Brighton rockers Will and the People have released their huge, yearning new single ‘Justify’ as they continue to make inroads on their comeback.
Returning at the end of 2019 with single ‘Gigantic’ – their first in four years – WIll and the People evved back into the world with renewed vigour with a two-month tour of the UK, Europe and Australia, reconnecting with their self-sufficient DIY roots and more pumped and defiant than ever before.
In January, working with Distiller Records, they holed up in a studio near Bath for ten days and self-produced 25 songs with the plan of releasing songs one-by-one rather than holding out for an album, “to give our fans what we’ve denied them for the past three or four years,” say the band.
“We’re going to be releasing more music in the next year than we have in the last five years. This new era of fast releasing and putting it out as we make it and not sitting on it is a very inspiring time for us.”
Will Rendle, frontman
The result is tracks such as ‘Justify’, as well as a flurry of songs they’ve put out throughout this year with an inexorable momentum that saw them even manage to pull off a unique live show even in the midst of the world’s current situation.
‘Justify’ revolves around a spiritual, menacing yet soaring melody, and shows the band’s penchant in their most recent releases for exploding genre boundaries.
Will and the People embrace enigmatic folk, hard-rock, pop and particularly elements of rap on this track with frontman Will Rendle’s rhythmic opening verse.
“We wanted to bridge the gap of Lil Peep in his bedroom and Arctic Monkeys in a massive studio” Will explains. “It’s us opening up to more modern ways of recording things”.
One of the obvious results of this is ‘Justify’ in its revolving, hurtling sound that craves sweat boxes as much as it does stadiums.
Will and the People have also released singles ‘Seatbelt’, sleaze rock track ‘Shame’, and ‘Started On Love’ released earlier this year.
In July, Will and the People performed two sold-out drive-in shows at Purton House in Swindon (the site of Festival on the Farm). The fully socially distanced shows were the first of their kind, as the band had organised them in a fully DIY style, having sourced the venue, staging and soundsystem themselves.
Both concerts featured a DJ set from BBC Sound of 2020 runners-up, Easy Life, who Will and the People have also recently been writing with.
The band are currently rescheduling a huge UK tour for next year to be announced soon, as well as dates supporting Rag’n’Bone Man in summer 2021.
Will and the People show no sign of relenting from their brand of genre-bending alternative rock, and there is a sense of rejuvenation in the band’s new music, a refresh of their look and artwork in collaboration with renowned designer Luke Insect, and above all a sense of self-belief at their core.
