INTERVIEW: SUGAR ROULETTE

Image by Anna Pacitto

Friday 1^st September will see the release of Sugar Roulette’s latest single, Fever Dream. To celebrate its release, the Teesside band have thrown together a huge home-town show at the Georgian Theatre on the following day.

The group first sprung onto the scene at the Gathering Sounds festival in Stockton in September 2021, so their Georgian Theatre show is something of a full circle moment and the upcoming performance has given vocalist Reece a chance to reflect on how far they’ve come: “It feels surreal…We’ve had a few amazing shows this year, with playing at Stockton Calling and being able to start to get on the road and play in other areas in the UK. It’s been an amazing journey so far, and we’re grateful for every opportunity that has come our way.”

Fever Dream is once more a flex from the band, showing off the their commitment to continuously deliver ever-changing and engaging new tracks, with this particular tune leaning heavily into some of the band’s alternative influences, producing a lively soundscape and a haunting vocal performance. “Fever Dream is a reflection of the overwhelming worries and stresses of everyday life.” Reece explains. “It explores the feeling of being trapped in a ‘fever dream’ and refusing help from others in even in our worst moments, which is captured with the chorus, “I don’t think I have what it takes to lie to you / I can see by the look on your face, you’d see right through“.” The band wear their influences with pride, and they’re keen to produce a selection of tunes that cannot be categorised under the same umbrella.

we really enjoy the freedom to experiment with different genres and be able to come up with whatever feels right in the moment

“It’s a really organic process when we create music, we don’t really start writing a song with the intention of ‘this one is going to be aggressive’ or whatever, as most of the music we have written has always come from a jam together in a practice space, and we let the song writing process take the lead and see what we come up with at the end. It can just happen naturally that styles and influences that we are listening to can creep its way into the tune.” Reece explains. “We don’t want to feel like we are pigeon-holed into one specific sound or style, we really enjoy the freedom to experiment with different genres and be able to come up with whatever feels right in the moment and for the song, I think it’s really fun and important to be able to experiment with genres and I think it’s a staple of what this band has been built on.”

The band are particularly excited about performing Fever Dream and other deep cuts from their back catalogue at their Stockton show. “Fever Dream will have just been released by the time of the gig. It’s got what is probably our favourite song structure and has some really fun moments to play live. It’s going to be our longest set yet, so we’re looking forward to being able to incorporate more songs into our set than we usually would be able to, some that are entirely new and never before played, some that we haven’t played in forever and some that we’ve been playing since we started this journey. We’re looking forward to being able to give our live performance room to breathe.”

Join the band at The Georgian Theatre on Saturday 2^nd September, where they’ll be supported by two other local favourites, Vice Killer and Northern Hospitality.

Sugar Roulette release Fever Dream on 1^st September and play The Georgian Theatre, Stockton on Saturday 2^nd September.