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Hope Of The States

NME.com feature on Hope Of The States including news, reviews, biography, youtube video, audio, concerts, tour dates, photos, pictures, commentary, album reviews and live reviews and cool facts.

Hope Of The States News

Former Hope Of The States members launch new band

Former Hope Of The States members launch new band

The Northwestern release their debut single this June

Hope Of The States stars form new band

Troubles will be playing live shows this month

  • Feb 7, 2007

Hope Of The States speak

Sam Herlihy opens up about the band's decision to split

  • Sep 12, 2006

Hope Of The States confirm split

The band 'walk away as friends'

  • Aug 31, 2006

Hope Of The States play 'last' live shows

Band's future in doubt after announcement

  • Aug 26, 2006

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Hope Of The States YouTube Videos

Hope of the States - Nehemiah

Hope of the States - Nehemiah (04:11)

Music video for: Hope of the States - Nehemiah

Hope of the States - Enemies/Friends

Hope of the States - Enemies/Friends (04:41)

Music video for: Hope of the States - Enemies/Friends

Hope Of The States - Left

Hope Of The States - Left (03:48)

Music Video - Hope Of The States - Left (TV Version)

Hope of the States - Blood Meridian

Hope of the States - Blood Meridian (04:07)

Taken from the Blood Meridian EP, and features on the amazing album "Left"

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Hope Of The States Reviews

Hope Of the States: Left

Hope Of the States: Left

Sam Herlihy and co strive to keep it simple, with varying results

Hope Of The States: The Late Room, Manchester: Wednesday, March 29

Doom merchants keep it simple with words, not pictures

  • Apr 13, 2006

Hope Of The States: Blood Meridian EP

Chichester’s finest: both big and clever

  • Mar 10, 2006

Hope Of The State/Sons And Daughters/The Bravery/Willy Mason : London Astoria

It's the UK versus America...

  • Mar 7, 2005

Hope Of The States : Mandela Hall, Belfast, Sunday, October 17

Sick of America, Hope Of The States come home, hop over to Belfast, and give 2005 something to look out for…

  • Dec 7, 2004

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Hope Of The States Biography

This UK rock band can trace its origins back to the early 90s, when school friends Sam Herlihy (vocals/guitar), Anthony Theaker (guitar) and James Lawrence (b. 25 January 1977, Chichester, West Sussex, England, d. 15 January 2004, Box, Wiltshire, England; guitar) first began playing together in their native Chichester. They were joined later on by Paul Wilson (bass) and, following a number of false starts, formed Hope Of The States at the end of 2000. The band's unusual name was derived from a controversial paper on schizophrenia written in 1948 by social commentator Albert Deutsch. Hope Of The States' avowedly political stance was accentuated by their adoption of military uniforms as stage wear, a tactic previously used by the recently disbanded Mansun. Simon Jones (drums) and Mike Siddell (violin) joined the line-up during this period, which saw the band heavily hyped in the UK music press as post-millennial rivals to the champions of UK art-rock, Radiohead.

A few copies of Hope Of The State's demo, the Fingerprints EP, were released in August 2002 prior to the signing of a recording contract with the Sony imprint Seeker Records. The limited edition single "Black Dollar Bills" was released in March 2003, housed in a hand-stitched and stamped hessian bag. The follow-up, "Enemies/Friends", broke into the UK Top 30 later in the year. Tragedy struck the band during sessions for their debut album, when guitarist James Lawrence committed suicide at the Real World studios. The remaining members vowed to continue without their friend, adding new guitarist Mike Hibbert to the line-up for a subsequent tour. By the summer they had completed work on their debut, The Lost Riots. The album managed to fuse the band's more experimental post-rock urges into a fairly conventional collection of guitar-based tracks, with the singles "Black Dollar Bills" and "The Red The White The Black The Blue" particular stand-outs.

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Hope Of The States Discography

Hope Of The States albums.

  • The Lost Riots - 2004 (Sony)
  • Left - 2006 (Columbia)

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