Black Spiders: The Prodigal Sons Of The North

When Sheffield rockers BLACK SPIDERS split up in 2017, it left many bereft of a band who had seemed on the brink of major success. Combining the height of mid-90’s Brit rock with the riffing power of AC/DC and throwing a hefty dose of stoner in for good measure, they’d gained a considerable army of fans and were very much on the ascent. Behind the scenes, however, the band remained friends and within two years were writing new material.

“We’d had quite a lot of chats because Ozzy [Lister, guitar/vocals]’s wedding was coming up and we were all involved with that,” explains Pete Spiby, the band’s frontman. “He had a couple of ideas and I’d had a couple that would have suited BLACK SPIDERS more than my solo stuff, so we decided to wait until the wedding was over, sent a couple of ideas to each other and it started going pretty well; obviously the chemistry was still there.”

Even the pandemic couldn’t stop them; just weeks later the country completely shut down, but by then Pete and Ozzy had already found their groove. “During the first part of lockdown, we were sweating songs! It was all coming out and we got caught up in a hyperball of excitement, because we knew it was gonna be great. Once we had about 15 ideas, we decided to focus on the ones we thought we’d go into the studio with.”

However, the national lockdown wasn’t the only contention BLACK SPIDERS had to deal with – it became quickly apparent they’d need a new drummer as well, as previous kit man Simon ‘Tiger’ Atkinson couldn’t rejoin. “He’d started a family during the time away and, just as we were saying ‘let’s get back together’, he bomb-shelled us with the news that he had another baby on the way,” explains Pete. “I think he worked out for himself that this was something he wouldn’t be able to put time into and, as such, he felt he might hold us back a bit or get dragged along. There’s absolutely no animosity, you know, I’m sure he’d love to do stuff, but family first, always.”

To make this even more of a curveball, this happened when the band were firming up dates to go into the studio, so a drummer was needed pronto; step forward Planet Rock DJ Wyatt Wendells. “Initially we thought we’d get someone in just to demo for us, but after a few chats figured there was not point in that, in case they turned out amazing and the guy wasn’t available to be in the band, so we were looking for a permanent member,” reveals Pete. “I’d heard Wyatt’s Cymbals of Appreciation on Planet Rock where he takes requests from key workers and drums their favourite rock songs, so we got chatting and eventually I asked him if he’d ever consider being in a band, then if he could do some demos with BLACK SPIDERS. He agreed, I sent the demos over and when they came back, we were blown away.”

With Wyatt fully on board, the band got down to what they do best and the resulting album, simply called Black Spiders, is a thunderous return to form; in fact, it feels like they’d never been on hiatus in the first place. The driving rock is still there with Back In The Convent and Good Times, the slower, more methodical tunes like Down To River and Wizard Shall Not Kill Wizard are also present and the energy throughout is just what those who loved the band so much are used to. There’s also a couple of extra surprises, from the acoustic led outro of Crooked Black Wings and the radio-rock approach to Give ‘Em What They Want.

Pete admits there was pressure to record something up to the standard of before, but that it was consigned to a box and hidden in a dark cupboard. “There was no point in coming back with anything mediocre; whatever we had to do had to surpass or at least be as good as our debut album (2011’s Sons of the North), which we still think is a massive benchmark for rock music. The goal was to look beyond that and make it better – better than the band that brought that album out. Every song needed to punch the listener in the face; we needed to have a comeback album that kicked the door down.”

Many will have just been happy to see BLACK SPIDERS back to start touring again, however they upped the stakes by bringing a new album along with them and comfortably exceeded all expectations with that very album. Once they’re able to hit the road again, their place at the very top of 21st century UK rock will be restored in no time.

Black Spiders is out now via Dark Riders Records. 

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