Truthpaste Is Around, and Here to Stay
By Kelly Darroch
Onstage and on the record, they walk the line between a relentless pursuit of innovation and an ensnaring spirit of nostalgia. In each other’s company, the line between utterly serious and unserious is flipped in each passing moment. Truthpaste, the five-piece force that formed in Manchester, is a sitcom-esque collection of bandmates in which each member plays a crucial role in the band’s dynamic. If one piece is missing, it may not fall apart, but it’ll look quite odd.
Truthpaste. Theo Murchie, Claire Sun, Esme Lark, Euan McNeill, James Ballero (left to right). Photo taken by Martha Barr (@marthab_a).
Their indie folk, electronic, art pop, and rock anthems swell with the familiar essence of putting on a Yo La Tengo or Broadcast record during the days when summer is slowly changing to fall. They can fill the void when you miss that feeling. It is no shock that the music is born out of a group of dear friends: Esme Lark, Theo Murchie, Claire Sun, Euan McNeill, and James Ballero.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with the band at Lark’s home, tucked away in South London, just hours before their gig at MOTH Club in Hackney, opening for English Teacher and Silver Gore. Spirits were up in the core of their rehearsal space as they unleashed all that is Truthpaste.
The five met while attending the University of Manchester, with the exception of Lark and Murchie, who had known each other since they were fifteen. While none of them studied music at uni, their range of studies may be a testament to their musical range: Art History, Philosophy, Law, Engineering, and English (I’ll let you guess who studied what). Each member tends to mix up their musical role during live sets, which Sun coined as a “mish mash mash of rubbish,” which Lark promptly noted should be the name of their EP.
Sun, who primarily plays violin, described an over-decade-long, rocky relationship with the violin that was mended and matured through their involvement with Truthpaste. Lark, the voice and saxophone behind Truthpaste, grew up playing piano and wishing to play harp. That dream may not have been fulfilled, but the alternative of picking up the saxophone turned out to be a great investment because, according to Lark, “It turns out I was quite good at it.” She also learned guitar, because, as she put it, “to be cool you have to play guitar,” and has sung all her life as a result of her mother, who is also a singer. This fact quickly prompted a background chorus of, “I’m working late, my mum’s a singer,” to the tune of Sabrina Carpenter, naturally. McNeill similarly had a childhood piano background, but taught himself guitar and eventually gravitated more towards the bass. Murchie recollected playing the recorder as a child, which progressed to drums, bass, and finally guitar, which is their main instrument. The band spoke on behalf of Ballero, who was not present, in an imitation voice that I can only describe as muppet-esque. They described the guitarist as “so the Brian May,” of the group, and noted his history with the glockenspiel and his synth playing, which McNeill also plays in the band.
The conception of Truthpaste is a slightly convoluted memory for the band, as each member recollected timelines and details a bit differently. What they do remember is meeting early on at uni and hosting 20-minute-long jams of the same song in their bedrooms. Their first show was Halloween 2022, where they dressed up in matching wings, per the request of Lark. Over three years later, with two single releases under their belt, Truthpaste has been received with open arms online and in London. Their debut single, “See You Around,” has surpassed a quarter of a million streams since its release in March 2025. If you step into a London or Manchester Truthpaste gig, the room is packed with locals ready to dance in circles or echo the words of their jubilous tunes, released and unreleased. It’s been a crazy and pleasant delight for Truthpaste, who is used to previously just hearing their friends singing along in the audience.
“It was nice, but it was a bit like ‘you only like this because you’re literally being forced to listen to it,” said Lark, “And then strangers started coming and singing along.”
They joked that all of their gigs are now filled with strangers, that they’ve lost all of their friends.
Truthpaste. Photo provided by Truthpaste.
Truthpaste has been labeled with a hat full of genres, predominantly leaning towards folk. This assumption is certainly not incorrect, especially given the pattern of their two current releases, but it is just simply not the entire picture. Lark’s first instinct was to ignore genres and describe them as “genreless,” urging Sun to step in to say, “Everyone says that, it’s so annoying.” The band agreed that their current music suits the folk genre, but that their future rock-driven releases will cause some confusion. Once the rock genre was given a voice in the interview, so was a recurring bit involving Dave Grohl.
“People are gonna be like ‘Oh, you’re basically the Foo Fighters,” said Murchie sarcastically.
“We’re basically Foo Fighters core,” Lark added.
“We’re all just footnotes to Dave Grohl,” Murchie continued.
This was a phrase that Lark quickly took a liking to and wrote down in her notes.
Truthpaste. Photo taken by Kelly Darroch.
The songs they’ve released have folk elements, but a number of their songs that have been in the vault for quite some time lean considerably away from the folk genre.
“I think some people might be a bit surprised by the next few songs,” said McNeill. If you strictly enjoy their music for the folkiness, some future releases may feel like an abrupt change. If you enjoy Truthpaste for the entire experience, you should have no concerns.
“If you can’t handle me at my most Dave Grohl, then you don’t deserve me at my most Mumford and Sons,” exclaimed Murchie in one last Grohl callout… for now.
As a drummerless band, their drum machine is a deeply integral part of their sound and has always felt like the baseline to them. Even with their songs that are perhaps more reserved in that capacity, electronic drums are a consistently lingering presence.
“If James were here, he’d definitely say he likes to do the electronic-y stuff, and that’s definitely a direction we can do,” said Lark.
I think it’s safe to say that if you have never seen a Truthpaste live set, and you are unfamiliar with the range they bring to the table, their next few releases will be a polite semi-severe awakening, because they do hope to build on the electronic of it all.
Their debut single, “See You Around,” was written at an incredibly early stage in the band, but since then, it hasn’t undergone any massive changes in the arrangement. I was curious whether their familiarity with the song translated into an easy recording and production process. The released version was technically recorded in one day, but only after a previous failed attempt. They recorded it once a while back, but claimed they got “a bit carried away in the studio.” When recording it a second time, they chose to maintain the integrity of how it is played live, which resulted in an easier and more successful process. After all, it is received extremely well in a live setting. It was produced by their friend Nathan Shawyer, who they praised for his musical prowess and looks (“hot Nathan” was mentioned several times).
“See You Around” is the perfect song and chorus to sing along to and pretend you’ve known for ages, even if you’re just now hearing it for the first time. As a witness of a London Truthpaste gig, I can confidently confirm this. As opposed to their debut, which took one studio day to record, their future work will feature a heavier embrace of the studio environment.
Still from Truthpaste’s “See You Around” music video.
The “See You Around” music video does not fail to replicate the same magic visually that the song produces sonically, literally. It features the five members roaming through the neighborhood in medieval garb in a Monty Python fashion, and while it may not have been too intentional, the band agrees that each band member seems to fit their role well. Lark reigns as the knight in shining armor, Murchie as a damsel in distress, Ballero as the mage, McNeill as a herald of sorts, and Sun as the jester.
“We wanted the jester to be grumpy, and I remember thinking Claire would be great for that,” said Lark.
“I’m super grumpy,” replied Sun.
To be clear, you’ll feel anything but grumpy while watching the video. It’s more like an imaginary bike ride through your childhood neighborhood or a confusingly warm walk down memory lane.
Their second and most recent release, “Bleary Eyes,” has a colder sound, which Lark partially attributed to some of the writing process occurring in a basement. The song, which was loud but slow (nicknamed the “death crash” song), was written in two parts, with a beat created by Sun. Its creation came later in comparison to many of their other unreleased songs, but it was written in Manchester roughly two years ago. The self-directed music video, which was filmed on Lark’s “small and dangerous” roof with the help of her friends Nathan and Helena (featuring her toy donkey, Clop), lacks the same intricacy as their previous video, but generates an equal charm.
Truthpaste. Photo provided by Truthpaste.
We discussed the perfect day in the life of Truthpaste, which is ideally a festival performance, similar to the one they gave earlier this year in August at Green Man 2025 in Wales (featuring artists like Kneecap, TV On the Radio, MJ Lenderman, Beth Gibbons, etc.) They describe this as the best day – mid-temperature, early set, an exhilarating performance, and getting to enjoy their favorite bands throughout the festival day. This is a considerably tangible perfect day, but their imaginary perfect day extends beyond. What started with Dave Grohl and Marcus Mumford taking them out for dinner at All Bar One or Wagamama ended with a dinner with Simon Cowell, MJ Lenderman, and Dave Grohl, cooked and hosted by one of the three at their home. That’s where the Grohl references permanently ceased.
Perhaps to your surprise, they also enjoy discussing other musicians. Their dream collaborations include MJ Lenderman, Silver Gore, and for Lark: The Voidz. With the 2025 year nearing an end, they were also locked and loaded with their favorite songs and albums of the year. They collectively raved about MJ Lenderman’s Manning Fireworks before quickly correcting themselves that it was a 2024 release. Considering the group psychosis that everyone seems to be having regarding the release dates of both MJ Lenderman and Cameron Winter’s Heavy Metal, I think it’s fair to say that 2025 has still been a trademark year for both of them. They all spouted out different songs and albums in agreement with each other: Silver Gore’s “All The Good Men,” “Pop Star” by Lime Garden, Lily Allen’s West End Girl, caroline 2 by caroline, Getting Killed, and finally the one contribution to the interview by Ballero: Thanks God for Air Emotions by Tryphème.
Finally, I had to sneak in one obligatory question that played on their band name, which has no serious backstory other than Murchie concocting it right before a gig out of urgency.
“I wanted to call it ‘Me, You, and Euan’ for a while,” said Lark. “We can’t think of good names, it’s not in our DNA.”
I asked Truthpaste for one secret Truth about their band, which they were reluctant to share, so instead they gave me multiple obvious lies. Still, for amusement’s sake, here are Truthpaste’s secret truths:
“We’re all owned by Disney.”
“We all met in Manchester, Tennessee, not England.”
“We are fraternal quintuplets of Mama Toothpaste.”
In 2025, we shouldn’t expect a Vanity Fair Lie Detector Test appearance, but we can expect a Truthpaste EP. Or, as Lark noted, “We’ll probably write an album if you give us loads of money,” which was corrected by McNeill, “I think we’ll do that anyway.” Despite no clear time frame for the EP release other than “soon,” you can still catch a Truthpaste gig all over the UK in the new year. You may feel reluctant to give another rock band with a saxophone a chance, but if you haven’t paid them mind yet, Truthpaste may be the missing piece to start your new year off right.
Truthpaste. Photo provided by Truthpaste.
