Little Comets’ Rob on New Album ‘HEAL’, UK Tour & Returning To Music
Little Comets, interview with The Groove. Image credit: Little Comets
‘After that, we all said, look. There's more about this that we enjoy than we don't enjoy. And that was the route to starting a record again.’
Despite living near Birmingham for the past decade, Rob Coles’ speech is still peppered with ‘wor’s, the North East still where he calls home. The lead singer of Little Comets fondly acknowledged Sam Fender’s recent Mercury Prize win, a fellow Geordie who supported the band as a 15 year old: ‘I remember the first time we were playing with him and I heard this voice and I was like, who is that singing?’
If you do the maths, it transpires that Little Comets have been around for a while – over 15 years, in fact. After somewhat of a hiatus, they’re back with new music, and their first tour since 2019.
Now staunchly independent artists, I pose the question – what’s his opinion on these events, anyway? ‘They should all be designed… so we can win more awards’ he grins, before doubling down. ‘Me, Mickey and Matt have all got kids. We've all got second jobs. They’re not really on my radar. When we were exposed to that side of the industry, it would come hand in hand with embracing the hype, which I don't think we’ve ever felt comfortable with.’ More than the glittery ceremonies, it’s Newcastle’s grassroots music agency, Generator, which he remains invested in.
There’s been a long pause since Little Comets’ last album in 2017… and a pandemic… so what’s happened to the band since?
Little Comets, ‘HEAL’ album cover art. Image credit: Little Comets
The simple answer is burnout, and life.
Rob talks about the challenges of constantly battling for a tiny share in the market. ‘Music shouldn't be a competition. It's really difficult to find the energy when you get the sense that every time you're putting a little bit more in, you might be getting a little bit less out. Over time, doing things independently, it's difficult to separate your headspace from being creative, and the business side. We have bills to pay. We have to take that into consideration when we're making stuff.’
The Little Comets trio were previously full-time musicians with major label backing – but Rob reflects that they simply needed a break, from making music, and ultimately from each other. When Generator asked Little Comets to put on a gig for the agency’s 10th birthday, they agreed, despite admitting ‘no one felt like doing it’. ‘We all had a really lovely experience on stage, just seeing people enjoying themselves and singing back to us. A lot of good energy in the room. I think after that, we all said, look. There's more about this that we enjoy than we don't enjoy. And that was the route to starting a record again.’
“Over time, doing things independently, it’s difficult to separate your headspace from being creative, and the business side. We have bills to pay. We have to take that into consideration when we’re making stuff.”
And here we are. ‘HEAL’, Little Comets’ sixth studio album, is boxed up and ready for release early next year. But the music-making process has shifted. Besides navigating three separate family schedules to find time to create the songs, a lesser emphasis on deadlines. ‘It's finished when it's finished… and that's when we release it’.
Recent single, ‘Kenny’ might not stem from personal experience, though Coles’ lyrical embedding of social commentary is a defining feature of Little Comets. 2012’s ‘Violence Out Tonight’ weaves a haunting, explicit tale of rape. 2017’s ‘À Bientôt’ is a gritty, riling song about discrimination against refugees. And now ‘Kenny’ tackles homophobia – albeit much more tempered. In 2025, Coles is cautious of his lack of experience in these themes, wondering whether he even has a place to sing about them.
I counter that it’s crucial for straight, cis, white men, such as Coles – those with the most power and privilege in the music industry, and society – to give these issues a wider platform and lend their influence, as much as it’s necessary to listen to the voices of those who live through them. He remarks that the CEOs of the four major music labels do indeed all fall into that category.
Rob jokes that he’s never gone for professional counselling, and his history of writing from the perspective of fictional characters’ issues stems from avoiding his own.
But ‘this album is more felt’, he concedes, their most personal and introspective. ‘I think a lot of that was born from lockdown, lots of relationships were altered and changed… maybe given space when they didn't need space, or vice versa.’
He describes new single ‘Zzzleeping’, as ‘the cutest song I think I’ve ever written… it’s like having a cuddle’. Emotionally weighted ‘Be Kind To Each Other’ features vocals from brother and bandmate Mickey – with the ‘journey’ of their relationship lending inspiration for the album title, which treads through themes the band have never explored before.
This tour, Little Comets are taking on the entire financial risk, working without any promoters or managers. The conversation digresses into frustrations with the touring industry post-Covid, and the increasing requirement for artists to organise and finance their own shows.
‘Yeah, it's tough. Lots of people are in the same boat, but I'm not sure what the other option is… not going on the tour? I was lecturing yesterday at uni, I teach music business, and I had a guest, Imogen and the Knife. I had her speak about life as an independent artist. Afterwards, she said she felt she had to work so hard to keep it positive. You don't want to spend all the time talking about the bad things because you don't want to get everybody down… but it's the reality.’
In that case – what advice can be shared for new artists?
‘Build your own house.’
‘If you think about how A&R seems to work now, it's a lot about analysing the algorithm. They almost need the proof that something is a viable business before they'll invest in it.’
By the time industry comes along, you may not need them, Coles says. He wonders whether artists should even aspire to getting signed as their end goal – citing Lola Young’s recent collapse on stage as evidence that artists with huge teams can end up with the least personal support.
“Look at the correlation between major artists and substance abuse or depression, or unstable life post-fame... Why isn’t somebody making more of an effort to take care of these wonderful, young, vibrant, inspirational, creative people?”
‘Surely there must have been signs before… she's not the first artist that that’s happened with. Have this mentality of ‘I want to be huge and I want to sell this and achieve this’ – that's great. But look at the correlation between major artists and substance abuse or depression, or unstable life post-fame. Everybody that we know that has become really successful has had some sort of damage or has been… left, when they're not on tour or promoting.’
Visibly frustrated, Coles compares the music industry’s neglect of its clients, or assets, to footballers working with sleep analysts between games. ‘Whether it’s human or whether it's cynical… why isn't somebody making more of an effort to take care of these wonderful, young, vibrant, inspirational, creative people?’
So, what does Coles want fans to know before these shows? ‘We'll see them and we'll catch up.’ He talks about the joy of recognising many by name; the after-gig chats his ‘favourite bit about touring’. ‘If you want to come see wor then that’d be lovely. Or if you want to listen to ‘HEAL’ when it's out or buy a copy, that’d be lovely too. If you don't… cool.’
I laugh at the sudden pivot to nonchalance.
‘But it is true, right? I'd say we're really good at writing verses, but not choruses. We've got a lot of 7/10 songs, but we don't have any 9 or 10s.’
I vehemently disagree, citing ‘A Little Opus’ as a song that’s stayed in my all-time top 5 for well over a decade.
‘That song, it’s quite weird, timing-wise and lyrically, I want to put it into an AI. And say, ‘reimagine this song as a hit’… and just see what it would do.’
Please don’t, Rob, ‘A Little Opus’ is already pretty close to perfect.
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Find pics of Little Comet’s London set at Dingwalls over in our Gig Gallery.