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The Enemy’s Andy Hopkins: British guitar music has hit rock bottom

The Enemy’s Andy Hopkins says British rock music is at an all-time low because young people are more interested in taking drugs than picking up guitars.
The bassist is dismayed by the lack of new indie bands coming out and thinks teenagers are now too preoccupied with their own lives and being on social media to step out of their bedrooms to start a group.
But he is sure that it will only take one great band to inspire kids again.
He exclusively told BANG Showbiz: "British guitar music is at a low. If you think about what’s going on in Britain, with the amount of austerity. You’ve got to wonder what’s going with people? It’s like people just want to bound around without a care in the world, it’s almost like everyone wants to just take a bit of MDMA, or get out of it, and just have a good time and listen to a load of pop music and R&B.
"I get that music goes in cycles and some of what’s around is good. But there’s no anger out there … We need a band like Oasis or Arctic Monkeys to take people by the scruff of the neck and drag them along.
"I think a band will come along but the society we live in now with people always on their mobile phones and laptops and everyone is just constantly online. People want to find the next thing and then move on, nothing has got the time to build as a movement. As good as social media is to connect people it actually seems to divide people.
"The truth is what we need is a band that just takes everyone’s breath away, who have got the tunes."
Andy doesn’t think any of the current crop of indie bands in the charts at the moment have written good enough songs to be the next big thing.
The rocker has singled out Catfish and the Bottlemen as an example of a group getting plaudits but not really delivering the goods.
He said: "I see a lot of bands out there being celebrated, but they’re just alright. I don’t think they’re crap, I don’t think they’re s**t I just think they’re alright. I don’t think they write good enough songs.
"It’s like Catfish and the Bottlemen, they’re a good example. I respect those lads because they went up and down the country and gigged their a**es off, but for me they just haven’t written a ‘Away From Here’ or a ‘Wonderwall’. They’ve got to find that sort of song that will appeal to pop fans."
Andy and his bandmates in The Enemy – frontman Tom Clarke and drummer Liam Watts – are to play six UK shows this September before calling time on their 10-year spanning career.
And he admits, although he has mixed emotions about disbanding the ‘Had Enough’ rockers, he’s pleased they are getting to go out on their own terms.
He said: "We decided a few months ago as a collective to call it a day. It’s with a heavy heart, but all good things have got to come to an end. I’d rather than finish it now on our own terms with a big tour, with thousands of fans watching us rather than going on and petering out.
"I’m proud of our albums, we’ve had a great run, we’ve been together for 10 years, we’ve had a lot of success. We played with the Sex Pistols, The Rolling Stones, Oasis, we played Wembley Stadium, we headlined the Ricoh Arena in our hometown of Coventry. I got to travel the world with my best mates and get paid to do it. It was great, but it’s time."

The Enemy’s ‘Last Orders Tour’ dates:

Thursday 15 September – O2 Ritz, Manchester
Friday 16 September – O2 Forum, Kentish Town
Saturday 17 September – The Empire, Coventry
Saturday 24 September – Newcastle, O2 Academy
Sunday 25 September – Leeds, O2 Academy
Monday 26 September – Glasgow, O2 ABC