Bristol band Our Nameless Boy lean on the dynamics of the 90s/2000s alternative and emo scene to craft a captivating alternative rock meets post-hardcore sound that they describe as “melancholic, chaotic, melon.”
The band was started by Iain Gorrie (lead vocals and guitar) and Will Purcell (drums) off the back of a more indie-pop project, after they met at university in Cardiff. And they later added bassist Chris Brain and lead guitarist Ewan Simpson to complete the current lineup.
On the sound they’ve crafted since, Iain told us: “I think you can trace our lineage back to Pixies without many squiggly lines; super dynamic; one second whisper quiet, the next and the dial is on 11. I like to think there’s a decent chunk of depth to our stuff. We once had someone audition on guitar who said our songs don’t sound as complex as they are to learn. I’m ok with that. Or we’re just 4 middle aged white guys who’ve failed to write the elusive Christmas hit. It’s one of those.”
Our latest taste of this is the band’s new EP Thorns, released on Friday, from which we were sent the second track, (Not In My Name). The track opens up with cool little guitar melodies that continue under Iain’s engaging vocals, before picking up pace as it flows into a catchy chorus “‘Not in my name,’ said I in parenthesis, Who’s safely far away to take on the fall?” supported by heavier guitars.
The mellow melodies return as the guitars loop us into a laid-back verse, before another big chorus extends with the more intense lines “I want you to know just where I stand, With compassion to the bone as I cast a thousand heavy stones” supported by a cool guitar lick. That drops into heavier guitar chords and piercing guitar licks, bringing a more ambient atmosphere. It drops into stabbing guitars that set up a big final blast of the chorus, before ending with more delicious stabbing guitars.
On the track, Iain said: “It’s been wild to get on Kerrang!’s top picks and multiple BBC intro plays for sure. The song is written from the perspective of a politician making these hollow gestures about awful things that they probably have some power to prevent, but instead they just want to be seen and heard to be saying whatever they think people want to hear. It’s a pretty quintessential ONB song; slightly weird, subtle time signature stuff, big, loud, somewhat catchy choruses and a sprinkling of fun riffing that makes the song a joy to perform.”
The EP offers plenty more post-hardcore goodness, opening up with the excellent ’38, which starts out slowly before exploding into a wall of guitars under engaging vocals. There’s also title track Thorns, which begins with stabbing guitars and alluring vocals in an atmospheric opening verse that builds up to a powerful chorus, and final track Little Bird, which also starts out with laid-back vocals before gradually building in intensity and coming to a dramatic conclusion. And Iain says on the final track: “It’s the best song we’ve ever written, not just my words but the words of… well, the rest of the band. It’s written from the perspective of someone who went to school with a populist figurehead and now, as an adult, they’re questioning much about themselves and the world.”
Speaking ahead of the EP’s release, Iain told us: “Extrasupervery excited! We’re always looking to grow and build upon what we’ve put out before, and these songs definitely do that. There is so much packed into the four songs that artistically we are incredibly happy with, and I hope that some of what we’re trying to do and say lands with people in a way that the album, which was a very personal account, never could.”
The Our Nameless Boy sound draws on influences from US bands that made it big in the 90s and 2000s, including the likes of Thrice, your mewithoutYou and Manchester Orchestras. But the quartet bring a myriad of musical inspirations, or as Iain puts it: “A pretty broad church with probably hundreds of overlapping Venn diagram circles.”
And on what inspires them to write music, Iain explained: “Recently, I have mainly been writing songs to help me make sense of the world around me. So, pretty bleak, mostly! I often like to use writing as an opportunity to try to explore perspectives that aren’t necessarily my own. Admittedly, that can come across a little tongue in cheek, but that’s ok; it’s just my own biases shining through.
“For example, in the title track Thorns, the final chorus flips from the perspective of someone struggling to make ends meet to that of a very wealthy person, and the music shifts a little along with it. No prizes for guessing who gets the more sympathetic voice in the lyrics!”
Our Nameless Boy will be celebrating the release of Thorns with a handful of EP shows, including a special show at The Croft in Bristol on 15 May, which Iain says will be “unlike anything ever done before.” Intriguing! They’re also developing more song ideas, and Iain has an idea for an overarching them for their next EP. While the band may also be sharing special pieces of audio to their mail list through the rest of the year.
You can follow Our Nameless Boy on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music and YouTube.
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