It's hard to not get all smile-y by listening to the upbeat jams cooked up by London-based duo, HONNE. James Hatcher and Andy Clutterbuck have been creating ripper tunes together since their Uni days back in the yesteryear of 2014, and have just released a brand-spanking-new album — OUCH — that marks a new era for HONNE as fully-fledged independent artists. 

We managed to catch a quick chinwag with James and Andy about their career so far, what fans can expect from OUCH and their tried-and-true methods of beating a creative block. Plus, treat your ears to the new album by giving it a listen down below. 

You guys have been cooking up music for a decade now, how has HONNE evolved since you first got started? JAMES: Oh, in so many ways. When we first started we were very intentional with using a limited palette of sounds to make sure we sound like ‘HONNE’. But over the years this has expanded to be very broad, knowing that our songs will always sound like ‘HONNE’, as long as we write them and Andy sings on them. As we’ve grown we’ve continued to try to evolve and push ourselves out of our comfort zones to always make something that feels new and fresh to us. And personally we’ve evolved too, I’m married now, Andy’s married with kids and all this gives new lyrical inspiration for sure.

ANDY: A decade! Wow.. that’s a lot of cooking! We’ve evolved in ways we couldn't have imagined. From a musical point of view, our sound has developed over the years. With every album we try to keep it fresh whilst maintaining the character of HONNE. Lyrically, we’ve been very honest over the years, but I’d say with OUCH, we’ve written the most personal lyrics we’ve ever written.

After 10 years though you would have thought we’d know what people like and how to navigate the industry but the truth is we still have no idea what we’re doing!!

So far, what’s been the most memorable live show you’ve been a part of? J: I’d have to say our performance at the Araneta Coliseum in Manila to 8 —10 thousand people. It felt like every single person in the audience was singing every single word, like they were our own personal choir!

A: We feel very fortunate to have played some incredible shows over the years. We love playing on stage. Especially when you go from spending a long time in a studio to hearing people sing your songs back - that feeling never gets old. But as for most memorable show…we played a festival in a forest in Bandung, Indonesia and it was absolutely insane. Will never forget it.

What are your go-to rituals before and after you’ve had a big show? J: I’ve gone through so many different phases to try and calm the nerves. I used to have one gin and tonic, then decided doing that for a whole tour wasn’t a great idea. So then I resorted to doing press-ups before going on stage. That worked surprisingly well!

Aside from that, we tend to huddle with the band, try to get us all in the right headspace to put on the best show we can and to be present in the moment. And after we just wind down, have a hug, chat about the gig, sometimes grab a bite to eat and then get some good rest.

A: G&T before the show. Little bit of pacing around. Steaming some clothes. Vocal warms ups. Punch the air like a boxer! After the show we’ll have a cold beer and a nice chat with our band and crew and say “that was good, wasn’t it?”.

What methods do you use to get out of any pesky creative blocks? J: When we were writing this album I was reading "The Creative Act" by Rick Rubin. It helped me to turn up to the studio each day with an open mind, without putting too much pressure on myself. It’s a really great book and I’ll definitely be going back to it when we start the next one.

A: I think you need to break out of the creative block cycle. So go and do something different for a bit. Watching a film is pretty good I’d say for inspiring me to write. Something beautiful and random.

You’ve both had a real hands-on approach to the creation of your newest album, OUCH, including playing every instrument in your single “Imaginary” — from glockenspiel to violin — as well as the creation of its accompanying music video. Why is this important to you both? J: I think it was a bit of a reaction to having been on a major label for so long where we were pulled and pushed in certain directions and felt a lack of control at times. We wanted to put our own personalities into every little bit of the album, musically and visually, wherever possible. And in regard to playing every instrument — we had this idea that we wanted the record to sound like it had a school orchestra on it at lots of points through the album. So we thought, who better to play these instruments than absolute beginner cornet/violin/clarinet players like us!

A: James came to me with an instrumental one day. It had this amazing Beach Boys-style singing intro. I loved it and for some reason it made me think of a school orchestra. That instrumental turned into the opening song "Girl In The Orchestra". From that moment we decided it might be cool to play with that theme. When I was on paternity leave, James went and bought a load of brass and woodwind instruments and scattered those sounds all across the album. When I came back the album was full of these lovely and characterful sound beds. It was fantastic.

Talk to us about your creative process now you’re both independent artists. J: In many ways, it hasn’t changed enormously. We’ve always done the majority just the two of us, occasionally inviting trusted collaborators in to the fold when we felt like it. It normally starts with either a lyric idea from Andy, or a piece of music from me or Andy. And then we take this into the studio together and work on it to turn it into a full song.

A: I think the biggest thing that’s changed now we’ve become independent is our mental shift. I think we’ve finally worked out that we’re writing the music for ourselves and not thinking about whether someone at our label will like it. That way the music stays true to us and as authentic as possible.

HONNE has never shied away from tackling heavy topics in music. How do you tackle including personal and dark topics on such a public stage? J: I’ll have to let Andy answer that one as he’s the lyrics man!

A: I think I just pretend that no one really knows who we are and won't hear the music and lyrics we write. HA! That way I feel I can write about anything and it’s only for my ears. What I’m learning though is that no matter how personal I go, there always seems to be people who connect and relate to it, which I find so comforting.

What can we expect from your new album, OUCH? J: OUCH is a genre-spanning album, full of personal stories. But although very personal, we hope that people around the world can also relate as we’re often all going through the same things wherever and whoever we are.

A: It’s our most personal, charming and fun offering to date. You will fall in love, be heartbroken and then comforted back to normal all within the space of 50 minutes.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? A: Everything will be alright in the end, if it’s not alright, it’s not yet the end.