Kaiser Chiefs Founder & Frontman Of Everyone Says Hi Nick Hodgson Is The Very Special Guest On The Full Circle! Oh My God I Can't Believe It

Oh My God, I can't believe it! I have a Kaiser Chief on The Full Circle! Founder & drummer of said incredible band as well as frontman for the amazing Everyone Says Hi is the very special guest on The Full Circle! We had a great chat reminiscing about Kaiser Chiefs, including who rated one of their albums 3 out of 10 and why that was so influential for their path after that, the festival which led to one of the band's greatest moments, even if a bit unconventional, and we speak about Everyone Says Hi, their new album Funny Cos It's True due for release on 9th October 2026 and which songs he cannot wait for people to hear.

Nick also answers some tough Would You Rather questions, shares a great fun fact never heard before elsewhere and he plays a lyrics quiz where he had to guess which songs were Everyone Says Hi, but the twist is that one of the odd ones out was a song he had written before!

And, of course, Nick creates his Full Circle, choosing songs with important meanings related to his childhood in particular! Playlist for the songs: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4EVPl27Xq9BhSBRg80HeYl

Everyone Says Hi are doing some album release shows in October! Get your tickets here: https://www.everyone-says-hi.com/

Follow them on social media: https://www.instagram.com/everyone_says_hi_
https://www.facebook.com/EveryoneSaysHiOfficial

Follow Nick Hodgson on social media:
https://www.instagram.com/nickjdhodgson
https://www.tiktok.com/@nickjdhodgson

Thank you to Nick for coming on The Full Circle and thank you for checking out the show!

Visit TheFullCircleDC.com for all things Full Circle related!

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Transcript

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SPEAKER_02 0:07

The Full Circle with Due.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

I have a very special guest on the Full Circle today. He is the founding member of Kaiser Cheese playing the drums and contributing vocals and writing some of their biggest hits, including Ruby and I Predict a Riot. Since his departure, he has started a publishing company called Prediction Music and has written for many musicians, including Zara Larson, Alfie Templeman, and Numi at 6, amongst others. He is also the frontman of Everyone Says Hi, mixing indie with Dream Psych Pop with their second album, Funny Cause It's True, due for release on the 23rd of September with some album release shows from then as well. An absolute honour to have on the full circle today. His name is Nick Hossen. Boom boom boom boom boom. Hey Nick. Hi. Hey, that's a brilliant introduction. Thank you. Oh, my pleasure. How are you doing? Yeah, good. I'm very good. How are you? Yes, very good, very good, thank you. Nick, you've created a full circle. Do you want to let the listeners know sort of the theme for the full circle?

SPEAKER_01 1:13

The theme for my full circle is um the very, very influential bus journeys that I used to take to school. That is it.

SPEAKER_00 1:21

I'll tell them whenever you want me to. Very nice. No, we'll begin very shortly. But what I want to do, I always want to start the discussion in a way which is probably a bit unique to maybe other podcasts. I know or interviews. I know that you've done a lot over the years. So can you share a fun fact about yourself that you've never shared anywhere on an interview or podcast before? Can't guarantee that it's not been shared before.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

I uh do love like bird watching. I'm looking now for birds. Can you see any? Uh I can't see a single bird. But I do get a total thrill about seeing like a good a good bird. I was always like that. I was in the younger ornithologist when I was a little kid. Oh wow. When's the last time you've seen a good bird? Err oh, up in uh Yorkshire this week. Uh I've seen um a kestrel in the garden. That's good. Very nice.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Do you do you take photos of them when you see them?

SPEAKER_01 2:12

No, because there's enough photographs on the internet.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Fair enough. No, that is a very fun fact, and hopefully there'll be lots more birds around to um I'll let you know if I see any, okay? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not a single bird. Oh, there's a magpie. Got it. Okay. Only one. Just one, yeah. Hopefully no sorrow on the show. Um sorry. No, no, no. All good. What's the let's begin with the full circle. What's the first song that you've chosen for the full circle? Okay, I've got a little playlist here.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

So basically, shall I tell my theme in in more bit more detail? Yeah, let's go for it. Okay, so um I've been in Yorkshire this week in Leeds and I went uh to a place called the Otley Chevin, and it was part of my journey to school on the bus. I was thinking, if I didn't get if I lived right next door to school, I don't think my life would be the same because it was those 45-minute journeys that took me from my house to school on two different buses that I discovered music, cool music. So there was older kids on the bus, and they were listening to stuff and they were wearing band t-shirts, and I was drawn to that and I wanted to know what they were doing. So they would. I remember one girl who was in sixth form and I was in first year gave me a tape. I think it had like Stone Roses album on it, on one side, and uh In Spiral Carpets on the other side. But my favourite bands of that, so what I've decided to do is like because I was in Leeds and I was trying to think of a theme, I was like, okay, it's my boss's journey to school. So and also amazingly, for someone who's into music, my five years at that school covered the Madchester kind of baggy era, so starting with Stone Roses and Happy Mondays, and then it moved quite quickly into like Nirvana, which are all two like sort of eras of music that completely were distinctive, but only about two years apart. I always define whether a a genre or an era of music is truly enormous if people's hairstyles change. And in the three years that I was at school, uh sorry, in the five years that I was at school, hairs hairstyles change three times with Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Rage Against Machine, and then Into Oasis era, Brit Bop.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

So I have chosen some songs from that era. Very nice, very nice. What's the first one then that you're gonna choose from that era?

SPEAKER_01 4:35

The first one is I Wanna Be Adored by the Stone Roses. Yeah, that's the first song on the Stone Roses album. So but I don't know, you you tend to sort of although I used to listen on cassette, but I would listen to I'd get into an album and I would listen to it from beginning to end, maybe I don't know, twice a day. Same, same album. And wow. It was a great time for me because it was before I got into recording music, right I mean I was writing songs, but I wasn't like devoted to it. And I was not mixing or engineering or anything like that. So music was coming at me without any um evaluation, like, oh, what have they done with that snare drum or why have they done that and all this sort of thing. The stuff that ruins music for you when you get more into it. Um so I was just listening with I was just taking it all in, and that was the first song on the album, and I loved it, I loved the atmosphere, and it was like one of the first things where I discovered it myself, you know, because like in our family car there was a lot of music, but it was all stuff that like mum and dad were putting on, and this was like a new era.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

I was about 11. Very nice. Stone Roses, I wanna be adorable, the first song on the full circle. And yeah, I must like since I've started making podcasts and like editing shows, I must admit, since listen to other shows, I'm like, oh yeah, I can, oh yeah, I've noticed that a bit more, and I noticed like you know, breaths a bit more and things like that. And I must and I assume that's the same for you when you when you listen to music these days. It only gets worse.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

I remember someone telling me, a producer telling me when I was like about 16, they're going, they can't listen. Uh it was like I can't listen to music anymore. And I thought, okay, that's a shame. And now I mean I do listen, I can listen, but I just listen to it in a in a way that the 11-year-old me is completely different.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

I was just gonna say, are there any songs that you've written or you've made since since since like in you know, maybe like early Kaiser Chiefs or something that you're like, oh man, I don't know if I like how that sounds now.

SPEAKER_01 6:32

Yeah, well, it's very interesting actually. I'm just sort of uh doing a bit of mixing at the moment, as in I'm learning, I'm sort of studying how to be a mixer, because it's like a real different science to everything else. So I've been uh Simon, who is just still in the Kaiser Chiefs, sent me the first album, multi-tracks, so I could just practice recording. Uh it's really interesting because it's just weird to hear that there's hardly anything in these songs. There's there's there's just the tracks of what you would normally play. There's no overdubs really, there's nothing fancy in it. The playing isn't great. Really? Yeah, it's it's kind of weird, really. I was a bit surprised at how bad it was. Oh wow. And it doesn't matter because you know, it was like it was quick, it was it's almost like punky. I think the mix that happened on employment was quite quite polished in a way for what we had down there, but there's not a lot of but it's very punky. I mean, I could mix a version of that first album and it would just sound raw, like a sort of punk album, really. So it's it's amazing how trashy it is.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Fair. I mean, yeah, that's interesting because I wouldn't I wouldn't have clocked that. I wouldn't have clocked that that the sound is like that, like like, you know, like imperfect. Like I don't know. To me, it just sounds like I think because it sounds maybe as it is, like a bit different to maybe some of the other albums back then and the style. I think I don't know. I think it worked quite well.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

I remember saying to Steven Street at the time, I don't want it to sound scrappy, because I remember at the time, uh, like say the Libertines, their album had been uh a couple of years or whatever, and I just didn't like the fact that it didn't sound like no, and it was like the trend was towards kind of crap. Good songs, but like quite bad. Like takes, you know, and things are quite quite bad. So and it was this garage rock movement thing that was happening, and I wanted to be the to be the opposite of that and try and make it like polished and so we had that conversation and we just tried to that's uh that I think Steve and Street and when mixing it and stuff made them more polished, but uh the actual raw material is pretty pretty rough.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

Interesting. I think I think I saw that you you put out a video of of of a demo of one of the earlier songs once. Was it is that those are sort of demos you're talking about?

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Or no, no, that that's our demos, the band that made them before we were for a record deal. This is the actual album recording, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

Okay, okay. No, fair, fair. I mean, yeah, I can I mean, to be honest, like you mentioned at that time it definitely stood out. And yeah, you're right. I think like bands like the strokes there, we're going for this sort of not perfect sound and like you say, Sound like it was recording one take sort of thing and all in one room, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 9:25

And I love that. I mean, The Strokes Is this it? Is my favourite album ever, but it's at the time I just thought if we're gonna cut through, we can't sound like that. I think we'd spent a couple of years before Kaiser Chiefs trying to fit in with everyone, realising it doesn't work, and then realizing it one very important moment going, right, we have to do everything the opposite, and we really did do everything the opposite. So we wouldn't so like on stage we s we said, right, we can't wear jeans. You cannot wear jeans in photographs, we can't wear jeans in so we all like wore Farrah trousers, like you know, and like NAF trousers and jumpers, we got obsessed with like this sort of we've got to wear not like big woolly jumpers, but like sweaters. Right at the beginning, the first ever photo shoot, we're all wearing like Fred Perry sweaters or something, like just because we want to um be different and be the you know, because everyone's wearing leather jackets, ripped t-shirt, tight jeans, ripped with holes in it and everything. Right, okay, how do we be the exact opposite? So we'll wear jumpers. And that is true. We one day it was like, right, we're wearing jumpers.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

Even in the summer.

SPEAKER_01 10:38

Yeah. We had to, it was a a whole world of opposites, basically. I had this phrase that if you can see the bandwagon, you've already missed it. And so we were all we were, we had to start our own bandwagon. It's like, okay, what is happening right now? Okay, well, that's not gonna be happening in a year. What's gonna be happening in a year? Okay, it's gonna be this. I remember reading the enemy, and there wasn't one mention of a British band in about 2003. It was all American. I was saying, okay, well, if that is the case, then the next wave is gonna be British bands. Because that's how the enemy works. It goes hypes and then dips, changes.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

And so that's what we did. Did you have you mentioned that maybe initially you didn't have the best of relationships of enemy in the past?

SPEAKER_01 11:26

I mean, at the beginning, yeah, we had an amazing relationship. The first time we appeared in the enemy was when a guy rang uh we'd supported Franz Ferdinand, it was our second gig, and we'd supported Franz Ferdinand at the cockpit, and uh journalist from the NME rang me up and said, How was the gig? And I described it, and then the next week in NME, that review was in, and I was like, Blimey, okay. If I'm writing our own reviews here, then this is a definitely a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

Okay, fair enough. I thought I my understanding was it took a little bit of a bit of time for you to get on enemy, but it sounds like actually maybe it wasn't straight away with Kaiser Chiefs.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

We were straight in. We got single of the week with a demo of oh my god, yeah, that was in like insane, and we had like a load of front covers, and then I think the third album they gave us three out of ten, and then it was over. Oh, really? That's that's just how it is. I mean, that's like it was to be expected. You can't in the enemy in those days, if you had you had a certain run, really, and once it was over, it was over. Three out of ten though, that that is so harsh. Yeah, it was it wasn't that good that. But do you agree with that? I mean, surely not. No, because it was part of the world of enemy. It was like, okay, we build it up, we knock them down. That's just totally normal. I'd been reading the enemy since the 90s, and I was totally aware of I mean it's really damaging to your to the album campaign, because back then the enemy was the big influencer on everything, including like Radio One or festival line-ups and everything. It was huge, it was so big. MTV2, you know, Zane Lowe. If enemy liked you, then Zayn Lowe liked you, r labels liked you, everything hinged on whether the enemy liked you. I think we did alright. But it was pretty it wasn't good when we got three out of ten.

SPEAKER_00 13:20

No.

SPEAKER_01 13:20

What do you think is the equivalent now? Spotify. Hmm. But I don't think it I don't think they decide that they like you, but I do think the influence is they don't decide, but uh like the enemy decide whether they want to get behind you. Spotify, the influence of Spotify is the same as the influence of so if you get onto a playlist and get a million streams in a week, then that's what will go forward to Radio One. Hey, we've got a million streams in a week, and everywhere else. And it all falls in line after Spotify editorial have said they like you.

SPEAKER_00 13:56

Got you. No, it's definitely a different playing field now. And I do want to talk about now when everyone says hi. So how but before we do that, how what's the second song that you've chosen for the full circle?

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Second song is uh Step On by Happy Mondays. Uh again, same sort of thing. I mean, it was one of those that I heard, and you know, with these fresh 11-year-old ears, you really are like hit like so massively, and also with not just the sound of it, but the fact that the kids on the bus or at school who are older, say they were 15, 16, and they were wearing Happy Mondays t-shirts, bucket hats, flares, kickers. It's just a world of cool that I was like, okay, I need I'm just drawn to that. I'm drawn to bands, music, and everything that goes around it. And that was huge. Step On was just such a uh totally different sound. It sounded totally different to everything that had been happening.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

It was brilliant. Very nice. Happy Monday, Step On, the second song on the full circle. Now, look, I want to talk about Everyone Says Hi, because I am really looking forward to your second album. The the three singles you've released are are so good. I mean, I I I've really enjoyed them all. They're very melodic to me, like quite like just like especially in this summer, in this heat as well. Just like I feel like it's got that melodic sort of like summer sort of vibes. I really like that sort of vibe to it. I just want to check because obviously you the first album was released last January, so it's a pretty short time frame. It's been a year and a half.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

I mean, yeah, that's quite is that quite quick, would you say, or or had you already well, I think what the the reason it's quite quick is because it the last first album came out in uh January 2025, but we finished recording it in 2023, but we recorded it without a label and without anything really. So we just recorded the album, and then there's a whole year of trying to get someone to put it out, and then once they've decided they're gonna put it out, there's basically another I don't know, it took like nearly two years for it to come out. So in that two-year gap, you know, you've written a new album, which is why it's quite quick.

SPEAKER_00 16:01

No, that makes sense. And what's your and um how are you feeling about about the second album now? Like I are you sort of excited for it to be released or what's the sort of feelings before it comes out?

SPEAKER_01 16:12

Well, I was I'm always after more. Uh so I like it when I don't know, I just want more people to hear the songs in advance of the album coming out. I feel much more like happy about it then. You know, I think the songs that we put out are really good, especially don't underestimate yourself, which is really it's like one of my favourite songs I've ever written. And we kind of want I I think more people need to hear it. So I'm never happy, I'm never content with how it's going ever. Even after the Brits and we won three Brits, you're like, okay, that's fine, but what's next? So I'm always like that. So I don't know, I'll always be always be pushing. Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 16:52

I think I think that's actually a really good way of looking at it. Obviously, at that time, be like, great, that that happened, you know, but obviously if there's this don't don't rest on your levels, be like, hey, I want this, I want to do this. Because otherwise if complacency could kick in if we're sort of like, oh no, we're done now, we're fine.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

Yeah. I don't know what it is whether I'm when I decide to do it or whether it just happens naturally. I just think there's always something something to be done. Maybe I'm hoping one day it's gonna leave me this like um it's like half of it's about uh proving people wrong, even though no one's really saying that you know I think I want to prove things to people all the time or prove it to myself and I keep going and one day I'm hoping it's gonna just sort of not bother me. And I'll just go, eh, everything's fine.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

What do you think? I mean, have you got an idea of what you think your ultimate goal is to be like, yeah, I'm I'm content now?

SPEAKER_01 17:49

Uh I always just say, I just want one I don't know, one more hit. It's like sounds like a drug addict. One more hit. Yeah, yeah, I can sort of see. The gap between hits keeps getting longer. And as a songwriter, I mean it doesn't matter because like I think it is it's funny that you write a song like Don't underestimate yourself. And you I mean I do think it's one of the best I've written, but because of the way, I think it's never gonna be a massive hit. Well, it might. Anything could happen these days, which is also the good thing about these days is that you can have a song just like out for two years or whatever, and then suddenly something weird happens. I don't know what it could be, like it could be a Kardashian just clicks it on the TikTok.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

That's what I was gonna say. I you you mentioned Spotify, but I think TikTok is also a big player these days as to what songs could go viral.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

It's huge. I I think the people, uh labels and managers and things like that talk about TikTok in that way, but then what's become clear is that it it only makes that song big. I mean, you generally speaking, I mean some people get big, big, big, but in general, you can have a hit on TikTok and it doesn't sell any tickets. That's the difference, I think, with being big in the NME. I mean, seriously, you get something in you get front, well, not front cover, but you get some coverage in the NME and your gigs will just sell out. It's like, wow, that doesn't really happen from TikTok. I think it does happen from Spotify. Sometimes I'll be at I'll see like a queue. I'll I I've been past a couple of venues in London, and there'll be a queue outside, say, the roundhouse, there'll be 3,000 people queuing, and I'll say to them, What are you queuing for? And they'll tell me the name of the artist, and I'll go, I have never heard of that artist. You go on Spotify and there's like 30 million monthlies, and they've never been on radio, and they've never been, and it's just like some weird, absolute niche thing that I don't know, 3,000 people want to stand outside queuing up for.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

No, that's a very good point. Monthly listening to Spotify's great one.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

That totally didn't exist.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

That no, because I wanted to ask, so if you're doing some album relief shows when when the album comes out, that was that like maybe maybe I'm I'll fit too young at a time, but was that a thing in the early 2000s?

SPEAKER_01 20:15

Yes, that was big actually. Uh okay. Yeah, we used to go to HMV and do like six HMVs. And Amoeba, I've got a mug, here we go from Amoeba, this was in America, and you'd do the same thing, Amoeba music, and you would go to yeah, record stores and just play and then do a signing.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

It was cool. Nice. I wasn't sure if that was yeah, I didn't know if that was a thing now in terms of just trying to get like more, you know, get your chance on the album charts, because album charts I feel are where like especially like more bands can now chart more than the singles charts these days.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

Yeah. There's a big push for that, yeah. I like I mean, it's still difficult, but I I don't know. I mean it's what I find about the music industry at this point in time is that it's impossible to to figure out, it's impossible to beat. So you just gotta do your best. I mean, it's always been told to me when I was a kid, just do your best. And I was like, no, no, it's not about that, it's about this, this, this, and this, and this and this hustle and doing that. And now I actually think it might just be do your best. I think it might I'm not sure. Because also, I don't know, it was so tangible back then you could you knew exactly your targets, enemy gigs. It was just I don't know, it was like quite easy. I mean, if you got top of the pops, then brilliant. It was quite simple. Front cover of the enemy, top of the pops, bosh. Yeah, now it's a bit more random. Totally random. And and like Jules Holland, like you'll go and so like your management or whatever, they would focus all their attention on like three things. Now you've got to you can't even focus your attention.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

It's just like how about Do your best, do your best. What what do you think I know I've never spoken about TikTok, but what do you think about social media presence? Do you think that plays a part in in whether people go see your shows?

SPEAKER_01 22:10

Um I think you can pick up a few people. I think the thing that makes big differences though is big playlist. Um and I mean I don't even know if radio does it so much. Yeah, it's a real it's it's tough to break through for sure, but um yeah, I think you've got to be I think the thing about Instagram is to uh have a it's a place it's a pe it's a place for people to go if they've heard your song on the radio and they want to know a bit more about you, and so you got you try and make your Instagram look like a bit of a hey, this is the band. Welcome, join us, you know what I mean. I'm not sure if doing like bands doing comedy skits is that good. I think it used to be alright. Sure. Uh but I don't think there's much point in in I think it's just cool to just your Instagram's got to be like a shop window. TikTok's different. Do you know I've got a little uh phrase, another top phrase for you. So I called so I like TikTok, I mess about on TikTok and I describe TikTok as a playground and Instagram as assembly. So you can just mess about on TikTok because it doesn't matter. But Instagram is more like, okay, this is it. This is assembly time. Prepare, be good, but just do whatever you like on TikTok.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

It's so true, it's so true. I agree with that. I feel I I because I do use both. I don't use them properly, but I do agree. TikTok, I feel like, look, I can post whatever I want, and I don't think it's going to be an issue. As an Instagram, like, oh I should not be posting that. I don't know if that's a good idea.

SPEAKER_01 23:49

I agree, yeah. I think it's because like your mum, your mum might be on Instagram, and and all your mates who are cool are on Instagram, and everyone and no one on TikTok, like my mates aren't on TikTok, or they might not, I don't know, they're not bothered. And also it's the way that it's distributed on TikTok is very different, so it just goes to totally random people or only, really. Your followers never see it, it's just random.

SPEAKER_00 24:13

So true. Yeah, completely agree. I want to ask one more thing about Everton that says height, and then we'll go to the third song. So you mentioned don't underestimate yourself as being like one of the best songs you've ever written. And do you I mean, is there any other song? Is there a song, another song on the album that hasn't been heard yet that you're really excited for people to hear?

SPEAKER_01 24:31

It's been a while since it was finished. I'm gonna have to check the um yeah, there are Real Friends, that's my favourite. There's a song called Real Friends, which I just think is I don't know, could be my favourite ever.

SPEAKER_02 24:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

It's a great album. And then there's a song called uh Everyone's Gonna Lose, which is very I don't know, it's just great. It's a good album. I haven't heard it for a bit because we finished it like actually we did add an extra song earlier on this year in about March. We'd finished it, and we thought, let's get one more. And that turned out to be the title track, which is good. Yeah, it's a great album.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

Real Friends, look out for real friends. Very nice. And it comes out on the 25th of September. Yeah. And pre-orders and vinyls, CDs, what are the sort of physical formats? That's it, no tapes. Uh I don't know why. But CD, vinyl, and then everywhere else. Very nice. Can't wait to hear it. Uh, what's the third song that you've chosen for the full circle?

SPEAKER_01 25:29

So the next song, so you got about we've had the Stone Roses and Happy Mondays, and that was like 89, 1991, and then comes Nirvana. And I can remember the first time I heard In Bloom by Nirvana. It was in my brother's car this time, so not even on the bus, but it was on the way to school. It was on the way to school, and he played it, and I was like, okay. I mean, it struck me so hard. And okay, all right, it's just mega. Sounded completely different to Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses. It was so brutal, in your face, loud. Okay, cool. We're on this now. Nirvana.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

Very nice. Nirvana in Bloom, the third song on the full circle. Yeah, nevermind is one of my favorite albums. I just love that album. I don't know what your take is.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

Yeah, yeah, it's amazing. I can always listen to that. I can go for a year, two years, and stick it on and just go, wow, it's so good. The melodies are brilliant, the production's brilliant, and then I remember the lyrics on this song are really good because I just thought, okay, I love the lyrics as well, though, which is kind of one of the first times I really got into lyrics. Like lyrics for me were just a way of making the melody work before that. I don't even know if they mean anything in in Bloom by Nevada, but I don't know, it doesn't matter. It works.

SPEAKER_00 26:53

Yeah, it works. Yeah, no, so good. I want to ask you some would you rather questions now. Okay, so first one. Would you rather never write for another artist again or never write for yourself again?

SPEAKER_01 27:15

I would rather never write for another artist again. It's kind of complicated logic, that isn't it? I would r yeah, I like writing for myself.

SPEAKER_02 27:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:25

Sing, I like writing. There's a big difference, and that is what I think of as a filter. So when you're sat in, I've written a lot of songs in this room with other people, and you sit there, and there is a barrier between my mind and their mind, and the it's like a filter, and it's for what's going on is I'm writing something and I like the sound of it, and all I'm thinking about is I hope they like this. I hope they like this. But when you're writing for yourself, you go remove that filter and you can just write and enjoy it.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

No, that makes sense. I get that. Do you think it's more successful writing for other artists, or do you think it's more successful writing for yourself if you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 28:06

It depends. I mean, the good thing about writing for other artists is that you can write for if you want to get into it, you could write three different songs with three different artists every week. It's numbers, isn't it? You never know. One of those songs could could go off. If you're doing it for yourself, it's a lot, there's a lot less turnaround of songs because you've got to finish the song. You've got to I don't know, there's a whole world of finishing songs and getting 12 for your album or 10 for your album. So you probably write like 10 a year, 12 a year or whatever. I think I wrote 100 a year at one point with random artists, and then maybe seven come out a year. So, yeah, it just depends. I don't think I'd ever go back to that world of writing for other people because it I remember a good year, seven songs came out for me, and I remember thinking, hmm, I don't really care. I thought it was good, but it didn't really make me feel good. And that totally tied in with COVID lockdown, and I was like, okay, well, if it's not making me feel good, and this is my best year of releases, I need to do something else. So, yeah, it started writing songs for myself. Which was it's just generally, it's just much better. You know, if Harry Styles wants to do six weeks of writing with me, I'd be absolutely thrilled and I would think it's the best thing in the world, and I would love it, and we'd get loads of great songs. But if it's just, you know, and also you've got okay, Harry Styles, right, okay. Well, I know how this works. You get a good song, it comes out, it's a smash. Great. The dang not danger, but there's the sort of negative bit about the writing for other people is it say if it's a new artist and you've got a great song, you're still up against like it's just really, really tough to get that song to ever get heard. So I'd rather just be in that same situation but writing for myself.

SPEAKER_00 30:07

No, that makes complete sense. Yeah, you might as well. And if yeah, if you're writing it for yourself, you know that you you're the one in control of the song, you're the one who makes it, and I guess there's a sense of satisfaction of going through the whole process yourself. So I can see that. It's happiness at the end of the day. Yeah, definitely. Okay, next one. Would you rather perform in a tiny intimate setting or a massive arena show? Massive arena. Okay. What's what do you reckon?

SPEAKER_01 30:33

Like what what what makes that because sometimes some people like just performing to like a few people in front of you know I guess I guess uh say if you're in a big band, then you've got the choice. Uh if you're in a small band, you haven't got the choice. Uh if you offered it to me, is this arena full? Uh oh, that's a good question. Yeah, it's yeah, yeah. If your arena's empty, then I'd much rather. You know what? Here's the answer. I would I just want to play in front of whatever the capacity is that it reaches, like is full. If it's a tiny room and that's all we can get, 150 people, then yeah, great. But 150 people in an arena would be pretty negative, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That would be if you're in a really massive band, like say, like, say you are in free fighters and you want to play a stadium or a tiny room, you probably prefer the tiny room. It's just a bit fun, but it's different.

SPEAKER_00 31:29

Well, I know you've done both, that's why I was sort of curious. Yeah. Uh I would go arena. Fam. No, that makes sense. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 31:38

Yeah, yeah. It's interesting. It's a good question.

SPEAKER_00 31:40

This is the last one. Would you rather listen to one song forever or any song but one time only? Oh, let me just get that again. So one song forever. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:49

Or any song only once. Yeah. Mmm. Yeah, I'll go for any song once. You know what it is about these would you rather things? Go on. You know what it is? There's something that happens to you when you are confronted with this question, any of these questions. Would you rather have two like four arms or four legs? Right? You suddenly go, oh my god. And you for that split second, you're like, this is real, and I've got to decide, and this is the rest of my life. I'm it hinges on this one moment. Then you suddenly realise, yeah, I can say whatever I like because it doesn't matter.

unknown 32:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:29

If you did though, if it was real and you and it could only be one song forever, yeah, yep. What song would it be? Do you know?

SPEAKER_01 32:37

Uh oh, it'd be Witcher's Alignment by Glenn Campbell.

SPEAKER_00 32:41

Okay, I don't know that song. Is it what makes that one? Yeah, well, I'll have to check it out. What makes that one uh, you know, I can listen to that one if I'm getting bored forever?

SPEAKER_01 32:50

It's just so great. The lit it's just so it's got great memories for me. It's got sad memories, it's got good memories, it's got everything, it's got all the emotions that you'd ever have. And it's just so it's a wonderful song. It sounds brilliant. I don't know when it's from, it's probably 70 years. Witch Italy Alignment by Glenn Campbell.

SPEAKER_00 33:11

Okay, okay. I will definitely listen to that. Thank you so much for answering this with your other questions. Thankfully, not real, as you say.

SPEAKER_01 33:18

It's always a yeah, you need to remind yourself that.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

Oh my goodness. What's the fourth song that you've chosen for the full circle?

SPEAKER_01 33:26

Fourth song is uh Know Your Enemy by Rage Against the Machine, which also fits into that sort of same period. But so we're about 92, 93 now, and I'm still at school, I'm listening on the bus, I've got my headphones, it's on tape. Everyone in my year got into Rage Against the Machine. Well, not everyone, but all the people that were into music, and all I mean, everyone there's so many guitars got bought. Everyone's trying to figure it out. I was in a band, we were playing covers of Rage Against the Machine. We go to my friends' houses for like sleepovers. We were 14 at this point, stick it on, turn it up, and just dive about like 14-year-olds do. I mean, it was so I mean it's it's such a brutal sound, it's a mad sound. Both mixed by the same mixer, actually. Nirvana and uh Rachel Git Andy Wallace, who mixed our one of our um third albums. Oh, cool. Three out of ten. Um dear. So wait, was it was it uh oh that slander him? I don't remember which one it was. Yeah, okay. So anyway, it was a big song, and I used to listen to it on the headphones, and uh I've sometimes if I was walking through a park at night to my friend's house or something, I'd stick it on, and not just that song, but the whole Range Ranging's machine first album, and I'd feel like a tough guy. Gave me the confidence to walk through a park at night. Don't know what that means. Would I have been able to come up with the goods if I was required to deal with any threat? I don't know, because it did not happen, but I felt like a tough guy. It's just cool how music can make it feel. I mean, if I was walking through a park at night, you know, trying to come up with some confidence to deal with any threat that may come around. Witch at our linemen by Glenn Campbell is not the song. But Know Your Enemy by Rage Against the Machine definitely gave me that boost to walk through the park at night.

SPEAKER_00 35:29

Very nice. Know your enemy, Rage Against Machine, the fourth song on the full circle. Have you had a I've never seen them live, which I'm I'm just getting that I haven't. Have you had the chance to see them?

SPEAKER_01 35:38

Actually, once that was a mad one. Kaiser Chiefs went on before them at a festival. Rage Against Machine. Wow. Rage Against the Machine had not played in the UK for something like 11 years. It was a festival, I can't remember which one it was. People had waited four years to see Rage Against the Machine. They were headlining this festival. We went on before Kaiser Chiefs, right before, we were confronted with a sea of middle fingers. Oh no. It was awesome. Uh that's one of my favourite gigs because we had we had to turn it around. And because whatever you know about Kaiser Chiefs from the records that you hear on the radio, live is a different thing. It's very thunderous. The drums are thunderous and the guitars are loud and it's big. And so what happened during that gig was that people started to turn around. I remember this one guy, not turn around physically, that would have been bad. I remember this one guy who basically I don't know how he communicated this message, but the message was all right, well done. Not bad. And I was like, brilliant. This is the guy who's got his finger up, and halfway through he's like, actually, it's not bad. I is it tea in the park? Uh that's what it says.

SPEAKER_00 36:57

Have a look at oxygen. Oh, yeah, oxygen it says oh. Tea in the park and oxygen. Oh my goodness. That's just yeah. What year is that? 2008.

SPEAKER_01 37:09

Love that. Yeah, absolutely love that. Those are the mo you know what when I do gigs now in you know a very totally different environment, but nothing phases me about gigs. Nothing. I did a gig the other day, it was just like look, we joined this bill just for strip back thing, just for fun. Jumped on the bill, jumped, got on stage, sound check was six minutes, fine, whatever. I've done there is nothing that can phase me, and it's not just because of those raging machine supports, it's just you name any situation that has occurred on stage, and I guarantee it's happened, and so you've just got it all there, it's all there, and everything's fine, like whatever it is, the show must go on and pretend nothing's wrong.

SPEAKER_00 37:58

Is that the worst thing that happened as a band, or did you have worse things?

SPEAKER_01 38:02

Oh, that was ace.

SPEAKER_00 38:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:05

Okay, so yeah, the best thing. One of the best, yeah. Well, on stage, the worst thing, I can't remember, you know. There's nothing that's major because even your mistakes get covered up, even amps going down. One time we were in Manchester and we were playing. There's a video of this actually, someone filmed it. I'm like a Nokia. Peter Kay was by the side of stage, and something went wrong with the gear, like the amp, guitar amp went down or something. There was like five minutes gap, and Peter Kay came on, walked on stage, and did like five minutes crowd work with this. It's unbelievable. It's on it's on YouTube. Wow. So all the things that go wrong, yeah, nothing, nothing's been that bad. I mean, there's been terrifying moments. I once had to like we did this thing at the roundhouse called the electric proms, and I we start the whole idea of this show is very different to a normal show. It started tiny with me playing Boxing Champ from the second album alone on the piano. It was on TV, it was on you know, three, four thousand people, and then the end of the show was huge, big millions of people on stage having a great time. But I mean that was utterly terrifying. But you just do it and it's great. I tell you to my daughter now, I say that she's nervous about these this concert she's doing, and I'm like, all the good things in my whole life that I've ever done that have been good have been terrifying. Even like getting married or something, it's like still a big deal, or having a baby, or playing a Glastonbrew, whatever, anything. All the all the tough bits are the scary bits, but all always the best bit.

SPEAKER_00 39:41

Yeah, definitely. I I can definitely see that. Very quickly, got time for one more quiz if that's okay. Yeah, sure. So it's it's called, sorry for the for the lame name, it's called Everyone Says Hi or No One Writes Bye. So, sorry for the lameness. So essentially, there were three, so I've chosen your three new singles, and you have got to correctly guess which one is the correct lyric line.

unknown 40:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:05

Now, one of them is somewhat linked, so that's the wrong ones, one of them somewhat has a link to previous songs that you might have been associated with, and one of them is just completely random. So here are the three lyric lines. I don't know, Nick, you don't sound you don't you don't look very happy. I'm just I'm just preparing. Okay, okay, if I'm wrong, here we go.

SPEAKER_01 40:25

I'm very excited. This is this is okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:28

So this is from communication. Which one is correct? So this is the first one. Say your prayers because no one gets out of life alive. The second one is love is a drug, but it comes with a warning. And then the third one is crawling up the walls looking like a rabid hound.

SPEAKER_01 40:43

And I've got to tell you which one's from communication.

SPEAKER_00 40:46

Yes. Oh, it's easy.

SPEAKER_01 40:48

First off.

SPEAKER_00 40:49

Yeah, yeah. Nice. Yeah. The second song was a song I think you've written um Beautiful Way with Yumi at six. Oh, they all my songs. Right. The second one was, but the third one's a completely random song. Yeah. But the second one was uh Love is a drug becomes with a warning. That was I don't know if you wrote that line or not.

SPEAKER_01 41:06

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember that. Is it written in this room? Yeah. Cool. Nice. And you gotta recognise it.

SPEAKER_00 41:14

Yeah, little little curveballs. Right. No, well done. One out of one so far. Okay, second one is from just like that. The first one is delete my number from your phone. The second one is I had a dream that I'd get closer to the sunset. And the third one is photograph with no t-shirt on.

SPEAKER_01 41:28

Uh it's the second one is from just like that.

SPEAKER_00 41:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:32

I recognize the first one, but I don't recognise the third one.

SPEAKER_00 41:35

Yeah, first one is like it is Zara Larson, the song I think you did with yeah, you wrote Jura Lipa initially, didn't you? And then we went to them. Third one's random, little mixed touch. Oh, cool. Okay, two for two. Let's see if we can get three for three. Let's do this. Okay, don't underestimate yourself. So, first one. Well, calm down temper temper. The second one is due to lack of interest, tomorrow's cancelled. Oh yeah. And the third one is no one knows it all.

SPEAKER_01 42:02

Uh okay, so second one's Ruby. Third one, no one knows it. Oh yeah, no one knows it all. That's don't underestimate yourself. And what's the first one?

SPEAKER_00 42:11

Uh red lights indicate doors are secured by Arctic Monkeys.

SPEAKER_02 42:14

Very good.

SPEAKER_00 42:15

Cool. Yeah. Okay, three out of three. All good. That's all that matters really. And obviously Ruby is a what a hit. What a hit, which you wrote, didn't you? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:25

Well, I mean, what happened with the guys where I would write the I would come in with the song, uh, you know, the like a lot of so I think Ricky wrote all the lyrics for the verses, but I'd come up with the you know, I'd have the melody for the verse, I'd have the chorus, like so. I had the chorus, I mean it's only one one word. Repeated. It wasn't that difficult.

SPEAKER_00 42:49

But um, yeah, that's how it worked for that one. Yeah, love it. Number one song in the UK, completely deserved. Love that song. And why don't getting three out of three? And we are now gonna wrap things up. What's the last song that you've chosen for the full circle? Um, this one.

SPEAKER_01 43:05

So, as I said earlier, the whole idea of this uh circle is that it starts when I'm like 11 going to school, and then the same school on the same bus. We went from Manchester uh Manchester Baggy to like grunge to Brit Pop. And so one of the songs I really remember on that bus journey is Up in the Sky by Oasis, um, which is from Definitely Maybe. And there was something about that song that I thought it really appealed to me in sort of songwriting. I think basically I said earlier that if I didn't go if if my school was next door, I think my life would be completely different. It was those 45 minutes twice a day, hour and a half, every day, is that right? Journey Journey every day and learn, I mean, without knowing, learning how to write songs and something about Up in the Sky, there's one section which I actually looked up the lyrics today, and I'm shocked at how wrong I was. I really let me just find So the real lyric is you'll need assistance with the things that chew I've never ever seen. That bit. It's like middle eight or something. You'll you'll need assistance with the things that you anyway. You'll need assistance. I thought it was don't need assistance with the things I chew. Which is better. Don't need assistance with the things I chew. That's better than you'll need assistance with the things that you anyway. That bit in particular, I can do you know what? It's so weird. I have a memory that goes with pretty much every song. I can locate a f a location actually to do with most songs. If you name the song, in my head there's a location for it. It was weird, right? There's probably a a word for that. That bit in that song reminds me of getting off the bus at a literally stepping off a bus at a bus stop that I can picture now. Um, just that one moment, it's it it changed the way I write songs at.

SPEAKER_00 45:23

Oh wow. Incredible. Great way to end the full circle. Up in the sky oasis, the last song in the full circle, hence completing the full circle. Oh, excellent stuff, Nick. I've really enjoyed that. And please, please, go, please go buy the album. Go check out everyone says hi on tour as well. Have you got any parting words to the full circle nation before we say goodbyes? Try your best. And try and enjoy it. Completely, completely endorse that. Nick, I wish you all the best. Thank you so much for your time. Take care, yeah?

SPEAKER_01 45:54

Thank you very much. Great to meet you. See ya.

SPEAKER_00 45:57

How incredible was Nick Hoshson. Oh my god, I can't believe it. I've had a Kita chief on the show. Hopefully, no angry mobs after me, and thankfully no riots at this time. I'm gonna stop there because I know that people are thinking, uh, people are gonna be groaning or they're gonna be having a little sly chuckle. Thank you so much for checking this show out. For those of you who have never listened before, hello, I'm DC, I'm the host of The Full Circle. You might have heard that we link shot we link songs together with the last song, linking back to the first song, hence completing the full circle. I've had some incredible guests. Nick Hodgson, incredible. I've also had Frank Turner, Jamie Lendman, Brendan B. Brown of Wheatus, and a whole lot of others. I said those names because if you listen to Nick Hodson, you probably might be interested in those ones. Check them out. If you want to, you don't have to. If you've liked the show, give it a little review, give it a little rating wherever you're checking it out. Obviously, check out Nick and everyone says hi on tour. They've got their album coming out in September. Links to their shows are in the episode description. I always end the show in this way. It is to do with my Hindu background. It is because of that that I always end it in this way. If you do it, let me know. If you don't, that's absolutely fine. You don't have to do it, but if you do it, just say. Remember this stay safe. Don't eat beef.