Made of steel: how South Yorkshire became the British indie heartland

Galvanised by the Arctic Monkeys and guided by wise heads such as Richard Hawley and the Reverend, disused steel mills and former pit villages are now shaking to the hum of the Sherlocks, Milburn and more – and creating hyperlocal chart successes

● Bingley rockers Marmozets: ‘I learned to walk again’

● The Yorkshire bands you may not have heard of

“It was like being in an athletics race where you’re running really fast, and then Usain Bolt turns up,” Milburn frontman Joe Carnall says of 2006, when Arctic Monkeys’ debut album became the fastest selling in British pop history and the gritty, lippy Sheffield indie sound went global. However, as interest zeroed in on the Monkeys, Milburn – whose gigs had inspired Alex Turner and pals to start a band in the first place – felt so left behind that they split up for a decade. Meanwhile, fellow Sheffield indie star Jon “Reverend” McClure (of Reverend and the Makers) moved to London, told the NME he was the “reincarnation of Bob Marley”, made an album he now admits was “fucking rubbish” and ended up “a gibbering wreck, back at my parents’ house, unable to hold a spoon”.

Fast-forward to today, and as Arctic Monkeys gear up to release their sixth album later this year, South Yorkshire indie is making a Lazarus-like comeback. The rejuvenated Makers’ elegiac sixth album, The Death of a King, was released in September 2017 and gave McClure’s band their highest chart position (No 11) since their debut a decade before. The re-formed Milburn’s initial four comeback gigs in Sheffield last summer shifted 10,000 tickets in five minutes. Meanwhile, emerging stars include Bolton upon Dearne rockers the Sherlocks (whose debut album, Live for the Moment, reached No 6 in September); the funky, brassy I Set the Sea on Fire; zippy garage-rockers Wulfman Fury; and High Hazels (named after a local park), whose shimmering, Beach House-type ballads are loved by Richard Hawley.