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Apr 04, 2025 Web Exclusive By Kyle Mullin Photography by Eddie Whelan

Despite the sudden departure of their lead singer Isaac Wood in 2022, four days before the release of their sophomore album, Ants from Up There, the remaining members of Black Country, New Road (BCNR) decided not to change their band’s name while working on their new album, Forever Howlong, which just dropped on Ninja Tune to fanfare and rave reviews.

“We already had momentum, something that we’d worked towards,” says May Kershaw, pianist and accordion player in the British band that had once been nominated for the coveted Mercury Prize, and had cracked the top five of the UK Albums Chart with both their preceding studio albums, 2021’s For the First Time and Ants from Up There. In the midst of that success, fervent fans took to Reddit to dissect Wood’s lyricism—by turns cryptic and intimate—and to fawn over BCNR’s unique incorporation of folk stylings, including Klezmer, into their post-punk sound. Those Redditers have now gained affectionate notoriety as one of the most dedicated fanbases in all of alt-rock. During a recent Zoom call with Under the Radar Kershaw added renaming Black Country, New Road would have felt like “starting again from scratch. I feel like both options were a bit risky. But we had a few conversations about whether or not to, then just went with it.”

Then guitarist Luke Mark, who is on the same Zoom call with Kershaw and bassist Tyler Hyde, quips: “We tried to change the band name to New Order, but it was already taken,” prompting a giggle from May that, if she hadn’t of stifled it, would’ve surely been a cackle.

On top of that, they were given the blessing to keep the band’s moniker from none other than Wood. It was his latest amicable gesture after announcing, via BCNR’s Instagram in January 2022 he was leaving because “I have been feeling… the kind of sad and afraid feeling that makes it hard to play guitar and sing at the same time” before going on to thank his bandmates and emphasizing they remained on good terms (which the remaining members have seconded in subsequent interviews). Yet it was a shocking turn of events, made all the more impactful because the release date for Ants from Up There was set for four days later. So they treated the LP as a snapshot of their final days with Wood, and maintained the tour dates they’d already committed to, but played brand new music they’d written mere weeks before.

You can listen back to that period of both tumult and electric possibility on their 2023 album Live at Bush Hall, though the band says that material was made in an entirely different manner than that of Forever Howlong. The only similarity: for BCNR’s post-Wood music, the vocal duties are split between their three female members— Kershaw, Hyde, and violinist Georgia Ellery. The band’s other remaining members are percussionist and banjo player Charlie Wayne and saxophonist and flutist Lewis Evans.

When Hyde looks back on Live at Bush Hall and the skin-of-their-teeth approach to writing songs for that tour to fill the inimitable Wood and his work’s void, she can’t help but feel grateful. “I’m like: ‘Hey, thank you for getting us to here.’ If we hadn’t have done that, then we might not be a band still,” she says, explaining that those shows and live album helped BCNR maintain momentum, similarly to May’s point about not changing their name. “If you stop, there’s a good chance you may never pick that up again. And that might have been your one chance gone. That’s how the industry makes you think, anyway. Whether or not it’s true, I don’t know. But I think for a lot of people it is. And we’re pretty lucky to have this opportunity in life. So that album gave us the chance to, you know, keep that opportunity.”

Hyde is a bit of a hand talker, the colorful and nobby bold band rings on both of her index fingers punctuating some of her key points as she gestures enthusiastically about that turning point for the band during our video call. Behind her, an electric piano is propped against a wall of her apartment, rather than the bass she is better known for—a testament to the talent and versatility of BCNR’s many members.

After singing the praises of their Live at Bush Hall era, she makes a big caveat: “It’s a product of a pressure cooker. It’s music that we would never make now, because of the way that it was made. Every first thought was given the thumbs up because we had to so quickly throw an album’s worth of material together. And because of that, you know, it’s so against the way that we work.”

Forever Howlong, truer to its name, took longer and found the band “scrutinizing every decision to try and serve the song the best that we can,” says Hyde. “We definitely did not serve the song on…Bush Hall. It was just quick, reactional. Us going: ‘Yes, yes, yes. That’s an idea. Let’s roll with it.’”

Of course, Hyde is quick to acknowledge some musicians happily work so hastily. She muses solo artists could be nimble enough to thrive like that. But not BCNR, because of the breadth of influences, interests, and opinions of its six members. Mark sees that live album as a bit of a disclaimer for what fans could expect on that tour, sans Woods, because it “seemed like the right thing to do. You’re not getting what you thought you were going to get. This is what it’s going to be like.”

Hyde therefore calls the music they wrote for that tour “a fiery hodgepodge of all of that [the six members’ influences]. And therefore, you know, musically, it’s not something that I would make again. I don’t think it’s what a lot of us would make again. But you take away the music and you just look at the experience of that whole time, the way that people stuck with us. There was a feeling at every gig that was so electrifying and overwhelming and warm. And it wasn’t because of the music. It was just because people liked coming together, and us as a band liked coming together. And people came to see us, not necessarily to come see the music. It was a very wonderful human experience.”

So the band took a different tack with Forever Howlong? More scrutinizing of instrumentation decisions? More debating? Hyde smiles mischievously at those questions, throws an arm over the back of her chair and leans backward in faux exasperation, saying “Ohhhh yes,” and drawing out the first syllable to emphasize just how labored that process was.

As she says that Mark accidentally cuts her off with his own enthusiastic “Big time!”

Hyde adds, “Too much debating sometimes,” before breaking into a chuckle.

Kershaw counters more seriously that the band examined aspects of the songs captured on Live at Bush Hall, but on Forever Howlong they better succeeded at poring over the big picture. No slouch in the emphasis department, she strokes her chin professorially and says with a furrowed brow: “This time we asked: ‘Does this work best for the song, macro-ly?’ There was loads of good nuggets on the live album but—”

Hyde playfully interjects: “But it’s a mess!”

To which Kershaw adds: “Yes, but it’s got a place in my heart.”

Mark points out that the band hoped to record those Live at Bush Hall songs and move on, but they went on to tour them for two years, and now that is what people have come to identify the band with. He’s keen to look back fondly on what they achieved on that tour and with that album. But before that, he’s of course even more excited to take the next step now with Forever Howlong.

Speaking of live performing: how does Black Country, New Road feel about taking these new songs to the stage, and finally redefining their band beyond their tumultuous past? Hyde smiles again and, while absent mindedly twirling the ends of some of her hair, freely admits: the band hasn’t had to consider a prospect like this before. That’s because live recording dominated so much of their earlier albums.

“We’d always set out to do more overdubs, and have more fun in the studio, and layer stupid little bits and bobs here and there, and instruments that we don’t own, and sounds that we will struggle to recreate,” Hyde says with palpable excitement about the challenge and possibilities therein.

A prime example, despite its primary instruments being less than virtuosic: title track “Forever Howlong.” Hyde says: “When we would play it live before, it would just be all of us playing the recorder. And May is singing, and has the accordion. But then we also had another, orchestral band version. And then the recording is the two of them together.”

That has led the band to begin yet another spirited debate about which version of the song to play live, or whether a hybrid approach would work best.

They might laugh about those granular discussions later, just like they did on this Zoom call. “But what a blessing that is!” Hyde enthuses. That’s because: “We’re a band that gets really bored really easily. And so to know that each gig we could be playing a song in a completely different way, that’s also something we’ve never done before. And it makes me more excited about touring in general—giving songs more longevity in a performance sense. But then you also do have the thought: there’s going to be some people that are disappointed they didn’t get the recorder version of ‘Forever Howlong’ tonight. But there’s always going to be that kind of thing.”

The fans can indeed be quite vocal on forums like Reddit, though Hyde says: “You learn to kind of respectfully close your ears and just be grateful that people show up and buy the records, because that’s really cool that they do that.”

But their bandmate Charlie Wayne has said in a few prior interviews that his cousin—and what’s more, his mom—follow those social media reactions closely. A reminder of this makes Hyde, Kershaw, and Mark all laugh.

Mark beams and adds: “That’s why Charlie’s most afraid of how everything goes!”

Hyde mimes a devil on her shoulder and says: “It’s whispering in his ear.”

Mark adds: “Yes, he’s thinking: ‘This won’t go down well on the Reddit,’” before adding: “I think he’s distanced himself from all that. And told his mom he doesn’t want to know anymore.”

Kershaw insists she stays off such “scary places” like social media platforms, but admits some family members will read her interpretations of BCNR’s songs. When those takes are way off she laughs, but she also can’t help but smile when the interpretations are spot on.

That prompts Hyde to ask (much to the chagrin of the journalist supposedly moderating the call, because she had the best question of all): “Do you mind if they get it wildly off?”

Kershaw replies: “Sometimes yes. But sometimes, I’ll go: ‘Wow, I didn’t even think of that.’”

Above all, the band can’t wait to interpret these more technically ambitious new songs live. Kershaw says that’s true even of the songs she is not the lead singer on, such as “Mary.” Though Hyde steps into the limelight for that song, Kershaw loves performing it as a band, “Just because I don’t play an instrument for any of it. I feel a bit like I’m in a choir when we play that song, which is nice. I kind of want to join a choir, so it scratches that itch.”

Mark highlights another song that Hyde takes the lead on: “Socks.” Hyde quickly admits to being nervous about it, no doubt because she pushes past her bassist comfort zone to play piano on it. It is one of the few songs the band hasn’t played live yet. Kershaw will take over bass duties for “Socks” and, to keep things even more interesting, Mark has decided he must switch guitars partway though. That makes him worry: “Will I get there in time?”

“You better get there in time,” Hyde teases him, adding: “Yeah, it was important for us to have risks involved. I kept saying when we worked on this album: ‘We need more risks, guys. We need to do more things that, you know, feel like they could go wrong. Because that’s what’s exciting!’”

www.blackcountrynewroad.com

Read our interview with Black Country, New Road on Ants From Up There here.

Read our interview with them on Live at Bush Hall here.

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