The emergence of No Devotion, with members returning from the devastating events surrounding the end of Lostprophets, seemed like a comeback success story – but it soon proved less than plain sailing. Singer Geoff Rickly spoke to Chris Andrews about overcoming obstacles and the band’s future.
When No Devotion released their debut album Permanence in 2015, it was to worldwide acclaim, gaining them a Kerrang! album of the year award among other accolades. Then – bearing in mind that the band’s instrumental faction were regrouping after their previous band, Pontypridd’s Lostprophets, and the shocking end to that part of their career – things went pear-shaped again.
Their label – Collect Records, an American imprint part-owned by hedge fund fraudster Martin Skhreli – collapsed, and the album went out of print just a week after its release. There was little but radio silence from the band thereafter, until recently. There must have been times when No Devotion thought they might never come back?
“The thought was that we wouldn’t come back at all,” says Geoff Rickly, the group’s vocalist – also frontman of American post-hardcore favourites Thursday, themselves an on/off operation in recent years. “It was just so hard, especially on those guys, after everything they’d been through. It was tough.
“When we won some awards for a record that was out of print, it was such a weird story. We thought, maybe that’s it – maybe that’s a good enough story. I don’t think anybody needed anymore punishment…”
Fast forward to 2022, where we find ourselves on the cusp of a new album, No Oblivion. So when – and how – did that come about? “Well, we gave it a few weeks and then wrote one song. After that the album was written quite quickly!” says Rickly. “Lee [Gaze, No Devotion guitarist] has written all these great songs – we have half of album three written, we just couldn’t fit them on this album.”
With the eyes of the rock world on the band at the time of Permanence, was there a certain amount of pressure lifted when writing this followup?
“Yeah, for better or for worse, I think the whole world thought we were done, so we got a chance to reappraise,” Rickly says. “In some ways, I think it was an act of survival for those guys, to just keep making music at the time when everything was going on, but I don’t think that ever really gave them a chance to get better. So this time we got to be a band, the way most bands are.”
With the band now slimmed down to a three-piece after the departure of Mike Lewis, Jamie Oliver and Luke Johnson – each Lostprophets alumni – how did that affect the songwriting process this time around?
“On the first record, a lot of it was still Stu [Richardson, No Devotion bassist] and Lee,” recalls Rickly. “My first instinct at the time was almost to curate it and put it all together, then it would be sent to Jamie and Mike, where they would add their style to it – be it a cool riff or a harmony – so the early writing process didn’t change a whole lot. The next step of getting in a room, that bit’s gone – but we are still very close with those guys.”
A three-date micro-tour that included a gig at The Globe in Cardiff was cancelled back in July at short notice, with a reschedule still to be announced, but having visited the Welsh capital on several occasions now, the New Jersey native remains fond of it.
“From all the time I’ve spent there with the boys, ahead of our first tour and first rehearsals with the full band, I feel very at home. There have been a lot of people who’ve been very kind to me, taken me into their home and nursed me when I was sick. I just really love it there.”
No Devotion’s No Oblivion is released on Fri 16 Sept via Equal Vision.
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words CHRIS ANDREWS