If you're trying to pin Truthpaste down to one neat description, good luck. The Manchester-formed (now London-based) five-piece operate somewhere between pop, folk, electronics and whatever else happens to land in the room that day, powered by a rotating cast of instruments and one "trusty computer drum". Since debuting with 'See You Around' - a track that quickly picked up radio love and sold out its vinyl run - they've built a reputation as one of those bands where every new release feels like a slightly different personality turning up to the same party.
Now, with their debut EP 'I Don't Know Either' out in the world, that shapeshifting instinct is front and centre. The record jumps between styles and voices, each track pulling in a different direction while still sounding unmistakably like Truthpaste.
Catching up with the band - Esme, Euan, Theo, James and Claire (though Claire is currently in Bristol, which feels on-brand) - things are suitably busy. "It's going pretty darn good," offer Theo and Esme. "We were at work, and now we are playing rock music with a pinch of roll." Euan, meanwhile, has been productive in his own lane: "I cleaned my guitar." Priorities.
For the uninitiated, Truthpaste is a properly collaborative setup. "I'm Esme. I play the saxophone, and I sing." "I'm James, I play the guitar, synth, lap steel, and dabble in the computer drums." "I'm Theo, I play guitar, synth, sing and also make the computer drums." "I'm sure I play bass and sing," adds Euan, with admirable confidence. "I'm Claire, I play violin and a bit of bass, and we all sing when required." It's a musical free-for-all where everyone gets involved, and no instrument is safe.
That openness stretches back to their earliest days. Before Truthpaste, there were various musical past lives: Theo "was in a band called rattletooth, we gigged a lot and it was great, we recorded an album with Nathan who also produced the Truthpaste EP"; James and Theo both played in Drivers; Esme "was in a band called the Herbs at school, we mostly did The Doors covers"; and Claire came in via DJing as "DJ ford fiesta," which might be the best stage name in circulation. Euan, meanwhile, claims: "I used to be in a band called The Rolling Stones. I didn't think it was going anywhere, so I changed paths." A sliding doors moment for rock history, clearly.
"You know too much already"
— Theo
Their first steps as Truthpaste feel fittingly hazy. "The first song we wrote together was 'See you around', I think," says Esme. "In my mind, it was 'Singing to You'," counters Euan. "Yeah, it was one of those two." What's clearer is how things have grown since. "It's fundamentally quite similar, but it will evolve more," says Euan, while Esme points to a shift in scale: "I think we're trying to do bigger sounds now, 'never gonna give' and 'bus song' are bigger sounds."
Their new EP brings together songs that have been part of their live set alongside newer, more full-throttle moments. "These are songs we've played since the beginning, so we're very ready for them to be out," Esme explains. "It's exciting, and it's a good kind of relief. Each song is very different, but it all comes together and feels right, and I guess that's what we're like as a band too."
Before any of that, though, there was the graft. Early Truthpaste gigs were "loads and loads of live shows in Manchester, mostly to all our friends at first and then suddenly not," says Esme. Theo pinpoints a turning point: "After we did a Tunes on the Terrace at Band On The Wall, it felt like we picked up because people we didn't know actually heard us." A modest milestone, but a meaningful one - nothing like the realisation that strangers are voluntarily paying attention.
From there, things moved quickly. "Then we found Josh at Memorials of Distinction and released 'see you around', and the rest is history," Esme says. That relationship would eventually lead to a wider partnership with Dirty Hit, though the band didn't immediately clock it happening. "Dirty Hit came to our show last year, and we all got along, but we didn't know it was happening," she explains. "Our manager kept it a secret from us for ages and told us in March." A surprise label signing reveal is arguably the best kind of admin.
Relocating from Manchester to London added another layer to the mix. "For a year half of us were still living in Manchester, so we had a long-distance band relationship which was hard," says Esme. "Last year we had to spend time perfecting the ones we had, but now we're mostly in the same place, we can write new stuff more easily, which is exciting. And yes, London has been very good to us indeed." Theo sums up the practical side with admirable brevity: "Practically, yeah."
Despite all the movement, the band aren't interested in settling into one fixed identity. "We've got our sound, but it's definitely changing," Esme says. "We're never going to lock ourselves into one thing." That philosophy is arguably their strongest asset: the freedom to follow an idea wherever it leads. As for expectations around the EP, Truthpaste aren't exactly setting traditional KPIs. Their main ambition? "To be used as frisbees." At least it's recyclable.
Looking further ahead, the band's long-term goals are similarly… specific. "Greece." Fair enough.
Outside of music, things don't get much more conventional. Theo enjoys "true crime and hanging out with my cat," while the rest of the band are, apparently, all busy literary types: "We're all writing the great American novel, one each." That's five novels, for anyone keeping count. Expect a box set.
And finally, just in case there was any lingering doubt about Truthpaste's general wavelength: "My first world was bollard," offers Esme. Theo adds, "You know too much already."
He might be right.
Taken from the June 2026 issue of Dork. Truthpaste's debut EP 'I Don't Know Either' is out now.
