Hearts+Souls Talk New Single, Music Video And More

UK rock four-piece Hearts + Souls will release their new single ‘Little While’ and its accompanying music video on Friday 9th May 2025. They told us all about it: 

Who is in Hearts + Souls, how did you meet and what do you play?

Out of the core lineup, we’ve all known each other for years – played in various projects together in whichever combos, though Luke & I as the two guitarists have been playing together longest, for over 20 years now. He’s still not sick of me yet, I put that down to stubbornness and refusal to go away on my part.

Core lineup:
Luke Smithson – Lead vocals, guitar
Tom Q Cusic – Guitar, Vocals
Alan Sullivan – Bass, Vocals
Jimmy Milne – Drums, Vocals

Also featuring:
Andy Hawkins & Guy Nottingham – Keys
Jane Smithson & Amy Hall – Backing Vocals

What is your earliest musical memory?

For me (Q), it was car journeys with my dad, with the seemingly endless supply of amazing albums on tape – Stripped (Stones), Hendrix and Cream were big for me as a kid. He taught me three chords and the twelve bar blues, and that was it – I was on my way.

When did you begin songwriting?

All of us have been involved in music since our early teens or younger, but for me, I’ve been writing and performing since about 2003-04.

Your new single ‘Little While’ is released on 9th May 2025. What was the story/inspiration behind the track?

The bulk of our songs are relatively simple, we write about life experience – sometimes it can be a song about a relationship, or a singular event, we’re not putting out a prog odyssey anytime soon! Nothing wrong with that, but we’re a rock n’ roll band at the end of the day. This song is ostensibly about a life on the road, from any working standpoint – not from the point of view of a tour necessarily, but about being away from home, the things you miss, the things you can’t get no matter how comfortably you travel. The more you do it, the more being on the road is the norm – it’s about making peace with that, as well.

Where did you record the track and who produced it?

This was recorded at The Nave in Leeds with Andy Hawkins, also one of our keys players. It’s an incredible space, not sure I’ve been to a better studio in my time. This song, as with all of our material, is produced by Paul Guerin (Black Eyed Sons/Down N’ Outz/Quireboys) who we’ve got a great working relationship with. He helps us cut through the nonsense a lot of the time, and isn’t shy about telling us when a song, a take, a part isn’t good enough – obviously, he’s got vast amounts of experience and really gets what we’re trying to do.

Do you have any interesting, funny or memorable stories from the single recording sessions?

This is going to sound like a cop-out of an answer, but the interesting thing about this song is actually how easily it came together. It’s ridiculous, actually – normally there’s so much back and forth, we’re going down to the finest detail on every individual part, every phrase, getting everything just right. It blew my mind when this one has mainly come together with the first or second takes. Got the nod from everyone straight away, we had to make sure nobody was taking the mick, it’s that rare.

Do you use any particular instruments, microphones, recording equipment to help you get a particular sound/tone for the record?

The great thing about The Nave is that there’s not much you could ask for that’s not available to hand. Guitar-wise, between Luke and I we’ve got nigh on everything a rock band could need, and Andy’s got the rest (all the amps and mics, different live rooms and vocal booths) at The Nave. For this song in particular, Luke has his favourite Telecaster (which you’ll hear on most of our songs). We’re in partnership with Vintage guitars, and just before we recorded this I got my hands on a wonderful Pro-Shop model they’ve made me, which you can hear on the rhythm parts. I think I used an old SG for the solo. Whatever sounds best on the day!

The single is accompanied by an official music video. What was the thought process behind the video and who directed it?

We were on a (somewhat self-imposed) deadline for this release, so we ended up with less time than we thought to do the video. We did a band-in-a-room thing last time [Anjalie], so we had to figure out a way to do it again but differentiate somehow. Between myself and Dom Bennison (media producer, he did our last video as well), we felt the best concept was the simplest – and chucked him in the middle of us four smashing away, and basically never had a still moment in the video – mostly a single take, perpetual motion, to go along with the theme of never stopping on the road. We found a space with a great amount of character (Rock N’ Roll Circus, Leeds) which just means there’s always something interesting to catch the eye.

Which of your tracks hear you at your a) happiest, b) angriest and c) most reflective?

One of my favourite things about our songs is that we can contrast “happy” sounding music with some really bloody dark lyrics, if you listen for it. It’s the kind of thing that’s quite prevalent, more so than a lot of folk realise. I’d say this song, Little While, probably is the most optimistic of the lot so far. I think every song has an element of anger to it, but anyone who knows me wouldn’t be surprised to hear me say that; Nights Of My Days is probably the angriest, given the subject matter, which was a friend’s suicide. Whispers, which was a song we did featuring Sam Wood from Wayward Sons/Black Star Riders, is probably the most reflective in lyrical content – albeit in a somewhat despondent manner. We kept promising a song that wasn’t all misery and horror, so here’s Little While!

Was it a difficult song to write?

Going back to what I said about the recording process, the same with the writing process really – Luke brought it in as a more or less full song, and I added some melody/arrangement and the instrumental hook to it and it was as easy as that. We’ve had more troublesome tunes to get over the line, that’s for sure, but this one, like a lot of them, kind of write themselves once the bones are down.

Who designed the single artwork?

The concept was mine, though credit for the design has to go to Andy Bailey (bassist in a band called Someday Soon, who you should check out!) – he took my garbled, entirely-too-vague instructions and produced the image I had in my head, somehow. Three times. You might spot the not-so-subtle nod to Black Flag in the artwork. We’re lucky enough to have some serious talent around us.

What two things do you hope to have achieved once you have left the stage?

We want to A) know we’ve smashed the hell out of it, no matter the gig, and B) hope the cock-ups were minimal and at least entertaining!

Do you have any favoured stage instruments, effects, pedals, microphones etc?

Gearwise, we’re not precious. Give us a bunch of old Marshalls and enough microphones for the 200 singers in the band and we’re good. Guitars are a different story. We’re inspired greatly by bands like the Rolling Stones, Faces, Black Crowes – and we like to do it properly. Unfortunately for logistics, that means lots of alternative tunings – it’s rare both Luke and I are in the same tuning for the same song. So we need lots of guitars, and I love it. We did HRH17 not long back, a full band set and an acoustic set, and I think we ended up having to take 14 guitars with us. We have a problem, and we’re working on it! It does mean we get to show off some of our rarer options though.

Where is your hometown and could you please describe it in five words?

Leeds, Yorkshire! Jewel o’ t’North, by ‘eck..

How do you look after your voices?

I use the Tom Waits method. Loads of cigs. Bad advice, don’t follow it. Luke’s got the voice of an extremely rough angel though, he sings properly, having being surrounded by professional vocalists his whole life. Do that and you’ll be fine, get lessons on breathing if you have to – it’s worth it.

Do you have any further music releases planned for 2025?

Possibly! It’s anyone’s guess. We’re always working on material, but we only release something that makes the grade. We’re not going to put anything out for the sake of it, and we’ve got a strict “no filler” rule. Hopefully we’ll be looking at an album release at some point, but for us, it’s all about cultivating a great collection of songs as they come. We’re easy going, on nobody else’s timetable but our own.

You are given the opportunity to write the score for a film adaptation of a novel that you enjoy. Which novel is it and why?

Oh that’s definitely a Q question! I’ve written songs in the past inspired by a bunch of books, from Brandon Sanderson to Iain Banks. I can feel Luke’s eyes rolling. We’re still teaching Jimmy how to read, but as a collective, when the retrospective history of Martin Scorsese works comes along we’d love to be on the soundtrack.

Who are some of your musical influences? Do you have any recommendations?

There’s a huge amount that goes into our tunes, but you can draw lines straight to the Stones, Aerosmith, Crowes and the E Street Band. Chuck a bit of Tom Petty and Cheap Trick in there while you’re at it. Alan’s a punk at heart, though I always say he plays like Donald Dunn joined the Dogs D’Amour. Jimmy’s a big Zep and southern rock guy, or anything that sounds massive. For newer acts, we’ve been digging our friends in Someday Soon, the new Black Eyed Sons record has been spinning as well. There’s a band out of Peterborough I like called Austin Gold, and Chris Buck from Cardinal Black is putting some really tasty stuff out as well.

Do you have any live dates planned in the UK/Europe in 2025?

We’re booked to appear at a bunch of the National Guitar Shows which we’re absolutely honoured to be playing at. We’ve also got a bunch of festival dates in the works and some nice support slots, but can’t say anything about those until they’re announced. We’re also working on an acoustic set, we’ve had fun doing that recently and think we can offer something different to the norm with it, so why not?

What makes Hearts + Souls happy and what makes you unhappy?

We’re simple folk, really – give us a bunch of guitars and amps and let a rock n’ roll band be what they are – loud! Insofar as unhappy goes, we’re a bunch of grumpy buggers so probably lots of things, but needless bureaucracy probably tops the list a lot.