The Tubs Throw A Joyous, Raucous Party at London’s Oslo Hackney

LIVE REVIEW | The Tubs – Oslo Hackney, London 03/27/25, by Morris Shamah

The Tubs are one of our nation’s best kept secrets – born from the ashes of legendary punk band Joanna Gruesome, and self-described as jangle-pop band, The Tubs are Owen Williams on guitar and vocals, Taylor Stewart on drums, Max Warren on bass, and, as of recently, Dan Lucas on guitar. On record, they’re the indie-rock singer-songwriter band you wished you knew about in university. Live, they make you forget that university was 15 years ago.

The evening starts with a 35 minute set from Expiry,  who bring a slide-guitar meets six-string bass singer-songwriter alt-country vibe to the proceedings. “This is probably the calmest 4 minutes you’re gonna have tonight,” they declare, introducing a ballad. They’re not wrong. 

Main support Hitmen, the new group from Karim Newble of Island of Love, swing in the other direction. A pop-punk/emo band with a full-on three-guitar attack, extended compositions, and passionate vocals, Hitmen may as well have come straight from 2005, and they’ve got their debut album available on cassette to prove it. It’s melodic, it’s punky, it’s 27 minutes, it’s a cannon-ball shot of energy; a great opening set. And just like that, Oslo Hackney is full by the time The Tubs take the stage.

The quartet waste no time – jumping straight in with three songs from debut record Dead Meat: “Illusion, Pt. II,” “Two Person Love,” and “I Don’t Know How It Works,” after which drummer Taylor Stewart – who has a mic solely for the purpose of bantering with the crowd –  exclaims that they’re only going to play old songs, to knowing cheers from the crowd. This was only billed as a record release party for their second album, Cotton Crown, after all. They ultimately go on to play 5 songs from Cotton Crown and 7 from Dead Meat, but who cares, because the whole set is a blast.

Owen bashes around the stage like he’s blackout drunk (he’s not, at least he doesn’t seem so when he’s singing,) banging into his bandmates. Taylor peppers crowd work and bad jokes between the songs, while his cymbals consistently fly off the handle. At least three different people, including two from the audience, help put them back over the course of the set. Dan, new-to-the-band as of this tour, fits right in, his Rickenbacker jangling effortlessly with all of The Tubs’ noodly leads. When he takes the solos, he plays them as original guitarist George Nicholls does on record – until he doesn’t, infusing them with his own smooth take on jingle-jangle and you realise the future of The Tubs is bright (pun intended). Bassist Max Warren is still recovering from a car crash in the winter, and his replacement Craig Angus on the 4 strings holds it down excellently in his absence – even, or perhaps especially, when Owen is pushing him around the stage with his head.

Lan McArdle, co-lead singer of Joanna Gruesome and Ex-Vöid with Owen, joins the band for as guest vocalist two songs – “Narcissist” from Cotton Crown, and “Sniveller” from Dead Meat. It’s a London special, as Lan doesn’t like to tour (although they’re touring with Ex-Vöid in April), and there’s something immediately special when their voice joins Owen’s, their ethereal smoothness balancing out his folk-rock grit. “Sniveller” is treated to an extended intro and outro, as Lan messes with Owen and Taylor, making The Tubs’ best song even better.

“One More Day” is treated to a surprise, an extended outro reminiscent of Spinal Tap. Which of course leads Taylor to speak about Stonehendge, which of course leads to a heckle from the crowd against Stonehendge, which of course leads to Owen, in jest, calling for security to carry that person out. No bad takes allowed here.

By the end of the set, which comes too soon, the crowd is as hoarse from singing along as Owen is, and the jumping has started to move into the front row. The Tubs encore with “The Name Song,” delicious riff-pop-rocker from their Names EP, extended live with false endings and both Owen and Dan jumping into the crowd, where Owen continues to bash around into people, and Dan continues to get bashed around.

Over the course of an hour, The Tubs proved to be a powerhouse of jangle-pop-indie-punk, or whatever you want to call them. Possessed and tight musically, but bashful and sloppy in every other regard, I call them a fun breath of fresh air. 

The Tubs’ second album, Cotton Crown, is out now. The Tubs finish up their UK and Ireland tour this week but will return to headline Gob Nation’s All Dayer at the Dome in Tufnell Park on 25th October. You can get tickets here.
Catch Owen, Taylor, and Lan in Ex-Vöid, touring the UK this month. You can see tour dates and get tickets here.

Setlist – The Tubs

1. Illusion, Pt. II
2. Two Person Love
3. I Don’t Know How It Works
4. The Thing Is
5. Chain Reaction
6. Dead Meat
7. Narcissist (with Lan McArdle)
8. Sniveller (with Lan McArdle)
9. Freak Mode
10. One More Day
11. Round the Bend
12. Wretched Lie

Encore:

13. The Name Song

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