Earlier this year, Crewe’s finest export University released their debut album McCartney It’ll Be OK – a record that immediately felt like a classic, each track resonating with a timeless quality. In September, they took the album on the road across western Europe and the UK, stopping in London at The George Tavern during its 21st birthday month, joined by paper hats in a perfectly matched double bill.
Paper hats opened the evening, beginning with a false start before launching straight into their signature storm of whirring guitars, chaotic drumming and rupturing basslines, sending the crowd into an emotive frenzy. Their sound was uncompromising, their stage presence as heavy as the music itself, and by the time they closed with their only single to date, D’Artagnan, the George was already at breaking point, the audience shouting along in collective musical pandemonium.
University then took to the stage, entering to one of drummer Joel’s favourite tunes, with band mascot Eddie holding up a sign for the first track of the night – Notre Dame Made Out of Flesh, from their debut EP Title Track. From the first notes, the room was plunged into their mathy, emo-inflected world, where frantic, Zach Hill–like drumming collided with finger-tapped guitar lines, each member locked in and creating a catharsis that exists on record but becomes overwhelming in person. Zak’s improvised flourishes, Ewan’s immense bass sound and Joel’s chaotic yet precise drumming all combined into something exhilarating, while Eddie, sat playing a PlayStation 2 throughout the set, pulled the performance into a different dimension, lacing it with a strange nostalgia.
The setlist ran through much of McCartney It’ll Be OK, broken up by moments of dry banter, Zak at one point joking that Massive Twenty One Pilots Tattoo was a Nirvana cover, while also offering glimpses of what is to come in two unreleased tracks, Post Malone and a currently untitled song, both pointing towards a broader palette, occasionally less aggressive but still reaching the same emotional release.
University proved themselves to be a band best experienced live, where intensity, emotion and precision combine into something unforgettable. Their next release, the EP YES, arrives on the 26th of this month, with lead single Bee already revealing a more tender and reflective side. Beyond that, they are set to appear at Deftones’ one-day US festival later this year and will return to London to open for Militarie Gun at the Electric Ballroom. From Crewe to the wider world, University are on a trajectory that suggests growth, ambition and the ability to remain both cathartic and compelling.
Words: Noelle Radewicz Photos: Steve Gullick