Jamaica Plain alt rockers Krill are upgrading.
Gearing up for their first headlining tour in almost a year — which kicks off at the Great Scott on Monday — to support their recent EP Steve Hears Pile in Malden and Bursts into Tears, Krill traded in their station wagon for a van. “It’ll be super spacious, especially since we drove around in a sedan before,” says singer/bassist Jonah Furman. “Touring is actually extremely boring, though. There’s a lot of sitting in absolute silence, a lot of gibberish. There’s nothing to do and it’s every day for 25 days in a row.”
The promise of visiting new cities like Birmingham and Nashville makes the drives a little more bearable, especially knowing they won’t be re-doing weird sets like their 7 PM slot at a Hard Rock Café in Phoenix, Arizona, last year.
Furman, guitarist Aaron Ratoff, and drummer Ian Becker — who their label Exploding In Sound accurately calls “mighty, handsome, and spry” — craft up lofty indie rock that takes pride in its ambivalence. Their songs find charm in dissonance, making the usual guitar/bass/drum combo sound way more off-kilter and anthemic than your confused heart knew was possible. Best of all, they rock the shrugging ‘tude of Stephen Malkmus.
Furman, Ratoff, and their former drummer Luke Pyenson grew up together in the suburbs of Chicago. When Ratoff flew out to attend Tufts, the other two slowly followed him there. “By the time he was out of school, we were ready to do this band thing and we had mostly established ourselves here,” says Furman. “For me, it feels like home. I’ve been here three years now and Aarons been here since 2008.”
With the release of their newest single “Peanut Butter” off an upcoming four-way split 7” with Ovlov, LVL UP, and Radiator Hospital, Krill may be taking them farther away from home — maybe an upgrade to air travel is in the near future.
“People have been asking us to play in Scotland and London and Ireland,” he says, the result of “Peanut Butter” premiering on NME and other British websites. “We’ve actually been playing it for a year and a half, but now people may know it. Half our set is stuff nobody has ever heard, too, but it’s not like we’re famous anyway so most people haven’t heard anything by us before.”
Their single did recently garner attention on Twitter from, of all people, Peanut Butter & Co. “When they tweeted at us [congratulating us about the single release], I Googled their company and saw their flavors. There was one called cinnamon swirl and it seemed easy to reference. I guess they took that as a sign… so they sent us 36 jars,” he says. “That’s an insane amount. Especially because you go through a jar in two weeks if you’re a normal person. We got something from Teddy’s peanut butter, too, and their Twitter’s really weird. It’s all so confusing.”
As they’re currently sitting on a pile of written and record material — the makings of their next album — they’re waiting for the right time to release it. As for the name, they have plenty of time to make it work.
“We were toying with making the album title Pepto-Bismol or something to get other brands engaged with our brands,” he says, laughing. “It’s stupid. Might as well get some weird corporate bullshit out of it.”
KRILL + BRUNCH + IAN + DARK RODEO. GREAT SCOTT, 1222 COMM AVE., ALLSTON. 9PM/18+/$8.
