Bristol band Kurbside Villain have crafted a captivating alternative rock sound that combines catchy melodies and gritty guitar riffs and they describe as “raucous, spikey and unapologetic.”
The band was born in lockdown, when its members independently decided they wanted to be in a band. They discovered each other online and became four friends who share a passion for writing and performing music together.
On the sound they’ve crafted, Barney told us: “A throwback to early 2000s rock, punk and grunge, with a zesty modern twist. Expect gritty riffs and passionate vocals driven forward with a beefy rhythm.”
To get a taste for this, the band sent us GHOST, which was released last year. It opens up with spicy stabbing guitars and rolling drums that feed into engaging vocals supported by high-pitched guitars and pick up pace through to a powerful chorus. A second chorus begins with more intense vocals and flows into another big chorus. The pace drops with flitting high-pitched guitars and rolling drums, before blasting into a huge chorus supported by backing vocals bringing the track to an intense conclusion.
More recently, they followed that up with Break Me, which was released in April. It starts out with slow guitars with heavy cries of the chorus vocals “Break me, Fuck me up, You’ll never break me, Fuck me up.” Engaging dual vocals take over as the guitars continue, dropping into the chorus lines, which end with cries of “Up.” Rolling drums, a funky little bassline and a cool guitar lick give way to a stabbing guitar that continues under more intense vocals, feeding into a powerful version of the chorus.
On those tracks, Barney told us: “The reception has been great to both. Ghost is a song that we open our gigs with because it’s fast and exciting, it really sets the tone for what you get with us. It quickly became one of our most popular tracks upon release.
“Break Me is a bit more of a grungey vibe than the rest of our tracks. Writing it allowed us to explore a different side to our sound, which a lot of our listeners have really liked.”
There’s plenty more where that came from, including the band’s debut EP Beat Me Up, which was released in 2022 and includes cracking tracks like lively opener Static, which was their debut single release, the energetic Die Young and the excellent final track Holly.
The Kurbside Villain sound has been influenced by a wide range of sounds and genres, including pop-punk, psychedelic, hardcore, mall emo and surf rock.
And on what inspires them to write music, Barney told us: “Mainly we write music that we’d want to listen, dance and mosh to because we want people to have fun with our music. When it comes to the lyrics, there are definitely themes of self-acceptance, mental health, and love throughout our songs.”
Kurbside Villain have recently been in the studio to record a couple more songs that will be released over the next few months. They also just played an anniversary show at The Exchange in Bristol and they’ll be back there on 14 November.
You can follow Kurbside Villain on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
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