In Conversation: lots of hands – clashmusic.com

Over the past few years, Newcastle duo lots of hands have waded through the DIY music scene, comfortably amassing a following around their hazy, lo-fi introspections. At the heart of the project are longtime friends Billy Woodhouse and Elliot Dryden, who have given listeners an opportunity to observe a maturing personal and creative bond between the artists as they grow up together. Now, they are entering a new chapter with their newest record ‘into a pretty room’, which encompasses their reflections on grief, loss, and maintaining hope amidst coming of age hardship. 
Delving a little bit deeper into the new record, Billy spoke to CLASH about the expansion of their sound, exploring vulnerability through friendship and collaboration in the creative process, and future directions for lots of hands. 
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How did you get your start as lots of hands? 
I started it just by making guitar-y, singer-songwriter tracks. I was in a group chat with other Soundcloud musicians back in the day, and we used to just send little ideas to each other. And then I turned it into a proper project when I got my best friend Elliot involved and started writing real songs with him. 
Where did you derive your influence when you first started the project?
When I was making songs with my friends and bouncing ideas and thoughts off of them, it was really easy to take inspiration with them. It kind of narrowed down my world. My perception of music was just these guys that I really enjoyed speaking to for some time. It was mainly other DIY artists in that community. 
Once Elliot joined lots of hands, how did your sound expand?
Well, Elliot’s definitely a lot better at writing a cohesive song. I find that my favourite bit is still recording and experimenting with sounds, but it makes it a lot easier for us to have a songwriting process. It makes it a lot easier for me to have a starting point, because he’s very writing-focused and melody-focused. 
So, your new record ‘into a pretty room’ is due for release soon, and you’ve shared a few great singles. The most recent, ‘backseat 30’ feels like a strong highlight. What does ‘backseat 30’ mean, and what does it symbolise for you?
That was one that we wrote once we’d actually developed our thoughts and ideas going into the album. We wanted to make an album about grief and change. I think me and Elliot were both going through a journey at the time. We wrote it when we’d just turned 21, so, it’s just about making the most of what you’ve got, realising your place in the world and your privilege just to be alive in the way that you are. When you get in your own head and start writing about your feelings constantly, you kind of forget how lucky you’ve got it.
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While making the new record, you spent a lot of time up North in more rural areas. What was that like, did it create much of a difference in the way that your writing and recording process normally works?
It’s actually the opposite. We grew up in Newcastle, very, very Northeast. And then I went to art college in Leeds, a bit further South, so there’s a lot more culture. We were meeting a lot more people from different backgrounds. So it felt like we were in a new era, we felt like we were on a  little journey. Leeds has a lot of farms, we were going on a lot of walks while writing. Just looking at alpacas and shit, it was awesome. 
Did you find that spending time in nature inspired much of the songwriting?
Elliot grew up on a farm, so I think getting him in the band in general has made it a lot more folky and nature-y, we’ve got a lot more organic sounds from that. But being in Leeds was a crazy little time, because in Newcastle you just have the city and then the beach. You don’t really have a lot of land, so it was a growing experience. 
I don’t know if that’s why we went more folky, but we definitely ended up going more into that “let’s buy a banjo and a violin and a flute and try to make crazy sounds”, instead of going the whole shoegaze pedalboard route. Which we still dabble in sometimes, but it was good to grow into a different sound. 
What was it like to explore ways of incorporating those folkier elements with a heavier, shoegaze-inspired sound?
It was definitely the most fun experience we’ve had with recording an album, because all of the sounds were there. We were trying out tape loops and using Tascams, I bought a banjo for it, and we just went a bit crazy with the sounds instead of just trying to find everything on a laptop. It felt like me and Elliot were just playing with toys the whole time we were making it. 
It sounds like you were really able to appreciate the hands-on experience of working with more organic sounds, and being able to experiment in a way that feels as expansive as working with electronic-based elements. 
One hundred percent. I mean, that’s not to say that I won’t do another electronic record at some point. I just think that having fun making a record is really what we’re going for at the minute. Even if it’s not what the people want. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t. 
How do you feel that the songs from ‘into a pretty room’ will translate from record to live having experimented with a different sound? 
Definitely a lot better. When we’ve done songs like ‘Mistake’ and ‘Ugly Man Fun Plan’ we’ve had to change them up little bits because they’re more based on a cool sound I’ve found on Logic or a cool drum beat from a sample pack or something. Whereas now, we’ve almost written these new songs to be played live, but we still try to give them some weird, crazy stuff going on in the background like the other songs we’ve done.
You touched upon addressing some pretty heavy subject matter on the record, like grief and loss. How did you balance approaching those topics while also making sure that you kept things lighthearted and fun?
Well, I don’t know if it presents this way when you listen to it, but I think ‘fantasy’ was way more “me and my feels” shit. Like, thinking about my own emotions. And ‘into a pretty room’ is more thinking about a journey that we’re taking and thinking about the idea of moving forward, even if the personal life aspect of things is a bit shit, and the political landscape of the UK is just not very good at the minute. It’s being able to move forward and keep note of where you are.
So ‘into a pretty room’ maintains that hope for things to work out against bleak circumstances.
Yeah, definitely. I think I might’ve gone into ‘fantasy’ trying to encapsulate that, but I just ended up being very gloomy. Which isn’t a bad thing, people like gloomy music. But we just try and encapsulate what’s going on in our mind and how we’re feeling, and this one is just a little bit more hopeful. 
What keeps you guys hopeful on a more individual scale?
I don’t know about Elliot, but I think at the minute it’s very hard for a lot of people to have hope. Especially in this country. But I think that just seeing the small changes that are happening in attitudes is really important. And just the fact that people are caring about music so much at the minute, it feels like a really important time to be making music, and that definitely keeps us hopeful.
Do you feel like as an artist, you play a role in facilitating change?
One hundred percent. It’s really refreshing seeing artists who are my age, twenty-one and twenty-two, speaking up for things that they care about.
It’s an important time to be vocal, to push for what you want to say, what you believe in. On a similar note, ‘into a pretty room’ is described as your most thoughtful record to date. Why would you say that is when compared to your previous work?
To say it kind of bluntly, it was the most thinking that I’ve put into a record. Elliot and I spoke to each other and we were able to be vulnerable with each other, to talk about how we’re feeling and what we wanted to show on a record, what we wanted to say. It definitely helped having  another person writing the songs with me, because before he was pretty much just on lead guitar. So yeah, we just did a lot of talking with each other. 
Do you think that tapping into that vulnerability with one another to create something has been a pivotal point for your friendship, and as musical collaborators?
Definitely, I mean, at the end of the day we’re Northeast lads. So aside from music and politics, there are not a lot of things that we talk about with each other. It’s like football, Newcastle United, video games. So I think it’s really important for people to have an outlet where they can be vulnerable with someone. Even if you’re like a North Eastern lad. 
What does ‘into a pretty room’ mean to you at this stage of your musical journey?
I think this record is a little bit more different to the other ones that we’ve made. So it feels like I’m kind of asking everyone to hear me out. Just wait guys, just let it roll out and just keep listening to it. I’m hoping people naturally transition what they like from song to song, because there’s bits of my old music in it, but there’s also bits of things that I haven’t tried before. It’s a little bit scary.
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What has been the biggest challenge to address in this more adventurous period for you?
I think having a rollout in general has been so strange for me, because I’ve always just dropped something when I’ve got enough demos under my belt to call it an album. And now we’re thinking about the best way to roll something out, what people will engage with most and how that flow is going to work. It’s just something that I’ve never thought about doing before. 
Me and Elliot have found it hard to write music while we’ve got music rolling out. I don’t know if that’s because we’ve got the songs in our heads at all times or if it’s just a stress thing, but it’s really hard to focus on more than one thing at a time in our minds. 
Are there any songs from the new record that you feel most excited about sharing with people?
We’ve got a song called ‘barnyard’, and that song was the most fun me and Elliot had writing something. We started off with this really stupid little guitar riff that he came up with, and we were adding random stupid chipmunk vocals on it. We were almost trying to make it sound cheesy, but then bringing it back to make it sound like a song. We just blasted through it in a couple of hours, and it’s definitely my favourite song on the record. 
Do you have an idea of where you plan to take your sound next?
We’ve been dabbling with the thought of doing side projects and different Spotify pages on the side, with lots of hands as the root. And then you’ve got these branches coming off with different ambient projects, other solo projects between me and Elliot. We’ve been writing little bits for them, getting some recorded with musicians who we haven’t brought in for lots of hands yet. That’s been really exciting. I’d really like to collaborate with my friends in Knats, who are a jazz band in London. They make jazz, disco-y dance music. But they’re also massively into the kind of music I make, so I think they’d be such a cool centrepoint of DIY sad dance music. Again, just asking people to hear me out. Our goal for 2025 is to get multiple things going.
What would you say to aspiring musicians in the DIY community who are looking towards a similar path?
Focus on the sound. And it doesn’t really matter where you are. That’s the power of the DIY community. Take sign crushes motorist, north of Donegal in Ireland, and he makes this music that can click with people in America and people around the world. It’s important to just get the music out there no matter where you are. There’s a lot of people who will have the music and then they’ll go down to London to live there and plan to release it, but just release it. Get into the habit of releasing things and you’ll be a lot prouder of yourself. 
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‘into a pretty room’ is out now.
Words: Kayla Sandiford
Main Photo Credit: Steff Mundi / Inset: lots of hands
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