On Tour with Otherkin (Part 2)

Otherkin roar like no other, their brutal thrill-ride of garage punk and upbeat rock is an undeniable pleasure. This March saw the band take their show out on the road for a huge UK tour, stopping off everywhere in between Manchester and Reading, to Leicester and Liverpool. The gigs have been rowdy from the get-go, delivering just enough frolics to satisfy until the next time round.

Sharing anecdotes from the stage, behind the scenes and the green room, Otherkin in their own words give us a glimpse into life on the road. From sharing stages with The Amazons to their own headline shows, it’s all in here.

18/03/17 – READING:

Our first show post the Amazon tour and it happens to be in their hometown! We were expecting a bit of a comedown after the mania of the last few shows but Reading brought their A-game! The Amazons boys made it down to the show too and Matt came up again and we all riffed our way through Ay Ay and Yeah, I Know. Spent the rest of the night boogieing to Nu-Metal and Pop-Punk classics. Last Resort by Papa Roach and In Too Deep brought out the waviest moves of the night.

Purple Turtle, Reading. Photo Credit: Jon Mo

Purple Turtle, Reading. Photo Credit: Jon Mo

19/03/17 – DAY OFF:

A much needed day off following the rowdiness of The Amazons show. A typical hungover day; waking up at 4, two or three movies and cans at 9. Get that right up ye.

20/03/17 – NEWCASTLE:

We’re big fans of Newcastle, we’ve been there once before and we had the rare luxury of a day off before the gig so we spent most of it in the Brewdog there. We weren’t able to make it to Brewdog this time around unfortunately. We did however manage to catch a Geordie couple breaking up at the restaurant we ate dinner at, which culminated in her throwing her drink in his face and storming out, or as the Geordie’s would call it, “swilling”. We hit the venue and hung out with the Pale White boys thereafter, top blokes!

Candid JW.

21/03/17 – GLASGOW:

Onto Glasgow! First time playing in the Attic, didn’t realise how flippin’ huge the Garage is, Jesus. Anyway, once we finish up with soundcheck we head over to Nice ‘N ‘Sleazy’s for a cheeky pint or three and they’re just about to start up an Irish-themed Pub Quiz. The Luck of the Irish or what? Anyway, we end up absolutely barnstorming it and winning the £30 bar tab. Annoyingly, we have the small matter of a pesky gig to play before we can tuck into it so we oblige and play that. We make our way to Sleazy’s afterwards and begin a good, good night.

22/03/17 – MANCHESTER:

Setting out from Glasgow, we made our way south to Manchester. Our venue for the evening, Jimmy’s in the northern quarter, was only a couple of weeks old, but the zebra themed interior looked like something out of a Bond villain’s lair. We sound-checked, ate some top shelf pizza at Slice, before heading back to catch local supports Sapho and Kashmere. We stormed the stage shortly thereafter, before ending the night dancing away at some local indie club with fans from the show. All in all – a great night in a great city.

23/03/17 – LEEDS:

Waking up in Manchester, the non-vegan members of the band made their way to Northern Soul to devour some cheese toasties. With full bellies we hit the road to Leeds. There was an evident sense of excitement amongst us as we drew closer to our venue for the evening – the world renowned Brudenell Social Club. Given the clout this club carries we were nervous before hitting the stage, but the crowd did not disappoint. We finished the chaotic set with band members scattered throughout the crowd – Leeds never fails to impress. In true OTHERKIN fashion we closed out the night dancing on tables at MOJO.

Candid Luke.

24/03/17 – SHEFFIELD:

As you might have guessed, none of us woke up feeling too fresh the night after Leeds. Mixing things up, we grabbed what would prove to be a cardboard textured breakfast at some vegan joint, before making our way south to Sheffield. Considering the only person who had been in the room the last time we hit Sheffield was our sound engineer, we were pleasantly surprised at the turnout! After the show we hung around the Rocking Chair to polish off some JD our pals at This Feeling had gifted us, while listening to some seriously great ’70s punk bangers the DJ was pumping out. A punter we had previously thought to be a barman was thrown out for getting a bit too wild off a pogo on the go, that’s how good this DJ was.

Our TM Eamo saying goodbye to our Derbyshire cottage.

25/03/17 – LIVERPOOL:

Our final day of tour brought us to the home of The Beatles and scouse – Liverpool. Half longing for our beds, and half never wanting this tour to end, we took some snaps with a local photographer before soundchecking ahead of our gig that night with The Bohos! We washed down some delicious grub with some tasty bevs at Brewdog before taking to the stage. The originally timid crowd let out their inhibitions by the end and it made for a great close to the tour. Clambering into the van after our final load out, we headed towards Holyhead for the journey home. Until next time Britain, thanks for getting weird with us xx

Catch up on the first instalment of Otherkin’s tour travels here.

Otherkin’s new single ‘Bad Advice’ leads the announcement of their debut album, the track is available now on all streaming platforms and online retailers. The band will also be performing live this summer at Download Festival.

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