Start Listening To: Truthpaste
The Manchester-formed five-piece talk friendship, Frankenstein references, and finding joy in the ridiculous.
Truthpaste are a band who wear their weirdness with pride. Born out of a tight-knit friendship group that met at uni in Manchester, their music blends folk, pop and experimental flourishes with a playful, anything-goes attitude. Their debut single “See You Around” captures that spirit perfectly, a loose, lived-in anthem about friendship, love, and those formative, chaotic house-share years. Now based between Manchester and London, the five-piece are gearing up for a big year – with more music on the way and a slot at Green Man on the horizon. We caught up with them to talk about the song’s origins, the joys of not taking yourself too seriously, and the importance of having fun – whether on stage or just watching daytime TV with your mates.
For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?
Esme: We are friends in a band called truthpaste.
Claire: and we met at uni in Manchester, but none of us are from Manchester.
James: It’s sometimes hard to say but essentially pop music with elements of folk and electronic.
Esme: We like to have fun with our music, it varies a lot. Sometimes it's slow, sometimes it's fast, sad, happy, angry, you name it.
Theo: We basically try to write catchy melodic songs -
Euan: Anthems of sorts.
Your debut single, "See You Around," is described as both a coming-of-age anthem and a meditation on friendship and love. What was the moment or feeling that first sparked the song?
We wrote it on Theo’s 22nd birthday. The feeling was all being in this messy house at uni. Everyone feels such a mix of intense emotions in these environments and it arose out of finding one another within that.
Esme: I vividly remember the moment we first put the song together because people in the house heard us playing it in Theo’s room and came in and started singing it with us. It was a really nice and communal moment and I thought, yeah that’s a fuckin good song.
I remember going back to my house and playing it to my housemates and loving the track and just thinking wow i can’t believe we just wrote that.
How was the single produced?
Theo: It took us a couple goes to capture our live sound in the recording. The final version was produced by our friend Nathan Shawyer in his part studio part shed in Beckenham Esther.
You’ve been playing "See You Around" live for a couple of years now. How has it evolved from when you first wrote it to the final recorded version?
Esme: It barely has to be honest.
Claire: Some of the instrumentals have changed, particularly the violin bits. For the first year of playing it, I just played whatever I liked. It changed at every show. Until i finally decided on something I liked and have stuck with that since
Esme: And we’ve weighed up playing it with and without drums a few times. And I think as we’ve played we’ve got tighter as a band, so the whole track became tighter too.
Theo, you’ve said that discovering a simple guitar technique was a breakthrough for your songwriting. Can you tell us more about this?
Theo: I basically just got really into alternative tunings - initially dadgad, open D etc then a bunch of weird suspended ninth and C/G subdominant stuff, the vast majority of which I learnt from Martin Simpson's prolific didactic YouTube output. This just made the guitar a way more exciting and inspiring instrument for me. It feels like you can do more with less this way. Guitar wise, see you around basically consists of slight variations on the same thing the whole way though, but it doesn't get boring... I hope?
Esmé, you’ve mentioned that the song captures the essence of your Manchester years. Are there any specific moments or memories from that time that found their way into the lyrics?
Esme: Yeah there are a few things: the willow tree that was my road in uni, the huge amount of time I spent watching daytime television with my friends (my dream life is to watch tv with someone i love forever), and even the frankenstein reference is from my english degree
Theo: although initially it referenced Wittgenstein from my philosophy degree
Esme: anyway, I don’t want to give too much away though ahah
You’ve built a strong presence in both Manchester and London, playing venues like The Windmill and Band on the Wall. How have those two music scenes shaped your identity as a band?
Esme: We had a really nice scene in Manchester with catbandcat, and a bunch of people in our year at uni who played a lot of experimental music. There’s a lot of stuff going on in Manchester like the Curious Ear gigs and our friends that run Skribble as well and things going on at venues like the Carlton Club. Last year we lived in this huge house with a bunch of different musicians, people would be walking past our house hearing all this crazy folk and experimental music coming from inside
Euan: Being surrounded by weird and wonderful music for five years definitely had an affect on our music. I think people are a lot more free to make stuff in Manchester, which makes a difference, and we’ve really enjoyed playing alongside bands like ANOTHER; COUNTRY $$$$ over the last couple years.
Esme: London is different though, it’s so big. A bunch of us grew up in London, so when we moved back it was kinda rejoining a scene we used to be a part of in different musical projects
Theo: I used to be in a band called Rattletooth which played at the Windmill a bunch, so it’s been nice playing to and with familiar faces but now as Truthpaste
James: But yeah returning to London has more been exciting than daunting for sure
Truthpaste is described as a "movement of fun." What does that mean to you, and how do you make sure the sense of playfulness stays at the heart of what you do?
We don’t take ourselves too seriously and I think that’s a really important quality in art these days. we want to invite everyone in, sometimes music is a bit intimidating and we just want everything to have a truly good time.
Euan: We just try to have fun whatever we’re doing, whether we’re rehearsing, writing a new song or playing live.
Claire: All those little jokes you make in rehearsals whilst you're just being silly with you mates, some of those moments make it into our songs.
Esme: Being playful and unafraid to look ridiculous at times definitely helps us create more weird interesting stuff - I love throwing in the occasional random lyric that we’ve sung as a joke because sometimes I think that that’s just as meaningful as any poetic metaphor. We play around a lot with what we do genre wise, which is why sometimes we are hard to place, and along with switching round a bunch of instruments in our live performances we keep the audience on their toes and I think that makes the live show fun as you may say.
Your debut is coming out on Memorials of Distinction, a label known for supporting unique, genre-blurring artists. How did that collaboration come about, and what drew you to them?
Claire: We were familiar with them as they are obviously a very respected label, also they manage Caroline who we are all huge fans of, so they’ve been on our radar for a while.
Esme: When we had the single and the video a friend of ours encouraged us to send it to them and the rest is history. It turned out AJ knew Nathan who recorded our song and her and Josh are just really great down-to-earth people, we knew it was right from the start!
The music video for "See You Around" was directed by Louis Hudd. What was the concept behind it, and how does it tie into the themes of the song?
Theo: I had this Monty Python inspired idea in my head and we really wanted to wear some armour. Originally we were going to get everyone in armour but turns out that’s very expensive. Esme wanted there to be some kind of theme of “seeing people around” and them all being kind of weird and then making friends. Louis Hudd very graciously listened to all our ranting and came up with the wonderful storyboard which is honestly genius and completely captures everything we were garbling at him.
Esme: Yeah, I love how it really focuses on friendship and it’s really funny but also like kind of emotional because it’s silly stuff but has a sincere and nostalgic feeling. We wanted it to be sincere and still fun ; in retrospect I guess it kind of mimics all of us meeting and uniting.
You’ve played a lot of shows over the past couple of years. What’s been a standout live moment for you so far?
Claire: Last year we played at Tonnau festival in Wales which was super fun.
James: At the end of our set, we ended up jamming with Souls Liberation who was MC ing the stage. It was completely unplanned but a lot of fun and yeah probably one our stand out live moments so far
Euan: Yeah, other than that, our show at the beginning of the year at the George Tavern, that was a great vibe too.
You’re set to play Green Man this summer! What does a Truthpaste festival set look like, and are there any acts on the lineup you’re especially excited to see?
Esme: So excited for Green Man, looking forward to seeing MJ Lenderman!
Theo: Not sure what our set is looking like completely yet but we’ll have some fun stuff planned. Always excited to see Fat Dog, and Richard Dawson too.
James: Naima Bock, John Grant, Underworld, Richard Dawson as well and mark william lewis
Claire: Nilüfer Yanya!
What do you love right now?
Euan: Curly wurlies
Theo: Gymnastic vids on ig
Claire: Eating food
Esme: Traitors US
James: Going to Cousins in holloway
What do you hate right now?
Euan, Esme, Claire, Theo: the political and economic state of the world right night now *in Jaden Smith voice
James: this band and kids that go ahha
Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s still important to you?
Theo: Vagrant Stanzas Martin Simpson - used to listen to it in the car with my dad when I was like 12/13 then rediscovered it in lock down and everything I've done on guitar since then has been down stream from that. Also maybe Surfa Rosa - Pixies coz I've listened to it hundreds of times and it never gets old and I can do the washing up to it.
Claire: A Seat at the Table by Solange. It's important to me because I loved it at the time and i still love it. It's beautiful, and it reminds me to be resilient and resistant.
Esme: Marquee Moon by Television, it just sticks with me, just because all the interwoven parts are so beautiful and almost classical. I’d love to make music like that!
Now that your first single is out, what’s next for Truthpaste? Are there plans for an EP or album in the works?
Esme: We have a lot of songs up our sleeve so yes would we love to get them out there soon!
