The Longest Johns reject gold discs in favour of environmentally-friendly wooden ones

Virgin Radio

12 Jan 2022, 15:14

With their sea shanties, Bristol’s The Longest Johns have become a massive hit in the US, but they are eschewing the traditional awards for their success.

The band have gained over 300 million streams and sales, over half of which came from the US, which would usually mean the awarding of gold and platinum discs. However, because accepting these would go against their stance on sustainability, the four-piece have agreed to accept something novel, and far more environmentally friendly, instead.

The Longest Johns are therefore the first recipients of wooden discs made from recycled timber and driftwood reclaimed from the sea. These environmentally friendly discs represent the equivalent of three UK gold discs or one platinum disc.

The Longest Johns are made up of Andy Yates, Dave Robinson, Jonathan ‘JD’ Darley, and Robbie Sattin. You remember the sea shanty phenomenon which dominated social media last year? Well, the Bristol folk band were at the forefront of that.

On the back of their online success, they are embarking on their debut US tour in February, and before that will be playing some intimate instore shows at Rough Trade records stores in England. Once they are back from America, they will play a few more shows in the UK.

The Longest Johns’ new album, Smoke & Oakum lands later this month. 

Regarding the first ever wooden discs, Dave Breese from The Gold Disc Ltd, who created them said: “Gold and platinum discs are usually made of plastic. This is the first time we’ve ever made wooden discs for anyone – and we’ve made them for many major labels.”

Let’s see if more artists start to accept these discs rather than the traditional gold and platinum ones. It ‘wood’ certainly help the environment if they did.