Since forming in 2018, Muscle Vest have made waves across the London alt-rock scene thanks to their brand – or blend, depending on how you look at or hear it – of abrasive noise rock. The quintet, comprised of members of several bands who also had their time in the spotlight on the London music scene, Massacre and Thunder On The Left being just two, are all too familiar with the highs and lows that can come from being part of such a cut-throat industry, but their new EP ‘Live Laugh Loathe’ which dropped earlier this month is keeping them in the hearts, minds and ears of music fans everywhere and proving that they’ve got real staying power. PopWrapped caught up with the band to find out more about the collection, the bands and artists they’re most inspired by and how they’re spending their time since they can’t yet hit the road.

Who exactly are Muscle Vest in a sentence?

Nasty music for nice people.

What would you say each of you brings to the group? What makes you click? 

All of us come from different backgrounds in terms of the genres of bands we have all played in, from Hard Rock to Shoegaze to Cabaret. We’ve all been round the block enough by now to know how a decent band functions, and this filters into our creative process in terms of getting shit done.

Which three bands or artists might you say you’re most inspired or influenced by? How do those influences filter through to the music you make?

The band stems from a mutual appreciation for bands like The Jesus Lizard, mclusky and Whores, all of whom are at least a jumping-off point to the sound of Muscle Vest.

Tell me about your latest single “Creepy Crawlie.” What’s the story to it? 

“Creepy Crawlie” is written from the perspective of the type of men who go out with the sole purpose of trying to pick up girls, which makes going out uncomfortable for most women at the best of times.

The song is taken from your new EP ‘Live Laugh Loathe’ which dropped a fortnight ago – how have you found the first reactions to it to be?

It’s still early days yet, however the reactions have definitely been positive; we wouldn’t consider ourselves an overtly political band, but the kinds of messages we tried to convey in the songs on this EP definitely seem to be getting through in the way we wished them to be heard.

How would you say it’s different and showcases your growth as a band from your 2020 EP ‘Human Resources’? 

Both EPs were recorded over only four days, however I would say that we had more of a focus on what we wanted out of the record when it came to record ‘Live Laugh Loathe.’ There were a few factors for this: we had a change in drummers with Arun coming in, however after only two or three rehearsals together the country went into lockdown, but once we were able to get back to playing together we quickly realised that we were ready to record a new EP despite ‘Human Resources’ only having been released earlier in the year, so we were eager to have something productive to show for an absolute dung-heap of a 2020.

Which of the songs on the EP is your favourite and why? 

The riffs on “Creepy Crawlie” are as fun to play as they are filthy. “Blissbucket” is another fun one which came together super quickly after Arun joined, which pretty much set the precedent going forward.

With the world – and music venues – starting to open up again, are there plans to perhaps tour to promote the new EP in the near future? How much have you missed being able to jump on a stage and do what you love in front of a crowd? 

We’re immensely looking forward to getting back on stage; ‘Human Resources’ came out in February 2020 and our last gig was November 2019, so we’ve yet to have the opportunity to promote our first EP, let alone this new one.

The pandemic saw a huge boom in the use of social media as families, friends and artists such as yourself joined including Twitter among others, to keep in touch with other people. How do you personally and professionally feel about society’s, it could be argued, borderline obsession with social media, and do you think it is at all possible for a band or artist to earn a following and be successful without it?

In terms of being in a band, social media is unfortunately a necessary evil. This isn’t to say that social media is inherently a bad thing – the advent of streaming services and social media platforms having arisen and developed at roughly similar times is unquestionably a massive plus for bands such as ours in terms of exposure, however streaming platforms have a long way to go in terms of compensating artists. There’s countless stories of artists throughout time being tied into ridiculously one-sided contracts in favour of the label, platforms like Spotify just cut out the middle-man.

With your EP out now, what does the rest of 2021 have in store for you and your fans? Have you perhaps started thinking about which single you’ll drop next or are you just enjoying having ‘LLL’ out among the masses for now? 

We’re eager to get back gigging, however the majority of things we had booked have been put in limbo for now thanks to our shambling oaf of a Prime Minister. We’re using the time we have not preparing for gigs to get new material written; the Muscle Vest machine churns relentlessly onwards.

Give ‘Live Laugh Loathe’ a listen below and for more information on Muscle Vest, visit their website, give their page a like on Facebook or follow them on Twitter and Instagram.