FAULT Magazine At Home With New Hope Club
Thursday 11th June 2020
While the global pandemic disrupted New Hope Club’s touring plans, with their self-titled debut album entering at Top 5 in the UK album charts and new tour dates now on the schedule, the three-piece band still has a lot to celebrate.
Reece Bibby, Blake Richardson and George Smith have been working extremely hard to perfect their sound and push the creative boundaries and expand their artistry with every new release. FAULT caught up with the band in lockdown to find out more about their upcoming plans – check it out!
The acoustic video for Worse looked so fun and creative, are you enjoying the new freedom offered by home productions?
REECE: We wanted to make the acoustic video as fun as possible, so the green screens were perfect. We’ve had them for about a month now and haven’t stopped playing around with them, it’s kind of like being outside without breaking the rules haha. We were non-stop laughing when we were coming up with the different backgrounds for the video.
Check out the new acoustic video for single ‘Worse’.
With new tour dates on the calendar, are you planning on doing anything else different than previously planned?
BLAKE: I cannot wait to be back on tour! With every tour we do we always want to add new songs and try things we’ve never done before so I can’t wait to get into rehearsals and plan all that. The shows are definitely one of my favourite things about New Hope Club and I’m really excited for the fans to be able to enjoy live shows, as their escape again.
What’s something new you’ve learned about yourselves during lockdown?
GEORGE: I’ve learned that I’m actually not a bad hairdresser. I’ve never cut anyone’s hair before, but for some reason my Mum trusted me to cut her’s. It turned out alright to be honest; I think she was quite happy with it in the end.
How are you staying creative while being in lockdown?
REECE: As songwriters lockdown has been pretty beneficial for us. We have been writing songs everyday and working on our craft. When quarantine first started it was a little strange getting used to spending all this time at home, but our love of music has shone through and is really getting us through the days.
What’s something no journalist have ever asked you but is something you’ve always wanted to say?
BLAKE: This is a hard one because I feel like over the years we have been asked all kinds of questions… including some weird ones! I think we don’t always get asked too much about the message New Hope Club wants to share, which is giving people music to listen to which is relatable and share our feelings and emotions through songs. For us every song we release we hope can have an impact on someone’s life and help them feel like they’re not alone.
So much of what you do is so creative, do you feel like you’re given enough autonomy from the “music business machine” to freely pursue the projects that you want to as a band?
GEORGE: As a band we have been writing our own music since the start. We love writing and we have always been involved in the songs we release. We only release songs that we feel passionately about. We love the direction our music is heading in we really feel that with our new single ‘Worse’ the New Hope Club sounds is moving forward and ever evolving.
If you suddenly woke up on stage and you had to perform a cover version of another band/artists song and knock it out of the park, what song would you perform?
REECE: I feel like if we all woke up on a stage I’d think we were in some kind of film. It would definitely have to be a very dramatic song. Maybe Total Eclipse Of The Heart? Spotlight on – Make everyone cry?
What is your FAULT?
BLAKE: I think for me I’m always rubbish at replying on the group chat… I get criticised a lot for it by the boys and especially management! They know now to ring me because a phone call is so much nicer and gets so much more done in a space of time rather than loads of texts back and forth!