THE NONE have spoken to NME about their politically-charged new single ‘At Hope’, what the future holds, and life after Bloc Party. Check it out below along with our interview with the band.
The rising punks – comprised of Gordon Moakes (formerly Bloc Party and Young Legionnaire), vocalist Kai Whyte (Blue Ruth, Youth Man), guitarist Jim Beck (Cassels) and drummer Chris Francombe (Frauds) – made their debut earlier this year, winning online, grassroots and media support with their collapsing post-hardcore sound showcased across two EPs ‘Matter’ and ‘Care’.
Their latest taster comes in the form of relentless new single ‘At Hope’, due for a limited 7” release on June 20 via Zennor Records, backed by b-side ‘In Civic Pride’.
“I remember writing this one 18 months ago,” Whyte told NME. “The band had just recorded the instruments playing through the song and sent it to me. I was listening to it, and all I could hear in my head was, ‘There are piles of dog shit on my lawn’. I was just looping that in my head and couldn’t move past it. I thought it was a joke and that I was trolling myself.
“In order to move forward with the song, I had to put it in as the first lyric to let my brain get past it. I asked myself what it meant. I remembered growing up and being super skint on a council estate. There was shit everywhere, stray dogs were still a thing, you had the Hell’s Angels over here, people getting their fingers cut off, it wasn’t a nice place to be but it gave me some street smarts. You’re wise to certain things when you’ve not been super-sheltered.”
Whyte added: “It’s about growing up in poverty and how we treated those on the lowest economic rung of society. It’s not even making a statement, it’s just saying ‘Look at this, this is the state of things’. It was a reflection of growing up skint.”
While not a “statement” as such, Whyte said that it was still shocking and profound that talking about the state of poverty in the UK should still resonate.
“Successive governments haven’t changed things; it’s probably getting worse,” Whyte admitted. “I’m not as skint as I once was and I’m not in the same position that my mum was in when I was a kid. I can look at poverty from the outside and say, ‘That shouldn’t be normal’. It’s still relevant.”
The song comes with a video directed by Tim Mobbs and shot in Whyte’s native Birmingham, reflecting the city’s current struggle with the council amidst the refuse strike and sheds light on the constant working class battle against power.
“I’ll tell you what, we filmed this just after they collected the bins so this is the clean version!” laughed Whyte. “There’s a bin strike in Brum which has been going on since January. The council have completely fucked over the refuse workers.
“There were mountains of trash everywhere and the rats are the size of cats now in Birmingham. It’s a dangerous and dirty job and people need to know that they’re safety and financial wellbeing are being valued. I thought, ‘Let’s definitely capture this for the video’, but then the day before the shoot loads of the contingency got out and picked up loads of the rubbish! The video still looks disgusting, but it’s just a fraction of what was there before.”
Check out our full interview with Whyte and Moakes below where they told NME about the noise that they make, the importance of speaking out, and Bloc Party’s original line-up winning an Ivor Novello after years of unrest.
NME. Hello THE NONE. What can you tell us about how you guys came together?
Gordon Moakes: “Going back five years, I’d been living in Texas and when I moved back just before the pandemic, I really wanted to start a new band – really starting over from scratch. There’s a nice symmetry to it. You don’t always get to play with the people who you like the most. It’s just really nice when you’ve got a project and want good people for it – not just to play together but to socialise and be cool. That was the starting point of the band. There’s no pressure really, we’re just having fun.”
What influences would you say you share?
M: “For me, one of my starting reference points was this band USA Nails which was just relentless. I was listening to a lot of ugly, quite simple rock music. I wanted it to be black and white. Another band I mentioned was Silverfish for that amphetamine, ‘90s, reptile, block-y stuff.”
Kai Whyte: “Brainiac, trying to pop-ify these ugly songs. I also started to listen to Cable a few years ago.”
How would you describe the world and community you’ve been creating around you?
M: “It’s been a bit different for me because I’ve had this period where I wasn’t playing or touring. I’d been living in the States, which multiplies not knowing what’s going on in the UK. The sound was fairly instinctive. The rooms that we were going to take it to and the promoters that were interested all took care of itself. I don’t know if the audience takes care of itself.
“It was a word of mouth thing to start with, plus social media. Those people aren’t being thrust something and forced to like it. It is what it is. If they’re into then they’ll come to the gig.”
Kai, the song and video really capture an anger and anxiety from Birmingham. What’s it like to live there at the moment?
W: “It’s a bit bleak! I’m like, ‘Up the union!’ There are a lot of grassroots promoters popping up, the queer community are doing a lot of Pride boycotts, people are a bit pissed off but they’re trying to do something about it. The Birmingham scene is very fragmented. You’ve got about 100 scenes of 30 people. Still, everyone has got good intentions.”
You guys were one of many artist signatures supporting Kneecap’s “freedom of expression” given their recent controversy and calls for their shows to be cancelled…
M: “I’ve been pleased to see more and more musicians speaking out. We’ve seen how that’s been shut down on lots of sides. It’s our livelihood to be honest and call out what’s going on in the world. It should absolutely be musicians doing it. It seems ridiculous to me that you can force boycotts on bands – especially bands that have made a point of coming out of poverty, colonial rule, oppression or whatever it is. Of course those people are going to want to use their voice once they’ve got it.”
W: “And big business can’t make art, so they’re telling people what to say and do. If they really knew what people wanted then they’d be the artist.”
What’s next for The None?
M: “There are two EPs from Bandcamp that we’ll be releasing on vinyl later this year. That’ll just be to draw a line under phase one. It will be nice to put them out properly, then we’ll be moving into writing some songs for a full-length album. We’ve moved on from this excitable moment of just being in a band to turning it into something.”
W: “We’ve got a few festivals coming up, we’ll try and get out of the country, and then just keep writing. We’ll probably work on the album once the EPs are done and dusted, and the culture of the band is the be consistently writing.”
And the original Bloc Party line-up were recently announced to receive Outstanding Song Collection award at the Ivors 2025 next week. Will you be there?
M: “We’re not quite sure what’s happening there. It’s weird. I wasn’t expecting it. When I found out I was like, ‘They’re doing what?’ I’ve seen the list of people they’ve given this award to for your back catalogue before [Queen, U2, New Order, Pulp, KT Tunstall, Noel Gallagher]. It’s a weird juxtaposition to be an Ivor Novello songwriter and then make this really ugly noise rock over here. But they’re all part of a piece for me. That’s the beauty of songwriting and making noise. It’s all fair game.
“Will I be there? I don’t know what’s happening with that yet.”
W: “I think I’m washing my hair that day!”
THE NONE release ‘At Hope’ on June 20 via Zennor Records. Check out the band’s upcoming tour dates below and visit here for tickets and more information.
MAY
Thursday 15 – Brighton, The Great Escape Festival (BBC 6 Music Stage)
Sunday 25 – Catton, Bearded Theory Festival
JUNE
Saturday 14 – Ipswich, Brighten The Corners
JULY
Saturday 12 – Peterborough, East Angrier Weekender
Friday 25 – Thirsk, Deer Shed Festival
OCTOBER
Saturday 25 – Rotterdam, Left Of The Dial