From the ashes of their previus projects, lost business and bitter disappointments, rise UGLY CLUB, one of the hottly tipped bands of 2024. Before their official debut, we sat down with lead singer Imogen, to discuss new opportunities, new single “Eyes Wide Blind” being released in just a couple of weeks, their plans, tours and goals. Kindly disregard the “to watch for” lists made by major records labels and music magazines on their payroll – real music is happening away from the business suits and industry conferences. The indie circuit is where the real magic happens and UGLY CLUB are about to cast their spell to enthral us all.
UGLY CLUB photographed by Liam Maxwell
At the very beginning, let`s introduce the band to the readers of Indieterria. Who are the members of the band and where are you based?
Imogen: Hey! So we are UGLY CLUB, we’ve got Ducky on drums (who also records & produces the band), we have Blenk on bass and Ben on guitar. I’m Imogen and I’m the vocalist. We all write the songs together and are equal parts UGLY CLUB.
It is only recently that you came to be known as UGLY CLUB. Can you tell us what prompted you to reinvent yourself and start again? Was it an easy exercise in the world where brand is everything?
Imogen: When you start off as a kid in a band, you will do anything to get noticed. This means doing some pretty weird stuff to get attention that we didn’t realise was actually detrimental to our journey at the time. We had zero vision for previous projects, we just wanted to “make it” at any cost . We never stuck to a plan, we were constantly just doing what other people were doing. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve released a lot of music under former names that I am so so proud of and care about dearly, but I couldn’t be more proud of what we’re doing now with UGLY CLUB. With a clear vision for the future, we have been offered festival slots and gig slots and other opportunities that I’d dreamt of for years in previous bands but never been offered. Rebranding has felt so natural, as I stopped trying to be something I wasn’t. The band is my baby, and I’m the one with the most time to dedicate to the project, so in fronting it, I am also the face of it. Previously, I wore so many different hats that it wasn’t actually clear who I was or what I stood for. With the rebrand, I feel I’m being so much more authentically me with everything from the song writing to the way I write my posts on social media – so the rebrand has been amazing to be honest.
In previous years you’ve had a record deal, but you are back to being independent. Are you comfortable discussing what happened or do we blame it on the immortal creative differences?
Imogen: Totally comfortable, yeah! Essentially, we got a new management which took us in a different direction to that of the label. We are still friends with them and wish each other successes, it just wasn’t the right fit anymore. Sorry, there’s not any more of a juicy story to it (laughing). We’re super grateful for what we learnt during that time – a lot of which definitely contributed to the rebrand. Our former label got a lot of feedback about us from much bigger labels and they were all pretty much saying the same thing about us – they didn’t “get” us.
We want to ask about the new name because it is like a challenge to the music industry where certain beauty standards have been normalized. Is it a reference to the Italian Club Dei Brutti (The Ugly Club) based in Piobicco, arguably world`s first establishment to fight societal obsession with unachievable looks, founded in 1879. Or perhaps this is a reflection on the ground-breaking study of cultural historians such as Gretchen E. Henderson?
Imogen: A million names were suggested when we discussed a re-brand, we had DEAD SUGAR, UGLY SUGAR, BLOOD UGLY… all sorts of 2 word variations of juxtaposing words or words we just liked. We wanted the name to reflect, first of all, the alt world we sit in and second, what we stand for. I guess, there’s a third consideration too – we wanted the name to feel cool and look good on posters and merch! Haha. My best friend Amy Hazel looked at my list and suggested “Dead Ugly Club” – and UGLY CLUB stuck out to me instantly. It just felt perfect. As someone who spent a lot of their time growing up feeling like the odd one out, moving schools for being bullied and generally not fitting in, I’ve known what it’s felt like to feel “ugly”. The band has always been my safe space, and I’ve always wanted our music and live shows to be a place where people can escape, be free to be themselves, and know that they’re not alone in being made to feel ugly by others. We wanted the band to be a little club made up of us but of the people who support us too, fellow music lovers who wanna scream along to rock music at live shows and head-bang with their headphones on on the bus. Then I googled it, and saw the Italian Ugly Club and was like WOOWWWWWW it has to be that! Like a group of people setting up a club to challenge society’s expectations of the beauty standard? Perfect. And so we became UGLY CLUB.
Imogen, you are fresh from a set at Download Festival where you sang with Hang the DJs (the performance can be seen here at 43:30 minute mark). How was it, despite torrential rain and copious amounts of mud? We have seen the pictures and it was a sea of people, full tent so to say.
Imogen: Download festival was honestly unreal. One of the best gigs of my life. Hang the Djs are AMAZING and it was an honour to perform with them. The crowd was amazing, the tent was MASSIVE, 10,000 people sung back the tune and rocked out with us and it was just one of those “wow, this is why we do this” moments. It was very very very VERY rainy, but we’d packed some fabulous outfits so I was wearing those regardless hahah. It was truly amazing and I can’t wait to play it again one day but with the rest of the band.
UGLY CLUB again by Liam Maxwell
UGLY CLUB band members are also established sound engineers and you ran your own studio Esche Haus in Blackburn, before having to relocate. Is the studio coming back? Can you give us any updates on it?
Imogen: YES! Finally we can!!! This is breaking news, hahah we officially have a lease as of TODAY on a new space in Blackburn! We are about to sign on the dotted line then it’s building time! We will set up a gofundme so that people could contribute towards the build (and we’ve also halved our day rate when we’re back open for anybody wanting to book in! ) and Blackburn Council are helping us soundproof the new space. So, all being well, 2025 shall see a brand spanking new recording studio in Blackburn Town Centre! If all goes to plan, it won’t just be the usual black-and-wood type recording studio you see when you type “recording studio” into Googe. It’s gonna be a hell of a lot more UGLY CLUB! I SENSE ANOTHER REBRAND COMING ALONG…..!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (laughing).
Let’s talk about new music. You are releasing a new single in a couple of weeks. What can you tell us about it?
Imogen: We have a tonne of new stuff coming out! The 1st single, “EYES WIDE BLIND”, comes out on the 24th July. It’s the first track we’ve ever worked on where the lyrics aren’t from my perspective. I asked Ducky to write down everything he was feeling about his experience of struggling with gender identity. Before I knew it, I had thousands of words in front of me of the struggles he’s faced and I did my absolute best to turn them into lyrics that capture even a snippet of how he’s felt growing up, not quite identifying with the gender he was born as. At the moment, especially with the lead up to the election with trans people being used as bait, it would be super easy to go online and feel very, very alone as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Everyone with a paid for blue tick likes to spout their vile comments then declare it free speech. It always seems to be those who have the most hurtful things to share who have the most to say. We wrote this song to not only shine a light on Ducky’s experience, but to poke fun at people with bigoted views. People act as if being trans is something you can “catch”, something you can expose children to and suddenly they want to change genders. It’s a trend or a fad, in the same way being gay was in the 80’s, but people forget about that. At a time, where it feels like it’s very difficult to be LGBTQ+ or an ally without being subject to abuse by strangers, we wanted to make sure we didn’t stay quiet when we have a platform (small one, but a platform nonetheless) to be a voice for people who feel like theirs is being drowned out.
Do you have any plans for an EP? If yes, when can we expect it to be released?
Imogen: Finally, after nearly a year of no releases, we are releasing a 10 track mixtape. This time last year, just after launching UGLY CLUB, everything came to a stand still when we lost the studio and it broke my heart. But, we turned the loss into something good. After having to leave the studio due to a new landlord’s plans for development that were affecting our business, we set to recording our feelings in a shed, which turned into 8 new tracks and 2 remasters that make up our brand new mixtape called “Wendy’s Waiting Room”. Wendy’s Waiting Room is officially released in October with 2 singles “EYES WIDE BLIND” & “DIRTY MOUTH” running up to it.
And what about live shows? Is anything planned? We would love to see Ugly Club playing Manchester or Liverpool! Any chances to see you grace our Northers stages anytime soon?
Imogen: We are performing a brand new live set with all the tracks from the mixtape at our support slot for Dead Posey in Manchester on 17th July and again at Tramlines Fringe in Sheffield on 26th July. We have some other fun stuff in the pipeline too that’s currently being finalised so we’ll update the socials with those soon…
Our last interview questions are usually fun: let’s say you are going on a big tour and you have a chance to work with a fashion designer on a band’s stage costumes. Who are you working with and what would we find in your suitcases? ack? Can you give us any updates on it?
Imogen: Ooooooooh, that is a hard one! I think, if I could have someone dress me, I’d have to get BEX and Olli Hull to do some mad collab on some huge puffy pink and black dresses with all the scratchy graffiti writing, checkers and chains. And in my suitcase, you’d find about 10,000 teabags, fluffy slippers, a huge oversize hoodie and a Nintendo switch with Mario Kart installed on it. Possibly a pack of uno cards. And of course my big pink boots!
Ugly Club online:
https://www.uglyclubofficial.com/
https://www.instagram.com/weareuglyclub/
https://www.tiktok.com/@weareuglyclub?lang=en
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5s7VdvEojBKMO8vu2EbGmY?si=LJz-dwxfQFC091RfBryIRA
https://www.facebook.com/weareuglyclubofficial
https://x.com/weareuglyclub
https://www.youtube.com/@weareuglyclub
“Eyes Wide Blind” is out on 24th of July and we will review it! Turn on, tune in, and watch this space!
Rita and Malicia Dabrowicz
Indieterria 