THE SUNNY SMILES THREE Release B-ROADS EP

The Sunny Smiles Three, a Leeds-based trio, have released a new EP titled B-Roads. The band features seasoned musicians who have previously played in other groups, including THE WEDDING PRESENT, THE CHORUS and CYANIDE PILLS.

Described as possibly the world's leading alt-indie acoustic psych-folk trio singing about life, love, loss, death, the meaning of life and various 'weird stuff,' the band is made up of drums, bass, acoustic guitar and singing with occasional 'other stuff' on top. The band's name comes from the 1960s / 1970s fundraising scheme 'Sunny Smiles' - small pictures of children torn out of a booklet and sold by children to other children for charity.

History

The band formed in Leeds (UK) in 2018 though due to conflicting schedules they aren't often even in the same country, let alone city. They get together whenever they can, lock themselves away and hopefully emerge bleary-eyed with a handful of new recordings.

The band has previously been recorded by Neil Ferguson (alt-folk producer and chief engineer / member of Chumbawamba) and more recently by Will Jackson, known for recording The Kaiser Chiefs, Pigeon Detectives, The Music, Embrace and The Smurfs.

Discography

2019 - Loveland EP (4-track)

2020 - Fireman, Spaceman, Mermaid (album)

- Covid intervened here, plus a long period when their schedules didn't allow any get-togethers

2025 - Toys (3 tracks)

2025 - Some Everyday Hazards (album)

2025 - Enter Dr Beak (3-track)

2026 - B-Roads EP (4-track)

2026 - Coming soon: Plan Your Escape album (late 2026)

- Also various tracks on magazine covermount compilations

Members

John Parkes - (singing, guitars, misc. sounds) - fronted a number of groups much beloved by night-time Radio One DJs (and more latterly 6 Music) including the late John Peel, who played something from every record John made over a period of 14 years. Bands include indie guitar heroes THE CHORUS, GREENHOUSE, FUZZBIRD, FOLLOW THE MOTHS, THE SINISTER CLEANERS and WHOLE SKY MONITOR.

Alaric Lewis - (bass guitar) – played bass guitar for various bands including BREAKING THE ILLUSION and more recently CYANIDE PILLS and SUZY BLU, though is mostly off on tour working as a backline technician.

Simon Smith - (drums and percussion) – best known as drummer in THE WEDDING PRESENT for their 'major label years' as well as being in THE SINISTER CLEANERS, the first line-up of the UKRAINIANS, CHA CHA COHEN and playing with BEACHBUGGY, GROOP DOGDRILL, RRRapid-Kool and others. Simon is also mostly off on tour, in his case working as a tour manager.

What Else?

Lyrical subject matter has ranged from plague doctors through toys, imaginary friends, the Ark of the Covenant, love and longings, strange happenings, philosophical musings and obliquely, Little Richard. And death. As well as the music, the band has lo-fi (and some slightly higher fi) videos made by Hoam Maid Films of Leeds. These often involve cut-outs of the band, broken toys and small fires on kitchen tables. These appear on distributor The Orchard's YouTube channel 'Radial by The Orchard.'

Influences include Wilco, Callahan, I Am Kloot, Dylan, Mitchell and Young – others have cited Roy Harper and Carvan, though the band's aim is to stretch the boundaries.

Latest Release

The B-Roads EP previews two songs from the forthcoming Plan Your Escape album along with two additional tracks.