Behind The Artwork: Everyday Sidekicks - Hope (2017)

“Hope to us is a hugely important factor in life. You constantly have obstacles thrown at you that you need to overcome, times change and sometimes it's not always good things that come your way.

Without Hope for things to get better, life can get on top of you,” say Everyday Sidekicks of the choice behind the title of their forthcomer. Recorded at Monnow Valley Studios with Tom Manning, the band feel Hope is a huge jump from prior EP ‘The Things I’ve Seen’, the release of which led to them sharing the stage with the likes of Marmozets, Slaves (UK) and Coldrain. Thematically the band are attempting to avoid becoming ‘a one trick pony’ and so keep things diverse, with Hope spanning topics from heartbreak to the state of the world.

Suppleness doesn’t end at the lyrics either – although they can be currently best typified as post-hardcore – the band reveal “We like to think of ourselves as a blend of teeth gritting hardcore mixed with the pop punk roots that we all come from.” Ahead of Hope’s release, the band discuss how their artwork came into existence….

“The inclusion of a girl in our artwork is something that we want to continue throughout our career as a band. We feel it is relatively unique and adds a consistent theme across our music. Aaron Slater was our first choice for the job as his work is great and he’s getting really well known for it!

We feel that this E.P is a big step for us so we wanted something that would attract people’s attention as well as fitting our style. This was the first idea he got back to us after we briefed him and we instantly feel in love with the piece.

The overriding message of this E.P is in the name, having hope when things aren’t going your way and that whether its sooner or later, things will get better! The woman featured looks like she’s fading away, with her red face disappearing into black ink stains. Her eyes are closed and she looks peaceful but defeated, praying that things will get better, which fits the E.P perfectly!

For the physical copies of the E.P (pictured) there are matching pieces of artwork which look great as a whole.”