Hailing from three different parts of the world - Australia, Lithuania and Scotland - Soursob cultivates in styles from "punk to pub rock and riot grrrl-esque," which makes the band a very interesting act indeed. Seeming to explode onto the scene just this year, they've already secured themselves support slots at The Garage with Amyl and the Sniffers ahead of their own EP release, which is set to launch at The Flying Duck on the 12th of December this year.
You should go. Srsly.
You should go. Srsly.
I'd heard about the band through the glorious wonder woman that is Libby Dougall, a powerhouse in the Glasgow music scene. She calls them her children, and the affectionate way of which she describes them makes me more interested in what they're all about.
Thus far, their song Gizmo has been released out into the world via online streaming platforms, which has elements of the above styles mentioned, but they have been able to bring together their own unique - and extremely class - sound. Listen for yourself:
I also managed to speak with the trio, and here's what they said about themselves, in their own words:
Goda, Chloe, Lisa |
How did you guys meet and why did you decide to form a band?
(Lisa) Goda and I met through a gumtree ad! I had gotten sick of playing guitar on my own so placed an ad looking for somebody with a similar music taste to ‘jam’ with (true story: we googled ‘how to jam’ the first time we hung out). Shortly after that, I was contacted by Goda and we’ve been in love ever since.
(Goda) I felt exactly the same way that Lisa did about playing guitar. Me and Lisa clicked right away and wrote our first songs just couple of weeks after we met and we soon started being on the lookout for a drummer. We had to experience playing with loads of different people before realising that we didn’t really want an extremely good drummer, we just wanted a person who’d get our sense of humour and song writing style. And then I realised ‘wait, that’s me’, so I started learning drums myself. Around the same time I stumbled upon Chloe’s profile in some irrelevant music website while looking for a bassist and just literally judged the book by its cover. Had to pay to message her, but being eastern European I just typed her nickname into Instagram and contacted her for free. As soon as we all met up we felt a strong connection, despite our significantly different backgrounds, and started writing songs right away.
Where does the name Soursob come from?
A soursob is a weed/ flower that you pull out of the ground and chew on. It was suggested by Lisa’s sister and we thought it was pretty cute.
How have your shows been so far?
Unreal! We were pretty nervous the first few shows, but we’ve felt very supported by everyone and have been so lucky to play with some great bands so far.
What was is it like supporting Amyl and the Sniffers at the Garage?
Absolutely wild. We were put forward for the show but didn’t think we’d have a chance in hell in actually playing it, so when we found out we’d been given the spot we were truly shocked - it was only our 4th show!
We had a lot of fun and we learned heaps about playing a bigger venue. It was a great experience for us all.
How was the process of recording your first ep? What can people expect?
We recorded our ep with Nick Young of Domiciles. He was a total gem and made the process so easy and fun. We smashed through 3 songs (the first 3 songs we’d ever written together) in one day and had a blast in the process.
The upcoming EP is personal, but it’s not personal at all at the same time – there is no sadness, heartbreak or any specific people that the songs are about. However, it is a product of our common shared sense of humour and opinions. It’s very light-hearted and that makes it very much us. Sound-wise, it’s very fuzzy and loud. We thought it was funny how we’ve all got such wildly different accents that you don’t normally hear together, so there’s quite a heavy focus on the vocals and lyrics which are usually done by Lisa but sometimes by Goda or Chloe or all 3.
What influences does each of you bring to the band?
(Lisa) coming from Australia, I’ve definitely been massively influenced by the classic Australian pub rock/ punk music coming out of cities like Melbourne. Bands like vintage crop, pinch points, civic and girl germs were all on heavy repeat during the early days of soursob.
(Chloe) Before I joined the band I had no clue about the Australian punk scene but really loved the music style Lisa and Goda showed me. I have an eclectic taste so I am up for listening to anything new. I used to be a right shoegazer before, but have always liked classic punk and post-punk music.
(Goda) I always loved garage rock, punk, post-punk, anything with loads of loud and noisy guitars and fast drumming, bonus points for low-quality recordings and trying to sound intentionally shitty. This kind of music followed me since I was little and made me want to be in a band.
Sum up soursob in three words, each.
(Chloe) just lassies shouting
(Lisa) very nice girls
(Goda) damn good mates
What's to come in 2020 for the band?
We’ve got gigs lined up until the end of jan/ start of feb - so keep an eye out for those ! However, 2020 is going to be a tricky year for us as we’re facing a few challenges in regard to distance and visas etc, but we love each other very much and are quite positive about whats to come in the future ! !
And there you have it. Get on this hypetrain and ride it into the new year, nerds. Soursob are awesome and you heard it here first.