George Ward
Freelance journalist and online editor for CLUNK. Can be found out and about in Bristol, finding cheap records or having a pint on King Street.
With a new EP announced today, we chatted with Skydaddy about his debut album, new material and relationship to Lebanon and London
Today, Rachid Fakhre (AKA Skydaddy) has announced news of his new EP ‘Anchor Chains, Plane Motors & Train Whistles’ alongside a brand new single, ‘Age of Empires’. A little earlier, we had the chance to sit down with Fakhre to discuss this new material, as well as his debut album from earlier this year ‘Pilot’.
Being born in London and of Lebanese/Grenadian descent, Fakhre’s influences are fascinating and his music beautiful.
Can you give us a quick rundown on how the Skydaddy project came to be?
I used to be in a group called Spang Sisters, a duo with a friend of mine. It was a five piece band which eventually turned into KEG and that wasn’t really my thing. Spang Sisters started becoming at the bottom of everyone’s priority list, so Skydaddy came to be!
How has it felt to work on a solo project? Do you view it as a solo project or is there still a feeling of collaboration?
It was scary at first. I was very reliant on my songwriting partner, who’s an amazing writer and producer. I got very lucky, I met some great people who wanted to be in the band who were very encouraging along the way. I had a lot of songs in me that weren’t right for Spang so this worked really well. Once the reception was good for the first batch, it gave me a lot of confidence.
Do you feel more liberated creatively, being able to experiment a bit more?
I could certainly curate the aesthetic more. In Spang Sisters, me and Jules let each other do whatever we wanted but you did have to sign everything off with the other person. It’s nice forging a path alone without having to consider anyone else.
A lot of people discovered from you supporting Black Country, New Road. With they hype they’ve built in the UK, do you feel this has affected the trajectory of Skydaddy?
Yeah I certainly feel like somewhat of a nepo baby! So many people have come up to me, mostly from the Glasgow show, saying they saw me supporting BC,NR. It’s definitely had a huge impact on the fanbase. I suppose BC,NR certainly have a typical type of fan – Gen Z sad people – which I think I’ve definitely inherited. I would say the music is pretty different though. I obviously have one collaborative song with Tyler (‘Tear Gas’). I’m eternally indebted to them, that’s for sure, for giving me that opportunity so early on without any music out.
They had kindly asked Spang Sisters to play a day they curated at Sonic City Festival in Belgium but my songwriting partner couldn’t make it. So that was actually the first ever Skydaddy show with just my songs. I guess they liked it and asked if we wanted to support them!
With your new single ‘Mushrooms‘, the backing choir contains a lot of familiar London musicians. I was just wondering whether you felt more of a connection to the London Scene or to Lebanon or Granada perhaps?
I was born in London and grew up there. Over the last few years I’ve met a lot of great musicians and many of those who were in that track are people I’ve collaborated with or worked with in some way. A lot of them I met through doing a night called ‘Works In Progress’ where I invite people I like down to play songs they’ve been working on. It’s turned into a really nice support group of songwriters where we can discuss method and approach to songwriting.
The recording session actually took place right before a ‘Work In Progress’ evening so a lot of those that were coming to perform, I asked if they wanted to come and be in a choir for a little bit. I think the scene is great at the moment, it’s thriving. We’re finally overcoming the dark days of angular post-punk and I guess we’re having a bit of a folk revival.
Everyone does seem a lot happier. ‘Mushrooms’ was inspired by the 2020 chemical explosion in Lebanon. I was wondering what drew you to such an upsetting subject matter?
I am originally Lebanese and a lot of my family reside in Beirut. Around lockdown, I was just about to go on a long walk around Spain, when the news came in. Most of my family were okay, their houses were partly destroyed and windows shattered. My uncle, as I say in the song, actually did lose his left eye. The pressure from the explosion made it explode.
The whole area around the port was destroyed and it was a very tough time. I ended up going to Lebanon about a year and a half ago and it was still reeling from the shock of the explosion. We were staying well within the blast radius. People were sure that it was not an accident and that it was a controlled attack. But regardless, it’s a country that’s been through so much trauma in the last year, that people just get on with it and expect more bad to come.
There’s quite a bit jump between the sonic side of it and the lyrical side, thinking again of ‘Tear Gas,’ a beautiful, gentle song with such a violent title. Is that something you’re interested in exploring?
That’s in part inspired by Randy Newman, I love how he does that. I find it very touching. Another example is ‘Hey Ya’ by Outkast, a very sad song with a really happy instrumental. ‘Tear Gas’ is actually what it says on the tin: it’s a breakup song.
It was called ‘Tear Gas’ because when I was recording I needed a shaker and had found this tear gas canister when I was in Calais, so I filled it with rice. So, if you ever come across one of those, they make a good shaker!
I love that theme, when you think you’re listening to a happy song and you listen a bit closer and it’s fucked up. Usually when we play ‘Mushrooms’ live, people assume I’m singing about magic mushrooms, it’s quite funny.
On your last project, it’s a gentle album, but it has an epic feel to it. Did you view it as a complete project with a beginning, middle and an end?
Well, thank you! But to be quite honest no, it’s not a concept album or anything, the tracklisting came at the end. They were all written within 6 months, so I was drawing from the same well. It was the first album where it was all recorded in the same studio, at Hermitage Works Studios with Nathan Ridley and he was just really great at giving it a cohesive sound. It was all recorded to tape. I’d been listening to the same stuff during the writing and that’s probably why it has a cohesive feel.
I’d also recently discovered how much I loved arranging strings, so it’s a very stringy album. The arrangements are very similar to live, with strings, flute, guitar, piano. But with this new single and what is coming out after, there is a myriad of instruments used, there are more synthesisers and it’s more orchestral.
Is the music that you’re putting to tape faithful to what it sounds like live?
Pretty much! I’d say with the last EP, I needed to record it how it was live. With this new EP, I don’t care quite as much, so I’m happy to just record whatever sounds good. My band changes, I have my core members, but they can’t all always make it, so I like the idea of the arrangements changing live, depending on who’s there and what the venue is.
What have you got coming up this year?
I’m playing Left Of The Dial this month with my full band. We’re also doing a single release show on 14th October at Servant Jazz Quarters and then I’m going on tour!
‘Anchor Chains, Plane Motors & Train Whistles’ is out on 10th January.
Listen to ‘Age of Empires’ here: