The age of the supergroup is arguably over, but the UK trio Grubs are undermining that notion. Not only is the band composed of members of Joanna Gruesome, Trust Fund, King of Cats, and Two White Cranes, but they each hail from different parts of the UK: Cardiff, Oxford, and Bristol. Despite all the distance separating them and their other projects, the trio were able to release their one-sided, two-song flexi disc, “Dec 15” b/w “Gym Shame”, last July. The songs immediately stole our hearts, so needless to say, we jumped at the opportunity to premiere the video for “Dec 15”.
The video, directed by musician/comic artist/animator Joey Fourr, finds the three members of Grubs eating the barest hamburgers against undulating projections of neon concert halls and dancers. For a song whose chorus goes “Underwater in a swimming pool / I am sad and you’re cynical,” there is literally nothing about swimming or pessimism in this song.
We asked Grubs a few questions to become properly acquainted.
How did Grubs form? I read that you guys are very spread out, location-wise. Is that true? Also, you all have other musical projects, so how do you manage to make time for Grubs?
Yeah when we started we lived in three different cities. Owen [Williams] is currently moving to Bristol so we will be two thirds Bristolians. But Jake [May] still lives real far away (two hours on the train) which sucks. Roxy [Brennan] and Owen are both in about a hundred bands and Jake is in another band and also works loads and this is confusing but Roxy made a spreadsheet so we think it’s gonna be ok. Also our songs are really short so our practices don’t take long.
What the heck was the concept for the “Dec 15” video?
The video came out Joey Fourr’s brain. We all totally love him so we let him do whatever he wanted. But Jake and Owen really made love to the burgers which was powerful.
Two of your songs are about swimming. Where are your favorite swimming spots?
Owen used to swim in the Prince Albert swimming pool in Brighton and now swims in the Olympic swimming pool on Cardiff Bay. He has noticed the varying levels of nudity and acceptance of nudity in the different pools. Owen and Jake once swam in this pool together without Roxy but Roxy was okay about it. Jake was faster than Owen at going down the slides. Roxy doesn’t really have anything interesting to say about swimming.
Is there a plan for a Grubs LP?
We would definitely like to do an album and we maybe have enough songs for an album (although I think all of them are less than two minutes long, but maybe that’s okay) but we have no firmed plans to release (or even record) yet. But hopefully!
Grubs UK Dates
October
02 Bristol – The Thunderbolt
03 Brighton – West Hill Hall (w Cosines)
30 Bristol – The Hatchet Inn (w the Tuts)
November
12 Bristol – Roll for the Soul (w Street Eaters)
13 Birmingham – TBC (w Street Eaters)
December
06 London – TBC
Purchase Grubs’ “Dec 15″ / Gym Shame” flexi disc from Aloe Music (US) or Cool Your Jets (UK)
