Krill
– GULLIVERS, MANCHESTER –
I first heard about Krill thanks to the founder of their former UK label Blood and Biscuits writing a genuinely honest description of how great Krill are and how great their album Lucky Leaves is. So as a fan of the label, I obliged, and subsequently fell in love with this Boston based trio’s spiky surf pop grooves. Fast forward a few months and Krill have just released their third LP, second to be released over here and to rave reviews. A Distant Fist Unclenching is everything that was great with Lucky Leaves but tighter, sharper and in places more progressive particularly in the length, giving the songs more depth. So, I for one am extremely pleased to be seeing them live tonight as they play their first show on UK soil, here at Gullivers.
I am pleasantly surprised by a pretty sizable crowd for this chilly Monday night and here nice and early for the support too! I manage to catch main support Fun Boys who appear to feature members of local garage-pysch cool guys Mistoa Poltsa. Their sound is pretty similar to their other project with reverb heavy vocals and spikey guitars but with incorporation of a keyboardist who blares out vintage organ squeals and a energetic drummer who beats his kit to a pulp. Although it’s not a sound I’m massively into, their performance is convincing and there’s a few strong bass lines to lost into too. Definitely signs of a promising new Manc band.
Krill set up and begin to play almost immeditately as they arrived late and didn’t get a sound check. Their set seems quite brief as tear through tracks from all three records, but with a slight focus on the new record. Whats great about the new record is that there are no dud tunes on it, and although I didn’t get to hear some of choice faves off the record It’s still marvellous to hear tense guitar twangs of ‘Torturer’ and punkish spirt of ‘Brain Problem’. The band play with a certain intensity which is endearing to watch and brings out the more nervous, bitterness sides to the songs. Apparently the band have serious jet lag and their in between song chit chat seems very lethargic but they still manage to play with absolute precision and prove they can play just as tight as the record, which can be difficult with some of the riffs and beats they pull off.
This has been a weird gig, some of the crowd have been talking throughout the set, others are too drunk to stand (it’s a Monday night for crying out loud), and it really seems that the audience heard the hype and gave it go. Of course there’s nothing wrong with this but it seems that some of the crowd aren’t too bothered theres a gig happening. Luckily the last track they play ‘Theme For Krill’ seems to be an anthem for a group of young lads wobbling about at the front and the set ends of a high with the audience shouting out it’s infectious chorus with lots of jumping and bro cuddles thrown in for good measure.
Tonight I can confirm that Krill are three talented dudes who play well and write superb songs. Although I wasn’t bowled over my their performance, the tunes did all the talking and make me hopeful that I’ll get to see them again over here soon less jet lagged and ready to take on some drunk, larey Brits.
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I joined the Silent Radio family near the very start of my move to Manchester in 2012 and I'm still having the best time! During my stay here I've been in two noisy bands, had a not so noisy solo project, made a zine, started a blog and started a radio show. It's been productive to say the least and it's all been intersperse with a shit load of gig going and beer drinking. I would love it if you followed me on twitter @dr_brainless for excitable tweets about playing, watching and living new music.
