Black Country, New Road’s Only Constant is Change

In a modern music landscape obsessed with categorization — down to an algorithmic level — few bands remain as intriguingly unclassifiable as Black Country, New Road. Often referred to as BC,NR, the English rock band quickly garnered both critical acclaim and a cult following since their emergence in 2018, beloved for their genre-defying sound, lyrical prowess and complex compositions.

Following their Mercury Prize-nominated debut album For the first time (2021) and sophomore record Ants from Up There (2022), however, the band was at a creative crossroads; lead vocalist Isaac Wood left the band, albeit amicably.

Choosing not to replace Wood, BC,NR divided lead vocal duties among bassist Tyler Hyde, saxophonist Lewis Evans and keyboardist May Kershaw, completing the lineup with Luke Mark on guitar, Georgia Ellery on violin and mandolin and Charlie Wayne on drums. The result, first documented on the live album Live at Bush Hall (2023), is a lush, cinematic blend of chamber pop, progressive folk and post-rock, which only benefits from the newly dispersed vocals.

After their Fuji Rock debut in 2022 and first solo tour in 2023, BC,NR is making a much-awaited return to Japan this December, with the tour revolving around their first studio album as a six-piece ensemble: Forever Howlong.

From left to right, top row: May Kershaw, Tyler Hyde and Lewis Evans; bottom row: Charlie Wayne, Luke Mark and Georgia Ellery. Photo by Eddie Whelan

From Cambridge to Fuji Rock

For keyboardist and vocalist May Kershaw, who is half-Japanese, touring in Japan is always a special experience. “I was born in Shikoku — in Yawatahama city,” she tells Tokyo Weekender over a video call. “It’s where my granddad still lives, near Ozu.” When Kershaw was a child, she and her immediate family moved to Cambridge, England, where she grew up, but she consistently returned to Japan to see relatives every other year.

“I haven’t been back in the last few years because of the band … but I’m going to spend some time there in the new year, spend a month with my granddad after the tour,” she says. “Whenever I land, the first thing I do is get a natto maki.” As a vegan, Kershaw also loves trying different wagashi. “I go crazy for them,” she gushes.

A classically-trained musician, Kershaw started playing piano at age five, eventually studying the instrument at the Guildhall School of Music & Art. “But I actually met the band before then,” she says. The members of BC,NR met in Cambridge around 2014, where many of them went to high school.

“The scene in Cambridge is very little, not necessarily colorful — but it’s nice because it means you meet everyone who’s interested in music fairly quickly,” says drummer Charlie Wayne, who is from Cambridge and “was always just kind of in bands growing up,” picking up the guitar and drums when he was 10.

Performing at the Fuji Rock Festival in 2022, Wayne says, was one of the most memorable moments in BC,NR’s past seven years together. “That was one of my favorite shows we’ve ever done,” he recalls. “It was just a brilliant show and one I don’t think any of us will forget very quickly.”

When asked about their impressions of concert culture in Japan, Wayne and Kershaw affectionately recall how fans here can be shockingly quiet, but very sincere. “Fuji Rock was probably one of the biggest crowds, maybe the biggest crowd, we’ve ever played to. And there was literally a frog that was louder than the audience when we were playing some of the songs,” Wayne remembers.

“It was sort of mental, really … we’ve cultivated an audience that is fairly quiet [in general], but in Japan, it was the first time we’ve had both ends of the spectrum — where they are super attentive, but also warm and very engaged,” he continues.

An Ever-Evolving Creative Process

Over the years, Japanese musicians have been a source of inspiration for both Wayne and Kershaw. Wayne brings up Japanese bands such as Boris, The Pillows and Fishmans as major influences on his drumming in high school, and cites Yellow Magic Orchestra and Ryuichi Sakamoto as huge influences for the alternative music sphere as a whole. Kershaw, who “had an Angela Aki phase” as a young teen, says she’s looking forward to seeing jazz legend Akiko Yano at the Barbican this November, who she grew up listening to. “She’s an incredible writer, so creative.”

Each BC,NR members’ musical repositories contribute to the band’s continually evolving, yet distinct sonic identity. This was also the case for Forever Howlong, which is brighter, more whimsical and theatrical than their past works, leaning into glittering, baroque instrumentation and fantastical lyrical themes.

According to Wayne, the album mostly takes inspiration from alternative and contemporary folk music and ‘70s pop, including Van Dyke Parks, Randy Newman and Warren Zevon. The Beach Boys’ meticulously layered studio arrangements were also influential in shaping the band’s creative process.

“We didn’t start with a plan of ‘this is what the album’s going to be,’” Kershaw explains. “It was more, ‘let’s find out what the album’s going to be through the songs that appeared to us.”

The Road Not Taken

Although BC,NR has gathered a significant global fanbase and millions of streams over the span of their career, the band maintains a relatively offline existence, straying from the industry’s increasing tendency to rely on social media engagement.

“I think we’ve always been fairly hesitant to offer up too much of ourselves. The more that you take, the more you have to give,” Wayne posits. “The more exposed you become, the more it detracts from the thing that is at the core — the music.”

From speaking with Kershaw and Wayne, it’s abundantly clear that the band has also remained humble, never taking their success for granted. “The fact that this is our job is brilliant. The idea that we get to change as much as we have, without it necessarily being a conscious decision, and just being able to do what comes fairly naturally. We get to create in a way that’s fairly uninhibited — it’s a very special thing for that to be our full-time jobs,” Wayne reflects.

Kershaw echoes his sentiments. “Now that the music is made, the hope is that people like it, and it’s so nice that people do — because it’s not a given,” she says. “It’s a nice surprise, because we just make music that we like.”

More Info

At this year’s Japan tour, BC,NR will be joined by two special guests: singer-songwriter Ichiko Aoba for the Tokyo leg, and art-rock band betcover!! for the Osaka and Nagoya shows. Find out more about the tour here, and check the band’s Instagram for updates.