SPECIAL EDITION 001 thelowdown.online
NEW NEW rules NEWrules rules TALK THEIR INITIAL FORMATION, TOURING & NEW MUSIC...
NEW RULES
UK/ IRISH TRIO NEW RULES - MADE UP OF MEMBERS ALEC MCGARRY, NATHAN LAMBERT AND RYAN MEANEY - HAVE AMASSED HUGE SUCCESS SINCE THEIR FORMATION BACK IN 2019. THE TALENTED THREE PIECE MOST RECENTLY RELEASED THEIR NEW SINGLE 'NOT ALONE', A VERY RAW AND EMOTIONAL TRACK IN ITS NATURE, ALBEIT VERY UPLIFTING NEVERTHELESS. THE SINGLE HAS BEEN INCREDIBLY RECEIVED BY THE BAND'S EVER GROWING LEGIONS OF FANS, PARTICULARY AFTER THEY FIRST PERFORMED THE TRACK ON THEIR RECENT HEADLINE TOUR AROUND THE UK AND IRELAND. 'NOT ALONE' FOLLOWS ON FROM THE RELEASE OF THEIR EXTENDED MIXTAPE LAST SUMMER, TITLED 'GO THE DISTANCE (EXTENDED VERSION)'. THE BAND HAVE BECOME RENOWNED FOR THE RELEASE OF UPBEAT SINGLES FILLED WITH CATCHY GUITAR RIFFS AND INFECTIOUS HARMONIES, INCLUDING 'PASTA' AND 'REALLY WANNA DANCE WITH YOU'. WITH AN IMPRESSIVE DISCOGRAPHY TO DATE, INCLUDING HAVING SUPPORTED ARTISTS SUCH AS LITTLE MIX AND JULIA MICHAELS, THERE IS NO DOUBT THERE IS SO MUCH TO COME FROM NEW RULES THROUGHOUT 2023 AND BEYOND. WE CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT ELSE LIES IN STORE FOR THEM! WE HAD THE CHANCE TO SPEAK TO NEW RULES ON THEIR INITIAL FORMATION, HOW IT FELT TO GET OUT ON TOUR AND PERFORM TO THEIR FANS, THEIR NEW SINGLE, WHAT THE FUTURE HAS IN STORE AND SO MUCH MORE! CHECK OUT WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY IN THIS VERY SPECIAL EDITION OF THE LOWDOWN MAGAZINE! EDITOR | LAUREN STEWART WORDS & INTERVIEW | RACHEL DEMPSTER SPECIAL THANKS TO | EDGE PUBLICITY & NEW RULES
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'NOT ALONE' IS VERY STRIPPED BACK IN ITS NATURE. WAS IT IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO TAKE IT BACK TO THE ROOTS OF NEW RULES, WITH ACOUSTIC GUITARS AND RAW VOCALS? ALEC: “Definitely! It was something that we paid a bit more attention to on the last record and something that we wanted to carry forward. It felt very authentic to us. The three of us usually write songs by using acoustics.” NATHAN: “It’s not as stripped back as we lead you to believe. The song started on social media, and since then, we’ve taken it to a place where there’s a bit more energy in it. It’s still kind of mid-tempo.” THERE'S A CRUCIAL MESSAGE PORTRAYED THROUGH THE SINGLE. WAS THIS SOMETHING THAT YOU WERE FUNDAMENTALLY AWARE OF WHEN YOU WERE WRITING THE TRACK? RYAN: “Yes - it was definitely something that resonated with us. We thought that our fans would absolutely love it. It was definitely something that we wanted to put through to our fans and anyone who listens to the song for the first time. It’s a very personal song.” DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE LYRIC FROM THE SINGLE? NATHAN: “A lot of our fans have been getting tattoos of lyrics already. There’s one lyric: ‘You’re living proof,’ which I think is my favourite, and theirs as well, as they’ve put it on their bodies!” RYAN: “You can sing the chorus back, but I love the detail in the verses and the ‘You’re living proof’ line.” ALEC: “We played the song on tour, just to see if it was something that the fans liked. We’ve done that in the past - played a song to test the waters. We got approached by some fans in Ireland, and this girl had it tattooed on her arm. It convinced us to put the song out!” NATHAN: “It’s smart though, because we’ve played songs in the past and not put them out, so now we had to!”
DID THE SONG TAKE LONG TO COME TOGETHER? ALEC: “We went back and forward with it, as we couldn’t settle on a production that we felt represented the song.” Ryan: “It started as a piano-type song, which is cool, but it’s not really our thing, as none of us are that good at piano. It sounded beautiful on the piano, but we wanted to put our stamp on it, so we put in the faster guitars for another demo. We’ve been playing with this song for about a year, maybe longer.” NATHAN: “It always takes a while. It’s amazing how long it takes from when we first write a song to when it comes out.” RYAN: “It’s around the same time we started looking at ‘Late In The Evening,’ so I feel that they are like a brother and sister song.”
FOR ANYONE WHO HASN'T HEARD A NEW RULES TRACK BEFORE, DO YOU FEEL THAT 'NOT ALONE' PERFECTLY SUMS UP YOUR SOUND? NATHAN: “Definitely. It’s a message that our fans resonate with. This song brings our community together.” ALEC: “This song feels very us. ‘Late In The Evening’ and ‘Not Alone’ mark out what New Rules is about.” YOU'VE RECENTLY FINISHED A HEADLINE TOUR, PERFORMING AT VENUES AROUND THE UK AND IRELAND, WITH A NUMBER OF SOLD OUT SHOWS. WHAT WAS THAT LIKE FOR YOU GUYS? RYAN: "I mean, it’s our favourite thing to do, to play live - we love it! People always ask us what our favourite bit is, and we sometimes say that we love writing in the studio and supporting artists, but the headline tour where everyone is there to see us is amazing. We did Dublin and London last summer, but it’s been a little while since we did an actual tour around the UK and Ireland. We performed in Cork and Limerick, where we’d never been to before. We love testing out new songs. The fans also nearly deafened us on this tour! Our biggest goal is to keep growing our headline shows to as big as we can, because it’s a real community and family feeling in those rooms.”
DO YOU HAVE A STAND OUT MEMORY FROM THE TOUR? RYAN: “Every night, we did an extended outro on ‘Really Wanna Dance With You.’ We would stop towards the end, right before doing the last word. Every night, without fail, our fans wouldn’t let us stop the song, because they were cheering so loud and screaming. We started playing up to it, but on the first night, we had no idea that was going to happen, so we had to go along with it.” AS A BAND, DO YOU HAVE ANY PRE-SHOW RITUALS YOU CAN TELL US ABOUT? NATHAN: “We have a few things we always do. Right before we go on stage, we turn to each other, look at each other and fist pump. It sounds a bit lame the way I describe it, but it’s done in a very cool way.” RYAN: “There’s a little bit of pep talk going on.” ALEC: “We do a lock in, where we play in sync at the same time, to make sure that we are tight before we go on.” RYAN: “If we don’t sound good, then the show is off!” IS IT IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO TEST UNRELEASED SONGS WHEN IT COMES TO TOURING, TO SEE THE RESPONSE FROM FANS? ALEC: “Definitely. We always want to make sure we put out music that matters to us and that
we love. We write songs with our fans in mind, so we want it to be something that they love. It’s always quite validating when we play something on tour that we really like and want to release, and they love it too.” RYAN: “We grew up being fans of artists and bands as well. It’s quite special if you’ve heard a song that’s unreleased or that other people haven’t heard. It’s exciting for us to play new music and see how people react. We go on Twitter after and see what people are saying.” CREATIVELY, WHEN IT COMES TO GETTING IN THE STUDIO, DO YOU FIND THAT YOU ALL HAVE VARYING INFLUENCES THAT ALL COME TOGETHER TO CREATE THE NEW RULES SOUND? ALEC: “We share a lot of the same influences which all come through, which is fortunate aswell. We all grew up listening to a lot of the same stuff, but also some different things. I think they come through.” RYAN: “Lots of guitars, lots and lots of acoustic guitars, which makes sense when you look at us!” ALEC: “When you put it together, it does make a little New Rules blend.” NATHAN: “Because we live together, we’re always listening to the same stuff, it’s always the same music on, so I think that all comes together in the studio.” Ryan: “A lot of John Mayer, Lizzie McAlpine recently and obviously, Ed Sheeran.” Nathan: “Can’t beat it!”
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WHO WOULD YOU SAY ARE YOUR MUSICAL INFLUENCES? NATHAN: “I mean the list is pretty long.” ALEC: “It’s probably a lot of the similar artists we draw from musically, just in terms of what they’re doing. We go to a lot of live shows all the time. We saw Lizzie recently at Lafayette and also saw The 1975 recently.” NATHAN: “They’re just the best band in the world right now!” ALEC: “Muna.” NATHAN: “Muna. Great!” RYAN: “I think otherwise, in terms of what we want to replicate in terms of world domination, you can’t ignore those One Direction guys. That would be nice, wouldn’t it?! Or that ginger fella - Ed.” NATHAN: “Anyone who made a lot of money! We’re big fans of their work!” GOING BACK TO THE FORMATION OF NEW RULES, HOW DID THE BAND COME TOGETHER? NATHAN: “I was looking for people who wanted to write songs. I went looking on Instagram and
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Youtube. I saw a video of a cover that Ryan had done. I knew of Alec, because I'd seem him doing some similar covers on Instagram. I messaged them and asked if they wanted to meet up and do some writing. We wrote a bunch of great songs. Two of them became our first two singles. We got on straight away and realised that we should be a band pretty quick.” INDIVIDUALLY, IS MUSIC SOMETHING THAT YOU ALL WANTED TO BE INVOLVED IN AND HAD A PASSION FOR? COLLECTIVELY: “Definitely!” NATHAN: “We all grew up doing the singer/songwriter thing and busking, but when we met, one of the reasons why we bonded quickly was because we were all in the same mindset. We were all looking for the same thing. We were all obsessed with bands, we loved singer/song-writers and writing songs.” ALEC: “I was looking for a reason not to go to university. I didn’t really know if I could do it properly as a career, and then I met the guys.”
RYAN: “I left university for it as well. Growing up, I always wanted to do it, but I parked it for a little while. Nathan saved us!” THE PANDEMIC HAD A MASSIVE IMPACT ON THE MUSIC INDUSTRY. DO YOU FEEL THAT IT GAVE YOU MORE DETERMINATION TO SUCCEED AS A BAND AND FOCUS ON WRITING MUSIC DURING THAT TIME? RYAN: “Definitely. It came at a weird time, because we’d just done a massive headline tour and the plan for the rest of that year was to tour, so we had to get quite creative. We became pretty determined to become really big on TikTok. We locked ourselves in the loft room of our previous house and wrote a load of songs that became our favourite songs and our fans’ favourite songs.” NATHAN: “When I think about lockdown, it was awful for the touring side of things, but it was great for the music side of things. We did what everyone had to do - take the good out of an awful situation that everyone was in.” RYAN: “I think we became less dependent on other people. We started producing our own demos and writing all the time. That was invaluable. We mightn’t have been able to do that otherwise, as we mightn’t have had the time to start to learn how to produce.” THE BAND HAS ALREADY ACHIEVED SO MUCH DURING YOUR TIME TOGETHER. HAS THERE BEEN A STAND OUT MOMENT FOR YOU COLLECTIVELY OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS? ALEC: “I’m not even saying this just to say it, but our gig at Lafayette was probably one of my favourites. I think the boys would agree, but we just felt very ourselves on stage. The crowd were amazing, as they always are. They are just the best fans in the world. Our fans are so great. They just cultivate this amazing environment at a live gig. It was a bit of a milestone, I think.” RYAN: “I think that recently we’ve been reaching a lot of milestones - it just feels like a really good time for us. We’re really happy. I think the Maida Vale session was a pinch me moment. That was really cool, and then, MTV in Times Square - that was crazy, and the American tour.”
HAVE YOU GAINED ANY BITS OF ADVICE FROM THE ARTISTS YOU HAVE SUPPORTED OVER THE YEARS ABOUT THE MUSIC INDUSTRY? ALEC: “We went on tour with a band called Picture This. We’re good mates with those lads. They’re great and deserve all the success in the world, but one thing that Jimmy and Ryan said to us was just to make sure that you always have ownership over your project. I know it sounds obvious, but it almost isn’t. You get so many cooks in the kitchen, so many
people and different teams working with you, for you. It could get lost if you’re not careful, so it’s just always keeping one hand on the steering wheel and making sure you’re the one that’s driving it, because at the end of the day, no-one is going to care about it more than you. That was pretty valuable.” NATHAN: “Also, people come and go. We’ve seen that in the time we’ve been a band. The only people who are going to be completely consistent is us three, so it’s our baby.” IS THERE ONE THING THAT YOU WOULD MOST LIKE TO ACHIEVE? ALEC: “Probably a sold-out US tour, but not just on the East Coast, rather the whole place.” RYAN: “I like that. That feels like a bit of a call-back though, because we were talking to someone earlier and they were asking about our favourite achievement from our first year of being a band and that was the sold-out UK tour, so I think replicating that a couple years down the line, in the US.” WHAT DOES 2023 HAVE IN STORE FOR YOU GUYS? IS THERE A POTENTIAL ALBUM IN THE WORKS? ALEC: “Music, lots and lots of music. Possibly longerform projects, possibly not. Who knows, really! We want to put out a bunch more singles. We hope to be back on the road soon and hit new territory. We have places we want to revisit in Europe and maybe North and South America.” RYAN: “A lot of mainly hanging around bars and buying other people drinks so that they bring us on tour!” ALEC: “Flirting.” RYAN: “Lots of flirting. Subtle flirting, or not so subtle. I don’t want to keep talking about the States, but spending a bit more time out there, just to keep on top of what’s growing out there. We’re also performing at the Indiependence Festival in Cork, which will be fun - we’re looking forward to that. Hopefully a couple more festivals as well!” LAST BUT CERTANLY NOT LEAST, DO YOU HAVE A FINAL MESSAGE FOR YOUR FANS AND SUPPORTERS? ALEC: “We love you, you’re the best. Thank you for everything. See you soon!” 'NOT ALONE' IS OUT NOW AND AVAILABLE TO PURCHASE AND STREAM THROUGH ALL MAJOR OUTLETS.
FIND NEW RULES AT: WWW.NEWRULESBAND.COM @NEWRULES
@NEWRULESTWEETS
"'Not Alone' is a song for our fans. We often get messages telling us that our band feels like a safe space for them to feel part of something and so this song is a message from us to them. We're so lucky to have such an amazing, warm community of people supporting us and we hope this song feels like a hug to anyone that needs to hear it." NEW RULES