Exclusive Interview: In Hindsight Talk Touring And New EP 'You Want Me'
In support of their incredible new EP 'You Want Me', In Hindsight hit the road last week for a special UK tour. They played shows in five different cities and we spoke with the boys backstage before their concert in Manchester!
In Hindsight is made up of three talented guys and it's clear that there's a great chemistry in the band. Michael Newcombe plays bass and is the lead singer, Daniel Newcombe works his magic on the drums and Isaac Anderson is responsible for rocking out on the guitar.
With a name inspired by The Inbetweeners and musical influences ranging from Chris Brown to Busted, In Hindsight are definitely a band with a difference. Their unique sound and handsome good looks has gained the boys a legion of fans who have a limitless amount of love for them. Michael, Isaac and Dan certainly know how to entertain a crowd.
In our exclusive interview, In Hindsight spoke about: recording their new EP, their dream collaborations and much more. Check out their answers to our questions below!
For people who haven't yet heard your music, how would you describe your sound?
Michael: “I would describe it as pop/R&B songs influenced by a little bit of hip-hop in places but played in a rock band.”
Dan: “It's a lot of genres but yeah, we hopefully pull it off.”
Isaac: “I think it covers a lot bases personally.”
You’ve just released your new EP 'You Want Me' - how does it feel to finally put the songs out to your fans?
Michael: “Obviously it's been a long time coming for us. We wrote the songs ages ago and then demoed them, recorded them and then we mixed them so it's kind of relieving to finally get them out I'd say because now the fans can finally hear them in full and get to know the words. It's just in time for the tour. I guess tonight’s crowd will have had not very long to learn it all.”
Dan: “They've responded to it really well though. A lot of people have been tweeting their favourite song and learning the lyrics so hopefully they'll all be singing tonight. I'll be impressed if they know all of the words.”
Isaac: “I think it's really good. I think, personally, it's our best collection of songs we've ever done. It's really good to have that out in the open for people to just enjoy really.”
Michael: “Yeah, to get a taste of what we're about. If they've never heard us, it's an up to date representation of our sound.”
How would you say it's different to your previous releases?
Isaac: “I'd say it's probably more poppy.”
Dan: “More mature as well, it's sort of more defined.”
Michael: “We've learnt a lot more about how to write a song and a lot more about melodies. It’s a bit more poppy in terms of genre I'd say.”
Isaac: “I think it covers more bases as well. It's a bit more experimental in some places. We weren't scared to push the boat out a bit and use more keys.”
Michael: “Yeah, we rap in places which we haven't done before.”
Like you said, you rap on 'Limitless Love'. Can we expect to hear more rap from you in the future?
Michael: “I hope so, I'm a big fan of rap. Rick Ross is playing at Manchester Academy 1 tonight.”
Isaac: “Yeah, we're not going to be on stage tonight. We're just going to be watching Rick Ross.” (*laughs*)
Michael: “I'm influenced by quite a lot of hip-hop so when we were writing songs for this, it kind of came naturally for me to put some raps in. I mean there's a chance our next batch of songs, our next release, will have more rap but who knows?”
Dan: “There's a chance that we'll be rapping tonight on stage as well.”
What's the process behind making an In Hindsight song? Do you usually write lyrics first or start with the beat?
Michael: “I think it kind of depends how we sit down to do the song. There’s times where it'll be just the piano and vocals and we just kind of think of some cool chords and go from there. There'll be times where we'll be travelling a lot, which we've been doing a lot of this year, and I'll be on my notebook writing down lyrics. Mostly, it'll come from an idea a lot of the time or a vision of how we want a song to sound and then we'll kind of start trying to put that into melody and put that into chords.”
Dan: “The time it takes from initial idea to completion varies quite a lot. There's been tracks that we've come up with in a day or something like that and others that we'll have to battle with for quite a while to get what we want out of it.”
Isaac: “Yeah, we're really happy with the EP. Some songs I think go through a lot of different stages. I think there's a couple of songs on the EP that started out very different from how they are at the moment.”
Michael: “It's cool to think that some of our songs we will have just literally written in Dan's bedroom or in a car or something but now they’re being heard by people in these huge venues. We get to see the crowd singing along to them which is amazing. We love that.”
We love the title track 'You Want Me' and would say that it's got a very unique sound - where did the idea to feature sirens come from?
Michael: “I've got to give credit to the producer Kieran Marshall on those sirens. We knew we wanted the track to sound quite bad boy with a kind of hip-hop vibe. That’s how it started out, with a 90's hip-hop beat, which we then kind of turned into a more rocky sound. Yeah, he just sent us some mixes back of the song. He put the sirens in with this big sub-bass and we were feeling it. I’ve got to give him credit for that one.”
Isaac: “That song kind of started as a little bit of a joke. I’ve actually got a recording on my phone of the very first time that we jammed it through and it was just sort of a bit of a laugh shouting the lyrics and stuff. But then it actually turned into the lead-single off the EP.”
Michael: “We’re a bunch of jokers a lot of the time, behind the scenes, so I’m glad that’s come through.”
Can you tell us any funny stories from on the road?
All: *laughs*
Michael: “There’s been a lot, I don’t know if they’re appropriate.”
Dan: “We spend sort of all our lives with each other so in order to prevent each other from going crazy we kind of have to make up these new characters. We put on different voices and sort of different hats.”
Isaac: “I’m usually stuck with the performing monkey. An event will happen and that will transpire to this whole scenario and a character with a back-story.”
Dan: “Our imaginations kind of take it a bit too far.”
Michael: “We’ll probably make a cartoon or something some day.”
Isaac: “Or seek a therapist” (*laughs*)
Michael: "We had this really serious day where we were talking and saying 'Isaac, you should do this sketch show.'”
Isaac: “It hasn’t happened yet but it might do one day.”
Michael: “We reckon Isaac’s got a future in cartoons.”
Dan: “Or a future in comedy.”
Isaac: “Well when the band has run it’s course, maybe. Who knows?”
And 'Black & White' is all about the feelings of a relationship in relation to colour - do you write most of your songs from personal experiences?
Michael: “Yeah. With ‘Black & White’, funnily enough, the idea behind the lyrics is that being away from somebody it’s not the same. There was a time where we were doing a tour for a long time. Last year, we were visiting a lot of schools but it was just me and Isaac. Daniel wasn’t there so I was missing Dan and the lyrics first started out coming from that kind of thought of me missing Daniel. It started out being about friendship and we twisted the lyrics a bit to make it about a girl. I think some of the songs do come from personal emotion or a lot of the time it could just be something that sounds cool as well, maybe a cool title idea or a cool concept. I think it’s easier when it comes from the heart.”
Isaac: “I know with ‘Limitless Love’ - I think the title came first, the lyrics were built around it.”
As you said, you’ve recently been going into schools to help talk tackle bullying - can you tell us more about that?
Michael: “We did a presentation on anti-bullying online because it is a big problem and it happens a lot - especially on things like Twitter and Instagram. People will take digs at each other.”
Dan: “We see it a lot and we got a chance to team up with this really great charity that helped us out and put us in those schools which was fun for us. Then we sort of educated them a little bit and told them to be nice to each other online.”
Isaac: “It’s not hard really, is it? With the schools thing, we did a bit of it and it really helped build our fanbase which was cool.”
You're doing some more Secret Sessions around the country in July - how would you compare those to the tour that you're on now?
Michael: “They’re more relaxed. When we do our big tours, we put a lot of effort into rehearsal and the planning of the stage show. We take it very seriously. When it’s Secret Sessions, it’s more kind of: laid-back, chilling out with the fans and having a laugh with them. We still take the music seriously obviously but it’s a lot more of a relaxed chilled out atmosphere.”
Dan: “It’s a meet and greet session rather than a ‘we’re here, watch us play’ kind of thing.”
Isaac: “It’s interactive. It’s not like ‘the band is here, the audience is here’. It’s more like the two intertwined.”
Dan: “We get to know the fans a bit better and they get to know us. It’s cool.”
Isaac: “It’s often less than 100 people at each one which is cool because you have time to know everyone in the venue instead of just being like a sea of faces.”
Who would you say some of your biggest musical influences are?
Michael: “I’d say for me, I like a lot of R&B singers. Chris Brown is an all-time favourite. Michael Jackson - I love his new album ‘Escape’ and think it’s really cool how he actually made it when he was dead. It’s a bit impressive. I like a lot of different stuff.”
Isaac: “For me, I was sort of raised on rock really. The first band I properly got into was Busted and the fact that they played guitars sort of made me want to learn guitar. Then I discovered Nirvana, Green Day and the Foo Fighters. I’m still into that kind of stuff but I’m into a lot of pop stuff as well like Taylor Swift - I’m really into her. She’s a great songwriter and I love the new album. ‘1989’ is fantastic.”
Dan: “Mine’s always changing. Today, I’m really into a soul singer called D’Angelo. He’s basically this cool singer, I don’t know if he’s still around actually. He took this big hiatus, I think he’s doing a comeback tour at the moment but he’s made some great music and the musicians that work with him are really talented. It’s good to listen to that and learn from it.”
Who would some of your dream collaborations be then? Would it be Chris Brown, Taylor Swift and D’Angelo?
Michael: “Yeah, I think so. One of my dream collaborations is Dappy who used to be in N-Dubz. I’ve heard some of his solo songs and they’re bangers. He doesn’t mess about, they’re just these big tunes and I think he’d be a good person to work with. He raps as well.”
Isaac: “With a rapper would be quite interesting. I think Pharrell would be really cool because he’s sort of behind the scenes very sneakily helped build pop music over the last 10 years. Most great songs have got Pharrell somewhere in the credits, he’s got something special.”
What does the rest of 2015 have for In Hindsight?
Michael: “We honestly don’t know yet. We need to smash this tour and move onto it after that. We’re writing more songs so we’re definitely going to be coming out with some more music.”
Isaac: “Maybe another tour before the end of the year, who knows? It’s up in the air at the moment so we’ll see how it goes.”
And if you could leave a message for everyone who's supported you on your journey so far, what would you say?
Michael: “I’d say thank you for sticking with us. From when we first started to now, it’s been a journey for us and thanks to everyone. No matter when you came along to see us, we appreciate everybody.”
Isaac: “Without people in the venues, it wouldn’t be fun at all so thank you.”
Dan: “We’re really grateful for sure.”
You can purchase In Hindsight's brand new EP 'You Want Me' here on iTunes alongside the band's previous releases. We're particularly loving 'Black & White' at the moment and 'Dangerous' is still a personal favourite here at SuprTickets. The group's discography definitely features a great variety of different sounds.
Don't worry if you missed seeing In Hindsight on tour last week - the boys will also be heading out for some intimate shows in July so make sure you grab tickets while you can. The future is certainly looking bright for In Hindsight so keep them on your radar. We can't wait to hear more new music from the band but until then, we're over and out.
