Tilly Scantlebury always knew they were destined to bring a big idea to life. “You don’t always succeed,” they begin. “But the moments where you feel like you have – even to some small degree – are very exciting.”
Growing up in Camden, Scantlebury began playing drums at creative workshops in North London Roundhouse. But a room of aspiring 12-year-olds wasn’t the perfect environment.
“I was trying to lead from the back,” says Scantlebury. “I’d been playing guitar at home for two years. But no one was stepping up so I was like, ‘Should I just play guitar and try and sing?’ That was the beginning of everything – the real need to make something happen.”
Their longstanding aspiration is been realised via their brainchild Lazy Day, featuring a beautiful blend of intricate Bombay Bicycle Club-bright guitars and the crisp vocal delivery of Alice Costelloe. The components used to create much of their debut record, Open The Door, surround them in their box-room studio.
Behind them is a rack of guitars, a white tambourine and the special edition Blues Junior amp in surf green that Scantlebury received from their grandma on their 21st birthday.
“The studio setup was this table, two Rokit monitors, a Focusrite Scarlet 2i2 and my partner's old MacBook 16. It's all secondhand but it didn't matter, because I felt so lucky to be with the work.”
After watching School of Rock at the age of eight, Scantlebury decided they wanted to take up the drums. Ever influenced by their older brother, their attention soon shifted. “Anything he did I wanted to do. Guitar was no exception.”
Cut to a 10-year-old Scantlebury handling their brother’s huge blue acoustic guitar, desperately trying to strike a G chord as their fingers struggle to push down on the steel strings. “It was huge on me,” they reflect. “I mean, most guitars look quite big on me, but he’s only three and a half years older!”
Despite the shift in focus, the songwriter’s key constants on both instruments remain the same: melody and rhythm. “I write on drums in the same way that I write on guitar,” they say. “But I can program and write drums infinitely better than I can play them.”
Take recent single, Killer, inspired by a selection of ‘70s drum tracks that Scantlebury chopped from YouTube and collated in GarageBand. Continuing the analog theme, their MXR Carbon Copy delay delivers a modulated sparkle to Falling Behind.
Then their Fender Telecaster Slimline ‘69 stays in DADFAD tuning for the bass-heavy Getting Good. Lead single Yellow is a particular highlight for when they feel a solo coming on.
I play the guitar quite high – not like Paul McCartney, but equally not like Blink 182!
Elsewhere on the pedal board, there’s an Electro Harmonics, Cathedral Reverb and Mooer MOD2 Rumble Drive – “a cheap Tubescreamer clone, but it’s quite dirty, which I like!” They’ve also recently added a Laney Black Country Customs Monolith for driving up that extra distortion.
But what is that zesty-looking staple guitar seen in Scantlebury’s live set? “I was going to get a Mustang because I’d been playing with my friends, but then I saw this beautiful guitar in the corner.” The Fender Duo Sonic in Capri Orange immediately felt like the right fit.
“It’s got a very smooth C-shaped neck. It’s short-scale, so I go down and up very quickly. I play the guitar quite high – not like Paul McCartney, but equally not like Blink 182!”
Scantlebury remains led by their rhythms. “Lots of what I play, I wouldn’t know how to describe it. The notes I’m playing on a solo, for example – I’m following my nose all the time. It’s a process of instinct and desire. But at the end of it, you have a single subject, a unified person who is Lazy Day.”
- Open The Door is out now via Brace Yourself Records. Follow Scantlebury on Instagram.
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