The UK is overflowing with scores of talented musicians and bands, and among those who’ve impressed me the most in recent years are British four-piece The Zangwills. Based in Cheshire, they consist of Jake Vickers (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Ed Dowling (bass, backing vocals), Sam Davies (lead guitar) and Adam Spence (drums, backing vocals). Influenced by some of their favorite acts like David Bowie, Arctic Monkeys, The Cure, The Rapture, The Smiths and The Strokes, their exciting, highly melodic music is outstanding, with a maturity and excellence in their songwriting and musicianship as fine as many top big-name bands around today. 

They began actively making music in 2017 while still in their teens, and have since released 16 singles and two EPs. Two of their singles, “New Heights” and “Patio Paradise”, have each garnered over 1.1 million streams on Spotify alone. I’ve previously featured them twice on this blog, when I reviewed their magnificent singles “Never Looked Back” (2021) and “Backpatters and Shooters” (2022) (you can read those reviews by clicking on the “Related” links at the end of this post). Both songs reached #1 on my Weekly Top 30 chart, with “Never Looked Back” ranking #24 on my Top 100 Songs of 2021 list and “Backpatters and Shooters” ranking #16 among my Top 100 Songs of 2023.

Now they’re back with their 16th and latest single “Beers With The Beekeeper“, which dropped June 6th. Like their previous singles, the song was produced and engineered by longtime colloborator Mark Winterburn (5 Seconds of Summer, The Script, Plan B, James Arthur, Don Broco) and mastered by Ben Booker (David Guetta, Bob Dylan, Elton John, PJ Harvey, Scissor Sisters, 5 Seconds of Summer). The song reflects on the often-therapeutic nature of having deep conversations with near strangers, as well as a nod to unlikely friendships forged with regulars at local pubs.

Band frontman and lead vocalist Jake elaborates: “You often feel that you can say anything to those people, especially when you’ve got no link to them such as mutual friends or family, there’s no judgement. It’s funny because it really does remind me of conversations that I’ve had, when you’re both in a bit of a state and you think you’re both talking about the same thing, but you’re not. Of course, the beekeeper in the song isn’t a real guy, and neither is the country pub where the scene is set, but there are references there to real people, and real conversation.” I know from experience that it can sometimes be easier to confide in or share deep secrets with total strangers than with loved ones or close friends.

They state that the alias of the beekeeper came about early on in the writing of the song. The lyric about being “stung by love” is intended to have a double meaning in both a physical and emotional sense, with a beekeeper acting as a metaphor for someone getting physically stung.

“Beers With The Beekeeper” opens strong with a torrent of jangly melodic guitars and assertive drumbeats creating a glorious cinematic soundcape. The music calms a bit in the verses as Jake sings in his distinctively beautiful plaintive vocals, still accompanied by the dynamic guitars, only to burst back open with the aforementioned cinematic flourishes in the choruses that gradually fade out as the band sings a refrain of “Ooh la la la la la la la la la“. It’s another superb song by The Zangwills, but then, I’d expect nothing less from these talented guys.

Perched up
In the corner of a former farmhouse
Country pub
Talking ‘bout the times that we've been stung 
By love 
And the things that we hold dearly
Beers with the beekeeper
Walk home thinking clearly 

Won't you come and listen again tonight?
I’m out the door ready to speak my mind
After last time things felt so much easier
Won't you come and listen again tonight?
I’m out the door ready to speak my mind
After last time things felt much more clear
Be my ear

First up
In falling behind
Tough rut
Tight the rope that binds
My words
To the post that keeps them near to me
Loosen up the knot
I need to see them running freely

Won't you come and listen again tonight?
I’m out the door ready to speak my mind
After last time things felt so much easier
Won't you come and listen again tonight?
I’m out the door ready to speak my mind
After last time things felt much more clear
Be my ear

Ooh la la la la la la la la la (x16)

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Find their music on Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube