Review by The Underground venue manager Lee Barber
CLKWRK are no strangers to the music industry. Rich in experience is this three-piece fusion of rock, blues and electronic, yet they are working hard to push those boundaries further, and after a somewhat hectic few years (I think a US tour with Electric Six whilst also being playlisted by Planet Rock and Kerrang! can be labelled hectic, yeah?) CLKWRK have their ambitions firmly set in building on the stunning momentum.
The hard-hitting, hard-working trio blast through new release Hold On like there’s no tomorrow; Pilgrim’s unique vocal range instantly fuelling the track with venom and energy, power riffage blasting so loud you can almost feel the damage it could do to a mosh pit, all set on a Muse-esque foundation of electronic subtleties. The song builds over a well- structured progression into a catchy chorus, and reaches up to a ripping guitar solo just daring you to throw out that air guitar.
I had an all-too-brief chat with singer/Bass VI player/suave waistcoat wearer Nick Pilgrim about the new tune, who gave the impression of being a man who, though possibly a little nervous at releasing their band’s first single since shifting from a four-piece to a trio, is desperate to get new music out into the world.
“Hold On felt like the most natural track in the world for us to write. As a band that typically takes forever to put together new material we just got together as a three piece and it just sort of… happened!”
“It’s the first song that we’ve written with a change of line-up going and swapping a bass guitar for a Bass VI… We’d be lying if we said that we weren’t nervous. But – incredibly – this track that we were instantly proud of just shot out of nowhere, and we knew we had to track it and find space for it on our upcoming EP (Shadows & Silhouettes).”
I have often referred to Nick as one of the hardest working musicians in Stoke’s music ‘scene’; his constant attention to detail is relentless and he clearly has a knack for working with like-minded individuals who also bring their own unique talents to the table. From the quality of musicianship to the artwork, design, branding and marketing, that constant desire for quality is almost as though humans imitating machines imitating humans has some hidden meaning…
Nick offers some final words which suggest the band may, after all, be human. “Now just comes the nerve wracking bit – to see if the rest of the world likes it as much as we do. We hope so.”
And the world would be foolish not to. Hold On by CLKWRK is out now (March 8). The band’s debut EP Shadows & Silhouettes is released Friday, March 15.
