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The Howlers, with Big Fear and Kynsy – Scala, London – 02/10/25

A couple of weeks ago, The Howlers’ frontman Adam Young took to Instagram to denounce his promoters, venues and other artists as having set the band up to ‘fail at every turn’. He added, ‘I’ve put myself in huge debt trying to fix the mistakes of others’, and that if a significant number of tickets weren’t sold, the band will end. You could see the dark cloud hanging over Young’s head at their Scala show last week, no less when he started swearing about BMG and some kerfuffle over his set time being cut an hour short.

That being said, the sound system buzzed with slick riffs and swaggered drums, with Young’s vocal ability particularly shining on ‘Further Down The Line’. You could see a conflict within Young, his leather-tasselled arrogance constantly undermined by his frequent struggled outbursts of complaint. And if those complaints are true, they’re fair enough to make; that doesn’t stop such comments souring the atmosphere of the gig.

Young’s passion is obvious, and the band’s drummer gave a sturdy performance throughout the show, even if the crowd strained to see him for the flashing LEDs behind the band, triggering a mini Trinity Test every other beat. 

The issue with The Howlers is not the debt they owe to landlords or management, but to the artists whose sound they have wholeheartedly inhabited. They are the embodiment of 2013 indie, a hybrid of the Neighbourhood and AM to such an extent that a riff in one of their unreleased songs, ‘Heavy’, sounds almost entirely like the one from ‘Do I Wanna Know’. Within ten minutes of leaving the gig, I could remember how only one of their songs went, and that turned out to be a Catfish and the Bottlemen song anyway (mainly because of the ‘I gotta give it to you’ lyric in ‘Nothing To Lose’).

I didn’t catch the first support act, Big Fear, as I apparently don’t know how to read a tube map, but the real shining light of the gig was Kynsy. Adorned with a black bow, her earnest ferocity was delivered with Strokes-inspired guitars and coy lyrics, filling the room with pure, potent noise. Her final song of the set culminated in a grandiose guitar solo, a stark contrast to The Howlers’ six-note solo towards the end of ‘All I Need’.

The Howlers are in a precarious position. With the pressure they seem to be under, it’s very easy for the bitterness they feel to spill out onto their audience, who at the moment seem to be supporting the band as best they can. But is it fair to put your band’s fate so completely ‘in the hands of the fans’ as Young has on Instagram, especially when buying tickets is the only outlet of help you suggest for them? Or is it fair to say it might be the last time to see the band, before announcing you’re the support act for a Band of Skulls tour? I hope they do come out the other side of whatever mess they’ve been put in, but they cannot become so publicly passive. Turn down the bright lights, expand your own sound rather than rehashing other’s, and don’t let your chin drop at the expense of fans’ wallets. 

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