In this interview feature, we get to know the most radicalist up and coming stars on the planet.

This time we speak with satirical art-punks LICE.

Since "the cold, cold winter of 2016", Bristol's LICE have been spreading their sleazy sound around the UK's live circuit and winning over audiences with their witty lyrics, killer tunes and risky sense of humour. Taking inspiration from everything from the often lurid works of the Country Teasers to Can, Prog Rock and even Metal, LICE have managed to master the art of not taking themselves too seriously, whilst simultaneously creating incredibly exciting music that'll make you think. 

With a loyal fanbase consisting of fans, friends and fellow musicians, the quirky quintet's increasing popularity is a testament to their uncompromising sense of community spirit, combined with a genuine enthusiasm for new music. 

Having only ever released a string of electrifying singles from ‘The Human Parasite’ to ‘Stammering Bill’ and ‘Little John Waynes’ (not forgetting 2016's brilliantly raw selection of basement demos by the name of Nutmilk) the band's brand new double EP It All Worked Out Great Vol. 1 & 2 has been almost 2 years in the making and is finally available on Balley Records.

We caught up with vocalist Alastair Shuttleworth to learn more about the EP and their journey so far.

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TMR: It's been roughly 2 years since LICE came into the world and we're curious to find out how it began. How did you meet and what made you decide to form a band together?

We were all studying different degrees at Bristol University. Silas and Gareth met at a house party and posted on the University’s ‘Live Music Society’ Facebook page saying they were looking to start a band and the singer must be willing to ‘do and say horrible shit’; I replied out of curiosity, met them at a pub and hit it off with them immediately. They’d auditioned a different singer that day who was a Grade 8 vocalist, studying Music with his voice as his main instrument, but just felt he was ‘too good at singing’. Silas and Gareth took me back to Silas’ place and played me a couple of tunes they’d been working on (one of which would become ‘Love Your Island’) and got me to read out of a Physics textbook to see how I sounded. Our original drummer was a bit unstable and left Bristol after our first gig (he’s alright now though) but then Bruce joined in his stead and turned us into a proper band; his metal and prog influences gave coherent shape to our otherwise stupidly trashy sound and made us sound much tighter and much weirder, which was great.

TMR: You've had some incredible support slots in your relatively short existence, including Fat White Family and The Fall (R.I.P.), did you ever feel thrown in at the deep end?

We very much seeked-out the deep end haha. The Fat Whites support was like our third proper gig and only our second gig with Bruce. We got it because I’d interviewed them the previous year for student television and still had the tour manager’s phone number, so I harangued him for months to let us play for free at doors and eventually he let us. Through that show we met Shame, who got us our first gig at The Windmill supporting them, through which we met their manager who helped us score a support slot for The Fall (which I’d been trying unsuccessfully to get us for weeks); that was our twelfth gig. We didn’t (and actually still don’t) have a booking agent, and only got management a few months ago, so we’ve had to be incredibly aggressive with scoring shows.

TMR: It's not been long since you finished a sold out tour with fellow Bristolian punk enthusiasts IDLES. How did you find that experience?

It was magical; a real adventure, and two of the most fun weeks of our lives. We’re good friends with IDLES so we knew it was going to be a laugh, but they were also incredibly generous with their advice and their time, so in an unexpected way it ended up being a massive learning experience as well. We all took it quite seriously (I even cut out drinking before shows), and every night we’d just try our best to match their standard. The rooms ranged from 150 cap to 1,200 cap, every place was different (one gig was in a massive library) and the final night was our first European show, so a lot of very formative, useful experience was crammed into those weeks. We’re twice the live band we were at the start of the tour.

TMR: It's also worth mentioning that your new double EP, It All Worked Out Great Vol. 1 & 2, just came out on IDLES frontman Joe Talbot's very own Balley Records. What was it like working together on the release?

Unbelievable - we’re pinching ourselves. We’ve worked with Mark (our manager and part of Balley) more closely as Joe has been working 25/8 on stuff around the new IDLES album; however, where Mark’s been handling the business side of things, Joe’s been there for the creative side. His advice and help has been extremely useful and very humbling; him and Lee actually took a day out just to help us film the video for ‘Stammering Bill’. Since Balley is just Joe and our management, and we’re the only band on the label, the entire thing has also run at light-speed, which has been very intense but exciting. Imposing such unforgiving deadlines on ourselves with artwork, videos etc. has meant the four of us have been far more hands-on than we would have been otherwise, which has been very rewarding - I ‘directed’ and edited the videos for both the singles, and we’re all working constantly. It’s very inspiring to work with people that have their ambition and urgency; for the first time in our band’s life, it’s been us being chased to do stuff on email, rather than us chasing other people, and we couldn’t be prouder of the record that’s come out of it.



TMR: Having seen it performed a number of times in your live show, we're loving the recorded version of 'Little John Waynes'. Did you find it difficult to translate the visceral live energy into a studio recording?

Thankfully the stars aligned, and we came into contact with the perfect producer. Dom Mitchison is a genuine Bristol legend; he’s worked with pretty much all our favourite bands in the city, and as well as a current member of Spectres (one of our favourite bands full-stop) he was actually a member of local heroes Velcro Hooks. We caught their last gig on Silas’ birthday, when LICE was just starting, and it ended with everyone rushing the stage and the singer’s head being slashed open on a crash cymbal. In other words, the man has spent almost a decade at the centre of any ‘visceral live energy’ Bristol’s music has in it, and knows exactly how to get it out of a band in the studio; for example, for vocal dubs he built me a little fort to hide in with all the lights turned out so I wouldn’t get nervous and I’d let loose on my vocal takes. Half the songs on IAWOG were recorded with him in late-2016 and the other half in late-2017. In both sessions we did the instrumentation live to tape with just vocals and some extra guitar overdubbed, so the focus was very much on making it feel live; however, now and then he’d whip out a broken spring reverb pedal or mysterious noise-box for us to play around with to make it even more horrible.

TMR: Were there any specific inspirations, musical, political or otherwise that had a profound impact on the overall shaping of the EP, and if so would you care to explain? 

The record’s main thematic inspiration is hate. Through short stories, essays and monologues, it’s designed to explore forms of hate ranging from misogyny and racism to the hatred we direct at ourselves, both as flawed members of a parasitic race and products of a destructive empire. My hang-up with traditional ‘political’ songwriting is that it generally feels like throwing rocks at people we deem evil (certain politicians, racists, misogynists) when we all carry evil around with us, in our hidden biases and capacity for irrational hostility. I think that even the act of one of our listeners enjoying a song that presents a vicious rant against women (‘Gentleman’s Magazine’) demonstrates something interesting to that effect. I wouldn’t say I execute it perfectly - I’m still learning as a lyricist - but that’s the root idea unifying these songs.

TMR: Your dedication to championing Bristol's thriving musical community through your magazine (The Bristol Germ) is truly admirable. For those who might not be familiar with it, could you tell us a bit more about it?

Thank you very much! For the past several years, Bristol has been experiencing one of the most dramatic, inspiring and exciting periods in the recent history of UK music. Catalysed at the start of the decade by the new wave of experimental electronic music ushered in by Young Echo, and the DIY maverick heroics of Howling Owl Records, the city now teems with a stylistically eclectic but personally tight-knit community of artists, musicians and makers, disparate in their art but united by a fierce DIY ethic. There’s music coming out of Bristol at the moment that, were it given the exposure it deserves, would transform this country’s cultural landscape irreversibly, particularly in the cross-pollination between electronic and guitar music we see in acts like SCALPING, Giant Swan, Bad Tracking, The Naturals, MXLX and Silver Waves.



TMR: As a blog specialising in new music, we'd love to know who your favourite local artists are at the moment and what makes them so great?

My favourite band full-stop is The Naturals, and I demand everyone who reads this listens to their 2015 album Hive. They are the main band of Giant Swan, a fast-rising electronic duo who create industrial techno in improvised sets, using a set of rudimentary effects pedals, loopers and electronic drum-kits. I’d also recommend E B U, a dark and theatrical electronic pop project (she doesn’t have any music out yet but see her live when you can) and SCALPING, a guitar band who basically make heavy-as-shit techno accompanied by live visuals from Jason Baker (who also works with the spellbindingly-brilliant Kayla Painter). We’d encourage everyone to listen to Spectres, who sound like A Place To Bury Strangers opening the ark of the covenant, and Silver Waves - a bone-crushing industrial electronic project. Finally, I’d recommend the mighty Haze (a dazzlingly brilliant, DUDS-esque project) and abrasive improvisational/experimental collective EP/64. Haze and EP/64 (feat. Silver Waves) are supporting us at the Bristol launch on Thursday and it’s going to be utter carnage.

TMR: Are there any bands from further afield that you'd like to give a special mention?

Bo Gritz, Bo Gritz... a thousand times Bo Gritz. They just dropped a tape of old songs as a ‘closet clear- out’ and it’s still one of the best records of 2018 so far; they support us in London and we have no fucking clue how we’re going to follow them. I know Gareth’s currently very into DUDS and an American group called Bodega, and we’re all massively into Sweaty Palms – we had a sneaky listen to their album and it is fucking world-class. Their side-project Objectified is excellent too.

TMR: Last but not least, can you tell us what the rest of 2018 looks like for LICE?

Once we launch this double EP, we’re pouring our time into what we expect will be our first full-length album. The songs on IAWOG are all about two years old, and we were very apprehensive about how writing new stuff would be, now that our individual music tastes have changed so much. However, we’ve had a couple of writing sessions and it’s been ecstatically exciting; we’ve got about three new songs down and they’re all absurdly weird and the best things we’ve done by a million miles. The future is bright.



It All Worked Out Great Vol. 1 & 2 is out now via Balley Records. Catch them at London's Sebright Arms this Friday the 25th with support from Bo Gritz (of course).

-Holly Mullineaux