Sharing stages across the UK with acts such as WSTR, In Her Own Words and Homebound, UK-based pop punk outfit Victory Lane has been growing in popularity within the scene since forming in 2015. Signing to Standby Records earlier this month, Victory Lane will be releasing their brand new EP, Barebones, on July 26th and we’ve got the exclusive scoop on what fans can expect from the new release.
Fans got a taste of Barebones just last month with the release of their latest single “Happy Sad,” a quintessential pop punk track that listeners will find themselves bopping their heads along to. Although it is the first track to come from the new EP, the song itself has been hiding up vocalist Dan Lamb’s sleeve for longer than many may expect, as he shared.
“I wrote ‘Happy Sad’ so long ago, even before Louder Than Words [their debut EP]. I held onto it, I always kept it close by and then when it came to the writing for Barebones, I knew me and Dan R [Rowbottom] could take what I had, a catchy little song on an acoustic guitar, and make it punchy.”
The song, featuring heavy percussion and battling vocals between Lamb and Rowbottom, is upbeat on the surface, presenting a pop punk tune fans will be able to jam out to at Victory Lane shows or alone in their bedrooms. However, underneath its head banging, carefree tempo is a song that emerged during a particularly dark time for Lamb, as he further revealed.
“I wrote the song while taking anti-depressants. I really wanted to find solace in myself again and all of this constant negativity just kept me away from that. Gradually, I saw it in myself to take these sad moments and almost use them to my advantage. I realized that sadness is part of us all and we shouldn’t bury those emotions or cover them up. Balance is more important than overall happiness. You’ll never know true happiness until you’ve got through to the other side of being truly sad.”
Like “Happy Sad,” Victory Lane approach all of their songwriting in a very organic and honest way. Finding ways to blend together their candid lyrics with their musical pop punk influence, Victory Lane has managed to create tracks that will resonate with listeners will also giving material to make for a lively live set.
This time around for Barebones, Victory Lane approached the writing and recording process differently, stripping down some elements to make sure the EP was as authentic and true to the band as possible, as Rowbottom shared.
“We stripped back on a lot of production, we wanted to create a BAND record. What we mean by that is everything we have on the record, we play live. We really wanted to push ourselves this time and deliver true emotion with every song meaning something to us. We had long writing stretches where me and Dan L would spend hours writing in his tiny bathroom! We’d sit and go over things until we were happy and then eventually we demoed what we had.”
Once Lamb and Rowbottom were confident in the material they had written, drummer Lewis Crawley then took the recorded demos and made sure they sounded tight and strong before sending them out for others to hear. The collaborative team effort that happened during the demoing process eventually led to Victory Lane working in the studio with producer Romesh Dodangoda.
Working with a number of artists over the years including Bring Me The Horizon, Bullet For My Valentine and Don Broco, Dodangoda is no newcomer in the producing world, collaborating with Victory Lane in the studio to help them create the best collection of songs possible.
“Romesh is a mastermind,” Crawley shared. “I’ve never met someone who felt so comfortable to work with and be around, but at the same time, pushed you to levels you didn’t see possible. He’s extremely down to earth considering his background.”
Putting his own personal touch on what would later be known as Barebones, Dodangoda’s influence and experience he brought to the project resulted in more than Victory Lane was ever expecting to happen, as bassist Dec Lawrence expressed graciously.
“Honestly, we had an incredible time with Romesh. He brought something to Barebones that we wanted before we even shook his hand – RAW, POWERFUL EMOTION.”
While we are still a good two months away from the release of Barebones, fans can expect to hear a classic pop punk record that represents Victory Lane both musically and personally. Adding even more personal anecdotes than what is presented on “Happy Sad,” Lamb revealed that this EP means far more than anything else they have put out in the past, presenting a collection of tracks they hope listeners can find comfort in.
“Barebones [is about]not ever being afraid to show your emotions [or]to be ‘barebones.’ Whoever you are, you should never keep your emotions inside, don’t let them fester inside of yourself. It’s important that if you go through turmoil to not be alone, but to be close to those that love you. Don’t be afraid, you’re not alone.”
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