11 minute read
the howlers
from CLUNK Magazine 001
FEATURE THE HOWLERS
KNOWN FOR THEIR UNIQUE ‘DESERT-ROCK’ sonic styling, ambitious trio The Howlers are steadily rising through the indie ranks with their dynamic and breezy soundscapes. The East-Londoners have a certain knack for penning insightful self-introspections and painting a colourful narrative with honest lyricism and raw instrumentation that cements them as one of the best up and coming bands to grace the stages. Having just released their inspired new EP ‘The Sum Of Our Fears’, the band are heading out on a string of UK tour dates to deliver their new musings for the first time to a live audience. Vocalist Adam Young runs us through what the last year has looked like for the threesome, and what the future holds for the forceful and determined band.
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WORDS: ALANNAH WILLIAMS
For our readers who aren’t familiar with ‘The Howlers’, can you just give us a few words to sum up your music?:
“The only way we can really describe it is like honesty. We’re just trying to be authentic to ourselves. We coined it desert rock and that’s just mainly to do with the iconography, and the things that help inspire us.
We viewed London as our home, and a sort of cultural desert; in some ways, it’s very barren. It’s a very diverse place. It’s beautiful, the multiculturalism is amazing, but in terms of musical diversity and people these both tend to fall into these little groups dotted around the city, so we saw it as a little bit barren in terms of people being authentic to themselves.
We’re just trying to do something that’s authentic to ourselves - it’s what we sound like when we pick up guitars and drums and based, we don’t try and sound like anything. We just plug in, and that’s what it sounds like.”
We last chatted with you guys just after the release of ‘I Don’t Love You All the Time’. Can you give us a brief overview of what’s happened in the world of ‘The Howlers’ since then? “A lot of bad luck. We’ve all been horrendously ill consistently. But apart from that, there’s a lot of things going on behind the scenes that is exciting and lots of opportunities of amazing things I can’t really speak of because I’m still stressing my days away to make it all happen. The EP came out and it’s done everything that we wanted it to do and more. We don’t have a label or management or anything behind us so everything we do is just us.
So, to have it as well received as it has been, with no support from Spotify or anything like that has been pretty amazing. But aside from that, it’s just working on a lot of new songs for the tour. We’ve been working with major labels and a lot of writers and big artists that we love and look up to. So, we’ve learned a lot, and it’s all about growing and developing and just being better and being honest to ourselves. We’re not trying to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes and say we’re the greatest band ever.”
Congrats on the release of EP. How does it feel to finally have that out in the world?
“Weird, because we worked on it for about a year! It’s strange because it was definitely this moment where we definitively grew as people and
became more a family than friends. As a band we took the pandemic in a weird way. We all said the other day that it did us a real service because it allows us to be reflective on what we were doing. If it hadn’t been for the pandemic, we’d probably still be mediocre.”
Did the pandemic affect the release of the EP?
“No, because before the pandemic the other songs didn’t exist. We had only been a band for nine months before the pandemic and that put it into perspective. When the pandemic happened, obviously the world went into a bit of a spin and all that and we actually threw out our set list and started again. We held a mirror up to ourselves and decided we weren’t good enough. We lost track of everything we wanted to be. After losing loved ones and being ill, I wrote roughly thirty songs in the space of three weeks and then we whittled them down to the ones on the EP. So, there wasn’t a timeline attached to it. Then the first single came out in March. So, it was quite quick, which is crazy because obviously none of the industry was in their offices or anything. So, it was calling people in Detroit and calling people in Newcastle and all that and just trying to figure out what is going on. Meanwhile, we were going through a legal dispute with an old manager. We were trying to get rid of it in a really like snide way and kept saying we have to keep this release secret.”
You mentioned that you wrote about thirty tracks in three weeks. What was the process behind picking which ones made it onto EP and which didn’t?
“Which ones were good is the blunt way of putting it. Music for us is very collaborative so although I am the primary song writer and a lot of them are my experiences I know the boy’s experiences as well. The process is very much like me bringing an idea forward and we deconstruct it, and everyone has to have their input. Some songs work, some don’t. I’m autistic and dyslexic so I can’t really get across what I am envisioning for a track, which is why I’ve been working with all these big names because they’ve got these processes in place that are designed to work with my brain. It was gauging from them which ones were good and not. Ultimately me and the boys have the final say on everything, and the boys are quite blunt with what they think is good and what isn’t. Some of the tunes on the EP are mashed together, ‘I Don’t Love You All The Time’ is actually three different songs.”
Do you think you’ll revisit any of those tracks that you discarded in the future?
“Maybe bits and pieces, like lyrics and lines, deconstructing
the tracks and using the good bits. Sometimes you have to write songs just to get rid of that ‘idea’. Not every track has to be a hit.”
How do you feel being autistic and then trying to get what you’re thinking down into words? Do you think that hinders you in anyway?
“I don’t see autism as a hindrance or handicap in anyway, I think it’s a super power. There are times when it causes issues, especially when trying to understand other people’s point of views, especially when it comes to song writing. Not being able to finish a narrative or a song can be really frustrating. You’d be surprised how many musicians breaking through at the moment are actually autistic and how many friends of mine that I have idolized over the years we looked up to, who I now have the privilege of calling friends and speaking with them and working with them and they turn around and go, “yeah, I’m the exact same.” So, I guess my answer is yes and no.” In terms of autism and mental health, do you think it is important for people who have a platform, like musicians, influencers, whoever it might be to talk about it?
“Definitely. I think not enough people talk about it. I also think there’s not enough understanding or awareness. It doesn’t make you less of a person. From my personal experience when I was diagnosed, my immediate family i.e. my mum and my dad, didn’t believe it. It took me a good couple of years to educate them, make them understand and now I’m at such an enlightened point in my understanding of how my own mind works and how I’m into everything. But yeah, I think it’s just really important that people talk about it and understand it. And I think although there are some creative outlets that are toxic towards it. Music is a really good one, art as well.”
So, ‘The Sum Of Our Fears’. Could you share some of the themes that are running through that EP?
It’s exactly what the title says. It’s the sum of all of our fears as people; love, loss, longing and understanding, they’re all in there. Even some of the song titles, they speak for themselves. They’re all self-explanatory. It’s about us as a band, our aspirations, and dreams, and how it slips away and gets lost in translation. A lot of ‘popular’ music has political themes and we don’t do that. I feel people need an escape from that. People go to gigs as an escapism, to leave all their shit at the front door.”
What was it that came first. The single or the EP?
“The song had the title first. Out of all the songs on the EP, that’s the darkest, and it was like a hanger-on from the sound we were before. But in some ways it represented our rebirth because one of our fears has always been being inadequate as a band. Plus, it sounds cool.”
My personal favourite on the EP is ‘Never Enough’. What can you tell us about that track?
“That track has a funny story, I said at the time it sounded like a football track, like it belongs on match of the day and later it did end up being on there! It was just something fun to play and easy and picked up so quickly. But in weird way it was designed to be football focussed and it has been received in that way, which I don’t mind. In the studio we had no name for it, and we nicknamed it MOTD. I went to see Portsmouth and sat in my brother’s seat while he was visiting the Isle Of Wight and it was playing in the ground. I was like, “that’s kind of cool” and I sat there in the sun listening with 20,000 people just chatting away during it.”
You’ve got a string of tour dates coming up in November. How are you feeling about finally being able to play in front of a crowd again?
“I won’t lie, I’m a bit nervous. We’re so much better as a band than the last time people would’ve seen us, and it’s exciting to be playing all of these new places. I’m looking forward to it a lot. It’ll be interesting.”
PICTURE: ROB BLACKMAN
Is there any particular element about touring that you’ve missed?
“Meeting people. I love meeting people. I hate people, but I love meeting people. You know what I mean? Some people, you just think, “oh, God”, but other people, you’re just like, “I’m unbelievably interested in every facet of your life”. We have a couple of really awesome die-hard fans and for a small band, it’s really nice. I don’t miss sleeping on sofas though, that sucks. But the people are so cool.”
Is there a particular venue you’re excited to play?
The Lexington is pretty cool. I’m looking forward to London, because that’ll be our
biggest home headline show. I’m just interested to play them all. To be honest, Stoke would be kind of interesting. We did a little festival in Stoke a while back. We’ve played Rock City but I like the smaller venues. You’ve got to be able to smell the person in front of you, you’ve got to be able to smell them, and talk to them. I just want to play now.”
Talking about venues like the Lexington. Do you think it’s important for fans to get out and support live music with so many under threat from closure with COVID-19?
“Yeah, definitely! I know people are scared and people are the reservations. It’s even more important to support venues as well. I think people take venues for granted too much. If you’re all double jabbed come on down! If I’m walking into venues having had a stroke four weeks ago you can come out too and support someone! Most are only £10 on the door, it’s nothing, but that keeps a roof over someone’s head.”
What’s next in the world of The Howlers?
“Lots! We don’t want much from life, like, as a band, we just want to make a difference in some small way. We want to obviously keep releasing music. And there’s a few things that we’re working on that will be amazing if they happen. It’s just the small things. But there will be another series of records next year. It’s all about just surviving really. Keeping going, keep meeting people and keep being happy.”
Do you have any goals as a band? Things to achieve before the end of 2021?
“We don’t really look at it like that. We don’t really put a time on things because everything is subjective. We’re often touted as one of the ‘best bands you’ve never heard of’. That’s a kiss and a slap. As far as 2021 is concerned, we have a few things we’re working on at the moment.”
Have you got any messages for your fans?
“You know what? No, I don’t, because I think that there are people that like us, and there are other people that love what we do, and we’re so grateful for that. I guess that’s the message. We’re really grateful for the support. But those people that haven’t heard of us, I think it’s better if they discover us naturally, rather than me telling them to go listen to us.”
