BRINGING CALM TO THE CHAOS

Hurts aim for a spirit of optimism and hope with their latest album, Desire, after the upheavals witnessed in 2016

’A lot of the music on this album is a reaction to the world when we were making it’

For electro-pop duo Hurts, a chance meeting outside a Manchester nightclub in 2004 led to a chartsmashing career and global success. Stories of their early days involve singer Theo Hutchcraft,

31, and synth man Adam Anderson, 33, enjoying rock ’n’ roll excesses in foreign lands – with naked girls in hotels and mini-bars left bare. Theo even dated Miss Germany for a while.

“If you’re young, excited and travelling the world, I guess things just happen,” admits Theo.

“But I think our focus is on different things these days.”

Theo and Adam had two false starts, first forming a band called Bureau, followed by Daggers. Then under the name Hurts the pair experienced their global breakthrough with 2010 debut album Happiness.

Exile and Surrender followed, bringing us to the recently released Desire, which Hurts will perform to UK fans on tour next month.

“We just played to 12,000 people in Moscow,” Theo smiles.

“That’s the biggest show we’ve ever done on a tour. That was a really special moment for us. A huge achievement in a country which has been so supportive of us from the very beginning.”

Hurts’ music has crossed borders effortlessly. With Desire there was a conscious move to reveal themselves, and create an optimistic atmosphere at odds with events outside of the recording studio.

“A lot of the music on this album is a reaction to the world that was around us when we were making it. We made most of it in 2016, a year which was filled with bad, sad and confusing news.

“For us, the only option when we went into the studio was to make music that took us away from that. Music filled with light and hope. It was cathartic.”

Their globetrotting life is its own reward but it hasn’t allowed time for family or settled relationships away from the stage.

“We aren’t really in places long enough for romance to blossom. But that hasn’t stopped us from trying in the past,” Theo admits.

New opportunities still come knocking for the duo, sometimes from unexpected quarters. A halfjoking remark about wanting to compete in Eurovision means they now face an unlikely challenge. One they may take up but only on a backroom basis.

“It was something we initially said quite flippantly,” says Theo. “But then we got approached by the Eurovision people in the UK. It would be fun to write a song, but I’m not sure we’re really right to perform.” Desire is out now.