The Key Studio Sessions: Crills Wilson

“Even with the differences of opinion everybody brings to the band, I think we all went to Punk Rock High School,” muses Philly’s Crills Wilson of his bandmates. Earlier this year, the bourbon-folk rabble rouser lined up a roster of players to help him record his self-titled debut; most stuck around to become his live band. Some moments in their recent Key Studio Session leaned classic rock, and others more bootstomp country—but a rough-and-ready, riled up core carried across it all. You hear it in the Pouges-y tale of concertgoing woe, “Cell Song”, with its unforgettable chorus: “I went to a show at the Trocadero / didn’t get to go, no no no no.” You hear it in the brand-new “Worrying Like I Am,” a tune Wilson wrote about Occupy Philly; the song somehow divorces itself from the negativity of both the movement’s dismissive detractors as well as its defensive supporters, coming across as an empowering anthem. (I love the line “Speak out even if your voice is trembling.”) And you hear it in the overall energy of the performance; this ensemble is on its game as a live act. Catch Crills Wilson and the band in concert on Oct. 28 when they play an all-ages show at Danger Danger Gallery with The National Rifle. For the over-21 crowd, they also play Milkboy Philly on Nov. 4 with The New Connection.