The Tubs from London
The Tubs are a jangle pop, post-punk, and traditional British folk-inspired pop band from London. Their first release was a 7-inch on Prefect Records in February of 2020, “I Don’t Know How It Works.”
After a few lineup changes, they recruited Steve Stonholdt on guitar, Max Warren on bass, and Matthew Green on drums.
The Tubs newest 7″, “Names,” just released in July on Trouble in Mind and Prefect Records.
The Tub’s leading creative forces are Owen’ O’ Williams and George ‘GN’ Nicholls. Owen was kind enough to answer some of our questions about the band their creative process.
Who comprises The Tubs:
Owen’ O’ Williams: Vocals
Max’ Wozza’ Warren: Bass
GN ‘GN’ Nicholls: Guitar
Steve Stonny: Guitar
Matt’ Chicken Burger’ Green: Drums
How did The Tubs start? Have you known each other long?
O: We’ve all known each other for years and years. Max, GN, Matt, and I played together in different formations of the band Joanna Gruesome, as well as a million other bands (as well as The Tubs:Sniffany and The Nits and The GN band).
Why did you choose The Tubs as a name?
O: I have literally no idea. I think it’s because we liked to refer to drums as ‘The Tubs,’ and I suppose it sort of fits the sound in some abstract way. I think it’s kind of gross; actually- there’s something unpleasantly sexual about the word ‘Tub.’ We were nearly called ‘The Friendly Band’ though, so it could have been much worse.
Who influenced your sound ad feel, and who would you say that you sound like?
O: Originally, we were listening quite specifically to a lot of modern Australian indie bands- Twerps, Goon Sax, etc.- and British folk adjacent stuff – Richard Thompson, Robert Wyatt, etc.- but the boundaries have sort of broken down, and now anything goes. On the album we’re in the process of recording, we veer between pub rock, post-punk, jangly Felt type stuff, and the above influences with very little warning or forethought.
Could you briefly describe the music-making process? How do you write your songs?
I will tend to write the bare bones of a song on an acoustic guitar we keep in the living room right before I’m supposed to leave the house. I think the pressure helps me get to the point more quickly. Then I’ll take it to our moldy practice room and flesh it out. It’s not a particularly laboured process.
What are the lyrics about?
There’s one song ( Two Person Love) about love addiction/erotomania. There’s another (Round the Bend) about mild psychosis. There’s also one about my band ‘The Snivellers.’ There’s not really any overarching themes, but I guess there’s a few tunes about being a little bit cooked in the head.
How has your song writting evolved since you started playing music together?
Like I said above, we’ve started just throwing shit at the fan, etc. I would say it’s gotten a lot more aggressive, though.
What is something that inspires you to keep playing music?
Just that I think it would be quite embarrassing to give up at this point.
How is the music scene in London?
Guitar music-wise- I think there are cycles of activity and stagnancy. In the 2010s, there was a pretty coherent scene based around venues like Powerlunches. But due to that venue and other venues being priced out of existence (as well as people just giving up and getting marketing jobs etc.), there was a bit of a fallow period for a while. In the years prior to the pandemic, though, we and a lot of new bands, quite a few of them a bit younger than us, were playing at a venue called Sister Midnight Records, and that was exciting. Some of our other bands have been more involved with the punk/hardcore scene, largely centered around Static Shock Festival, in more recent years, too, so I guess there’s been a lot of cross-pollinating going on. The pandemic has been a blow- we’ve lost places like Sister Midnight, for example. But, now we’re able to play again, there’s a lot of palpable energy in the air, as evidenced by the Gob Nation all-dayer our bassist Max put on in a warehouse recently, which was very fun.
What are your plans for the future?
We have a tour in October with Garden Centre and an album coming out on Trouble In Mind Records. Our guitarist GN is also trying to become an inventor- he’s recently patented an entirely new type of hat. (I’ll put it this way: you don’t wear it on your head.)
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