Hope Of The States on their return: “It’s loud, it’s messy, it has all that heart in it”

nme.com:

Hope Of The States have announced their reunion, revealing a trio of UK gigs to showcase new material. Check out details below along with our exclusive interview with frontman Sam Herlihy.The Chichester post-rock band achieved cult status in the early ’00s off the back of their two acclaimed albums: 2004’s ‘The Lost Riots‘ and ‘Left’ from 2006.

They split just a few months after the release of their second record at Reading & Leeds festival that summer, saying at the time that they felt “cursed” by bad luck.

They had earlier lost their guitarist Jimmi Lawrence to suicide in early 2004.Now, the band are back for their first tour in 18 years alongside a remastered vinyl reissue of their debut album and news of brand new music being recorded with producer Jolyon Thomas [U2, Soft Play, Daughter].

Jolyon is son of the late Ken Thomas [Sigur Rós, Wire, M83), with whom the band made their first two records.“I was always really against getting back together at first, and I don’t really know why,” Herlihy – who has since become a successful artist and restauranteur – told NME. “It was probably because it was a bit of a third rail.