Guilty as charged: Oh, The Guilt

With their explosive live shows and dramatic songwriting, Oh, The Guilt are building up a passionate following in Bristol and beyond. From the fevered post-punk of White Car to the Gen X anthemics of Wired Jaws and Watch Yrself, their self-titled EP is a debut to be reckoned with. 

You’ve all been in bands before. Tell us your musical pasts – and how you came together?

Oh, The Guilt are Ami Amp (Forgery Lit), Chris Nicholls (Age Decay/An Axe) and Hannah Layhe (Iyabe/Fuzzbox). We all met through playing in the Bristol music scene and have been a band for just over a year.

The band are named after a Nirvana song, although you remind me more of contemporaries like Codeine and Come. Is that era of music important to you?

Absolutely, but we don’t feel our music reflects that era alone. We have pretty different musical backgrounds, and we think that really comes across in the music. 

You describe yourself as a post-punk band. What does that mean to you?

When we first started the band, the term post-punk was the easiest way to let people know what they could expect from us before we had any recordings down. We’ve definitely expanded beyond that now. Perhaps it’s time to update our social media accounts…

What inspires your lyrics?

Regardless of what we are influenced by, the honest answer is the lyrics come from what is happening in our lives at the time. Honesty is definitely the motto of the band.

For a first release, the EP is very assured and well produced. Did you expect it to turn out as well as it has?

We are really happy with how the tracks sound, and that’s down to working with such talented friends. James King (Anta) recorded and mixed the EP in J&J studios and Adam Coombs (Candy Darling) mastered it. From the moment we started the band, the three of us have had a really immediate, intuitive chemistry and people seem to pick up on that both on record and live.

At times you double up the vocals to great effect. Being creative with vocals seems to be a key feature of your work…?

The point of the band is that there isn’t just one main focus or front person. We all contribute to the music and that is reflected in how the songs turn out. 

Who is the star of the White Car video? Where did you find him / her?

That’s Archibald Tactful, also known as artist Rachael Clerke. Hannah and Chris went to see her show, Cuncrete, at the Old Vic when it was in its formative stages and the character of Archie struck a chord. The show was hilarious, dark and engrossing and it felt like Archie really embodied the lyrical themes of White Car. In the end all we needed to do was point a camera at Rachael and let her go. No direction needed. The first question anyone asks when they see the video is “Where did you find that disgusting guy?”

Are you touring outside Bristol much? 

Yes we are! We have had some great gigs in London and Manchester and have plans to play up north and in Europe later in the year. 

And what next for Oh, The Guilt?

Ami is off to Europe on a van adventure for around six months, and we are going to travel to meet her along the way and play gigs around Europe. We also have some shows booked in the UK and plan to record our second EP later this year.

Oh, The Guilt EP is available now from www.ohtheguilt.bandcamp.com

Read more: Preview: Oh, The Guilt EP launch