‘Everyday Sidekicks has always been a strange name to people, but to us it’s just a representation of the little guy.
‘We wanted our music to relate to everyone in some way and we feel everyone can relate to the Sidekick in a comic book: never quite being the hero but you’re always there when you are needed, standing by through thick and thin, no matter how tough the road ahead can get,’
says Archie Hatfield, vocalist of the Bristolian quartet Everyday Sidekicks. Today announcing their forthcoming sophomore EP Hope, due for self-release on 31st March, Everyday Sidekicks reveal the source of the title runs deep: ‘Hope to us is a hugely important factor in life.
‘You constantly have obstacles thrown at you that you need to overcome, times change and sometimes it’s not always good things that come your way.
‘Without Hope for things to get better, life can get on top of you.’
Completed by Guitarist Tim Brown, Bassist Sam Hughes and Drummer Mat Capper, the post-hardcore crew have unleashed their first glimmer of hope in the form of video single Fracture here. ‘Fracture is about the way image effects the music industry.
‘A lot of bands careers can be made by image alone and we feel it’s a big insult to smaller bands that work hard and have good music, that haven’t been given a shot due to them not being marketable enough.
‘We felt Fracture was a good lead single as it showcased our new style of music. It’s a lot more riff based than our previous releases and shows a lot more energy.’
Recorded at Monnow Valley Studios with Tom Manning, the band feel Hope is a huge jump from prior EP The Things I’ve Seen, the release of which led to them sharing the stage with the likes of Marmozets, Slaves (UK) and Coldrain. Progression comes not only in songwriting ability but en masse, at least in part thanks to the sheer passion of their producer: ‘He pushed us to play better and really put in the effort, so that we feel now that a big part of our sound has actually come from working with him.
‘He likes to make things a lot less over produced and more stripped back and raw, which we are really starting to dig in our sound.’
Themeatically the band are attempting to avoid becoming ‘a one trick pony’ and so keep things diverse, with Hope spanning topics from heartbreak to the state of the world. Suppleness doesn’t end at the lyrics either – although they can be currently best typified as post-hardcore – the band reveal ‘our sound is a lot more flexible than most artists in our local scene and for our future releases, as we combine several different styles of music. We aim to create our own sound as much as possible, but you can always tell hints of our influences in our music, such as A Day To Remember and Beartooth.
‘We like to think of ourselves as a blend of teeth gritting hardcore mixed with the pop punk roots that we all come from.‘
Whilst the pop punk influence may be subtle, at least at this stage, there is no denying the aggression and venom, despite the hopeful outlook.
Hope Tracklisting: 1. Glass House | 2. Bury Your Friends | 3. Fracture | 4. Lacuna | 5. Business Secrets Of The Pharaohs