WELLY have shared their new single, Deere John. The hotly tipped British band made up of Welly and his schoolmates are poised to follow recent sold out London shows at The Century Club and Third Man Records with scene-stealing sets across this summer’s festivals, with dates at Latitude and Victorious to come and more to be announced soon.
Deere John sets out Welly’s worldview for Pop on a budget. Crashing together the best bits of punk, indie-disco and DIY electronics over curtain-twitching suburban storytelling, Welly are that rare new breed – already unmistakable and threatening future ubiquity.
Welly himself introduces Deere John as, “A story about a bloke who is sleeping around and is in way over his head. I won’t give away too much of the plot – as it gives clues to other songs – so have fun reading into that what you will. This is the best example of parochial British songwriting that I have yet to offer: Albarn, Dury, Turner, they all wrote about what they saw out of their bedroom window, and I try to write about what I see over the garden fence. Deere John was originally found on my Live dissertation EP, which I got a 2:1 for. I’ll let the public decide this time.”
Welly are one of the UK’s most thrilling new bands. Playing with notions of artifice and aspiration, style and self, the group’s titular frontman, songwriter and producer was born in Southampton and principally listened to six songs on a loop as a child. A love of Hanif Kureshi and Alan Bennett unlocked an obsession for Pop music in 2014 when Welly’s Dad sat him down to watch the video to Common People, and it became clear to him that you could apply such a lens to what’s in the charts as well.
Currently satisfying his people-watching itch with work as a greengrocer, Welly are blazing a trail through the great, grassroots British tradition, ambitious to reconnect it with the mainstream band. First single, Shopping, for instance was a riotous love letter to the UK high street, as fascinated by modern consumerism as the left-field bangers of, say, Girls Aloud. Soak Up The Culture, meanwhile, both sends up and pays loving tribute to the anthems of Lads-On-Tour, with its cast of characters each in pursuit of escape and a brief moment in the sun.
Welly are rallying a young audience likewise in search of something different and something fun. The band’s hilarious Instagram reels have quickly gone viral, with work that takes little too seriously but remains deeply sincere – here are songs about wanting more than you have, about general tensions, and about figuring out how to be happy under the nose of your neighbour. Deere John is the unlikely tableaux of a man, his wife and his lawnmower: Welly’s tales from the suburbs are just beginning.
JULY
Fri 26 SOUTHWOLD Latitude Festival
AUGUST
Sat 03 LONDON Dork’s Day Out @ Signature Brew
Sun 04 MILTON KEYNES Multitude Festival @ Craufurd Arms
Sat 24 PORTSMOUTH Victorious Festival