Friday Pilots Club Set the Bar for 2024 at 'Nowhere' Bottom Lounge Album Release Show

I never claimed to be unbiased.

Hell, I'm not getting paid anything for this, so I'm actually quite open to being biased. Sadly, no offers (monetary or otherwise) have rolled in just yet. So for the time being, if someone wants to get a glowing review from me, they'll just have to do a good old-fashioned job of impressing me.

And by that measure, Friday Pilots Club had a hell of a head start.

I was lucky enough to get a preview copy of FPC's debut album Nowhere (now streaming, well...everywhere) weeks before its release, giving me ample time to digest and learn every nook and cranny of the record. I was even luckier to be able to catch up with singer Caleb Hiltunen and drummer Eric Doar for a quick interview on the eve of their sold out album release show at Bottom Lounge in Chicago. After devouring Nowhere as well as the multitude of singles and EPs the band has available streaming, I became a massive fan of a band that hadn't really been on my radar much prior to 2024.

The whole thing has put me into an awkward position. Fanaticism is a young person's game, and the number of bands in my life that I 'geek out' about are fewer and farther between the older I get. And while I wouldn't throw around words like "fanatical" and "obsessive" about my level of fandom, it has been quite a while since I've been in "no, trust me you need to listen to them" mode. And that's an easy spiral down "well if I feel this weird being like this when I'm 40, how weird is it going to feel at 50 or 60?" street and no one needs to take that journey today.

FPC couldn't ask for a better supporting bill for album debut show, having fellow Chicago three-word-name rockers Weekend Run Club and the surprisingly mysterious Better Love kicking the sold-out show off on the right foot. I headed into the venue, ticket in hand (not really because everything is on your phone these days), trying to check my bias at the door with security.

I had the pleasure of covering a Weekend Run Club set over a year ago at the Metro when they opened for Night Spice. They were really great that first time I saw them, but hot damn have they really stepped up their game over the last 15 months or so. A big part of that is having some killer material to draw on in the form of March's full length release "Liminal Space Race". The majority of their set was geared toward the recent release, including fan favorites like 'Prince of Wales' and the criminally underrated 'Liar, Liar'. Not wanting to disappoint fans of their older work, they still found a way to fit in not only a (ahem) killer version of Talking Heads' 'Psycho Killer', but also 'Always' and 'Holliday', using the former as an impromptu prom dance recreation and the latter as a proper call-and-response buildup for the end of their set.

In this day and age when we're almost oversaturated in the amount of information available about musicians, actors, and other public figures, it's rare that you come across a band that doesn't really have a ton of sharing. Better Love is already battling against search engines by having a band name made of two common words. They've got a threadbare bio on their Spotify page and none whatsoever on their iTunes profile. Maybe it's a strategy to let their music do the talking for them. If that's the case, it's an incredibly savvy move. Their songs kick ass and their live chops elevate the material to another level. While seeming to expertly live within the catchy pop-rock space that fans of Haim will feel right at home with, what was most surprising was Better Love's ability to take those types of songs and really give them a harder, more distorted rock edge when played in a live setting that made everyone just as likely to accidentally headbutt someone rocking out as step on their toes dancing.

All that talk about being so biased toward Friday Pilots Club at the top didn't necessarily mean I would automatically be handing them a glowing review. On the contrary, I'd become so familiar with Nowhere over the last few months and had been looking forward to the live debut of those songs for so long that I was setting the band up with a pretty high bar to clear, especially since the band had only had Shaky Knees Festival in Atlanta the weekend before as their only chance to try these new songs out live after being recorded.

And as crazy as it would be to throw a M. Night Shyamalan twist this far in and be like "TURNS OUT THE FUCKING SUUUCKED!", that absolutely is not the case. Couldn't be further from the truth. As the band took the stage (Hiltunen and Doar joined by bassist Drew Polivick and guitarists Sean Burke and James Kourafas), it felt like I wasn't the only one with a high-bar on the evening. With a venue that was headliner-packed for the opening acts and a merch line that threatened to exit the building, the atmosphere was at a fever pitch.

And holy shit, did Friday Pilots Club respond in kind. Not content sticking to their brand new album, they kicked the night off with an entire full set of older songs that the crowd was well-versed with and able to scream back every word of. Clearly reveling in the energy the jam-packed room was giving off, Hiltunen channeled his best Alex Turner energy kicking things off with fan-favorites 'Hot Mess' and 'Sleeping On the Ceiling' before cooling things off a notch with the laid-back, bass-heavy summer groove of 'Prblm'.

One thing that was apparent during FPC's 9-song pre-Nowhere set is how chameleon-esque they are as a band. I talked to Hiltunen during our interview about being a 'careful but respectful thief' when it comes to using your influences in your own work. Watching he and the rest of the band work their way through the first part of the evening, you could hear hints and snippets of other bands: 'Braking My Bones' would sound at home on an Imagine Dragons album. 'Would You Mind' brings to mind modern-day crooners like Ed Sheeran and Michael Bublé but with a bit of an edge. The Strokes walked so 'IDWBS' could run. And yet, even with all their sonic thefts and amalgamations, each one is still a Friday Pilots Club song, Nothing sounds disjointed or out of place. This is a brand that can seemingly assimilate and master any sound.

After a performance that would be a career-best for most bands, Friday Pilots Club were just getting started. With a simple "Ladies and gentlemen, this is Nowhere," Hiltunen and the band kicked off into the album's title track. Frenetic and insistent, it served the same purpose live as it does kicking off their album in demanding your attention and pulling you in. The follow-ups 'We Don't Wanna Talk', 'Vampire Disco', and 'Spectator' stand as the best songs Franz Ferdinand wishes they wrote. By the time things slowed down a bit for the back to back on 'Coffin' and 'Atlas', the crowd was practically eating out of the band's hand.

To say that the new songs play well live would be a massive understatement. On one hand, you could say that this show was a best-case scenario, with a hot up-and-coming band playing the release show for a highly-anticipated album in front of a hometown crowd. If anyone was going to be a rowdy crowd totally connected with the music, it would be them. But these were songs that, aside from a few single releases, had only been out in the world for less than 48 hours at the time of the show. These weren't songs that fans have even had a week to absorb, let alone multiple listens over a few months in anticipation of seeing a band live. These songs almost needed to be top notch in order to not lose the crowd. And in that regard, the songs on Nowhere and their live performance were more than up to the task. FPC did what the best live bands do, which is elevate their recorded material when delivering it live. The choruses on songs like 'Ultraviolet (Obsession)' and 'Nosedive' hit you in the chest and shake your molars just a little bit more in person. On the flip side of the coin, the raw emotion behind album closer 'Favorite Part' is something that hits you just that much harder in the feelings experiencing it with a room full of other people swaying along in unison as the absolutely massive choruses built to a point where it felt like your heart might burst.

It's been a while since I've been at a concert and truly not known if a band was going to do an encore or not. FPC had already played a nine song set before ripping their way through the entirety of Nowhere. They'd basically played two shows at that point. All would be more than understood if they left the stage for good, especially after the performance they had put on. But you knew the boys had a treat in store for the hometown crowd, especially after they had not let the energy drop a single percent for the entire extended runtime of the show. The band took the stage once more and ripped through 'Better With'/'For The Wicked'/Gold and Bones' before finally signing off to the evening in front of a crowd who would have stayed and watched them read the phone book for another three hours.

Look, I have no background in music. I'm just a regular dude who likes taking pictures at concerts and also takes the time to type out how much of a fun time you missed out on by not being there. I certainly don't have the worst taste in music, although it's probably not the best either. So I don't know what separates the good bands from the great bands from the transcendent bands that actually 'make it'. But I feel like I know great music when I hear it. Friday Pilots Club makes great fucking music. They write great songs. They produce catchy as hell tunes. Caleb can sing his ass off and James and Sean compliment him and each other to perfection on guitar. Eric and Drew do the perfect job of giving the whole thing structure while still providing momentum to each song. Nowhere is the best album I've heard this year. Their show at Bottom Lounge last week was the best show I can remember seeing in quite a long time. Whatever 'it' is, this band has it.

And now the good news. Every other concert I've reviewed over the last year and a half has usually ended with some kind of "Hey, did that sound like fun? Well the tour already came through your city so have fun waiting 3 years for them to come around again because you missed them!" But not this one! Don't just take my word on this band being the best new thing you can do to your ears...go see for yourself.

Live in the UK? Well the band is there RIGHT NOW! Their tour starts tomorrow! Or maybe it's today...I don't know how these massive time zone swings go.

And announced JUST this morning, the band also has an extensive fall tour in the US mapped out as well. As fantastic as they were last week, I can only imagine how much better they're going to be with a few months of live performances under their belts.

Tickets go on sale this Friday. Do not miss out or else you won't be cool when they headline Lollapalooza in a few years.

Friday Pilots Club Setlist - Bottom Lounge - 5.10.23

Hot Mess
Sleeping On The Ceiling
PRBLM
Breaking My Bones
Would You Mind
Life Support
Bury Me
IDWBS
End of It
Nowhere
We Don't Wanna Talk
Vampire Disco
Spectator
Coffin
Atlas
Outta My Body
Ultraviolet (Obsession)
Nosedive
Trading Punches
Favorite Part
Better With
For The Wicked
Gold and Bones