Afflecks Palace Interview –

With festival season well and truly in full swing, we’re casting our minds back to the one that kicked it all off in the NE summer festival calendar.

Live at Leeds returned to Temple Newsam for a triumphant 2^nd year on the Saturday 27th May, with Two Door Cinema Club delivering an unforgettable headline set, and a whole host of incredible new talent performing across 5 stages.

One of the most exciting sets of the weekend came from Afflecks Palace, a band we have been big fans of for a while over at NE. Since their inception in 2019, Afflecks Palace have been making waves in the independent music scene.

The Psyche four piece often described as Nu-Madchester take their influence from The Stone Roses, The Smiths, Kurt Vile and The Las, encapsulating the 90’s hedonistic carefree spirit in their music and live performances. 2023 has been a busy year already for Afflecks Place, with the band releasing their 2^nd album The Only Light in this Tunnel is the Oncoming Train in April and setting straight out on tour with Razorlight.

We caught up with frontman Jay and guitarist Dan at this year’s Live at Leeds festival, ahead of their set on the DORK presents stage.

NE: We’re here at Live at Leeds, how are you finding the festival so far?

Jay: With a sat nav (laughing). Its nice, I hardly get to go festivals as a punter these days, but its interesting when you’re walking past each stage, a lot of people don’t seem to realize that the people who are playing have been building up to this moment for ages. It’s a real moment for them, they’ve worked for years to get there and it’s such a high-pressure situation. Not for us cause we don’t give a fuck if we make a mistake.

Dan: We don’t make mistakes so it’s fine.

Jay: It’s hard to be humble when you’re the best (both laugh).

I’m originally from Leeds though, I moved to Manchester and formed the band, but I live in London at the moment. I’m a bit of a trendsetter you see, man about town.

NE: What made you make the move to London?

Jay: Indoor toilets. Nah I’m joking, it was for work really, it’s a great city. The rest of the band are still up North though, so we never even rehearse.

Dan: The rest of us rehearse and then he sort of turns up and maybe we do a rehearsal maybe we don’t (laughing). All the music is written separately, we all do our own bits and then we just come together to rehearse for the live show.

NE: You’ve just released your 2nd album The Only Light in this Tunnel is the Oncoming Train, what has the reaction been to the new tracks?

Dan: It’s been overwhelmingly positive, our first one was good, but this one is really fucking good, and I think that surprised people.

Jay: I guess it depends what you perceive as a good reaction. Is it adulation from people on the internet? Or would it be BBC 6 Music playlisting you? Or is it selling out a big venue? Or is it just the fact that you’ve put an album out? It’s like Bon Jovi, he’s sold millions of records but I’m sure he’d knock a zero off his bank balance for more artistic credibility. It’s just a difficult thing to quantify, I think.

Dan: I mean if we sold 10 million records then maybe, but we’ve not done that yet. But in all seriousness, people are parting with their money and buying the record and listening to it online. That’s a really hard place to get to, connecting with real fans.

Jay: Yeah, I don’t think success should only be quantified by how many units you can shift or how many tickets you sell, but overall, we’ve had lots of support off BBC 6 Music. We’ve ticked off a lot of bucket list things we’ve wanted to do; we’ve supported a big band in massive venues in the build up to the album release. Our album is in the window of Piccadilly Records in Manchester, and it went top 10 in the UK charts, it’s great but we’re not flying around in speed boats.

NE: You’d struggle in Yorkshire really.

Jay: Yeah, it is quite landlocked.

NE: You’re headlining the DORK Stage today, which of the new tracks are you most looking forward to playing?

Dan: We’ve going to play mostly new stuff today, and just a few from the first record. If you’ve not been to watch us before we’re not there whingeing about our ex-girlfriends or anything. They’re all pretty upbeat and in your face, both the old and the new tracks usually go down well.

Jay: My personal first love of music was from Early American Hardcore, so bands like Minor Threat. Upbeat in your face, no nonsense, like driving a sonic nail through people’s foreheads.

Dan: There’s a bit of an underlying Punk element to it which we like.

NE: Do you channel the Punk element through in your live performance?

Dan: Oh no we stand perfectly still; we just look at our shoes and count them. (Laughing)

But in terms of the music, there’s definitely a Punk element.

Jay: People think of Punk and think of like, Sid Vicious and him being quite abrasive, and outspoken. But from my perspective Punk is an attitude rather than an aesthetic. It’s all about not being too precious and understanding that you’re living in the moment. When you’re playing it doesn’t matter if you make a mistake, as long as you’re in tune it adds to the uniqueness – it’s not X Factor. You want to just enjoy the moment and make sure that when you walk off that stage that you have done as much as you can to entertain.

It’s also about saying stuff on stage but not enough to get you cancelled. (Laughing).

I actually don’t think anything that comes out of my mouth is that bad though. I take the piss out of other bands, and I’m not scared to say if I like them or not. But I’ll always back it up with why I don’t like a band, be that the production or the lyrical content or whatever. I’m also not about being a racist or sexist pig or anything though, none of that shit.

NE: You do a lot for emerging bands; you produce music and run your record label Spirit of Spike Island, how important is it to nurture that up-and-coming talent?

Jay: I don’t do it to give a band a leg up or anything, I do it because I believe in that artist and what they’re doing. It’s not a charity project, I don’t feel obligated to sign things on the back of empathy. I sign things because I feel that they’re exceptional and I feel like I can add value to what they’re doing. It might be giving the artist direction or helping them to proliferate into some semblance of a career. Be that a financial career, or just having their album on the shelf of a record store.

NE: What can we expect from you guys this year?

Jay: We’re heading out on tour in October, Jealous Nostril are playing with us. That’s Johnny Borrell from Razorlight and Jack Flanagan from Mystery Jets’ new band.

Dan: We’ve got some festival slots coming up too and we’ll be writing some more music.

Afflecks Palace will be heading out on tour in October.

04 October – Glasgow St Lukes

05 October – Nottingham Rescue Rooms

06 October – London EartH Theatre

07 October – Northampton Black Prince

08 October – Brighton Concorde 2

10 October – Cardiff Clwb Ifor Bach

12 October – Newcastle Northumbria Uni SU -Reds

13 October – Manchester Academy 2

14 October – Birmingham O2 Institute2

15 October – Sheffield Leadmill


For tickets head to: https://www.stereoboard.com/afflecks-palace-tickets

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