Freak

Chelmsford is a fairly dead end town, the sort of place young kids want to leave the minute the bright lights of London gets too close.
Connar Ridd hails from Chelmsford, and he's turned his frustrations into something positive.
Choosing the alter ego Freak, he has been working hard ever since.
Nasty, fuzzed out indie rock with a taste of barbed wire pop, Freak recently wrote, recorded, and released a brand new EP.
New cut 'What Happened?' is stripped from the EP, and it's accompanied by some brand new visuals.
Shot in Chelmsford, it's a gritty yet humorous take on day to day existence. Check it out now. - Clash Music

New musical love can only take me to one place…. Freak. This time I was certain about how the music was meant to sound and be listened to. Freak are England’s answer to Green Day. Not the Green Day of today, but the Green Day that is fun to listen to even twenty years later. And I found it impossible to listen to Freak as a music blogger. As soon as my social media necessities were done, I was bouncing up and down like a chunky hipster with no dignity. If there had been enough people to form a mosh pit in Zoo I would have happily ran the risk of glasses loss as the band crunched along shouting “no money, no honey, shitty job, not funny”. Forget grandiose avant-garde poetry trying to compare life with an irrelevant part of nature, this is how lyrics like life can be wonderful when you keep it simple and honest. Keep it going Freak! - Popped Music

[GIG REVIEW] Freak @ The Norwich Waterfront, 28/09/16

Chelmsford lad, Connar Ridd bought his fast pace, grungy rock, freakshow to the Norwich Waterfront last Wednesday in aid of Indie-Rock heartthrobs’ Sundara Karma. Newcomers Freak joined Sundara karma on their September UK tour, to a gloriously positive reaction from the Norwich crowd.
Prior to Freak’s arrival on stage, the drunken chatter from the crowd confirmed most of the youthful audience had ‘no idea who Freak are’. For those who had heard Freak’s breakthrough Single ‘ What Happened?’ compared him to a grungy version of ‘Ratboy’. It was great to see Connar(vocals), Sam(drums) & Jonn(bass) blow away any preconception the audience had by launching into the underrated intro banger ‘Floating High’. From then on, the carnage was ensured for the rest of the set.
Throughout the seven-track set, Connar spurred on the crowd to keep going mental, before jumping off stage and immersing himself in the crowd at the barrier. Even if the band has only been around for a short while, the musicianship and camaraderie between the three budding musicians were superbly tight.

Freak concluded the set with their biggest song yet, ‘What Happened?’Amusingly, the now pumped up audience had changed their minds about Freak after the chaotic set. Evidently, the buzz they have caused whilst on tour with Sundara Karma will only further their growing reputation as a rowdy and exciting live band.

FREAK is playing The Neighbourhood Festival on the 8th of October.

FREAK PERFORMED:

Floating High
I Like To Smile When I’m Sad
Everyone’s The Same
Someone Help Me
Nowhere
No Money, No Hunny, Shit Job, Not Funny
What Happened? - It's All Indie

Hands up who wants a dead on hybrid of Slaves and RatBoy? Hands up who wants there to be a scene called ‘Chelmo-rock’?

Your dreams may well be about to come true. FREAK (all caps) comes from Chelmsford and is the alter-ego of 18-year-old Connar Ridd, who’s got a whole bunch of industry people sniffing around him at the moment.

He put the ‘What Happened EP’ online a month ago, and it’s easy to see why it’s pricking up ears. The title track, with its bedroom bleeps, lackadaisical vocal deliver and ‘View From The Afternoon’ riff is pure UK indie punk 2k16.

‘Someone Help Me’ from the same EP, meanwhile, is ever-so-slightly more abstract, with trumpets a’la Rocket From The Crypt and a vocal that sounds vaguely reminiscent of Gavin Rossdale from Bush. Hard to tell whether either of those are intentional, but overall it’s not too difficult to see why quite so many people are currently swarming around Ridd…
Read more at http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-radar/new-music-of-the-day-freak-what-happened-ep-10323#tIkrdOLOt4uUWsAT.99 - NME