Rising stars The Sherlocks are living for the moment

Last year saw the Sheffield-based indie/alternative quartet become the first unsigned band to sell out the city’s famous The Leadmill venue since a certain Arctic Monkeys more than a decade ago.

And now they are gearing up for their first arena shows, having been invited to support The Libertines on three dates of the famous band’s UK tour this month.

“We’re just excited,” admits lead singer Kiaran Crook.

“We’re certainly not nervous, we never get really nervous about going on, There’s not really a lot that can go wrong.”

The band formed when Kiaran and his brother, Brandon, met fellow musical brothers Andy and Josh Davidson in Bolton upon Dearne more than five years ago.

Having started out doing covers in working men’s clubs, the band have now performed more than 500 gigs – and show no signs of stopping.

“We’re all full-time now,” says Kiaran, who is taking a sabbatical from studying for his music technology degree at University Centre Doncaster after brother Brandon graduated in law from Sheffield Hallam University last summer.

“We all decided we were just going to go for it with the band.

“It’s hard with the band, doing university part-time and trying to juggle things, so that’s what we decided and it’s going really well.

“We’ve been a band just over five years now. We used to play covers in working men’s clubs and pubs for about three years.

“We’d play to our audience and play what people wanted to hear.

“We’d do The Clash, The Beatles, The Police, just classics really, but we love that music anyway.

“In the last year of doing covers we were always writing, but we didn’t have enough songs.

“We’d play covers and stick in one of our own and it just got more and more, until it was half covers and half our own stuff, then started just doing our own. and it seems to be doing well.

“We enjoy covers, but you do get a bit sick of playing other people’s songs. You get a way bigger buzz playing your own music and it’s nice to think people are coming to see you play your own songs.”

He says the key moment for the band was finishing Live for the Moment.

“We’d just been going all out doing our gigs, but that’s when we realised we had something,” says Kiaran, aged 20.

“I remember Brandon saying we’d do well with this.

“We just thought we’d push it, we never expected to it to do as well as it did and it got in the top 100, then our next single, Escapade, got to 45.

“That was pretty neat and since then the gigs have got better and better.

“I think a lot of our success is having good songs.

“If you have got good songs, you don’t really have to worry about a lot. If you have got good songs, it sort of takes care of itself.”

And their latest single, Last Night, has already enjoyed airplay on BBC Radio 1.

However, it is performing live for which the band of Kiaran, drummer Brandon, aged 23, 17-year-old bassist Andy and guitarist Josh, 22, are best known.

“I think that’s the best way,” says Kiaran.

“In total we have done more than 700 gigs.

“We supported Starsailor, that was a big deal for us. We’ve supported The Beat, Ordinary Boys, Reverend and The Makers, The Enemy, and this month we’re supporting The Libertines on three arena shows.

“It’s still hard to believe we’re doing it. They’re massive at the moment, they’re even bigger than they’ve ever been, They’re a band we grew up listening to.

“It is going to be unreal. Playing arenas is something we have never done before.

“We sold out The Leadmill last year as well, which I still find hard to believe.

“As soon as we had put it on, we thought it could sell out, but we still couldn’t believe it did.

“They told us we’re the first unsigned band to sell it out in ages. The last band was Arctic Monkeys years ago.”

And as soon as the Libertines dates are over, the band embark on their own headline tour of 23 dates, some of which have already sold out.

“That’s the biggest tour we have ever done,” says Kiaran. “I think there’s only one day off.”

With a growing live audience and several singles already under their belts, clamour is growing for the still-unsigned band to release an album.

“We’re not begging for a contract, because there’s interest already,” says Kiaran. “We’re just biding our time and seeing what’s best for us.

“We are just making sure everything we do is right.

“Everyone keeps asking for an album, so we know people want it, but we don’t want to be a band that releases an album that doesn’t do anything, to just release it a couple of hundred people.

“I want to sell tens of thousands of copies or more.

“We want to be as big as we can.

“It’d be great to play arenas, but I think more realistically, I’d like to think we’ll be playing Sheffield’s O2 Academy later this year. I think that’s realistic.”

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