Estrons were a Welsh alternative rock band from Cardiff, Wales. The band's final lineup featured Tali Källström (vocals), Rhodri Daniel (guitar), Steffan Pringle (bass), and Adam Thomas (drums).
They maintained a relentless touring schedule throughout their existence, alternating between their own headline tours and tours supporting bands such as Slaves, Honeyblood, The Amazons, Garbage and Pussy Riot.
Estrons's debut album You Say I'm Too Much, I Say You're Not Enough was released in October 2018 to critical acclaim and was nominated for the Welsh Music Prize in October 2019.
The band officially disbanded on 20 February 2019.
History
Formation and beginnings (2013-2014)
The band's roots traced back to 2013 when Welsh-Canadian lead singer, Tali Källström, met guitarist Rhodri Daniel in Aberystwyth. After meeting, the two began collaborating musically, with Daniels writing music and Källström writing lyrics and vocal melodies, which lead to the creation of Estrons - Welsh for "misfits", "strangers" or "aliens". Together with their longtime producer Steffan Pringle who helped develop and hone their sound, the three formed the core of Estrons and after numerous lineup changes Pringle eventually joined the band as their permanent bassist in late 2016 (after a brief stint playing drums that summer). Even though they always recorded and performed live as a four-piece, this eventually led to the band being referred to as a trio in the press release for their debut album, the liner notes of which stated, "Estrons are Taliesyn Källström, Rhodri Daniel, Steffan Pringle".
"Make a Man" (2015)
"Daniel came up with [the music for] their garage-pop 2015 breakout song 'Make A Man' while standing between two sound-clashing rooms in a Berlin nightclub; Källström wrote the lusty lyrics as an attempt to bring the forthright sexuality of female rappers like Missy Elliott into the rock sphere." The song was first released on the band's SoundCloud account on 25 September 2015, while the music video was premiered by Noisey on 3 November 2015. On 4 December 2015 the song was released as a single.
"Drop" and She's Here Now (2016)
In March 2016 Estrons headlined the BBC Music Introducing stage at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, United States.
"Drop", the band's second single came out on the band's SoundCloud on 7 April 2016. The lyrics for the song were written when Källström ended up in a police cell. "I got arrested. And I was bored. So I just started reciting these lyrics. No wonder I ended up getting charged, they must have thought I was mental. I was fine in the end." "Drop" was released as a standalone digital single on 5 May 2016 and was subsequently released as a 7" single by Flying Vinyl with previous single "Make a Man" on the B-side.
On 26 August 2016 it was announced that Estrons would be supporting Slaves on their Back in the Van Tour in September.
They released their next single, "Not Your Girl" on 14 October 2016 and announced their forthcoming extended play, She's Here Now. NME described the track as, "Intense, bold and catchy, it's Estrons' finest moment to date."
Estrons released She's Here Now on 11 November 2016. The EP was described by Noisey as "blistering", and that the songs "don't skirt around their topics—they dive into them head first like a rugby player hurtling towards a kebab shop".
"Strobe Lights", "Glasgow Kisses" and "Cold Wash" (2017)
Honeyblood announced on 27 February 2017 that Estrons would be supporting them for various dates on their tour in April, May and June.
On 5 April 2017 the Amazons announced that Estrons would be supporting them on tour for two weeks.
The band released their next single, "Strobe Lights" on 28 April 2017. The music video was released on their Vevo page on 5 June 2017 and was premiered by DIY magazine on 6 June 2017. Källström told DIY that, "The song is about the competition between jealousy and love and the catastrophe that happens when a certain one conquers the other." They concluded the year with a headline tour in September and October.
In August 2017 Estrons released "Glasgow Kisses", the first track of a double A-side single. The second track, "Cold Wash" was released in September 2017. A video for "Glasgow Kisses" followed in October 2017.
Flying Vinyl also released a double A-side 7" vinyl in August containing "Strobe Lights" and "Glasgow Kisses".
You Say I'm Too Much, I Say You're Not Enough (2018)
Estrons began 2018 by announcing on 28 February that they would be supporting Garbage in September.