Following what will likely be one of the standout debut EPs of the year, LIP FILLER are just getting started.
Words: Sam Taylor
Photos: Jennifer McCord
Newly moved to London and signed to Chess Club Records, Lip Filler are straight out of the gate with a debut EP that takes many of the best bits of 00s dance-punk and throws them into contemporary indie-rock with an air of chaos and joyful abandon, while confronting ever more pressing issues such as the cost of living. It’s a combination that makes them undeniably compelling. Drummer Nate Wicks and George Tucker tell us more.
Hello! How’s it going? What are you up to today?
Nate: We’re doing great!! Feeling really good right now after Community Festival! Was a bit of a chaotic morning recovering from George [Tucker]’s birthday the night before but felt like a really good set in the end. Finished the day off with a bit of Two Door, so can’t complain. Today we will be stewing over whether or not sleigh bells in music can ever escape the connotations of Christmas.
We're barely getting started.
— Nate Wicks
Introduce your band - who are you all, and what are your roles within the group?
Nate: We have Jude [Scholefield] and Verity [Hughes] on guitar, Theo [Pasmore] on bass, George on keys and vocals and Nate [Wicks] on drums. Our roles, respectively, are the Martyr, the Femme Fatale, the Anti-hero, the Trickster and Villager 6.
How long have you guys been making music together?
Nate: The band started up in late 2021 and was just born out of a mutual love of all types of music, really. Naturally, we gravitated towards indie-rock because it’s something we all grew up on, so there’s a lot to draw from there.
Did it take much experimenting to find your sound?
Nate: Not really; I think the experimenting is still yet to come, to be honest. When we started to make music together, it wasn’t necessarily a case of finding our sound, more just jamming for fun and seeing what we came up with. I think a lot of our individual influences come through pretty subconsciously, and that’s what makes Lip Filler what it is. Most of us would argue that we still haven’t found it yet. We have a lot of influences that we want to throw into a larger piece of work that’s yet to come, like an album. Or a commemorative monument.
What do you most enjoy writing songs about? Are there any themes you’re particularly drawn to?
George: The lyrics from the first EP centred on adapting to the city lifestyle and its social climate, with the exception of ‘Monster Truck’. That one’s a tad more conceptual. I don’t wanna say too much about our next set of songs, but the lyrics definitely come from a more personal space.
You’ve not long released a new EP - how’d it go? How are you feeling about it a few months later?
Nate: It feels really good; as our first kind of message we’ve put out to the world, it feels totally right. We’re all super proud of the songs and how they sound, still loving playing them to new and different audiences. That doesn’t mean we’re not excited for the bigger and better tunes we’re already working on for the next release, though.
What did you learn from the process?
Nate: Hmm. There have been many lessons, really; I guess the most important one is an affirmation. That if we keep it up and put our all into something, we can make something great that we’re all proud of. ■
Taken from the August 2023 edition of Dork. Lip Filler’s self-titled debut EP is out now. They play Live At Leeds on 14th October.
