Review by Lee Barber, The Underground Venue Manager, Co-Producer of The Honey Box and Honey Box Hive project lead
Clay Lake are back with new music and they are bringing their much loved anthemic choruses with On Tuesday, the single which comes complete with the release date of, you guessed it, Tuesday, March 12.
The three piece have a dedicated cult of loyal fans who no doubt would follow them to the ends of the earth just to hear one new song (humble narrator included) and they most certainly have not let us down with On Tuesday, which features everything we love about the band; three way chanted harmonies, cunning drum play from Thomas Flemming, fine-tuned bass work from Elliot Sheerin and intricate guitar work from Alex Bettany.
The song builds with the intent we know and love from Clay Lake, calm as an ocean with as the emotional storms grows, until releasing before us, the damage done, and the drums exploding, guitar chords unleashed, before we drop into the signature mid-west emo choral chant which has been perfected by our beloved three piece.
‘How you doing as you walked my way,
I said OK but I’m not OK,
As you turned and walk away
Never looking back to see if I had any more to say.’
The lyrics explain so much more than a situation on a summer’s day, so much more depth of pain hinted at within the story, and we are left, as always, wanting more. And here we are treated thusly, with B-side, named nice and easily as ‘619619champ007bmxbandit’ carries more of all those things we love about Clay Lake, who still fight the corner for mid-west emo in Stoke-on-Trent. Elation there was, when South Walk arrived on the scene, and their swift exit was met with much sadness, but as long as Clay Lake hold true to their sound, there will always be a flicker of hope that the scene may yet grow once more, for if the youth of our music scenes is to find inspiration anywhere, it is in the heart-hitting songs of this three piece who, perhaps without realising, have become a flagship band of the area.
Clay Lake headline The Underground in Hanley on Friday, March 15 in celebration of the new single, with support from Genius Of The Crowd, Head Dent, Stay At Home & Die, and Scumbag Lion.
