Curated By: Pastel

Some bands arrive polished. Pastel arrived because the engine fell out of a car on the way to see The Stone Roses and what became the unlikely starting point of a band that feels as real as the places they come from.

We first discovered Pastel when we were looking for a local band to play our first ever Nudie Night. What began as a search for someone who simply felt right for the room turned into an ongoing relationship built on shared humour, shared values, and a shared belief that good music and good denim belong in the same space. They were so good the first time that we booked them again for the second.

Pastel make music the way they live: instinct first, logic second, humour always. They write fast, tour hard, fight occasionally, laugh constantly, and carry a visual identity that is as scrappy and intentional as their sound. And somewhere along the way, denim became an essential part of that identity.

For their Curated By playlist, we sat down with cousins Jack and James Yates to talk about scaledelia, tour life, community, and why their next single should “sound like jeans”.

When Manchester meets Wales

Some stories begin with grand ideas. Pastel’s begins with a broken car on the M1.

Two Mancunians, James and Jack, once that engine dropped out of the bottom of the car, the universe rerouted them toward Wales.

“We said he might as well move to Wales now and we’ll start a band.”

So they did. Wales became home. Pastel became the band.

Their sound is what they call scaledelia. Psychedelia with a working class edge. Spacious but grounded. Melodic with grit. “We get inspired by our surroundings,” James says. “Manchester and South Wales are different places, but the attitude is the same. Honest, rough around the edges, a bit chaotic. That inspires us more than anything.”

The honesty comes through on stage too. They’ve spent the past months fronting Cast on tour, playing to a thousand strangers a night - strangers who, by the end of each set, aren’t strangers anymore. “Cast fans are music heads,” James says. “They listen. They actually listen. We’re rowdy people, but our music isn’t rowdy. It’s more like an outlet for us to chill.”

Deeper than holy: the Pastel blueprint

When asked to choose one song that represents Pastel right now, neither of them hesitate: Deeper Than Holy. Coincidentally, that was the track that made us book them the first time.
“The space in it is what makes it massive,” James says. “We didn’t overthink it. You can sit inside the song.”

Songwriting happens fast when they are off tour. “We hit a streak where every practise ended with a finished song,” Jack says. “Then tour happened and chaos took over again.”
They’re recording a new single later this month, A little bit of love. James wants it to sound like jeans. Feel sun softened, slightly beachy, West Coast America but still gritty. “A bit worn in,” he says. “Exactly like denim.”

Unsigned and unbothered

Although labels have shown interest, Pastel remain fully unsigned. It is a deliberate choice.
“We want to put out a single on our own first,” James says. “Do something independent so we have some leverage. Not just jump at the first offer. We want to choose the right home.”
There is pride in their independence. It shows in the scrappiness, the humour, the lack of polish, and the fact that they are doing this entire thing on their terms.

Emily Yates: the photographer who sees them exactly as they are

Pastel’s visual world is held together by Emily, James’ sister, who travels with them.
“She’s not with us because she’s my sister or Jack's cousin. She’s with us because she’s really good,” James says. Acclaimed British filmmaker Charlie Lightning once told him she has the eye. “You can teach anyone Photoshop, but you can’t teach someone to look at something and think, that’s the picture.” Her presence also brings balance. “When six lads are together, it gets a bit everything. And it starts to smell. She keeps us normal,” Jack adds.

Favourite bands: the ones that built them

When asked about their all time favourites, the answers were quick.

1. Shack
   The band that inspired them to start Pastel in the first place.

2. The Twang
   “They are one of the best live bands going. Criminally underrated.”

3. Talking Heads
   Inventive, odd, effortless. A natural fit for Pastel’s world.

These influences make sense. All three bands sit somewhere between chaos, art, sincerity, and character. Pastel live in that same space.

Denim on tour, a second skin

When Pastel played Nudie Night in both London and Manchester, denim became part of their rhythm. Over the months, it has turned into something more personal.
“I’ve worn Nudie at every gig,” James says. “These jeans have been on for days. You can see the fades starting now. They’re softening. They’re becoming mine.”
It fits perfectly with our own idea that denim becomes a second skin through wear, life and time. “Once you start wearing them, you suffer a while and then you don’t want to take them off,” James says. “It takes a while, but you get there. Bit like bandmates.”

Chaos, calm, and the art of staying together

Tour life is equal parts bliss and insanity.
“Everyone’s tired, hungover, emotional,” Jack says. “You snap, you argue, someone throws mouthwash in the van. Then you get in the van the next morning and it’s fine. We’ve never had an argument that lasted.”

Their van has broken down more than once. In one moment that perfectly captures the band’s dynamic, Liam (while driving) looked out the wrong window while and had to slam on the breaks. He went flying forward and landed face first. The band avenged their near death by pouring water bottles over his head. He threw mouthwash back. Then everyone laughed, eventually.

Their jobs back home are just as colourful. Renovating historic buildings. Electrical work. Plastering. Geology. And Liam, the carpenter, who once hung a staircase the wrong way around. “That wasn’t even when he was young,” James adds. “And he hung a door backwards too. He’s hoping for Grammys now.”

“We all work with our hands,” Jack says. “Except Joe. He measures holes. He’s the clever one.”

Community: music heads, WhatsApp groups, and fans who become friends

Pastel have a dedicated online community. Some of it lives in WhatsApp groups. Some of it lives on fan pages.
“There’s a guy called Andy Hall from Newcastle. Legend. He runs a fan page where people plan meetups, share spare tickets, become mates. Stuff like that matters.”
It mirrors what we see in the denim world: people finding each other through something they love.

The playlist: the magic of driving and silence

For their Curated By playlist, Pastel didn’t sit down to be clever. They picked songs tied to real moments.
“It happens when everything lines up while we're on the road,” James explains. “The view, the silence, the song. And you just know. That becomes the song for that tour.”
For this tour, the moment happened in the Scottish mountains when drummer Rhys was behind the wheel.
The War on Drugs – I Don’t Live Here Anymore.

An unexpected pick?
Aerosmith – Sweet Emotion.
“I don’t even like Aerosmith. But that song is magic.”

James even added a few Northern Soul tracks to their playlist as he loves the history, the community, the physicality of it. “The dancing is unbelievable,” he says. “Back in the seventies, they would go to all nighters in places like Wigan Casino. Motown, soul, amphetamines, wooden floors with a bit of bounce. It was like raving before raving.” There is something about the energy and devotion of that scene that mirrors Pastel’s world. The sweat, the release, the rawness. Music first, ego last.

Looking ahead

Pastel will tour the UK in the new year and are planning shows in France, the Netherlands, Germany and hopefully Sweden. When asked if we should do some more antics together, they seem eager. “We’d love to keep doing things with Nudie,” Jack says. “It doesn’t feel forced. It feels right.” They also have a denim goal. To wear their jeans long enough for us to replicate them as a pair of Life Tracks. “That would be amazing,” Jack says. “So we’ll keep wearing them.”

Pastel make the kind of music that feels lived in. Nothing about them is polished in a manufactured way. Everything comes from instinct, humour, tension, relief, and life on the road. Their denim tells the same story. Worn. Softening. Fading in the right places. A second skin shaped by miles, mishaps and magic moments.

They are a band in motion. Always moving, always writing, always laughing, always breaking down on the side of a road somewhere. And through it all, they carry a sound they call scaledelic and a community that grows with every tour. Most importantly, they carry a clear sense of who they are. Which is exactly why we’re proud to hand over the controls of this Curated By playlist to Pastel.

Turn it up.
Sit inside the songs.
Let it all unfold.