Pitchfork Spotlight: Exclusive Interview With hey, nothing and a review of Their First Ever London Show

Words by Beth Ford

Through resonant, emotional lyricism, beautiful, nostalgic melodies, and an endearing, authentic friendship, the emo-folk duo hey, nothing is creating an incredible repertoire of music that is garnering well-deserved attention and a dedicated fan base. 

Tyler Mabry and Harlow Philips started recording music together in High School, releasing their debut album in 2023, We’re Starting to Look Like Each Other, which delves into love, relationships, and addiction with depth, sincerity, and masterful storytelling. Since then, they have released multiple EPs, with their most recent, 33° and Seeing You, exploring loss and grief with heartrending poignance.

Photo by Alex Frances

This year, they have been on tour in America, Europe, and the UK, with multiple sold-out shows at London’s Camden Assembly. To discuss touring, songwriting, friendship, and more, I met with hey, nothing before their Pitchfork festival set, which marked their first-ever London performance – and what a performance it was.

So you’ve just been at Pitchfork in Paris and now you’re here in London, then you have two more sold-out London shows after this, as well as more. How has touring been so far?

Tyler: Touring has been so great.

Harlow: It’s been a dream!

Tyler: It’s a dream, yeah. We’ve just been trucking through it.

Harlow: Beep-bopping-around.

Tyler: Just trying to enjoy every city as much as possible.

Beth: Do you get to explore much?

Tyler: Yeah, honestly, I feel like we have.

Harlow: Yeah, I feel like, especially this go around.

Tyler: Yeah, and Europe specifically, we’ve been able to spend time in each city.

Beth: Have you had a favourite place so far?

Tyler: Ooh, Berlin was so nice.

Harlow: Yeah, Berlin.

Beth: Ooh yeah, Berlin is really cool. Did you get to go out? I hear the nightlife in Berlin is really cool.

Tyler: Haha, yeah!

Both: We really hit the town, haha.

Harlow: The town hit us, really.

Do you have any pre or post-show rituals you like to do?

Tyler: Yeah haha, I mean, there’s a couple.

Harlow: Yes.

…

Tyler: But our team, before we go on stage, we huddle up, and uh, one of our managers will do a prayer for us, or like uh like uhh-

Harlow: It’s a non-religious prayer.

Tyler: Yeah, a non-religious prayer, it’s more of just like a-

Harlow: Just a speaking-

Tyler: A speech, haha.

Harlow: A speech!

Tyler: A toast!

Harlow: A manifest!

Beth: A manifestation.

Tyler: Exactly, yeah.

Beth: Aw, cute!

Harlow: And then we go:

Together (while doing a dance): Eye of the tiger,

Cock of the horse,

Take no prisoners,

Shows no remorse,

Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love,

Drop it in the comments that I’m handsome,

What,

Drop it in the comments that I’m handsome.

Harlow: And then we do that-

Tyler: We do that one more time.

Beth: Incredible, I love that! What a fun little ritual.

How did you two meet? Do you remember your first impressions of each other or what you connected over first?

Tyler: Yeah, we didn’t like each other at first.

Harlow: Yeah.

Beth: Oh no hahaha.

Tyler: Not at all.

Beth: The best friendships are made when you don’t like each other first.

Tyler: Yeah, exactly, um-

Harlow: An old, boring story.

Tyler: Yeah, an old boring story, but um, one of our friends in middle school, that we were both friends with, and we were both really strange people, and he was like, I bet you would get along.

Harlow: Well, you guys are both weird.

Tyler: And we both kinda played music a little bit, and like, wanted to sing and play music. And then he, like, put us together in a park one day after school.

Harlow: And were like, yiiiikes!

Beth: Hahaha.

Tyler: And we were both kinda like, oh, this person is so-

Harlow: Sooo-

Tyler: Annoying.

Beth: Hahaha.

Harlow: And we both just kept hanging out.

Tyler: But we both kept hanging out because we both love music.

Beth: Yeah.

Tyler: And then over a few months, we were like, oh my gosh-

Harlow: You’re the same type of uh, wrong as me.

Tyler: Haha, literally.

What is your writing process like? Is it quite collaborative or do you come to each other with mostly formed songs?

Tyler: It’s very collaborative.

Harlow: Yeah.

Tyler: Yeah, most of what we do today is just like sit down and write songs together. I think it usually starts with one of us having like a chord progression or something cool on guitar or like a vocal melody or a lyric idea, and um bring it to us, and sometimes we’ll be like uh ah that’s, that kinda sucks, I’m not really feeling inspired by that. But um, a lot of the time we’ll come and be like that’s so fricking cool.

Harlow: Yeah.

Tyler: And let’s sit down for like nine hours and try to figure out if it’ll actually take.

Harlow: Well, that’s our day.

Beth: Hahaha.

Tyler: Yeah, exactly. If we’re really feeling something, it takes up an entire day.

Beth: Yeah, I can imagine.

Tyler: And we’ll just make it happen, and that’s a really great time.

Harlow: Yeah.

Beth: That must be fun though, when you get that, like, someone brings something and you’re like, yes! this! Let’s hyperfixate for the next 24 hours!

Tyler: Exactly, haha.

Harlow: Yeah, we will throw everything out the window to write a song.

Do you always draw on real-life experiences when writing, or take inspiration from feelings and channel them into storytelling?

Tyler: I think most of it comes from real life. I think earlier, when we were practising and starting to write songs, it was kind of harder to use real-life experience because we were literally so young.

Harlow and Beth: Yeah.

Tyler: But, I think we’ve lived a little bit more now and have a little bit more to draw from and now I think when we sit down and write a song, things usually come from very real places, and if it’s not coming from a real place, it’s like it’s honestly not as cathartic or it doesn’t feel as worthwhile.

Harlow: Yeah, and even when we are writing something story-based, like 33 degrees, it’s still stemming from our own real life.

Tyler: Exactly. But yeah, you know all of the themes-

Harlow: We’re just using it as an analogy or metaphor.

Tyler: Like a little medium or like, yeah, exactly.

Your music feels very nostalgic and relatable, and people really connect with it. It reminds me of a lot of classic coming-of-age movies, and I feel like they would work so well in film soundtracks. (It’s also very fitting that your name was inspired by The Perks of Being a Wallflower.) So, if you could have one of your songs in any film (past, present, or future), what film would it be?

Tyler: Any song, any movie. I think I would wanna write a song for a movie, I think that would be fun.

Harlow: Yeah, that would be so sick.

Tyler: Honestly, um, Perks of Being a Wallflower is one of those movies that Harlow and I connected with right off the bat.

Beth: Yeah.

Tyler: Um, so if we could go back in time and they were like, hey write a song for this, I think we’d actually crush that.

Beth: Absolutely.

Harlow: We would, we would crush that.

…

Harlow: I was thinking, there’s this movie that I just watched on the plane, it’s called LOL, and it’s uh-

Beth: Yeah, hahaha.

Harlow: Starring Miley Cyrus.

Beth: I’ve seen it hahaha.

Harlow: Great film! It’s actually really bad.

Beth: The best films are.

Harlow: Yes!

Tyler: Haha.

Harlow: But the soundtrack is awesome! And so I think I would freak out if our song was in that movie.

Tyler: Oh! What’s that film… Fun Sized with uh Victorious-

Beth: Yeah!

Tyler: That would be fun! I watched About Time on the aeroplane the other day-

Beth: What a film.

Tyler: That is like-

Harlow: Destroyed me.

Tyler: One of my favourite movies ever

Beth: Yeah, it is incredible.

Tyler: It always makes me sob, and I think, honestly, that would be a really incredible experience to write a song for that movie.

Beth: Yeah, yeah.

Tyler: That would be awesome.

Beth: I was thinking, have you ever seen Jennifer’s Body?

Harlow: Ugh, yes!

Tyler: Yes!

Harlow: So many times.

Beth: I feel like it would be so good in there.

Tyler: That would be so fun!

… 

Beth: But no, absolutely, that soundtrack slaps.

Tyler: Yeah, it does.

Beth: And I feel like you could absolutely have a song that would fit that.

Tyler: Aw, thank you, thank you.

Harlow: Love that movie.

This year, you’ve put out your EP 33°, as well as three more singles. Do you have any other releases on the horizon we can look forward to?

Tyler: I don’t think this year.

Harlow: Not this year.

Tyler: I think we’re done for the year.

Harlow: We’re wrapping it up.

Beth: Yeah, yeah.

Harlow: We’re wrapping up, we’ve gotta shut up.

Tyler: We’re also really tired.

Beth: I can imagine, yeah.

Tyler: We’ve been going pretty hard for the last few years, um, but next year.

Beth: Next year.

Harlow: Yeah.

Tyler: Well, early next year, spring next year.

Harlow: We’re taking a break, then we’re ready to like, hit it hard.

Tyler: We’re gonna come back stronger than ever.

…

Tyler: Yeah, we have most of an album recorded, though.

Beth: Oh, that’s so exciting.

…

Tyler: No, we’re really passionate about it, and I think it’s the best songs and the best project we’ve ever made.

Harlow: Yep.

Beth: Aww, amazing.

Tyler: And it just keeps getting better every time we go in to work on it.

Beth: Aw, that’s so exciting.

Tyler: And I’m really excited to share it next year.

Harlow: Me too.

Beth: I can’t wait to hear it! Well, thank you so much!

Watch the full interview, with lots of jokes and tangents, now. 

Photo by Alex Frances

After the interview, we headed inside Earth Theatre to wait for hey, nothing’s set. Even during their soundcheck, a teasing sneak peek of their first song, their fans were front and centre, singing along with heartfelt anticipation. Finally, they re-emerged on stage, confidently emanating the same funny charisma they had in our interview. 

The set opened with Black Bear, a single from their newest EP Seeing You. The Midwest emo inspiration blended effortlessly with their folky-rawness to create a nostalgic, authentic, and moving listening experience. 
Their second song, Too Drunk To Drive, had everyone boogying in their seats – which is an impressive feat in a seated venue. They would turn and play guitar to each other, smiling, and it was moments like these that best capture their beautiful friendship. You could really tell they were having fun and enjoying being there, and they made that feeling infectious.

Photo by Alex Frances

The Sink was clearly a fan favourite, garnering whoops, cheers, and sing-alongs. Harlow introduced it as “a song about getting angry”, and it’s one that feels deeply cathartic and clearly resonates with their listeners. 

Despite it being just the two of them on stage, armed with their voices and acoustic guitars, versus a large hall, they had an incredible stage presence. I couldn’t help but marvel at how their music filled and connected the room in a way that felt honest and special. In between songs, they were charming and engaging, making jokes and encouraging the crowd to “meet your neighbour” while they tuned their guitars, saying “that’s beautiful, it sounds like a church congregation in here”. 

Before the rest of the set, Harlow joked, “We’ve been having fun, but that stops. We’re going sad mode for the rest of the time”. During 33° and Seeing You, you could truly appreciate what a beautiful pairing their voices are, balancing gorgeous harmonies with raspy, raw moments. With their final song, Maine, they had their front row of fans in tears. At the end, I honestly felt sad that the set was over, longing for more. 

Photo by Alex Frances

Earlier in the performance, they expressed that it was the “honour of a lifetime to be in this lineup”, saying it felt like a “full circle moment”, as one of their first TikTok covers was Take Off Ur Pants by Indigo De Souza (who was one of the headlining acts at the festival). You could feel how genuinely happy and proud they were to be there. They finished their set by telling each other, “What a joy it is to play music with you”, before ending it with a final, loving hug. The cherry on top of their musical talent is absolutely their genuine and unique friendship, which can’t help but leave you smiling and with a full heart. 

After chatting with hey, nothing and getting to watch them perform, I’m left in awe of what these young musicians have created so far, and excited about what they have coming next. 

Photo by Alex Frances