“How certain are you in life?” asks lead singer David Boyd. For the dance-rock act New Politics that uncertainty is half of the fun. 

“How certain are you in life?” asks New Politics’ lead singer David Boyd. “You’re never 100-percent certain, but at the same time, it falls down to staying focused. You have to work. You have to live. You have to feel. You have to touch. You have to be inspired. You have to get yourself in that moment and continue to push yourself. It’s always scary, but life is scary.”

For Boyd and his two friends, Søren Hansen and Louis Vecchio, uncertainty struck 2009 when RCA Records sought them out with promises of something big. Though established in their hometown of Copenhagen, the new prospect of playing with the big kids across the pond posed huge challenges. They would drop everything, relationships and all, to make the artistic push. Now more than four years after pens hit paper, Boyd marvels at the surreal ride.

“When you do get a second to just reflect on it, you have those moments,” says Boyd. “The other day we were playing New Hampshire and after the show I was still sweaty and on a cloud and I took a second. It hit me. Jeez, these four years have passed in a blink of an eye and so much has happened. We’ve been all over the world, made a name for ourselves and built a fan base. I literally said out loud, ’God I am so thankful and blessed.’ To whoever, to whatever, it’s just…wow.”

The spry and engaging vocalist’s realistic consciousness extends to the entire band’s approach to performing. He says he builds new songs around those times shared with fans at each of their unique and intensely entertaining live concerts.

“We built a studio in the bus and we’re just full blast working,” says Boyd. “It’s like… insane, and we’re so inspired. The songs seem to be pouring out. We’ll hopefully have a few new songs out by the fall tour.”

The power of their music, Boyd says, isn’t a cultural thing that differs within country lines either, but that it’s a connecting factor he sees in the world around him. The song “Overcome,” is the one he sees as the most heartfelt by fans.

“We wrote that song in a really dark place,” says Boyd. “It was really just us patting ourselves on the back and saying, ‘If you’re not satisfied, it’s not the end. Keep going.’ The only thing that stands in your way of true power is time and distance. In time, you’ll overcome.”

Boyd also finds it intriguing when fans misconstrue a song’s intention and interpret it in other ways to fit themselves.

“It’s funny when you write music because you could be in a whole different place, or your idea of the song could be so different from someone listening to it, depending on what they’re going through,” says Boyd. “That’s also the beauty of life though is that contrast and that difference.”

New Politics’ achievements are all but unheard of given the current era of commercialized singles and short-lived, fancy-pants-acts. The first single “Yeah Yeah Yeah,” introduced the U.S. to the band in 2010 and was a hit on its own accord. It would later be overshadowed, however, by the monster single “Harlem.” The summertime sensation filled media worldwide and hit the U.S. Alt Chart’s No. 4 slot.

The band has shared the stage with P!nk, The Pretty Reckless and 30 Seconds to Mars, but it now tours the states on the Monumentour with headlining acts Fall Out Boy and Paramore (who has since cancelled all remaining dates as of press time). Being an opening band for acts that are well into successful careers, says Boyd, remains a focus as the band strategizes and works towards its future.

One thing you realize is that they’re not different than yourself.

"It puts a different perspective on it," says Boyd. "You also realize that there’s talent all over the world. You see the perseverance, the belief to continue to go. That it pays off.

When you tour with these amazing bands you see they’re normal people, but they have locked that belief aspect in. They’re there where they are because of hard work, recreating, reinventing, pushing themselves… staying connected with their fans. This all plays a huge role. We see it and are like, ‘It’s possible, look guys, they’re doing it. If we work hard enough and push it, we’ll be there as well.’”

With a solid budding framework and dedicated fans backing the illustrious trio of dance-rock visionaries, the future looks to be ever in the band’s favor. Boyd says he doesn’t know where the band may end up in the next couple of years, but the allure of the unknown is half the fun. Regardless of where the journey takes them, he says he knows for certain they won’t give up on the realities they’ve forged in their comparatively short time in the industry.

“I don’t know what the future holds,” says Boyd. “We can work and hope for the best, but I doubt that a few bad years would stop us. We’ll continue because this is what we love. This is what we know. This is what we want to do. There might be bumps, or bad songs we write, or songs people don’t understand, or situations where we’re not at our best – I don’t know – but that’s also the beauty of life to some degree. We’ll just keep moving forward.”

– Brian Frederick