The Howlers

Guus and Adam, who have been friends and bandmates since they met at university, found their close working relationship challenged from all sides. Creative differences with former band members surfaced, exacerbated by the stress individual band members were under due to personal loss, illness and grief. Adam lost two family members during the pandemic and suffered a series of alarming health emergencies himself, bringing the band's progress to a near standstill. “I had two strokes within two months,” says Adam, ”mainly because I was carrying everything on my shoulders.” These and other stresses almost spelled the end of The Howlers and put the friendship between Adam and Guus to the test.

But then things took a miraculous turn when drummer Tom Triggs appeared on the scene. Tom had been moving in the same circles as Guus and Adam for a while. When his former band broke up during the pandemic, he was looking for a new project. This seems to be a fateful moment in the band's development. The band's management played Tom some demos of the album. He fell in love with the music and fit into the band “like a round peg in a round hole”. The latest version of the band then recorded their Further Down The Line EP, with longtime collaborators and good friends Black Honey both producing and appearing on the record, as a defiant response to the turmoil they had been through.