Unveiling the Sonic Universe of Sad Films: Salford’s Musical Superhero Transcends Hibernation to Craft Their New Single “Dog Day”
Sad Films emerges as the artistic alter-ego of Salford’s, Dan Lucas—an undercover creative superhero breaking free from the constraints of modern life’s hibernation. Channeling inspiration from genre-defying luminaries such as R.E.M, David Bowie, and Father John Misty, along with the narrative prowess of John Prine, Leonard Cohen, and Alex Cameron, Sad Films masterfully weaves a tapestry of vibrant imagery drawn from a television-raised life. The playful lyrics, cloaked in high-quality melodic fabric, invite you unabashedly into their world.
In the brief span of Sad Films’ activity, both the solo act and the accompanying band have graced sold-out stages alongside the popular Manchester-based group Manilla Times. The journey has also included supporting international talents like Ainakanna, who ventured from Japan for their UK tour in Autumn 2023.
November 2023 marks the debut single release, ‘Plugged In,’ with a subsequent offering titled ‘Dog Day’ and an EP slated for 2024—all indicative of Sad Films’ burgeoning trajectory in the music scene.
In our interview, we learn about what’s happening with the arts in the UK, and the difference between Manchester and Salford… (much like the difference between Manhattan and Brooklyn)
SBN: Can you tell us more about the inspiration behind your second single, “Dog Day,” and how it may relate to themes explored in your debut single, “Plugged In”?
SF: I am inspired a lot by the escapism of film and the way they communicate concentrated essences of character within them. ’Dog Day’ the song was inspired by the film ‘Dog Day Afternoon’ where the main character robs a bank to fund his partner’s gender-affirming surgery. It’s a great film for many reasons but, it captured my imagination so much because of the way it portrays all the subtle shades of real life; comedy, tragedy, love etc. It’s the grey areas between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ we often find ourselves in, and the justifications we often tell ourselves for being in them, that really do stimulate me as a writer.
Generally, I am really interested in patterns of human behaviour both individually and as collectives, especially as technological progress weaves more and more into it and how that distorts, modifies, or changes what we think and feel. The film angle helps me condense ideas easier by parsing them through scenes or imagery. Both songs definitely have that running through their core but focus on different aspects of behaviour; simply put, ‘Plugged In’ is about ego and ‘Dog Day’ is about love for example. Some of it has been subconscious exploration too. It wasn’t until these songs were fully finished that I realised there’s a connective tissue forming across my songs that’s more than just me singing them. It’s like I have tapped my brain like a ketchup bottle and the realisation has fallen out in a puddle and now I am trying to fingerprint with it. The exciting challenge now is to evolve it.
SBN: “Dog Day” is described as a modern meditation on unrequited love. What specific aspects of the human condition in the modern internet age did you aim to capture in this song, and how did you approach conveying these themes through your music?
SF: Well, Dog Day is a love song in essence however, I wanted to explore the toxic elements
of it. With the prevalence of the internet and social media, you see a lot of these awful screenshot message exchanges paraded through the town square of online opinion for entertainment. Previously, those conversations would be private, but the internet has made a caricature of them and through the fast-food drive-thru discourse online, we both enjoy them and condemn them in equal measure. I think the relationship between those opposites is really interesting and I tried to take some of that hypocrisy and absurdity into the lyrics. Ultimately, the main character of the song thinks they can excuse their bad behaviour through the perceived Get Out of Jail Free card of ‘love’ when in reality, they were always going to behave reprehensibly anyway. It’s that typical toxic behaviour of blaming someone else for your own choices. I used to see it all the time growing up on my estate; immature boys emotionally threatened by men in their lives to be younger copies of their older counterparts who then go onto manipulating women into accepting the ‘bad boy’ archetype as the only romantic option available. It’s like love is a beautiful, wild creature that’s been captured and made to work in a travelling circus for the sole
gain of the ringmaster.
SBN: The lyrics of “Dog Day” mention desperate and sometimes criminal lengths people go to communicate love. Could you elaborate on the narrative or story you’re trying to convey through the song, and what emotions or messages you hope listeners take away from it?
SF: Like ‘Plugged In’ before it, the lyrics are intended to be an untethered inner monologue of sorts. The first line, ‘I love you, so I went and took a gun in a bank…’ was something that came to me watching the Dog Day Afternoon film and I just loved how loaded that sentence was. It’s simple but tells you so much about the motivation of a character and the themes I wanted to explore. The rest of the song fell into place quite easily after that. With the lyrics I am trying to convey that yes, we can laugh at this person, but it can also happen to anyone, and our collective sniggering can perpetuate the desperation too. I wanted to round it out too by having sections of clarity and self-awareness that come and go in the narrative because that’s what most of us do with our flaws; we ignore our better judgement more than we like to admit and let the tail wag the dog so to speak. I like embodying these characters to a degree too as it not only helps with the conviction of the song, but it also feeds into helping me as a performer. Like wearing a costume almost.
SBN: Are you a solo artist who self-produces your music in a home studio? Do you prefer to work solo or to collaborate with others on songwriting?
SF: During the pandemic I made the decision to pursue music as a solo artist after being in a band for a while. That made me embrace the DIY nature of modern music-making. I do all my demos in my spare bedroom, and I have a little set-up to record. You can get some great results quickly with supplies of tea, YouTube, a bit of patience and a vision. The actual releases are all studio recorded though and the collaboration with my producer Harry Jordan (Eades) has been priceless to my development. Although you can bask in the sunbed autonomy of being a solo artist, it’s also a terribly vulnerable position to be in. You can easily sabotage your own work. Who I am on stage vs the actual writing process is so different so I think it’s vital you have people around you that you can trust and share some of your hopes, dreams, and fears with and disperse some of the maddening tendencies that can creep in. I write everything myself but also, I love what the great songwriters do; they serve the song, nothing else. The song is in charge and that’s what is first on my list when it comes to producing the songs in the studio. I am also not the best technical musician by any means but, I am learning that I want to be a good writer, so it’s been an epiphany of sorts to learn to focus on that. It was a great realisation to jettison the burden of trying to be the best guitarist in the world or whatever. With that, it’s been so rewarding to open myself up and put my faith into great musicians to collectively serve the song. I am lucky to be able to call on a number of amazing instrumentalists for that and it’s been a great way to refocus my energy into directing the song and the performance.
SBN: “Dog Day” is described as an up-tempo ballad. What musical influences or inspirations played a role in shaping the sound of this single, and how did you decide on the overall musical direction for the track?
SF: I love the way that musicians in the past have taken pop music sensibilities and managed to convey darker themes or lyrics with them. That was an influence here for sure. I think all great pop music does that to be honest, we just don’t always give it the credit it deserves. The off-kilter pop from David Bowie, Talking Heads for example were big inspirations as well but also there was a lot of country style influences in some of the instrumentation and the storytelling so songwriters like Jimmy Webb were important too. I wanted to write something light and catchy but that also had substance to it to keep myself interested enough in finishing writing it. I wanted to be disciplined when it came to the melody as well; yes, it’s very simple but I didn’t just want to take that at face value and have the first words that came to mind take root in that melody. I felt it important that every word had earned its place to be there and as a listener of a lot of music, I feel I get a richer experience when songwriters do that.
SBN: What is happening in Salford? We see that it is right in the center of Manchester, a city very famous for UK Music. What is the scene there currently? What genre of music is most popular there?
SF: Well technically it’s two different cities both going through a lot of change. What’s concerning is that as one of the UK’s shining lights for culture, they’re both currently experiencing a tumultuous time in terms of its creative and leisure spaces. This is wholly down to the energy company cartels and feckless local and national governments that don’t care about art in this country. The motives of infinite economic growth and investment into sustainable artistic development are so at odds with each other. The two cities are experiencing sickening levels of gentrification which leads to art
either prioritised down or inaccessible to regular people. This is happening all over the UK too, not just here. What’s happened over the last couple of decades, especially since the invention of the smartphone, is that art has had its monetary value stripped and perverted. So, it’s a loss leading product which is not viable at all. Add a pandemic in the mix and it’s very shaky indeed. You have big-name artists who would previously be very well compensated for their work in other eras, now making the same as a solid office job and those are the ‘lucky’ ones. Plus, the Conservative government in this country doesn’t want artists expressing themselves and earning money from it as historically, it’s been the way working-class people have been able to escape their circumstances. Geographically, Manchester is actually a very small ‘major’ city in terms of size so what you don’t want to happen is for the small venues to close because they can’t afford to operate and all we are left with is sponsored arenas and festivals. Hopefully, we never have a point where young kids stop dreaming of being in a band but with the current obstacles being put in the way at the moment, I can see why some would not bother and that’s a very depressing thought to entertain.
SBN: As an independent artist, what challenges and rewards have you encountered in the process of releasing “Dog Day”? How do you approach promoting your music and connecting with your audience in today’s digital landscape?
SF: ‘sad films’ is in its infancy so I am still finding my way into it all to be honest. I like how industrious you can be with a smartphone but also it does take a lot of thinking time. I have a lot of admiration for those artists who can consistently push out content that doesn’t detract from their essence as an artist because that is so hard. I see a lot of what I don’t like but also, I am trying to find the time to produce what I do like and that’s hard to juggle especially as I don’t want to lose focus on the songs. After all, making the best music I can is the main thing for me. I see a lot of people lose sight of that and
before you know it, they’re feeding Mark Zuckerberg’s share price instead of their own vision. What I have really liked is that when people really like something they do shout about it and that’s been nice to see with my music because I have lived with these songs for so long in my head or on a hard drive. One thing I did try, that really connected with people, was the idea of personalising merch. I did custom cover art for a series of bootleg CD’s I made and that was easy to do at this stage as it wasn’t a massive scale. I’d like to continue something along those lines. So, whilst I will be planning some stuff for upcoming releases, I can safely say that I won’t be sat in a car lip-syncing or doing a TikTok dance anytime soon, but I am happy with how I am representing ’sad films’ online and people are responding well so that’s a good sign.
SBN: Who is on your playlist this week? What have you been listening to?
SF: A lot of Australian/New Zealand rock at the moment. Cousin Tony’s Brand-New Firebird,
DC Maxwell and Forest Hall are on heavy rotation. Just stupidly good levels of quality. I get most of my new music from an online radio show on Blast Radio called The Illegal Radio Drive-Time Power Hour hosted by Roy Molloy (Alex Cameron’s saxophonist and business partner). It’s a request radio show where listeners can chuck in a request and it’s so good for sheer variation and genuine exposure to new music. I think with streaming platforms, the algorithms have evolved too much into these paranoid ghosts that are so desperate for your attention that you can’t trust them for true new music discovery at all. Your listening behaviour is being used against you to keep you placated in a safe echo-chamber so some Kendall Roy type CEO can have another holiday home. Over the last year or so I have been doing a lot of freelance work as my day job, so I have been tethered to my desk on my own and the mix of radio chatter, comments, complaints, phone-ins, and new music has been so soothing to me. A vital point I must add too, is that I cannot skip anything as I listen live most of the time so that is a great temptation removed.
SBN: Any future plans or projects in the works?
SF: I have just finished recording my debut EP down in the Norfolk countryside at Harry Jordan’s place, Bam Bam Studios. It was one of the best experiences of my musical journey so far. We did 5 songs in 5 days, and I am very excited to get these out. We’re working on final mixes and masters now and that will begin to be released late Spring/Summer. It doesn’t have a name yet, so I am having fun spit-balling some concepts around now the hard work of recording is done. Also, these songs are the last ones I have written fully formed so I am very excited at the notion of a clean slate, and I now must go write something new. Whilst I don’t have the name for the EP, I do have my first two albums planned out (names, artwork etc.) so I am looking forward to working towards building songs around those two independent visions. I can’t say much else about them but one is a concept album.
SBN: oh wait, we have one more question. We are a Brooklyn-based music magazine, but I don’t have a Brooklyn accent since I was raised up in the country. So, we have to ask… do you have a Manchester accent?
SF: Well, internationally it would be deemed to be a ‘Mancunian’ accent yes, but I technically have a Salfordian accent, which is slightly different and the difference between ‘Manc’ and ‘Salford’ can be very staunchly defended by its respective residents, so I am being specific here lest my credentials get revoked! By the way, I love New York as a city even if a lot of you think I sound Australian for some reason! I don’t take that personally; I can be hard to understand sometimes…
