Celebrating the release of their debut album, the hook-filled ‘And I’d Do It Again’, Reading’s Only The Poets took to the stage at London’s legendary O2 Academy Brixton venue earlier this week (February 02) for a sold out show with a twist – every ticket was priced at just £1. A powerful statement about the state of accessibility in music, the group shared the wealth further, bringing two unsigned bands on as the opening acts and offering first-time photographers the chance to get in the pit. Frontman Tommy Longhurst tells us about the aims behind the special show and the varied influences heard across their new LP.

ROCK SOUND: We are talking the day after you have headlined a sold out show at Brixton Academy. What is your immediate reaction to that huge moment for the band?

TOMMY: I mean, we keep saying right now it just feels like a blur to be honest mate. It’s weird now talking about Brixton as a past thing after so long leading up to it. So now it’s happened, we’re just feeling very proud. The messaging behind the show was about accessibility in music and I believe that last night, there was a real unity in the room. We were celebrating, trying to start that conversation together with everyone there. There was a really special energy in the room. We’re on cloud nine today.

RS: What makes it extra special is that you are still only on your debut album – if a band at this stage in their career can show what is possible in terms of making live music accessible to all, it shows that it can be achievable at a much bigger and more widespread level too.

TOMMY: 100%. If we can even help by 0.1% from doing what we’ve done, then we’ve won. The reaction has been so positive because it needs to be spoken about. Live music should not be a luxury, especially for young people. It offers escapism. I said it on stage last night when I was absolutely high on adrenaline but nights like this are beautiful and there’s unity, we’re together. Music is amazing and if you take it away from people because of money, it’s just gross in our opinion, you know? So we can only control what we’re doing. But it’s really amazing to see already what other artists are doing, even for grassroots venues. A pound for each ticket we sold went to the live music trust which supports grassroots venues. I know that Sam Fender, My Chemical Romance and Biffy Clyro do that. So, if more artists can do things like that as well, it’s helping the food chain of the live music industry from the ground up. We want to call on the government to do more. Don’t cut the funding. We do a lot of touring in Europe and there’s a lower VAT threshold for cultural events and we can literally see that and feel that when we go to these places. During covid, we did something similar and if that could be more of a permanent thing in the UK, it will help the arts and the live music scene from the ground up so much.

RS: Beyond the price point, you were also supporting the wider scene by having two unsigned bands, SEREN and Belle Dame, as your support acts for the show. That must have also been a proud moment, to be able to share the stage like that with the next generation of bands.

TOMMY: We felt like proud parents. We all watched a couple of their songs at the side of the stage. It all happened so quickly – we did the battle of the bands on the Saturday before Brixton and 48 hours later, they were on stage. It was only supposed to be one winner, and it was so close. The fans voted but we decided to take the top two because they were both so amazing. We would have loved to do that when we were starting out, we would have absolutely killed for the opportunity to go and play Brixton. Also, we’re really passionate about supporting grassroots venues and we did it at the Purple Turtle, which is where we played our first show. So we brought loads of our fans in. We will forever champion unsigned and independent and new artists because they’re the future stars. We had over 1000 applicants and listening through the music was not a chore. It was so refreshing and inspiring. These are 16 year old kids that are unbelievable and so much better than we were then. It just shows that if we do make live music inaccessible, young kids won’t go and feel inspired in those rooms and we will lose out on all that talent. It’s all so closely linked.

RS: Your debut album, ‘And I’d Do It Again’, features a real mix of influences and production styles. It’s always impressive when a band can do that level of variety but still make the record feel cohesive as a whole. Who were your biggest influences as you went into the recording process?

TOMMY: I’m a great lover of pop music and we’ve always been into writing those big earworm choruses that get stuck in your head. And of course, we’re so lucky with our fans now that we always write with them in mind, imagining what they might sing out. But sonically, Marcus and Clem, our drummer and guitarist, co-produced the whole record with our friend DanDlion, he’s amazing. Because it was such a small, tight knit circle, that’s how we got the cohesion we wanted. We speak about our love of ’80s pop like Prince and The Police. With the guitar, there’s a bit of The Cure in there and that really lovely brightness that you get from those riffs. We just didn’t really overthink it. We made a record that we would have loved to listen to. We love pop music, but we grew up on Oasis, Two Door Cinema Club, Foals, The War On Drugs. There’s so many great influences that are splattered across what we make. I do think we found quite a unique sonic and sound, and I think we can be proud of that. We just love our debut album. It’s a nice place to be where you don’t have to wait for the opinions, because music is so subjective. We poured everything into it. It’s honest, it’s vulnerable. Lyrically, it’s self reflective, I went on a very reflective journey through writing it. We’ve always been very honest about how we really feel and I think that coming from four males is great when there’s a little bit of taboo where men don’t talk about their feelings enough. So we can be proud of that. We’ve just been honest and at our most vulnerable at points on the record but we’re very, very happy.

RS: At the time of this interview, you are currently in the Top 10 of the midweek UK album charts. It must be very heartening to see how the fanbase is rallying around you during this release week…

TOMMY: We played Manchester and Reading over the weekend when the album was released, and it was amazing to see how the fans would react to certain ones and how much they’ve learned the words already, which is unbelievable. But we always say, they spend so much of their time thanking us, but we always remind them that we are so thankful for them, and they should be proud of the community they built around us. We hear these beautiful stories of people that come from all over Europe and the UK, that come together for a show so it becomes a safe space for them. One of my favourite things is when they don’t even look at us. They’ll be in their circle and we’re soundtracking the experience they’re having together. I think that is incredible. It’s for them. It’s their thing, their friendship, their night. Talking to them all today, it’s lovely to hear what songs have resonated with them on a personal note. And that’s what we love about music. When you hear how songs sit with people, it’s often completely different to how you intended it or how you thought about it when you wrote it. And that’s the beautiful thing, right? You put out an album and we’re not going to tell people how to listen to it. Just take what you what you want and immerse yourself in it.

RS: You have had some amazing touring opportunities over the last few years, including supporting Yungblud across Europe, another artist who knows how important that fan community is…

TOMMY: He cares so much about his fans. What was amazing about Dom is that, as the frontman, I was so blown away by just how good he was, and his energy and his showmanship. That’s how good you have got to be to get to where he’s got to. So that was really inspiring. And also, he’s just a lovely, lovely, lovely lad. Every single artist we’ve been lucky enough to support, they’ve all been diamonds. He gave us a great bit of advice, he said to ‘don’t listen too much to the noise, just make the music you love and put out music you believe in’. And that rings true because a few months later he made ‘Idols’. I imagine some people probably didn’t want him to make a classic rock album, but look what’s happened. He’s gone with his gut, and he’s done what he believed in. You’ve got to put out the shit you believe in, and the general public aren’t stupid – if music is disingenuous, I think people can sniff it out pretty quick.

RS: Looking forward, what aims do you have for Only The Poets over the next year?

TOMMY: I know it seems funny to say this right now, because the album’s just come out, but obviously now we’ve been living with it, we’ve started to get excited and think about what the second album might look like, because it comes much faster. You get your whole life to write the first one and then it’s the difficult second record after that, but we already have kind of an idea of where we might want to go with it.

‘And I’d Do It Again’ is out now.