POETRY IN MOTION

By BETHAN ANDREWS

Currently on tour in Europe with Lewis Capaldi, it’s fair to say that Reading band Only the Poets are having a real moment, and one that looks set to continue long into the future. As I catch up with lead singer and founding member of the band, Tommy Longhurst, while he gears up for the evening performance in Frankfurt, I’m relieved to discover just how humble, grounded and down to earth he is. There’s no prima donna here, no taking anything for granted, and there’s a real sense that it’s important to Tommy to remain an ordinary lad from Reading.

In fact, it’s fitting that they are on tour with the king of remaining grounded despite international success. “It’s unbelievable. Firstly, he’s one of the loveliest people we’ve ever met, which is so nice on a tour of this size,” Tommy says on Lewis Capaldi. “We feel really welcome and a part of the tour. It’s also incredibly inspiring. What you see is what you get with Lewis, he is so humble and down to earth. For someone who has been as successful as he is, it’s really refreshing to see and it’s a credit to him. We’re feeling very lucky to be given a platform to play in front of this many people.”

What has the journey been like to get to where Tommy is today? “I picked up the guitar at quite an early age and was always into music,” he says. “I think being from Reading and being immersed in things like the Reading Festival – I went every year from such a young age religiously – meant that I was watching bands and artists and falling in love with everything about it. I started as a solo artist, but I started to fall in love with the idea of being in a band. When I started doing gigs, I’d support bands and watch them having all this fun, support and camaraderie.”

From here, it all just fell into place. “Me and Roo, our bass player who is the original member along with me, we just started jamming together,” he says. “We went through quite a lot of members as many bands do, but Marcus and Clem, who were in a band together before Only the Poets, joined us and now we’ve gone through a lot together –we’re four literal brothers and best mates.”

They may be charming and refreshingly humble, but that doesn’t mean they are not geared up for huge international success in 2023. Having recently signed a deal with EMI, the UK home of some of the world’s biggest and most innovative artists including Elton John, Paul McCartney, and Florence + The Machine, the boys are getting ready for their headline tour in spring, too. With original music that has undertones of Britpop influence, captivating harmonies, and incredibly impassioned vocals, Only the Poets often perform with a narrative style, with real honesty, openness and emotion, and it’s gained them an incredibly loyal fanbase.

It’s clear to see that, while establishing themselves over the last few years to become one of Britain’s most anticipated emerging bands, they’ve worked incredibly hard to reach this point. In fact, as I sit and chat with Tommy for this very feature before their show, he’s writing a song while waiting for soundcheck.

“When you’re on the road, you feel really inspired, so I thought I’d get my head down and do some songwriting,” he laughs, casually. While unsigned, they’ve played live in as many di erent scenarios as possible. Tommy tells me how, once they founded the band, they did a lot of the pub scene, shows in London and focused on trying to gain a fanbase early on by gigging as much as they could. “Our manager came on early and it was great to have that support from someone who got our vision,” he says. “We tried to out-do every song we wrote, tried to refine everything and played a lot of shows. We got on a support tour and played proper venues for the first time, so we saw it as a time to seize the opportunity. It’s kind of the old-school way that we’ve done it, instead of getting bogged down by numbers online – we focus on getting people in rooms.”

Immediately after signing with EMI, Only the Poets put their money where their mouth was by remaining true to their roots, and they headed back to Reading to perform two sold-out shows at Purple Turtle, where the band played their first-ever show. It sounds like returning to his hometown is something that Tommy will always prioritise, though. “I still live in Reading and I’m there a lot,” he smiles. “I make sure I spend time there with my friends and family. Winding down is really important and being away can be tough, and touring can be quite tiring so it’s an escape from the madness. I love where I’m from, and all my friends are still there so even if I do end up moving, I’ll make sure I come back as often as I can. I’m a massive Reading FC fan, so that won’t go away! Woodley, where I’m from, I’ve lived there my whole life so it’s really important to me.”

So, what’s Tommy’s inspiration when it comes to his music and songwriting? “I write in a really autobiographical way and writing honestly and openly is really important to me,” he says. “It’s all about how I’m feeling or about really specific moments in my life, so it’s very personal to me. Initially when we started to release songs that were really quite deep, the reactions were really positive, so I started to songwrite with a lot less fear. It can be scary to write personally about mental health awareness, but now it’s important to us to be really real. People seem to get a lot of comfort from our music. Writing from the heart gives us a really strong, emotional connection with our fans. We wanted to release Waking the Dark, which is about mental health awareness, because we felt it would help people know it’s okay to feel that way. The reaction when we play that song in particular is so special and so raw.”

When it comes to big goals and dreams, the boys want to continue doing what they’re doing. “To get to arenas and play bigger venues would be phenomenal,” smiles Tommy. “There’s bucket list moments we want to tick o , too, like obviously I want to play Reading main stage, that would be a dream coming from the area. And then Glastonbury, I mean who wouldn’t? But I just want us to keep growing and being able to do this as a job is the best feeling in the world, so the longer we can sustain it, the better.”

Keep track on Instagram @onlythepoets