Siracuse - Chase The Morning

Cheltenham’s Siracuse returned with their first single of 2025 ‘Chase The Morning’ at the end of May. Released via Vibrant Sky Records, it was produced by Dave Draper in Pershore, at The Old Cider Press Studio. It follows last year’s hedonistic ‘Simple Pleasures’ with both expected to feature on their new album due in 2026.

The thunderous intro lands you in ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’s rabid intention of world domination. From there, through a divine key change, they depart from Oasis and forge a new path of intoxication and aspiration but with greater heart.

With each circling year, Ben Zakotti - frontman, guitarist, poet in chords - edges closer to the ranks of the almost-forgotten greats. Once, the phrase belonged to the slow-blooming, the ill-starred, the haunted. Now, in 2025, Zakotti stares down a music world hollowed and hunched. Even the stations that once swore by bands have drawn up the ladder, leaving echoes where anthems should be.

With hope now an almost bygone era sentiment, Zakotti’s performance becomes more vital. As his hypnotic vocal decrees, “take your chance to electrify” and “chase the morning”, a generation of guitar fans fed up with the lack of exposure have their clarion call. Images of stadiums shaking with limbs flying to this electrifying anthem become the goal, an insurrection among guitar lovers imminent. Their time miust be now!

2025 is going to be the year that Oasis came back. It should be about Pastel’s debut and The Bracknall’s seminal second album. It should be about Marseille, Rolla, and The Crooks selling out venues. It should be about Siracuse!

Siracuse – All To You

Cheltenham’s Siracuse follows their fine comeback single ‘Saviour’ with ‘All To You’. Released on Friday, can it stack up to ‘Saviours’ power?

Image & artwork courtesy of the band.

Downtempo from ‘Saviour’ for the most part, Siracuse tap into the earnest power of The Enemy’s acoustic guitars on ‘We’ll Live And Die In These Towns’ and a vocal to rival Liam Gallagher’s search for the celestial.

Lyrically, it’s Siracuse’s finest work to date. Songwriter Ben Zakotti offers guidance to the young and downtrodden to keep on pushing. There’s a power to the lyrics which can only come from a place of love. Perhaps a partner or a child, something that binds you forever through thick and thin!

The gentle amble erupts into life akin to DMA’s ‘Lay Down’ and ‘Feels Like 37’ in the closing stages. A moment of chaos and melody come together to light up the love in Zakotti’s heart.

Where ‘Saviour’ spiralled with personal intent to escape for today, ‘All To You’ inspires tomorrow. Two singles into 2023, Siracuse are becoming utterly unmissable!

Click the image below for tickets to see Siracuse at this years Lakfest:

Siracuse - Forever

Cheltenham trio Siracuse have followed 2018’s ‘Control’ EP with their debut album ‘Forever’. Can they channel the intensity of the EP into the longer format and create a big future?

‘Control’, featured on the EP gives a firm answer to this. Yes. Viscous psychedelic guitars parade as weapons of mass destruction. Frontman, Ben Zakotti has hit a sweet spot vocally, nestling in between Tom Meighan and John McClure. This again occurs on the Twisted Wheel bombast of ‘Into the Night’.  

There are moments where the intensity and enjoyment remain but the originality slips. ‘The Keeper’, melodic and memorable, is, in essence, a Liam Gallagher solo song. Meanwhile, ‘Whirlpool’, was the latter-day stadium filler for Oasis that led to their slow demise. Even on ‘Forever’ and ‘Control’ when they find a fire, it’s too indebted to BRMC and Twisted Wheel alike for them to nudge the rock n wheel towards their identity.

However, ‘Forever’, has an innate ability to make you live in the moment. The wheel is not so much nudged and more skyrocketed. ‘Rebels’ shows Tony McCarroll just how ‘Bring It On Down’ was meant. Will Hall’s launches behemoth gunshots that will reverberate through your soul. Meanwhile, Zakotti’ s guitars are entrenched with a menace that demands attention.

Wall’s drumming again shines bright on ‘Love Stands Tall’. The frenetic pace conjures images of snake bite sodden indie dancefloors bursting into chaos. Zakotti’s astonishing licks capture the ‘There and Then’ era of Noel’s playing via Marr’s disco propensity.

A Primal Scream sense of maturity emerges on ‘Shadow Walkers’. Zakotti nullifies his vocals with lo-fi production and allows the band’s destructive take on ‘Barbarism Begins at Home’. To flourish.

Them, on ‘Loosen Your Grip’ and So Serene’, they offer the album’s true moments of ecstasy. ‘Loosen Your Grip’, vocally, is too reliant on the ferocity of Tom Meighan’s ‘Reason Is Treason’ and Liam’s ‘Rock n Roll Star’. However, it’s wrapped up in a feverish explosion of noise that is sure to create indelible memories.  

‘So Serene’, showcases an ambition and togetherness they can build live sets around. The hazy melancholy swirls until Zakotti’s guitar parts offer a stunning release of tension. No matter how much society regresses, cuts services, and denies a future to the next generation, bands like Siracuse kindle the seeds of revolution we all crave.

Siracuse is not looking to re-event the wheel but, they are looking to reawaken many of rock ‘n’ rolls facets that have been lost of late. Escapist, volatile and integrity will keep you coming back to ‘Forever’. Especially those moments where their identity is at its murkiest. Hope is born in those tracks that, if they can clarify their own vision, then something truly great lies ahead.