The Tubs

The Tubs Brighton

The Tubs play Brighton at The Hope & Ruin on Saturday 29th March 2025. Get tickets from 10am on 22nd November with only a 50p booking fee above or from Seetickets.

The Tubs’ second album, Cotton Crown, sees the Celtic Jangle boyband venture into darker, more personal territory while continuing to hone their highly addictive brand of songcraft. It’s a true level up album which sees the band expand their sonic palette to take in a kaleidoscopic range of influences: everything from soulful pub rock (Chain Reaction) to Husker Du aggression (One More Day) to melancholy sophisto-pop (Narcissist) gets a look in. As Pitchfork noted, The Tubs see jangle as a ‘vast world of moods and muses’ and Cotton Crown sees them continuing to explore this world and creating a distinctly Tub-ular sound in the process.

This is in no small part down to Owen ‘O’ Williams’ vocal performance- often compared to a young Richard Thomson- and his frank, bleakly funny lyric writing. Cotton Crown sees him delve further into his favorite themes of love-psychosis, unsympathetic mentally ill behavior, and the humiliations of being a musician in London. This time around, however, there’s a palpable sense of risk in his self assessments/confessions. No more so in the track’s closing track Strange- an accounting of the clumsy, intrusive, well-meaning social interactions that took place in the period following the suicide of his mother (the folk singer Charlotte Greig.) As Williams says: “I’d tried a few times to write a song about it. The result had always seemed either mawkish, simplifying or like I was hawking my trauma. But then this one came out, and it felt right because it looked at something smaller: the weird, unsatisfying, strangely funny ways everyone, including myself, acted after the dust settled.” The album artwork features an image of Williams as an infant being breastfed by Greig in a graveyard- a promotional shot taken around the release of her debut album (the re-issue of which was featured in The Guardian in 2023.)

The essential trick Cotton Crown plays is to offset Williams’ lyrical bleakness with joyous, hook-laden blasts of pop perfection. This is largely down to the guitar work of George Nicholls, who, across the album, effortlessly slips between the virtuoso jangle of Marr, the driving folk-rock of Pentangle and the chorus-heavy hi-fi grooves of contemporary bands like Tops or The 1975. Add to that the breakneck rhythm section of Taylor Stewart (Drums) and Max Warren (Bass)- who attack each song with power-pop ferocity, recalling Guided by Voices at their drunken-yet-tight best- and you’ve got yourself a recipe for indie rock greatness.

The band’s debut ‘Dead Meat’ was a word-of-mouth sensation that saw the band earn accolades from Pitchfork, The Guardian, MOJO, SPIN and more. They even gained some celeb fans: the inimitable Mark Proksch (The Office (US), Better Call Saul, What We Do in the Shadows) starred in the video for their “Round the Bend” single & punk legend Iggy Pop has praised them on his BBC 6Music radio program. Standing in opposition to the UK norm of post punk, and hookless high-minded indie prog, the album was described by Kitty Empire (Observer) as a “shot in the arm for indie rock”. The band’s hard touring and raucous, beery live show have seen them stand out at festivals like Greenman, End of The Road, Melbourne Rising and Canela Party. The band (minus Stewart) were previously members of Joanna Gruesome- who won the Welsh Music Prize, toured the UK and US extensively, and were praised in Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, The NY Times, The Guardian and others. Lan McCardle (Joanna Gruesome, Ex-Void) also provides backing vocals on several tracks. The Tubs are part of the Gob Nation collective-  the London-based network of bands, writers and promoters who were recently profiled in The Guardian. https://thetubs.bandcamp.com/album/cotton-crown

Upcoming Love Thy Neighbour shows:
20112024 – Andy Irvine. Lewes Con Club
21112024 – Alasdair Roberts & Donald WG Lindsay. Komedia
22112024 – Getdown Services. Hope & Ruin
22112024 – BA Johnston. Hope & Ruin (Bar)
23112024 – The Orb + Ozric Tentacles. Chalk
23112024 – Desperate Journalist. Dust
23112024 – Atticomatic. Rossi Bar
24112024 – Shovel Dance Collective. Lewes Constitutional Club
28112024 – Martin Carthy. Lewes Constitutional Club
30112024 – Porridge Radio. Chalk
02122024 – Victory Lap. The Hope & Ruin
05122024 – Blood Wizard. Green Door Store
05122024 – Die Twice. The Hope & Ruin
07122024 – John Otway & his band. Lewes Constitutional Club
08122024 – Stick in the Wheel. Lewes Constitutional Club
11122024 – Hollow Hand. The Hope & Ruin
12122024 – Hard Skin. The Prince Albert
12122024 – Predeceased. The Hope & Ruin (bar)
12122024 – Francis Pig. Daltons
13122024 – Dub Pistols. Concorde 2
15122024 – Yenkee. Folklore Rooms
15012025 – John Craigie. Komedia
15012025 – Langkamer. The Prince Albert
21012025 – The Bel Air Lip Bombs. The Prince Albert
22012025 – Jim Moray. Komedia Studio
23012025 – Belako. The Hope & Ruin
02022025 – The John Martyn Project. The Old Market
14022025 – Jake Xerxes Fussell. St Luke’s Church
20022025 – BABii. Green Door Store
21022025 – Rats on Rafts. The Prince Albert
21022025 – MAQUINA. The Hope & Ruin
22022025 – She Drew The Gun. Revenge
01032025 – Personal Trainer. Chalk.
09032025 – Sean Rowe. Lewes Constitutional Club
10032025 – Carter Sampson. Prince Albert
12032025 – Helen Ganya. Alphabet
12032025 – Pom Poko. Chalk
21032025 – Pure Adult + Cassels. Daltons
29032025 –The Tubs. Brighton
03042025 – Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs. Chalk
08042025 – Divorce. Chalk
20042025 – Chat Pile. Chalk
02052025 – Henge. Concorde 2
06052025 – Soccer Mommy. Chalk
13052025 – Snapped Ankles. The Old Market
29052025 – Throwing Muses. Chalk
30052025 – MJ Lenderman. Chalk
01062025 – Shonen Knife. Concorde 2

The venue is only accessible via a flight of stairs however they can offer access via a back door at street level to the venue if mobility is an issue or you use a wheelchair. There are 3 large steps via this route so assistance to gain access and to exit the venue would be required. We can arrange this if you contact us in advance of a show. Please bear in mind that they can only allow access in between bands due to sound issues. Two disabled toilets upstairs, both gender neutral. If you require a carer at the venue, please contact us at info@lovethyneighbourmusic.co.uk for guestlist, with evidence such as a blue badge or access card. If strobe lighting is an issue or if standing for long periods of time is an issue, please contact us in advance. They can provide chairs in the venue although if the event is very busy this will impede visibility. If you wish to make use of a chair to view a gig, we advise arriving early to secure a position. They are happy to accommodate assistance dogs.

The Tubs Brighton

The Tubs Brighton

The Tubs Brighton