Interview: The Speedways
New Single, New Guitarist & New Album On The Way
The Speedways are back with a great new single, a new guitarist, and a new album on the way.
The London-based quartet—now featuring American ex-pat Dan Spagnolo in the role most recently filled by Conor Lumsden (Music City)—has unleashed three albums with a fourth, The Magic Comes & The Magic Goes, in the works. Each release features stylistic nuances, but the band’s addictive core sound is built around high energy melodic pop rock, big guitars, a dynamic rhythm section, and hooks for days.
Their latest release is the punchy single/video for “Luna,” part of a delayed double A-side with “I Shouldn’t Have Tried To Leave Without You,” a track that arrives later this month. Both songs will be available on 7-inch vinyl in June.
“We’re working with (producer) Jez Leather again. He’s been working with us since Radio Sounds and always seems to understand our vision and was excited to work on more new music together. He insisted that we were crazy to make ‘Luna’ just a B-side and suggested that it’s actually the A-side and that we should make it longer,” bassist Adrian Alfonso told me for the band interview below.
A lot of The Speedways magic comes from the band members’ commitment to their shared musical vision.
I was lucky to catch a show on their brief West Coast U.S. tour a couple of years ago and was impressed with how they brought the songs to life for a sweaty club set. There’s an attention to detail in both the recorded and live material that is born of deep music fandom and lifelong allegiance to the tattered guitar pop flag they wave.
“It’s very important to us that the band exists legitimately,” vocalist/guitarist Matt Julian said. “I only wanna do it if people wanna hear it.”
I caught up with Matt, Adrian, and Dan to discuss the new line up, find out about the latest singles, and get a peek behind the scenes at their next album.
The Speedways Interview
The new single tracks sound amazing! Can you tell me a little about how they were recorded?
Matt Julian: Cheers! Yeah, we’ve been working on this album for about 18 months now. “Visiting Hours” was the first taster and here we are a year later with the follow up single! It’s tough to find the rehearsal time, studio time, and money to get everything done as efficiently as we’d like.
Back in February we went in the studio and recorded 6 or 7 songs. “Luna” was originally pencilled in to be a B-side, mainly because it’s so short, but once we started working on all the songs “Luna” just kinda charmed us. Our producer Jez loved it and encouraged us to flip the 45 and make it the A-side. We’ve compromised and gone with a double A-side single.
Everything was recorded in the same studio and under the same conditions as the “Visiting Hours” session. We usually do 3 or 4 takes of a song and pick the best one. Everything else like vocals, percussion, acoustic guitar, keys etc.. are done with Jez at the Dynamite Jet Saloon.
This time we’ve gone a bit less busy with overdubs so that things are cleaner perhaps. They’re fun songs to play though, so recording was pretty easy.
Why was ‘Luna’ the single to lead with this time around?
Adrian Alfonso: We didn’t have Dan as a guitarist when we started working on these tracks to get them studio ready, we all individually had to step up a bit in terms of playing going into this. We like to record the rhythm tracks live together and in the same room to get that classic glued sound with everything bleeding into each other a little.
We’re working with engineer Ed Deegan at his studio Gizzard in east London. It’s all vintage gear and a decent live room. We had 11am ‘til 7pm booked and the plan was to get 7 songs recorded towards the new album and a b-side. We got all the rhythm tracks done by 2pm. Then as usual we went to Jez’s home studio to do the vocals and any overdubs.
We turned up at Jez’s place and he told us he had re-cut “Luna” which changed the arrangement and increased the length by adding a final chorus ending and we all unanimously agreed that it should be the first single from this session instead.
Any special guests on ‘Luna’?
Adrian Alfonso: Immediately after that live tracking session I found a Danelectro 12-string and it got used on “I Shouldn’t Have Tried to Leave Without You.” I recorded some vocals over the chorus and I wasn’t really feeling a falsetto part, but when we listened back it didn’t feel quite right, so we asked Mary Blount (Baby Shakes/Disket) to sing that part and it’s exactly what we felt that part needed.
Since we had Conor sing on “Visiting Hours” we felt it would be good to include another member of The Speedways extended family to guest on this. Mary is like a sister to us, the Baby Shakes have been there for us since day one of the band, they were all front and centre at our first ever live gig in 2018, would always push to have us play with them any time they were in London, and when we toured the East Coast she lent her guitar to Matthew.
So we feel like this track tells a story in more ways than one. Both lyrically and also in the production it tells a bit more about where the band started, has been, and is currently at.
To my ears, “Luna” really captures the core Speedways sound (including a little nod to “Kisses Are History” from Radio Sounds). Would you consider this one a return to form after your more stylistically diverse 2024 album Talk Of The Town?
Matt Julian: I think it’s a return to the love songs and pop sensibilities of the early stuff for sure. It’s a difficult one for me personally because I wrote it for my ex-fiance (when we were still together). It’s called “Luna” because we met at the ‘Luna Fest’ in Portugal. It’s a positive and optimistic love song. Maybe the first one of those I’ve ever written, a celebration of the day we met.
It’s obviously bittersweet now, which is why we made a fun video. I want everyone to enjoy this song the way I originally intended. It’s one of my favourites regardless.
Adrian Alfonso: The songwriting on this album is basically all Matt, I might give some melody and arrangement or instrumentation ideas here and there, but I barely consider that songwriting.
I feel like Matt and I see eye to eye more on direction and production ideas and now I have the space to bring ideas and see them come to life. There’s been a lot of rediscovering our old favourite songs and bands during the last year with Conor, so there’s ‘60s pop and ‘50s rock and roll influence too.
As far as a ‘return to form’ goes, I feel like this is the most “us” record we’ve ever done.
“I Shouldn’t Have Tried To Leave Without You” drops later this month. Why was this the right track to pair with “Luna” for the new single?
Matt Julian: We wanted two catchy choruses so that the single felt immediate and familiar. Having Mary Blount sing with us gave the song a real lift. I asked if she’d like to do it and within a week we had the final mix down and ready to go! She absolutely nailed it.
Like Adrian says, the Baby Shakes have been part of The Speedways story since day one so it’s a really cool thing to have done. We’re spoiled for choice with the next single. The album is packed with hits!
The Speedways also have a new lead guitarist. How did you connect with Dan Spagnolo (formerly of Pittsburgh’s The Spectres)?
Matt Julian: He answered our instagram ad. He really knew his stuff and had all the references and influences down. I think he’d seen us play a few times too which is great because he obviously had a good idea of what we’re about.
We had very few people in the UK contact us about the position actually and it’s no real surprise that Dan’s an American living here—90% of the applicants were from Japan, Europe, and the US (Kepi Ghoulie even offered his services which was cool…but we needed a UK-based guitarist, of course.)
We’re lucky to have Dan on board! It’s worked out great so far.
Adrian Alfonso: Honestly, Dan’s response to our ad made all of us feel like he understood what the band was about. He fell right into the first song like he’d been playing with us for a while. His own personal touches—which showed his character—felt exactly like what the band had been missing. And generally, as a person, he’s very easy to get along with and had a good sense of humour about just how ridiculous it is to be in a band.
Dan Spagnolo: I moved to Cambridge from Pittsburgh in early 2024, which effectively put my prior music project of the last 10 years on indefinite hiatus. After a bit of an intentional pause from music, I started to miss it in 2025 and began looking into picking it up again—whether it was starting a group in Cambridge or joining a fully-fledged group somewhere.
As a power pop nerd, I had already been familiar with The Speedways for several years, and had even caught a set of theirs a few times more recently, notably at their gigs opening for Protex and The Exploding Hearts. At some point I had also added a bunch of London music/DIY/booking folks on Instagram in an attempt to discover gigs to attend, and probably around that time I added Adrian on Instagram through his work with Heatwave Magazine.
I saw The Speedways’ open inquiry for a new guitarist on Instagram, and, likely after some liquid courage, sent them an email response. Despite the fact that it seemed like a mutually good fit, I wasn’t expecting much as I didn’t know any of the guys personally! Of course, I’d seen them around at their London gigs and such but I never really got around to chatting them up as I was always running post-gig to catch the train back to Cambridge.
When did you actually meet members of the band?
Dan Spagnolo: At some point after the band responded and set up a rehearsal date—but before the rehearsal—I finally got to chatting with Adrian at a show I had attended to catch up with a friend from my Spectres’ touring days, Chris Kramer (from The Lemons, and Slushy, who was filling in on guitar for the excellent Clickbait [Chicago]), who turned out to be one of several mutual connections of ours.
At our first practice (officially the “try-out”) I finally met Matt and Kris, and of course they’re great guys and we got along immediately too. The first batch of songs they’d asked me to learn went over so well, even though my fingers felt a bit numb from nerves! I think Kris had even said it was sounding gig-ready after one run-through. I figured the guys would take a few days to chat amongst themselves before I heard back, but we went for pints at the Finsbury after rehearsing and it was decided then and there that I’d made the cut!
How does Spagnolo’s garage rock background fit into The Speedways evolving sound?
Matt Julian: It’s cool, yeah. It gives us a nice drive and he can play lead guitar really well so it helps with that side of things. He’s big into the power pop stuff too, of course, so he totally gets what we need on the songs. We’re all big music fans and record junkies and like all kindsa stuff so we all bring a ton of influences to the table.
Dan Spagnolo: After a bit of a reset from playing music I think I intentionally wanted to try something in a bit of a different direction, and was exploring playing or writing more power pop stuff, as well as indie pop of the more twee persuasion, and even a KBD-style project (I have some rough Covid-era 4-track demos on Bandcamp to that effect!). So I don’t know that I’ll be purposefully bringing The Speedways in any sort of garage-y direction, but of course my guitar style that I’ve developed over the years may sneak in as I integrate further into the band. There are some influences that The Spectres had in surf, country, etc. that I’m not sure I’ll find too much use for here, but definitely the whole girl group, wall-of-sound, and even doo-wop / early blues I’ve previously used will find a lot of common ground with the sound The Speedways have already cultivated.
And, of course, it’s all rock and roll music at the end of the day so the baseline Beatles/Kinks/Stones/Who/Faces influence can be seen as a common ground. I don’t think the genres are too dissimilar as a whole though, I mean you have the Flamin’ Groovies who have quite successfully explored both genres in different eras of their band.
I see that you are ramping up live shows again. Have you performed the new single tracks yet? How are they going over with crowds?
Matt Julian: We played a 3-piece show a couple of weeks ago and did a few new songs including “Luna.” I think it’s definitely gonna be a live fave once people know it.
Dan makes his debut earlier than we initially planned with a show at the Electric Ballroom in Camden in May, after that we have a few dates/fests from June through to September.
It’s gonna be great to start playing shows with Dan and mix the set list up a bit. We’ve been rehearsing stuff like “Telephone Lies” that we’ve never played live before, plus a couple of ‘deep cuts’ from Regular Summer which will be nice too. It really does feel like a new start.
Dan Spagnolo: I’m looking forward to my first batch of gigs with the band! The new single tracks are rehearsed and ready for audiences’ ears.
Adrian Alfonso: Having practiced “Luna” with Dan, we’ve amped up the 3-part vocal arrangements so we’re really excited to debut them “properly.”
I know you’re working on a new album. Are “Luna” and “I Shouldn’t Have Tried To Leave Without You” a good snapshot of what fans can expect from the next release?
Matt Julian: I think so, yeah. It’s a very poppy album. Lots of short catchy songs and singalong choruses. Lyrically it’s typical Speedways. There are a few things on the album that we haven’t done before so I’m sure people will enjoy that side of it too.
I already have an idea of the running order and the way it’s gonna flow. I’m really impatient though, I want it to be out now.
Dan Spagnolo: Thinking about the album as a whole, these singles may actually be a pretty good preview of the overall sound on this record, but I think there are also quite a few diversions and surprises.
I was lucky to catch The Speedways live when you came to California a couple years ago. Any plans to tour the U.S. again?
Dan Spagnolo: I don’t think that there are any plans, but of course I’d love to bring the band back to the US some day. Since they’ve done an East Coast and West Coast tour in the past, perhaps a Midwest/Southeast/Rust Belt tour might be fitting? There are direct flights from Heathrow to Pittsburgh, think about it guys! It is harder than ever to get over though, with rising costs across the board, but as long as there’s an audience it’s something we’d consider, I’d say.
Adrian Alfonso: I would love to go back in theory, we have some tremendous friends out there, most of our Bandcamp orders are in the US and there’s some fantastic bands we’d love to play with, plus I have family out there that I’d like to see.
But the reality is…well we’ve all seen the news. My first experience of flying out there by myself I got strip searched and my baggage examined by a border agent in open side room along the main corridor where loads of people could see as they walked past. Not exactly a warm welcome...
Honestly, unless we get a fest offer that deals with a proper visa for the three of us non-Americans, then I’m not sure I’d be comfortable taking a risk traveling there anytime soon.
Matt Julian: I mean, yeah, of course we’d love to play in the US again, but it’s tough. If the new album does well and people are into it I guess anythings possible. Like I said earlier about making the new record, I want people to want us. It has to be legitimate.
Everything we do has to mean something.
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