The Crooks: 100 Club, London

The last time The Crooks were in London at The Water Rats, there was a reconnection and reaffirmation between the band and fans alike. What was lost, was found. This time around, the conundrum was trickier. It was prove yourself time!

*banner image credit: Rhona Murphy

‘Dreaming Out Loud’ and ‘Champagne & Caviar’ opened proceedings but, for anyone at the triumphant Water Rats gig, not as they hoped. The energy in the room was flat. Had the desperation for fans to prove themselves to a band evaporated?

No. The room was in awe!

Image Credit: Rhona Murphy

Quiet, jaws down, and eyes bulging the sold-out crowd looked on at a band that had gone to a new place in their time away. More melodic, intense and tighter than before, The Crooks unfurled a stream of rock ‘n’ roll that’s begging to connect with big crowds.

The latest single, ‘Carry On,’ gave their set a different dimension. Slower and more psychedelic, it allowed their guitars to spiral and fall with the freedom usually reserved for a band three albums deep. It allowed frontman Jacko to distil a gritty yet angelic clarity.

Most bands would kill to close on ‘In The Meantime’. Its euphoric football crowd quality bellowed out from Jacko and back again from the fans as one. The Crooks, however, signal time three songs out with Better Days and In Time preceding. Epic drama-fueled anthems which light up the 100 Club like it’s a stadium.

Festival season is upon The Crooks with Isle of Wight, Godney Gathering, and Y Not coming up. Three gigs to change the world? Maybe. Three gigs t change their status from underground to main stage? Definitely.

The Crooks – Carry On

Chesterfield’s The Crooks return This Friday with their new single ‘Carry On’ produced by Embrace’s Richard McNamara.

*image and artwork courtesy of the band.

Photos taken for cover by @Buncity_ on Instagram

It’s a marked difference for the band sonically but a natural one for them. Through the vocals and primordial drums, the nomadic spirituality of Stone Roses’ ‘Your Star Will Shine’ and ‘Tightrope’ emerge alongside their inclination for rock ‘n’ roll’s bombast.

The guitars during the build flicker with the grandiose stature of ‘Champagne Supernova’ and howl with heaviness as life comes on top. It’s through Duncan Couch’s lyrics and Jacko’s defiant vocal that light finds a way in:

“My heart kickstarted up again, and beat so hard It shattered all my chest / But I still breathe.”

Modders’ guitars in the closing stages, whilst huge and deafening, are beautifully understated. His connection to songwriter Couch’s lyrics brings an integrity and humble reflection of the times we endure.

Pre-Covid, the band was unleashing lights up fist aloft singalong anthems. Upon return, they nailed the noise and confusion of the psychedelic banger. This was enough to make their debut album one of the hottest prospects. In ‘Carry On’ they’ve strayed into the explorative world of Pastel and The Verve and opened up their future cannon. Key to its success is the gradual step. They’ve retained their sense of death or glory amid the new nodes of shoegaze and psyche. The anticipation of the debut album has now skyrocketed.

Click the image below for tickets to their upcoming shows:

The Crooks – Dreaming Out Loud

Chesterfield rock ‘n’ rollers The Crooks are back with their fourth single since reforming ‘Dreaming Out Loud’.

*Banner image by Oliver London.

Since their return, their live shows have been enthralling, emotion-driven moments that will echo down eternity to those who went. On record, ‘Wide Awake’ and ‘In the Meantime’ picked up where they left off sonically, but something was missing.

On ‘What You Know’ and now ‘Dreaming Out Loud’, they’ve found the missing ingredient: the fall-to-the-floor anthem that countenances their sing-along ballads pieces of rock n roll defiance.

The middle ground between ‘Silhouette Sunshine’ and ‘Better Days’ shows the band completely controlling their identity and destiny. Toying with chaos and splicing in great melodies like rock star puppeteers, they have found their sweet spot.

Concise yet huge, they now sound like a band conquering the studio.

The guitars come out swinging with a heavy, intoxicating power on what is comfortably their best riff to date. Its power lies in its conciseness. Like a great heavyweight boxer’s jab, it knocks its opponent back into a daze. The violence of Kasabian’s debut and Rolla loiter as Modders’ hook loops with its way to glory.

Frontman Jacko, so often their melodic secret weapon, pulls back from an all-out assault and allows his soulful drawl to wash over the devastation with euphoric consequences. Few can match Embrace when Danny and Rich McNamara sing in tandem, but Jacko surpasses them in this showing. He leads you to the edge of the universe, allowing the solo to blow holes into the sun.

When they initially split, fans were devastated. The real deal was taken away from them. In the intervening years, no marks and also-rans have filled the void and reaped huge benefits their talents do not warrant. The Crooks’ return was less relief to fans and more, saddle up, we’re coming for the pretenders. ‘Dreaming Out Loud’ gives them yet another stick to beat the middle of the road with, and it feels great!

The Crooks: The Water Rats, London

Chesterfield’s The Crooks headlined The Water Rats for This Feeling this past Saturday. Copy we originally had penned in 2020. Four years on from the crushing despair of that tour cancellation hadn't caused a lack of interest, but it had caused trepidation.

*banner image credit: Charlie_green19 - Courtesy of the band.

In 2020, the buzz for the cancelled tour was off the scale. There was a clear sense of glory awaiting the band as, single after single, amassed legions of fans. In the build-up to Saturday, a lot of what-ifs lingered. What if their time had passed? What if the band and fans were not as one anymore?

We needn’t have worried.

The electrifying opening of ‘What You Know’ and ‘Silhouette Sunshine’ was a pulsating moment of release. The band are still us, we’re still them! Their time apart clearly left its mark, as there is a real sense of now or never. Rock ‘n’ roll needs this desperation to thrive, and the Water Rats faithfully needed it more.

On ‘In Time’, the band make the intimate room feel like Knebworth. Modders’ guitars on ‘In Time’ howled into the night like warning sirens of hope. Frontman Jacko, stepping off the gas to allow a cuter DMAs-esque vocal to offset the colossal-sized guitars to shine, confirmed that all “what ifs” can get in the bin.

Wave upon wave of euphoric emotion is packed in the set. ‘Nevermind spirals towards pure ecstasy, while ‘She Walks Alone’ took you into the emotional trenches and spat you out with King-sized belief in humanity again.

On ‘Better Days’, the band breathes, leaving Jacko to do something utterly magical. His vocals were blessed with the infectiousness of Tommy O’Dell (DMAs), the raw power of Tom Clarke (The Enemy), and Noel’s ability to make simple melodic twists sound like messages from God. This stripped-back moment was a moment for the lost. For rock n roll fans fed up with overpaying for the old guard to half arsing the past. This was about now! As he decreed, “We need to find our way again”, a collective sigh of relief oozed through the air. Being in the moment for something youthful, a spirit that wanted (and will) change the world, was spine-tingling.

You spend a lifetime waiting for bands to pull it all together, to have the look, the melody, the politics. Only when it appears in front of you do you realise that you allowed pretenders to take the throne in the intervening years. The Crooks are the real deal. They allow you to pour your dreams, heartache, and regrets into their chest out of a sense of working-class glory. This gig will be etched into the minds of all who were there. Triumphant, yes, but this felt like the beginning, not a crowning moment.

The Crooks – Wide Awake

Chestfield outfit The Crooks follow their comeback single ‘In The Meantime’ with ‘Wide Awake’. The self-released single comes ahead of their first tour since before the pandemic May. Let’s check it out.

*banner image courtesy of the band and This Feeling.

The acute Nick McCabe licks demonstrate that, this time around, The Crooks are more comfortable with creativity. There’s no rush to launch into the attack anymore. These licks fade into a furore of Ride and Chapterhouse shoegaze, allowing the psychedelic menace in the closing stages to take flight. Allowing the devil to rattle around in his cage for two-thirds makes his release devastating.

With his rock n roll power, Jacko often makes his presence felt from the beginning. His snarling but melodic intensity is a rare find. In 'Wide Awake ', he tempers it down, revealing a more aggressive version of Andy Bell. He stays in this lane, until he bursts into life alongside the blistering shoezgaze.

The vastness and cinematic arrangement is made all the more potent by the three-minute containment. The fleeting nature of all its parts elevates it to something remarkable.

The Crooks - In The Meantime

It’s been two years since The Crooks split. The Chesterfield band carried a magnitude before that, that those two years feel like a generation has passed. With every good single you’d hear from other bands, the nagging knowledge that The Crooks had better ones ate away at the soul.

*banner image courtesy of the band and This Feeling.

Last time out, ‘I Wonder’. The stars aligned. All the promise, hope, and talent forged into something vital and, crucially, their own. The Oasis influences began to fade, and emerging was not just a great band but one that could carry the scene back to the dizzying heights it deserves.

Alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

Yet.

Then, on January 16th, the band emerged on social media with:

Rumours flew. What about Jacko? We’ve seen with Vida’s reformation that it’s not the same without Jamie Pollock. Cue this:

When The Crooks left us in 2021, society wasn’t exactly on an upward curve, but it was easier. It’s now become about survival- existing. Step forward ‘In The Meantime’ with its colossal wall of sound and howling guitars to change the narrative.

Many bands write clarion calls and escapist anthems, but few can write songs about stepping off the line in the sand. This is one. As Jacko decrees, "We’re the same inside, forced to fight" the urge to advance toward change feels possible once again.

‘In The Meantime’ feels like redemption for the band and more like salvation for the fans. The juggernaut may have docked for two years, but it’s clear now that the engines are raring to go once again.

The Crooks - I Wonder

To date, the Chesterfield outfit have been delivering huge Oasis anthems or furious psychedelia with dark working class lyrics to cut through the glory of the sonic. On the last outing ‘Frankie’, the three began to merge, so, what will the new single ‘I Wonder’ bring?

The merger has been signed, sealed, and delivered! Previously, their aching to belong kept them on the outside looking in. Although lyrically, that yearning for more remains, musically, they have entered the eye of the storm.

Generations should awake to this song and ignite their dreams once more. It races around humble streets like the Roses’ ‘She Bangs The Drums’, a sense that anything is possible every morning oozes from its pores. The psyche guitars glisten on the gloomiest of days and beckon the people to set their souls free.

Their guitar parts have always been freeing. Whether it’s the emotive power of ‘She Walks Alone’ or, the soaring Hurricane #1 licks of ‘Nevermind’, the anticipation of huge release beckons and then blows you away. Now, they have Squire’s desire to spiral and Marr’s ability to thrill.

Despite the freeing nature, they too have been trapped inside their heads of late:

“I sit and wonder of what might have been”

The fallibility of the mind, even for our heroes, laid bare for us to emphasise with but, heroes they are and a guiding light they beam down upon us:

“Free fall deeply in your mind and let in spin / break the door and join me now”

There’s much talk of Oasis’ impending Knebworth documentary at present. One of the truly great moments of working class glory. However, it doesn’t have to be the last. Oasis-mania should have bitten the dust by now! With the scintillating guitars of The Crooks and, frontman Jacko’s innate ability to evoke empathy and togetherness, rock ‘n’ roll is coming home, again!

The Crooks - Frankie

Chesterfield’s The Crooks were set to blow up in 2020. ‘Nevermind’ in late 2019 and ‘She Walks Alone’ & ‘In Time’ in early 2020 were of such stature that, the word was out. Venues were selling out, This Feeling nights were repeatedly filled with “when are The Crooks playing”. It was their time!

We all know what happened next. So, when they announced their return with ‘Frankie’ in 2021, we tentatively pressed play. What bombast and the swagger of that initial run was diminished? Worse still, what if the quality dipped?

In many ways, the ebullience has abated. As they decree “I don’t know what will get us out of here”, 18 months of hardship gushes from their souls. Even at the peak of the twisted solo, there is a sombre mood at play. The magic, however, is prevalent more than ever. The band many pinned their hopes on have come back and captured the mood of the nation once again.

Fans from before the pandemic will find the power of the lyric “I know I’ve got a lot I wanna say” is immeasurable”. We all love bands with confidence. However, we should love this band more. They’ve stepped up to say, we’re here, we’re great but, we’re not sure we can do this and, we can’t do it alone. The feeling of a band and fans as one has elevated itself to an almost family level on this showing.

When you throw in the devastating psychedelia of the guitars, it’s hard to see how it’s not still their time. Only this time, they feel mortal and, people can feel even closer to their music.

The Crooks - In Time

Chesterfield’s The Crooks, recently signed to Golden Robot Records. Their first release on the imprint is ‘In Time’, recorded at Phoenix Studios, produced by Hamish Dickinson.

Artwork & image supplied by Foundry Music

Prior to the recording of ‘Definitely Maybe’, Liam was a good singer. Not a great one. He was reaching for his idol, Ian Brown. Twenty-six years on, Chesterfield’s The Crooks, have, to date, lent their songwriting to the escapist melancholy of Noel Gallagher. At the end of 2019, they released ‘Nevermind’ (full review here) and, ‘She Walks Alone’ (full review here) at the start of 2020. Both singles began to manoeuvre Noel’s songwriting alongside their own.  

On ‘In Time’, they have settled into that groove again. Crucially, their sound is the predominant one. Out of the colossal Burnage shadow, they stride. The guitar playing is beginning to shudder souls like Steve Craddock on ‘Get Blown Away’ and reach beyond the early dynamism of Noel.

In this time of lock-down, who among us can say, we haven’t stared out of the window and dreamed? Dreamed of partners in different cities, festivals, parents, lonely grandparents isolated and lonely? It’s a shit time for the soul. Step forward the lyrics:

“Cherish these days before its too late / If you could turn the hand yourself / Would you hold on to your world? / Would you change what you have done?”

To be able to pang those heartstrings in a moment of reflection and, fire out a global clarion call for change is a gift. The sense that, everything we hold dear is worth fighting for, during Covid19 is life-affirming. To so boldly, decree messages of radical change is life-changing.

Whenever this ends, get yourself to the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds for This Feeling’s Re-Wired.  

The Crooks – Silhouette Sunshine

Chesterfield’s The Crooks have been in anthemic mood of late. Their previous two singles ‘She Walks Alone’ (full review) and ‘Nevermind’ (full review) massive crowd uniting numbers. On their latest offering, ‘Silhouette Sunshine’, they return to fall to floor rock ‘n’ roll. Will it stack up?

We have said it before and, for this record, we will say it again. Whilst The Crooks have the hallmarks of Oasis, they a much much more than that! Their quality is on par, and at times, it surpasses their idols. Especially on this single!

The aggression and volatility are astonishing. It’s a whirlwind of psychedelia and punk. It’s only a matter of time before Creation23 come out of self-isolation to sign them.

The sex and violence of Supergrass’ ‘Richard III’ collides with the good aspects of ‘Be Here Now (yes, there was some) to create this fire breathing behemoth. They say, if you don’t learn your history, you’re doomed to repeat the past. Well, this ginormous psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll epic comes in under three minutes and thus, banishing ‘Be Here Now’. Somewhere in Muswell Hill, a tear of pride is rolling down Noel’s cheek.

You bet your life this single stacks up!

The Crooks - She Walks Alone

Chesterfield five piece, The Crooks, are a fledgling band in name only! They continually reach for the stars and, on previous single ‘Nevermind’, begun to nestle in alongside them..

*All images supplied by the band.

With Noel Gallagher’s early day dreaming euphoria in their hearts, they are song writing for headline slots. Noting has changed on their new single ‘She Walks Alone’, released on Friday 17th January.  

Barely two months since ‘Nevermind’, the progress is astonishing. Frontman Jacko, has innate ability to sing Noel’s Oasis songs as if her were Liam. That extra aggression, apace with emotive key changes breeds new life into the sound.   

The intricate influence of The Verve has added a depth to their sound. The opening Nick McCabe licks will put your excitement levels on red alert. Then, Mods’ solo strikes. The heady days of Steve Craddock’s OCS brilliance align with the shimmering genius of McCabe, it’s truly sublime!

Lyrically, they have elevated themselves too. The tormented soul who “walks alone in her mind” paints a tragic picture. Not to be downhearted, The Crooks’ infectious spirit comes to the rescue. With an encouraging arm around the shoulder, they lead their protagonist back to the promised land.

For so many, hope diminished last December. Some were even left crossing boxes in tears of shame. This song may well become a rock ‘n’ roll parable for the disaffected. Embracing the bad times, it paints a blueprint back to the good times.

The Crooks – Nevermind

“I seem to get this feeling I just cant explain”

Chesterfield outfit The Crooks, fresh from selling out their This Feeling’s 13th birthday this past Saturday, release their new single ‘Nevermind’ on Friday.

In 1994, when Liam sang ‘you and I are gonna live forever’, the world changed. Ambition and escapism combined on Noel’s story of two best friends who ‘see things they’ll never see’. The universality of its message (plus the great melody) became all things to all people.

It was amazing time of hope and unity. Job security was a thing, pay rises could be earned. Unlike 2019! Having a job for longer than 12 months is a fucking achievement these days! Thank god, no, thank The Crooks for this single!

Despite being less personal than the heroes of Live Forever’s tale, it’s not less gallant. Defiantly drawing the line in the sand, they shall be pushed no further! Furthermore, when the guitars soar, they offer a helping hand off the canvas for everyone to stand up to the torrent of shit we’re being made to live through.  

Musically, Hurricane #1’s classic ’Step Into My World’ and Embrace’s ‘The Last Gas’ leaps of the page as this track triumphant builds. However, its within the all-inclusive clarion call where its beauty lays. As Jacko sings ‘remember things are easy, don’t get left behind’, it’s hard not to be overcome with emotion. Thoughts of friends, lovers, family will flash before your eyes on this truly defining moment for the band!

Their next gig is 2nd November, again for the brilliant folk of This Feeling, it is not to be missed!

The Crooks - Crystal Eyes

Chesterfield's The Crooks are back with their new single 'Crystal Eyes' today. Melodic, in your face rock n roll has been the mantra so far, what will this provide?

The return back to the studio has seen them slide back into the destructive psyche of mid point Oasis along with, a kick ass punk bassline. The added spikiness steers them away from their polished EP and in the direction of confrontation. Images of battle lines being drawn are unavoidable as front man Jacko snarls “ it's in our veins to live differently”.

Yearning to be heard is one thing, but now, The Crooks are demanding it. The rabid attack of The Enemy's 'Away From Here' combines with Oasis' psyche in what is, an announcement to the world to get behind them as they ride into battle.

Every generation has a set of bands luring the people away from insipid creativity. With the vapid Love Island having just finished, let The Crooks be that band.