26 January 2012 (gig)
30 January 2012
Having just finished supporting The Vaccines, Howler are embarking on their own world-wide tour; with dates planned in Manchester, Tokyo, Berlin and the USA. Now, they seem to be the band that everyone is talking about. Feedback may not always be ecstatic – the word about town is that they are good, but nothing different to anything that’s been done before – but people are talking. That's something in itself.
I have been following the five-piece for a while now, even in advance of their album release; thus you can imagine my excitement at the prospect of seeing them live. They plunged into a 40-minute set with Wailing (Making Out), a track that is pure indie, perhaps a little Strokes-like. ‘America’ followed next, ‘I want to be an American/American/American…my darling, it’s over now/ I give up’, 19-year old leading man Jordan Gatesmith swooned, his mouse-brown hair flopping boyishly over his ridiculously cute, Johnny Borrell-like face.
Most people would agree that frontman Gatesmith is a flag-bearer. He is devilishly cute (and was also named amongst NME’s 50 coolest people of 2011). But on stage the boys are united and they have a great vibe with the crowd. About halfway through, Jordan handed guitarist Ian Nygaard his instrument and stuck to pure vocals. "I want to dedicate this one to our tour manager" Jordan said before launching into another track, 'he fucking punched me in the neck tonight".
Speaking at the end of 2011, the boys said of the new album, ‘Lyrically…the main theme is: dissatisfaction—well, dissatisfaction through a very sarcastic lens anyway.’ From their performance, you can tell that Howler wants to be a band that pushes limits. Whether or not they will is a question of time and evolution.
‘Beach Sluts’ and ‘Too Much Blood’ followed next, the latter of which reminded at times of something from Radiohead’s 2011 album King of Limbs. The crowd went crazy. As they galloped into their final song ‘Told You Once’ the audience were jumping off their feet. At one point a lone fan leapt on stage, grabbed the microphone and began singing along; it was madness. The boys returned after their final song to play one final piece, choosing the rock-sweet 'Black Lagoon'.
With sold-out gigs under their belt and a four-album record deal, I think Howler are going to be huge in 2012; despite the scepticism, word spreads fast.
