For Rusty Shackle, music has never been about standing still. Since forming in 2010, the Welsh six-piece have built their identity around movement, friendship and the simple pleasure of making something together that did not exist before. Their journey has taken them through folk, rock, indie and progressive influences, but the thread running through it all has remained remarkably consistent: honesty, curiosity and a refusal to let genre dictate where a song should go.
That spirit comes alive once again on Mayfield, an album the band describes as their most ambitious yet. But in typical Rusty Shackle fashion, that ambition has little to do with grand statements or chasing expectations. Instead, it comes from six friends giving themselves permission to experiment, challenge their own habits and take another musical adventure together. The result is a record that expands the band’s sound while retaining the warmth and character that have made them such a distinctive presence within the modern folk-rock scene.
Produced by Todd Campbell, Mayfield finds the band pushing further into rockier and more progressive territory without abandoning their folk foundations. The album was shaped around three musical “dials”, folk, rock and prog, with each song finding its own balance between the three. It is a thoughtful approach that allows the record to feel cohesive without becoming predictable, with heavier riffs sitting comfortably alongside delicate passages and intricate arrangements.
Yet perhaps the most compelling thing about Rusty Shackle is that their music has never been separated from the people making it. Years of touring, countless miles together and the realities of life on the road have strengthened not only their musicianship but their understanding of one another. Their songwriting has evolved into a genuinely collective process, where individual ideas are brought into the room and transformed by the band as a whole.
Following the acclaim of Under a Bloodshot Moon, which reached number two on the UK Folk Albums Chart, Mayfield arrives without the burden of trying to repeat the past. Instead, Rusty Shackle remain guided by the same principle that has carried them for more than a decade: make music they believe in, enjoy the journey, and trust that authenticity will find its way to the listener.
In this conversation, Rusty Shackle open up about the making of Mayfield, working with Todd Campbell, finding the balance between folk, rock and prog, the friendships behind the music, and why their latest album reveals a side of the band that goes far beyond their reputation as a “party band.”
Mayfield has been described as Rusty Shackle’s most ambitious album yet. What made this the right moment for the band to push beyond what you had done previously, and what did ambition mean to you during the making of the record?
To be honest, the ambition is pretty simple and is there with each and every album. It’s just the ambition for us as six friends to go on a bit of a musical adventure and do something interesting and fun together. The ambition to try something new and expand our sound a bit with each record we make. Nothing flashy, just fun. Or as Tom Waits put it, “Songs are really just very interesting things to be doing with the air.”
The album was produced by Todd Campbell, bringing an outside creative perspective into a band with such a well-established sound. How did his approach influence the way you arranged, performed, or thought about these songs?
Todd was incredible. He was so fun to work with and has such an amazing ear for the production of a song and what it needs to notch it up to fully realise its potential. We were already painting these songs with a pretty big palette, but he made every single one of those colours BOLDER. When there was a heavy riff, he made it H-E-A-V-Y. When there was a gentle moment, he made it more delicate and beautiful. He helped us paint a deeper musical picture with more intricate layers and – sonically speaking – took us from a Monet to an Edward Hopper.
Rusty Shackle has always existed somewhere between folk, rock and indie rather than sitting comfortably inside one genre. How do you decide which musical direction a particular song should take while still making sure it feels unmistakably like Rusty Shackle?
Firstly, it’s all dependent on the what each song needs. We write all together over a series of weekends and once we’ve got the first few tunes in the bag, we can start choosing the other songs accordingly that will most fit into that collection.
But like I said earlier, it’s really about having fun and doing something interesting. Often that means looking at what we’ve previously done and then leaning more in a different direction. For example, The Bones (2012) was very folk-roots and stripped back, DUSK (2016) was more polished rock-folk. Our last album – Under a Bloodshot Moon (2022) – was more ‘big acoustic’, so this album felt more natural to lean into the rockier side. But we also felt like a lot of the riffs and melodies leant into some prog-ier areas. Whilst making the album, we visualised it as three ‘dials’ – folk, rock and prog. Each song needed to be a blend of those three things, with the ‘dials’ set slightly differently each time. This allowed us to keep things consistent, whilst also allowing each song to have its own unique voice.
Your music is strongly rooted in storytelling, but Mayfield is also described as punchy and charismatic. How did you balance the intimacy and emotional detail of your songwriting with the bigger, more energetic sound you wanted for this album?
Balance is the key word there. Once the first few songs are done, we become a little more selective over which songs we work on next. Then as you get further into the writing process, you get even more selective – “oh, we have a lot of heavy songs, let’s choose one of the more delicate songs to work on next” and so on. You build, adjust and refine as you go, until it’s just the right balance of flavours to make a pretty delicious gumbo of an album.
You have spent years building your audience through relentless touring and live performances. When writing and recording a new album, how much do you think about how the songs will translate to a room full of people compared with how they work on record?
Well, first and foremost it’s about writing what we enjoy and keeping it fun for us. If you can do that, it’ll translate to an audience anyway. Inevitably there will be a few songs in there that will become more obviously ‘live songs’, so you might spice those up with a little few extra moments which will make the crowd singalong or dance or whatever. But yeah, it’s got to firstly come from a truthful place where we are writing music from the heart and doing what we enjoy most.
Under a Bloodshot Moon reached number two on the UK Folk Albums Chart and received some of your strongest critical praise. Did the response to that album create any pressure when you began working on Mayfield, or did it give you greater freedom to experiment?
Neither, to be honest! It’s lovely when people like the music we make and we have such an amazing Shackle family around the world, but ultimately we’ve got to just make what we want to make, and hopefully that will strike a chord (literally, ha!) with people too. But it can’t be the goal, or you’re not being truthful in your music.
Being named Wales’ Folk Favourites at the 2023 Wales Folk Awards reflected the relationship you have built with audiences over many years. What do you think has allowed Rusty Shackle to create such a lasting connection with listeners?
We are just ourselves. We are six friends, making the music we enjoy making, playing and listening to. I think that truthfulness is an arrow to the heart of our fans, which creates a bond for life. You can see it in the joy of the faces of everyone – fans and band – at our gigs.
v
After five studio albums and more than a decade of performing together, what have you learned about songwriting, collaboration and each other that you simply could not have understood when Rusty Shackle first formed in 2010?
That the right musical ingredients aren’t always easy to find, but goddam we’re lucky we found them.
Write what you enjoy, do what you enjoy, have fun in each others company. If you’re gonna spend 14 hours driving up the country in a crusty old Transit with no air con, you better damn well like the company you keep.
Listen to each other. Songwriting isn’t a ‘my way or the highway’ thing. Over the years we’ve developed our songwriting so now one of us will just bring the general “here’s the verses, here’s the chorus”, and then the band as a whole will build, shape and craft the actual song. It never fails to see us right.
Folk music has always evolved by absorbing influences from the world around it. What do you think modern folk-rock can say about today’s world that traditional folk music could not, and where do you see Rusty Shackle fitting into that continuing tradition?
I think folk and rock are more similar than people realise. The folklore and historical topics, the intricately played tunes and melodies, the harmonies. Imagine your favourite Maiden tune but played on mandolins, banjos, acoustics and a cajon (and without Bruce Dickinson’s metal lord vocals obviously) and you’ve probably got something that wouldn’t sound too out of place at Cambridge or Cropreddy.
As for the question – folk, rock, ska, pop.. it doesn’t really matter. Good music is about intent and truth. Say what you mean and mean what you say, in whatever style that feels honest to you.
With Mayfield now marking another significant chapter in the band’s story, what do you hope listeners understand about Rusty Shackle after hearing the album that they may not have understood from your earlier records?
That we aren’t just the “party band”. Sure, we love getting onstage and throwing a party, but we write with a far wider range of emotions. We love taking our fans – old and new – on a musical and emotional adventure with each and every record. From joy and optimism, through to contemplation with a little stop off at empowerment… and maybe (just maybe), a healthy dose of ‘party’ too.
STAY IN TOUCH:
INSTAGRAM | SPOTIFY | FACEBOOK | WEBSITE | YOUTUBE
