“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.”
