First founded in 2008, local indie rockers Skylights have been at the forefront of our city’s music scene for nearly two decades. This summer, their barnstorming single, ‘Fever’ (recorded and pressed in York), hit number 4 in the official UK vinyl charts! We caught up with guitarist Turnbull Smith to chat about the best local live music venues, achieving success in the charts, and York City FC…
Hello, Skylights! How does it feel to have charted so highly in the UK vinyl charts with ‘Fever’?
We were absolutely over the moon to chart so high. It was an honour to be up there with such big acts, and that’s all down to our fans, who are amazing. We thank every single one of you who bought a copy!
The band has been going since 2008 – has York’s music scene changed over the years?
Wow, yeah. Things have changed a lot – we only played in York back then, just Fibbers and The Duchess. We played a few support slots, which were a lot of fun. I do think it’s great now with The Crescent and Fulford Arms. It’s very disappointing that Fibbers and the Victoria Vaults have gone, but hopefully, moving forward, we can get more venues. We mainly gained our new following (since 2018) in Leeds, so when we played the Barbican in 2024, it was amazing to see faces from our school and college days, as well as all our old mates. It was a really beautiful experience.
Do you have any favourite local venues to play?
Favourite has to be The Crescent, it’s brilliant. We’ve had some fantastic nights there, but you can’t forget the Fulford Arms – that’s a cracking little venue.
A little birdie tells me you’re Leeds United fans, but what did you make of York City’s recent promotion?
Yes, Scaz and Johnny are big Leeds fans, they have been since they were kids – their dad is from Scarborough and he’s a big Leeds fan. We did go to York City games when we were kids, we had a lot of fun. Myles is still a season ticket holder at York, and obviously, we were bouncing around for joy when they got promoted. It was such an incredible finish to the season!
What’s on the horizon for Skylights?
We have a new single called ‘Need Me’, and we really love this one, it’s a really emotional song. We are playing Project House in Leeds on the 3rd of October, which we’re buzzing about, then we’re up in Edinburgh at Sneaky Pete’s, and then we’ve got a huge one at the end of the year at the Music Hall in Aberdeen. We can’t wait to see you all there…
Visit www.musicglue.com/skylightsband or follow @SkylightsYRA on Facebook, X, or Instagram to stay up to date with Skylights.
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