Hopeless are ready to release an album now, to support this they're hitting the road with Ruiner.
Here's what we discussed. This interview went into issue six of Capital Eyes, I will begin work on number 7 in the near future.
Talking to Brett from Hopeless they’re from Melbourne…
So this is your first visit to Canberra…what are your thoughts?
This is our first visit. We have only seen this small area- Tuggeranong. It seems pretty fun so far, the show was a lot of fun. We haven’t seen much of the rest of Canberra, and we probably won’t get to see much more. It’s nice, everyone’s nice.
Have you got any plans for a return visit yet?
We haven’t really planned our next tour. We’ve done a lot of touring in 2009, so we haven’t made plans for a new tour yet. I think we’ll be here in the next 5 months…which is a long time, but hopefully sooner.
The band is reasonably new…you were all in other bands previously, what were they?
We’ve been going for about 2 years now, been playing shows for about a year. Tim (guitar) and I were in a band called Bear Trap. It was just like a Terror/No Warning style band. Jason was in a band called The Stallion. Chewy was in Cut Your Losses. All these bands were pretty standard. Never did a tour, never made a solid release or anything like that. Our drummer Dave is also in Carpathian.
This band’s a pretty serious project…what are the aims of the band?
Our aims are changing all the time. When we started out, it was basically just a fun little project. We started getting serious about the band fairly quickly. All that really matters to us at the moment is being able to write good songs and tour as much as possible. That’s basically our aim at the moment. To tour as much as possible, until we are not welcome anymore.
You’re touring with Amity and We Are The Ocean, how’s that going?
It’s been the funnest tour I’ve ever been on. We’re only a week in and have played a handful of shows, still got a handful to go. I’ve never gotten along with another band, or two other bands this much on tour before. Within the first day we were remembering names, getting along, all mates. It’s fun. It’s great to be on tour with bands that are not standard “hardcore” bands. It’s great opportunity for us to play with some different styles of band, but also just to listen to something a bit different for a change. That being said, that’s the main reason why this has been my favourite tour.
Do you feel like a Grandpa at Amity shows? (cos I do)
Sometimes I do. I look around and I see what I used to look like a few years ago. I’m not even that old, I’m only 21. Most of the rest of the guys are 21, there’s a couple who are 24 or 25. We all used to look like these kids five years ago. It’s great. It reminds me not to be so serious all the time. As you get older and grumpier, having fun is a big pay off.
What’s been on high rotation in the van?
It’s kinda embarrassing, we always play The Amity Affliction when we’re on tour. *Somebody interrupts* “Hey are you one of the singers?” “Yes, I am one of the singers. I sing for Hopeless.” “Oh, never mind”. What was I talking about? (Playing Amity in the van whilst touring with Amity). Oh yeah, we do play a lot of Amity. Been listening to Gaslight Anthem a lot too. They’re probably the main two bands.
What’s the plans for the next 6 months or so?
We’re going to finish writing a record. We’re three songs in so far. It’s going to be another album. We hope it will be out by the beginning or the middle of next year. We will be doing some more touring as well.
With a name like Hopeless, I guess there is a fairly negative vibe. What are the songs about?
The funny thing is- the lyrics I write are not really negative at all. Sometimes people interpret them as negative. We get called an emo band sometimes…“Depresso-core”. Really I sing about search for hope, rather than being comfortable with the fact that you are hopeless. A lot of the time I’m writing about things that have happened to me growing up, and I’m more reflecting on that. I write a lot about certain situations. A song we have is about a holiday park I used to visit as a kid. The lyrics for the new record are a bit different. I’m over the things I was going through previously, now I have a whole new batch.
Where do you guys stay when you go on tour?
We stay in the van a little bit. We stay in the van a lot actually. Other than that we stay at friends houses. In Sydney we love to stay at Billabong Gardens in Newtown. It is THE place to stay for bands. Sometimes it’s a bit hard to get into though. When you’re on tour, having a good time, there can be just one night when you absolutely NEED a bed and a shower. In Brisbane we stay with Joel from Amity. That’s probably the most relaxed we can be on tour. Just hanging out at his house.
What other Melbourne bands do you recommend at the moment?
I recommend a band called Vultures. Their singer is a good friend of ours. He’s a bit of a cutie. I’ve known him for quite a while now, sometimes I can’t believe the lyrics he writes come from his little head. Another band to check out is The Broderick. Their drummer is filling in for us at the moment. They’re a bunch of good dudes and writing a record at the moment.
Do you have any thanks or anything else to add?
Thanks for doing the interview. I’d like to thank all the guys from The Amity Affliction and We Are The Ocean. Big thankyou to Nigel from Trial & Error and Destroy All Lines. Yeah, that’s about it.
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