You just released an album in August, ‘Finding It Hard To Smile’, how was your writing process for that?
Mitchy (vocals and guitar): The songs just kind of came out as they did. We kept writing until we felt the work was done. There was no absolute point to it, there was no “this is what I’m gonna do today” so it felt really natural in that sense
What is the main message that you tried to give with this album?
M: A lot of it touches on life stuff: struggles with depression, anxiety, life, heartbreak, the whole thing… Maybe helping people feel that they’re not alone in feeling like that.
You guys went on your own headline tour this summer in the U.S., how was that?
Jordan (guitar): Awesome! It was our first headline tour, so we didn’t really know what to expect but we kinda put everything into that show and the reception was awesome. To see all the people that were there for us, singing our lyrics every night was pretty amazing.
Any crazy stories from the tour?
J: Yeah, a bunch – I had a heel thrown at me once. That was pretty crazy! Every day is a pretty crazy experience when you’re touring because it’s a new venue, new show, different type of people you’re meeting, so the whole experience is pretty crazy in itself.
What was a typical day on tour like for you?
M: A lot of sleep-ins…
J: Yeah, depending on the day. Here it’s been wonderful because we’ve had time to go out and explore more different things but, in the U.S., we usually get up at maybe 9 or 10 in the morning and have interviews and radio all day, and then we have the show at night. Here we don’t have too much of that and we have a shoulder set because we’re supporting so we get to go out and see some of the stuff in the new countries we go to.
You guys just started going on tour here in Europe, supporting 5 Seconds of Summer on their ‘Meet You There’ tour, how is that going so far?
M: Good! We’re only two shows in, the first two shows were great in Glasgow. We’re excited we could be here in Manchester and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the tour has to offer us.
What song off your album is your favourite and which one do you like to perform live best?
M: ‘Broken’ is always fun to play because everyone gets involved – it’s just the one that is really getting popular. My favourite song is probably ‘Maybe…I’m Afraid’ or ‘Your Whatever.’
Sam (drums): ‘Anything’ is always my one to play live, we don’t do it unless it’s on our headline tour so it’s a bit more special, but my favourite on the album is ‘Everything I Could Never Say…To You’.
J: One of my favourites from the album is a song called ‘Walk From Here’. We also have a song off our EP called ‘Don’t Worry, You Will’ that we play live that I really, really enjoy that one.
Do you have any plans for after this tour?
J: We’re gonna sleep for about a week, and then we’re gonna go back out for more holiday shows in the U.S.
M: And hopefully come back here next year on our own headline tour – I think that would be a lot of fun.
Do you have any goals as a band for the future?
M: Just keep doing this.
S: To wake up and do this every day has always been my dream – this is just what we love to do and we’re so lucky to have the chance for this to be our career.
What are your biggest inspirations for music?
M: Just my life in general, I think – inspiration is just what you pull ideas and energies from. Musically speaking, we listen to everything from Drake to Bon Iver to The 1975, it’s pretty eclectic.
J: It’s kind of all over the spectrum. We love hip hop, i.e. Drake.
What are some of your favourite songs at the moment?
M: There’s that new Jon Bellion song I really like ‘Conversations With My Wife’ we’ve been replaying that a lot recently.
J: Mumford and Sons’ songs are usually really good as well.
M: ‘Guiding Light’, definitely!
S: Something off the new LANY album – we’re really into that recently too.
If you were to describe your music to someone who’s never heard it before what would you say?
M: Emotional and cinematic.
Tickets are still available for the remaining dates of LovelyTheBand’s tour dates supporting 5 Seconds of Summer, and their album ‘Finding It Hard To Smile’ is out now.
