Words by Ed King
On Wednesday 24th May, The Growlers play at the 02 Academy (B’ham) – with support from Echo Park music men, Mystic Braves.
Doors open at 7pm with tickets priced at £16 (+bf), as presented by DHP Family and This Is Tmrw. For direct gig info, including full venue details and online ticket sales, click here.
In Birmingham for the first of seven UK dates, the Southern California psch-rockers are on the road with album number five – the thirteen track mescaline sponge bath, City Club, that came out on Cult Records in September last year.
And if you’ve not been privy to albums 1-4, The Growlers were born from a peyote collecting lunch break and an old six string acoustic; the band have (or had) a double decker tour bus with ‘California Church Teen Choir’ emblazoned on its side. You know 
that question, what would Morrison have become if not dead and fat in a bathtub… Although to a boy from the British Isles, I can’t help but think of Alex Turner and the Ozric Tentacles at the dopamine tail end of an August Bank Holiday weekend.
The Growlers also gave us Beach Goth – their self described genre moniker, arguable oxymoron, and the name of their annual two day Orange County festival. As well as being my favourite music ‘label’ ever, linguistically speaking.
And aside from being the center stage poster boys for the highs/lows of recreational drug use, The Growlers have headlined Beach Goth since its inception in 2012 – attracting acts from Tricky to Bon Iver, Patty Smith to The Parcyde, to join them on last year’s October bill. I think I’ve just worked out what to do for my birthday.
But the band mean business, even if it’s scratched out in luminous paint on the side of a headless store mannequin. So get serious, or not, get weird, or not, but with 76 tracks over five studio albums (and I’m guessing a fluid approach to set lists) you’d better get comfortable. Pass ‘the juice’ anyone..?
‘City Club’ – The Growlers (title/opening track from their latest studio album)
The Growlers perform at the 02 Academy on Wednesday 24th May, with support from Mystic Braves – as presented by DHP and This Is Tmrw. For direct gig info and online tickets sales, click here.
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For more on The Growlers, visit www.thegrowlers.com
For more Mystic Braves, visit www.mysticbraves.com
For more from the 02 Academy (B’ham), including full event listing and online ticket sales, visit www.academymusicgroup.com/o2academybirmingham
For more from DHP Family, visit www.dhpfamily.com
For more from This Is Tmrw, visit www.thisistmrw.co.uk
