Estrons: "Keep it real, hashtag"

They spit, snarl and rage but Estrons aren't a punk band. Their name means either misfit, stranger or alien in Welsh but there's nothing about them that screams outsider. Their music lurches forward with a confrontational rage, but Estrons are all about connection. At The Great Escape earlier this year, the band packed out their early afternoon show ("Doesn't everyone have a job? If they're queueing outside to see you, and it's 3pm, you're winning.") and conjured a community magic that's tough to find at festivals. It was the same on their headline tour. This isn't just a band with strong songs; this is a band with a stronger belief. Sat in a Brighton beer garden, there's an audible buzz around Estrons. It feels like there's always a ruckus about to erupt from the group, but that just draws you in further. They're a band you want to be a part of. Everyone's welcome. "It is a celebration," starts instigator slash vocalist Tali Källström. "I don't know what I'm celebrating exactly," she adds. "But in this current age, there's a lot more ideal stuff about how we should come across, and how we should be perceived. We're all very self-conscious now. You go on Instagram, and there are a million people who look a million times better than you, doing a million times better than you, who are a million times cooler than you and more talented than you, and there's so much competition. Estrons' music, it's a lot about just being proud of whatever it is that you do." Take ‘Drop', all hyperactive shakes, excited whispers, bursting energy and written in a police cell, with its insistence that "if you are a pile of shit and you aren't really winning at life, if you're just doing a job you don't feel particularly proud of, just enjoy what you're doing now. Because the future doesn't exist. For Estrons, it's about being a bit shameless and enjoying that." The band aren't ones for polish and sterile environments. They like grit, dirt and fuck the consequences. Sure, "it makes for a better connection, and we have these nice interviews, and we all look perfect," but the truth is, "I don't look perfect. I'm always sweaty or disgusting, and I haven't brushed my hair, and that's better." That's real. "It's about happiness. Even though it's direct and seems dark, it's about being completely shameless."