I caught up with Olly to chat about the New Era EP that BathTub have released recently.

I swear there was a glint in Olly’s eye as he told me: “I actually welcome the controversy that the lyrics may create. Any publicity is good publicity after all!”

“I used to think too deeply into meanings of songs, and it created a massive writing block for me. So nowadays I don’t write from my own point of view, and it allows me to be a lot more creative”.

“Friday Night, Citrus and Oiled Up are purely fictional tales that in no way reflect my own views or beliefs.

A little like Rape Me by Nirvana, we play grunge music now, and our art is in the music itself, rather than in the lyrics or the tales”.

So, what was in your mind when you wrote a track like Oiled Up, which just feels so uncomfortably about a man on the edge with an obsession?

Oiled Up is actually a tale about a gay man being too afraid to come out. The last line of the song gives this away, “I’d rather live in pain, than come out and get left on the shelf”

The song over dramatises all the things the man imagines himself doing with this other man, but will never be able to do, because he’s too afraid of telling the man and everyone else how he feels.

Friday Night was my interpretation on Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High by Arctic Monkeys. It describes the repetitiveness of playing the game if you will. How empty and monotonous it is to be constantly searching for sex rather than actually enjoying your nights out, but the toxicity of it keeping you coming back for more and doing it all again regardless

While Citrus is effectively the same tale, but taking on a humorous twist, that once you take back a stranger from a night out, you never actually know what to expect. It is in fact a dangerous game.

The story Citrus and the lyrics in the bridge breakdown were taken from a video you’ll find on YouTube called “The Grapefruit Technique”, where Aunty Angel teaches you her new and extravagant technique to pleasure your man hahah. I found the video so hilarious I decided to weave it into my story.

So, you don’t really have someone locked up in a cellar or chained to a BathTub somewhere? I’m relieved. Tell me a bit more about the writing process you have?

Since starting to write the New Era music for BathTub, I’ve purposely strayed away from singing/talking about myself.

I’m very cynical as a writer, and find it a bit cringey almost when artists constantly sing about their problems etc… so what BathTub has become for me is an escape, basically with the new era I’ve been writing fictional stories

This is emphasised by me wearing my suit on stage. The boiler suit looks a bit weird, but allows me to not be myself, and delve into the role I’m trying to play, allowing me to be a better performer and front man.

Chris R