Tags: bilk, indie, rock, music, album
Days away from recording their second album, The Equaliser speaks to Bilk, getting to know who inspired them, the challenges they have faced, and what they plan to do in the future.
Let’s be real, if you’ve been to a festival over the last few years, you’ve more than likely seen this band’s name somewhere on the poster.
Their unique sound and punk guitar riff inspires plenty of head-banging and wild mosh pits at their live performances.
The Equaliser spoke with vocalist, guitarist and frontman for the band Sol Abrahams who, along with Luke Hare on bass and Harry Gray on drums, comprise the indie-rock trio.
Bilk are a band inspired by the likes of The Sex Pistols, Nirvana, Arctic Monkeys and Green Day, and are named after the term of not paying for a taxi fare. It is little surprise, therefore, that the result is a punk rock band with a serious attitude.
Between their self-titled debut album being released last year and the following promotional tour, 2023 was an undoubtedly great year for the Chelmsford band.
When asked to put a pin in what was the best gig the band has done, Abrahams was unable to pick just one since they ‘have it off everywhere’, but settled on the chaos of Reading and Leeds Festival.
The band have performed there for the last two years, and are going to make it three years in a row having been listed on the latest line-up. With such a heavy schedule, it must be hard to work around – but that’s just an incentive for Abrahams.
“There’s no certainty in it at all, [nothing] like a 9 to 5 office job for example. But I wouldn’t wanna live that way anyway. I like the instability of being in a band. It’s rogue.”
“It’s the best job in the world, even with all the bollocks you go through being in a rock and roll band.”
Having officially debuted in 2018 with singles like “Spiked” and “Give Up”, they’ve been around long enough to have dealt with their fair share of struggles.
When asked about the challenges Bilk have faced in the music industry as a small band, Abrahams spoke with candour:
“All of it is a slog when you come from a normal background and you’re not a rich kid, who has celebrity parents or something.
“It takes a lot of hard work, rejection and persistence to do it. And good tunes of course.”
And good tunes they have, as their standout tunes “Bad News”, “CM2” and “I Got Knocked out the Same Night England Did” (which was aptly released ahead of the 2020 Euros) have all achieved more than 1,000,000 streams on Spotify.
This is just the start for Bilk though, with a UK tour on the horizon in which they aim to debut their sophomore album, which goes into recording next week. No writing can describe what to expect from Bilk more than Abrahams own words:
“This next shit is our best shit so far.”
Photo credits: Paul Hudson, United Kingdom – BILK – 11 April 2019, 21:34