The band's latest single is aiming to raise awareness of the support Samaritans volunteers provide, especially for anyone feeling lonely at Christmas
Reverend & The Makers have unveiled their new Christmas single ‘Late Night Phone Call’ alongside a video in proud support of Samaritans. The video was executive produced by Jonathan Buttrell who directed both the award-winning stage musical Everyone’s Talking About Jamie and its film adaptation.
Speaking about their new single, frontman Jon McClure says, “‘Late Night Phone Call’ is a weird one in that it isn’t a Christmas song and doesn’t really have a chorus, yet it totally felt like a Christmas pop song from the very beginning. It’s also based loosely on a true story where I went out and had a gallon of Guinness and rang Laura up on the way home drunkenly telling her that I love her. As you can see in the video, she wasn’t initially too impressed given the hour but obviously I won her round with a bit of the old Northern charm and apple crumble. My mum and friends all cried when they heard the song. My dad was a big fan of it before he passed away so there’s a lot of emotion wrapped up in it too as it’s our first Xmas without him.”
The festive season can highlight feelings of loneliness and isolation for many people and is an issue close to Jon McClure’s heart. Since 2020, he has been offering private one-on-one online shows on Christmas Day for fans spending the day alone. By lending support to Samaritans, Reverend & The Makers hope to draw attention to the issue and the support that is available.
McClure says, “I wanted to get Samaritans involved as people being alone and in a bad place at Christmas time is something that has always really bothered me. Every year on Christmas day I Zoom a bunch of people who are alone and struggling and play them a song to cheer them up a little. I kinda thought we could go one step further with that this year and direct them towards a charity that is there to help with this. Times are tough for a lot of people and it’s not hard as an artist to help people in this way.”
Julie Bentley, CEO of Samaritans, said: “Jon’s late night phone call led to a happy, life-changing event with his marriage to Laura and for many people, phoning Samaritans can be just as life-changing, even life-saving.
“Sadly, loneliness is one of the most common concerns we hear about, particularly during the festive season but, unlike Jon, no one should worry about waking our volunteers up with a late night phone call – they are here 24/7, even on Christmas day, to help anyone struggling with their mental wellbeing.
“Personally, I would like to say a huge thank you to Reverend and the Makers for choosing to raise awareness of Samaritans services via their new single. Our winter campaign this year is all about Breaking the Silence and I’ve no doubt Late Night Phone Call will help people do just that, so I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that it makes it all the way to Christmas number one.”
The doo-wop-tinged love song sees Jon McClure serenading the love of his life (“it’s me entering my Vegas period,” he jokes), stumbling his drunken way home, building towards a dramatic, soul revue crescendo. It marks the first new material to be released by the Sheffield five-piece since their seventh studio album ‘Heatwave In The Cold North’ which debuted at no.6 last year, giving the band their first Top 10 album since their debut album The State of Things, which reached No.5 in 2007, their biggest single in over a decade and an unbroken run of seven Top 20 albums to date.
Reverend & The Makers have announced they will play their biggest headline show to date at Rock N Roll Circus at Don Valley Bowl in Sheffield on 30th August 2025.
Reverend & The Makers are: Jon McClure (lead singer), Ed Cosens (guitar), Laura McClure (keys/vocals), Antonia Pooles (bass), Ryan Jenkinson (drums).