Start Listening To: Yowl
Yowl on music, mice, and more.
In the gritty underbelly of London's bustling music scene, the band Yowl has carved a distinct niche for themselves, seamlessly straddling the line between crooning and screaming. With their debut album Milksick on the horizon, the five-piece collective – comprising Gabriel, Mike, Tom, Beck, and Billy – showcases a musical blend that reflects their eclectic backgrounds, spanning Wales to the West Country. In an exclusive Q&A session, Yowl delves into the thematic threads woven into their music, the evolution of their sound, and the inspirations that fuel their creativity.
For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?
We are Gabriel, Mike, Tom, Beck and Billy. We’re from all over the place (3/5 Wales, 2/5 West Country), but we met each other in London via various means. We make slightly unbalanced guitar music which bridges that fine line between crooning and screaming.
Congratulations on the upcoming release of your debut album Milksick. Can you share some insights into the album's themes and the stories behind the songs?
Thank you! We don’t like over-explaining the songs too much but as with most of our music there’s themes of overwrought self-pity, burnout, environmental catastrophe and cryptid fornication.
Milksick went through various iterations before its final form. Could you tell us about the creative process and the decisions that led to the album's current arrangement?
We had a good amount of tunes ready to go after recording ‘Atrophy’, and me and Mike especially had this nerdy vision of doing a grand concept album with a narrative arc. It’s still in there somewhere, but sometimes it just isn’t the right time for certain songs, so we put some of the most overtly narrative songs on the backburner and boiled it down to the essentials - as hackneyed as it sounds, songs we thought sounded good together on a record, that would provide a pleasing ebb and flow to the overall arc of the album.
The fact that our budget didn’t stretch to a bloated 18-track project probably played a part too.
Your band has played alongside renowned acts like IDLES, Working Mens Club, and LICE. How has touring with such diverse artists influenced your live performances and musical growth?
Touring with the right bands is golden. The Working Men’s Club tour was a load of fun as we’re quite different bands soundwise, but I feel like we both brought a similar energy to the room. Then yeah, touring with LICE was brilliant because we took turns headlining, which lends a unique sense of camaraderie to a tour as everything becomes a joint effort, and it breaks everything up a bit more. And if it’s a very dead show it’s much easier to laugh off because it’s clear that neither party has been successful in drawing a crowd; it’s a nice ego buffer. I think more bands should do it that way.
You've mentioned that Milksick incorporates eco-anxiety as a thematic thread. Can you elaborate on the role of this theme in the album and how it connects to your overall narrative?
It’s one of those things that wasn’t necessarily intentional throughout, but was evidently on my mind when writing a lot of the songs. For instance, you’ve got ‘The Weatherman’, which deals with our inability to seriously listen to all the warnings being thrown our way, and ‘Weedkiller’/ ‘The Farmer’s Big Spade’, which exist as a loose two-parter, one about our ravenous need for space and the ideal rendering of that space, and the other about the ways in which nature eventually seeks its revenge.
I think a lot of people share those same, horribly split feelings of ever-building powerlessness/fear alongside this daily self-gathering and maintenance of a semblance of normality; sometimes it can be hard to pull yourself up from that well of panic.
The track 'A Birthday With David' pays tribute to David Berman. How has his work influenced your songwriting, and what inspired you to dedicate a song to him?
I actually came to David Berman / Silver Jews quite late; Anthony, one of the guys who produced some of our first tunes (with Richard James), used them as a reference. I had his Purple Mountains LP on the side when Billy sent the guitar part over and wrote most of it in one sitting, which is exceptionally rare for me; I find concentrating on one thing quite difficult sometimes so it can often take weeks, if not months for me to finish songs. We originally intended it to be a secret track on the record, but after hearing the mixed version we decided it belonged there.
With your extensive tour plans for 2023, what can fans expect from your live shows? Are there any unique elements you plan to incorporate into your performances?
We haven’t played all that much since Covid, and there’s always a fear that people will have moved on, or your energy won’t be the same, regular anxieties - but we did a couple of shows earlier this year and it still feels great to be out there. Expect a band on two pints maximum each, at the peak of their physical prowess, playing their songs like nobody else can or would want to.
Unique elements - Billy has a monumental cowbell solo and I’ve got a professional-grade maraca on board now.
As a London-based band, how has the city influenced your music and the themes explored in your songs?
It’s rare that we reference London directly in our music, but it’s definitely a presence; it’s probably made the subject of fatigue a lot more prominent in the lyrics than it would’ve been otherwise! This probably sounds like a very London-centric thing to say but I think the opportunity to play in so many different places when you’re starting out is somewhat unique to London - at the same time, I envy the tight-knit scenes that cities like Leeds can offer, and it’s always been a joy of ours to be involved in them somewhat.
What’s it like working with Clue Records?
It’s been great. They’re a mega supportive label, full of lovely people, and most importantly for us they’re very patient!
What do you love right now?
I moved into a flat last year that’s above a row of food shops and the mice were out of control, but we got a kitten and they’ve never come back. I love him because of the improved sleep and the lack of bite marks on food packaging but also because he’s just a fun and slightly bitter little guy.
What do you hate right now?
Feeling like I’m getting my finances under control then accidentally spending everything on a food shop.
Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s still important to you?
Off the top of my head, The Monitor by Titus Andronicus. Me and Mike bonded over that album a lot when we were teenagers and we still try to catch them whenever they’re touring; he bought me tickets to their show at Moth Club for my last birthday.
Looking ahead, what are your future aspirations for YOWL? Are there any specific goals or musical directions you hope to explore in the coming years?
We’d always like to be able to tour more. We’ve never settled on a strict musical direction per se so that remains to be seen. Main goal is to get another album out without such a long gap this time!
