What if The Strokes were into 60s folk or Midwestern emo instead of garage rock? This might sound a little bit like Little Grandad. The band has been gathering a ton of buzz in a laughably short time, already tallying more than 60 gigs in the year 2026.

Little Grandad’s ascent to become the UK’s latest grassroots alt folk sensation, came with slightly less fanfare than The Strokes. The quartet first played together at an open mic night at an East London venue called Haggerston Signature Brew. Much like fellow scene dwellers Mary In The Junkyard, they are a democratic group with all mittens on the steering wheel.

The group formed around the brothers Harry and Jack Lower can churn out pristine well-crafted songs with incredible melodies one moment, and the next be content just figuring things out on the fly. With guitar player/trumpettist Ned Ashcroft and drummer Jimmy Brennan joining the Lower brothers, Little Grandad seems to be growing up before our eyes in real-time.

“Little Grandad’s songs simmer and explode, wind up carefully and then freewheel, switch gears and tempos and never worry about conventional structure or harmony so much as make-it-up-as-we-go spontaneity and trial-and-error journeying” – The Line of Best Fit”