tubelord was a math pop band from Kingston upon
Thames, part of the
Englishmath pop scene, alongside
others like TTNG,
saleontomorrow, NGOD,
Tabar, Colour (with whom tubelord
briefly shared a member), pennines, Foals, Fish Tank,
&c. In many ways, tubelord were the ultimate math pop band, exemplifying many of the various stylistic
quirks of the genre, while also producing extremely unique and recognizable
music that stands out as some of the best that math pop
— and indeed, math rock more generally — has to
offer. The only two constant members of the band were lead vocalist & guitarist Joey Fourr (Joseph
Prendergast at the time) and drummer & backup vocalist David Catmur. After the breakup of
tubelord, Joey Fourr would embark on a solo career, and James
Elliot Field would go on to join Cornwallindie rockers Tall Ships.
Humourously, tubelord’s single, “I Am Azerrad” (better
known for its later appearance on “Our First American Friends”),
caught the attention of the eponymous Michael Azerrad, who was
particularly fazed by the lyrics “I see today, I see you, Azerrad /
I’ve read the clues, they lead me to your head / I’ll kill today,
I’ll kill you, Azerrad”. Azerrad wrote an article on the subject
for SPIN magazine (archived).
tubelord’s sound enjoyed a progression throughout their career.
tubelord started with the more firmly post-hardcore/math rock sound of their earlier work, with powerful and
often distortedblock chords combined with snaky
guitar and
title="H–S321.322">bass guitar</data></pre> lines, and both clean
and screamed vocals. Their later sound incorporated more
elements of post-punk (c.f. The Dismemberment Plan
for another example of music that hybridizes math rock and
title="H–S53-8+54-8">synthesizer</data></pre>s (although their earlier work had some) and less
emphasis on unclean vocals. Common to all of tubelord’s work,
however, is the influence of through-composition (a feature
not uncommon in math pop generally) and a commitment to an
overall math pop sound that combines catchy hooks with
unusual rhythms and song structures within the context of punk music.
notes on the distributions
“SQUARE” is sometimes listed as “SQUARE EP”,
“Square”, or “Square EP”.
The 7″ version of “Feed Me a Box of Words” only features the
first two tracks.
Tellison’s contribution to their split with tubelord is
sometimes also listed as “Wasp's Nest”, “Wasp Nest”, or
“Wasps Nest”.
The 7″ version of “I Am Azerrad” only has the first two
tracks. The CD-R version lacks the final track. The digital version has all
four tracks.
“For the Grandparents” is sometimes listed as “One For the
Grandparents”.
“Tezcatlipōca” is sometimes listed as “Tezcatlipoca”.
Not all releases of “Tezcatlipōca” have the bonus demo track,
“De²”. The track in question is sometimes listed as
“De2”.
“Cows To The West, Cities To The East” from “One Inch Badge
Split Series Volume 4” is sometimes listed with the same title as the
original rendition of the song, “Cows to the East, Cities to the
West” (the cardinal directions being reversed) from “Our First
American Friends”. The deadseapianorolls distribution for “One Inch
Badge Split Series Volume 4” only includes this track.
![cover art for “[split] Tellison / tubelord”](tellison---tubelord.jpg)
![cover art for “[split] One Inch Badge Split Series Volume 4”](one-inch-badge.jpg){kind=icon}
![cover art for “[split] My First Castle”](my-first.jpg)
![liner notes [1]](romance-liner-notes-1.jpg){kind=link}
