A riot of their own

In the concluding chapter of his excellent account of the Britpop era, The Last Party, journalist John Harris laments that the new wave of Brit guitar bands – namely the Stereophonics’, Travis’ and Coldplays – singularly lack a set of governing aesthetics. Time was when purchasing, say, a Smiths record – or latterly, a U2 or Blur album – led the listener, Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe-style, into a baroque world of cult movies, gonzo authors and all-round captivating pop-cultural exotica.

Among some of the more unimaginative purveyors of guitar music, these days the listener can consider him or herself lucky if the band’s cultural curiosity extends much further than the latest episode of Scrubs. One band seeking to redress this sorry state of affairs is Chichester five-piece Hope Of The States.
Given that their powerful debut album, The Lost Riots, is a veritable treasure trove of references to literary and cinematic weirditude, and that the band’s website contains links to everything from Donnie Darko and Lost America (a fascinating, Diane Arbus-like photography collection focusing on all manner of eerie Americana), to an institute devoted to the cause of theoretical physics, one can only surmise that these are five young men who don’t consider attention to detail to be an optional extra.
“That’s definitely the case,” agrees Paul Wilson, the group’s softly-spoken bassist. “I’ve always really admired those bands who give 100% to every aspect of what they do. That way, it goes a lot deeper than someone just buying your album and listening to it in a kind of perfunctory way. We would certainly aspire to being one of those bands who have a bit more of a theme behind our music, so that when you listen to our records or come to one of our shows you can really see our train of thought, what influences us and what makes us tick, rather than people just saying, ‘Oh those guys sound quite like Radiohead’ or whatever, and that’s as far as it goes.”
Notably, The Last Riots is produced by hugely in-demand Sigur Ros collaborator, Ken Thomas. Did the band ask Thomas to come out on board purely on the basis of his work with the Icelandic post-rockers?
“Well, kind of,” replies Paul. “Before we went into record anything, we were asked who we’d like to make a record with. So naturally, we had a meeting amongst ourselves and talked about producers who’d worked on albums that we really, really admired, and there was definitely a consensus that Ken’s work with Sigur Ros was pretty outstanding. To be honest, we’ve found ourselves in a very lucky position quite early in our career, in that with anything we do, we’re asked, ‘Who would you most like to work with?’
“For instance, a while back our record company consulted us about promo shots for the album, and we said, ‘Oh, it’d be so cool if Kevin Westenburg could do those.’ And then a couple of months later we’re doing a photo session with him! And we’re like, ‘Fuckin’ hell, this actually happened!’ So working with Ken was really another example of us being sort of spoiled, but we were absolutely delighted with what he did.”
“And he’s got some great stories to tell, has Ken. The funniest anecdote he ever told us was about Freddie Starr, funnily enough. He was an engineer on one of his comedy albums when he was younger, and apparently Freddie was a right dirty old fucker. One time, there was an argument amount how high his vocals should be in the mix. So in the end Freddie pulled his pants down and started pushing the vocal fader up with his cock! That’s one way to win arguments in the studio, I guess. I think they burned the vocal fader after that.”
One recording studio which hasn’t yet had the (mis)fortune of hosting a disrobed Mr. Starr is Grouse Lodge in County Westmeath, where most of The Last Riots was recorded. How did the band end up making the album in the Irish midlands?
“Well, the thing we didn’t want to do was go to a studio where countless amazing records had been made,” responds Paul. “I remember when we recorded the first single, ‘Black Dollar Bills’, the piano that was there had ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ recorded on it! So it was like, ‘No pressure here then!’ Really, you don’t want all that history hanging over your head when you’re making an album. We were actively looking around for a place that was bit more low-key, and Grouse Lodge was actually recommended to us by Hugh Murray at Sony.
“It was definitely great to work in a place that was a bit more laid-back, and just had a different vibe to it. Like, usually about twice a day, I’d be in the middle of a take, and I’d look up and see a herd of cows wandering by the window! So I think stuff like that helped in a weird way. When you’ve livestock loitering outside the studio it kind of helps you keep the absurdity of being in a rock band in perspective!”

The Lost Riots is out now on Sony