Tell us about Losing Hope, what were the inspirations involved when creating

the track and how does it build from your previous single, Young Forever?

Ben: Losing Hope started as a very basic singer-songwriter number with just me and

my acoustic guitar. After sitting on it for a while I knew I wanted it to become a Reiver

song, so we worked through multiple versions of the track together to get it to what it

is today. The original song was written well over a year ago now, but the final

arrangement didn’t all fall into place until a few weeks before the final recording. At

its core, we’ve tried to mimic the instrumentation of our classic pop punk influences.

Think Fall Out Boy, Paramore, Blink 182 etc but with the added soundscapes and

effects we have begun to incorporate into our writing process that progresses us

from the typical ‘guitar music’ sound to something that I feel gives the music more

depth and replay-ability. Losing Hope definitely builds from Young Forever in the

sense it solidifies the new sonic direction we are going in to listeners, and continues

the lyrical themes and ideas I want to portray to the world through my writing.

The artwork for the release is striking and follows a similar theme to the

previous single, is this a hint towards a larger body of work still to come?

James: Absolutely! Everything we are putting out at the moment is leading to

something bigger, and not just sonically but visually too. We want to create a world

around the band and the music that people can immerse themselves into with this

chapter of the band, and hopefully this is something we will be able to build upon in

future projects.

Off the back of Live at Leeds and other huge shows, what are your ambitions

for gigging in 2026? Are there any venues/events you have your eyes on?

Ben: We’re very lucky to have been able to tick almost every venue off our Leeds

bingo card already. We’d obviously love to play Brudenell and Key Club again at

some point, but we’re looking to branch out into other cities more in 2026. So far

we’ve played shows in Sheffield, Wakefield and Newcastle so it would be great to

return to those places in the new year and continue to grow in those scenes. We’re

also working really hard to get onto our first summer festival which is kind of the next

big goal on both of our band bucket lists, so fingers crossed we can make it happen

this year!

James: Our next big show will be our headliner at Oporto in Leeds in May, which is

going to be announced properly in the new year. It’s a step up from the venues we’ve

headlined in the past, but we’re really excited for it. We’ve already started putting alot of work into the production side of things and are expanding our live band just for

this one show, so it’s definitely going to be a Reiver gig you’re not going to want to

miss! Hopefully we’ll see you there.

What Leeds based artists are you listening to at the moment?

James: Leeds has such a talented scene across all levels and genres, and it’s

something we’re both proud to be a part of. There’s just so much good music coming

out of this city at the moment!

Ben: We’re both suckers for the heavy music scene in Leeds. We go to local

hardcore shows at Boom quite a lot, and both have bands like Static Dress and Love

Rarely on repeat constantly. In terms of the grassroots and other genres, I’m a big

fan of Andalusia, Eszter Vida and The Dulakes. We’ve gigged with all of them in the

past and it’s always been a great night. They’re all well worth a listen!

James: Pleasure Centre are one of my favourite bands in general at the moment. I

saw them headline Brudenell earlier in the year and the whole show blew me away.

I’m not sure if it will happen as we’re quite different sonically, but I’d love for us to be

on a lineup with them one day. Ben and I both play live in another band that is very

shoegaze-esque called The Foxgloves, so maybe I’ll get to share a bill with Pleasure

Centre through that! On the heavier side of things, I’ve been listening to Crowquill

and Killing Me Softly a lot lately, who are both great fun to go and see live.

Ending 2025 with a bang, what can fans expect to see from Reiver in the new

year?

James: So much! There’s going to be a lot of new music in the first half of the year.

We’re currently getting our first run of merch printed ready to sell at shows which

we’re really excited about. We’re changing up our live set quite a bit with a new

setlist covering our first EP, all the latest singles, some more unreleased and

unheard tracks, and of course our fan favourite cover of S&M by Rihanna isn’t going

anywhere! We just can’t wait to be playing live regularly again.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Ben: Check out our newest single Losing Hope available on all streaming platforms,

and drop us a follow on our social media (@reiver_band) to see what we’ll be getting

up to in 2026