New Politics (band)

History[edit]

After writing songs together for three years for their respective solo albums (which were never produced), Boyd and Hansen realized they had a group forming. In 2009, the duo sent two of their songs ("Stress" and "Money") in to the Danish National Radio P3's Karriere Kanonen ("Career Cannon") competition. Of the 973 bands that entered, New Politics was one of 42 selected to perform—despite not yet being an official band, and not having selected the final line-up. Boyd and Hansen hired Poul Amaliel to play drums. The new trio were among the top four winners and went on to play in a major music festival in Denmark.^[4][5]


In November 2009, New Politics signed with RCA. After a brief UK tour, the trio went on to do a nationwide US tour.^[4] Because of the group's new record deal with RCA, they decided to move to the United States. They currently reside in a loft apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York.^[2][6]


The band performed at the South by Southwest festival in March 2010.^[7] On 13 July 2010, they released their first album, the self-titled New Politics. It featured ten tracks, including their hit single "Yeah Yeah Yeah". An official video was filmed in New York City for this single. The album received a mixed review from Allmusic, who thought that the band's influences were too obvious.^[8] They embarked on a 30-date tour of the US to promote the album,^[5] and supported Thirty Seconds to Mars on the Into the Wild Tour in September and October 2010. They made a second video for their single, "Dignity", and released it on Myspace.com on 8 October 2010. Like "Yeah Yeah Yeah," this video was also filmed in New York City. In autumn of 2010, drummer Poul Amaliel left the band to return to Denmark.


On 26 November 2012, a song titled "Harlem" was promoted as the first single from their second album, A Bad Girl in Harlem, released on 21 May 2013.^[9] In late 2013, New Politics' "Harlem" broke onto U.S. alternative radio, and would briefly impact contemporary hit radio in the United States later on. Harlem peaked at number four on the U.S. Billboard Alternative Airplay chart, making it their highest ranking song on any Billboard chart.


From 18 January – 15 May 2013, The trio toured along with American alternative rock duo Twenty One Pilots during the Winter and Spring portions of their Trips for Concerts 2013 tour. The band also served as the opening act for pop-punk band Fall Out Boy during their Save Rock and Roll Spring Tour from 28 May – 26 June 2013.^[10] On 21 July 2013, New Politics performed "Harlem" at Guy Code Honors at Comic-Con. The band served as the opening act for Pink during her The Truth About Love Tour at select dates until 6 November 2013.^[11][12]


In early 2014, New Politics kicked off their U.S. tour with openers Magic Man & Sleeper Agent. The tour spanned the first few months of 2014 and was their first-ever headlining tour. They opened for Fall Out Boy along with The Pretty Reckless for the European leg of the Save Rock and Roll tour in 2014. They were the opening act for the 2014 tour by Paramore and Fall Out Boy, Monumentour. On 22 September 2014, the band released a new single titled "Everywhere I Go (Kings & Queens)", the first single from their forthcoming album Vikings, under their new labels, DCD2 Records (formerly Decaydance) and Warner Bros. Records.^[13] The band kicked off their headlining Everywhere I Go Tour with Bad Suns and SomeKindaWonderful on 14 Oct. in Washington, D.C. touring the US and Canada.


In April 2015, the band recorded their hit "Everywhere I Go" in a made-up language, Simlish, for the popular game 'The Sims 4', bringing them more popularity to a different demographic. On 5 May 2015, the band released "West End Kids" as the second single from Vikings and announced that the album would be released on 14 August 2015.^[14] In October the band joined Andrew McMahon with special guests The Griswolds, as well as fellow DCD2 artist LOLO on 'The Wilderness Politics Tour'. It began in Seattle and ended in Philadelphia in November 2015. In early 2017, the band released the single "One Of Us" and is scheduled to tour the United States with band 311 during the summer.


On 2 August 2017, New Politics announced that their fourth studio album Lost in Translation would be released on 6 October 2017 and released a new single "CIA" the day after. They posted on Facebook that the new album would focus on life after touring and growing more successful, as well as describing the task of reinventing themselves through the tight bonds that they developed as bandmates over the years.^[15] In support of the new album New Politics toured twice during the spring and fall of 2018 across North America.


In April 2019, New Politics had their tenth anniversary as a band. As teased on social media, the song "Comeback Kid" was released on 16 April 2019.


The band announced on 18 October 2019, that their fifth studio album, An Invitation to an Alternate Reality, will be released on 1 November 2019.^[16]

Current members


Former members