Earlier on this month, My Favourite Runner Up released their new single Never Again. We caught up with guitarist Tom to find out a bit more about the song – see what happened below!
Can you introduce yourself and tell me a little bit about My Favourite Runner Up?
Hi, my name is Tom Hawkes (Boots) and I play lead guitar. To keep the story short, My Favourite Runner Up was born in 2006 after an amalgamation of 2 bands. The name comes from a 2003 Vans Warped Tour compilation CD. On the tracks listing, our drummer saw the track My Favourite Accident by Motion City Soundtrack and below it Disregard The Runner Up by Kicked In The Head…an idea sprung to his head and I guess the rest is history! Most recently we’ve played Slam Dunk festival, supported Tonight Alive and played with the likes of Mallory Knox, Blitz Kids, Neck Deep and more.
You recently released your new single Never Again. What’s the story behind the song?
I don’t want to give too much away as we have an insane video to release with the single with which will reveal all; but it’s about the scenario where a childhood friendship has the potential to develop into something more serious later down the line, but certain things just keep getting in the way. It’s about growing up and it’s about letting go. It’s a story that everyone can relate to!
Can you describe your writing and recording process for the track?
We wanted to write a song with a huge chorus. You can be the judge of that, but I think we nailed it this time. All of our songs are written in our recording studio, Reaction Recordings, near our hometown in Wales. We lock ourselves away and don’t come out til we have something worth releasing! As with all bands there’s going to be a load of tracks which don’t make the cut – but on this occasion, Never Again was a favourite from the start. The track and album were recorded with Romesh Dodangoda at Longwave Studios, we’ve worked with Romesh for every release; he gets the best out of us every time and really helps bring our ideas to life.
Never Again is your second single from your 2014 album Crossroads. Would you say it’s a good representative of the album?
I’d say it was yeah, we’ve been told the whole album is really relatable and I think that’s something we pride ourselves on to be honest, writing songs which people can understand and relate to is really important to us. For the majority, it’s an upbeat, feel good album. It’s a story of what we get up to on the road, what we’ve had to deal with back home and what we’ve got to do to progress further.
What made you decide to release Never Again as a single?
As I said above, it was a favourite from the start! Our first single Poison was about being on the road, waking up in different cities each day and having a good time with your mates. We wanted the 2nd single to be more serious and hard hitting. The big chorus and the melodic hooks were two of the many things that led us to choosing Never Again as a single. We can’t wait to see how it goes down!
And finally what’s in the works for 2015?
We already have a few tours booked; we’re on the road in March with Leokai and Maven! All dates and ticket links can be found on our social media. We can’t reveal the details of the other tours yet but we can say we’ll be hitting countries we’ve never played before! We’ve also started writing new material which we’re really really excited about! We love our album Crossroads but it’s time to start heading in a new musical direction! Rest assured, whatever we release will be stamped with that MFRU sound – but next time it’s going to be a re-vitalised, re-invented and have a whole new feel to it!
