New Rules have recently released an emotionally, hard-hitting track “Late In The Evening.” It flows beautifully together from instrumentation, vocally, and lyrically – you’ll fall in love with it instantly.
The track was written by Jamie Scott, who has worked with the likes of One Direction, Justin Bieber, and Ed Sheeran. It’s very acoustic driven, and the harmonies are simply flawless. We wanted to know more about the track, future plans, and their UK tour that is about to kick off in the new year! Alec, Nathan, and Ryan of New Rules sat down to answer all the question that we’re dying to know. Here is what they had to say:
I want to start by talking about your new single “Late in the Evening.” Why don’t you start by telling me a bit about it?
Alec: Yeah, so our new single ‘Late in the Evening’ has just come out, on 11/11, it’s another sad banger – I feel like we haven’t released one of those for a little while, so it’s nice to be back in our feels, in time for the most horrible season on the year.
Ryan: [Laughs]
Alec: I sound like a Grinch there don’t I?
Nathan: You didn’t mean Christmas, did you? [Laughs]
Alec: No, I just mean Winter because it’s cold, okay. But yeah, it’s a little bit different to some of the stuff that we’ve put out this past year, in the sense that I think it’s maybe a bit more homegrown, a bit more organic, which is something we really tried to do with this song, kind of draw an influence from Paul Simon and people like that. We really kind of hone in on those three-part harmonies that we do across other New Rules songs and it feels quite true to ourselves as well, so we’re super happy about that – and we got to collaborate with Jamie Scott, who we are big fans of, who we’ve worked with in the past and we’ve got other songs out with him, he’s great. It’s a bit of a special record for us.
Can you talk me through your creative process when creating music?
Ryan: Yeah, I think usually highlighting the guitars and the vocals is how we start writing songs, or start performing a song to see if it would sound good as a New Rules song. It’s usually three of us sitting around with three guitars and harmonising, and there will be a moment where we say this feels good, and then if we all sing something that feels great, we will just have to keep writing it and we’ll stop doing absolutely everything – then our manager will probably get quite annoyed because we won’t answer phone calls for 8 hours while we finish the whole demo [laughs].
Nathan: We’ve actually been sat on this song for probably over a year, and this is usually what happens. We’ll write a song and then a year later it’s like okay, this actually feels like the right time to release this now. Part of the process is I guess sitting on it and improving it, adding stuff – tweaking it to kind of get it right.
So you’re in the studio, making new music, and you’re struck with a creative block. How would you overcome that?
Alec: Get a coffee.
Ryan: Get a coffee.
Nathan: Start smacking our heads against the wall.
Alec and Ryan: Start smacking Nathan’s head against the wall.
All: [laugh]
Alec: You know what, we don’t do this but a friend of ours, David Hodges, based out in Nashville- he’s a sick writer and sick producer – and he has these dice, I think it was his publishing company that made these dice, but if you’re in like a writing room, and you’re stuck, you pick them up and roll them and they will land on a side up which says like ‘what would Paul do’ or ‘go get a coffee’ or ‘take five’.
Ryan: Yeah like ‘change the concept’ or ‘change the chords’ or ‘make the chorus the verse’, so kind of all those things, we roll the metaphorical dice.
Alec: I was actually going to ask him if they were for sale because I wanted to get you some for your birthday.
Nathan: I would have loved that. He hasn’t patented them so we should probably do that and make some money [laughs].
Alec: David if you’re watching this.
Nathan: Sorry David [laughs].
You’ll be doing a string of shows in January for your fans. Can you describe that feeling of walking out on stage and seeing all those fans in front of you?
Alec: Yeah, it’s amazing, obviously, there are little gaps in between playing shows and being on the road and I think you do forget a little bit what it’s like and then that first show back, when you go on stage it’s a nice reminder that…you have fans [laughs].
Ryan: It doesn’t take very long to get back into it and I think the three of us feel, especially now after doing it a while, we feel very at home on stage, and it is our favourite thing in the world to do. To be able to do that as a job is amazing, we love it.
What would you say has been your favourite show you’ve performed so far? Why does that one stand out for you?
Nathan: We did the Olympia theatre in Dublin, which was pretty special. It’s an amazing venue, it’s beautiful and it was a lot of New Rules fans in there.
Ryan: And our families were all there, that was quite sweet.
Alec: Yeah, they had little boxes on either side.
Ryan: Which made it quite weird for you.
Nathan: Yeah actually, the boxes at that venue are kind of like almost on the stage, and at one point, I looked up halfway through a song to see my brother just flipping me off [laughs].
All: [laughs]
Alec: I’ve got to say, we did a show in Bush Hall the other month. We did like two hometown shows, because we had been in the States and did more of an intimate set-up of just the three of us on our three acoustics and nothing else, and we wanted to bring that show home. Doing that in Bush Hall was quite memorable for us because we kind of put it out as an intimate show and then by the end everyone was sweating and had lost their voices because it had been like any other gig –
Ryan: It was almost scary how loud that was.
Alec: Our manager came up to us and was like, ‘Boys you sounded great, but I wish I could hear you over everyone screaming,’ and they seemed quite annoyed that they couldn’t, but a good problem to have [laughs].
Is there a venue or a festival that you would love to perform at one day?
Nathan: Glastonbury would be pretty cool.
Alec: Oh, that would be so good.
Ryan: Glasto would be cool. But I think we always say Red Rocks as well.
Alec: I think a venue in the States of that size, but really that one in particular because it looks amazing.
Ryan: Yeah, the amphitheatre thing is really cool. I saw one on TikTok the other day called ‘The Gorge’ I don’t know if people know about that.
Alec: It’s gorgeous.
All: [laugh]
Having a strong relationship with your fans has to be one of the most important parts of being an artist. What’s this “name songs” that you do on TikTok for them? How can they get involved?
Alec: I think probably one thing that we really pride ourselves on is our relationship with our fans. I think it might even be a bit daunting for new fans coming, as they go on Twitter with not only fans taking the piss out of us but us taking the piss out of our fans – it’s a really nice relationship to have and it really builds that sense of community that we want in our fandom. They are the best in the world, so we are really happy about that. The name song thing started with our single ‘Emily’ which came out and we thought we’ll do some more off the back of this – it was really important for people who haven’t been able to find their names on pens before, and suddenly there was this band that were writing songs for people with names that weren’t like, conventional, whatever the hell that means, and I think it was just a really nice thing to do.
If I told you to write a song based on what you’re feeling right now, what would the song be about and what would you call it?
Nathan: ‘Slightly hungry and could do with a banana’
Ryan: That could be the B Side to ‘Pasta’. How am I feeling…I’m excited. We’re doing an intimate pop-up show later today in a café which will be really nice. The song would be called ‘Come To My Show’.
Alec: Probably ‘Proud’, because I’m pretty proud of this new song we’ve got, and it is doing well on the old statistics side of things.
Nathan: Alec hasn’t looked away from the app which tells you how many people have listened.
What would you say has been the biggest lesson you’ve had to learn since being in a band?
Ryan: I think trusting your gut is a big one. That is, time and time again you usually feel like, you know, maybe something that you felt was the right thing to do and you didn’t do it, you feel like, oh well I was right initially – and other times when you do back yourself, it really pays off. So, I think staying true to yourself and trusting yourself.
Nathan: That’s a really good one.
Ryan: Anything else?
Alec: I think staying true to yourself is a very good point, it’s easy to kind of get swept up, isn’t it.
Ryan: In what people on TikTok want to hear, it’s something new every week.
Alec: Yeah it’s like what did this one want to hear, what did this one want me to look like – and the only thing that sets you apart from everyone else is what you perceive yourself as first, and it’s finding that then holding onto it once you’ve found it is so important and it takes a minute I think.
Ryan: And I guess all the people who we look up to and admire, are just unapologetically themselves. Yeah, so that’s something we really want to keep.
What would you say has been the worst advice you’ve been given since being on the music scene?
Nathan: Be yourself.
All: [laugh]
Ryan: Very good, that’s good.
Alec: That’s great, that’s really good [laughs].
Nathan: Worst piece of advice, gosh that’s a hard one, I mean.
Alec: I hate the term ‘Networking’. I hate that, because it makes it seem like you’re only mates with someone to just see ‘what can I get out of them’ and really it’s not about that. It’s about going and making friends with good people and who you get on with first and foremost, and then if something beneficial comes out of that relationship then great, but that’s not the point of it and I think that kind of ties in with staying true to yourself. Do you know what I mean?
Ryan: Yeah, yeah.
Alec: I mean no one’s really given me that advice but I guess they’ve said it…
Ryan: Well people are like ‘go out’.
Alec: Yeah. It’s a slimy term and I don’t like it.
So, we’ve talked about new music, and fans. But I want to know who you’re currently fans of and what music you’re listening to at the moment.
Ryan: Lots of stuff, we are praying that some Lizzie McAlpine tickets come through for us for Friday, we are big fans and it’s one of my favourite albums of the year, I think she’s amazing. The 1975 too…
Alec: Yep, took the words out of my mouth.
Ryan: Paolo Nutini. Great album. It’s a great year for people coming back isn’t it.
Nathan: MUNA I’ve been getting into.
Ryan: Yeah, love MUNA.
Nathan: We saw MUNA in LA recently, didn’t really know much about them and just heard a lot of hype about them, they are so good.
Alec: Oh god, that new Julia Michaels song, I have not stopped listening to that. ‘Sorry To Me Too’, it’s so good.
Ryan: That’s great, yeah it’s really good. All that sort of stuff.
What’s a question you wish someone would ask you in an interview, but nobody ever does?
Nathan: Would you like to come on tour with us? [laughs]
Ryan: Yeah, if Shawn Mendes was the interviewer.
Nathan: Yeah, if you’re Shawn Mendes, then ‘would you like to come on tour with us?’.
All: [laugh]
Ryan: That would be a good interviewer.
Finally, are there any future plans that you can share with us?
Nathan: Washington.
Alec: That is DC [laughs] – but thank you.
Ryan: [laughs]
Alec: And then in January and February we’ve got some shows back home, we are going up to Glasgow which we haven’t done since 2020, so that will be great.
Ryan: Regional shows are going to be fun.
Alec: And then hitting some places in Ireland that we haven’t been able to hit before – Cork, Limerick. And then lots more music is going to be coming out.
Ryan: Lots more music and we’ve been talking about video ideas, and we want to keep getting the fans involved and we are really excited about this next phase, which I think they really are too. I mean the reaction to ‘Late In The Evening’ so far, has been probably the best reaction we’ve had to a song in a long time so yeah, really excited about that.
“Late In The Evening” is now available to stream via all major streaming platforms – be sure to give it a listen as it is an enchanting listening experience for everyone. New Rules will be heading out on tour in January 2023 – full tour dates can be found below, and tickets can be purchased here:
New Rules – 2023 UK tour dates:
25th January- Lafayette- London
27th January- Club Academy- Manchester
28th January- 02 Institute 2- Birmingham
30th January- SWG3 Warehouse-Glasgow
1st February- Dolans- Limerick
2nd February- Green Room- Dublin
3rd February- Cyprus Avenue- Cork
For further updates, be sure to check out New Rules on TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
Share your thoughts on “Late In The Evening” with us over on our Twitter! – @AboutThe_Noise