Introducing Liberty Ship: Sheffield’s next big band who play the SU next month

Sheffield is home to a lot of up and coming bands working their way up the ranks, and Liberty Ship are certainly upping their game, with their new single 'Snakes and Ladders' being released last Friday and is available on all streaming platforms.

The four piece have a very impressive history of support slots, a great back catalogue and a huge support in their hometown and are certainly a band that can't be ignored.

We had a catch up with Lewis, Jack and Jimmy from the band before their surprise acoustic set at the Taste of Sheffield event on Fargate.

The band has been going for just over five years, how did you form?

Jack Eddison (lead guitar): We all formed at school about ten years ago, I've known Jimmy since I was in Year One and then I met Lewis when I was seven. We've been Liberty Ship for about five years but been playing together for about a decade.

Your singles are different from each other but they have your own stamp on them, where do your influences lie?

Jimmy Brown (bass): We've all got differing tastes. There's obviously a lot of bands that we all like but it varies for each band member.

Lewis Hancock(lead vocals/acoustic guitar): When it comes to writing, we all work full-time so a lot of our lyrics come from that.

Jack: We get different vibes from writing sessions so our singles can differ in sound as a result of that, hence why they all might sound distinct.

Your latest single ‘Snakes and Ladders’ could be said to be your most mature and experimental, how has the reaction been so far?

Jack: Its been good. A lot of our other songs have been more uplifting where as this one has a darker feel to it.

Lewis: It's also got more meaning compared to our earlier singles.

Jack: Snakes and Ladders certainly has a darker feeling to it than what we've written before.

Jimmy: Although it has still got our mark and sound on it which is what people really enjoy!

Ed Cosens from Reverend and the Makers produced ‘Snakes and Ladders’, how did that come about?

Jack: We met Jon from the band about 5 years ago just after we'd left school and he was really into our tunes. We supported them on tour and became really good mates with them all, including Ed. We wanted to record something completely different to what we'd done before and we thought Ed would do a great job of it. We didn't know why we hadn't thought of him before!

Lewis: He’s a really talented musician and producer so he really helped us out when it came to ideas for what the single could sound like in the development process.

Jack: He’s brought something different to the table in the studio, with additions of keyboards and synths on the track, which is something we haven't used on previous singles.

Liberty Ship's tour dates for this autumn

You’ve opened the main stage at Tramlines and have made it onto the Sheffield Wednesday match day playlist, along with many successful hometown shows. Do you think that Sheffield and its music scene has enabled you to develop as a band and gain support?

Jimmy: Every city has got its way of doing music and the music scene, and Sheffield isn't exempt from that.

Jack: We’ve been playing the scene for a while and it's got us excited over the past couple of years. It was stagnant for a while but with some great new bands coming through, it's driven us on to up our game and has got us to where we are today.

Your UK tour starts tomorrow (22nd), do you have any pre-gig/on the road rituals or routines that you observe?

Jimmy: Not really, we’re pretty normal all in all.

Jack: Vocal warm ups and vocalzones have become more regular in the past year or so.

Lewis: I keep having to find and buy spare acoustic guitars as I keep breaking strings on stage, usually on the road with about four or five guitars to make sure I'm covered.

Jack: A bit of Eminem beforehand to get us hyped up is definitely a go to!

Are there dates in your tour schedule that stand out for you as a band?

Jack: Hull on October 2nd will be a good one!

Lewis: They play us a lot on BBC Intro Humberside, so we've got a great following up there.

Jack: We’ve got always had a great reception in Hull. We once had a stage invasion, led by a bloke who had bought a t-shirt of ours before the show despite not knowing any of our songs, during the slowest song in an acoustic set with Rev. I had to push him off the stage by his face when he tried to nick my microphone!

The band playing Leadmill back in 2015

With a long list of support slots with big acts, large stage performances and compliments from big promoters, what would you say is your proudest achievement as a band?

Lewis: Playing main stage at Tramlines supporting Libertines, it's mental to think that we've actually done that! Being in Sheffield as well certainly made it for me.

Jimmy: Supporting Milburn on their return tour in 2016, was absolutely mad. If only 13 year old me was there!

Jack: It’s all been covered, we’ve supported all the bands we’ve grown up with, just need to support Arctic Monkeys to tick it all off.

Jimmy: Supporting King Charles on our first proper tour was also really special.

And finally, as it’s freshers week, what is your dream Sheffield night out?

Jack: Start at Pack Horse around 3pm in High Green, then Staindrop Lodge, Wagon and Horses, tram into Sheffield city centre, Sheffield Tap, Howard, Globe, up to Frog and Parrot, Great Gatsby, Bungalows and Bears and then to Leadmill for the entirety of the night to be sick all over ourselves at the end.

You can get the last remaining tickets for Liberty Ship's headline show at the Foundry via this link.

If your band would like to feature in The Sheffield Tab, feel free to drop us a message at our Facebook page with a link to your music.

All photos taken from Liberty Ship's social media pages.