Howler - Central Station, Wrexham, 22/8/12

Howler have recently been getting a huge amount of attention, mostly thanks to NME - where I first became aware of them. Since that NME gig review (February 2012) I've now heard their sessions with Zane Lowe, Lauren Laverne and with Bands In Transit - amongst the many others sessions they've done. I bought their album, which sounded pretty strong. With all this hype and attention I have to say the last thing I expected was to see Wrexham on their list of tour dates, and for it to be their warm up gig for Reading and Leeds.

                   Finding the venue wasn't hard. When walking down the pedestrian streets of Wrexham I could hear the sound of the supporting band's loud guitars vibrating straight through what looked to be the tin roof of Central Station. The venue is small, friendly and great to get up close to the musicians themselves, which I suppose is the reason why it's named as 'Wales' leading live music venue' by Kerrang & The Independent. There wasn't a big turnout and the few people that were there didn't seem to know of the band, I must have been the only one singing along to any of their songs. Even if Howler's music didn't please the crowd, frontman Jorden Gatesmith's stage banter sure did. He questioned the crowd on what people do in Wales and got the reply of sheep-shagging (which by the way, is NOT what people do in Wales). He also rated his band members on how well they played a new song that they debuted, which got a laugh. During their set, Jorden quite rightly complained about the sound- the sound guy shouted across the crowd, "the sound's always shit here!". The reverb was terrible, even their tracks that didn't have a wall of distorted guitar in them sounded like they did. What Jordan and his band didn't realise was that there probably wasn't anything wrong with Central Station's sound equipment, it was they themselves who were playing way too loud for the venue. Central Station has a wooden floor and what seems to be a tin roof, so the sound bounces around everywhere creating loads of natural reverb, so it's best if bands play quieter, especially if there isn't a large crowd to absorb the sound.
                 Even though the gig wasn't that great, I could tell that Howler would soon become bigger than they are right now. They've got everything an indie rock band needs, the cheekbones, the lanky bodies and the good music to go with it. They're really nice guys too and they sure deserve the success they've been getting. In a way, it's brilliant that the gig they played in Wrexham was their Reading and Leeds warm-up gig; It will make them playing at such a huge festival with thousands of people watching seem much more unbelievable than it would have done.

In October, Howler are doing the NME Generation tour, which you can buy tickets for here.

I also recommend that you buy their album, America Give Up - which is cheapest if you buy it with Amazon.

Also, check out the Central Station website, they've got some pretty good bands playing there soon.