Paul Weller Remixes Syd Arthur

PAUL WELLER HAS REMIXED one of his favourite bands – MOJO-endorsed Canterbury heads Syd Arthur. The 8-minute wig-out versh of Sine 4 from the Syds’ 2016 album, Apricity, features another Weller pard – Noel Gallagher – on guitar and is included as the B-side of Syd Arthur’s new single, No Peace, which is released today, February 3. You can hear it via the Soundcloud embed below.

The Syds – who are composed of singer-guitarist Liam Magill, his brothers Josh (drums) and Joel (bass) plus multi-instrumentalist Raven Bush (nephew of Kate) – follow up a successful 2016 which saw Apricity featured among MOJO’s 50 Albums Of The Year and the band touring the US with White Denim.

A MOJO feature on the band in the summer of last year included a heartfelt tribute from Weller, who said, “I really love what they do. They have a different way of making music. People label them as prog because of the fact that they come from Canterbury, but they go beyond that. They’re hip to so much musical stuff and they play in a really unique way.”

Syd Arthur were similarly effusive about Weller, whom they describe as their most constructive critic.

“He sat in on soundchecks,” recalled Josh Magill, “going, ‘Liam, why do you keep bending down? Why aren’t you looking at the audience?’”

“‘You’re not wearing that jumper on stage, are you, Joel?’” added Joel Magill, giving his best Paul Weller impression, “‘It’s not Christmas.’”

It’s a busy start to 2017 for Weller, with a pan-generic soundtrack for gritty boxing-themed Britflick Jawbone, his production job on Stone Foundation’s Street Rituals album seeing the light of day in March, and a proper new solo album, A Kind Revolution, comes in May.