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6 October 2025

Every Monday we will be bringing you interviews with UK or Ireland artists for Independent Music Monday. Recently we caught up with Sam from Nottingham band Hurtsfall to find out more…

Who is in the band, how did you meet, where are you from and how did you come up with the name?
We are Nottingham based. There’s me (Sam) on vocals, Mike on bass/guitars (Bass VI), and Jamie on keyboards. The guys were in a band before called The Death Notes. Once they lost their singer they formed a new band with a new drummer. They looked for a singer for a year, putting adverts online and auditioning. They narrowed it down to me and someone else, it was a bit like X Factor or The Voice. They had a vote and chose me. We then had a few lineup changes and lost our guitarist and drummer, deciding to change our sound and just be a three-piece. We use backing tracks and Mike plays all guitar and bass parts on a six-string bass which makes us sound quite unique. The name was a result of the guys putting two words together until they didn’t hate it! I like to tell people that it’s the pain felt by Lucifer falling from heaven as that sounds better…

Who were your musical influences when you were growing up and who are your influences now?
I’ve gone through so many phases. I started out imitating rock singers as a teen so Axl Rose, Freddie Mercury etc. But I always liked metal. So I went through a cycle of bands like Evanescence, through to Nightwish, Opeth, Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, and eventually moved away from the metal and went deeper into the goth side of things as I realised that’s what I liked about those bands all along. I also liked alternative 90s singer-songwriters, and poppier stuff, especially dramatic ballads. Depeche Mode and The Cure have been constants throughout which comes through clearly in our music. Now I’m what I call a “Top 40 goth” so I like everything you’re supposed to like in a goth club like The Mission, Sisters of Mercy etc. I’m a big fan of Then Comes Silence and Vision Video on the newer side of things as well.

How would you describe your sound?
Now I’d say it’s synth-pop but all in black. It’s also been described as “Goth & Soul” by multiple people who don’t know each other, so we just ran with it. It’s printed on the back of one of our t-shirt designs now as well.

What is your latest release called and what was the influence behind it?
We just put out “Adore Me” and it’s about toxicity in relationships. Not necessarily about a toxic relationship, you can have a great relationship but be dealing with residual toxicity, and when you’re both bringing that to the table it causes issues. I think the song sounds like being in that feeling. It’s not a happy song but it’s healthy to exorcise those feelings so they’re out, and I’m sure everyone can relate to parts of the song if not all.

What’s your local music scene like?
Nottingham is great for live music. It’s big and varied in terms of events but small enough that you get to know everyone. Venues are closing nationwide and although we’ve lost a few there’s been a lot of new spaces appearing too.

What do you have planned for the next 12 months?
We have quite a few gigs lined up, with many not yet announced, including more local ones as we tend to play more out of town shows. Aside from the shows we’ve agreed to we will be focusing more on getting our debut album finished and released.

Is there anyone you’d love to collaborate with?
We’ve opened for Auger a few times so something with Kyle would be amazing. We did some recording the other month and I sang lower than ever before and we were saying how a duet with Kyle would be good as he has such a distinctive deep voice.

Any funny stories surrounding your live performances?
We did a headline show in Coventry for NecroscopE and the smoke machine just filled the venue to the point we couldn’t see the audience! We had to keep crouching or leaning forward to see if people were actually there which was quite funny.

What is the one thing that you want readers to know about you?
That we really love making this music. It’s not a casual thing for us, we really put our hearts into it.

Upcoming live dates and performances
Saturday 4th October 2025 – Oxjam Beeston Music Festival, Nottingham
Friday 28th November 2025 – Mist Rolling Inn, Nottingham

You can find out more about Hurtsfall via Apple Music, Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram, Linktree, SoundCloud, Spotify, Threads, TikTok, YouTube (channel) or YouTube Music.