Everyone Says Hi

Part of Independent Venue Week
Independent Venue Week (27th Jan – 2nd Feb 2025) is the UK’s annual 7-day celebration of independent music & arts venues and the people that own, run and work in them. 

The new band with members of Kaiser Chiefs, The Kooks, Howling Bells and The Dead 60s. Debut album out 31st Jan 2025.

The ex-Kaiser Chiefs’ songwriter/drummer Nick Hodgson unveiled his new band earlier in the Spring. Everyone Says Hi sees Nick adopt the role of lead singer/guitarist/frontman, and brings together musicians Pete Denton on bass, Glenn Moule on drums, keyboard player Ben Gordon (ex-members of The Kooks, The Howling Bells, and Liverpool’s The Dead 60s respectively), alongside Leeds based guitarist Tom Dawson. The band’s name is lifted from a David Bowie song of the same title. What you hear across its 10 tracks is high-calibre, beautifully sculpted songcraft performed by high-calibre, experienced players. Not so much showing ‘promise’ here, but instantly delivering bonafide ‘big songs’ that belie the band’s status as relative newcomers.

“Everyone Says Hi” is the fruits of a multi-platinum musician deciding to draw a line and start afresh. Back to the same bedroom floor where the first tentative notes were played, holding the same guitar that was played way back when, back to forming a band with trusted friends, and back to booking the sticky basement stages where teeth were first cut. But whilst you can metaphorically wipe the slate clean on most things, you cannot unlearn what you already know. If emotionally-driven, arena-ready songs come almost second-nature, you’dbe foolish to ignore the gift you’ve been given.

Nick has long been a songwriter in high demand. Since leaving his teenage band back in 2012, he has co-written for the likes of Dua Lipa, You Me At Six, Duran Duran, George Ezra, and Holly Humberstone, and collaborated on tracks alongside Mark Ronson, Kygo, and
Shirley Bassey. Having racked up over 5 million cumulative album sales globally, Nick now focuses on a new challenge. You wouldn’t bet against him.