Kids in Glass Houses: ‘This comeback was meant to be’ | Music | Entertainment

Yes, your prayers have been answered: Kids in Glass Houses are back. Not only that, but they are reissuing their debut record, Smart Casual, for the first time since its release back in 2008.

To celebrate their triumphant return, the Welsh rockers are also hitting the road later on this year. Tickets for their tour are out now (but act fast, they’re almost definitely going to sell out quickly!).

Ahead of that, Kids in Glass Houses spoke exclusively to Express.co.uk just hours before their comeback performance at sunny Slam Dunk Festival 2023 over the weekend, where Andrew “Shay” Sheehy revealed that Smart Casual is better than ever – even if they’re 15 years older.

“It’s got a new lease of life,” Shay admitted, without trying to hide his gleeful grin. “There’s actually parts in the record – new keys, synth lines – that were always there, but they were so buried in the mix because I suppose – with it being our debut album when we released it – we were sort of going for a more accurate portrayal of us as a five-piece.”

He laughed: “Whereas, now, all bets are off! And all those parts we recorded all those years ago are coming to the forefront. It sounds really great. It’s cool.”

READ MORE: Kids in Glass Houses tickets – Here’s where to get presale tickets today

On February 26, 2014, the band announced their split. A statement read: “It’s a near impossible void to comprehend filling, but we feel that now is the right time for us to move on and do just that.”

Since then, the fervour for a Kids in Glass Houses comeback has grown exponentially; but what possessed the band to finally bite the bullet and return to stages?

“It was the case of… we always kept in touch,” Shay reasoned. “We are best friends, but at one point in the WhatsApp group chat we were like, ‘Are you seeing how much these vinyls are going for on eBay?’ Kids were paying hundreds of pounds for these vinyls – that didn’t feel right. If these kids want it, we can work it out we can get it out and get a reissue. So let’s do that.”

With the album’s 15-year anniversary coming up, it was very much a “now or never” situation for the five-piece. So they got the cogs turning. But, oddly enough, when they approached their producer, Romesh Dodangoda, about working on the album again, he revealed he had already been tinkering with Smart Casual behind the scenes.

“It was feeling like it was, sort of, meant to be,” Shay smiled. Before long, they were asked to play Slam Dunk 2023 (they had been asked in the past, but this was the first time it “felt right” to them) and here we are.

The support Kids in Glass Houses have received thus far has been monumental, with some shows already sold out and enormous demand for Smart Casual Reissue vinyl.

Kids in Glass Houses have already earned four top-40 albums, but could this be the moment they get a UK number-one album? “We could actually chart higher than the original,” Shay said. “That would be funny! We’re just glad that we’re able to do this. It’s clear that people still care, it’s amazing. We’ve been inactive for so long, and people seem really grateful to have us back which is really humbling.”

Of course, the conversation quickly turned to new music. Are Kids in Glass Houses back for a good time or a long time?

“In a sense,” Shay confessed. “We never stopped working on new music. [Frontman] Aled [Phillips] and [guitarist] Iain [Mahanty] have written a lot of songs – we’ve got a ton of material. But, the beauty of where we are is we’ve got no obligation to do anything. If we feel that we want to put music out we can.”

Shay confirmed KiGH are not currently on a label that is expecting any new albums from them, but he certainly seemed open to getting back into the recording studio. And that mostly comes down to Aled’s creativity in his time away from the band.

“It sounds really cheesy,” he said. “But Aled has found his voice. He’s confident in his own skin as a songwriter, I think. [The songs] are quite eclectic. Our music sounds closer to our first album than ever before, they’re poppy, but they’re great. There’s some really heartfelt moments.”

Here’s hoping we hear this new batch of songs sooner rather than later.

The Smart Casual reissue hits store shelves on October 13, 2023. You can buy yours here.

Get tickets to Kids in Glass Houses’ UK tour here.