HE was once the frontman of one of the biggest Indie new rave bands of the noughties, but these days James Smith leads a very different life.
While he previously spent his days touring the world with Hadouken!, James Smith now helps other muscians make it big.
James Smith looks very different from his Hadouken daysCredit: Instagram/@jameshdkn
Hadouken were at the forefront of the new rave movementCredit: John Wright
And the rocker looks unrecognisable from his time on stage performing hits such as That Boy That Girl after giving up fame.
Despite signing to an American label and living in LA, the band, which also featured synth player Alice Spooner along with guitarist Daniel “Pilau” Rice, bassist Christopher Purcell and drummer Nick Rice, went their different ways in 2014.
James then started a job in social media – and was in fact Deliveroo’s first ever social media manager when it was just a small start-up.
According to The Tab, James struggled to find a job at first because he had no experience and applied for over 60 before landing one.
He now runs his own social media agency helping bands and brands called Holy Social.
And he’s happily married with two young children.
Describing their music in the past, James said: “We try to embrace both sides of the spectrum. When we’re playing live we’ve got live instruments and live synths, which separates us from 9/10 of the electronic acts we might sound like.
“At the same time, we use the same tempo and rhythm as a lot of club tracks out there. What’s important is to pull the best of both worlds. With this record, we’ve retained the rock structure on the songwriting but we’ve got the crazy sounds that get people hyped.”
James now works in social mediaCredit: Instagram/@jameshdkn
The band played all the big festivals in their heyday
