12 Months Of Loom: A Personal Reflection

12 Months Of Loom: A Personal Reflection

Words: Linn Branson


At around roughly this time last year, when it comes to those inevitable round-up lists of 'best ofs' of the months just passed, and predictions of who will be facing the glare of the spotlight in the coming months, there was only one band that I felt had the required presence and force to make short shrift of any other names standing in their way. This was the band that I nominated in one of the zines that I write for. They have also been the band that here, a year on, I still have as much faith in for the coming year; the band who still manage to amuse, confound, perplex, annoy, excite and entertain me as much as they did on my initial live sightings.

So, here is an overview, a personal reflection of a band who I have supported, not just in the many thousands of words I have written in a raft on reviews, but as much as in spirit (and not least, in heated debates with colleagues who are not of a similar persuasion). In encounters with them, it hasn't all been smooth sailing: unceremoniously jilted at the interview altar back in May by their frontman being the most disenheartening occurrence, and being present at what on reflection I can honestly judge to be the worst performance by an artist I have ever witnessed, by anyone...ever, must figure too. Yet, despite a few low points, for someone such as myself with a boredom threshold of not much above zero, they have consistently drawn me back to their live shows - once a month on average - which I think speaks for itself.

Ladies and gentlemen: Loom.

When I look at this picture above now, I can only think how young they look, and how they have progressed and grown in confidence and style (thank god Tarik ditched the Alvin Stardust gloves), yet it was taken little over a year ago, in the autumn of 2012. This was Loom's second-only London show (- as far as I am aware. They made their first appearance two weeks before playing a Vice issue launch at the Old Blue Last). I stand to be corrected, but I believe I was the first writer to live review the four-piece from some little known Warwickshire town near Leamington Spa called Harbury. A few mentions on The Horrors' fan forum alluded to the vocalist Tarik Badwan, brother of Faris, having formed a new band (then, in the early summer of 2012, known as Bloom - a short-lived moniker), following the brief rise and rapid disintegration of his first vocal outing around 2009 fronting a fellow bunch of 16/17-year-olds called Disorder

I was not aware of any of this on the night of the gig. I vaguely had at the back of my mind a friend saying how he had not been too impressed with them when his own band had played a joint gig with them on one of a handful of first shows around the Midlands. [First real public shows as Loom had come in September 2012, playing with Moon Duo at Central Station, Wrexham, and the same month with Deap Vally at Soup Kitchen, Manchester. Although as the formerly known Bloom they had been around on the gig circuit since 2011. See poster below for a second-on-bill gig that year at Leamington Assembly.] On this particular night I had turned up to see the two other bands on the bill. Stuck in the middle of both was Loom. I think anyone who sees them for the first time (although perhaps more so at that time, since by now most people have surely coming across accounts of their live show and know what to expect) cannot fail to be a little open-mouthed: I know I certainly was.

As I recall, my review made the point of if they didn't implode under the weight of the frontman's overwhelming presence, this could be a band to make a big noise in 2013. At the time I wasn't sure whether I truly liked them, or whether they had a style that was so refreshing, raw and vibrant that it shook everything else around it like a pitbull with a rag doll, that one couldn't help but be shaken up and stirred by it. They had a couple of good songs - 'Bleed On Me' and 'No Control' - at least, which could be detected in amongst the snarling punk attitude of Badwan as he jumped to the floor and struck the now well-known mighty stare poses.

At the end of the night, spying him in the downstairs bar, I - in bouncy puppy mode (okay, all right....not so much bouncy puppy as old dog then - but with a very waggy tail!) - made my way over and said could I get the names of the songs as I was reviewing the show. Now normally when meeting someone it us usual for some glimmer of facial movement and a small uplifting of the lips and eyes in acknowledgement of the other's presence. Not this time. Badwan more looked at me as if I were some nutter that had just pounced on him (well...). He mumbled something about who was I writing for, then mumbled something else. Sorry, what was that? I then made out he was asking me if I had a pen. Handing him the one I had and a piece of paper, I saw him scribbling down some letters and numbers (rather hoping when I looked the words didn't begin with 'F' and the second word with an 'off'. They actually transpired to be his contact details) which he then handed back to me. And that pretty much was our first encounter.



I never did contact him. I got the information I needed the following day from their manager, together with being informed they were to play another London date, at The Shacklewell Arms, in just a few weeks. Knowing I had to go to this to back up my first impression, on the night itself they more than met my expectations. They looked and sounded a tight unit, and with guitarist Matt Marsh joining in off stage playing (and great hair swirls) it was enough to convince me that Loom were undoubtedly set to be big - hence my nomination for them as 'One To Watch' in December. My review of this night's gig can be found here at GIITTV

The following video link that follows captures 'I Get A Taste' from that night. I don't think it's hard to get a taste from watching it what it was actually like to be there. Even Palma Violets' Chilli Jesson was getting stuck in! VIDEO

Following this show, I tweeted a comment referencing Rachel Zeffira and how I agreed with what she had said sometime before, that Badwan was indeed a compelling figure to watch. Four months later, a very belated NME finally get around to reviewing Loom - and as you can see below, use my tweet (unbeknown to me), making it appear I was talking about this one at the Old Blue Last. Cheeky and inaccurate.

Back to November...Post gig, I caught Badwan off in a corner, with glass in hand, chatting to a friend. This time his demeanour was as different from our previous meeting as could be. Smiling (a rare and beautiful sight when caught - which is too infrequent - and completely changes his features from that we are more used to on stage and in photo images), he greeted me, and as my effusive puppy took over as I commented on how much I loved 'No Control'. (He was probably bemused that here was someone who actually knew the name of one of their songs!)

By the end of 2012/start of 2013, Loom were starting to make their name known - not least in copious column inches that were largely filled with a) his brother b) his stage presence and c) the moshing lunacy. In between they ventured forth with their first tracks put down on, well not vinyl or digital, but a throwback to the good old days of the cassette tape.

'Bleed On Me' was released on December 3 2012 as a limited edition cassette thru Heart Throb Records. The home recordings - which included 'Lizard' and a cover of The Misfits' 'She' - sold out within hours of release.



On March 25 2013 they released 'I Get A Taste' (via Hate Hate Hate Records), the follow-up to 'Bleed On Me' - and again, on cassette (like its predecessor, this also was to sell out rapidly).

To launch this they played a show at London's Tipsy. This is the show that was about as disastrous and ramshackle as could possibly be. If ever there was a case of a band wanting to blow their chances before they had even got anywhere, this was it. I was asked to go along to review it; by the second number in, I closed my notebook and decided against it.

For anyone who knows the venue, the room is no bigger than the average living space in many homes, and so when a glass bottle is thrown from the stage across the heads off the punters in front to kick things off, a free-for-all five-man strong - including Badwan, who spent most of the performance not just on the floor, but on the floor flat on his backside - mosh ensues throughout, and the vocalist at several points loses the microphone entirely to leave one hopeful grabbing it to start his own karaoke set, it all well, became not so much entertaining, as wondering if you were going to get out without a body full of bruises.

For Badwan, he ended up (a usual end of set sight) on the floor, flat out and down. He has more recently in interview made reference to the energy he exerts onstage and how on one occasion he did go near the line. Whether he was referring to this particular night, I don't know, but he certainly remained flat his back for at least ten minutes after the set had finished and punters (those that had remained) had filed out. The picture below says it all.

I have described the night briefly in a review I did of the next live show I caught at The Horn, St. Albans in early April. For the full account, with a little more in-depth of my opinion of them up to that point, read the complete article by clicking on HOOTINGANDHOWLINGMAGAZINE

As stated in the Hooting And Howling review, the night after that gig was a sleepless one for me as I played over in my mind what I had just seen, and how had they gone from being the band with such promise that I had seen just four months before, to descend to this? I really do feel that anyone who had never seen them before and had happened to walk in to the Tipsy show would never have wanted to repeat the experience. I, however, did, since I had to be sure in my own mind whether this night had just been a one-off, or whether it was the way forward for how Loom were set to continue. As you can gather from the review in Hooting And Howling (photo from the night below), it seemed we were back on track.

Partly due to the Tipsy show and the questions it had raised in my mind, plus a plethora of other topics I would have liked to raise and more I wanted to know about what lay behind the Loom facade (they were also about to release 'Acid City King' as a free download that month) an interview with Badwan was arranged in early May. At that time, he had still to do a full interview. The notion that we writers just throw a few questions together half an hour before an interview is a fallacy, I assure you: much time and care going into any piece that is deemed worthwhile.



So it was that when Badwan's 'people' set a Monday morning phoner with him, the weekend was spent in research and copy prepping (this was to be a fairly in-depth piece, not a simple and short Q&A). Obviously my intention was not just to do a good job on drawing out my subject, but it was much a personal thing as well given that I was also a fan - and one who had for the previous six months been on-side from the off and had not just jumped on the 'buzz band' bandwagon that had started rolling out over the early months of 2013.

On the morning of our scheduled rendezvous, less than three hours before it was to take place, word came through from his 'people' that the interview was off. No apology. No explanation. No rescheduling. Never mind the effort I had already expended. Never mind it meant my having to let an editor down. As if that were not enough, when his people were asked for a reason - ie was it an interview per se he didn't want to do, an interview with the zine for which it was intended, or was it simply just me that was the problem? - we received only silence. That was after, when I had the temerity to mention that as Badwan had given me his contacts previously, perhaps I could ask him directly about it, I was informed that I was strictly forbidden to make any contact with him or discuss the issue.

How did I feel about this? Angry? No, not so much annoyed as bitterly disappointed and, yes, actually quite hurt because I took the whole thing very personally. What went through my head at the time was the adage of being nice to people on the way up as you made need them on the way down, and the words 'precious' and 'up himself'. I would point out, however, just to make it clear, that I had (and that is still the case to this day) no knowledge of what came from Badwan directly, or what indeed was relayed to him personally or he knew about, and whether he knew that the person requesting this interview was one and the same as the person he had met (not that that would probably have made an iota of difference).

As chance would have it, some weeks later at an event in London where, in one room, were gathered various members of at least a dozen of the country's hottest and up-and-coming bands, our paths crossed again. As I stood talking to the ever-charming Tom Dougall from TOY whom I had met previously, and Matt Saunders and Jordan Cook from the as yet unknown Telegram (whose second gig ever I had caught just weeks before, and had featured in an introducing piece here on LIB), I caught the figure of Badwan out of the corner of my eye.

Debating whether or not I should go over, I eventually bit the bullet and crossed the room to where he and brother Faris were in conversation. It felt like crossing to the dark side in more ways than one; not only was this part of the room less well-lit, but both brothers dressed in black and with expressionless visages, I could feel my resolve diminishing rapidly (no bouncy puppy this time) as I made my way over. Bringing up the interview matter, he hedged the question in an elusive and evasive way; as I recall indicating he took advice on which interviews to do and which not, although not elucidating on what he knew or had been advised in my case. On reflection, I might have been bolder had I had a few more drinks and would have been ready to clobber him with my handbag - "YOU STOOD ME UP, YOU BASTARD!" - but as it was I made my point, and beat a retreat across the room to the 'light' side.

Since that time he has undertaken a few short interviews, which have materialised online, or in a certain weekly music sheet. Nothing as I had planned or would have asked - nothing in these to challenge him; more just perfunctory question/answer format - and in all what comes across is here is someone who is not at all at ease in an interview situation; you can almost palpably feel the mussel being pulled from its shell, the tooth from its roots with every question. (So, Tarik, if by chance you read this, I just want to say that is how it was. That and that you would have enjoyed MY chat with you - truly! All my subjects laugh at points in our interview conversations - and so would you (or smiled, at the very least).

[Whilst Badwan's stage 'character' may be thought of as one who is certain 'offstage' to be as equally loud, rough and menacingly disturbing, he is in fact soft-spoken, guarded, with the mannered vowels that befits his background. I remember reading a live review that had spoken of his 'arrogantly stalking the room' prior to stage time. Vaguely knowing the writer and knowing they had never actually met, I wondered why he had jumped to such an automatic assumption. I am going to stick my neck out and say that like many of those in the public eye who can show adept showmanship and ooze supreme confidence when in front of hundreds or thousands, when in a one-to-one situation - particularly with strangers or people not that close to, they may be perceived as 'arrogant' or stand-offish since their reserve/shyness in the situation does not incline them to garrulous conversation easily. My personal view of him, Badwan, is of two quite different sides to one person. I could be wrong, of course, entirely wrong. I could be near the mark too.]

After the interview ignominy it would have been easy just to simply cross Loom off my list as not worth further bother. After all, I had already done enough in unpaid publicity through reviews, pulling in people to see them, talking to radio friends about them, and more. With any other band that might have been a relatively easy thing to do, but this one was different. I genuinely loved what they were doing and were about, so the easiest thing was actually not to ignore them, but just to ignore any lingering niggles I had about the interview issue.

In June 2013 Loom embarked on the 8-date Acid Cities Tour, followed by playing at London's Hyde Park with the Rolling Stones.

By this time they had also brought in Polish bassist Filip Zielinski, initially as a touring member. Early gigs, whilst he was still finding his 'place' within the group and getting to grips with the songs, he appeared like a rabbit trapped in the headlights - except in this case, stage spotlights. As the band have toured relentlessly during 2013, he now looks far more at ease on stage and has proved to be a worthwhile addition to the Loom sound. The one thing that does amuse me is what I term his 'pissing up a wall' pose (for example, see picture below from the first night of their Black Heart residency in September). It is to be noted that when there is a wall to one side, he will adopt a sideways on position to the audience and back to rest of group, like at a urinal! It doesn't actually work for me (Promoters: Stop giving him a wall!) as I feel they look far better from out in the crowd when working in tandem on three-way thrashings, centre stage. When that happens, they become those brief 15-second or so flashes of such brilliance that one wants to punch the air in delight.

On the hottest day of the year so far to that point, July 13, London's East End Live festival was suffering all manner of problems. The biggest one was that one of the venues, the Red Gallery, where Loom were due to play at 7pm, had such severe technical issues that the delay saw them finally take to the stage some three hours later than intended. The heat of the day, the tiredness, the partial dehydration - all vanished when they took to the stage and proceeded to whip the crowd out of its lethargy, producing one of the best sets I had seen them play with just the right amount of audience baiting (and importantly, more time on the stage than off it in Badwan's case). After stalking...I mean casually waiting outside with...them earlier, having gone around the other festival venues and seen a dozen other bands in the meantime, coming into the Gallery again I meet the five of them, walking almost in a horizontal line (like characters in a spaghetti Western, except without the hats...or the horses. I am sure they had the pistols) towards me - which I had to negotiate my way through while doing five quick 'hello's'. Even he who 'jilted' me was radiating that devastating smile this time.

August 19 saw the release of 5-track covers cassette, via Hate Hate Hate Records.
Limited to 200 copies, it included a number of songs that have been influential in their own musical output to date: Seasick (Jesus Lizard), Big Take Over (Bad Brains), Warsaw (Warsaw before they became Joy Division), Caribou (Pixies) and Bite It You Scum (GG Allin).



September/October 2013 saw Loom play a four-night residency at the Black Heart in Camden.

Loom play several warm-up shows in November 2013 - including The Victoria, Dalston (below, first) and The Finsbury (below, second) - prior to their end-year Seasons Beatings tour.

Their official debut EP, the 5-track 'Lice' was released on December 16 2013 thru Hate Hate Hate.



A year of Looming. As someone who rarely sees a band more than once (twice if they are really good), having now gone into double figures on Loom excursions, this could well be serious. They will certainly have a challenge in the coming year to keep me fully engrossed. And that's what I want: to be challenged. For them to keep me on my toes, not knowing what to expect next. For Loom themselves, something tells me that the next six months could well determine their future. With presumably the debut album arriving in the first half of 2014, an awful lot will inevitably be riding on how well it's received. Personally, I hope they combine elements of the raw and visceral grunge of the 'Bleed On Me' ilk, with tracks similar to 'No Control' which harness more melodic structures and show the depth alongside the ferocious and biting passion that's unleashed on the surface.

What do I think of Loom, as individuals? Well:

Fil: Wygląda na miłego chłopca.
Matt: Very swirly hair. Will never let me have a setlist*
Neil: Makes me laugh. Scorpio (you know, the sign that goes in for a lot of sex - kinky sex. Nudge. Wink. Say no more!).
Josh: Plays a mean guitar. Has a nice dad.
Tarik: He's just...well, he's just gorgeous...when he smiles.

(*Loom seem to be very guarded when it comes to some matters of how their brand is delivered. The lack of interviews and background by and of any of the members keeps them shrouded in a certain mystique. Whilst on one hand that works in meaning that they are not over-exposed and the public saturated with them constantly every which way, it also means that there is little connection with their fans. In the age of social media it is an understood given that this is a vital means of attaining and keeping your fanbase. Maybe Loom don't care one way or the other, but personally I feel a little more outreach should be a measure they address as they head into an all-important 2014.

Another aspect is that they do not allow their setlists to be taken after a show. I learnt this to my cost earlier in the year when seeing one laying discarded on the stage, made to take it - until Matt prevented me: 'We don't give them out'. Even the fact that I was reviewing that particular gig and it was the first time I had heard 'Yosoko' and therefore did not know what it was called, did not get me past the Loom police! In the end, as on another occasion, a photographer helped me out with a later photo of the list they had taken.

I think anyone who manages to obtain one must be in a very small and unique club - which I have now joined. [I am not too sure why fans actually want the physical pieces of paper that a band writes out their night's set on, or what they do with them. Only times I ever try to get one is with an artist whose songs I am not familiar with in order to correctly title when later writing about.] The setlist below comes from their November 2013 Dalston Victoria gig. Seeing it laying there, after the band had left the stage on the last number, my eyes honed in on it - then I went hell for leather on a grab-and-run! Ridiculous as it may sound, I did feel quite chuffed I had finally succeeded - even if I still half expect to be hearing from their lawyers about the return of 'stolen property'.)

Loom are: Tarik Badwan (vocals), Joshua Fitzgerald (guitar), Matt Marsh (guitar), Fil Zielinski (bass), Neil Byrne (drums).