Harris Rafferty on The Yum Yums, UNCUT event & supporting P.P Arnold

The Init Music initiative, founded by Herbert, who performs in a Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute band, and Towers, who performs in the band Design Rewind, was created with the aim of showcasing Zoltar, The Voy, Sky Valley Mistress and Rafferty himself. The pair’s goal is to help the aforementioned acts become the 'flagship' original bands that the town throws its support behind and to help reinvigorate the grassroots scene in East Lancashire. For Rafferty himself, joining the bill was a no-brainer, and he admits he’s eager to repay the pair for their support over the years.

“I mean, I've known Jack since I was like, knee-high. And he's really helped me out with my music and helped me get a start,” Rafferty said. “And very much the same for Towers. He's helped me more recently, I'd say within the past year and a half, to try to expand my sound, and I've recently got a band together, and a lot of that's down to his efforts and his sort of dedication towards my music. And it's a good way to sort of repay those boys for what they do for the local scene. Because it's not just me, it's a plethora of other people. So yeah, buzzing to help them and buzzing to be a part of the bill,” the artist finished.

Earlier this year, Rafferty released his third single – 'Burnin' – a track that has garnered comparisons with the rising indie-rock band Wunderhorse, fronted by Jacob Slater. The four-piece, who’ve gone on to perform at major festivals such as Glastonbury and support the likes of Sam Fender and Green Day, have been a 'big inspiration' for Rafferty, and in a Slater-esque way, the ‘Burnin’ singer is shifting his focus from a solo-led project to a fully-fledged band in the coming months. However, the project will not be under the ‘Yum Yums’ brand – a name that came about as an inside joke.

“The Yum Yums is funny. That was a temporary name after I brought in about eight packs of Yum Yums for one of our first rehearsals. So I don't think the lads like it,” the artist said with a laugh. “It's definitely subject to change. There have been a few iterations of the band because we played a mix of different events, and it's just been calling on favours from different people. But I've now got the band together permanently. And in the next sort of couple of months, we're looking to transition into an actual band project instead of just being Harris Rafferty. So that's quite exciting,” Rafferty said.

Before the transition to a full-time band project occurs, Rafferty confirmed in our interview that he’ll be releasing two additional singles – 'Fine Eye’ and ‘Wings’, with the former set to be released in the coming months. But will his set at UNCUT be solo or band-focused? “The plan with that (the band project) is to build that up and eventually release an EP. Hopefully within the next year. It takes a lot of time and a lot of effort, but we've got a lot of tracks already in the pipeworks, and a lot of the songs I'm going to be playing at UNCUT will be part of this new project, so I'll be excited to show that off to a local crowd,” the artist finished.

The need to champion the local music scene

As a Burnley lad himself, Rafferty is fully aware of the importance of championing local music, and the singer, who is a season-ticket holder at Burnley FC, believes the club itself could do a better job at championing the local music scene, citing Manchester City as an example of a club that actively champions independent music. The benefits are certainly noticeable. Alex Spencer - an artist actively platformed by the Sky Blues, has recently finished touring arenas in Europe alongside Louis Tomlinson. “Going forward as an artist, I'd love to align myself with the club (Burnley FC) as much as I can. And I feel like the club could spark a bit more interest in the local scene. It's just little things like that that they could be involved in,” the artist finished.

Supporting P.P Arnold

Rafferty, who combines his rich storytelling skills with his anthemic indie-rock sound, is highly regarded. He’s earned slots supporting the likes of Che Aimee Dorval, Jeremiah Ferrari and notable UK-based soul artist P.P. Arnold, who featured on Cast’s ‘Yeah Yeah Yeah’ album and appeared at the Oasis Live 2025 tour, performing alongside the Liverpudlian greats. Rafferty supported the soul singer at Barnoldswick’s Music & Arts Centre – the venue is run and owned by Peter Barton and recently welcomed the likes of Massive Waggons, Dave McCabe and Russell Hastings. But how did the opportunity come about?

“So Jack, who's organising this gig, was part of organising that as well; he was doing sound and all of that in the evening, and he just asked me on the day if I wanted to get involved, and obviously it's PP Arnold, you don't say no, so there's not much of a story there. I went down, I met her, I was shaking like a dog. I grew up listening to a lot of Ocean Colour Scene; it's what my dad listens to, and obviously she's on a few of their tracks, so I was aware of her and I'm aware of her influence, so to meet her and also just to watch her – she's just a brilliant artist, and she was so kind and accommodating to me as the opener as well, so nothing but praise for her. And then to see her on the Oasis tour with Kast was like, 'Wow, crazy, like, I know her!'" an excited Rafferty finished.

If you want to see the start of Init Music’s musical revolution, head on down to Penny Black Bar on May 1, 2026 for the first-ever UNCUT event, with tickets available from £5.