Hold Tight turns 15!

Somewhere between the deadlines, the radio plugging and the gently ruined livers, Hold Tight quietly turned 15 this year.

Fifteen years of championing the loud, the strange, the beautiful, the underrated and the downright unhinged, while somehow becoming a genuinely respected (we hope), internationally operating music marketing agency in the process.

Founded in 2010 as Hold Tight! PR (originally the PR arm of Basick Records), what began as a scrappy idea has grown into a multi faceted music publicity and marketing company working across print, online, radio, digital, social media and now broadcast. And we did it all whilst having fun and building a solid team of some of the best in the business.

Over the years we’ve championed tech metal scientists, dark pop shapeshifters, indie dreamers, black metal nihilists and the many, many artists who insisted on wearing masks as an ‘original’ idea. We’ve promoted dwarves, goblins, Eurovision hopefuls, wolves, pirates, Star Wars lookalikes, a Sleep Token and a Hey Duggee-themed metal band alongside some very serious acts. And yet somehow none of this is still the weirdest part of the job.

Hold Tight began where the best (and worst) ideas begin, in a bar with two friends (James Monteith and Nathan ‘Barley’ Phillips) and one idealistic business plan. It became three friends almost immediately because Lisa Coverdale has a rare talent for materialising wherever chaos is brewing and confidently declaring herself management. Armed with a modest bank loan and an entirely immodest belief that great bands deserve to be heard, we clawed our way out of the murky depths of tech metal PR and into something far bigger than the bar tab that inspired it.

The early days were scrappy. When the team looks back now, the memories span the full spectrum of absurdity. One intern walked in on day one to find another agency we shared office space with being actively raided by the police. A welcome no onboarding manual could ever prepare you for.

Another, Matt Benton, who joined us as an intern in 2014 and is now a director, proved that Hold Tight career progression works a bit like natural selection, adapt, endure and eventually you’re in charge. His first month was spent learning the essentials of PR (press releases, admin, polite pestering) and designing necrophiliac themed dildos for a marketing campaign. As you do.

And yet despite the madness, people stayed.

Hannah Gillicker joined us as an intern in 2014 and now heads up her own arm of the business, Hold Tight Broadcast, our dedicated radio and TV plugging division, built to take artists far beyond playlists and into national broadcast spaces. She says she instantly felt like part of the family, even if her initiation involved some “questionable videos” (HR says they were absolutely fine).

In 2019 Darren Gosling joined and brought his digital marketing skills to Hold Tight, which led to our first full rebranding as a music PR and marketing agency in 2020. Although Darren sadly (we’re still not over it) moved on in 2025, his legacy remains and continues to evolve with James Hingle now at the helm.

James Hingle, first with us as an intern in 2014, returned after an 11-year sabbatical to work on our social media and digital marketing side, because apparently the gravitational pull of Hold Tight is strong enough to bend time. He described it simply as “coming home”. We love that.

Our newest colleague, Lydia Hoyle, joined in 2025 from Virgin Music to work alongside Hannah leading Hold Tight Broadcast. She says she’d always thought of Hold Tight as “an awesome and lovely team who are passionate about the music they work with and who work hard to get the best possible results. Also always a laugh too, which is very important.”

Ask what makes Hold Tight different from other agencies and James Monteith, founder, van‑lifer and resident expert on nuns, will usually mutter, “Other agencies wouldn’t employ me.” He’s not wrong. There may not be a journalist left on earth whom James hasn’t traumatised, charmed or (infamously) been sick on at least once along the way.

But the truth is bigger than that. We didn’t start with ex‑major pedigree or a cushy hand me down client list. Just enthusiasm, stupidity, relentless graft, one scary Scottish woman and a conviction that underrated bands deserve the same megaphone as anyone else.

From those humble beginnings, Hold Tight has grown into a genuinely international operation working with an impressive roster of clients and some of the biggest labels in the business. We now operate across print, online, radio, digital marketing, social strategy and full 360° campaign planning, plus TV through Hold Tight Broadcast. We expanded our global reach further in 2024 with the launch of Hold Tight Europe from a dedicated Netherlands based office headed up by Jessica Otten, allowing us to support artists across multiple territories with local expertise.

Along the way we’ve helped artists land national magazine covers, created viral memes, supported artists through their rise to play prestigious events such as headlining gigs at Wembley, main stage Download Festival appearances, Maida Vale debuts, Audiotree sessions and first appearances at the BBC. We’ve broken bands, built careers and once… launched a dildo line nobody asked for but nobody has forgotten… and along the way added a buttplug here and nipple glitter there… all whilst meeting the King. We created a stunning viral moment for Danny Wimmer’s Aftershock Festival via a Pentagram meme. We’ve watched artists like Sleep Token, Jinjer and Orbit Culture grow from humble beginnings to be leading lights on the world stage and somehow lived to tell the tale. And we’re not done yet.

Fifteen years in, we’re still weird. Still loud. We’re still here because of the people around us, the friends at the many offices we’ve haunted (special shoutout to BSI), our longstanding clients, every journalist who replied instead of deleting the email, every editor who indulged our stranger ideas, every band who trusted us and every colleague whose first day wasn’t their last. We also want to give hugs to the other magnificent PR agencies haunting our little corner of the world, the good ones, the ones with actual souls still rattling around inside them. And Simon Glacken at For The Lost PR, who often feels like he should already be working at Hold Tight, spiritually if not contractually. Sadly, a very real cease and desist suggests we stop manifesting this outcome, so for now we’ll admire him from the shadows and pretend this isn’t a fixation.

Thank you for supporting us, tolerating us and working with us.

We also want to thank every intern and team member who have been part of the Hold Tight journey along the way, including Darren Gosling whom we mentioned before, a piece of our heart will always be with you 🤣, Taran Plouzané, Paul Sellier, Jazmin L’Amy, Laura Herbert, Tess Hofer, David Perkins, Jess Tagliani, Dan Walton, Charlotte Birtles, Flo Pautet and Steph Knight. Huge apologies if we’ve missed your name, please know it was accidental, not personal.

We’d also like to thank Barley, without whom absolutely none of this nonsense would have survived long enough to become a real thing. Barley has since flown the nest and ascended to the next chapter of his life, where he now reigns as Head of A&R, Europe at Nuclear Blast / SharpTone Records. A genuinely rare soul in an increasingly feral industry, we’re endlessly proud of everything you do and quietly, sincerely hope we’re still doing the kind of work that makes you nod approvingly from afar.

Here’s to the next fifteen years of chaos, unchecked expansion, capes, questionable life choices, Jerry Ewing shouting ‘THAT’S NOT PROG!’ at us and pushing music out into the world that’s loud enough to justify all of it. Thanks for sticking with us.

“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "Wow! What a Ride!” ― Hunter S. Thompson