I was lucky. A friend lived in Leeds and worked as a roadie, moonlighting as a web developer between gigs. He also shared a house with the entertainments manager of Leeds Uni. Getting out of London to the north was, therefore, a fairly normal thing every weekend. They were even nice to this soft southerner. Mostly.
It was after some sweaty gig that I was introduced to a someone who handed me a CDr of local bands they’d burned at home. On it were a whole host of tracks, mostly forgotten. One of these we played again and again on the long drive down the M1. It was Keepsakes by Sky Larkin from their self-released Souvenir EP.
It made me think of the film, Shallow Grave, which I loved (and still do). It made me ‘car seat dance’ when the inevitable traffic jams brought us to a standstill. It brought out a grin on my face. As soon as I got back home I got on the internet and searched them out. I found two more songs to (legally) download from a fantastic Blogger website called Burning World (now defunct) and a release date for an album.
I was hooked.
Here was a three-piece that sounded like there were twice as many members. A strong female singer who had a knack for great lyrics and even greater riffs. There was more than a slight resemblance to Sleater-Kinney, but with a distinctly northern English grit and humour and perhaps a large splash of that cheeky Los Campesinos personality. They stood out when much of the year I first heard them was wall-to-wall Arctic Monkeys.
The album hasn’t dated in the past 14 years or so. It remains a great album chock full of songs you can sing along to, dance to (car seat or other places), or whatever you want to do while it plays. It gets a regular airing at Unspun Heroes HQ. It was an original take on guitar-based indie when it came out and it is still an original sound.
Because of Sky Larkin, I have the fondest memories of Leeds and the messy weekends at the Uni bar that made up a fair chunk of my late 20s. It really deserves a reissue, though, because it’s bloody hard to find and we’d love a copy. We think you’d love a copy, too.
Plus Katie Harkin, the guitarist and founding member of Sky Larkin hasn’t stopped. She’s still making great music as Harkin (her latest album, Honeymoon Suite is definitely worth checking out once you’ve got your ears around her original band’s debut, which you do below).