Jude wrote “t’other side” after every other song on the upcoming Had Sandy debut album. By the time it was done, the band agreed it didn’t want to wait for the LP. “We figured that we have plenty of time before the album is ready to be its own thing,” Jude says. “We also all love this song so much and kind of wanted to get it out there as soon as possible to show to people, and it works as an introduction to the way the LP will sound.”
The single came out on 4th June via Sugar Free Records.
“Some of our other tracks have more introductory guitar sequences,” Jude says, “but this one just punches you in the face.” The drive comes from early Trophy Eyes: “I love the energy, drive, and punctuation, and also the fact of it kicking off straight away.”
Citizen’s “Everybody is going to heaven” shows up in the chord movements, especially across the chorus. It was an album Jude was deep in at the time of writing. “I really enjoyed the unsettling chordal progressions. It’s a bit spooky, maybe not the most obvious choices, and it made sense for me since I wanted to think in depth about where each chord was heading, particularly in the chorus.”
The recording happened in pieces. Drums went down at Small Pond Studios in Brighton alongside the album tracking. Everything else got captured at Jude’s home studio or in a rehearsal room.
The tracking order was rebuilt around availability: drums first, then guitars, synth, vocals, and finally bass. “I very much think that the essence of DIY bands is finding spaces as needed to record in,” Jude says. “You do what you can with what you’ve got.” Bass coming last let Jude carve space in the mix for the rest, and the bass itself went through a super distorted guitar amp, chasing the picky tone off “The Last Thing You Forget” by Title Fight.
The lyrics sit on heavier ground. Jude wrote them in a weird headspace, leaning into spirituality and looking for a reason to keep going. The conclusion landed somewhere blunt: “we just need to experience as much as we can before we can’t anymore, because there’s so much here. It’s okay to die I guess because at the end you just go back to where you came from.”
The single comes with a B-side that only exists on cassette, self-released and only available at the release show on 16th June at Green Door Store in Brighton. “Everything is intangible these days,” Jude says, “but we love to give the people that want it something special that they can actully hold, that contains a song only they can hear.” Jude treats the format as a souvenir for non-collectors as much as a format for collectors, and points to a wider Brighton mindset where plenty of local bands sell physical media as a default. New t-shirts printed by Conch Clothing will be on the merch table at the same show.
Wyลwietl ten post na Instagramie
Had Sandy started after Jude lost a previous band to what felt like the corporate side of the music industry. Songwriting came back as a final project at university, which turned into the EP “If They All Miss You”. Chris Childs of Sugar Free Records (also of Small Pond Recording Studios) heard it and offered to release it.
Forming a band to play the songs came after that. The follow-up “Desire Paths” picked up where the EP left off, with Return Of Rock calling earlier single “In Between” “a stunning introduction to their sound” and Havoc Underground praising “heartfelt vocal flows over a well-produced and melodic instrumental”.
Wyลwietl ten post na Instagramie
“Nearly two years on,” Jude says, “we’ve been fortunate enough to play with some of our favourite bands such as Anxious, Totorro, Other Half, Turn Of Phrase.” That follows tours with labelmates Prom and local act Give Up, support slots with The Murderburgers, and regular Brighton shows with Wimp, Hngmn, sandy siblings Gaffa Tape Sandy, and out-of-town bands like MAXWELLTHEBAND and Funeral. A recent slot at The Great Escape Festival sits on the same list.
The next dates: 16th June at Green Door Store in Brighton (the t’other side release show), 30th June at Green Door Store supporting Greet Death, 3rd to 5th September at Burn It Down Festival in Torquay, alongside Drug Church, Speed, and STYG.
Wyลwietl ten post na Instagramie
๐ IDIOTEQ is ad-free, independent, and runs on one person’s time. If you want it to stay that way: DONATE via PayPal ๐๐ SUPPORT via Patreon.
Stay connected via Newsletter ยท Instagram ยท Facebook ยท X (Twitter) ยท Threads ยท Bluesky ยท Messenger ยท WhatsApp.
