In our latest Band Spotlight, we chat to Tom Hewson (guitars and vocals) of the band, Of Allies about their sound, success and the future.
S] How are you guys today?
We’re doing very well thank you. Hope you are well too.
S] How do you guys define success as a band?
To have a great bunch of fans who like what we do musically. The music is an important part of what we do and to know that our music has made an impact on people is what we aim for, so we have succeeded there. We just want to keep doing it, gain more fans and, hopefully one day, make the band our full-time career.
S] What would you say the biggest challenges that you face are?
Anyone in a band, working as a musician or artist in the music industry will know that it’s quite a tough industry. It’s finding the smaller successes to keep the morale up. Not everyone is going to like what you do musically, with music being so subjective. On the other hand, some people are going to absolutely love what you do. The challenge is staying positive and driven even when things become difficult.
S] What motivates you outside of music, think specific people and places?
Family and friends. They all motivate us in our every day lives. Older members of the family or older friends have wise words and can help us remember to appreciate things we take for granted. Simply spending time with people can be a good motivator as its so easy to get lost in our phones or devices. To have conversations about real things going on with real people.
S] What do you think of Hull’s alternative music scene in 2019?
I think it’s great. I’d say most of the music from Hull is alternative. When I say alternative, I don’t mean that it’s all metal and rock, but all the styles have an alternative edge. It’s quite gritty, which I think is really cool as it kind of gives Hull a distinctive sound, whether it’s rock, metal, punk, indie, hip hop, dance, electronic, acoustic or anything else.
S] How do you look back on the success of ‘Night Sky’ now?
We honestly didn’t expect it to be received as well as it did. We still have a lot of new people discovering it two years later, which is amazing. The album launch was a big highlight from the album. Its success pushed us to make a second album. We thoroughly enjoyed the process, so we were happy to do it again.
S] Talk to us about ‘Off The Map’ and other new material and what it means to you?
‘Off The Map’ is a bit different to anything we’ve done before but it all came together quite organically. It’s an amalgamation of influences and what we are listening to at the time.
The same goes for the other material in the album. We didn’t set out to write the songs in a certain style or try to recreate Night Sky. We just did what came naturally and let our influences and life experiences flow into the writing.
S] Cheers for your time!
No problem, you’re very welcome!
