Hope of the States
Hope of the States have produced one of the best rock albums of 2004. Their live gigs are memorable for their intimacy, the inane chat of front man Sam, the stunning backdrop video projections and of course the tunes. Hailing from the south of England they have played the major summer festivals in 2004 and have been over to the States to showcase their material.
We caught up with bass player Paul for a chat before he set off on their first major US tour.
On touring America and the festivals
Fazed: How did the band find it in America and Canada, I guess it was a bit of a whistle stop before for the main tour in September? You didn't go first time around because you were unwell, are you looking forward to it this time?
Paul: It was really fun, we were a bit blown away by the reaction we got out there. So yeah looking forward to the tour.
Fazed: Think you can sell heaps of records there, will they get you?
Paul: Hope so...we played 600 capacity venues with a bigger one in LA.
Fazed: Who is coming to see you out there? Older music journo types or young fans who read UK music papers?
Paul: The same people see us as in the UK when were starting our really, people that like to see small bands. I was always the same seeing the new bands and then as soon as they got big started hating them.
F: But if you are in a band that get big?
P: Oh you start hating yourself eventually.
F: How do your political ideologies go down there?
P: People either get us or don’t really. We aren’t about hating Bush, "The Red the White the Black the Blue" is about loads of stuff including companies losing money. We promote the frontier spirit of America and the American dream. TRWBB are the colours of the British flag too.
F: You have had some festival problems this summer, at T in the park (the gig was cut short to about 5 minutes)and I think at V you had technical issues too. That must have been really disappointing?
P: If it's not one thing its another that goes wrong. We had a new road crew at V which we hadn’t practiced with. The Staffordshire gig went well though and then Edinburgh was good after.
Our biggest gig was at the festival the other week at the Japanese ‘Summersonic’ festival, we were on the bill the same day as Avril Lavigne and Green day so there were some big entourages about. Us and Razorlight were trying to get Avril’s mobile number but you couldn’t get near her.
On the songs
F: Are you fed up yet of playing the same songs that you have done now for several years? Is there a temptation to embellish the songs as you go or to try new material?
P: We still tweak things, play them vaguely differently. But yes it’s a bit dull when we do showcase gigs cause we just have to play the album tracks. But at our own gigs we can be more flexible with b-sides.
F: Done any covers?
P: No not really, Sam and Mike do a couple acoustically sometimes, like they did 'Beautiful' by Christina Aguilera on Radio1 the other week but changed the words to ‘You are criminal no matter what you say, you are criminal in every single way’. (click to hear it)
F: Are you getting any chance to write new material? What is the writing process?
P: We find is easy to write material when we do get the chance. The material on the first album was recorded when we weren’t in a recording studio so this time it will be a different. Sam might come up with something then we ad stuff, make changes and mess around. Try to make a noise like the end of the world and then try and make it even bigger, or make a more gentle racket.
F: Is the new guitarist fitting in well do you click with him creatively?
P: Yeah definitely he was a friend of ours anyway so he’s fitted right in.
On the fans & family
F: You have a growing website community. Sam posts on the message board regularly, you do spontaneous gigs and they are always quite intimate affairs. Last time I saw your brother and someone that looked like Anthony’s dad at the bar…Do you intentionally try to connect with your fans this way?
P: It makes it more personal, even by jumping up and down on stage, the projections behind us, the packaging on the CD it all adds to make the fans more involved.
F: Do you get any time to see family and friends and go home?
P: I live in Windsor now, moved there about 3 years ago, but when we play London now all our parents tend to make the trek from down south. With Mikes coming when we play in Liverpool.
On Himself
F: How long have you been playing bass for, can you play any other instruments?
P: I’ve never had bass lessons, its old lady and cats claw stuff. But I started when I was about 13 or 14 and was in my 1st band with Sam, then I joined Hope of the States in 2001. I was grade 5 trumpet when I was in primary school and used to play James Bond themes on it.
F: There is some trumpet on the album did you play that?
P: No, I think if I tried these days my cheeks would explode. I don’t have a trumpet anymore.
F: Other than playing bass, what other input do you have in the band, for example in The Monkeys Davey Jones was the joker, do you each have different roles that help support each other?
P: My role in the band…well people always make bassists out to be the moody quiet ones. Maybe they are, you have to catch us on the right day or after we have had enough booze…
The band is very democratic. Anthony and Mike are both quiet characters, you can have a conversation with Mike and not realise it. Sam is a strong character but he doesn’t overpower the band, we would all beat him up if he tried. I add the humour maybe, dunno...
On The lyrics
F: Lyrically Sam sings about empowering the people, is this a reaction to the sort of apathy you get in places like Chichester (where they come from), where people can get complacent and often don’t do anything to change anything.
P: Well I don’t think our music is affected by where we have come from, we would be making music like this wherever we came from. Our lyrics are ambiguous and songs contain heaps of lyrical references so its not easy to say one over powering influence. We want to kick against apathy for sure, tell people that their voices should be heard. But I must admit I like sitting in the garden and doing nothing.
On the stage visuals, style and the videos
F: You used to wear military jackets on stage, I saw you play at the Scala club and you put them on for the encore only and I haven’t seen them since. Was that symbolic?
P: We have discussed this quite a bit in the band, I quite like them they look cool. But in practicality they are bloody hot and really constricting to play in as they are cut really high under the arms. We would have to get stage versions made if we kept wearing them, or perhaps Roger Moore style tan safari jackets. They might make an appearance again sometime.
F: Have you been asked if you want a stylist? Are you into clothes and stuff?
P: We had a photo shoot with Kevin Westenberg who’s a really famous and amazing photographer. So we went shopping for some clothes for that with someone from our label. It was fun…
F: Did you all go together like a school trip to the museum with a head count at the tube station?
P: No we went in two groups of three to Camden and Portabello Road, with rolls of cash in those cylindrical money boxes around our necks.
F: Really?
P: No….I got loads of stuff in a shop called Merc, some suits, Landsale and Fred Perry stuff. Yeah I’m into clothes.
F: Your video backdrops on stage are really impressive, are they always going to be important?
P: Well we aren’t that interesting to look at so its cool that people have something to watch, I think we will continue to use them.
F: The new video for Nehemiah seemed to be a move away from their style were Type 2 error (the people that do all their visuals) involved?
P: Yes they filmed and conceived the whole thing, lots of sparks from angler grinders and stuff.
On the future
F: When will you get a chance to record the next album?
P: Hopefully we can tour the tits off this album, then go into the studio but its not going to be for quite a while.
F: How will the sound evolve?
P: Sam wants to play more electric guitar so it will probably be heavier.
F: Will Ken Thomas produce it again?
P: Who knows, he’s busy with Sigor Ros at the moment but he’s become a really mate of ours and has been to some gigs.
Finally some quick fire questions
F: Have you ever shop lifted, if so what did you get?
P: Nope, never had the urge or need
F: Who’s the biggest name celebrity type person you have met so far?
P: I met Ronnie the Asian DJ from Eastenders at the V festival. And Sanjay actually, he owns an internet company now.
F: What was the last record you bought?
P: We kind of just share stuff around now on our ipods, listening to 'Homesongs' by Adem lots.
F: Drink of choice?
P: Jack and coke, no wait, double Jack and coke…No wait, Apple Sharlotka which is Zubrowka Vodka and apple juice.
F: Thanks very much for the chat, good luck with the US tour
P: No problem, thanks
