CelebMix Exclusive Interview - New Hope Club

New Hope Club – comprising of members Reece Bibby, Blake Richardson and George Smith – have certainly gone from strength to strength since their formation in 2015.

The trio released their debut EP ‘Welcome To The Club’ in 2017 and released their second EP, ‘Welcome To The Club, Part 2,’ earlier this year. Their original music is truly a testament to their phenomenal talents and sensational music abilities, both of which they have become renowned for.

Additionally, the band have supported artists such as The Vamps, Sabrina Carpenter and more. They held their debut headline shows in London’s Shepherd’s Bush earlier this year. The band are set to support The Vamps on their upcoming ‘Four Corners Tour’ throughout the UK & Ireland and also on their USA dates. Furthermore, New Hope Club have recently released their new Christmas single ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You,’ with a music video accompanying the track.

Our version of “All I Want For Christmas” is OUT NOW!!!!!! Hope this gets you in the Christmas spirit. ?????? https://t.co/jTZMG0tIf4 pic.twitter.com/sfnZN6LM8q

— New Hope Club (@NewHopeClub) December 14, 2018

New Hope Club recently partnered with the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and Blue Peter, encouraging and inspiring young people to consider engineering as a career. To do this, they asked people to submit designs for a music video that the winning entry would go on to make. You can watch the music video for the single below:

CelebMix had the opportunity to exclusively speak with George from New Hope Club about the music video for their new Christmas single, their new music, their plans for 2019 and much more. Keep reading to check out our exclusive interview!

CelebMix last spoke with you guys earlier this year, in April. What have you been up to since we last spoke?

“We toured the whole of the UK on The Vamps tour. They did their arena tour – we’ve supported them a few times. From there, we went on to Europe, which was great. The last time we played in Europe was in Germany, which was last year. It was really fun, we went to loads of places that we haven’t been before, so that was great. Then, we had a summer where we played festivals on the weekend. We were at each other’s houses during the week, doing covers and stuff and then at the weekend, we were playing at festivals. We actually went to Málaga (Spain), which was really cool. We played this set in Málaga and it was quite a weird one, because we were the only band really. There were all these DJ sets and then we came on. It was really fun actually! We then went on the US tour with The Vamps boys this year, which was great. We did the Sabrina Carpenter tour last year, so we got to revisit a lot of the places that we went to. We played Shepherd’s Bush (London), which is the highlight of the year. We did our own headline gig, which was amazing, when we sold out Shepherd’s Bush. I think that was the peak – that was great!” 

You’ve partnered with the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and Blue Peter to encourage young people to consider engineering as a career choice. You asked people to submit designs for a music video that the winner would go on to make. How did you choose the winning video?

“We loved what Dotty did – she was great. We love getting involved with our fans and making them be a part of us. We love getting our fans involved with what we do and we loved what Dotty did. She actually managed to incorporate herself into the video, which was great. She lifted up a little picture and then she was there in front of us while we were playing just to her, sort of like a dream thing. We loved the whole idea of that. Having her involved in the video was great for us, because we’ve had our fans there being a part of it, but we’ve never had just one fan be a part of the video. We loved her idea! Loads of people had great ideas actually – it was very hard to choose a winner, but we did love Dotty’s idea. It was all very Christmassy – I mean, you can’t go wrong with a Christmas song and a very Christmas video, can you?!” 

Was it a different process filming this music video, compared to when you have filmed music videos in the past?

“I suppose yes, it was quite different, because obviously we’d never really been bossed around by someone younger than us, but I think it was definitely a great experience. She was very comfortable and she knew what she wanted, which is obviously great for the Director, because it’s their vision. She saw what she wanted and she told us how to do it. She gives very good direction. As I said, she seemed very comfortable. It was different because we don’t really have a lot of time where we talk to the Director. Obviously, we do talk to them, but she was in our Dressing Room and we were talking about what she wanted to do in the future and stuff. It was very interesting to hear. She even plays guitar and sings. She picked up her guitar and started playing a little bit, which was great. We got to see that side of her, which was amazing, for such a young girl as well – she is so good! She was very confident, so yes, very fun.” 

What have you got planned for the remainder of 2018 and for 2019?

“I’m excited for Christmas and the release of the song. It’s a lot of fun, because we did ‘Perfect’ by Ed Sheeran and we released that earlier this year. We released our own Christmas song last year, but it’s good to get another one out. Next year, we are going back on tour with The Vamps boys. Hopefully we’re going to Asia pretty soon, in the next year. We’ve got some pretty cool things lined up – we’ll keep that one wrapped up! We are looking forward to next year. I think 2019 is going to be a lot of fun for us and our fans. We’re going to just keep doing what we’ve been doing – we’re going to keep releasing music, keep touring, keep doing our own covers and stuff like that, just having fun, more of it!” 

Whenever you guys are writing music, do you write together or do you write separately, come up with our own ideas and then come back together?

“Before the band, we were all writing on our own. We can write both on our own and together. Most of the time we are together. We’re always on tour or busy doing something, but we’re all in the same room, so we experience a lot of the same things. We do write a lot together, which is great fun and we come up with some really good songs. ‘Karma’ from our new EP was written in a weird place actually. We were on a plane coming back from Germany and we came up with the idea of it. We started writing it and we got off the plane and we were going back to Blake’s house and we wrote the rest of it on the train, which is a very strange place to write it, but it’s a cool story, I suppose! Blake started producing it on the train and then we did a demo of it the next day and then that was ‘Karma,’ which is really cool. We can write all together, which is where we get a lot of our better songs, because you’ve got different opinions and different ways of approaching different topics, so it’s always good to have someone else’s take on something, because you can be so set on an idea if it’s just you writing – you can be so set on something – and then fresh ears can hear it completely differently and be like ‘you need to change that, you need to do this.””

You’ve mentioned the release of your new EP, ‘Welcome To The Club, Part 2.’ What has it been like for you to release new music?

“It’s been amazing. We love releasing new songs. I think our favourite thing to do is release a song that no-one’s ever heard before. If we play it live beforehand, which we’ve done a lot of the time with a few of our songs and then we release it, people know the song already, which is obviously great because then they get the studio version, which loads of our fans ask for. It’s amazing to release a song that no-one’s ever heard before and then they click on it for the first time. They have no idea what it’s going to sound like, which is what we did with ‘Karma’ – they had no idea and then they heard it and it got a really good reaction, they seemed to love that song. It’s really cool to hear what people think of the songs we’ve written and how they relate to it in different ways and the same way which we do. It’s amazing to see what it’s like when it’s out. We haven’t really released that many songs, we haven’t released an album yet. If we keep releasing a selection of songs, fans get to see what we’re doing and keep updated with the types of music that we’re making. It’s really fun for us to release new stuff. We are definitely going to keep that up in the new year, especially with the Christmas song out now. We love releasing new songs – it’s great.”

What’s your favourite aspect of touring?

“I love going out and seeing all of our fans. Meet & Greets are good fun, because we get to see all the people that have followed us online. I’m going to relate it back to Shepherd’s Bush – it was so surreal, because loads of people travel to see us and it’s very weird seeing people who like your tweets or pictures, stood in front of you, because they’ve followed you online for so long and then all the people that support you are stood in front of you because they’ve got tickets to your show. It’s very humbling and it’s great. It’s so cool. Playing the shows is amazing as well and playing new songs, just having the reaction from fans when they scream and when you run out – it’s completely different to anything else I’ve ever experienced.”

As a band, who are your musical influences? 

“Our biggest inspiration as a band is The Beatles – we love The Beatles, in my opinion, they’re the best band ever, they’re so good. We take a lot of old influences – such as The Beatles and stuff like that, but we also take newer artists such as Shawn Mendes, for example. We love the stuff that he’s making at the moment. We love bands and artists that write their own stuff, because that’s them. That’s their rawness in a way. It’s portraying their feelings at a time or what they want to say to everyone. It’s good to know what they’re thinking and that’s what we do – we write songs based on how we’re feeling at a time and it’s good to hear what other people are doing as well, especially if they write their own stuff.” 

New Hope Club have been together for a couple of years now. What’s the best memory you three have together? 

“One of the most memorable experiences has been Shepherd’s Bush. I think the first time we ever played as a band was at The Vamps gig in Birmingham, in front of like 15,000 people. That’s one of those experiences that I don’t think anything’s ever going to take away from that – the first ever show as a band. Releasing our first EP was great.” 

What is one thing that as a band you would like to achieve together in the future?

“If we could do our own headline tour and if that could be sold out, that would be incredible, but just to be able to go round on our own, in our little tour bus, all together as a little family, all five of us – including our Tour Manager and Photographer – that would be great fun, going round and see our fans around the UK, Europe and maybe America. I think it would just be insane to go out and play, basically what we did at Shepherd’s Bush, but a little bit longer and on the road. That’s the dream – to tour and put an album out. There’s so much stuff – it’s just ridiculous!” 

Finally, do you have a message for your fans?

“They’ve been amazing. Thank you for everything you’ve done for us so far. We’re going to keep doing stuff. I’m sure we’ll see you all very, very soon. We love you lots and keep being supportive online and in person. The Club keeps growing every day – keep being you. BE YOU!” 

You can buy ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’ from iTunes by clicking here. The track can also be streamed on Spotify through the link below and is also available to purchase through other responsible music purchasing outlets.

Have you seen New Hope Club live this year? Are you as excited as we are here at CelebMix to hear more original music from them? Make sure you tweet us and let us know: @CelebMix.

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