After working together in Joanna Gruesome, Owen Williams and George Nicholls expanded on the hook-heavy pop of their former band with the more multidimensional and acerbic project the Tubs. The group didn't abandon Joanna Gruesome's punky melody completely, but refined it significantly, adding touches of U.K. folk storminess, post-punk social pessimism, and college rock jangle to the mix on their 2023 debut album, Dead Meat.

Williams and Nicholls formed the Tubs in 2019. It had been a few years since their former group Joanna Gruesome had disbanded, and they were both active with other new bands at the time, but they used the Tubs to hone in on a specific side of their musical vision, one that looked to the abstract pop of acts like Felt and Cleaners from Venus but also to traditional British folk. There were touches of the kind of post-punk abrasion that was part of Joanna Gruesome as well as subsequent related projects like Ex-Void and Sniffany and the Nits, but the uncommon blend of styles made for an entirely different sound. With Williams on vocals and Nicholls on guitar, the Tubs were filled out with second guitarist Steve Stonholdt, bassist Wozza Warren, and drummer Matthew Green, and they released their first single, I Don't Know How It Works, in February 2020 on the Prefect Records label. The band followed quickly with the Names EP the next year, winnowing down to a quartet and working this time with U.S. label Trouble in Mind. Their first full-length, Dead Meat, was released in January 2023, again with Trouble in Mind. The album featured some help from special guests Gus Beamish on synthesizer and former Joanna Gruesome bandmate Lan McArdle providing backing vocals. ~ Fred Thomas