NATALYA WILSON catches up with George Craig, lead singer and guitarist with Helmsley band One Night Only, to find out what the boys have been up to during the last year

AS my phone rings out and eventually buzzes into life, it’s not a voice I hear at the other end, but the sound of guitars.

A few seconds later, a voice finally answers over the clamour of the instruments, but George Craig struggles to be heard.

The One Night Only frontman excuses himself for a couple of minutes while he closes the door of the London studio from which the music escapes.

“We’re just recording one of our new songs,” said George, catching his breath, switching his mindset from singing and guitars to chatting about what Helmsley’s most famous band has been up to for the past year or so.

“We’ve been really busy promoting our second album (the eponymous One Night Only) which has done well overseas, so we’ve done a lot of travelling around the world.

“In fact in the last year, I have set foot on every continent on the planet, except Antarctica,” he laughed.

Much of their world-wide touring has been down to a global deal that the band has struck with Coca Cola, having been asked to write a song around the brand’s five-note jingle.

Called Can You Feel It Tonight, it has been used on adverts around the world.

This has seen them jetting to Atlanta to perform at Coca Cola World’s 125th anniversary with artists such as R&B star, Ne-Yo.

“It’s been pretty mental,” George said.

“We’ve just got back off a mini tour of the UK and Europe, doing proper gigs for our hardcore fans, and before that, we spent a week in Brazil. It’s been incredible.”

George’s enthusiasm shines through as he describes some of the highlights of the six-week tour: selling out a gig in Paris, though they’ve not released a single there for three years; spending a week on Rio beach, playing at the MTV awards in Brazil and ‘flying around the big Jesus’ – the 130ft Art Deco statue of Jesus the Redeemer, which overlooks the city of Rio de Janeiro.

“Paris was hysterical. I’ve never seen a response like it since Just for Tonight was in the Top 10,” laughed George.

George says that over the past 12 months, One Night Only has built up a huge following around the world, attracting audiences they might not have otherwise gained had it not been for the Coca Cola campaign.

This campaign has also meant that the band has been involved in a number of collaborations overseas, and George has had to master Japanese, having recorded a version of Can You Feel It Tonight half in English, half in Japanese.

“There were 10 Japanese people in the studio who spelt it all out phonetically for me and it went really well,” said George.

In fact, the song was such a hit in Japan that they played all the summer festivals there this year.

It’s a long way from the band’s beginnings in Helmsley.

Formed in 2003, One Night Only has gone through a couple of line-up changes. The initial line-up was George, Mark Hayton, Daniel Parkin, Sam Ford and Kai Smith, though Kai left back in 2003. Jack Sails joined in 2005 and in 2010, drummer Sam Ford left and George’s brother, James, took up the sticks.

The name came about when they were asked to play a gig and, not having come up with a name, they decided on One Night Only, intending the title to, literally, last for just one night. They performed their first gig at Kirkbymoorside Memorial Hall in December 2003 which then became a regular venue.

After an A&R stampede at Fibbers in York in 2007, the band was signed to Vertigo/Universal and shot to fame with first single, You and Me, the video for which was shot in Helmsley.

Nowadays, three of the band members, including George, are based in London with the other two still living in the north, but they do come back occasionally to rehearse in their Helmsley-based studio and to see family.

“I’ll be back in Helmsley for Christmas,” added George.

After the whirlwind global domination that One Night Only have achieved this year, they are now once again setting their sights closer to home.

“We’re really excited about getting back to releasing new material in the UK,” said George.

“It’s been a long time coming.

“We’ve taken a big creative leap forward. The song we are recording at the moment features a string quartet. It’s classy and a great widescreen pop song. I’m so proud of such a mature sound and the band has really developed into a tight unit.

“We’re in a stronger position than ever before, we have more creative control, it’s a very exciting time.”

George says that the band aims to release a single around March and then tour the UK and Europe.

“This time, we want to get back to where we were years ago, playing everywhere on the radar and hit every town in England,” he laughed.

“We also want to play as many festivals as possible such as Leeds and Glastonbury.”

And do they have any plans to play in their home area?

“We’d love to sell out Dalby Forest,” said George.

“I’ve been to a few gigs there and we’d definitely like to do it.”