The Pale White

With strings and sticks in the same household, the Hopes had all they needed to get started: “there are videos of us jamming in the house at ten years old where he’s laughing and messing around and I’m taking it dead serious,” Adam recalls. Jack smiles – “nothing’s changed there.” The classic tunes of Bowie, Presley and The Beatles dominated, with Nirvana and AC/DC coming into heavy rotation too.

Skip forward a decade and Adam finds himself living in London, the guitarist of a mate’s project but quickly discovering his own songwriting prowess. Early SoundCloud demos were already generating positive reactions back home and, with some encouragement from his younger brother, he returned North to form his own group. Newcastle, at the time devoid of fresh blood, soon became alight with buzz around the duo who – alongside bassist Tom Booth – were hard at work honing their skills as a three-piece live unit.

“It was the most exciting time, the dream was finally starting to feel real,” The Pale White recall and, with just a couple of potent songs to their name, gigs started to sell out. ‘That Dress’ raised the bar for debut singles, while production from Adrian Bushby (Foo Fighters, Muse) shone bright on its successor, ‘Reaction’, which was made BBC Radio 1’s Track of the Week. Further tracks received ongoing support from Radio 1 as well as heavy play from Radio X and Triple J.  

From playing to the bar maid to entertaining impressive Geordie crowds at Jumpin’ Jacks, Think Tank and The Cluny, the newcomers were starting to make a big impression upon a tired scene. With Little Comets, The Futureheads and Maxiimo Park doing the region proud, Adam, Jack and Tom were keen to fly the flag for the community and spread their own message.

With whispers now expanding nationwide, The Pale White were promptly summoned to the famous stages of Glastonbury and Reading & Leeds for their first-ever festival season, delivering unapologetically raucous tunes to the masses. Support slots soon followed alongside fellow rising stars Blaenavon, Twin Atlantic and The Amazons, as well as esteemed names like Foals and The Libertines; a solid and sturdy fan base was snowballing across the UK.

The trio settled into a rhythm of their own with a self-titled EP in 2017, only to throw away their own formula the following year with ‘Take Me to the Strange,’ a gritty and rebellious five-tracker that truly delivered on the promise and fanfare of the Geordie success story. Having torn apart their own rulebook once, they weren’t afraid to try something new yet again: “listening to that EP now, it does feel like we’ve come a million miles around once more,” Adam shares.

After hopping into the studio with Jolyon Thomas (Slaves, Royal Blood), The Pale White swiftly returned to embark on a riotous run of singles; the transformative ‘Medicine’, deep tones of ‘Unnatural’, addictive chorus of ‘Swim For Your Life’ and fast pace of ‘Polaroid’ built a formidable discography and began to entice listeners on a global scale.

This well-earned momentum barrelled through the restrictions of COVID and into 2021’s debut album, ‘Infinite Pleasure’, on which, “Jolyon taught us to think outside the box and question your first instinct. It’s really hard to hear someone say you need to try something different, but that helped us to completely transform our work. Having someone who teaches you to question everything is invaluable.”

Fighting to survive through perhaps the bleakest of times for any group, never mind one that thrives on injecting chaos into packed rooms, The Pale White’s make-or-break moment only cemented their status with praise from industry names like Gigwise and Upset magazines, and they were even featured on Amazon Music’s Leicester Square billboard. The band had already been highlighted as “one of the North East’s hottest groups” by NME and had their “filthy, QOTSA-esque stoner rock” praised by The Independent in a 5-star live review; reviving those stage chops for a headline tour including stops at London’s Scala and a homecoming set at Newcastle’s Boiler Shop brought the full experience to fans at a time when they were craving it most.

So you cultivate a dedicated audience, naturally draw in millions of streams, endure a global pandemic, put out a stomper of an album and conclude a career-best run of shows… what’s next? As it turns out, a line-up change; with Tom stepping aside, Dave Barrow joined the fold as The Pale White’s new bassist and falsetto-master. The eagerness of their new partner in crime – who had watched their career unfold with wide eyes – riled up a new excitement in the Hope brothers, turning what could’ve been a confusing halt into an electrifying awakening.

Rather than sitting around waiting for the next big moment to come, The Pale White set about laying the foundations themselves. “We had to become a real band again, make some real music again –things weren’t just going to fall into our laps,” Adam says. “We took a leap of faith to go back to our roots and start self-producing.” With newfound vigour and joy permeating through upcoming material, it’s safe to say the risk paid off.

Taking their time to write, record and practice a new era of tracks, the refreshed outfit spent much of 2022 realigning themselves before a slew of European performances exemplified the reignited sparks on stage. Returning to the UK to show it off at two sold-out hometown headliners, reintroduce themselves properly and share their first music in almost two years, recent single ‘How Far Can You Push A Man?’ truly declared The Pale White’s rebirth.

The grungy track is but a taste of what’s to come; with their upcoming EP ‘A New Breed’ slated for release on October 20th and teased further by the explosive ‘Validate Me’, this established act are redefining their own success and breathing new life into British rock with six songs documenting the joy of a band rediscovering their passion for music at a time when that positivity was needed most.

With a sustainable approach to rock’n’roll uncovered and a giddy EP under their belts, the group’s next goal: have a massive 2024 and take a second stab at a full-length record. “We want to prove that there are many layers to The Pale White and open up new dimensions as a band,” the trio declare. “We want to keep evolving and impressing people with each new project, continue moving forward and put out as much music as possible.”