It’s our pleasure to introduce you to The Kabins.
Striding from the fields, forests and obscure towns of Devon, The Kabins assault the eyes, ears (and noses) of their audience with their aggressive, catchy, and rich sound.
Origins & Influences
Conceived as a pipe dream by schoolmates Elliott Plance (Guitar) and Todd Gilronan (Vocals), the Kabins took form when the baby of the band Freddie Clarke (Bass) roped himself and the effortlessly attractive Fe Randall (Drums) into joining the fold in 2022.
They took the county by storm, selling out their first venue and continuing to rampage across and beyond Devon, taking no prisoners and leaving no surface sterile. Later in 2023, the foursome claimed their newest victim, Alex Turner (Guitar). No, not that one.
Despite their unbreakable bond, when looking for creative inspiration, the Kabins walk different paths. While some revel in the glory of classic Britpop and Rock greats, such as Oasis, The Stone Roses, and Blur, Others prefer more contemporary Indie Rock and Bedroom Pop, worshipping bands like Hers. Also acknowledged are Shoegaze and Alternative Rock.
Despite all fighting their own personal and shared battles, The Kabins are keeping their momentum – playing often and working towards their debut album.
Beehive, Leave Me Alone, Warm Up
After their inception, the band released a demo EP ‘Beehive Sessions’ (Sept 2022) to national acclaim. After featuring on national radio shows like the BBC, the band embarked on a UK tour, playing at legendary cultural venues like The Attic (Glasgow) and The Fleece (Bristol), each gig drawing more fans than the last.
Fuelled by the buzz of progress, in February 23, the band went on to release their first studio single – ‘Leave Me Alone’ which adhered to a more aggressive, punk influenced sound. Their latest release ‘Warm Up (Stay For A While)‘ came out in June 23, was recorded and engineered by R&K Systems and then mixed & mastered by the legendary Pete Marten Music.
Band Members:
Todd Gilronan (Vocals)
Elliott Plance (Lead Guitar)
Alex Turner (Rhythm Guitar)
Freddie Clarke (Bass)
Felix Randall (Drums)
Where are you from? / Where are you based now?:
We all grew up in Ottery, but we are all in different locations at the moment. Some of us are at Uni, some have been or are about to go to Uni, some of us are working in Devon and some in Gloucester.
About the latest release:
‘Who Am I To Dream?’ is essentially a song about optimism and wanting to achieve something that you haven’t before or getting something back that you once had. It initially starts out as a tale of a love lost, but the overriding meaning of the song can apply to anything. It’s about trusting in the bad times within the good on your journey, and the fact that we are all entitled to a dream every once in a while.
Quickfire Questions
If you’re on the road…
The absolute essential item for us on tour is…
Todd; A nice smelling deodorant!
Freddie; My bass guitar, it gets left behind a lot!
Felix; A good book to read!
Elliott; A crate of beer.
Alex; Endless and relentless piss-taking of each other.
Our most challenging journey for the least payoff led us to…
Todd; Birmingham??
Elliott; Yeah, Birmingham, long old drive, and we played to a handful of people. We played Glasgow the next day to a mental, sellout and up for it crowd though!
Felix; I think every journey has some form of payoff, and even if the gig isn’t awesome, we find a way to have fun, play our live show and make new contacts.
Keeping fit on the road requires…
Todd; A Burger King pit stop every 25 miles.
Alex; A good sleep.
Felix; Ha ha, I don’t keep fit off the road, let alone on the road! But drumming a set of very fast Kabins songs do makes you get a sweat on!
Elliott; Lugging amps, guitars, pa, Felix’s drum bag of doom and several pub crawls before playing.
The coolest pit stop worldwide is…
Todd; Sedgemoor services on the M5.
Freddie & Alex; Nah, its Gordano services, every time!
Felix; Absolutely, and at Gordano services southbound, McDonalds is open super late, which is a godsend when your driving back from Birmingham at 3 am after a gig.
Elliott; Gordano all the way!
A must-have in our tour survival kit is…
Todd; My Gig Shirt, a back-up can of lager and a fajita at the ready in my gig carrier bag at all times!
Alex; Spare guitar cables, kettle leads, strings and a capo! We always forget capos!
Elliott; Painkillers, a neck pillow and extreme tolerance for Freddie’s erratic and unpredictable behaviour!
Freddie; Our manager, it’s his van!!! And lots of little packets of salt and pepper.
Felix; Plenty of rolling papers and an abundance of donuts!
The weirdest gig we’ve ever played happened at…
Todd; Whimple Rocks!
Freddie; Glasgow, which was both the weirdest and the best. We’d never played there before and it was rammed with up for it people who go nuts for live music. We love Glasgow and want to go back as soon as possible!
Alex; A School Fete, we performed outdoors to the complete age range in the baking hot sun. There were multiple Facebook groups all kicking off at once, people could hear us from miles away and were all telling one person to wind their neck in!
Elliott; Yeah, Glasgow. We love Glasgow. They made us get naked, and we’re still getting people asking when we’re coming back.
The place with the best bathroom graffiti is…
Todd; Bristol must have some of the best artistic spots. We’ve seen some awesome artwork from the van travelling up to play in Bristol!
Freddie; Our graffiti at the Kings of Clubs in our home town Ottery!
Elliott; It’s a tie between Retro Manchester and the Fighting Cocks in London. They are both plastered with band posters and photos with some of the most surreal things written on them!
The best part of performing live is the feeling of…
Elliott; People singing our songs back to us has been the biggest buzz for me, nothing really prepares you for that!
Todd; The best part is definitely the crowd singing our songs back to us, really humbling and great for the ego all at once!
Freddie; Ha ha, the best part of being on stage is feeling really tall!
The silliest thing ever said onstage was…
Elliott; For me it was Todd offering “one lucky member of the audience” at Festival on the Hills an Inspector Morse DVD.
Todd; Ha ha, yeah I did do that be fair. But how many people tried to grab it? Everyone loves Inspector Morse.
Freddie; When Todd said “to my right a very happy fellow, just don’t run into him in an alleyway on a dark night – ladies and gentlemen, Freddie Clarke.”
Felix; I’ve actually only ever been able to hear Todd like twice from behind my drums, so I don’t think I can testify accurately.
Alex; “Can I have a little more ‘me’ in the monitors”? Seems to upset every single sound man!
How we prepare for a show….
Todd; We drink, argue, reconcile, argue about the setlist then maybe a high five right before we walk on.
Alex; We get in the van and listen to some tunes. Then we make sure one of us goes missing when we’re meant to sound check, so someone has to go to look for them, and then they go missing.
Freddie; Socialising with anyone and everyone, have too many, argue about everything, then play a fast and boisterous Kabins show.
Felix; Probably fall out about something daft and reconcile over something equally as daft.
Elliott; Kip in the van, drink, argue, Freddie falls back asleep, one of us goes missing, sound check, argue again, reconcile, play the gig, pack up, go back to mine, party on, little bit of a cry followed by a life-threatening hangover.
Tell us about an independent eatery in Exeter you love.
- Todd; The Old Firehouse, best pizzas in Exeter!
- Alex; Oasis Falafel and Grill. A nice food stall in Guildhall with the best halloumi.
- Freddie; Bills. Unreal burger place, but I’m not sure if it’s independent but like honestly, get the bourbon burger. Life changing.
- Felix; I’m with Alex – Oasis Egyptian… Best wrap in town.
Shout out to a local business in Exeter and why.
- Todd; Can’t think of a business so I’ll just shout out Exeter City Football Club!
- Alex; Lukas Barbers, best barber in Exeter.
- Freddie; Bills. Have the Bourbon burger. you’ll never go back to other burgers.
- Felix; Herbies, I Iove their ethos and their food’s amazing!
What’s the best attraction/place to visit/hang out in Exeter?
- Todd; Wherever we’re playing! If we’re not, then the Quay is cool.
- Alex; The Firehouse, it’s got a great atmosphere, amazing Pizza and loads of great bands every weekend.
- Freddie; Probably Exeter bus station. there’s a service that takes you straight back to Ottery. Completely heaven-sent!
- Felix; Me and Alex have spent many summers lounging on Cathedral green people watching.
- Elliott; The Chevalier. Lots of characters to fire up your imagination for songs.