If you’ve ever wanted to see New Hope Club write their set lists, wear tiny sunglasses whilst on a ferry, or get a feel for their live shows, then you’re going to want to watch this behind the scenes of New Hope Club documentary from start to finish. And possibly a few times over.
New Hope Club is made up of Blake, George and Reece. The three of them have wanted to make a documentary-style video for a while now, “We think it’s a really fun way to look back on what we have done. We used to do tour vlogs, but we feel this is a better way to document what we actually get up to while on the road. It’s not just a short vlog that covers the space of one day, this covers the whole tour we did.”
The band wanted to show everyone what they’re like on the day-to-day when touring, the fun they have and what they get up to. “And also what our gigs are like while we are on tour! We love the live shows so much; our fans give everything when they come to our shows! We really can’t wait to be back on tour again.”
Whether it’s touring or rehearsals or travelling between gigs, the guys are mates first and foremost. Blake says at the beginning of the documentary, “Rehearsals are… urm… they consist a lot of… urm… laughing and joking. I’d say 70% of it is having a laugh.” But it’s that laughter that keeps the guys spirits so high and their friendship so tight. Does it them to work together? “100% it helps. We never take things too seriously. We literally spend every minute of every day with each other and we know each other so well. When we end up sitting down and writing a song, we have all been through the same sort of experiences so we are all on the same page when it comes down to writing from experience.” Being on the same page on a personal and professional level is obviously proving a plus for New Hope Club.
They planned, perfected and shot the documentary on their headline European tour – setting out what they wanted to do in each country they visited. With interviews, live shots, and footage of them rehearsing, it’s a true insight into the world of New Hope Club. “We used pretty much all of the footage which was taken on this tour, we didn’t want to hide anything. The whole video shows what we got up to on our few days in Europe. We loved every second of this tour! It was a dream come true; we never thought that we would be able to do our own headline shows in Europe.”
In the documentary, George speaks of the pressure of being the main, headline act after touring and supporting other artists for a few years. All they can say is how “insane” being a headliner is. But it doesn’t come without its nerves. “Yeah, we get a little nervous before every gig, I suppose it shows that we care which is obviously a good thing.”
“The most nervous I have ever been was before the first date at Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London. This was our first big headline show and we felt like we needed to step things up and make this show the best we had ever done. So, we were 100% nervous before that show however I remember coming off the stage and had the best feeling ever, that feeling is something I don’t think we will ever get bored of.”
Plus, a pre-show ritual is great to calm the nerves, isn’t it? “Before every show we do this thing where we get in a huddle and do a little pep talk about how we are going to give the show our best, then when we feel ready, we twiddle our fingers together and do a 3 way high five. This is when we know we’re ready to play the show!!!”
Speaking of the tour, they explain how “the fans were absolutely amazing on this tour. They were so lovely to us and so loud when we played the shows! It is still so surreal that there are people who would travel so far to see us play for an hour or so. We can’t thank the people who came to these shows enough. They made us the happiest!”
It’s even possible to feel the guys’ energy through words on a screen. They’re excitement and love for their fans and for music sings almost as loud as the crowds on tour. They tell me what it’s like to hear fans sing back their lyrics to them, “It’s amazing, there is no feeling like it! On this tour we did a little encore where we came back on stage and played one of the first songs we have ever written. We wrote this song over Skype about 3/4 years ago and never thought that anyone would ever hear that song but it seems to be a fan favourite. Even thought a lot of our fans speak lots of different languages, they’re singing every single word. I still can’t get my head around it. We didn’t even have to sing the chorus to the song as they were singing it louder than ever.”
Travelling the world due to music is the band’s dream come true. Really. “It’s crazy! It has been our dream since we can remember, we’ve always wanted to write our own songs then be able to take those to shows and play in front of people all over the world. Our fans are so amazing, they’ve made our dream a reality. We can’t believe this is happening and we’ve announced our own World Tour. We can’t wait to get on the road and play in front of everyone.” The Love Again world tour will the band on their first ever headline tour around the world.
New Hope Club will be in Asia in June and back in Europe in July time. “We are super excited to be back playing shows after our recent time overseas. It’s going to be great going back to Amsterdam and Germany, also heading to new places like Denmark and playing our first headline show in Poland.” With a trip to the US and Canada at the end of July, the guys have a busy schedule and lots of ‘firsts’ on the agenda. The UK and Ireland leg of the tour doesn’t start until September the guys tell me, “which seems like quite far away, but it will come around very quickly. We can’t wait to be playing some shows in some amazing cities and see all the lovely fans very soon!”
With a promise to “see you soon” from Blake, George and Reece, they let us know that, “In the mean time we will be releasing new music so make sure you keep updated by following us on social media.”
