European Sun – When Britain Was Great (Skep Wax)
European Sun – songwriter Steve Miles – has released punk single When Britain Was Great ahead of second album of the same name, due on Skep Wax in January 2026
Artist: European Sun
Track: When Britain Was Great
Label: Skep Wax
Released: 10 November 2025
Find it: Bandcamp
Steve Miles is about the release his second album as European Sun, and with When Britain Was Great – the title track – the scene is set for a punk record which is also ‘an angry, gentle, heartfelt plea for humanity’.
When Britain Was Great, “eviscerates nostalgia for an imagined past where men were men, and racism was de rigeur” and so, could not be more timely. Wry and personal, its an antidote to the wave of nationalism flowing over the land where a tatty flag hoisted upside down to a lamppost and a wonkily spray painted red cross on the nearest mini roundabout are the visual cues something dark is brewing.
For this is a single which shines a light on Britain’s ‘greatness’ having always been performative. It’s not quietly getting on with helping your community, not just accepting but caring for your neighbour, and working to uplift us all. Instead of the hard work to do those things its doubling down on slogans, division, and getting misty eyed and/or violent about legislated memories for a time and place that only ever worked for the few.
‘I haven’t forgotten those formative days / I still see them now in the Union Jack’
Throughout the track and video the ‘glory days’ are reeled off and illustrated with social and historical photography. Those better days? ‘A Scoutmaster had us all stripped to our pants’, the Eleven Plus, nicotaine stained walls and fingers, sexism, racism, classism…. It’s hard to imagine how anyone could want that, least of all those who wouldn’t have found prosperity or respect back then. But they do.
Delivered in a half-spoken vocal, the music itself is ‘a refutation of masculine energy…utterly devoid of that grim modern male quality ‘swagger’.’ Joined by Rob Pursey (Heavenly, Swansea Sound) on bass, Ian Button (Swansea Sound) on drums, and Elin Miles on backing vocals there is a gentle, nostalgic quality to the music to mirror the lyrical theme. Across the album the track leads we’ll get a return to the fearlessness and exploratory nature of early punk, before it regressed to rock.
When Britain Was Great is the intelligence missing from current discourse, it’s the gentle removal of rose tinted glasses to see our past not as formative but as immature and something we should grow away from not long to return to. It counteracts the violent forces around us with a quietness that delivers a message just as powerfully, and does so in a hand-crafted way cleverly off-setting the AI present as much as the manipulated idea of our past.
When Britain Was Great by European Sun is out digitally now. The album of the same name is released on vinyl and digital on 23 January 2026 via Skep Wax Records.
Find European Sun: Instagram | Facebook | Bandcamp
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Sarah Lay
A long-standing music journalist she's also co-founder of independent record label Reckless Yes, an author of novels, and when not messing around with words and music, a digital strategist.
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