Daisy Worthington interviews Brooks Nielsen of The Growlers in London,UK
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Daisy Worthington had a chance to do a quick interview with lead singer Brooks Nielsen of garage surf rock band, The Growlers. Read her interview backstage at the Electric in Brixton, London with photos by regular contributor Jessica Gwyneth.
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The Growlers from California have a large worldwide fan base yet are rarely seen outside of America. They announced a short European tour to promote new album City Club, produced by non other than The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas, including one date at Electric Brixton in London back in November towards the end of the tour. I managed to speak to singer Brooks Neilson backstage before the show and ask a few questions about City Club and the huge tour they had just embarked on, as well as getting to know about more about the Cali surf band.
How was it working with Julian Casablanca’s on new album City Club?
It was really cool, It’s gone full circle really, The Stokes were one of the first bands that I heard on the radio, that I was singing to that was current, and for him to work with us is really cool. It’s really surreal for Matt as he’s a huge Strokes fan.
Did it shape the way you wrote the album in any way?
I think yeah, Matt had it in the back of his head that we were going to be working with Julian, so he started writing songs that almost sounded similar and I was like “what are you doing” (laughs) But the process was the same, tucking ourselves away in the mountains and cutting ourselves off and reeled off 60 songs and showed them to Julian and he was too nice and incapable of saying this song sucks, so it was a really hard process of narrowing them down, but there were a few songs he definitely wanted to put in and then that was it.
Describe City Club in 3 words?
I can describe it in 4 words? Less surf, more synth.
How are you enjoying the tour?
A lot! Its been really cold, but at the same time we are on a tour bus now. We have suffered for too long in the back of a van around Europe, So that’s made it a lot more comfortable and enjoyable.
What’s your idea of a perfect day?
The Holy Trinity, Surf, Skate and Partying.
What’s next for the Growlers?
We are going to take a short break, go on holiday. I’m going to Mexico, Matts going to Morocco, and some of the boys are going home to Seattle, and then write more hopefully, Then I’m starting to produce a record for The Abigails.
The band have since released more tour dates including a few more UK dates:
May 24th 2017 – Birmingham Academy
May 25th 2017 – London, The Coronet
May 30th 2017 – Glasgow Saint Luke’s
May 31st 2017 – Leeds University Stylus
Check out more info on the band – thegrowlers.com @losgrowlers
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interview by Daisy Worthington @daisydw
photos by Jessica Gwyneth @jessicamenace
