Interview: Hundred Reasons

Remember Hundred Reasons? Well they are not exactly back, (they never left really) but they are on a UK tour right now - this time around, taking their own orders and getiing ready to embrace their next phase of music making.

I caught up with lead singer Colin at Newcastle Academy during the band's new tour promoting the re-release of their latest album Quick The Word, Sharp The Action. I found out that no matter what has happened to Hundred Reasons in the past, they know who they are and just want to make music.

Quick The Word, Sharp The Action has been produced by the band themselves since their record label was bought out and left them without label-less for the second time in their career. Self producing is not an issue to this band since their 2006 album Kill Your Own, which Colin claims is their best record, was produced by band member Larry. So with this new musical freedom and working on their own schedule, I asked how it all feels?

"It’s cool - it’s a good thing to do. The album didn’t get promoted enough the first time around so we’re happy about it coming out again, giving us a chance to get out on the road - and I think after this we are going to write some more material. We’re not rushing anything because we don’t have to now the label pressure is off. There are no time contraints on this record and I think we are just going to take our time now'.

Their 2002 single Silver reached number 15 in the UK singles chart and their first album reached number 6, with the band experiencing a lot of hype at the time. "We’re not going to say we weren’t happy when it happened. We didn’t expect to be that successful that quickly." Critics thought that that success would be relieved when the single The Perfect Gift was released, however it appears that that big mainstream success is not a key focus of the band:

"Songs can capture a moment. You can’t expect in your life to recapture a moment again, that’s why people know there isn’t really anything else but that song and that’s why people like it. We wouldn’t go out of our way to write anything like it again."

Seven years on from the released of their first album Ideas Above Your Station and they have a following of die-hard fans, a lot of whom have been there since the beginning and aren’t going anywhere. “We know that as a band we are not as big as we used to be when we started out, but we make music for them and hopefully that’s what our fans see. We’ve always been about the fans.”

One thing the fans love about Hundred Reasons is their live shows. Having seen the band several times , they never disappoint with their energy, passion for the music and talent on stage. With this tour their set list is eclectic, drawing from all their albums and even their EPs. "It’s kind of a silly thing really about going out and promoting a new album, when there is nothing wrong with the older stuff either. We kind of wanted to come out on this tour with songs that we all really wanted to play and that are what we are doing. It’s been almost a selfish set list. But I think the crowd will enjoy is more too. I really like playing Soapbox Rally again because we haven’t played that for a long time."

As far as festivals go this summer, you can catch them at a few, one of which being Slam Dunk in Leeds, headlined by mainstream favourites You Me at Six. "We’ll just come along and say hello to people we know. It’s like - you do any festival you don’t really have thoughts about it you just go and say ok I am going to play today - you don't really think about the other bands."

The line up is a mix of established bands with up and coming bands that are maybe not as well known in the UK. With the extensive growth in genres of music I wondered how Colin felt about this expansion. "Music is always going to expand and it is always going to go back to where it has always been with 70s rock 80s rock. The more bands the better, the more music out there the more people to enjoy it. There is a lot of competition and a lot of music out there, but people will constantly find new bands so the more the merrier."

On this note I had to wrap up my chat with him, pack up my journo note pad and get to the venue for that night's show. They didn’t disappoint one little bit.