Everyone Says Hi bandleader Nick Hodgson has spoken to Music Week about his band’s ’70s-inspired soft rock album, Funny Cos It’s True, as well as how the industry has changed since his early career days in the Kaiser Chiefs.
The multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and producer – who fronts the band comprising Pete Denton (formerly of The Kooks), Ben Gordon (formerly of The Dead 60s) and Glenn Moule of Howling Bells alongside guitarist Oli Swan – lets us in on the homespun nature of the group’s second album, which is released this Friday (October 9) via Chrysalis Records.
Hodgson, who began his musical journey as drummer and lead songwriter for Kaiser Chiefs before exiting the band in 2012, has revealed that Funny Cos It’s True “might be the best album I’ve ever been involved in”.
The band’s new album, which follows their 2024 self-titled effort, has been a labour of love crafted from the confines of Hodgson’s home studio in North London.
A lot of the good stuff used to happen when people were out and about and drunk
Nick Hodgson
“I love 10cc,” Hodgson said of some of the inspiration behind the LP. “And because they had their own studio, it was a bit like thinking, ‘Just go for it, record it, make it how you want.’”
The musician from Leeds also addressed the shifting tides of the industry that he’s been a part of since Kaiser Chiefs (formerly known as Runston Parva; then, Parva) began releasing music in the early ’00s.
Its biggest sea change, Hodgson said, is that people don’t “hang out” as much in person, which is what allows for good deals to be made. “You've got to be out there having fun,” he said, adding that he doesn’t believe that a band in today’s climate can break through as easily. Multiple emails sent back and forth between executives won't so easily cut it.
Read on to hear more about what Hodgson had to say, including why selling out shows is more important to him than chart success, why “old school A&R” remains king, and why he doesn’t think drumming in time matters too much…
How are you feeling about the release of your new album, Funny Cos It’s True?
“I’ve made so many records now – over the last 20-something years – that it gets to the point where, as soon as you finish, you want to move onto something new or get it out immediately. I probably finished it in March this year. Then, you’re in this little limbo where you don't really listen to it and you can't really move on. You’re desperate to get it out. It's cool, though. We’ve put singles out, there's lots of tasters out there, but you do want to get it out because then it's done; it’s born. It’s a classic line, but I genuinely think this might be the best album I’ve ever been involved in. It’s hard for me to express that and for it to be believed. It’d be great if people heard it.”
Specifically, I didn’t want to make this a perfect album – I don't believe in that
Nick Hodgson
Sonically, what can fans expect from this second album compared to your 2024 self-titled debut?
“It was all recorded in my home studio, which was a first. I've had the studio for around 10 years, which I’ve always written and recorded demos in. But when it came to a full band playing and making a record, it was in my head that you can't do that in your own house; you've got to go to certain studios. Anyway, the band convinced me to do it and it's been amazing. The sound is different, the room is smaller. The drum sound is my favourite I've ever recorded in this place – I love it. It's a really small space, with a ’70s feel. All the instruments are from the ’70s, I'm from the ’70s, ha-ha, and it’s a sort of soft rock sound of the ’70s. Artists of the time worshipped the studio. I felt like I wanted to spend hours and hours in the studio – especially so when it’s in your own home. And, specifically, I didn’t want to make it perfect because I don't believe in that.”
Tell us about the songwriting duties in Everyone Says Hi. Is it mainly you or do you co-write with the other bandmembers?
“It’s mainly me. I'll start by writing lots and lots of stuff – 90% of it eventually gets chucked – and then when I've got something I like, I'll make a demo, play it and show it to the band. Everyone just picks up on it from there. It's good. The band has a nice relationship; everyone is dead friendly. Like, our drummer, Glenn Moule, he's been Brandon Flowers’ live touring drummer. He performed on [The Tonight Show Starring] Jimmy Fallon recently. It was so nice that everyone in the group was messaging him to say how great he was on the show. And I was thinking that's quite rare because in my old band life it would always be like, ‘Grrrr, someone's doing something!’ It was mainly me feeling jealous.”
A lot of modern-day A&Rs think that they’ve got to tread so carefully
Nick Hodgson
Funny Cos It’s True is released via Chrysalis Records. What’s your relationship like with the team there?
“The main guy I work with is Jeremy Lascelles [CEO of Chrysalis Records & Blue Raincoat Music]. It’s so cool because he’s totally into music. I gave him a couple of demos from the first album and he wasn't too bothered at first. Then he listened again and thought they were good. It's hard trying to get a record deal at any point in your life, and then it gets even harder. A lot of people weren't interested, but he was just like, ‘Okay, I love these songs.’ You know, I almost got the feeling that it was a bit of a, ‘Damn, I wish they weren't this good!’ Jeremy is also an old school A&R. I'll send him demos of songs and he'll be like, ‘Okay, that needs to speed up,’ or, ‘That drum beat isn’t right for this.’ I love that. A lot of modern-day A&Rs think that they’ve got to tread so carefully. For me, personally, I'm not someone you have to tread that carefully with. I'd rather know.”
You’ve produced the album yourself again. Did you first flex those production chops when you were in Kaiser Chiefs? How did you learn?
“Yes, so the first Kaiser Chiefs single was produced by me and Peanut [Nick Baines – Kaiser Chiefs keyboardist]. It all started at school, on lunchtimes, you know, in a tiny broom cupboard which had a computer in it alongside an Atari and Cubase production software. I’ve since done my 10,000 hours of production! I really love producing other bands. My favourite was when I produced this album [Sitting Pretty] by The Academic. They had a major label budget and everything. It was amazing, with six weeks in the studio. It's one of my favourite things to do.”
As a multi-instrumentalist, a songwriter, a producer and a performer, you are quite the musical polymath...
“It’s all in the same bracket: music. I know where I'm at with music. I can't do maths and – even as a drummer – I couldn't keep time. When we played Oh My God in the Kaiser Chiefs, which was the last song every single night, I had to look at Peanut on my left hand side and he’d nod me in at points. I just had a lot of fun with it. Sometimes, if I wanted to speed things up a bit, I'd speed up. It's refreshing.”
Do you have hopes for charts or big streaming success with Funny Cos It’s True?
“I'd like to, it'd be cool. But my dream, really, is to play sold-out venues. All I'm after is to do whatever dates come in and sell them out – not even big venues. It's so brilliant when that happens. You turn up and you know that even if it's only 150 people, it’s cool. We haven’t done many gigs as a full band this year, especially because I've had a vocal problem, but one our last ones, I think, was in May in front of around 200 people in Winchester. It was just amazing.”
Are you happy to share more about the vocal problem? Is that going to affect future performances? You have upcoming in-store shows this month across the UK...
“Oh yeah, so I’ve had vocal surgery. After the album was done, around the beginning of July, I suddenly realised I couldn't sing. So right now I'm feeling like, ‘I hope I can sing in time for everything!’ I do about two hours of rehabilitation exercises a day. I'm getting there, but earlier in the summer I could barely talk. I had a polyp in front of my vocal cords, which is good because you can access them quite easily [in surgery], but it takes about a year to recover. We're going to see what happens, really. The live show will be a good time. Everyone can sing, which is good, so it's going to be a Crosby, Stills and Nash thing – or a Crosby, Stills and ESH thing!”
Broadening things out, what has changed in the industry since you first started releasing music some 25 years ago?
“One thing I miss is that people used to hang out a lot more. Managers used to hang out with journalists, and they'd hang out with people at the label. There’s a lot more sitting down at computers now. A lot of the good stuff used to happen when people were out and about and drunk, ha-ha. It was a lot more to do with socialising and personal relationships. That really got things moving much more quickly and much better than sending an email. You can’t break a band over email.”
Finally, any other reflections on how the industry has shifted?
“I saw something the other day that labels are now turning away from being so focused on TikTok and stuff, and moving towards looking at the live scene and attracting people to gigs. For a long time, it's been a false truism that if somebody has a big moment on TikTok, suddenly, it’s going to launch a career. A 15-second [snippet] that people get into is completely different to buying a ticket to a gig. If I was a new band now, I wouldn't be on Instagram or TikTok. I just wouldn't. If we were in Leeds, say, I'd build it out from gigs, with flyers and posters. I’d forget about the industry and build it as much as I could – doing a gig in Sheffield, then Manchester. I don’t know anyone young now – like aged 18, 19, 20, 22 – who doesn’t feel like putting out music in some way gets them down. If I was young, I'd just be like, ‘I'm going to be in a band and have some fun.’ Of course, I’d want to make it and be big, but I'm not going to get depressed by putting a song on Spotify and getting, like, five streams. I'm going to go out and build it.”
PHOTO: Stewart Baxter
