Words and photo by Dawn
For more than three decades now, Hope and Social have been making music, mayhem, and memories together. What started as a group of friends moving to Leeds with a “let’s give it a year” plan turned into a lifelong creative partnership which has produced albums, tours, community projects, and an endless supply of entertainment and joy for their fans.
As they prepare to hit the road again in March, I asked guitarist Rich Huxley to reflect on what keeps them going - through shifting music landscapes, health scares and the perpetual chaos of self managing a band in 2026.
Reflecting on the wider music industry, he acknowledges how tough things have become for grassroots artists.
“It’s an interesting landscape, you know. We live in a capitalist system that drives money to those who already have it. That leads to the situations we've got where Spotify’s labels create AI artists that they own, then promote them over human musicians and it returns the money to the people who own Spotify. You've got people like Kate Nash and Lily Allen selling pictures of their bum or of their feet in order to make tours work. That’s the world we’re in. Maybe we should start an OnlyFans,” he quips. “But I'm not sure people want to see either our bums or our feet, to be honest.”
Hope and Social have always been about sustainability, independence, and creating things because they want to, not because a label demands it. That freedom has allowed them to build a close-knit community of fans; a loyal audience who return tour after tour not only for the music, but for the sheer joy which radiates from their performances. That joy, however, co-exists with the heavy lifting of running an independent band - the admin, the promotion and the social media.
“I haven’t been good on the internet – I’ve been busy with other things,” he admits. “I feel that weight. Like if a gig isn’t busy, it’s my fault.”
But despite the nerves, excitement is building for March. Monthly themed shows at The Attic in Leeds have kept the band sharp, each one featuring a unique creative challenge - acoustic sets, toy instruments, keyboard-only performances, brass sections and, most recently, binaural experiments. Now they’re excited to revisit a more “classic” Hope and Social gig as they return to the road.
Used to touring twice a year, generally around March/April and September/October, the band had to take an enforced break in 2022 when frontman Simon was treated for leukemia and, while there have been plenty of shows since then, they’re eager to get back to a more normal schedule.
“Last year was pretty quiet for gigs. With Si’s health and everything we didn't book an April tour as we didn't know what his treatment was going to be. We've got another record in the off, but I'm not sure how much we've actually toured the stuff off our most recent album, The Ride and it's one of my favourites. I think [2010 album] April will always feel like the first thing we did that was fully Hope and Social, and then I think Feel [2016] was a bit of a landmark in how we approach things, but I think The Ride is one of the best things we've ever done. It really feels like we found our stride.”
And it’s in a live setting where their songs really come to life, among a sea of blue jackets, with eight different personalities all wrestling for space on a stage full of guitars, keyboards, drums - and the obligatory brass section.
Asked what advice he’d give his younger self, Rich pauses. There was a moment early in their career when the Beggars Banquet label showed serious interest, and he sometimes wonders how life might have taken a different path if they’d signed.
But ultimately, he says, “I don't know what would disappear if we’d changed things. We’ve done amazing stuff. Tours. Records. Travels. We made a record in a church in New York in a day. We went to Kazakhstan. We’ve had a whole life from this.
“As soon as we finish a show, within a couple of days at least two of us will say, ‘Ah, it’s good being in a band, isn’t it?’ Everything we do, we do because we want to and because they remain my favourites. We remain incredibly good friends and of all the things we do – in all the different bit of our work - being with each other is the most joyful bit. Hopefully that's the thing that comes across, particularly in live shows - that we like being together. I don't know if I'd change anything. We’ve done amazing things. I’m happy with the lives we’ve had.”