Krooked Tongue burst onto the scene with the release of their critically acclaimed debut EP ‘No Vacancy Hotel’ in February of 2022, recorded with Josh Gallop (Phoxjaw, Mother Vulture) at Stage 2 Studios. The EP has since amassed over 200,000 streams and saw support from publications such as Ones To Watch, HardBeat Magazine and Distorted Sound.
Their second studio EP ‘Deathproof’, released May 2023, saw the start of the band’s evolution, there was a refreshed maturity to their songwriting and an evident progression in their sound. ‘Deathproof’ has been streamed over 320,000 times to date and was celebrated by Louder Than War Radio, Ones To Watch, Sirius XM, BBC Introducing and many others.
August 2024 saw their biggest support tour to date, supporting Kid Brunswick on his final ‘Dead Forever’ tour across the UK. They’ve also recently shared the stage with False Heads, Virgin Marys, Phoxjaw, Moriaty, Pulled Apart By Horses, The Soap Girls and Mother Vulture and have played slots at festivals such as Icebreaker, Dot to Dot, The Godney Gathering, Estonia’s Tallinn Music Week and Burn It Down.
Your debut EP 'No Vacancy Hotel' and its follow-up 'Deathproof' have both garnered critical acclaim from publications like Ones To Watch and BBC Introducing. How do you think your sound has evolved between these releases and your latest singles?
There’s been a clear progression in our sound for sure. We’ve been able to lock in better and better sounds each time we go in with our producer and from a writing perspective, more study and practice has led to better songs in my opinion.
Speaking of your newest songs, “Ember Mile” and “Nothing Ever Grows” are kind of direct opposites. “Ember Mile” focuses on the excitement of a creative idea coming to fruition, whereas “Nothing Ever Grows” encapsulates the negative emotions involved with the feeling of writer's block. What made you decide to focus on these opposing ideas?
Oli: It’s just something that I think all writers or creatives battle with sometimes and it’s not as simply defined by one emotion, like most things. Some days, it’s an exciting challenge and others it can feel like a struggle but the most important catalyst is consistency. I feel lucky that my output for writing songs is frequent and I know that I don’t suffer with writers block as much as some, but it gets all at some point.
What is your creative process like when making a new song?
So Oli writes the song laying out chord and song structure and lyrics, vocal lines so that it’s an almost full skeleton of an idea when we bring it into rehearsal. From there we mess around with ideas and extra parts, Dan is great at picking out vibes and tones and counter melodies on the guitar and Harry is wicked at picking up the energy of the song and adapting to the initial idea.
You’ve worked with Josh Gallop consistently. What makes your creative partnership with him so effective, and how has it evolved over the years?
A big part of it is that we just get on really well. It never feels like a task, it’s a really great creative environment to be in and we have a laugh together. He also understands our direction and harnesses it rather than stifling. He’s a ledge. And what’s crazy is, we’ve only known/been working together for a couple of years but yet we work together as if it’s been decades.
Do you have another EP or possibly a debut full-length album planned for 2025? If so, can you give us some insight on what to expect from it?
We have a really exciting announcement coming in the next few months so stay tuned on that front. As of right now, we have a ton of songs recorded that we aim to release consistently throughout 2025.
Do you have a favorite song you’ve written?
We all have our own favourites, in terms of writing I’d say "Nothing Ever Grows" is up there. Lyrically it reads like a badass poem, and I love how it feels to sing those words. In terms of out and out faves, Dan loves some of the new ones that aren’t out yet but of the songs already released, he loves "Freaky Love". He has a ton of fun playing that live. H has always gravitated towards "Vampyre", and you can probably guess why - Loud ass drums and lots of fills.
Editor's Note: we actually featured "Vampyre" in our Buffy The Vampire Slayer inspired playlist, Overheard At The Bronze. You can listen to it on Spotify or on YouTube.
If you could have any of your songs featured in a piece of media, which song would it be and what would you like it to be featured in?
So recently, we had "Nothing Ever Grows" featured on the Bivol vs Beterbiev fight on DAZN which was wild. So getting a tune featured on one of the UFC cards would be a dream! Aside from that, it would be awesome to be featured in a Guy Ritchie film. Rocknrolla 2???? If he ever makes it that is.
You’ve played alongside some amazing bands—if you could pick any band or artist, past or present, to tour with, who would it be and why?
Yeah we’ve been so lucky so far to have played with some of the best bands on the scene, but there’s always that longing for more. We would love to tour with Highly Suspect either UK or US. HS are such an inspiration sonically and we feel like we’re ready for those kinds of tours now.
What’s your go-to pre-show ritual or tradition?
We don’t really have a "tradition" per se but we do always have a beer or two before the show and just chill in the green room. Nothing crazy like Slipknot.
Who, or what, has most influenced your music and artistic style?
We all have our backgrounds in music from folk to heavy metal but as a collective there’s a few bands that influence our sound. Kings of Leon, especially with a lot of our newer songs. Highly Suspect are a mainstay. Death From Above with their hooks. Too many to name really but those are the high rankings on our list.
What are you listening to currently?
Recently I’ve been going back over the Bonnie Light Horseman first album. As well as a load of 60’s and 70’s classics.
Listen to Krooked Tongue's single "Ember Mile" now.
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