The days grow ever shorter, autumn’s crisp breath gently tightens on the morning air, yet Nottingham’s Do Nothing defiantly stir the simmering embers of the season as they return with new single ‘Summer of Hate’. Their first new single since debut album ‘Snake Sideways’, and their wry, whimsical absurdity once again peeks through the cracks of everyday monotony.
A strange brew of dinosaurs, Linda Hamilton, and the curious absence of horse feasts, Do Nothing shape internal monologues into melodic quips as Charlie Howarth and Andrew Harrison weave a rhythm that stumbles, catches itself, and tumbles forward in a delightfully off-kilter cadence. Chris Bailey’s voice, raw and unmistakable, delivering lines that dance a fine line between surrealist and emotional candour. Kasper Sandstrom’s picked guitar shimmers like shattered crystal before plunging into thick walls of trudging clamour.
‘Summer of Hate’ focuses on a world warped by the weight of its contradictions—where innocence is slowly consumed by the cynicism that bleeds in with the years. It’s a cheeky realisation that the anxieties we once thought we’d outgrown never really disappeared; they just found clever ways to blend into the backdrop of our adult lives.
Bailey reflects on the track, “‘Summer of Hate’ is a fun song for the summer, despite being released now when the lousy summer has long since passed. It’s sort of about bullies, rejection, and how growing up doesn’t necessarily mean that that stuff goes away. We tried to have fun with it and not be stressed, which was easy because we were at home and with friends in the sunshine.”
Photo by Adrian Vitelleschi Cook
So Young is a new music magazine and our new issue is out now. Buy in print here. Subscribe here. Read the digital edition below.