Comprising James Martin and Chris Childs, Brighton duo H_ngm_n describe their sound as emo-tinged punk. “We write lyrics about sad stuff and put them over upbeat heavy pop music,” Childs rather succinctly explains.
Their decision to make music as a duo is one of ease. Having spent time as a band, writing, touring and organising shows became a lot easier with less personalities to deal with. They draw influence from the likes of The Front Bottoms and Say Anything, elements of which they install in their lyrics and attitude over their sound. “Really honest straight up lyrics that touch on darker subjects without sounding too serious,” is their aim.
“‘Back At The Start’ was the first song we finished writing together, and we’re well excited to finally have a video to show people,” Childs goes on the say of the track and video. “It’s basically about being scared of growing up too fast, which I think everyone can relate too. It’s like you get out of college or whatever, you get well into your 20s and you see a lot of people around you settling down and becoming a ‘real life grown-up’, and you can’t help but think ‘am I meant to be doing that?’ and before you know it, time’s up.”
“The video reflects on that constant reminder that time doesn’t wait, and I guess the underlying message is that you should enjoy it while you can. Nobody wants to wake up at 50 and feel like they’ve wasted life,” he adds.
With its video filmed by friend Jake Ratcliffe, ‘Back At The Start’ is likely to appear on the band’s debut EP; due towards the end of 2015. “We’ve been working on it for about 8 months, which a lot of people consider ridiculous when it’s just a few tracks and there’s just two of us. We’re not perfectionists, and we’re not lazy, we’ve just taken a different approach on it,” Childs explains. That approach has seen a healthy touring schedule. “Good things come to those who wait, I guess,” Childs concludes.
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