Only The Poets charismatic frontman Tommy Longhurst sat down with us for a chat covering the album launch and why honest conversations about mental health are such a key part of the band. Also, have they had the Reading Festival phone call yet?
Reading Indie Life: You’ve been together for nearly nine years and have put out a lot of singles and EPs during that time. Why was now the right time for the debut album?
Tommy Longhurst: I think, like we just, we did so much learning. We were really young when we started and I guess we never wanted to sit around the table and just be like, we’re writing the album now. We don’t have any regrets over anything we’ve created. But we’re just such a different band than we were, you know, that long ago. It just felt like now we had landed on a real sonic and sound that we’re really proud of. Late on in 2024, early 2025, we had a real selection of songs that just felt like the truest representation of what we wanted to be, what we wanted to say. We went through quite a lot as people mate, and it informed a really honest album. And then we were like, well, let’s do this now. I’m so glad we waited because we are genuinely so proud of what we’ve made. You know, I think it’s, it’s surpassed our expectation just on like so many levels, we never thought we’d have an album that would sound this way. And yeah, I think we’ve really got to the point where it just felt right.
What’s the single thing you are most proud of about the album?
Oh, I just think it’s the most honest we’ve been and the most vulnerable we’ve been. We’ve always, we don’t write from a place of like… we don’t do fiction. We pen our thoughts on paper and we have open conversations. As four males that are real advocates for mental health awareness, there’s the whole taboo… it is breaking. But like that whole, you know, men don’t talk enough. And I feel as four lads being really honest and, and open in music, it is great. And it’s so well received by our amazing fans. And yeah, I think I’m most proud of the fact that we just wrote about exactly how we were feeling around this period. It’s the most honest we’ve ever been and I think we can be proud of that. And then on the plus side, it’s wrapped in sonic and the production is exciting and I think really kind of pulls the emotion out more on a lot of the record. There’s a little bit of fun on it. There’s only two ballads. It’s all quite up uplifting.
If there was one message you wanted listeners to take away from the album, what would that be?
We’re all human. We’re all human. It’s about how you navigate through life really, and through different scenarios, because obviously, “And I’d Do It Again” is the title. The message behind that was like, no, everything happens for a reason and we wouldn’t change anything, even the highs and the lows. And I think being in this band for so long now has really kind of impacted personal relationships and things. And we’ve been through real kind of lows and highs together. It’s just all about how you kind of navigate through life emotionally and through quite universal things like the breakdown of relationships, finding new relationships, self-sabotage, regret, you know, all that’s intertwined within. So yeah, it’s an emotive roller coaster.
‘Emotionally Hungover’ has really connected with people, it was a really understandable concept. When did that idea, or that phrase, come to you?
A lot of time when I’m travelling, like on the tube and on trains and things I do a lot of thinking and I, I do this thing where I write a bunch of song titles down all the time. If I had a thing that comes to my mind that I think could be a good song title, that would pull on an emotion of mine, I’d write it down. And I had ‘Emotionally Hungover’ in my notes app. I remember just going through a bit of a rough period, and when I went to the studio, I just said to the lads, “I’m just feeling emotionally hungover.” And everyone was like, “Oh, I haven’t really heard that saying.” What’s incredible, mate, is there’s not a single song, EP, or album with that title, yet it makes perfect sense. Right? So, I think people have taken with it because everyone’s felt that way and it’s a universal concept. It’s just all about the fact that it’s hard, it’s hard to pull yourself out of that sometimes, you know, and it can really make you feel rubbish. So yeah, I think again, that’s quite an honest track. And our fans seem to love the ones that really make them feel.
You’ve evolved quite a lot from your early days. How do you describe yourself as a band right now?
I wouldn’t really say the album’s very indie pop. I think we’ve landed on, like, quite an alternative pop album. We’re a band at our core, you know, people come and see the live show. It’s a band. We grew up loving Oasis, Biffy, 2 Door Cinema Club, Bombay Bicycle Club, Foo Fighters, Foals, you name it. They made us want to pick up instruments. But there’s also like 80s influences, you know, like The Police, Prince, we love all that stuff. War on Drugs, The Cure and then you fast forward to now and we’re just great lovers of pop music and I think pop music last year had a really good year. Then there’s an artist called Dijon, and Mk.gee, that the two guys in the band that produced the album (Clem and Marcus) are really inspired by. I just think we’re at a place now where we’ve found quite a unique sound because it’s big anthemic pop songs, but we’re a band at our core. But then there’s also quite interesting production. I’d say we’re probably at the most unique point we’ve ever been, which I think is really nice. I think it’s quite hard to for us to be compared to too many bands right now. I mean that’s what we feel. I thought we’re doing something a little bit unique.
You have done a lot of UK gigs, but you also do a lot of touring around Europe and the USA. It feels like you have done a lot more than many British bands do. How important is going beyond the UK to you?
I mean, everyone wants to break America, don’t they? I mean, that’s like a thing. Don’t get me wrong, we’re in a privileged position in the fact that we are on a major record label. So, we’re afforded opportunities to go. Our amazing US label Republic, who are under the UMG (Universal Music Group) umbrella, they’re an amazing label and they’ve done so much for us and helped us really kind of start to span out there and build an audience. What’s so fascinating mate, when you go to Europe and the US, the crowds are so different as well. It’s so interesting. I do think sometimes people get just a little bit obsessed with just what’s happening in the UK. So, I would encourage anyone, especially Europe, you know, if you ever get the opportunity, just go out there because they love music, man. Like they love music. Our biggest market is Germany. And people say to me, oh, really like, why? I’m like, because their, their radio landscape’s so brilliant. They, they have like ten stations. I mean, do you know that they’re the second biggest radio market? Like outside the US, it’s Germany second. It’s huge out there. And if people ever get an opportunity to and, and obviously can afford to do that, go and, and branch out because they love English bands as well in places…In the US, you’ve only got to say hello to people and they like you, you know what I mean? What I will say about the US is wow, lovely people. And they are really attentive. There’s not many phones. We love that. We just did a tour with The Wombats, who inspired us. So that was really special. And we did 20 shows around the US and Canada and everyone was just locked in. It was really refreshing. So yeah, we encourage people, if they ever get the opportunity to, to try and do that.
You’ve had these very high-profile support slots, you just mentioned The Wombats and you have also supported Yungblud. What have you learned touring with big established household names?
It definitely is inspiring to watch how good they all are. And then you go, well, that’s it. It gives you a fire in your belly to want to be the best you can be. For me watching Dom, Yungblud, perform was just remarkable. I just couldn’t believe the energy. Well, I could, but like seeing it in the flesh, because I hadn’t seen him live before I was like, wow, that’s how good you’ve got to be. But the greatest thing, I think Lewis Capaldi as well, like what he said to us, along with Louis Tomlinson, along with Dom, we supported Bastille, obviously Murph and the lads from The Wombats… all the advice has always been just to make the music you love and everything will follow. Like, try not to listen to too much background noise and things and just stay true to what you do, because I think people nowadays can sniff out if you’re not doing something you truly believe in. And, also mate, they’ve all just lovely people. And it’s clear there’s like a running theme. People obviously want the good people to win, right? The nicest people we’ve met in this industry have been the biggest artists in the world.
Your £1 Brixton Academy gig clearly captured a lot of headlines. Why was offering tickets for that price so important to you?
Because music should be accessible and it is my firm belief that it shouldn’t be a luxury. We’re in a real scary place where we’re in a cost-of-living crisis and that’s really hard. But I think music, we can control that and it doesn’t need to go astronomical with things like that, you know. For young people, and this is why we’re doing this battle of the bands thing as well, we were inspired in Reading because there were so many great nights at The Facebar that were like £2. You got to see four bands and we understand and we know as musicians that those early days of going to see artists really give you that, that amazing influence and makes you want to go and do it. So we just want to start a conversation that’s much bigger than we are really. And I mean, what’s great is Brixton has always been like the destination for us and, and the thing that we’ve wanted to do more than any venue ever. So, the fact that it’s twinned with such a great message that’s been so well received has been really, really amazing, because we wanted it to be, to be well covered, but we never thought it would get this much exposure.
It costs a lot of money to stage a big gig, so surely you must be taking some sort of financial hit over this?
Yeah, but again, we’re in a privileged position to be able to do it. And we are aware of that. But again, it’s not about that. It’s about, you know, beyond the show. Hopefully if we can start that conversation and encourage more people to maybe do, to do something similar. Yeah, that’s kind of where we’re at really mate.
Does it need a conversation around fees as well? The ticket cost was £1. The fees were £5 or £6. When you put a gig ticket in the basket at the moment you then wonder how much is going to get whacked onto it. Where do you sit on fees?
Yeah, to be fair ours only ended up being £4. But what’s really nice is a pound of that was actually a donation to the Live Music Trust, which is for grassroots music venues, which again, is something that we feel really passionately about. For us, it was just about, you know, raising that conversation on mass. And because the BBC have covered it, and so many news outlets and on the Internet. It’s been great man. I’ve had messages from people that I haven’t spoken to in years that have like just been like, “By the way, I think that’s really great what you’re doing.” Do you know what I mean? So, it’s putting it into people’s brains. Like it is actually really expensive now to go see an artist. Some artists like Sam Fender, he donated some prize money away (the £ 25,000 Mercury Music Prize to the Music Venue Trust). So, there are massive bands that are doing it as well. I think the more we can talk about it, the more we can try and help.
You just alluded to the Battle of the Bands on the 31st of January at the Purple Turtle. Could you talk us through what’s going to happen there?
Yeah, so we basically wanted an unsigned artist to support us because we just really wanted to give a young up and coming band, or artist, a real amazing opportunity in Brixton. And doing it in Reading felt really fitting. Doing it at the Purple Turtle where we played our very first show. I think we played the Purple Turtle ten Times Now. And the reason why we wanted to cut it down to five is because even if you know that we’re going to pick the five bands that we like the most, and even if only one can support, which is a shame, but that show sold out in like 30 seconds. It’s going to be a full room. They’re going to all play in front of a lot of people. So, they’ll all walk away with audiences and it’s just about giving a, a young and new band an exciting opportunity that we would have loved something like that early on. And the response to that has been bonkers.
How many bands have you had apply?
Eight hundred.
Wow.
We’ve got a lot of new music to listen to this weekend, mate!
That’s crazy. So, other than the Battle of the Bands and the gig at 3Sixty, what other things are going on?
We’ve got the Battle of the Bands, we’re doing a little thirty minute slot at Purple Turtle. Then obviously we’re going to 3Sixty. So, the day the album comes out, we’re doing a Manchester show, which is going to be fun. We’re very busy around the record. We’re doing a bunch of signings because we love people can buy the CD or vinyl and get it signed by us, which is always really fun to go to and chat to everyone. I’m going to have to be mindful of my voice because if I’m talking, talking, talking, talking for five to six hours, I might lose my voice. So, I need to be a bit careful. And then Sunday we’re, we’ve got a relatively quieter day. We’re going to Southampton for a signing for a couple of hours. And obviously it’s the big Brixton show and then we’re doing like a full album playthrough in Berlin and Cologne as well later on that week, which will be fun. I think it’s like two weeks of non-stop work, but it’s not really work, man. It feels like we’re living our dream. We’re just really living in it right now and trying to enjoy it while it’s here. Because you only get your debut album week once.
You are locals and big fans of Reading Festival. What are the chances of seeing you at the festival this year?
Oh, don’t know yet mate, we’ll have to see. Haven’t had a call yet, but maybe with all this stuff going on, they might go. “Oh, I’ll put them on”. I’d love to, I’d love to, I’d love to, love to play Reading Festival this year. It would be so fitting. It would make perfect sense. But the football club have been amazing with us. We’re doing loads with the football club, like I’m a huge Reading football fan and have been for my whole life. And to be doing things with them is… the little guy in me, he’s like jumping up and down, because music and football are great that they sort of intertwine so well. So yeah, they’re doing loads. But yeah, I mean, if we can get Reading Festival in the summer, it would be unbelievable.
As a Reading Festival fan, what’s your top Reading Festival memory?
Oh, there’s, there’s a few. We’ve been lucky enough to play it three times. It’ll have to be summer of 2024 because we played on the Festival Republic stage and we’d only ever done the BBC Introducing Stage and then we walked out to like a full tent of 3000 people, and it was just remarkable. And I think, yeah, that’s something I’ll never forget. I’m going to cheat and give you another one. In 2018 when we did the Introducing Stage for the first time. And I looked, because where the Introducing Stage was then, I don’t know if it’s changed now. It literally was like right in the middle where you could see the Main Stage. And I remember walking out and looking out and being like we, all four of us used to come to this festival when we were like from the age of sixteen and, and we’re now playing where we, where we used to go… because Reading Festival really was why we started the band. It’s like having that festival so close to your doorstep and seeing all those amazing artists is really inspiring as a young musician. So yeah, I gave you two there mate, but Reading Festival will forever be the place, it’s why Only The Poets are Only The Poets. It inspired me.
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