phobophobes current line-up consists of original members Jamie Bardolph Taylor (guitar, vocals), Jack Hussey (guitar) and Chris Olivares Chandler (keyboard, vocals), alongside new members Daisy Smith (bass) & Lisa Martin (drums). Due to recent line-up changes the latter two musicians do not feature on Modern Medicine, instead credits include Nathan Ridley (drums/backing vocals) and Elliott Nash (lap steel/baritone guitar/keyboards/percussion), with additional appearances from Christo Mccracken (guitar/effects), Gamaliel Traynor (cello/violin) and Jessica Winter (keyboards on ‘Holly Body Boy’).

“My vision was big,” says Brighton-based singer Macve of the road to her second album. “I knew I wanted to do something more expansive than my first record.” With reach, feeling, storytelling power and a stop-you-dead voice, Macve sizes up to that mission boldly on Not The Girl. Following on from the rootsy saloon-noir conviction of her 2017 debut, Golden Eagle, Holly sets out for

deeper, often darker territory with a firm, unhurried sense of direction on her second record: on all fronts, it’s an album that looks its upscaled ambitions in the eye fearlessly.

For Macve, the combination of influences such as Nancy & Lee with time spent touring helped widen her horizons. “I wasn’t afraid of trying new things, and I wanted to explore sounds and develop my skills in production, composing and engineering. When I wrote the songs on Golden Eagle I had never toured, it was just me in my bedroom playing acoustic guitar. I then got the chance to tour the world with a band and sing with a symphony orchestra with Mercury Rev in 2017. My little world grew and I realised there was so much for me to learn about how I can use my skills as a singer and writer. I didn’t want to limit myself – I wanted to push my boundaries.”

At every turn, Macve’s powers of evocation are matched by the depth and strength in her voice. Witness the meeting of a plangent pedal-steel with her elastic vocal on the atmospheric “Be My Friend”, or the sultry verses and soaring chorus of “You Can Do Better”, which bring to mind a prairie-sized Mazzy Star. Guest guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones’ spacious contributions help enhance its sense of space. “Bill was an important part of the story of this record,” says Holly. “I love his playing – it helped create that kind of heavy, lazy, dreamy sound I’m such a fan of.”

Elsewhere, rich seams of contrast and counterpoint emerge. The Velvet Underground-ish “Sweet Marie” is epic drone-country, “Little, Lonely Heart” a symphonic waltz around the rootsy stuff of bad love, jealousy, and guilt. “Who Am I” merges a Phil Spector-ish wall of sound with a grunge-y melodic insouciance, while “Daddy’s Gone” finds Macve reflecting on the death of her father over Memphis soul-style backing, rendering complex emotions with controlled reserves of detail and drama before a roistering climax.

“My vision was big,” says Brighton-based singer Macve of the road to her second album. “I knew I wanted to do something more expansive than my first record.” With reach, feeling, storytelling power and a stop-you-dead voice, Macve sizes up to that mission boldly on Not The Girl. Following on from the rootsy saloon-noir conviction of her 2017 debut, Golden Eagle, Holly sets out for

deeper, often darker territory with a firm, unhurried sense of direction on her second record: on all fronts, it’s an album that looks its upscaled ambitions in the eye fearlessly.

For Macve, the combination of influences such as Nancy & Lee with time spent touring helped widen her horizons. “I wasn’t afraid of trying new things, and I wanted to explore sounds and develop my skills in production, composing and engineering. When I wrote the songs on Golden Eagle I had never toured, it was just me in my bedroom playing acoustic guitar. I then got the chance to tour the world with a band and sing with a symphony orchestra with Mercury Rev in 2017. My little world grew and I realised there was so much for me to learn about how I can use my skills as a singer and writer. I didn’t want to limit myself – I wanted to push my boundaries.”

At every turn, Macve’s powers of evocation are matched by the depth and strength in her voice. Witness the meeting of a plangent pedal-steel with her elastic vocal on the atmospheric “Be My Friend”, or the sultry verses and soaring chorus of “You Can Do Better”, which bring to mind a prairie-sized Mazzy Star. Guest guitarist Bill Ryder-Jones’ spacious contributions help enhance its sense of space. “Bill was an important part of the story of this record,” says Holly. “I love his playing – it helped create that kind of heavy, lazy, dreamy sound I’m such a fan of.”

Elsewhere, rich seams of contrast and counterpoint emerge. The Velvet Underground-ish “Sweet Marie” is epic drone-country, “Little, Lonely Heart” a symphonic waltz around the rootsy stuff of bad love, jealousy, and guilt. “Who Am I” merges a Phil Spector-ish wall of sound with a grunge-y melodic insouciance, while “Daddy’s Gone” finds Macve reflecting on the death of her father over Memphis soul-style backing, rendering complex emotions with controlled reserves of detail and drama before a roistering climax.