Ferris & Sylvester have just returned from playing a dozen shows inside a week at music industry gathering SXSW in Texas. The electrifying duo, who play the Supajam Stage at Black Deer on Friday June 21st, solidified their status as rising stars of the UK Americana scene over in Austin. “It was truly one of the best weeks of our lives,” they told us. “It was our first time in America and we worked hard, but it felt brilliant to be a part of it. There was one day where we finished our last set at midnight, then we were up at 5am for a live radio broadcast!”

The duo, who got together in 2017, release a flame red 12” double A-side vinyl of their critically acclaimed singles ‘Sickness’ and ‘Burning River’ for Record Store Day 2019. With radio support across the board from Radio 1, BBC 6Music, Cerys Matthews at Radio 2 and Radio X, Ferris & Sylvester have picked the right songs to re-release: “’Sickness’ was one of the first songs we wrote together,” they revealed. “But it wasn’t until we put it in our live set that it truly came to life.”

The song starts as a slow jam, before catching fire and burning through stages of blues, gospel and rock ‘n’ roll that turns taut on raging organs and a screaming guitar solo. “We had built up the song in quite a few different ways and had already done about five demos. When it came to record, we kept it as raw and honest as possible and let the emotion drive the song – the guitar solo was recorded before we even realised we were recording!”

The tune delivers a dark tale with lyrics about leaving home, power and frustration. “The song is about human relationships and the desire to throw things all away,” say F&S. “We can be reckless and wild… and a lot of our emotions are unexplainable. We wanted to create a piece of music that could speak to that dark part in all of us and we’re really proud of the result.”

As they should be, ‘Sickness’ is a song that will speak to all those lucky enough to be listening this summer and we think it will rock the deer park to its foundations. “We play it late in our set and it’s great to get the crowd involved – people seem to enjoy the build to the huge guitar solo and sing along.” You’ve been warned, festival-goers!

“We cannot wait for Black Deer! Whenever we play, we give it everything,” they say. “We’re so proud to be up on stages across the world and play our songs to people. It’s just the two of us on stage – but we play drums, bass, electric guitar and acoustic. There’s a bit of blues, folk, rock ‘n roll’ and soul. We cannot wait to get our teeth into the festival!”

The flame red 12” double A-side vinyl – ‘Sickness’ / ‘Burning River’ by Ferris & Sylvester – is released for Record Store Day 2019. Grab yours now.

Ferris & Sylvester play Black Deer Festival on Friday June 21st