The Rills

“We’re romantics at heart,” offers The Rills bassist Callum Warner-Webb. “When we were recording

this album, we watched a lot of romance films like La La Land. They leave you with that question at

the end: was it worth it? You have your dreams, but was it worth it to lose so much of yourself?”

The Rills have certainly shed a skin or two to reach this point, on the eve of their effervescent debut

album ‘Don’t Be A Stranger’. Produced by Dave McCracken (the indie mastermind behind many Ian

Brown solo records and key works by dEUS and The Rifles as well as lending a hand to albums by the

likes of Depeche Mode, Sports Team, The Snuts and Beyoncé), ‘Don’t Be A Stranger’ sees these three

young friends take that untapped energy that made them viral sensations and darlings of the

grassroots scene and direct it something more considered, complete and heartfelt.

Warner-Webb and frontman Mitch Spencer met in their native Lincoln as young teens, losing their

spare time in a skate park. A few years later, that same urge to kill smalltown boredom saw them pick

up guitars and start jamming together. A brief stint living in Sheffield chasing some of that Arctic

Monkeys magic saw them soon return home to university where Essex lad Mason Cassar joined as

drummer and their line-up was complete. Often referenced in their music, there’s a Lincoln Imp spirit

baked into The Rills’ DNA - notably in their ability to always see over the horizon and carve

something out for themselves when no one else will.

They didn’t have a lot of choice when they came out of uni, hungry to make a break when COVID

shut the world down. “We were just a little idiot band,” admits Spencer. “Obviously we had these

dreams, but then lockdown happened and we were forced into doing TikTok and all that stuff

because we didn’t have a way to play or release music.”

It worked, and The Rills quickly found themselves with millions of likes on TikTok, thousands of

streams, and a healthy following on social media. “All of a sudden, it blew up, we had fans and we

we’re talking to the NME. Everything in that time, we scrambled together.”

The fans followed them to the shows, where their live performance and the songs came with that

same young punk charm, “trying to match our online personas”, as Spender puts it. “The indie

funniness was working for us, so we thought, ‘That’s who we are’.”

You can hear that knack for a laugh on the raucous early outings of singles of ‘Pyro’, ‘Us & Them’,

‘Stardog’, ‘The Angler’ and the homage to home of ‘Skint Eastwood’. Signed to Nice Swan Records

(the tastemaker label home to early releases by scene leaders like English Teacher, Sprints, Sports

Team and FEET), the band felt in good company and learned a lot – but their ambitions outstrip the

tag of ‘indie’. “Our trajectory will be nothing like those bands, because we’re something totally

different,” says Mason. “We’re not ashamed to admit it: we want to sell loads of records and break

America.”

As you’d want from the best drummers, Mason has confidence in spades. “When we were first

playing shows, we had a very DIY ethos, but we’re not a DIY band anymore,” here we go. “We are

trying to headline festivals, we’re trying to headline Glastonbury, we want to be a household name

band – not just this sweaty indie punk band that does silly things on the internet. Everything has

levelled up. I don’t think there’s a better three-piece live band in the UK right now.”

The music has jumped to the major leagues too. “For a lot of that early period, we were writing hype

songs; we were writing songs for people to fall in love with the moment,” says Mitch. “Whereas now,

we want them to fall in love with the songs.”

Coming out of the chrysalis of “a caricature of what an indie band should be”, The Rills have made a

bold leap into a debut with a great deal more depth. Explosive launch single and future festival

banger ‘I Don’t Wanna Be’ has a foot in the band’s past while taking a confident stride into the

future. “It’s me trying to find my place in the world,” says Spencer of the lyrics. “It’s about

understanding that it doesn’t matter if I’m different. I’m not going to fit in with everybody and I don’t

give a fuck. It’s an anthem.”

Amen. Then there’s the gorgeous and tender arena-ready lullaby of ‘Dad’s Car’ – a vulnerable and

longing song that shows how far they’ve come in letting the space, atmosphere and emotion of the

song do the talking. “I was trying to exorcise some demons on that one,” the frontman admits. “I

was trying to be really simple with it. The idea was just the feeling.”

With McCracken’s love of rap and R&B production, each song sings with the personality of each

member’s personality to let the mood and a groove ride up front. ‘Dream Of You’ has scorched

summer flavours of Smashing Pumpkins’ psych riffery and Weezer’s pop leanings with a latter-day U2

scope to the chorus, but still letting the song sing without bells and whistles (“it’s no thrills, just

Rills,'' as Spencer puts it). ‘Stranger’ carries a similar seasonal whimsy of finding and losing love

through sunnier climbs, while ‘Sirens’ is a slave to melody as it drifts along with a Two Door Cinema

Club meets early Beatles sweetness.

Then you’ve the “pure clout” of Libertines-esque fan favourite ‘Bones’, and ‘Angels In The Snow’ is a

simmering encore opener that Kings Of Leon would lose a nut for – all written as a testament to

staying together forever. It’s all bangers and a whole lotta love.

Quizzed on what he feels holds ‘Don’t Be A Stranger’ together, Warner-Webb replies: “There was a

theme of the sea, cars and romance. It took me to this place of Baz Luhrmann – ultra romance and

colours on blast.”

Anything else?

“Also, weirdly, Formula One! It feels like there’s a rivalry playing out that’s so great, it’s almost a

romance. They can’t live with each other, but they can’t live without each other. They go from haters

to lovers then to strangers, and back again.”

The album’s due in November, springboarding them into a “huge year of festivals” in 2025 – and even

bigger things beyond. For now, as the bassist says, their own ambition and future will likely play out

in the upcoming artwork and ambitious music videos: “Expect some of those sexy ‘90s Formula One

vibes – like Senna or Schumacher! They’re the real rockstars. We pale in comparison to them.”