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I t was two years ago that Hope Of The States released their
critically acclaimed debut album Lost Riots.
However, prior to the it’s release and without warning, guitarist James
Lawrence hanged himself. The band have
stuck together and recently released their follow up Left and are about to
release the title track. UK Music
caught up with frontman Sam Herlihy for a quick natter.
Hi Sam, so what have you been up to then?
I’ve just been doing some recording at home, just some
electronic stuff by myself. That’s about it really, just been doing that over
and over again!
This new album took a long time to record, didn’t it?
We didn’t really know where the time went. It was like 13
months and I don’t really where the time went. We were working really hard and
it wasn’t a painful process to make it, it just took a long time. We really
enjoy being in the studio and we had been touring for a year and a half and
then went in to start recording again. It was good fun being in the studio so
we don’t really look at how long it takes, being important, but it was too
long!
Why so long though? What were the distractions?
There weren’t any distractions. We worked on it and that was
how long it took before we were happy with it. We’re not perfectionists or
anything, we just know how we want things to sound. We’re happy to try things
on different instruments, try different arrangements and stuff and doing that
over and over again. We’re not really bothered about just doing one take kind
of thing.
Is it strange to be back on the scene after being away for a
while?
Yeah I guess so. We’ve always sat a bit on the outside of
what’s going on anyway and don’t have much awareness of what’s going on in
popular music or whatever. It’s not our world and it’s not something that we’re
particularly interested, so its like ‘we’re playing some shows and that’s good
for us’, but other than that we don’t really have much interaction with it, so
it doesn’t affect us that much.
So, to go back to the beginning, what aspirations did you have
when you guys started the band?
I don’t know. Just to make great records really and not do
anything that we’d be ashamed about when we’re grandparents and we’re sat there
talking to our grandkids. I think
whatever happens, we’ll always know we did things for the right reasons. We just wanted to play some shows, make some
records, mess around with artwork and ideas and stuff, we weren’t really
interested in anything other than that.
You were signed to Parlophone when you were younger?
We were not signed so much, as we just had a development
deal, so they gave us money which meant we could buy some instruments and pay
for rehearsal room. So it was no sort of big thing, but the good thing about
it was that we had just about enough money to buy some instruments and they’re
instruments that are still used in this band now. So it kind of worked out pretty well.
That must have been an exciting time.
Yeah, it was amazing. We were a bunch of kids 13/14 in
school and getting time off from school to get out and do a promo 7 inch and
getting drunk on somebody else’s money when we were supposed to be in school.
It was pretty cool.
What was it like for you when you released the first album
back in 2004? What was that period of
time like for you?
I think it was a funny time for all of us because of a lot
of other reasons which had nothing to do with music. I think we were just
relieved that it was out and that we could go and play some shows and kind of
concentrate on something else for a change.
Was all that touring hard work?
It was hard work, but at the same time it was absolutely
incredible. We had some amazing moments. Touring America
and seeing parts of America
that you don’t get to see if you’re going there on holiday, and driving to the
rocky mountains at five in the morning and stuff. These are the moments you
never forget. Realising that you’re so far from home, but you’ve still brought
a load of people out to come and spend their hard earned cash to come and see
you play was something that was inspiring.
What were the highlights?
Maybe the second time we went to Japan was pretty amazing. We played
a show with the Libertines and walking around Tokyo feeling like you’re in the Beatles or
something was pretty amazing.
Are you looking forward to performing at Reading
and Leeds?
Yeah absolutely. We went there last year, just to go and
watch and was strange being there and not playing. We just wanted to get up and
play, but it’s good to be back playing again. This year we’ve done Oxygen and T
in the Park and a festival in Spain
called Summer Case and they were both really good. But in the past we’ve pinged
between being amazing and enjoying them to having complete and utter disasters,
so they’re pretty scary I think.
Left is out now and the band play Reading and Leeds Festivals this weekend.
For more info: www.hopeofthestates.co.uk
Words: Helen Duong
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