Bishopskin’s new single ‘Old Sock’ is out now for Isolar Records. Their next headline gig is January 24th at the Moth Club. 

There is something thematically pleasing in the fact that Bishopskin’s new single, in which the London outfit – still defying all genre categorisation, and the better for it – presented to the public an updated, more elaborate version of their sound, came out only a couple days after Old New Year. The date in which the new year started according to the Julian Calendar is not only an obvious metaphor for renovation; it is also accompanied by a flurry of curious ritual activity all over Europe, still celebrated by folk societies which perform masques, dances, and processions carrying the echoes of a spirituality that is old and deeply rooted. This very undercurrent – a take on the spiritual that feels ancient and intense, only veiled in the aesthetic trappings of Christian iconography – has been ever-present in Bishopskin’s releases thus far, and is, if anything, stronger than ever in this first taste of the music produced with their new line-up; as for renewal, there is no doubt that their voice has grown, developing a greater attention to the finer details, a greater theatricality, and a greater complexity. 

“We have become more sophisticated,” vocalist Tiger Nicholson jokes, as we discuss the new form their sound has taken as they were working on their second album. “That could be your headline. ‘Bishopskin: sophisticated’”.

This more orchestral, finely wrought kind of composition is in part a result of a reshuffling in the (always rather restless) line-up of the band. “We have more people now that have classical music training, and they’re bringing a lot of that in,” Tiger explains. “It’s also more structured. It went from writing a lot of the music in our bedrooms to going to the studio every day”. Both the new environment and the new blood brought by incoming band members have made the songwriting process more cooperative, guitarist James Donovan adds. “It’s nice that I have less to do with the writing. We’re kind of moving away from that major key thing Tiger and I were always doing and into some more complex things”. Tati Gutteridge, who contributes vocals and clarinet as well as a significant part of the songwriting, also points out how the making of the music has become more of a collective effort. “Someone will throw something in and then someone else will pick it up and add something. There was one time Tiger was trying to write something and it wouldn’t come out right, so I wrote in in the way I thought he would and he thought it was like reading something he’d said himself”.

Even so, the core kernel of what Bishopskin is about remains, that deep, almost ancestral summoning of a visceral form of spirituality. “Like a form of speaking in tongues, but not the kind you see in evangelical churches,” Tati agrees: music as universal language. It feels less isolated, too, now that a wave of folk-punk, inspired by that same old spirituality, is sweeping through the UK alternative music scene. “It’s also nice to see more music that has an actual melody, rather than just the spoken post-punk thing,” James adds. “It was something people said at the early Bishopskin shows, it’s nice to hear someone actually singing. I think in part it has been a reaction to that style of post-punk being everywhere”. They list bands putting out music in this vein: Sodden Pelt, The New Eves. “Although what I’d really like to see is a return of plainsong,” Tati suggests. If you’re wondering what plainsong is like, go listen to Bishopskin’s own Stella Splendens: a modern take on a Medieval hymn, sung in Medieval Latin – and a favourite with the audience.

What Bishopskin share with these bands is a deep interest in the storied folk tradition of the UK in particular: the deeper things that still move, still alive, under the Christian surface. “So much of this has been on my mind for a long time,” Tiger recollects. “Giants walking the land, the old man of the moors. I made a painting about Doggerland years ago and now we have a new song about it”. Doggerland is the strip of land, now disappeared, that used to connect England to Europe: “The original Brexit,” Tiger jokes. The connection between his work as a visual artist and the music also remains strong. “You know how in the Middle Ages, when they thought your humours were too high, they’d drain some blood to bring them down? It is the same with this. The music is just a little bit of blood coming out, but there’s so much more, if I had the time I would make so much more art as well. Maybe one day when all the blood’s come out I will stop. But for now this is just a small part of it”.

Has the openly Christian nature of so many of the lyrics ever been a problem, especially when confronting an audience such as the one that frequents London’s alternative venues? Religion, it has been said, is after all the greatest taboo of modern times. “I think it went down well because it’s not a gimmick, people can tell it’s authentic,” Tiger muses. “It’s also very clear from the beginning. We’re not springing it on people unexpected. It’s not like going to a show expecting something else, and you get ambushed with Jesus”. He speaks of his ongoing fascination with Christian aesthetics, ever since he was a student in art school, the way in which, in the Renaissance, that was the truly revolutionary language in art. “When Michelangelo Buonarroti started putting naked people on church ceilings, that was seen as scandalous. We’ve pretty much made no good Christian art since the Renaissance, so maybe it was time to come back to it”. It has been interesting, James adds, to try and write from that religious headspace. “You step into this space of Christian rock and so much of it is just really bad. So it was interesting at first to try and do something good with it while still staying faithful to it”. As for the audience’s reaction, Tati – who is an ordained Anglican minister – notes that the band has been met with remarkable open-mindedness. “It helps that there is no conflict deeply associated with religion in London,” she points out. “If we were doing this in Ireland, then it would be very different”.

Those who are curious about the new music will be able to get a good taste of it in the band’s upcoming gig at London’s Moth Club – the biggest they have played yet. Initially planned for the Autumn, it had to be postponed after James caught a mosquito-borne illness that left him bed-bound for some five months. Interestingly enough, there is a somewhat miraculous tale to go with it, which feels very on-brand for Bishopskin. “I was thinking I was never going to get better, and then one of Tiger’s uncles, who works at a church, sent me this handkerchief that had been prayed upon, saying to put it under my pillow and it would help,” James recounts. “I am not really religious, but I thought, what harm can it do? And I did start to get better pretty much from that moment”. Did the whole ordeal change his outlook on things, I wonder? “No, I’ve pretty much gone back to the way I was,” he laughs. He does, however, think this was in a sense a blessing in disguise: “It is good for the gig, really. We were going to play the same set we always did, and now half the set is going to be new music. So it’s going to be much more interesting”.