Hands Off Gretel have just completed an extensive UK tour and PCN managed to catch up with them for a quick chat before they went on stage in Glasgow
Interview with Hands Off Gretel – Nice’n’Sleazy – Glasgow
30th October 2021
PCN – Hands Off Gretel is back on the road with an extensive UK tour and as you approach the end of it can you give us an insight on how it has been going?
LAUREN – It’s been incredible and it’s been eventful. I’d say that we’ve probably had the best gigs out of all the gigs we’ve ever had. We’ve had so many new fans come to them. The energy’s been different; I think it depends where we play. Wherever we play it’s always different but I think on the majority of the tour everybody’s been a bit crazier. The crowds have been really energetic.
PCN – covering all the miles in the last few weeks; who has been the most annoying on the tour bus?
LAUREN – Oh definitely Sam! He always eats cheesy chips and chilli and just farts all the time!
PCN – Poor Sam gets the blame for everything.
LAUREN – that’s because he’s horrific. Stinking out the tour bus!
SAM – Oh yeah!
PCN – You are renowned for being full of energy on stage. Is it easy to keep the energy levels high night after night?
LAUREN – It’s quite difficult. Every gig we play I’ll say that was a really good gig then maybe Sam will say that he wasn’t really feeling it. I think one of us will have a really good gig but someone will say that they weren’t feeling it. But yeah, I’ve managed to keep my energy levels up most of the nights. in Newcastle I was a bit tired but then as soon as I see the crowd they energise me a lot.
In Bedford; no Norwich. Yes Norwich, I walked on stage and there were loads of girls there and they were screaming so loud that I couldn’t evener myself singing and they were just wild so any anxiety or tiredness I were feeling just disappeared. Seeing that; that’s what you do it for.
PCN – Most of your songs carry a message. Do you find it strange to see people dancing and clapping along to songs like ‘Milk’ for instance?
LAUREN – Yeah. I think a lot of the time you see people singing along and you can always tell the ones who understand the lyrics and scream it with me. You can see others who are just kinda rocking out that maybe don’t listen to the lyrics. When we played ‘War’ in Cambridge I said over the mic that these lyrics are really important so everyone should listen to them. This poor man started clapping along to the song…
SAM – out of time…
LAUREN – yeah, really out of time and I thought thatI can’t leave it; it’s the wrong tone. So I stopped and said “you can clap along to any other song but not this one” Afterward, he was laughing about titbit we want to keep it energetic and fun but the message is also important.
PCN – Clapping out of time probably affects you two (Sam and Becky) the most.
BECKY – oh yeah
SAM – Yeah… as soon as I get that in my head I can’t get rid of it again
PCN – One of the strongest messages you put out is the safety of females at gigs. Have you seen a difference on this tour?
LAUREN – I thought so. I really thought so but we’ve had a few bad times; it was pretty bad in Norwich. We had an incident with a guy who threw a woman to the floor and then tried to pull me over the barrier. It’s always just one individual. In a crowd it just takes one person to ruin it. As long as that one person is instantly found and dealt with by security then its fine.
PCN – How do you chose your support bands?
LAUREN – We like to choose our own support bands. Like Scarlet; we’re friends with them. It’s also exciting to meet new bands and not playing with the people all the time.
PCN – What will the end of the tour bring to Hands Off Gretel?
LAUREN – Sadness; it’s a weird feeling. New songs. Nothing planned; no dates for new album or anything.
SAM – A lot of sleep; just sleeping really
BECKY – Oh yes – we have a lot going on with Fury. We have our 4th album; so I’m going to record the bass for that and we’ll release the album next year. We have a new single out called ‘Helluva Night’ and that’s out now.
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