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New Hope Club and ROOKIES have teamed up for their latest track together, Paycheck – released via Disco:Wax & Virgin EMI.
Producer, Jon Maguire – better known as ROOKIES – linked up with the British pop band to create the infectious new single.
The carefree vibes throughout Paycheck mesh perfectly with the vocals of NHC, ultimately creating a feel-good energy that will certainly be added to everybody’s summer BBQ playlists.
Consisting of Reece Bibby, Blake Richardson and George Smith, NHC formed in 2015 and have since garnered over 73 million streams combined.
Their second EP, Welcome to the Club pt. 2, smashed the Top 10 in the iTunes album charts in a stupendous 18 countries and also topped the iTunes pre-order chart in eight countries (including the UK).
The brand-new collaboration for Paycheck, is set to be just as successful as ROOKIES’ huge hit, California, which has since been remixed by TRU, Leon Lour, and Audiovista.
We got the chance to chat to both, New Hope Club and ROOKIES, to chat about their brand new banger, touring, and what the future holds!
Hey New Hope Club & ROOKIES! How did the collaboration for Paycheck come about?
ROOKIES: I’d heard of the guys ages ago because they’d been writing with some of my songwriter friends. They’re voices are perfect for this tune and we’re on the same record label so it just made total sense to do the collab!
NHC: Hello, the new track is called Paycheck; we feature on ROOKIES’ new project and we are super excited to be a part of it! We love this song; it has a great summer vibe about it & we have played it a couple of times live already. We feel that the song has gone down really well the few times it has been on our setlist, and it will make an appearance in many performances to come. The song came about as we heard that ROOKIES wanted a feature for a new song they were working on. We listened to the song once and instantly wanted to be a part of this song! We went to record the vocals on the track and within a short period of time the song was done. We were itching to get this song out as we wanted to play it live, fortunately it has now been released so we can play it.
Could there be another collaboration from you both in the future?
ROOKIES: Absolutely!
NHC: Of course, we are up for anything. I’m sure further down the line we will end up working together again. However, for now, we are concentrating on this song and having fun with it.
Could there be a potential remix? Who would you guys pick?
ROOKIES: I’d love to hear the NHC guys do an acoustic take on it. I’ve also had Tiesto remix one of my songs in the past – would love to see what he’d do to this one!
NHC, how was it working with ROOKIES on the track?
NHC: It was great, as we said when we first heard the song we loved it and wanted to jump on it straight away. They smashed it and I’m excited to possibly get them on stage with us one day. I’m sure that will be on the cards at one point.
ROOKIES, you’ve worked with some huge names in the industry, including Sam Feldt and Don Diablo! How was it to work with New Hope Club who differ hugely to the house music scene?
ROOKIES: Aside from ROOKIES, I actually write tracks for other pop artists and I have to say NHC are the real deal. The guys are extremely professional and they have killer voices!
NHC, your recent tracks have garnered great support! How does it feel to be getting to recognition you guys work super hard for?
NHC: We are just going about our business doing what we love doing. We work hard because we enjoy it. We love making new music; it’s one of the best parts of doing what we are doing as we can be as creative as we want. It’s always fun trying new stuff, and this is why we enjoy being a part of this project as we haven’t really done anything like this before. However, it doesn’t stop here; we are going to be working hard for a long time, bringing you new music and keeping you up to date with where we are as artists.
Speaking of where you guys are, how did the Summer Meet Up parties go in Leeds, Oxford and Kent?
NHC: They were great! It was fun to do something like that; was nice to touch base and see people over the UK again. It had been a while since we had done anything like that. Loads of people turned up and they seemed to enjoy the little acoustic sets as well, and loads of the people who came also mentioned that they were coming to our UK & Ireland headline shows in the later end of the year. We are super excited to be out on the road in the UK on our own and seeing everyone again!?
You guys are always on the move, what’s your favourite thing about being on the road?
NHC: Honestly seeing new places, I can’t get bored. We are currently in New York right now & we have been here a few times but I feel like you can always find something new to do. This is the same as pretty much any new?destination -? we never get bored. We want to be travelling all the time; getting out and seeing the world is so insane!
Your tour, Love Again Tour, is starting next month! What is the best part and worst (if there is anything) about touring?
NHC: The best part about touring is the shows; we love performing in front of people every night, it’s what we have dreamed of doing ever since we were kids, so it is honestly mind-blowing that our fans make it possible for us to do anything on the scale. Probably the worst part is missing family & pets. We love our time at home it’s lovely seeing our family when we can however they are so supportive of us and love coming to shows whenever they can.
How do you feel with an ever-growing fan base singing your tracks back to you?
NHC: It’s an unexplainable feeling when fans are singing back the songs that we have written in our rooms, over Skype or just in a completely different country. Can’t ever really get over that feeling, I know that it will never get old. We can’t wait to release new music and have more and more songs where people are singing back the lyrics!
ROOKIES, am I right in saying you use instruments to produce tracks? What instrument haven’t you learned but would love to?
ROOKIES: Yes. I initially learnt how to play music on guitar and it’s only been the past few years that I’ve been getting into keys but I wish I’d done it earlier. Other than that, I wouldn’t mind dipping into something a little bit different. Maybe a brass or woodwind instrument. Oboe? Why not.
So, what is the best and hardest part of producing tracks?
ROOKIES: Best part is hearing the finished, mixed and mastered track that you’ve been slaving over. Hardest part is just producing in general – it can make a bad track great, or a great track bad.
2020 is almost here guys! Where do you both (New Hope Club & ROOKIES) see yourselves by then?
ROOKIES: On a beach somewhere after I’ve finally got my paycheck!
NHC: In 2020… well it would be a dream to be on tour again, we are only young lads so we always want to be travelling all around the world, playing to all of our amazing and dedicated fans! I’m sure that that is the dream for all of us.
Click to keep up with New Hope Club & ROOKIES’ musical journey!
