Introducing: The Now

Hailing from South Wales UK, the energetic 4-piece The Now are made up of Shane (lead vocals/guitar), Callum Bromage (guitar/vocals), Jay Evans (bass/vocals), and Will Scott (drums). The much-awaited debut album ‘Too Hot To Handle’ is available now on CD/vinyl and all digital platforms via Trew Music, HERE. Here are the guys spilling all about the album, their philosophy, and their collective love of Wham…

What are the origins of The Now, how long have you been playing together?

The Now were born when Shane (frontman/guitar) and Brom (lead guitar) met each other across the dance floor in Pop World Swansea. Brom and Shane shared very similar dance moves and fortunately musical taste too – the rest is history!

There is a lot of diversity to be found when listening to The Now, but what should people expect when they check the band out? How would you describe The Now?

The Now are basically the love child of Venga Boys and Motley Crue – anyone who comes and watches us they’ll have a feast for the eyes and ears!

How did you feel performing your first gig as a band, and how was it?!

It was easy, we practiced enough as a group, and having previous experience of playing live was like second nature to us!

The debut album, ‘Too Hot To Handle’, is only a few weeks old. What was the gestation period of the album like?

It was pretty easy to be fair. We had plenty of time to write and luckily writing comes naturally to us. Some songs fall out of the sky and others take a bit longer but it’s all par for the course!

Some of the songs such as ‘Special Kind of Stupid’ and ‘Friendly Fire’ have been around for a few years; have you tweaked them for the album?

Yeah, we’ve become a better band since they were previously recorded. We’ve changed a few members too so it’s more authentic now.

Did any song, in particular, give you a headache in coming together? Likewise, did any song come together easily?

‘Live and Die’ was a tricky one. It sounds completely different to what it does now but luckily Oli Jacobs, our producer, is a genius so he waved his magic wand over it – that’s not a euphemism by the way! The rest were quite easy to be honest!

What was the moment that gave you the biggest goosebumps when you heard the album back for the first time?

I think it was when we all left and then came back to hear it in its entirety together just before we left the studio, it was great being together holding hands and crying!

‘Special Kind of Stupid’ is ticking all the boxes for us, what can you tell us about that one?

It’s basically about previous love interests who’ve done the dirty on friends of ours and how we as a unit helped them to get over the heartache!

How was it opening for Feeder recently, and what do you take from the experience of opening for a band such as them?

It was amazing to be fair. It’s most probably the biggest crowd we’ve played to as a band and we were all hyped to give the audience the best we could. It was also exciting and a little nerve-wracking for us because we obviously feel that we can and have the balls to support a great band like Feeder but have never done so before. Although we absolutely smashed it so onward and upward!

Excluding yourself, which new band would you like to see break out and become a success?

Florence Black – great band, lovely people and good friends of ours! They’ve also worked their arses off which inspires us!

What frustrates you about the music business?

Personally, the lack of interest major labels have in bringing guitar bands through the ranks. Nowadays it feels like they just want to sit back and let the bands do all the leg work and just expect a piece of the pie for not doing much if anything! DIY is the way forward!

What lightbulb moment made you say “I want to do that”?

It was when we were at a Kasabian concert. Seeing the crowd and the way in which Kasabian smashed it made us realise this is what we need to do…a few pints later it was on as all best-made plans are made in the pub!

What was the last gig that you attended as a fan?

We’ve not really been to many gigs recently because we’ve been really busy ourselves, the last one we all went to was Florence Black, although we saw a bunch of bands at Planet Rock Rockstock when we played that end of last year and met a bunch of nice people. Great festival, a great crowd and we’d love to do it again!

What current social issue are you particularly passionate about?

The continual progress of breaking the stigma of mental health especially in men of our age. We’ve lost people close to the band and really want more people to talk and more funding into helping others who are struggling mentally. Suicide is almost a pandemic in men of 20-40 years of age and needs to not be only addressed more but all supported from any walk of life.

The album that you have in your album collection/Spotify playlist that would surprise most people?

Wham Greatest Hits! We’re not even embarrassed.

Everybody is a fan of something, who or what are you a fan of?

For a rock band, we’re fans of dance music, Jay (bassist) loves going to a rave and reaching for the lasers! Will (drummer) is a fan of ‘Beard Meats Food’ on YouTube – he loves watching him eat 20 burgers in a row. We also love boxing and think Eddie Hearn is comedy gold!

What new music have you been enjoying so far this year?

We’ve all been inspired by Welsh bands like Skindred and Florence Black. We love what The Sherlocks have done this year also – 3 great bands with 3 great new albums.

What does 2024 hold for The Now?

Hopefully world domination but we’d settle for more exposure via the album being released (thanks for chatting with us!) and more gigs!

How active are you on social media and where can people connect with you?

We are very active and can be found on all platforms just search up @thenowuk and we’ll give you everything you ever dreamed of and more!

SOCIAL MEDIA