Happy to admit that he’s still learning his way around pro recording studios, Gisborne singer-songwriter and guitarist Jed Skuse has long shown ample mastery of the loop pedal. At 16 he claimed first place in the East Coast Smokefreerockquest solo/duo section finals, and two years later added the Musicianship award from the NZ Blues Festival competition. Now aged 20, Jed is increasingly known for his very Kiwi lyrical style, rich guitar work and layered loop arrangements, which combine in energetic, multi-genre live performances.

September 2025 sees the release of his first single recorded in a professional studio, the reproachful teen challenge You Only Call Me on the Weekend. Written to be performed solo with the aid of his trusty loop pedal, the recorded track combines layers of vocals, electric/acoustic guitars and percussive elements, creating what sounds a lot more like a banging rock band. Time now for Jed to tell us more about his song.

The melody of the chorus inYou Only Call Me on the Weekend popped into my head first. I was thinking of incorporating it into a guitar line and realised it might be better as a vocal. This got me into building the rest of the song and how it was structured, before writing any lyrics.

I wanted it to be easy to play on a loop pedal i.e. instruments that repeat themselves, but also make sure it doesn’t get boring throughout the song, as that can happen easily when writing loops. After getting the structure down it took a couple weeks to think of a good line to use the melody I had thought of with – until a mate of mine got told that line “… you only call me on the weekend,” by a girl he knew!

I heard that and knew it was a good fit, so I decided to base the song off that. Not too long after I had written the rest of the song, I played it live for the first time at the Longline Classic festival in Gisborne in 2024. Pretty epic! Got to meet Tiki Taane and Scribe, so that was cool!

Following that performance I was encouraged to record it, so my dad sussed out a studio in Ōtautahi, where I’m living at the moment, to make it in , and that’s what I did. My favourite part to record was naturally the guitar solo because Orange Studios had a real good Stratocaster, and I’m a Strat fan! But an honourable mention would go to building up the harmonies in the chorus, and getting to hear my original melody in full context on top of some music. 

Thom O’Connor, who was the engineer and producer, also chucked in a bunch of random little instruments that play under the drums, like maracas and other stuff I don’t know the names of. He had some good contributions into making the song sound a lot fuller and padded, all his suggestions were good. Real gun on the process, I took about 10 minutes to explain the structure to him and he pretty much had it mapped out in the DAW in another 10!

He had amazing quality instruments and equipment and managed to get the Marshall amp-Stratocaster combo tone, exactly as I wanted it. Orange Studios have an awesome setup in there – and we knocked out the whole song in about 10 hours. Thom then went on to mix it, and a week or so later it was done.

Overall it was an awesome experience making this song and I’m stoked I got the opportunity to bring it to life. It was my first time in a proper studio and i definitely learned a lot more about recording and collaborating with the engineer. 

We haven’t got any plans for an EP or album just now, so You Only Call Me on the Weekend will probably just be a standalone single for 2025. Pretty stoked to be able to perform at the Longline Classic again this year in my beautiful hometown of Gisborne, over the October Labour Day long weekend, and will definitely be playing this tune along with a few others. A big thank you to everyone who helped with the making of this track, and there will be more to come in the future!