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After completing a number of U.S shows, New Rules have just finished an intimate-venue only tour around the UK and Ireland. A tour we had the pleasure to witness and experience at London's Lafayette. Fans were screaming and singing along and it was emotional to hear the new song "Not Alone" live which will be released very soon.
This summer, New Rules released Go The Distance (Extended Version), the mixtape includes a stripped-down versions of “Go The Distance” and “Love You Like That” and live offerings of “Drunk Texts” and “Lucky Me.”
We met Ryan, Alec and Nathan after the show to discuss some milestones they've recently achieved like playing at the BBC Studios in Maida Vale, but also playing on tv in Time Square and the new track "Not Alone".
You're playing some intimate shows around the country. How do you feel when you play small ones rather than big venue?
Alec: Well, there's definitely something to be said for just how much you can connect with the crowd in a smaller venue. And it's one thing that we love about our shows, especially because we're just three acoustic guitars which just allows us to be a lot more free on stage, we can chat and interact a lot more and it's funny with it and we are pretty confident too. Every night it gets better and better but also louder. We love doing this shows.
Speaking of touring, you recently played in the US. How was that?
Nathan: So much fun? Yeah.
Ryan: It was great. It was kind of our first proper tour out there. We've been out there a couple of times to do small shows. But this is our first time playing our first proper shows and it felt great. We have a great fan base there which is similar to what we have here. It's just amazing to go over there and see how passionate everyone is.
Alec: We hadn't really done that much promo in the States prior to the tour. So we just didn't know what to expect. Before we went over there, we just didn't know what the roads were going to look like, what the fans were going to be like, because we've had a lot more exposure here. And then we went and it was just the same as the UK. But just they have a different accent (laughs).
Nathan: We even went on TV for the first time in America to join MTV Fresh Out in Time Square! It was kind of weird, because we didn't really see it coming!
Alec: Our manager was freaking out! It was surreal!
I saw you also did some busking sessions around the States, how did that come about?
Alec: Because we play on the acoustics, it's quite easy for us to just rock up somewhere and just play some songs. So we would put it online say "we're going to be here at this time, if you want to come down, come have fun" and then if we're lucky, a crowd of people come down and we get to play some songs. And I believe we were quite lucky because a lot of people showed up.
Ryan: It's a nice thing to do. And it's just nice meeting fans and it's just casual. Especially when it's in LA and the sun's out, and it becomes a little picnic and you're just hanging out and saying hello to someone of course who have been waiting for us to go to their cities for years. We did the same in London and Manchester. We might do this again soon, what do you think?
You recorded at the iconic BBC Studios in Maida Vale here in London. How was the experience?
Alec: This is another surreal experience which came out of the blue. Suddenly BBC Radio 1 is playing our music. One of the radio hosts Maia Beth, who are now quite close with it, she kind of asked her listeners all they wanted to hear on the radio. And our fans started tweeting her asking about us, and because there were so many she noticed!
Ryan: The acoustic set up was a dream, and I just wanted to get us in studio and perform. And yeah, we did three songs and I could feel the pressure. Because we walked around it was like "Oh, Paul McCartney played in this room" and then "Jay Z and Beyonce were here". It felt like a bucket list though.
Did you get to decide which songs you wanted to play?
Alec: We played three songs. Two originals "Late In The Evening" and "Emily" and one cover: Lewis Capaldi's "Pointless". We arranged he songs with our vocal coach called Jona because he is a bit of a wizard. We just felt like those two originals, especially in the setup they had a new real sound. So we just wanted anyone hearing us for the first time to go "Okay, wow, this is what New Rules sounds like" and I think those two songs really did the job.
Nathan: I'll be listening in a few years and I'm going be pretty happy.
You have a new track coming out soon "Not Alone". What is the song about?
Ryan: We played it for the first time in London a few days ago during this tour. As we said before, we're really proud of this kind of community we've built with this band and our fans.
We have people come up to us and they just say they feel free and able to enjoy themselves when they listen to our music or come to our gigs. and be present and not worry about anything even if they're feeling down or having a shit day
So this song is saying to someone that through your darkest times, you're not alone, there are people out there for you who have gone through the same thing. And it just feels like something that, our fans and the three of us really resonate with and we're excited to kind of see the reaction where it goes.
You're still on the road but what are your plans for the rest of 2023?
Ryan: Lots of tours hopefully. Obviously we're doing these shows. We're going to do some writing next month and we're going to finish some more songs that we've written already but do some more writing and hopefully new music out in March or April? We will talk about doing some college shows.
Alec: We want to open for Harry Styles.
Whilst we wait for new music, new shows and new projects being announced from the band, you can follow New Rules here. Stay tuned for "Not Alone" coming out very soon.
Words by Sal Fasone
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