'Our number-one album was worth the hard work'

The lead singer of synth-pop band Deco says the success of their latest album has made "all those hard times worth it".

Dreamhouse, the Staffordshire group's second record, was released in October and reached number one on the official independent album breakers chart.

It was also in the top 11 of the independent, record store, homegrown, downloads, cassettes, CDs, sales and physical albums charts.

Max Kendall, lead singer, said it meant a lot to the band and "eclipsed" the moments they wished they were "doing something else", but it had yet to sink in.

"It's very hard work, but it makes all those hard times worth it," he told BBC Radio Stoke.

"We were not expecting to get in the charts," he added. "We were just happy to get the second album out there.

"We were proud of the actual music on it as well, more than ever before. It was something that we ourselves would listen to."

While he did not want to describe his job as "insanely difficult", Kendall said he felt like he had "not really stopped" since committing himself to the music since he was a teenager.

"I've just grabbed it by the horns, I suppose," he added.

The band formed in 2011 and consists of Kendall, his sister Lucy Kendall, Jonathan Dell and Thomas Reinholz.

They have tens of millions of views across social media and have performed live alongside the likes of Nile Rodgers, A-ha, McFly and The Human League.

The success of Dreamhouse, described as a colourful escape from the chaos of 2026, came after a tiring chart campaign, with the band doing much of the promotion themselves.

"I've always had these little targets and almost forced them to happen," Kendall said. "With the chart campaign, I was up late every single day campaigning.

"It takes a lot to make things happen, maybe more so than a lot of bands because we're doing a lot of these things ourselves. It feels even sweeter when it happens when you don't expect it."

Kendall said they were now focused on their current tour, with upcoming headline shows at Rock City in Nottingham on Saturday and Manchester Academy on 20 November.

They were then hoping to take a break from recording albums, with potential plans to release some EPs before getting into the next album cycle.

"It's exhausting; we've done two [albums] in two years, and it's a lot," Kendall said. "I've not had a holiday for four years, so I'm looking forward to that."

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