Interview: Back to the Drawing Board With New Rules
Interview by Lindsey V. Britt / Photo credit to New Rules’ team
Songwriter musicians Nathan Lambert, Alec McGarry, and Ryan Meaney of English/Irish band New Rules are back with their new single “Back to the Drawing Board”, along with their upcoming The Drawing Board UK/Ireland Tour kicking off May 24th.
For starters, what’s the story behind your latest single “Back to the Drawing Board” which comes out May 3rd?
We wanted to write a fun song and story about being unlucky in love..a bit like “Really Wanna Dance With You” except this time it doesn’t work out so well in the end. We were definitely drawing on the country side to our songwriting on this one, which we love embracing as they always seem to have the smartest lyrics and storytelling.
I remember hearing “Back to the Drawing Board” from your 30-day songwriting challenge, what made you decide to release this one?
Nice! We loved a lot of the songs we wrote but weren’t sure all of them sounded like New Rules. We just found it exciting seeing how many different styles and genres we could push the direction of the writing into. BTTDB always felt like it belonged to us though, and also felt like one that we needed to play live.
What made you decide to do the 30-day songwriting challenge anyway?
We just wanted to showcase our writing in a fun, engaging way for fans and new people finding our page. We figured that doing a new original song every day just gave those songs such a chance to reach a new audience- instead of sitting in a Dropbox folder like a lot of the others end up doing (big sad)
You boys have been teasing about “Back to the Drawing Board” being a country song, now I’m wondering if y’all are pulling a Beyoncé and planning on releasing a country album?
Haha. We definitely could be swayed into doing a country version of drawing board. In fact, we’ve already given the chorus a bit of that treatment for content purposes. We weren’t intentionally going country, but as I said it’s definitely a side to our writing that we love tapping into as we’re all big fans of country artists and writers. We’d also encourage any excuse to go back to Nashville - one of our favourite places to visit.
The Drawing Board Tour, which is already selling out, starts May 24th, any nerves stepping into the touring world again?
You know what, there are some nerves. It’s a slightly scaled-back tour but intimate rooms just felt right having not played in a while. We’ve missed giving fans the opportunity to sing and dance up close and personal. We’re aware we haven’t been to some of these cities since we started touring so it’s a little bit “back to the drawing board” in that sense too- which we’re really excited about.
UP NEXT is presenting this tour, how excited are you to be working with them?
So great. Josh is a good friend and he’s just been like having ten people in one helping book promote and push these shows. We love his UP NEXT page and are always finding new talent on there so it made sense to use that amazing network he’s created to look for supports and make more connections with up-and-coming artists that everyone should be excited about.
You’re inviting a different local talent to open at each tour stop, I noticed you also did that on your last US tour. Is giving up-and-coming talent a big break something as a band you enjoy doing?
Yeah massively, and to the point above- it’s just great to connect with these people who we’re fans of too. We’ve had people support us who have gone on to absolutely smash it like Braden Bales and David Alexander. It’s nice to think we’ve played even a tiny part in that and it’s definitely something we always remembered when bigger artists would help us out early on. It can go a long way.
I know a lot of people (including myself) are wondering when you lads might be heading stateside again, along with all the countries yet to have heard you three play live?
We’re taking this next phase one step at a time, but we’re excited to see what’s in store after the UK/Ireland run. There’s places that we’ve been before and are desperate to get back to because we miss our fans there so much. As well as places we’ve never been, so we’re more or less waiting for the best time and opportunity to get out there and give those fans the show they deserve after waiting a while! If we could we’d probably just tour all day every day.
Can fans expect new merch after the awesome ghost tote and “Merch from the archives” sale?
Yes, yes, and yes. This is our first-ever summer tour, so despite Ryan wanting a new NR hoodie, he might have to wait. We’ve got brand new merch for this run that we’re excited about. Let’s just say we’ll be repping it all summer long.
Photo credit: Nicholas O'Donnell
I’ve also been wondering for quite some time now if you plan on releasing any of your music on some sort of physical copy? Rather that’s vinyl, cassette, CD, or even flash drive. Because I would love to add your music to my collection.
That’s definitely something we’d love to do at some point. We considered 7” vinyls for this tour but annoyingly the turnaround time was crazy. If we end up making a bigger body of work or drawing board is a massive global smash in the near future, then I think physicals will have to be discussed!
From my research, I understand that you lads pay attention to things like algorithms, trends, and analytics. How do you think that has helped you from a business standpoint?
Well, it’s definitely not the most fun part of being an artist but it’s such a tool that’s free to use and it can change your life if done correctly, so we try to stay on top of it as much as possible. When it comes to content, we just try to make sure it’s interesting and unique to us. Not only is that best for fans to see but your chances of reaching new people are so much bigger. So important in the age of social media. Yawn.
The England and Ireland music industries and scenes are completely different from the American one from what I keep hearing, since you work in both, what do you think the biggest differences are?
It’s funny we’ve never found the US a tougher place to go or to make a mark in as our audience online has always been so spread out across here and there. We’ve always found it really welcoming and love how much the US fans love music, regardless of age, gender, etc. We also love the work ethic of creatives in the US. You guys work pretty bloody hard. The word I’d use to describe the music industry here is small - in the best way. We have so many friends now in the business and they really are some of the nicest people out there.
The band has just celebrated 5 years since the release of your first single “Call It”, where do you see the band being in another 5 years when the song turns 10?
Wow, 5 years is crazy. Such a cliche but it doesn’t feel that long ago at all. Obviously, it’s been an amazing 5 years for us. “When the song turns 10” feels like light years away but I’m sure it’ll fly. We’re just excited to see how the band keeps growing and how the reception to the songs changes/stays the same. We listened back to the whole discography the other day and we’re pretty proud of all of it. I guess that’s our aim in 5 years too; to still be proud of everything we’ve put out. Even the fifth version of Emily (in simlish).
Most people would probably categorize New Rules under “boy band” music, do you like having that reputation or would you rather be considered a different type of music?
We’ve always embraced the boyband tag and don’t mind it as long as people are talking about us and interested. You have to be brave and take risks to stand out, especially in 2024, and being a boy/pop band definitely feels like that sometimes but the payoff is so worth it- as we believe we have the most dedicated fans in the world.
Did you three ever come up with a fandom name? Last I remember it was The Nameless.
Never heard The Nameless - that’s new but that might be for the best. Seeing as Mad Bastards is deemed inappropriate by boring people, and Rulers had way too much marketability for the hardcore fans to accept.
I see on Instagram all the time that you boys love attending concerts, but I’m wondering can you each tell me what your first concert was?
Ryan- Westlife. Destined to be in a boyband it would seem.
Nathan - Two Door Cinema Club.
Alec- The Wombats (not counting the Summertime Ball lineup in 2014 with PSY)
In your iconic Christmas song “Might Ruin Christmas” there’s a lyric “So put another shot of Jack on my wishlist” but I know you’re huge fans of the series It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, and the three guys have an Irish American Whiskey called Four Walls, have any of you tried it or is it still on your wishlist?
Still on our wishlist. We love those guys and are partial to a drop of whiskey. I’m sure theirs is amazing. We’ll try to wait until we’re back in Philly but might not be able to resist in the meantime, #whiskeyham.
Since you lads are ‘Sabrina’s Fan Club’ I’m quite curious, do you each have a favorite Sabrina Carpenter song? I’ll even take them from collaborations and soundtracks.
Ryan- it’s now “Espresso” and her “Hopelessly Devoted” cover on The Eras tour (I’m president of the fan club).
Nathan- “Fast Times.”
Alec – c’mon.. “Nonsense.”
Inquiring minds want to know, do you really want to give a chicken a buzz cut?
The day that song is released many a chicken will be buzzed (lovingly) Nathan actually has chickens so I’m gonna pop round now and check their trims.
My favorite question to ask for each of you is, do you have a recommendation? It can be absolutely anything, series, other artists to check out, places to visit, an object, advice, anything you want it to be.
Ryan- San Sebastián in North Spain I’m going for my birthday. I want to live there.
Nathan- For The Win for Smashburgers in LA.
Alec- Get a tiny pocket pad to carry round with you and write down all the cool stuff you see every day!
Make sure to check out “Back to the Drawing Board” on your favorite music streaming platform along with the rest of New Rules’ amazing discography. And catch the lads on tour this summer in the UK and Ireland.
Stay up to date with New Rules
Instagram TikTok X Facebook YouTube Spotify Apple Music
Grab tickets to New Rules’ tour now! https://www.newrulesband.com
