Nearly 12 years ago, vocalists and talented multi-instrumentalists David Boyd and Soren Hansen began writing songs together for the respective solo projects they were pursuing. After three years of collaboration that netted 300 songs, the Copenhagen, Denmark natives realized they were no closer to finishing their solo projects, primarily because they had morphed into a band. The pair impulsively entered two of their compositions into a Danish songwriting competition before they had named their band, or even fleshed out the lineup. After initially placing well in the contest, the pair engaged drummer Poul Amaliel and dubbed their trio New Politics. The newly minted group made the final four in the contest, played in one of Denmark’s biggest music festivals and scored a label contract with RCA.
After back-to-back tours of the U.K. and the U.S., the band made the decision to relocate to New York, ultimately settling in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn. New Politics’ self-titled debut came out in 2010 and the single “Yeah Yeah Yeah” was a hit. Although some critics dinged the band for being slightly too derivative of its influences, they’d made a satisfying Pop/Punk/Dance album for fans of Nirvana, Pixies, The Strokes, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Franz Ferdinand. After opening for 30 Seconds to Mars on a fall tour, Amaliel left the band and returned to Denmark. He was immediately replaced by the versatile Louis Vecchio.
After the 2013 release of A Bad Girl in Harlem and the success of the “Harlem” single, New Politics spent much of the year opening shows for Fall Out Boy, Pink and Panic! at the Disco, which led to a headlining tour in 2014. The band then signed with DCD2 Records, owned and operated by FOB’s Pete Wentz and Patrick Stump and distributed by Warner Brothers. New Politics’ first album for the label was 2015’s Vikings, followed last fall by the reflective and powerful Lost in Translation, which featured a cameo from Weezer frontman Rivers Cuomo on “Tell Your Dad.”
With Dreamers and The Wrecks. Click here for tickets and more info.
