Bristol-based four-piece Spin Class recently released their new EP Dinner at Derek’s, a high-octane, five-track sprint that pairs unpredictable sonic shifts with raw, emotional honesty. Recorded live at Stage 2 Studios with producer Josh Gallop, the band swapped polish for punch, embracing a messier, more human sound that mirrors the themes of mental health and creative catharsis running through the record. Equal parts performance art and therapy session, Spin Class balance absurdity with sincerity, crafting tracks that hit like a slap to the face and a hug at the same time. Whether they’re blending bagels into smoothies, channeling Led Zeppelin or mythologizing Derek, the band’s energy is undeniably infectious. We caught up with the band to unpack the new EP, their recording process, and how they deliver chaos with a slice of cake.
We’ve got to know, who is Derek?
Derek is a mythical creature of the band’s own design, born in the misty highlands – old pilgrims would often describe him as a taekwondo master with meaty legs the size of children.
You described the EP as a five course meal, so which dish would each track be?
We have calamari, noodles, bagels and cake so it’s more like a scatty trip to sainos. We actually blended them all into a smoothie and drank it the other day! Check out insta if you wanna see it.
Alongside those playful elements you also turn towards heavier topics of mental health and intrusive thoughts, so how did you find that right balance between the two sides?
We like to be ourselves on stage and we like putting on a show above all else, we work together but we also spend lots of time with each other outside of the band so we can be all wet n soppy together so getting on stage is purely a big build up to blow some steam and perform.
The EP has a real live energy, so was that a purposeful process in the studio to capture the rawness of a band session?
Simply put, when we’ve had our big breakthroughs with writing, it’s been at a show or a rehearsal studio where things really fall into place, we recorded our first EP to click track and layered the shit out of it and it just felt weird so we changed our approach and live recorded with Dinner at Derek’s and have found the tracks play exactly how we wanted them. Simplicity and some dirt (sonny’s guitar playing) works best for us.
In ‘Cake’ you contrast a pop-pun flair with darker lyrics, was that contrast intentional or did it come about organically?
The brightness of the track was the right energy for the lyrics, we write our instrumentals first and Louis builds lyrics as he gets a feel for the track so it’s really down to how it hits him to be honest.
You mentioned Soundgarden and Led Zeppelin as production influences, so where else do you draw inspiration?
Those are mainly Louis’ influences and to tell you a truth, our influences are a big ugly ball of shite, statistically we shouldn’t even be friends – Sonny’s some wannabe nu metal goth, Harry’s just a himbo and Sam’s a bassist so that’s a dead end.
How has being part of that artistic ecosystem in Bristol shaped your sound?
Bristol is just untapped gold, we’ve met talent that’s both set the bar stupidly high and they’ve also supported us and each other every step of the way, it’s the golden ratio of unfathomable talent and people who want each other to succeed. Feels like everyone’s growing together and it gasses us to push it further every day.
How do you feel your sound has evolved from Wednesday to now?
We recorded ‘Wednesday’ the conventional way and while we love those tracks, recording live was a no brainer for capturing the energy of these new ones. We are a band that plays live, rehearses live and writes music live. Recording live felt right and was a lot of fun, which we think translates in these new songs in a way it didn’t before.
What’s next on the horizon for Spin Class?
Wednesday was us playing with our influences and trying to build a language with each other so we could figure each other out and test our chemistry, whilst we believe that we achieved that with wednesday, the new material felt like true cohesion, we’ve found that we’re challenging ourselves more and Harry is now front and centre in our writing process. He was living in Brighton when we were writing for Wednesday so having him here has given us all an equal stake in the writing which is how it should be.
You can listen to focus track ‘Cake’ in our Indie Rockers playlist.
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