Hope Of The States’ Samuel J Herlihy launches solo career with debut London gig: “These songs are kind of sad, and funny, and heavy and odd”

Hope Of The States‘ Samuel J Herlihy has launched his solo career and announced a debut London gig. Find all the details below.

• READ MORE: Hope Of The States on their return: “It’s loud, it’s messy, it has all that heart in it”

The vocalist of the Chichester post-rock band is set to release his first single, ‘The Entire Span of Human Existence’, next Monday (October 27).

It comes from an entirely self-produced album, which was recorded on the cassette four-track that Herlihy used to record his first-ever songs when he was 13, in a slew of sentimental locations, including his “primary school hall, in an abandoned barn by an abandoned MOD radar station and on a boating lake, in a row boat, surrounded by flamingo shaped pedalos.”

The album will arrive in 2026 with no specific release date currently announced, and will be previewed by a further single, ‘The Accident’, in November, which has been described in a press release as “a disastrous acid trip aged 14”.

To celebrate, Herlihy will play his debut solo show at London’s St Pancras Old Church on December 11. Tickets go on sale next Wednesday (October 29) and will be available here.

Reflecting on the announcement on Instagram, Herlihy wrote: “These songs are kind of sad, and funny, and heavy and odd and are I guess…memorials of a sort to everyone’s friends….weird childhoods, unhappy accidents and insane luck. They are for Them here, and Them long gone. I’d love anyone to come and hear me play.”

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Earlier this month, Hope Of The States shared a new single, ‘Billboard Mountain’, and announced plans to reissue their debut album, ‘The Lost Riots’.

They’ve also recently released singles ‘Long Waits In A & E’ and ‘Footage/Streamtrain’, after they announced their huge comeback after 18 years of inactivity last July, after breaking up in 2006.

Speaking previously about their comeback, Herlihy told NME about the state of their new music. “We’re in a rehearsal room and have been smashing it together,” he said. “It’s all written and we’re going to go and record with Jolyon Thomas, who is the son of Ken Thomas who made our two records with. He was an absolute hero and I loved him dearly. He was an incredible, artistic, intimidating dude, but sadly he passed away last year. We first met Jolyon when we first met Ken when he was some snotty 16-year-old kid, and now he’s snotty whatever-year-old producer who makes records with U2.

“If the songs weren’t good, then I wouldn’t do this,” he continued. “As fun as it would be to to play the shows and give something back to fans would be lovely, it wouldn’t be enough to just play the old stuff. I genuinely believe that it’s as good if not better than the old stuff.”

The post Hope Of The States’ Samuel J Herlihy launches solo career with debut London gig: “These songs are kind of sad, and funny, and heavy and odd” appeared first on NME.