Apollo Junction: 'It’s a good indication that we were testing ourselves'

The five-piece have teamed up with Briana Corrigan, formerly of The Beautiful South, for the song Settle Down, which they describe as “a phone call to the memories of the past, from today”.

Lead singer Jamie Williamson said: “This song means so much to us as a band and we feel it really shows a brand new side to what we can do, having Briana’s voice on it was something that we suggested very early on, but never imaged that we would make that happen. She sounds incredible on it and we are very very grateful to her for choosing to sing with us.”

Corrigan added: “Settle Down is a song that I just had to sing on, I travelled from Ireland over to the band’s studio in Yorkshire and we spent a wonderful day together recording and hanging out. I am a big fan and firmly believe that this song and the album they are making is something very special.”

Apollo Junction’s fourth album, What In The World, is set for release this summer after the band clinched a national distribution deal with 369/Lasgo. The group are hoping to build on their success of its 2023 predecessor, Here We Are, which reached number eight in the UK physical album chart.

On Saturday the band play at Leeds Beckett University on the final date of their biggest ever headline tour. Williamson told The Yorkshire Post the tour was their “biggest attempt at getting out and about, going to areas we’ve not been to before”.

Of the new album, Williamson added: “We know what’s expected of us from people looking at the outside in, but we also know what’s expected from ourselves as a band. We don’t want to rehash the same sound, we don’t want to just do the same stuff again, which is what a lot of bands do, they end up making another version of the same album. We can’t do that this time.

“We feel that after the huge shows we’ve done and the fact that a lot more people seem to be paying attention to us, we thought we’d better try some different stuff and (the collaboration with Briana Corrigan) is one of our first dips into trying to do something completely different.”

Williamson believes What In The World is “the most solid collection of songs” that Apollo Junction have so far recorded. “Before this, I thought our best album was our second one, All In,” he says. “Obviously, I love all our albums. The third album was great and it opened a lot of doors but as a band collectively we love All In the most. With this album, the aim was to take it up a notch.

“The sound is amazing. The new song sounds like The Smiths, it absolutely bangs, it’s the fastest song we’ve ever done, it’s probably the catchiest song we’ve done. It’s a good indication that we were testing ourselves. Every song on the album I’m very excited about.”

Having worked with Andy Hawkins at Nave Studios in Armley on all three of their previous albums, this time they chose David Watts to oversee the new album at The Chairworks in Castleford. “We were speaking to a few producers, but we decided to go here because we were listening to David’s catalogue. He’s worked with Kaiser Chiefs and he’s also worked with OMD, which really excited us because synths are a big part of our sound. He’s worked with Paul Heaton and he did all of The Reytons’ albums, there are number one albums all over the studio and we decided we like his style, the way he does things and he seems to really get our sound. We didn’t move (from the Nave) for any other reason we wanted to test ourselves in a different way.”

This summer the band will open for Blossoms at Scarborough Open Air Theatre on July 10 and Doves at the Piece Hall in Halifax on August 23. They will also share a stage with Manic Street Preachers at Forest Fest in the Republic of Ireland.

“We’ve found it’s about who you know,” says Williamson. “The Piece Hall have been such champions of us, we played there last year and it’s not usual to be invited back and get another major support slot but they shout about us all the time, and Cuffe & Taylor and Live Nation have put so much effort in. We’re very lucky with the support we have, we’ve got no complaints.”

Settle Down is out now. Apollo Junction play at Leeds Beckett University Student Union on Saturday April 26. https://www.apollojunction.com/