indie rock and sausage rolls: an introduction to aftercare

By Mia Romanoff

If you’ve spent all of Candlemas term looking for songs to get you through the cold, dark St. Andrews winter like me, look no further than Aftercare. The London based four piece consisting of Tom Pollock (vocals and guitar), Ben Ashley (lead guitar), Charlie Arnison (bass), and Roy Lowe (drums) recently became a staple in my playlists when I stumbled across their Spotify page in November. Though their discography is limited to a few singles and an EP right now, Aftercare has created a distinctive sound that manages to be nostalgic without being derivative. With upbeat instrumentals and angst-driven lyrics, Aftercare is indie rock for the 2020s. It’s the type of music that makes the twenty-minute trek from David Russell Apartments seem shorter, and car rides with friends longer. Ultimately they manage to deliver what seems to be lacking from many up-and-coming bands: fun. 

I recently had the pleasure of asking Ashley a few questions about the band over email, and he shed light on the bands origins, gig experiences, and the future:

How did Aftercare come to be and how has the experience of working together been so far?

AC: We all met at school and bonded over a mutual love for music. We initially started by playing covers of Blur and Nirvana songs, which was embarrassing. We then started trying to write songs together, and it seemed to click. We all liked similar bands and artists, so the writing process was always quite simple. We all love each other, so spending hours in a practice room is never a challenge. 

What would you say are the band’s biggest musical inspirations? AC: Each member seems to bring different influences to the writing process, however the first bands that spring to mind are the Libertines, the Strokes, and the Smiths. The lyrical content is influenced majorly by writers like Morrissey, Ian Curtis, and Pete Doherty. We’re also all really into poetry, particularly T.S Elliot and John Keats. 

Though a lot of your songs deal with youth and romance generally, there seems to be an underlying theme of disillusionment. I was wondering if you could speak more to that and your songwriting process generally.

AC: I guess a lot of the songs deal with a sense of dissatisfaction with life. We never set out to write songs like that, it just seems to happen. In terms of songwriting, we typically collaborate on the instrumentals but the lyrics are courtesy of our lead singer. He tends to write about personal experiences surrounding growing up in London and won’t stop writing about his sodding girlfriend.

As a relatively new band, what has been your experience playing live gigs and how do you feel your music translates to this more personal and interactive format?

AC: There’s definitely a demand for live music in London, so it was quite easy to get gigs initially. We’ve had a few horror stories but most of them have been alright. A particularly bad incident was when we were pelted by an angry audience with sausage rolls in Notting Hill. Bloody terrifying. We were actually quite scared at first about whether our songs would do the job in front of an audience, but it seemed to work out proper well. We feel the crowd often aren’t that interested in the actual songs, they just want to dance when they’re pissed. 

Your online promotion on Tiktok has been successful with your account amassing 217.3K followers. Is there any concern that a single blowing up on tiktok will make you into “a tiktok band” or that there will be a loss of a certain cool factor?

AC: That’s just the way the cookie crumbles. These days, to be mainstream, you have to have a famous song on TikTok; it just seems to happen that way. I don’t think we’re that cool though so it wouldn’t be a problem. However, the TikTok has been very helpful for us, so we’re very grateful for that.

It seems early on you released a single, ‘When Sunday Comes Around’, that was later taken down. What led to that decision and how does the band decide when and what to release given that most of your work is released as singles rather than as part of a larger project?

AC: The song was an absolute stinker. It sounded like Dixie D’Amelio trying to write a Strokes tune. We didn’t feel like it represented our sound very well, and wasn’t worth keeping up. Our friends also gave us the nudge that it wasn’t our best. We tend to all agree about most things, so the release process is often a breeze. Once we finish a song, we try to release it as soon as possible. But, we’re definitely looking to start building a collection of songs for another EP, or maybe even an album. 

What’s next for the band?

AC: We’ve just come out of a recording session with Dirty Hit, in one of their London studios. We recorded 6 songs (2 new ones, and rerecorded 4 old tunes), and are hoping to release them under their label in the coming months. We also have a nice amount of gigs lined up, with a sold out show in North London on 28th January, and more in February and March. We’re all still in school, so we’re thinking of taking a year out next year to pursue the band properly and become intergalactic. Also, we’re getting rid of the ‘The’ in the name. 

Given their love for their music and each other, I can’t see a world in which Aftercare doesn’t continue their upward trajectory. Not only do they understand their musical strengths, their awareness of how to market themselves online has allowed them to reach an audience far past their local London crowd. Whether they know it or not, Aftercare isn’t just the cool new band on the scene, they’re the next big thing.