If bands like 5SOS and COIN are totally your vibe, you’re gonna love Single By Sunday. Jonny, Josh, Jack, and James are a punk rock band from the UK whose infectious songs and onstage swagger are making waves across the globe. Their latest single, “Debbie,” is a huge bop, and its accompanying music video happens to feature a ton of their lucky fans (which makes us love them even more, tbh).
We chatted with the guys and get to know them a little better in an exclusive Q&A. Check it out!
Q: Let’s start with the most cliché question possible: How’d you guys meet and become a band?
A: Actually, we all met in kindergarten! Okay, that’s not true. Jonny and Josh met at school, but they didn’t become friends until after they had both left. In fact, Josh always says he thought Jonny was kind of weird (nothing’s changed there!)
Jonny went to music college in Glasgow, which is where he met Jack. They became friends and Jonny posed the notion of starting a band. It was shortly after this that Jonny approached Josh about being the lead singer, and we met our drummer, James, after looking around online!
Q: Where are you guys right now and how are you coping with COVID-19?
A: Geographically, we are all in the UK. Jonny, Jack & Josh are Glasgow-based, but James lives down in London, not too far from the Queen. We are all currently on lockdown and doing the self-isolating thing. We are all split between Tiger King (Joe Exotic… what a guy!), Brothers and Sisters (Sally Fields is a favourite of Jonny’s), and Jack and James are obsessing over The Witcher. We’re also finding plenty of time to write new material. One thing that’s been really good about the lockdown situation is that we have been able to interact more with fans online. That’s been really good. It’s not always about selling tickets. Sometimes it’s just nice to connect with fans and see how they are doing, find out what they are up to, what they’re listening to, etc.
Q: Speaking of fans, You have an ultra-close bond with them. Is there one moment that really sticks out to you in terms of something meaningful that happened, that you’ll never forget?
A: Yes, we are very proud of the relationship that we have with our fans. We even invited a small handful of them to be in the “Debbie” video, which was really cool, in terms of something that we’ll never forget. On another US tour, we had a day off and instead of just sleeping, eating and doing laundry, we decided to visit the Hollywood Walk of Fame. We wanted to see whose star we could see – Jack Black’s in particular. For anyone that doesn’t know, our bass player’s real name is actually “Jack Black.” All of a sudden, a young woman started to get all excited. She was like, “Oh my God, oh my God, it’s you guys, wow!” We were in Hollywood, so we just thought that she was being dramatic for the sake of it. We said, “Okay, fine, who are we?” And she replied, “Please don’t insult me, you’re Single By Sunday and I’m currently trying to buy tickets to your UK tour!” We actually couldn’t believe it, the fact that we got recognised on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was just ridiculous… #surreal.
Q: I know you’ve just released the music video for, “Debbie.” Obviously, the next few months are up in the air, but can fans look forward to new music? Virtual concerts?
A: New music, yes absolutely. Fortunately, we have a healthy back catalogue of unreleased material. Also, as we said earlier, the lockdown situation has given us more time to come up with lots of ideas, some good, some not so good, and some that will never see the light of day! The problem we have with “virtual concerts” is that like a lot of other bands, we can’t all get together because of the geography, etc. We’ve managed to do some live acoustic sessions, just Jonny and Josh though. I think it helps that we both live in the same house.
Q: Tell us one person (or band) that you’ve either gotten completely starstruck over, and/or would be totally geeked out to meet.
Josh: Ed Sheeran. He freely admits that he would lose all sense of reality if he were to meet Ed (that’s what we call him. Josh calls him Mr Sheeran, it’s a respect thing).
Jack: Fronz, the lead singer with the band Attila. We suspect that he has Fronz wallpaper in his bedroom.
Jonny: Lizzo. We get concerned about his devotion to all things Lizzo.
James: Billie Eilish, ever since he saw her in concert. Now he thinks he’s a “bad guy”!
Q: And last question: What’s one thing you could not live without on tour?
Jonny: Apple earbuds
Josh: Any surface where I can put my head down and go to sleep.
Jack: Anime comics
James: Food (I’m a vegetarian!)
Watch the “Debbie” music video below, and stay tuned for much more from Single By Sunday!
