More about: Working Men's Club

“I just wanted to make tunes, like I did and like I will continue to do”—this idea of art over everything else is something that reappears often when speaking to Sydney “Syd” Minsky-Seargent, the creative force behind Working Men’s Club, the indie/dance rock band from the Calder valley in West Yorkshire, whose debut self-titled record topped Best Of lists last year all over and has earned them three AIM award nominations. 

The nominations, which include UK Independent Breakthrough and Best Independent Album, seem to reflect how Sargent feels about most of the barrage of praise being levelled to Working Men’s Club; grateful and appreciative, but secondary to his commitment to the creative aspect.

“It’s nice. The fact that [the self-titled debut album] has been recognised in that capacity is a really nice thing. But [we were] not really expecting it: when you’re doing something creative, I don’t think your doing it for any commercial recognition.”

Seargent is a little apologetic when he first joins me via zoom, as he’s overslept and has only just woken up – common for most 19-year-olds to be fair. You wouldn’t know it from the conversation that follows: aside from a handful of interruptions due to his cat demanding breakfast, he talks at length from one subject to next, thoughtful and plentiful in his thinking but without an air of pretentiousness. For someone who tells me he doesn’t particularly like the obligation of having to do interviews, he is particularly good at them.

“People choose how they wanna perceive you” he says, when I ask whether he feels the band, or more so he himself, have felt occasions of misrepresentations or preconceptions from the media and audiences. “It’s how people choose to do their job, but we’re in it to make music, listen to it, or immerse yourself in music. Its clickbait innit, people love gossip – if you like gossip, just watch Love Island!”

Focusing on the tunes and a disregard for all the other stuff is sure to have played a part in Working Men’s Club becoming one of the most exciting acts around in 2021—as well as contributing to their progression from, as Syd puts it, “a guitar band to, not a guitar band”.

A personnel change saw the band develop their sound from the staccato post-punk stomp of 2019's 'Bad Blood' into something darker, dancier and more direct. Obvious yet understandable comparisons to The Fall and New Order came quickly and left the group complimented but ultimately unaffected. “I understand 'cause when people tag onto it, they begin with comparisons. 'Cause they wanna tell other people what the band is, they have to entice them in by comparing it to something else, but I’m not in it to live up to that – as far as I see it, its 2021, I’m 19 and the rest of the band are young too. We weren’t around then. I’m just trying to make music now. That’s all I have to say.”

Its geography, not history, that has played a larger part in the development of WMC. Seargent’s education at a Manchester music college meant that the band are often talked up as being next in the line of the lineage of the city’s great musical exports, despite them hailing from Todmorden, a market town in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, a place in which Sargent still finds himself today. 

“That first album seemed to be about escape and isolation, and I feel like I’ve done that. But I’m back in Todmorden so it’s interesting how things come full circle.” 

He mentions the two venues in the region, pivotal in his and the band's development: The Golden Lion in Todmorden and Hebden Bridge Trades Club, saying that whilst he’s talked about them to death in previous interviews, it’s only because to him as a young musician, it was the only possible outlet. “You don’t see it being beneficial when you’re just starting out, but in retrospect it is, 'cause you're left alone to do what you do. I’ve played some horrendous gigs prior to anyone knowing who we were, but it gave us to opportunity to grow”.

While the relative isolation and dark mornings/early evenings of life in the West Yorkshire valleys might have had a big impact on the sound of Working Men’s Club and left them with the usual desire to expand outward, it becomes clear through talking to Syd that Todmorden has done more good than not for the band, relieving them of the pressures of “making it” found in densely populated bigger cities. “In a city you're just constantly surrounded by everything, its more competitive, higher rent and having to fight for bookings every week — in a valley there’s no competition. Its good to have the freedom to find out naturally what you wanna do as a young artist. As an artist you just wanna be left alone to make your art and I feel very fortunate to do that in the valley, which is why I still live there. I never felt like we were competing, and I never felt part of a scene and still don’t; that’s a good thing.”

He might not feel part of a scene, but it would be foolish to deny that Working Men’s Club are one of the most revered young bands of the moment; an expansive UK tour in place for later this year and a monumental support slot with Hot Chip for New Order in September puts the band firmly on the map.

Though as much as I would like to avoid discussing the C word, it’s impossible not to touch on the pandemic when regarding the return of live music. I spoke to Syd the week before restrictions were lifted on 19 July and thus much of our chat is coloured by this looming date of uncertainty. Despite being raring to get back onstage and performing the album to the people, the fragility of the current situation is still clear. “It’s almost as if were not going back, we are going forward, 'cause things will be different. I don’t think we’ll get the element of feeling free about just going and being close to another for a while.”

He tells me about a festival with restrictions he recently had attended and talked at length about the physical power of music in the public, humorously acknowledging that “It could have been the shittest music, but cos you heard it through a soundsystem it didn’t matter. To listen to live music and not feel like you’re gonna get arrested!”

It was a nice moment that reminded me that despite the flurry of success and hype and as well as being a performer, he’s still a 19-year music fan: a young person wanting to experience what young people are told they should before life gets in the way. So, with aims to make hay whilst the sun shines, Syd reveals that the follow up to Working Men’s Club debut album is heading toward its finishing stages.

Having passed the time in lockdown purchasing weird and wonderful synths and samplers, he now looks towards the studio to rework the demo recordings, which he says are quite different because of the new gear. “You wanna try stuff out and experience it a different way, even on songs you felt were safe and done.” As well as this, Syd casually throws out that he’s also been working on other projects on the side, one being an acoustic record. 

The overall vibe is that Syd wishes to waste no time in getting back to what he loves to do when safe to do so. “The thing that the pandemic has done has made people live their lives a day at time” he says, laughing as we both agree that our hopes of post-lockdown positivity have been dashed somewhat by the likelihood of that first night out being populated by “everyone being a bit arsey!” 

"After the year we’ve all been through, don’t fucking go to the other extreme, life isn’t to be taken lightly" Syd finishes. "Just try and enjoy each other’s company. That’s the mindset I’ll be going with if we can do gigs, 'cause now you just don’t know when its gonna end”.

The AIM Awards takes place at 8pm on 25 August as a global livestream. Find out more.

More about: Working Men's Club