Meet: Our Girl

We enjoyed the brilliant new single from Brighton formed / London based indie trio Our Girl, titled ‘I really like it’ (oddly enough) so much that we track down the three of them –Soph Nathan (vocals and guitar), Josh Tyler (bass) and Lauren Wilson (drums). , to find out a little more. In the midst of recording their debut album with Bill Ryder-Jones, I really like it is the first release since their debut EP came out in November 2016, and the band have recently got back from making stateside debut at Austin’s SXSW, which was followed by a sold out headline show at St Pancras Old Church and a UK tour with The Magic Gang.

We spoke with the band about all these things and more

BM: Tell us about Our Girl

Soph: We’re Soph, Josh and Lauren. Josh and I started playing together in 2014 in Brighton. He’s primarily a guitarist, but I really wanted the band to be a three piece, and I also really wanted Josh to be in it, so I asked him if he would play bass. Turns out he’s really good at bass. We put a demo on Soundcloud, and spent a couple of months noodling and playing some songs together before we found Lauren. That took some courting via email, followed by a practice where she then joined the gang!

Lauren: Yes, Soph had emailed me the demo of the track ‘our Girl’ and I fell in love with it. I was really nervous to go and practice with, just because I’d taken a break from making music and this was my first time playing drums for about 6months. But the first practice went great, i think we all knew pretty quickly that this was going to wor out well!

You started in brighton but are now in London – how you finding that? Miss brighton?

Soph: I really love Brighton. When we started lots of our friends who played music were based there – I lived with lots of them – so for the band it was a really great place to be. Most of our friends have moved out of Brighton though, so I don’t wish I lived there still, but I do miss the time we had!

Lauren: I really like Brighton too, I never lived there, but would visit often when Soph and Josh were living there to practice and record. London has been my home for about 8/9yrs now- it’s pretty great, most of the time.

Josh: I like London as it feels expansive and like there is an endless amount of things to do. Although I felt a more solid sense of place in Brighton ! It’s a close call.

We LOVE your new single ‘I really like it’ – tell us about that.
S: Thank you! It’s one of our newest songs, so it feels quite real and representative of where we’re at right now. It felt really nice to put out a song so soon after it was written, it feels fresh and exciting.

How do you go about writing songs – is it one of you, or a collaborative effort, who does what?

S: I write the vocals and guitar, and then we meet up in a practice room and Lauren and Josh add the drums and bass! Sometimes I’ll send a practically fully formed demo, and other times I just have sections of a song, and we figure out a structure and piece it together! The lyrics normally come before the guitar parts. I’ll jot ideas down while I’m out, often when I’m walking or travelling somewhere, and then when I have some time to sit down in my room with my guitar, I can put music to the lyrics and it normally comes together that way.

L: It’s really cool to get these little demos or parts of tracks from soph, she’ll send them to us in an email. It always makes me excited as I think soph is a really special songwriter- I’m always waiting for the next demo email haha!

J: I enjoy coming at a song that is already formed if not fully formed. It’s cool to get to find your place in a song you like and feel like you are adding to or completing it.

Tell us about SXSW – your first time there, right?

S: Yep! We were there for 6 days and we played a show a day. We had such a good time playing, kind of wished we had even more shows! It was really amazing – such an exciting place and I think after touring in the UK during the beast from the east we were also very ready to bask in some Texan sun.

L: It was bloody great! We had so much fun. Having a show a day meant we still had time to hang out and see some other bands. We had a really nice balance I think. I had the best time ever!

J: Mega. Absolutely mega time, ate and drank loads sat in the sun and played a lot. I’d never been to America before so it felt like being in a film a lot of the time, everything looks interesting – familiar but unfamiliar.

And you’ve some dates coming up with Bill Ryder-Jones, you fans of his?

S: We are! He produced the songs we recently put out – Our Girl and I Really Like It. He’s a brilliant songwriter – I’ve probably played West Kirby Country Primary to death by now.

And a bunch of festivals, whats the thing your looking forward to the most?

S: We’ve got our London show at Moth Club coming up next which is exciting. I also can’t wait to go to France to play at Eurockeennes festival!

L: I’m excited to play Eurockeennes too, it’ll be our first European festival- so that’s an exciting milestone!

J: I’m looking forward to playing in Bournemouth as we’ve never played there but I know a lot of musicians that have come from that area. France too of course.

What are your plans for the rest of the year? More recording? Any releases coming up?

S: Yep we’re going to be releasing our debut album in the not too distant future. We’ll be able to share when soon!

And finally, whats the best record released this year

S: A fave of mine from this year so far is Shame’s record, we saw them a couple of times at SXSW and they blew our heads off. In a good way! The Magic Gang have also just put out a brilliant record. We love those guys!

L: I’m enjoying the new Ty Segall album, also a fan of the Shame album, and the U.S. Girls new album

J: I like Hovvdy’s album ‘Cranberry’, managed to see them in Austin which was great as they haven’t come over to the UK, really great songwriting.

Catch the band over the next few months.

Tour dates:

04 May: Live at Leeds festival

22 May: Moth Club, London

25 – 27 May: Dot to Dot Festival

9 June: 53 degrees Festival, Hull

6 July: Eurockneennes Festival, France

19 Sept: Chapel Arts, Bath ++

20 Sept: QEH Southbank. London++

21 Sept: Howard Assembly Room, Leeds ++