Tooth on their raucous weekend at The Great Escape and debut EP 'Restless In Bloom' • Neu • DIY Magazine

“I only woke up three hours ago…” confesses Ben Ashley, sharing his first Friday night pint with DIY at Tooth’s cosy temporary base in central Brighton. Currently two-fifths through a hectic schedule at The Great Escape, the guitarist is still reeling from yesterday’s buoyant midnight set. Though that slick performance demonstrated how seriously the four take their craft, they also aren’t afraid to embrace the hedonism.

“The fun and enjoyment of the band has always been a priority for us,” confirms frontman Tom Pollock. “As long as we’re having a laugh together, we could happily play an empty room in Stoke-on-Trent or headline Glastonbury.” The pair met bassist Charlie Arnison at school and found their drummer in Roy Lowe, but turning 18 catalysed a spoken shift in mentality. “When you leave school and your life isn’t timetabled anymore, it feels like there’s more at stake,” reflects Tom.

The pair’s “path of discovery” would take in the likes of Bloc Party, Pixies and Rage Against The Machine - a “nice way of saying ‘watching YouTube videos’,” smirks Charlie. The quartet’s collective taste also takes in country and jazz, as well as “weird emo bands with five monthly listeners”. It’s within this shared love of all things alternative that they found purpose. “We didn’t really get on with that many people at school,” says Tom. “No one else would get the references or know who Sonic Youth were. Being 16 and having your own little world together was quite informative.”

“I want to be doing this for the rest of my life.”

— Tom Pollock

They celebrated entering adulthood by nosediving into the London gig world, notably including a weekly residency at The Blue Posts in Soho. It was in the intensity of the capital where they discovered that once-elusive sense of community. “There’s a lot of people also fighting for the same opportunities, but the fact you have them in the first place is what’s great about living in London,” says Ben. The city’s recent explosion of raw, grunged-up rock feels impossible to ignore, and Tooth’s sound carries a distinctly Midwest emo twist alongside it.

“Lots of bands from the ‘90s have had this massive resurgence… kids are craving their own generation’s version of that,” suggests Tom. “Kids nowadays want to claim something that’s their own and not have to look back into the past.” Audiences - of all ages - appear to be willing these acts into existence; many Keo and Wunderhorse fans, for example, faithfully memorise lyrics to unreleased songs. “People from 15 to 25 are actively there waiting to receive new music,” adds Ben. “You’ve seen it with Keo, Bleech 9:3 – it’s even starting to happen a bit with us.”

Tooth didn’t jump the gun, but instead refined their sound and gigged relentlessly until their life-affirming debut single landed in February. Debut EP ‘Restless In Bloom’ navigates the in-between after adolescence where “you feel yourself growing, but there’s also a confusion in that”. But life moves fast, Tom tells DIY: “The age of innocence is long gone.” Nowadays, cityscapes and picture-painting inspire him, still writing with a “confusion and restlessness”, only through the lens of a 21-year-old Londoner.

Although they self-consciously downplay their songs as “too produced”, the blistering immediacy of Tooth’s output so far can’t help but conjure up their live presence. Those piled into Brighton’s Rossi Bar at 1am tonight witness another feral set where Charlie somehow breaks a bass string. Later, a “neurotic and deranged” Tom is spotted, caked in “enough [sweat] to water a garden”. “The energy between the four of us was through the roof,” he grins, a sentence he’s determined to repeat forever. “I want to be doing this for the rest of my life.”

‘Restless In Bloom’ is out now via Soil To The Sun.

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