This week we’d like to introduce you to a band called High Hopes, who hail from Reading. They’re just about to release their new single, ‘Revelation’, and they’re on tour in Canada. We had a chat with them to find out how they formed, what we can expect from them in the future and what kind of cool experiences they’re having on tour.
Firstly, tell us about your background. How, when and why did you form?
The four of us – Shaun, Krishan, Nathan and Daryl – had been playing music together for around three years before High Hopes formed. Before Nick became a part of it, we spent a year writing the EP, pre-producing the album and generally getting ourselves ready for live shows. We auditioned for vocalists, thought we’d found our guy but he left shortly after our first show leaving us a vocalist down days before our first tour. We knew Nick from around the scene playing in other bands and asked him to fill in, and the rest is history.
You’re releasing your new single, ‘Revelation’, next week. What can we expect from it?
‘Revelation’ is by far the most dynamic song we’ve written: it’s melodic but still has the heaviness that people know us for. It is also the most technical song we’ve written to date. We spent around four months working on it and when people hear it hopefully they’ll appreciate all the effort we’ve put into ‘Revelation’.
How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard you before? And who are your main influences?
As a band we draw influences from so many different places, from hardcore all the way to country. We try and write our music in this way too, with an open mind to trying to appeal to a wide audience. Someone who may not be a fan of hardcore music may still like us due to the fact that our music has a lot of melodic leads and harmonies, and visa versa. We try not to pigeonhole ourselves into one type of music.
You released your debut album almost a year ago now. How did people react to it?
Everybody that picked up a copy seemed to really dig our sound. We managed to shift all of the physical copies we had pretty quickly. The online and print press gave us all solid reviews too. We’ve taken on board everything everyone has said and we’re making sure we step up our next effort when we enter the studio next year.
Do you have any plans to record another full-length at any point? Were you pleased with the process the first time around or would you do things differently for the next record?
We were really proud of what we achieved with the first record. It was a big step for us, but with the next record we want to go away and spend more time working on the pre-production until we’re 100% happy with everything. We really want to push our boundaries with the next release and try some new things, get out of our comfort zone.
You’re currently on tour in Canada. How’s that going? And how did it come about?
We got pretty buddy with the tour manager from Secrets when we played at the Camden Underworld with them and Our Last Night. They all ended up crashing at one of our houses after the show and we just stayed in touch after that. We got a message out of the blue regarding Canada about six months ago asking if we were interested and we snapped up the opportunity. We’ve been out here 12 days so far and we couldn’t be happier with how it’s going!
You only formed in 2012 but you seem to have done some pretty cool things. What has been your favourite experience so far?
Everything we’ve done to date has been pretty incredible and we never thought we’d be where were are after such a short space of time, but the one thing that stands out for us happened on this tour. We pulled up to what we thought was a venue, but actually pulled up to some random guy’s house. We ended up playing a show in his basement,which probably held 15 people at most. It was crazy, packed out, sweaty, probably the coolest and most intimate show we’ve ever played. Such a surreal experience.
What would you like to achieve in the long run? What are your biggest aims as a band?
We want to play all over the world, play places we’ve never been to before. We don’t really have aims; we take each day as it comes. If something really cool happens then great. We make sure we never take any opportunity or experience for granted.
www.facebook.com/ihavehighhopes
LAIS MW