Last month, Hundred Reasons announced that their first album together in 15 years, Glorious Sunset, is due for release on 24th Feb 2023 via SO Recordings. Sharing the lead single and title track ‘Glorious Sunset’, the response was ecstatic from fans and press alike – Louder stating that “the timing couldn’t be more perfect, (Glorious Sunset is) a thumping rock anthem signaling a very welcome return from the British band.” and NME proclaiming the comeback “a moody, cinematic and emotive song driven by the group’s trademark post-hardcore energy.”
Pre-order the album Glorious Sunset on CD and white 12″ vinyl, as well as T-shirts and signed lenticular prints here.
Today the band celebrate both past and future, new label SO Recordings partnering up with the band’s first, Fierce Panda, to announce a limited edition 7″ that pairs the title track on the A-side to a reissue of early favourite “Cerebra” on the B.
“Cerebra” was the first song on their first ever release, “EP one”, and it’s a track that FP label head Simon Williams calls his favourite ever Fierce Panda single in the new book ‘Pandamonium! How Not To Run A Record Label’, out now.
Vocalist Colin Doran had the following to say about the track:
“This is the first song we ever wrote together so brings back a ton of memories. It was amazing when Fierce Panda came to us with the idea of re-releasing it with the song Glorious Sunset. For us, it’s like things have come full circle.”
The 7″ is limited to only 500 copies on orange vinyl and is available to buy direct from the band HERE
As well as the 7″, Hundred Reasons also announce the release of an official podcast, entitled Live Fast, Die Ugly: The Hundred Reasons Podcast put together by Tom Kwei. The four-part podcast series chronicles the band in their own words.
From their first ever performance at Kingston’s The Peel on Jan 22nd 2000 all the way up to their upcoming 2023 reunion shows across the UK and new album, Live Fast, Die Ugly covers everything anyone could ever want to know about one of the UK’s all-time unsung juggernauts: the global tours, the fiercely loyal fanbase, the top 10 album chart breakthrough, the anomalous Top Of The Pops appearances, the disbandment, the reunion and everything in between.
Colin had the following to say about the podcast:
“Tom Kwei came to us with the idea as a massive fan and we’re pretty sure he knows more than we do about the band, so it was a no-brainer saying yes and going ahead with it. We never considered ourselves the most exciting band in the world but turns out we actually have quite the story to tell.”
Live Fast, Die Ugly’s first episode The Great Test is available to stream now HERE
The path to the first Hundred Reasons album in a decade and a half may well have taken many detours for the Aldershot quartet as lives, roles and responsibilities diverged but ultimately their route back to one another came as something of a natural process. The creative urge seemingly never left the band – Colin Doran (vocals), Larry Hibbitt (guitar, vocals), Andy Gilmour (bass), Andy Bews (drums) – and their first sessions back together became less about re-capturing the magic of their previous four studio albums, or addressing unfinished business, and more satisfying a growing urge to be creative together once more. They set about fanning the flame of a spark that was never truly extinguished, aiming to capture spontaneity in its rawest form, and later hone and perfect their work with the band’s own Larry Hibbitt on production duties. Consequently, Glorious Sunset is as vivid, exciting and as fresh a collection as they have ever produced – distinctly Hundred Reasons and full of fire. Lead singer Colin Doran says of the first writing session; “I came away from that session not just feeling closer to the other guys, having not seen them for some time, but thinking the music was f****** awesome. We all looked at each other and knew it was a go.”
Lead single ‘Glorious Sunset’ is the perfect distillation of their renewed artistic impulse. Doran’s distinctive, emotive vocal and soul-baring honesty deliver a gorgeous, thrumming ode to grief that reminds us that while the death of a loved one brings pain and the regret of time wasted and words unsaid, it’s vital we remember to celebrate the life that’s been lost.
He continues about the single: “When we started writing again it was really important that we did not go back to any material that had been cut previously. It all had to be completely new. We started writing just before Covid and got together sporadically as and when we could to write and demo which was not our usual way. We would normally be in a room together for the most part but this time it was not always possible. Larry and I would write, The Andy and Larry would write and then I would join the session later in the day (I have a day job) but we were all super happy with what was coming out. This was a deal breaker for all as if we were putting out new material it had to be amazing.
Glorious Sunset came about from an instrumental idea from The Andy which was nearly complete minus any vocal ideas. The lyrics for the song completely changed from the demo version to the recorded version as within that space of time my mother passed away after a 4-year battle with cancer. She had gone into remission twice previously and it come back again but this time it would be terminal. The title of the song took on a new meaning as the song talks about being relieved that someone you love is no longer suffering. The sunset refers to the light that many people say they see when they die.
During recording, Larry started playing around with synths and effects that added more to the song but by the time all of the music was recorded, no one in the band knew that the lyrics had changed so it ended up being an emotionally draining session in the studio that day. In all lots of lyrics changed during that time period as it brought on a new perspective which shaped the narrative of the material.”
“This album isn’t something we felt we had to do. We simply arrived at a position where the music was so good that it was something we needed to do.”
Hundred Reasons begin UK tour dates with special guests Hell Is For Heroes and My Vitriol in Feb 2023. Tickets are available here.
Hundred Reasons Spring 2023 UK headline tour dates
Feb 23 – O2 Academy, Leeds
Feb 24 – Barrowland, Glasgow
Feb 25 – Academy, Manchester
Mar 02 – O2 Academy, Bristol
Mar 03 – O2 Institute, Birmingham
Mar 04 – O2 Academy Brixton, London