Public Body - FatCat Records

Public Body

Creating twitchy, sharp-witted art-rock in the vein of Uranium Club, Brainiac and early DEVO, Brighton’s Public Body have quickly marked themselves out as a vital, exciting new prospect in UK guitar music. Hotly-tipped by tastemakers such as BBC 6Music’s Steve Lamacq, BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders, DIY and So Young Magazine, the 5-piece make light of lethargy, neuroticism and boredom with playfully acerbic and riotously fun post-punk.

Signing to cult alternative label FatCat Records, Public Body’s debut LP Big Mess takes a wry look at the sedentary, boring or frustrating aspects of modern life. Joylessly gorging on TV (‘Way, No Way’), procrastinating (‘Break From Life’), irresponsible spending (‘Age Of Junk’) and ‘saying the wrong thing’ (‘No Constraint’) are all vividly, gleefully skewered. Repetition and agitation are prized in the music of Big Mess: its world built from hypnotically repetitive bass-grooves, spidery guitar lines and violent synth stabs.

Vocalist Seb Gilmore explains the record: “this album is a ‘Big Mess’. It’s me laughing behind my own back at all my failures, shortcomings and the shame that comes along with it. I’m not going to get upset about all that kind of stuff - I don’t know how! What I do know, is how to make fun of something - and that something is me.”

Formed in Brighton in 2018, word of Public Body’s urgent, energetic live shows saw them quickly invited to perform with the likes of Dry Cleaning, Squid and Talk Show. Championed by BBC Introducing In The South on the strength of early recordings, the band’s keen melodic instinct and sly humour soon established them amongst the city’s most exciting new projects.

A series of singles culminated in their electrifying debut EP Flavour Of Labour (2021), released via French tastemaker label Six Tonnes De Chair. Acclaimed by publications such as DIY, So Young and Clash, it gained national radio support from the likes of BBC 6Music’s Steve Lamacq, Radio 1’s Jack Saunders and Radio X’s John Kennedy, as well as inclusion on Spotify editorials such as ‘Melomania’ and ‘The Punk List’.

Following a UK headline tour and slew of festival dates (including The Alt Escape), Public Body now embark on another UK tour supporting TRAAMS and set their sights on Europe – having been selected to play Rotterdam’s Left Of The Dial Festival. With their riotously fun standalone single ‘Break From Life’ out now on FatCat Records, the band wind up for the release of their debut full-length Big Mess, and what is sure to be a very exciting 2023.

Public Body comprises Seb Gilmore (vocals/guitar), Luke Vosper (guitar), Silke Blansjaar (bass), Tom Bacon (synth) and Thom Mills (drums).