Plans for a lasting legacy of change as landmark £1 Brixton show imminent. Only The Poets INTERVIEWED

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Category: news

Updated: 16th January 2026

Written by Bryony Mezzatesta

Entering the chat styled like the formidable love child of Grian Chatten & Tom Grennan, Only The Poets’ lead vocalist Tommy Longhurst cordially offers me a ‘welcome to my world’ hello as he prepares himself for round whatever it was of the no less than eleven interviews he had scheduled for the day. I couldn’t help but notice his ability to switch effortlessly between an affable, hyperactive model of youth and the stringently professional pop icon he is. “I thought I was going to feel overwhelmed with stress and anxiety this year, but to be honest, I’m actually just feeling really great. Since the tail end of ‘25, we’ve just been living in the show, watching the album come to life, and it’s made us feel even prouder of the record we’ve created.”

As a collective, this band has an agenda. For them, it isn’t solely about the creative process; it isn’t an internal, ‘lose ourselves in the music’ kinda deal- they’re thinking big, and have made a significant statement for the world to see. Tommy [Longhurst-vocals, guitar], Andy ‘Roo’ Burge (bass, vocals), Clem Cherry (guitar, vocals) and Marcus Yates (drums, vocals) wanted to affect lasting change on an industry in disrepair, one presently enduring soaring ticket prices, grassroots venues on their knees and unsigned bands with little to no platform from which to grow without private funding. Announcing a Brixton Academy show for just £1 a ticket (sold out), followed by their recent call out for an unsigned act to open the night, are commendable acts- bringing their intended mission statement to life.

“As a musician, you want to leave a great legacy of music people will forever listen to, but we always wanted the Brixton thing, the conversation around it to be bigger than us. It’s about music accessibility and the fact that it simply shouldn’t be a luxury.”

Their debut album ‘And I’d Do It Again’, out January 30th via Capitol Records, has that emotionally vulnerable, shared experience, young love kinda vibe, with even the more upbeat songs on there delving into challenging subject matter as relevant as ever to today’s youth. Frankly honest and a collaborative effort worth celebrating, pause for thought is granted here for the art of the thing, as well as the political statement and philanthropic efforts they boldly make this year.

“I love a track on the album called ‘God Knows Where You Were’. It’s got this beautiful nostalgic feeling to it. It’s quite war on drugs, The Cure inspired sonically.” Longhurst proclaims as I probe him on those he’s taken most pride in sharing. “It features quite early on in the show, so every time we finish, I’m like, damn, I wish we could just do that again!”

“You were recently quoted as stating that [the album] is the best representation of yourselves as a band to date. How do you feel that you have changed as a band since the early days?” I asked as I felt a shift in the energy of our conversation towards the more creative aspects of their work. “We got stuck down this kind of rabbit hole throughout 2024, thinking of ourselves as an indie-pop band, and maybe we got a bit too obsessed with sounding like a guitar band and losing ourselves a little bit in the creative process, thinking ‘well, we’re a guitar band,’ so it has to have this, this, and this'. It was when we went into the studio, and from a melodic and lyrical standpoint, I felt freer. I used my voice in a different way, using more pop melodies. These are the most honest songs we’ve ever written, and we’re firm believers in being vulnerable and writing honestly.

In their quest to effect change in an industry that has, of late, felt bitterly frustrating, Only The Poets genuinely are making an impact. Stadium acts such as Sam Fender, Biffy Clyro, and My Chemical Romance also doing their bit from the top down, and thanks to fresh talent like Poets pushing the agenda as well, there’s a good chance we might just turn the ship around.