Having taken a slight hiatus, mega pop-rockers Little Comets are back with a blazing new single, ‘HIJKL’, and a new tour, including dates at Sunderland’s Pop Recs. Damian Robinson caught up with band member Robert Coles to find out more about the single, album, and the band’s optimism for the future.
Congratulations on the new single ‘HIJKL’ – it’s excellent and is picking up some really good reviews. After a while away, why was now the time for new music? And what led the way for ‘HIJKL’ to come first?
Thanks. It’s nice to be back. Part of the challenge with the band is that we do everything ourselves and have done since we left Dirty Hit. That means there’s more to be done when it comes to releasing new music and it also means we can wait until we’re ready and have music we’re proud of. So, we’ve been doing other things, like building a studio, for a while, and then we did a small tour and felt we had the ability to work with each other on new music. Going into the process, we had about 30 songs that we were happy with and then we began the work of crafting them and seeing what was there.
‘HIJKL’ is really upbeat and catchy and kicks straight in with a riff…
Yeah, that was part of the reason we wanted it to come out early. I had the opening riff for that, and Micky worked on it, and the whole song came really quickly after that, which is always nice. Again, after we left Dirty Hit, we knew we wanted to reset a little and prove to ourselves and others that we could write great songs. ‘HIJKL’ feels like it’s where we want to be, both musically and in terms of ideas.
Was the main intention to write music you were happy with?
Yes, absolutely. Sometimes it can feel, especially without a label, that every time you give a little more, you can get a little less. And we’re not really confident people in terms of wanting to post and promote ourselves; that’s not really who we are. So, the thing we can control, and that makes us happiest, is focusing on the music. If we’re happy with that, then it’s most likely that we’ll be more confident talking to others about it and wanting to play it live.
With a new tour on the horizon, are you excited to play new music? ‘HIJKL’, in particular, sounds very intricate and difficult to replicate live…
It will be difficult, yes, but luckily that’s for Micky and the others to try and figure out, which they all really enjoy. We’ve just started the rehearsal schedule, so we’re beginning to work out what we’ll play, but so far, we’re happy with the way we’re going. This is one of the first times we won’t be using a promoter or agent, so we’re managing the whole tour ourselves, and we’re really happy with the ticket sales and that people seem to want to see us play. Again, that really helps give us confidence and a desire to play well and play new music well.
In terms of Pop Recs, is that one of your favourite venues to play?
It is. It’s a great venue and we know most of the gang really well, so that’s one of the shows we’re looking forward to playing the most. What they’ve done with the venue is amazing and it’s a credit to the North East for sure.
Little Comets play Pop Recs, Sunderland on Saturday 5th April. Tickets, priced at £24.00 in advance, are available from skiddle.com.
