You know what they say about Lincoln? Absolutely nothing. Trust me, Iâm from there. Thatâs not a slight by any measure: itâs a beautiful cathedral city with a rich history and warm people. But leave the Midlands and say “Lincoln” to someone and youâll usually be met with a shrug. âWE INVENTED THE TANK!â we protest, to little gain.
Andrew Fearn from Sleaford Mods grew up a few miles down the road in the village of Saxilby while Elton John collaborator Bernie Taupin is from neighbouring Sleaford, as were â00s indie-blues outfit The 22-20s. Two of the chart-bothering Sea Girls are from here, too. Beyond that, though: itâs very slim pickings.
âWeâve always had an issue with that identity thing, really,â admits Mitch Spencer, frontman and guitarist of punchy indie upstarts The Rills. âInitially we were embarrassed to be from Lincoln, frankly â because there arenât really any artists from here. Maybe itâs the pure quietness of it.â
He notes how “itâs very difficult to even go to a small show, let alone put one on” in Lincoln, with the choice of venue being either pubs with covers bands or the 1,500-capacity venue The Engine Shed where you’d go to see Kaiser Chiefs. “If youâre into music or anything alternative, Lincoln can feel very much like a springboard thatâs pushing you down. The tension rises and before you know it â bang, you just have to do something.â
Bassist Callum Warner-Web agrees: âThereâs a small-town mentality that shapes us. When we were younger and decided to move away, our mindset was, âLetâs get out of this place and prove everyone wrongâ. Now, having left and come back, it gives you a different attitude towards it all. We look at Lincoln through a new lens.â
Mitch and Callum first met aged 13 while whiling their time away in a skate park. A few years later, one saw the other carrying a guitar on the first day of sixth form, before they started jamming and a creative partnership was formed. Feeling that theyâd exhausted Lincolnâs limited scene, they moved to Sheffield to see if the magic of their heroes Arctic Monkeys might rub off â but it was a little more humbling than that.
âWe left home when we were about 19 with no idea about what we were going to do,â admits Callum. âWhen youâre that age, living in Lincoln and doing gigs, you think youâre huge and only a few steps away from playing Glastonbury. Suddenly working jobs, paying bills, messing things up and learning from mistakes â that was that cold, hard-hitting reality that you really need if youâre going to go forward and write great songs.â
Moving back to Lincoln for university, Callum met drummer and Essex lad Mason Cassar in a lecture. âThese guys booked a gig without having a drummer and had no plans of changing that until the last minute,â laughs Mason. Adding a thundering new edge to their sound, Mason also became their much-needed âanchorâ in the South, as Mitch adds: âOur biggest inspirations are Arctic Monkeys from the North and Libertines from the South. Weâve always been in that middle ground. Weâre not that mod, Northern Oasis-inspired band, but weâre also not a super trendy south London post-punk band â weâre a blend of them both through the funnel of contemporary music.â
Lincolnshire is the second-biggest county in England, and with that comes its own personality. More Northern in spirit and accent but culturally in limbo, no one really knows how to place a Yellowbelly. These are the characters who live in The Rillsâ songs, but anyone who grew up in a quiet town and dreamed of a little excitement should recognise them.
Thatâs whatâs helped the trio rack up millions of likes on TikTok, thousands of streams and a healthy following on social media. You can hear that rogue charm on early singles with the punky and raucous âPyroâ and the bittersweet âUs & Themâ, through to recent garage rocker âStardogâ and the spiky âThe Anglerâ.
Having signed to Nice Swan Records (home to early releases by Sports Team, Fur, FEET and more), itâs the band’s latest single âSkint Eastwoodâ that best captures what The Rills are all about: an anthemic banger that rolls between scuzzy and dreamy sounds as they pay tribute to âa loner, a BMX bandit who lurks the streets for affection, be it by begging, stealing or borrowingâ. Hereâs someone who anyone from small-town suburbia will remember â those kids âwho are bored and fundamentally quite alone,â says Mitch. âWeâve all been Skint Eastwoods at some point in our lives.â
The Rills have just come off the road after supporting Bloxx on a UK tour having already smashed the BBC Introducing Stage at Reading & Leeds, and the trio are now set for their own UK headline tour through December. They also have a five-track EP in the bag that’s set to drop soon, and apart from a âside questâ to help kick-start more of an indie scene back home, they have their sights set far beyond that endless horizon.
âI donât know if this is because weâre from Lincoln, but right from day one weâve been like: âWe want to headline Glastonbury, we want to be the biggest fucking band we can beâ,â admits Mitch. Quoting his heroes, Callum says Arctic Monkeysâ 2006 song âPerhaps Vampires Is A Bit Strong ButâŠâ sums up where he feels The Rills are at.
âAlex Turner is singing about getting advice from people telling them to just do gigs at local pubs,â he says. âThat makes you think, âNo, Iâm not going to limit myself to a situation where it makes sense to be in a band in a small town. Iâm going to completely go against that and run with this idea – even if it kills meâ.â
The Rills’ âSkint Eastwoodâ is out now
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