Simon Wainwright – Vocals/Guitars/Piano & stuff
Rich Huxley – Guitars/Vocals/Piano & stuff
Ed Waring – Keyboards... mainly
Simon Fletcher - Bass, Vocals and stuff
James Hamilton - Brass, vocals and stuff
Gary Stewart - Drums, guitars, vocals and stuff
Hailing from Leeds and born in late 2007, Hope and Social are a band... and soooo much more. 2009 saw the release of their debut "Architect of this Church" to public and critical acclaim. They went on to play at Glastonbury and tour the UK three times that year.
The following few years saw a flurry of releases, tours, festivals and (significantly) a focus on fans' experience. 2010's "April" was released less than a year after their debut album, and featured a Simon Goff on bass and strings. Recorded in 3 months, the album closes with "Eurospin", a song recorded live, with 70 fans as a *wine bottle orchestra* > http://www.hopeandsocial.co.uk/2010/05/17/april-track-10-eurospin-2
Fan involvement continued across their next two albums, "Sleep Sound" and "All Our Dancing Days" - featuring community choirs, and their collaboration with experimental theatre/digital arts company Invisible Flock "Bring The Happy" > http://www.hopeandsocial.co.uk/projects/bring-happy/ saw a national tour, international shows, and an album created around the stories and memories people have of a place.
In 2014, as part of Yorkshire Festival, Hope and Social took on the Tour Of Infinite Possibility > http://www.hopeandsocial.co.uk/projects/tour-infinite-possibility/ - where Hope and Social became "A Band Anyone Can Join" in twelve towns along the route of the Tour de France, teaching 1,200 people to play Hope and Social songs and playing 12 shows in 12 towns in four days. The project culminated in their appearance at the opening ceremony of the Tour de France: Grand Depart. Hope and Social took to the stage with 180 members of the Band Anyone Can Join and played at Leeds Arena to an audience of 10,000 in the arena, and a (speculative) 30,000,000 people worldwide on TV. > https://youtu.be/NstoL1W-wbA?t=1m10s
Gloriously interdependent, and strong proponents of the Pay What You Want model, fan involvement, blue jackets and fun, you can find the band online at.
hopeandsocial.com www.hopeandsocial.com
Music http://music.hopeandsocial.com/
Facebook http://band.to/hopeandsocial
Twitter http://twitter.com/hopeandsocial/
Instagram http://instagram.com/hopeandsocial/