You recorded your debut EP Greatest Tits at Alien Sound Recording Studio in Lancashire. How did you decide where to record and what was the recording process like?

Evie: The guy who recorded it is called Mark. I think what happened was he came to one of our gigs, is that right Amanda? I don’t really remember.

Amanda: I think so. So we did the recording with him and then he came to one of our gigs. Then we decided to re-do it to make it better than it was and spent some more time on it which was really nice.

Evie: Yeah. He was friends with our original guitarist, Jess, and she sorta just asked him to record a couple of tracks which he did. We were pretty nervous though because it was our first time properly recording anything. So on the original recordings, he did a great job but we were pretty nervous and a little bit sloppy just ‘cause of the terms. He then came to see us live and after the set he offered us - it was really nice of him - he offered us two free days in his studio to record the EP because he was just really excited about it. So that was great and we took him up on it. We got the EP recorded in two days which was quite amazing, through sheer will and determination. Mark’s great, he's about a genius and he got it - he understood the sound we were looking for, he was really passionate about it which also helps. He was just really, really enthusiastic about it, as were we. He made the process a lot easier for us because we were comfortable and he understood, through seeing us live, what kind of way we needed to record and what we wanted to sound like and what the kind of vibe of the band was. That was really helpful when we came to do it and we did it and released it on January 1 and got a really good response. So yeah, we were really happy with it and really proud of it.

It turned out really well! I was following you guys on Instagram [before you had music out] and I was like “oh I don’t know what you sound like” and then that came out and I was like wow!

Amanda: It was also a big decision for us too because we wanted to release something sooner and everything but it was important to us to release more than just one song at one time because we wouldn’t know which song to pick. So we were like, “let’s go for the EP, let’s do all of it at once and get it out.”

Evie: Yeah. I think we just wanted the people to understand because we try to be quite varied with our music. We don’t like it to be one-dimensional. So again, as Amanda said, that’s why it was important to put the EP out so everyone understood that we try to be quite different and quite varied in what we do.

How would you describe your songwriting process?

Amanda: Oh dear.

[laughter]

Amanda: Panic and then tidying.

Evie: Yeah. It’s kind of - it’s weird isn’t it, Amanda? I feel like the songs that are on the EP, they came together really quickly when basically we were trying to write a set. When we originally got asked to do a gig, we didn’t have a set prepared. We essentially wrote 5 or 6 songs in the space of like a couple of weeks and they just kinda came together.

Amanda: We had songs but we just decided that they were not good enough. [laughs] So we scrapped them all and put new ones in.

Evie: Yeah. With the EP stuff most of the songs like the more popular songs like “Birthday Party”, would’ve started with probably myself playing a simple riff and then Amanda coming in on drums. Amanda’s really good at making hooks on the spot so that’s how “Birthday Party” was written. I was just like jamming away and Amanda started singing, “you’re not invited to my birthday party” and then like that song was born. So like that’s generally how it sort of happens, I guess, isn’t it Amanda?

Amanda: It’s like a tiny idea of whatever it could be like one lyric or one riff or anything and after that it’s just jamming isn’t it?

Evie: Yeah. I think we’re that kind of band where we all try to contribute equally. So that’s very much how our better songs are written, when we’re all in a room together. Playing around with like ideas and it’s very on the spot actually, to be quite honest. It’s never something like sort of someone goes away and thinks about for like a week and then comes into the studio or whatever, it’s just very on the spot.

Amanda: There’s no genius to it.

Evie: Yeah, there’s no genius to it. It’s not very well thought-out at all.

[laughter]

But that’s the genius of it.

Evie: Yeah, it’s weird because I think with our songwriting it’s important that the songs are catchy. I think that’s how people can relate it or remember the songs, they remember the hooks when you’ve got something quite catchy. It doesn’t have to be overcomplicated, it can be simple. A lot of our music is simple. Well, all of it is simple but you’ve got those hooks in there and those catchy lyrics to really draw people in. So they all have to have a sense of humour which I don’t know if you noticed but there’s a lot of humour in there just because well, it’s the nature of the band. Tits Up it’s all about having a sense of humour and not taking ourselves too seriously.

Amanda: Exactly.

Is that where your Moona Lisa mascot and use of cow emojis comes in?

Evie: Yeah! I guess it is. Amanda actually came up with our mascot, our logo, the dead cow on its back. Amanda drew that.

Amanda: It was scribbled on a Tesco receipt, I think, and then digitized. It just made sense when we needed a little logo that had something to do with shit going tits up and there are literally tits going up in that logo so it made sense!

[laughter]

It’s one of the best band logos! On your EP cover there are 4 vinyl LPs displayed pretty prominently: Black Sabbath’s Paranoid, Raw Power by The Stooges, Ace of Spades by Motorhead, and The Cramps’ live album Rockin’ N Reelin’ in Auckland New Zealand. Why did you choose these LPs specifically? Which one has had the biggest impact on you individually and as a band?

Evie: So those LPs belong to Jess, our original guitarist, so myself and Jess, well Amanda too, but I think me and Jess really shared that sort of taste in music. Particularly, one of our favourite bands is the Cramps. And you can see in everything the Cramps did there was a sense of humour about it all. They have sort of an edgy, rockabilly punk style which influences Tits Up a lot in our music. The idea was to sort of have a vintage-esque vibe to the cover like “is it the 80s? Is it the 90s?”It was supposed to be two girls in a bedroom listening to records, so they’re sitting around and they end up essentially starting to strangle each other. I think there’s no hidden meaning or anything. We’re never too clever with these things because we aren’t that clever. [laughs] We thought it would be a funny sort of representation of the band. And obviously the LPs themselves - like the Motorhead and the Black Sabbath, that’s a couple of my favourite bands, and Jess’s, you’d like to think you’re influenced by them but I don’t think a lot of people would listen to Tits Up and go, “oh yeah, you sound like Motorhead”.[laughs] I’d fucking love that but I don’t think our musicianship is quite there. [laughs] But I think it’s good. There’s also a play on the sort of macho style of those bands and what they’re associated with, the culture they’re associated with is very male-dominated and very macho and I think it’s funny to have those displayed because people could be like, “what the fuck? They don’t listen to fucking Motorhead.” Which is the complete opposite of the truth, they’re one of my favourite bands. So yeah, I think that was the main reason.

Amanda: And for props. We just wanted to fill the room and make it look genuine.

You did a great job, it looks good. You recently announced that Jen of Broken Down Golf Cart has become your new guitarist. I know you guys have worked together before in some capacity, so how did this come about and how does it feel to be an official member of Tits Up now?

Jen: Well, basically it came up because I started filling in for some of the gigs this summer and I did a few with them and then I guess they just wanted to keep me around. [laughs] So yeah, they officially invited me to the party that is Tits Up and I said yes. And I’m super stoked, absolutely excited, I love the music, I love them as people, and it’s just so much fun. I love it.

Evie: We were super grateful when Jen came onboard because it was like a perfect addition to the band, really. Jen and Amanda worked together on another project called Broken Down Golf Cart which is Jen’s project, Jen’s band. They’d already played together so obviously we knew what Jen was like musically and how professional she was. It’s been a big relief, it’s been class to have her on board and we’re all super stoked.

How do you feel the lineup change has affected the dynamic of the band?

Evie: It’s strange because I think we’re probably yet to really find out. [laughs] Because we’ve been so focused on - I don’t know if you guys agree with this - we’ve been so focused on trying to get it together in time to play the gigs that we’d agreed to do. So a lot of the time with Jen over the last two months has been spent constantly rehearsing and not much writing because Jen was coming in as a new member and had to learn all the songs from scratch essentially. We had to then tighten up as a band. So we haven’t really begun the writing process. Maybe a little bit but we’re still yet to go there. But the dynamic’s been, even just speaking about the rehearsals in general that we’ve been doing and the gigs, it’s been really great. Jen just slotted in really easily, she fit in really easily and she’s actually brought her own style to Tits Up which again, just works. I think Jen understood what the sound was, what we wanted, and the vibe and what it is we’re trying to do. I’m sure you agree Amanda.

Amanda: Yeah.

Evie: Jen’s really committed and was super stoked and excited and it’s just great. With the three of us, it’s similar to what we had before with Jess, our original guitarist. We just worked together really well. Nobody really has the upper hand in this project, we’re very much a fluid band. We like everyone to have an equal say and I think part of that is because we want everyone to bring their own style because it just brings something interesting to the band. Jen’s done that and it’s been great. We’ve been able to pick up where we left off and hopefully now that we have a bit of time we’re going to start writing and releasing some more music, fingers crossed. It’ll actually be interesting for us to see how our music style evolves with Jen. That’s what’s been on my mind. I’m excited to see how it will change and evolve and grow and that’ll be great.

Jen: Yeah, I’m stoked!

[laughter]

So you guys have a show coming up on August 20 called “Tits Out” at The Quarry in Liverpool with Arch Femmesis, Miss Baby Daisy, and WMNKND DJ. What inspired you to put on this show and what has the process of putting this show together been like?

Evie: This is always the case with Tits Up stuff, there’s no agenda or master plan to anything. We play a lot of gigs in Liverpool and I think for myself the idea of putting Tits Out on was putting on a show that I’d really want to play or a lineup that I would love Tits Up to be on. Something a bit more diverse than what we’re used to. So that’s why with this particular night there’s a real focus on women and non-binary artists. We’ve also got the burlesque element and the DJ there so again, it’s not just diverse in terms of identity, it’s diverse in terms of the actual acts. So I thought it was just a bit different to bring in those elements and I just wanted it to be a really fun party, like a party that I would like to go to, that we’d all like to go to. That really appeals to the kind of audience that we would like to play to. One of the last times we played Quarry was for the Peaches afterparty and it was absolutely amazing. I would say it was one of the best gigs we’ve ever had. And the crowd, we’d never played to that kind of audience before, and it was sorta diverse, largely queer, LGBTQ+ audience and the vibes were just unreal. They were so good and so supportive.

Amanda: It also made us play better, you know.

Evie: Yeah, totally. It was just so refreshing and for the audience as well. It was refreshing for them to see artists who aren’t necessarily just you know white male people or whatever.

Jen: Male people?

Evie: Male people, you know what I mean! [laughs]

Amanda: I think they’re called men.

[laughter]

Evie: Men, male people, that’s a thing now. But definitely when you’re performing I think it’s a two-way street. That’s what I always feel. I feel like we do a better job and put on a better performance when the audience is really, really responding. Oh I think we’ve lost Amanda.

[Amanda’s Zoom connection cuts out]

Fun with technology, it never ends!

Evie: So I’m going to finish what I was saying. We do a better job when the audience is really responsive and seems like they’re really enjoying it. So again, the whole idea was we’d like to get that kind of crowd back to Quarry and back to watching a Tits Up show. I thought putting that particular group of artists together for that kind of show would attract that crowd, those kind of people.

What are you most looking forward to with the Tits Out show?

Jen: Like Evie was saying, the lineup is quite diverse. It’s not just the bands, it’s the DJ, it’s burlesque, there’s a whole night of it. It’s carefully selected and it seems like a good mishmash. It’s going to be good entertainment and a good night for everybody. Good vibes, I think that’s the most important thing. It’s picked with care and the vibe will be great.

Evie: The night itself is also a fundraiser for an abortion rights charity. They’re called Alliance for Choice and they’re based in the North of Ireland. They help women and pregnant people access abortions in the UK because women and pregnant people techinically have the right to an abortion in the North of Ireland but the government there won’t actually provide any services so that’s the whole reason we picked them. It’s really important to us especially with the recent overturning of the legislation in America - Roe v. Wade and the general global attack on abortion rights that’s happening right now. We want to put this kinda night on mainly for women and the LGBTQ+ community so it’s important for us to also take a bit of a stand and do what we can to support those groups because we’re just being attacked every day with our rights. I wanted to mention that about the night as well because it’s a really important part of it.

Yeah, for sure. It’s really good to see bands doing stuff like this - like what you guys are doing with getting the word out there and promoting the organization so people know about it. How would you describe the punk and DIY scene in Liverpool?

Evie: I think the DIY scene is great in Liverpool. And not even just with bands but with venues that have emerged in recent years. Something about the punk scene - the punk scene is great too but something that I always felt is that it could be a bit more diverse and a bit more exciting. I was going to gigs and that’s always what I thought like, “I’m always watching the same four guys on stage every night”. That’s fine like there are some great bands but it felt like it was the same thing all the time and part of the reason why we started Tits Up to be honest. But even since then some really good artists have emerged.

Jen: It’s expanded in the past three years and now we can all talk to each other and put on nights and hold each other up a bit. It’s not like it’s spaced out, there were a few bands who were doing it but now it’s coming together and expanding. The ones that talk to each other and communicate and actually put on the nights. But great scene, great DIY scene.

Evie: Especially the venues. There are so many venues now popping up like Quarry that we’re playing, that’s a DIY venue and they really do what they can to support the DIY scene in Liverpool. But there’s other venues as well like around Quarry, clubs like Meraki and North Shore. All these DIY clubs popped up.

Jen: Kaz Gardens.

Evie: Kaz Gardens, yeah. They’ve really cropped up and they’ve really taken off because people in Liverpool are ultimately drawn to those kinda like nitty gritty venues. There’s people in Liverpool who are interested in that underground scene and having that subculture.

Jen: Yeah, it’s a nice little subculture we’ve got. The turnouts are pretty good. I’d say like a few years ago you’d have these bands playing and there’d be not so many people there and they’d be kinda like nodding and of course you always get that. But then I’ve just noticed with the gigs that have been going on here and there that Tits Up have played it’s just so much more of a crowd, so many more people are into it and there’s more of an attendance so people are enjoying themselves.

Evie: The two things go hand in hand as well. The DIY bands and the DIY venues coexist because of each other. They’re actually starting to thrive now with the support that they’re seeing from one another. So that’s really, really amazing and it’s probably unique in a lot of ways to Liverpool. So yeah, we’re lucky to live in this city I would say as a band.

Jen: I agree.

It does sound like a good community. A while ago I was listening to a BBC Radio show and they played Tits Up but they censored your name. What are your thoughts about your name being censored?

Evie: [laughs] We laughed. We laughed like hell about it, we did. It was weird because we just didn’t think about it. people said to us, “well did you not think about it”. Actually we were played again on a different BBC Radio show the following week and who was the guy? Tom Robinson, he actually said our name so you know, it’s not that big of a deal. But I think it was Dave Monks, the first guy on the BBC.

Jen: Yeah, the BBC Merseyside one doesn’t seem to be ok with saying it but BBC 6 is a little more down with it. [laughs] Because they’ll say the name. I was even doing an interview recently for Broken Down Golf Cart and I was saying, “I’m playing a gig tonight with Tits Up!” and they were like, “oh, you can’t say that” and I was like, “but I am! And I want to chat about it” and they were like, “you can’t” so I was like, “I’m playing a gig tonight with a great local band”.

[laughter]

Jen: There are a few radio stations that are more down with it which is nice but I don’t understand -

Evie: It’s not even a swear word!

Jen: It’s not! People love titties but they just don’t want to say it. It’s like everybody wants to look at tits all day like they’re great and beautiful things then OH NO, don’t say it though, it’s a bad word, like come on now.

Evie: We all know tits isn’t a swear word so it’s just interesting when that comes up. But I actually quite like it. To be honest, I quite like it when this happens because it makes me laugh and it creates its own little conversation. Which I think is what makes it more interesting because people are probably like, “what, who is this band? What’s this name? I need to fucking know now!” Otherwise they might not do that. This is another thing about the Greatest Tits EP, like they can’t say “greatest tits” either and then we found out that they can only play one song from the EP on the radio. So it’s just that one song that keeps getting played, “Get Ya On” because it doesn’t have a swear word in it. But the rest of the EP is explicit which is hilarious because we just didn’t think about this at all when we were recording. We never, ever even imagined that we would be played on the radio so why the fuck would we consider it. We couldn’t believe that we got played on Radio 6 it was like - wow, ok. But then it was, “well, we can’t say their name and we can’t tell you the name of the EP, yet here they are, this band!” [laughs]

Jen: We can’t tell you who they are but this is the music.

Evie: So it’s interesting, good fun.

You need to start the Tits Radio show and that’s it you can say it over and over again.

Evie: Tits Radio. That’s a great idea actually, might have to steal that.

[laughter]

Do you think that a band that had a band that had a name that referenced a male anatomical thing, do you think they’d get censored? Do you think it’s just kind of a sexist thing?

Evie: I don’t know, actually I have no idea. I think we probably did have this discussion before about would they censor a band called “Willies Down” or “Dick Sideways”? [laughs]

Jen: I don’t think they would. To be honest I feel like maybe “dick” but I feel like “willy” would be fine.

Evie: What's not a swear word to describe a penis?

Jen: You know Peaness the band, do they say their name?

Evie: Oh that would be interesting to find out.

Jen: It’s spelled “p-e-a-n-e-s-s” and they’re doing great. Their name doesn’t hold them back, they’re killing it. But yeah, I do think there’s a bit with tits - it always blows my mind like society is so obsessed with them but then they don’t want to use the word, any word to do with breasts, tits, boobs. It’s like, “oohh you said boobs or tits”.

Evie: It goes hand in hand with the fact that you’re not even allowed to show your tits. You’re censored and the censorship is so hilarious really. There is censorship of actual breasts as we know on social media and everything and it affects your algorithm and blah, blah, blah. And then the censorship of the actual word is just like “wow, ok”.

Jen: It’s weird.

Evie: We’re living in - we’re still living in the dark ages in some senses

Jen: People need to get over it. People need to get over bodies.

Evie: That’s why I think it’s funny as well that we called the night “Tits Out”. It’s just a play on Tits Up because we wanted to keep the Tits Up identity with the night but it’s not really just about Tits Up. So Tits Out was funny and people would be like, “Tits Out? So they’re going to get their tits out? What’s happening?” Just obsession with [gasps] nipples, what the fuck. It’s fucking hiliarious. I love people’s attitudes. It's pretty cringe. [laughs]

Jen: It is. I agree.

So going along with that, in May you released a new song called “Gaffa” and one of the uses of the tape that you mention is using it to cross out your nipples. So in your opinion what’s the best use for gaffer tape?

Evie: Ha! Well, Amanda sings it and in the song she lists all the uses like, “grab a little gaffa and just cross your nipples out.” That’s a great way, that’s probably the only way I’ve ever used gaffa tape actually. Being genuine, I don’t think I’ve ever used it for anything else. [laughs]

Jen: I’ve used it for that, I’ve used it to close letters when the envelope doesn’t lick, like there’s no licky part on it, I’m just like, “gaffa tape”. Or if I’m singing some lyrics for recording I’m just going to use gaffa tape and put the lyrics on the wall.

Evie: I’ve gaffa-ed microphones. So they stand up.

Jen: That too! It’s great for everything, you know.

Evie: Definitely the best use however is to shield people from the absolute absurdity of or not the absurdity, to shield people from the obscenity of nipples.

[laughter]

What are you currently listening to?

Evie: I listen to such weird shit.

Jen: Yeah, I’m all over the place.

Evie: Piss Kitti, they're a great local punk band. They’re friends of ours as well, they’re awesome. Torture and the Desert Spiders are another great local band. They’re just so talented. Again with Torture and the Desert Spiders and Piss Kitti they’ve got - you’ll know if you go listen to them and see their visuals and stuff that they’re all about having a sense of humour. It’s kinda punk-y, it’s kinda dirty but it’s also just funny.

Jen: It’s good stuff. We do gigs with them and they’re good buddies of ours and they’re good. They work really hard. Great local scene.

Evie: Yeah, they’re definitely some artists that I would be drawn to. And a band called Coughin Vicars as well. Again, another sort of punk band and their music’s great but watching them live is a whole experience because they’re just unbelievable. They’re just a great live act.

Jen: Sorry are a really great band. Check them out. I’ve been listening to them loads. And The Lovely Eggs are really good too. That’s who I’ve been listening to anyways.

Evie: Arch Femmesis as well who are playing at the Tits Out night. Fuck, they are so good. They are incredible. I’ve actually been listening to a lot of them recently and I think they’ve just released a video for their single “Madusa” which is just unreal. So yeah, I’ve been listening to a lot of them. I think in terms of local artists, I don’t want to mention any artists who are more well known because what’s the point? I’ll just keep it short. I’ve just discovered a band called Dry Cleaning and they’re awesome. I have no idea where they’re from and actually they’re probably really big, I think they are quite big. Fuckin great, Dry Cleaning. So that’s the one big band or maybe Amyl and the Sniffers as well they’re - obviously who hasn’t listened to Amyl and the Sniffers? There isn’t anyone. Oh imagine, dream support slot, Amyl and the Sniffers.

Jen: Oh, that’d be sick. We recently supported Mannequin Pussy and that was amazing.

Evie: Fuck, why didn’t we mention Mannequin Pussy!?

Jen: They were unbelievable, they blew my mind. Literally the whole show had so much thought put into it and the whole set was amazing. It was an honour.

Evie: Yeah, Mannequin Pussy are - oh my god. And they were so lovely and so - like Jen just said the set was unbelievable, the music was great.

Jen: Unreal.

Evie: And they’re so punk as well.

Jen: So talented at their instruments as well. Just have the biggest crush on all of them.

What’s next for Tits Up?

Evie: Da-da-da-daa da-da-da-daaa! [laughs]

Jen: Gigs and get some writing done. I had to learn the set quite fast and we’ve just kind of hit the ground running with the gigs that they had and we were like “go, go, go!” and we’ve got a few booked but the next would be writing together and getting more material you know like having a good time. Maybe recording the things we write.

Evie: I think we would definitely like the autumn winter time to be focused on writing and then recording because we need to get back into it. It’s been such a long time since we just sat down and really focused on writing and jamming and stuff just because we’ve been trying to get ready for the gigs and stuff. So that is definitely next for Tits Up. Hopefully then early next year there’ll be some releases as a result of that. No doubt there will be because there’s already some stuff in the works. Actually we’re hoping next year we could do some sort of mini-tour.

Jen: Yeah, it’d be nice to get a support tour. Get going.

Evie: Yeah, we definitely want to keep going and just doing more of the stuff because we actually really wanted to be doing more touring and stuff by now but that just didn’t work out so hopefully next year.

Jen: Yeah, festivals next year too.

Evie: Festivals, fuck! We want to play a festival so bad. Hopefully we will, that would be amazing!

Jen: I guess the applications are earlier in the year and you just kinda find out in the summer whether you’re doing them. So mini-tour, applications for festivals, recording, writing, yeah!

Evie: All the fun stuff! Learning to play our instruments.

Jen: Yeah, learning to play our instruments.

[laughter]

Who would you want to tour with?

Jen: Mannequin Pussy. [laughs]

Evie: Yeah, Mannequin Pussy. An absolute dream tour, for me and this is probably what everyone is expecting and it’s probably a bit cliche of me to say, would be L7. I would cry every night of that tour - every single night. And I know because I’ve cried thinking about it. [laughs] I have, I’ve actually cried thinking about it - could you imagine? Then telling myself to shut the fuck up. [laughs] That would be a dream. But they reunited a couple years ago and they did go on tour and they actually took a British band on tour with them around Europe. They were called Black Moth, I don’t think they’re together anymore but I saw them in Amsterdam with Black Moth - oh the show was so good! Bikini Kill are touring again so all the obvious stuff but the really good stuff. It’s obvious for a reason because they’re actually fucking great. But yeah, even if it was Mannequin Pussy or someone like that, that would be unreal.

Jen: Yeah, that would be amazing.

Evie: We can dream.

Jen: Yeah, dream big.

It might happen, you never know!

Evie: You never know, you never know. [laughs]