Only Tommy and Clem, the only Poets members, have revealed that the band has accomplished a significant milestone by playing at their “dream” venue while making a passionate plea for justice.
With concert tickets rising due to the cost-of-living crisis, rockers Only The Poets are set to change things. A massive concert will be played for just £1, and the band, which will feature frontman Tommy Longhurst, guitarist Clem Cherry, bassist Andy ‘Roo ‘ Burge, and drummer Marcus Yates, will be playing.
Since launching the band seven years ago, the quartet has toured across the globe, supporting artists such as Louis Tomlinson, Yungblud, Lewis Capaldi, and Bastille. However, the boys aren’t particularly interested in raising the costs of their gigs, despite the fact that dozens of musicians do so.
Instead, they will headline the iconic O2 Brixton next year, and fans won’t have to spend a lot to see them. Tommy and Clem exclusively revealed how important music was to them in their early years through an initiative that supports the LIVE Trust.
Anything more than that is a total bonus, Tommy said backstage at their Berlin show last week, “It’s always been the destination for us, that’s the dream, that’s the goal, everything is the dream.” He went on to add: “It’s a rite of passage in the UK, it’s a phenomenal venue. We couldn’t think of a better place to perform it because we were very inspired in that room. We’re going there and playing a show there, hopefully doing something similar for some younger people, and for our fans because it’s our dream venue.
The gig will take place on February 2 next year, just days after the release of their debut album, And I’d Do It Again. Regardless of socio-economic status, they are passionate about making music accessible to everyone. “Music for us in our early years was so important, especially live music”, Tommy added, before explaining the band wants the night to be an “escapism” for people to leave all of their troubles at the door.
Clem responded, “To draw attention to a problem that, for us, gigs were everything. Going to concerts is where we made our friends, it’s where you go to let go and escape, for us, musically speaking, it’s where we got our inspiration to start picking up instruments. That’s everything if we can return that to other people.
Emotionally Hungover is one of the band’s upcoming albums that makes them particularly proud. “I guess that song is about how even your emotions can bring you to a point that you almost feel like you’re feeling hungover, and you feel rough just from your brain”, Tommy explained.
The album, which centers on the direction they are currently headed, is called “And I’ll Do It All Again,” as the quartet firmly believes that “everything happens for a reason.” Tommy explained: “It feels like it’s almost a time capsule of our journey as a band for the last seven years.
However, we have all experienced a lot of personal hardship when writing and producing it. It’s a real emotional journey. We simply believe that everything in life, not just the band, everything that happens in our lives, has led to this conclusion, I suppose. And if people say, ‘ Would you change it a bit? ‘ No, that’s the answer. We really believe that everything happens for a reason, and hopefully, the fans will feel like we’re celebrating with them.
It’s really going back to where it started at the point of our record, behind the messaging of it all, and it’s that full-circle moment. “We’re going to all the grassroots venues that we love dearly. We’re so proud of it, the boys produced it with our producer Dandelion, it feels the most cohesive, and we feel like we’re the band we’ve always wanted to sound like”.
Meanwhile, while Clem admits things have never felt “forced”, he says this record is the most “unforced” project they have ever worked on. He said: “The whole process of putting it together has just been so natural. We never really sat out like ‘Right, it’s time to make an album’ it was just kind of like we just sort of slowly stockpiled this collection of songs that kind of all met each other in terms of like themes, in songwriting, and sonically, they kind of gelled, it felt like it was a really natural, organic process for us as well.”
Although the band are signed to Capitol UK, one of the biggest labels in the world, one thing that will never change is how much creative freedom the four lads have. “We’re firm believers in doing everything like this,” Tommy said, adding that they always want to make the fans feel involved in “really poignant moments” of their career.
The boys have always had a lot of open communication with fans about their mental health, breaking the silence on men talking about emotions, which Tommy says is very important to them. “We are four guys that are incredibly with how we feel and we’re more than happy to be open”, he said.
He continued, “Music is kind of that outlet for us, isn’t it,”’ he said, referring to Clem. We’ve poured that into this album and these new songs, and hopefully, if we can encourage even a couple of people to feel like they can speak up about how they’re really feeling, that’s just an amazing bonus. To assist people, that’s kind of the purpose of your music. I do think the conversation is definitely getting better, and I feel more people are, even with me and my friends, everyone is more open than they were maybe a decade ago. We must feel very strongly about that, in my opinion.
When someone is “having a bit of a wobble,” the lads can check in on one another while traveling by taking some time for themselves. “We do things, go off on our own and have a bit of time on our own”, Tommy said, adding: “We don’t fall out, we know each other so well, so there’s a good dynamic”.
Clem once said, “It’s like a baptism of fire, I think, when you make a band, you hear of so many bands, I suppose, that don’t make it because of inter-political stuff, right? Or, like people fall out and whatever, there’s so many stories about huge bands that have done that. However, I believe we both learned a lot from our interactions because we all have a strong sense of commonality and are now friends with one another.
” You can immediately sense if someone is having a bit of a funny day or whatever, you know to give them space or the opposite, lean in a bit more if that’s what the person needs. We, as a group, are very supportive of one another, in my opinion. That really does shine through. We really make an effort to be there for each other even with our crew because sometimes the road can be challenging, but we also have a dream.
Tommy admits that while aspects of the band, including travelling as far as America, can be tough being away from home, he checks in with himself, saying it’s ok to have a bad day, adding that the band get on” really well, like brothers. “
” That kind of falls into the meaning of the album, “Clem said, adding:” Everything we’ve ever done from point A to point B is we are here now as a result of all of those choices and the mistakes and everything but would we want to change any of it to be where we are now well the answer would be no, even the highs and the lows. “
However, the band has had a personal roller coaster over the past seven years, with Tommy claiming that it has helped him learn more about himself. Especially with this album, I went through a breakup and I sort of scratched the service of why that went wrong, “he explained.
You’ll hear and feel that undertone throughout it, and he continued, “Before that, I started to analyze myself. It’s a very honest recollection of that kind of reflection amongst the record. What I’ve learnt about myself, I’ve had some kind of hard conversations with myself but then come out the other side, lighter and better. “
Clem continued, “I’d say the thing I’ve learned is how incredibly powerful it can be, not about me but our fans. It really is amazing for us to have the fan base that we do. They are truly amazing and powerful, and their actions are unfathomable. “Tommy continued”, Like Clem said, it’s the most amazing feeling, everyone’s got your back. “
” We now know of so many people by name, and we know they are best friends through liking us. This entails the album’s complete circle, revealing how significant live music is. We feel so grateful and honoured, there’s no bigger compliment than helping people. The band shares their musical connection with this, “having met through music.” We know there are some fans of ours, who will come to our shows to see friends they’ve met at shows, “Clem commented, adding that some fly in from foreign cities to catch up with their pals. He claimed that it was “that all-inclusive sense of community that I find to be incredibly beautiful to see occasionally.”
And while they’ve played some incredible venues across the world, grassroots venues will always remain close to their hearts”. It simply stated, “Tommy said of dozens, including Sheffield’s The Leadmill, closing down.” He went on to add that many musicians start their careers at smaller venues, performing to a handful of people”. He continued, “You fall in love with it more,” adding, “They are the seed that will hopefully grow the tree and help you climb the live music ladder.”
Clem said, “I think that’s what gives a lot of up-and-coming or undiscovered artists the confidence that they can do it, which is obviously what happened.” “This week, having already played a handful of shows in Europe and their hometowns, the band will hit the road, performing in Manchester, Birmingham, Oxford and Southampton.
However, they will begin their biggest American tour to date next month. Tommy said:” We’ve only ever done four states, we’re doing 20 shows with The Wombats, which is going to be unbelievable. They won’t be slowing down anytime soon, though, as their next album will be released next year.
” Then we’re doing our biggest European tour and our biggest ever US headline tour and hopefully a bunch of festivals, “an excited Tommy said. They’ll be traveling across the country in a van for their US trip, which will take them ten hours.
And while they’ve already played Reading and Leeds Festivals in the past, the thought of playing on the Main Stage as the opening act would be the” cherry on the cake “for them”. “Tommy said, “I’d love to open the Main Stage, I think that’s a slot that people don’t really like,” adding, “I’d love to do that, fingers crossed.
Only The Poets will become the only band to headline O2 Academy Brixton for £1 on February 2, 2026. For pre-sale, click here starting at 10am on September 11.
