Get To Know... Truthpaste • Neu • DIY Magazine

Hello and welcome back to DIY’s introducing feature, Get To Know… which aims to get you a little bit closer to the buzziest acts that have been catching our eye as of late, and working out what makes them tick.

Driven by the quintet’s diverse tastes, Truthpaste are an outfit who pull together folk, electronic, and orchestral motifs under one delightful and distinctive umbrella. Originally formed while at university in Manchester, the group’s early output came together in small house-share bedrooms. Encouraged by a local scene that embraced both their weird and more delicate inclinations, the band developed a playful, organic approach to songwriting that’s shaped debut EP ‘I Don’t Know Either’ - a project that balances off-kilter and intimate tracks with new focus on their live sound, all while never losing their warm, melodic core.

Ahead of their turn playing The Great Escape fest this weekend, we catch up with the band - made up of Esmé Lark (lead vocals, saxophone), Theo Murchie (guitar, vocals), Claire Sun (violin, vocals), Euan McNeill (bass, guitar, vocals), and James Ballarò (synth, lapsteel, guitar) - for a very Serious And Professional chat about the story so far…

Describe your music to us in the form of a haiku.
Do you like this song?
Listen to it online then
Kind of weird if not

What are the stories behind your first instruments?
Esme: I started playing saxophone when I was 10, I wanted to play the harp but I wasn’t allowed because it was too big.
Theo: My parents bought me bongos for my first birthday.
Euan: I got piano lessons as a kid, not much of a story to it…
James: I had piano lessons, I also had guitar lessons for two months and then the teacher stopped coming and I never saw him again.

You formed at uni in Manchester - tell us a bit more about those early days.
Theo: I moved to Manchester to make myself a star - it’s always referred to as the city of dreams.
Esme: Theo went to Manchester because I went to Manchester.
Euan: I came to Manchester because it had a reputation for cool music and bands.
Esme: I wanted to be in Joy Division… But really, it was really nice; we had lots of very talented friends and the first year we were all trapped in our rooms making weird computer songs, and then everyone emerged and it was a rebirth - lots of bands making good music.

Did you have any fave local venues?
James: Fuel?
Esme: Fuel was the first venue for everyone, it’s very tiny and hot so 20 people constitutes a whole crowd and makes you feel quite famous.
Euan: Peer Hat, Castle Hotel…
Esme: We love White Hotel - we never played there, but maybe one day we will.

“In the first year [at uni in Manchester] we were all trapped in our rooms making weird computer songs, and then everyone emerged and it was a rebirth.”

— Esme Lark

Your debut EP ‘I Don’t Know Either’ showcases a real stylistic breadth, bringing together elements of folk, pop, electronic music and more. What would you say is the throughline or uniting factor between all your disparate influences?
Esme: Idk it just happened.
Theo: I think it’s all fun.
Theo: The throughline is that it’s all written by us?
James: Our mutual influences come out without us having to speak about it.
Esme: We just write song by song what feels right and it usually comes out as Truthpaste - I can definitely recognise when I write a song that’s meant for Truthpaste, and I agree with Theo that it’s got to be fun to play.

Between you, you can only take one album, one book, and one film to a desert island - what would they be?
Book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Film: Alvin and The Chipmunks: The Squeakquel, because it shows the harsh reality of the music industry.
Album: The Best of The Wiggles.

What are your respective party tricks?
Theo: I can put my hands behind my head and do a funny dance.
Esme: I can do a headstand and also be really, really annoying. Theo used to be able to a backflip…
Euan: I can juggle.
James: I have mobile eyebrows.

Finally, DIY are coming round for dinner - what are you making?
Theo: Do it yourself…
Esme: Broccoli pasta and oven pizza.
James: 15 loaves of bread.
Euan: I can make a nice lasagne?

‘I Don’t Know Either’ is out now via Dirty Hit & Memorials Of Distinction.

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