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Hope of the States Information
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'Hope Of The States' are an indie rock band from Chichester in England. The band currently consists of six members: Sam Herlihy (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Anthony Theaker (guitar, keyboards), Paul Wilson (bass), Mike Siddell (violin), Mike Hibbert (replacing the late Dr Jimmi Lawrence) (guitar), and Simon Jones (drums).
Named after a 1930s paper on the state of the mental health system in the USA, and currently signed to Sony Music Europe the band have already survived tragedy (guitarist James Lawrence committed suicide in January 2004, widely reported in the international press) and achieved critical acclaim with their album The Lost Riots which went straight into the UK Top 40 album chart. The first single, Black Dollar Bills, was packaged in a hessian sleeve, each hand-sewn by a band member and later a collectors' item. Though the band's musical roots are in the heavily instrumental post-rock tradition of bands such as Mogwai, the album saw them blending this, to the disappointment of some, with more conventional indie rock fare.
As of September 2004 the band had just returned to the UK from their first world tour and will be releasing their follow up album early in 2006.
The band's most extensive UK tour started in October 2004, beginning with a date in Belfast's Mandela Hall.
Much of 2005 has been spent in the recording studio, as the band work hard on their follow up to The Lost Riots. Having played just 6 live sets in 2005, fans are eagerly awaiting their return in early 2006.
Influences
*A Silver Mt. Zion
*Mercury Rev
*Mogwai
*Molasses
*Radiohead
*Wilco
Discography
*untitled 8 track demo (CDR) (not 9 tracks, as some sources suggest)
*untitled 2 track demo (Black Dollar Bills/Three Days In The West) (CDR)
*untitled "Fingerprints" demo (CD limited to 10 copies)
*Black Dollar Bills (CD limited to 2000 copies)
*AMM=IBM (mp3 download)
*Enemies/Friends (CD/7")
*The Red The White The Black The Blue (CD/7"/pointless Ltd CD)
*The Lost Riots (CD/12"/Ltd CD)
*Nehemiah (CD/7")
*Winter Riot Dust Rackets (CD) [JPN/USA only. Both have different tracklists]
*L'Ark Pour Les Enfants Terribles (Ltd CD)
Also of note are the Dust Racket CDs. The band have handed out five separate CDs of demos to fans, with the instructions to hand them out to four further fans and not to distribute them digitally. So far this has been successful and the Dust Rackets remain in the hands of the die-hard fans.
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