EPK - Hope
Release date - 3 April 2026
The song depicts the feeling of hope and talks of its demise as if it were a personified character passing away. The themes in the song surround losing hope, how sometimes it can slowly fade, or it can be abruptly shattered without warning.
Hope was written incredibly quickly. Jake says it marked the end of a particularly stagnant period of creativity for him as he hadn’t written for a while. He keeps an old nylon stringed guitar with one string missing. He was playing it a lot at the time out of the pure convenience of it being within arm’s reach. He really liked how it forced him to find other ways of playing things which led to him creating the fingerpicked part in the intro to Hope.
Jake sent a voice memo of it to Adam, never really expecting anything Zangwills-esque to come of it. He had imagined it turning more into something like Aldous Harding's The Barrel or PJ Harvey's Send His Love To Me, really acoustic and dry. However, within an hour, Adam had sent back a full arrangement in a style that was almost reminiscent of Queens Of The Stone Age. After adding some lyrics, they had a demo.
Jake said, ‘The lyrics don’t mean anything super personal to me, I just enjoy putting words together. However, I do find it interesting that the lyrics to Hope came about during a period of feeling somewhat hopeless, I suppose it was always bound to seep through into something’.
The track starts with almost a lullaby quality that abruptly wakes you up when the whole band comes into the main riff. Ed layered on the bass and Sam laid down the solo which also ends the song so powerfully.
Adam felt that the urgent circumstances of its writing carries into the song itself. ‘We aimed to convey a raw honesty and relatability in the track. The drums aren't quantised and the vocals aren't tuned’. Mark Winterburn's production and mixing was a major factor as well. The drums are thick and forward in the mix, and there are minimal layers, meaning what you hear on the track is exactly what you'll hear when the band play it live.
Hopelessness and, more importantly, the need to cling onto hope are incredibly relatable topics in the current climate.
Release date: 3 April 2026
For Fans Of: The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand, Catfish & The Bottlemen, The Libertines, Queens Of The Stone Age
Produced by Mark Winterburn (5 Seconds of Summer, The Script, Plan B, James Arthur, Don Broco)
Mastered by Ben Booker BB Audio (David Guetta, Bob Dylan, Elton John, PJ Harvey, Scissor Sisters, 5 Seconds of Summer)
Short Bio
Jake Vickers, Ed Dowling and Sam Davies first met while at college in Northwich, Cheshire and The Zangwills line-up was completed by drummer Adam Spence from Chester.
They released their debut single New Heights the same year and have released music steadily since including 2 EP’s It’s Really Up to You and In Amongst the Glitter. They are currently working towards their debut album.
Each of them bring very different influences to the band and this, along with Jake’s unique voice, is reflected in their distinctive sound which is instantly recognisable. Tricky to pin down for comparison, the band cite David Bowie, Arctic Monkeys, The Cure & The Strokes among their influences.
The video for the band’s single Judas on the Dancefloor was produced by Maisie Williams (Game of Thrones) and BAFTA-winning Director, Lowri Roberts. It went on to win the award for Best International Music Video at Focus Wales Film Festival (2022).
The Zangwills are:
Jake Vickers - Vocals, Guitar & Keyboards
Sam Davies - Guitar
Adam Spence - Drums, Vocals
Ed Dowling - Bass, Vocals
Live
The four-piece have a reputation for their exceptionally strong live sets with an army of followers who are prepared to travel to see them play.
Regional headline dates have including selling out Manchester's Deaf Institute, Academy 3 (twice), Club Academy, Gorilla and Band on the Wall. Along with Chester Live Rooms and Liverpool, Jacaranda Baltic in December 25.
They’ve headlined as far apart as Edinburgh, Norwich and Portsmouth. They have supported artists ranging from Yungblud to The Lottery Winners and Cassia to The Charlatans at their North by Northwich takeover.
Festival appearances have included Dot 2 Dot, Focus Wales, Sound City and a Saturday mainstage at Wychwood Festival followed by headlining their 2nd stage before returning to the mainstage in 2024. Other festival headline slots include Rivfest, What’s Happening Weekender and New Heights Festival, which was actually named after the title of the band’s first single.
The Zangwills completed a 2000+ ticket headline UK tour in November 2024 with many dates selling out. They embark on an even bigger national tour in Autumn 2026.
Hope
I remember
The day you left us
Oooh ooh
We
Carried your bed
Out to the garden
So you could die
With the breeze
Hope
I remember
Next day you weren’t there
For me
So Hope
Please do reappear
I need to feel ya
Sincerely
Hope
Hope
I remember
Reading your name in the papers
On the front page of next day's news
Read ‘Hope’
She caved her head in
On a toilet bowl
In a hotel room
Stamped out before the petals bloomed
Too soon
The Zangwills took the stage by storm’ – Gigsandtours
‘These are dead, dead, DEAD good!’ - BBC Introducing
‘You are immediately drawn in from the start of the set’ - Northern Alive
‘Like nothing else out there, an immensely valuable quality when so many bands disappear into a slurry of sameness’ – Getintothis
‘The Zangwills have smashed it’ - Popped Music
‘Love their sound and the big, chiming guitars’ Mark Radcliffe, BBC
‘Everyone is laughing, singing, smiling, jumping, bouncing and moshing. Even at the very back it’s completely wild’ – All Music Magazine
‘Next up, the bloody wonderful @thezangwillsuk – Sound City
‘Fans worldwide will have carved out national treasure status for this band. They really rock’ - Grimes Magazine (USA)
‘A young band with a lot of talent’ – The Pentatonic
‘A shining example of just why indie-rock is having a renaissance – howling, huge choruses, stomping guitar slow-burns and genuine storytelling will always win, and they have that in spades’ - The Phonograph
‘An anthem dedicated to a longing for human connection “Could I” is the latest single by indie rock band The Zangwills and perhaps the most relatable single of the year thus far.’ - Second Society Report
‘Call by The Zangwills sounds like an 80s dance-rock tune that A-Ha might have made. Soulful vocals offering memorable lines run alongside the galloping retro sounding beat and keys’ – Pop Sugar/Alt77
‘A refreshing set of indie tunes that stand out from the mundane jangles of landfill bollocks’ – Louder Than War
‘I’ve fallen head over heels in love with this band… I’m so happy to have discovered them’ – Eclectic Music Lover (USA)
‘The UK does not stop producing bands that immediately make us fall in love’ – Festnoise (Germany)
‘One thing you can rely on the north of England for is producing brilliant new indie bands – GigRadar
‘For originality, real musical craftsmanship, full on, no holds barred performance…look no further… This band truly are something else’ - New Sound Generation
‘Their latest single ‘Could I’ is a work of art.’ - God Bless the Bands
'It’s not a song that you can just sit around and listen to, you need to get on your feet and imagine you’re at one of the band's gigs…..a track, listeners will love instantly and will have stuck in their head for the rest of the day.' - That Blogger Music
‘If you listen to it loud enough, it can feel like a hug,” - Guardian Series
‘Elton John has built a reputation on this kind of track. Harry Styles landed a bloomin’ Mercury nomination for this kind of track. The Zangwills warrant similar attention’ - Louder Than War (single review, Backpatters & Shooters)
‘Their live performance? Well that should be bottled; It’s the tincture of happiness, dissolve some Zangwills into your life for instant uplift.’ - All Music Magazine (UK/Europe)
Contact: Jackie Lees jelmusic@outlook.com
Track Title: Hope
Artist: The Zangwills
ISRC: QM4TX2635055
Duration 3:34
UPC: 820200244277
Tunecode: 799489GU
ISWC: T-333.359.913-2
ICE work key: 90911872
Release date: 3rd April 2026
Contact: Jackie Lees jelmusic@outlook.com
