INTERVIEW
Alice Gee | 20/03/2024
HATC sat down with the latest up-and-coming boy band, Here at Last. The five lads told HATC all about life on tour, their unusual preshow ritual, and navigating virality on social media.
Reminiscing on the hay day of boy bands, I asked the band if they had always seen themselves in a boy band or whether it came about as a natural progression from their solo endeavours; the answer was pretty unanimous, they told me, “It was never something we'd have considered before, but it was just a great opportunity and the thinking behind it was that there haven't been any boy bands recently so there was a bit of a gap in the market, so we thought, give it a shot and here we are.”
Well, it has undoubtedly been a success so far. The group have only been together for the past few years; they have gained plenty of traction via TikTok and acquired a loyal fan base with just under a million on Instagram and over 3 million on TikTok. I asked the band how it feels to have garnered such traction in such a short period. “There's definitely a momentum aspect to it. When we first started TikTok, I think it was the fourth video we did went straight to 40 million views, and then from there, the followers started coming in on TikTok and then filtered onto Instagram. It was all momentum, and it was a massive kickstart.”
Social media can sometimes be a rat race, keeping up with trends and algorithms; I asked how the boys have chosen to navigate these online platforms.
“If it was just on the basis of following trends, everyone would be millionaires, and they'd be really famous, but you can't just follow trends; you have to try and be individual and trial and error loads of videos and see what works and what doesn't. We've had to do that quite a lot over the time we've been doing this, so I think we've kind of gauged what people want to see or expect from us.”
Having grown their fanbase online during the pandemic, I wanted to know what it was for the band to connect to their newfound fan base.
They told me at first, it was a struggle: “We can't put a face to a name or Instagram handle.”
Having said this, they went on to tell me how unreal it was to gradually see the positive feedback on their music, seeing this support materialise online: “It's great when people tag us with the merch on. That's mental that we've created something, then someone has bought it, and then tagged us and said I love this. I think that's crazy.”
Coming out of the pandemic, the band debuted in the flesh for the first time. They told me more about their first time performing: “We ended up performing four nights and then three nights in a row in Manchester in between. And seeing people in the flesh, compared to when you see numbers on a screen is quite bizarre.”
The band has gone from performing at 250 capacity venues to now 1800 at their recent show at the O2 Indigo, they told me how surreal this has been for them.
“I mean, there are photos we look at now, and we are just like, that isn't real. It's one of those pinch us moments. We write our own stuff and love seeing and listening to people saying the words we're actually writing, it’s a weird experience.”
Speaking to the boys, it's clear their fan base is very important to them. I wanted to know more about how this built; they told me it's always been about building a community rich in support for one another.
“We've tried to create a tight-knit community, it almost feels like we’ve got a few 100,000 friends. We get quite a lot of messages for help with mental health issues, or even family stuff, or just hey, I've got this exam on Monday, and then you wish them luck. It's just little things like that. We support them, and they support us.”
Speaking up about mental health has been very important for the band in terms of fostering safe spaces for their community and their music. Their latest release, 'Until Tomorrow Comes,' features themes of grief and memory.
“Releasing songs about mental health is so important because you don't often hear it coming from guys, more now than they used to, but still, men don't tend to speak about it as much as they should do. That's why I think we wanted to step out of that box a little bit and shed a bit more light on the issue.”
Writing about mental health and these more vulnerable moments is not for the weak; I asked the band more about their writing process and priorities regarding their releases.
“We write music about the mental health of ordinary life. That's what we want to write, and that means a lot to us. We didn't really go into writing sessions going, okay, what will do well, what is TikTok going to do well with. It was more, let's go in there, write a song we want to write and one that we're going to want to play live. I think that's so important for longevity- playing music that you want to play. So important.”
Having recently toured their new music, I asked how life has been for the boys, adapting to new spaces and constantly being on the go.
“Our days can be pretty hectic from one to another. It's not even just about the tour, we all live away from home, we all have days where we're feeling a bit crap, to be honest. We all also know that if you have those days, you've got four other people in the house, and if you fail, you can pick yourself up. We also give each other a bit of space because we spend a lot of time together. Sometimes, you just need that little bit of personal space. I think we're all now on the same level of understanding and it's become a really healthy household.”
Although they honestly acknowledge the struggles of touring, the boys didn’t fail to tell me how sentimental the experience was for them.
“It was one of the best weeks we had in the years we've been a band. I think that was the most relaxed and most fun. That was an example of what we all want to do all the time. Obviously, you can't tour all the time unless you're maybe Harry Styles and Taylor Swift, which I can imagine is a different story in terms of how tired you get; it was just a really nice period. There are so many stories from the tour that none of us are ever going to forget. It was such a good time, and I think it's important that upcoming artists should know as well. Touring is really, really fun. I know it can be tiring, but it's the most fun you'll ever have doing music.”
The boys also unveiled to me their preshow ritual, and let's say it's not what you'd expect...
“So, you know how everyone goes to put hands in? We do that and say, ‘to Co-Op ‘so we go ‘to Co-Op’ because Co-Op was the first store that played our songs over that tannoy, and so every single one- and I mean every single gig- it's ‘to Co-Op ‘every night.”
As a last word, the band opened up about their dynamic as friends both within the band and as genuine mates, discussing the hardships of being an unsigned band.
“I will say that being unsigned is not easy, so we have bonded over some traumatic experiences. When I say traumatic, I mean that very lightly. It's the fact that we live together, and we eat together. When we wake up, we see each other's faces, we do everything together. The one common denominator is we just love music, and we love having a positive influence on people. The way we're looking at it is because we're so comfortable with each other, we are so unapologetically on that right?”
Here At Last’s latest release "Until Tomorrow Comes" is now available on all major streaming platforms!
Words Hannah George
HATC Creative Alice Gee
Photography Aaron J Hurley
Styling Jessie Stein
MUA & Hair Stylist Gracie Jai Cox
Pedro, Shirt, Che. Ryan, Vest & Shirt, Che.
James, Jacket, All Saints. Tommy, Che.
Tommy Shirt, All Saints. James Shirt, All Saints. Jeans, Lee Jeans. Ryan, own jacket and jeans. Pedro, Vest, All Saints. Leather Jacket, All Saints. Jeans, own.
Zach, Top, Lee Jeans. Jacket, Alpha Industries.
