Jack Cochrane, Callum ‘29’ Wilson, and Jordan ‘Joko’ Mackay are sitting at the back of Beartree Records in Sheffield, cracking jokes between jamming sessions. With an audience. The set is minimalistic compared to what fans are used to from the Snuts, with only Mackay on the drums, Wilson on the bass guitar and maracas, and Cochrane on vocals and the lead guitar (with his shades on, of course). This combination of a simple band and new songs from their upcoming album, Millennials, fills the room with a refreshing sound.
This stripped-back style accentuates the sharpness of Cochrane’s voice and its contrast with melodies from the new album makes it sound like a fourth instrument.
We are so used to the Snuts having an energetic, almost aggressive stage presence, but this set is the complete opposite. The boys sit at the back of the room, below the eye line of their standing audience, and just play.
They even need a ‘wee sec to think about’ the first line of one of their new songs, and they decide the order of play as they go along. This vibe perfectly suits the mellow tunes they are producing, and their anecdotes and chatter (and their abundant swearing) make it feel more like a party for an old friend than strangers at a gig.
The absence of Joe McGillveray on trumpets and guitar is noticeable, though it’s unclear whether this is because Jack is missing a secondary voice from the stories he tells, or because the style of the songs is completely different from anything we have heard the Snuts do before on stage. But they still manage to maintain their trademark sound: a lot of repetitive builds of a melody you could listen to over and over again and rhythms syncopated by Cochrane’s voice.
Cochrane himself describes Millennials as: “tip-top, super-fast tempo. A serial soundtrack of what it means to be alive in 2023, 2024, 2025 and any other year.”
The much-anticipated third album will be released on the 23rd of February 2024. And if you were wondering why Jack Cochrane is always wearing sunglasses, it’s because he hates awkward eye contact. Don’t we all.
