The Tubs tell us how Hüsker Dü, The Housemartins, SZA & more influenced their new album ‘Cotton Crown’

London’s The Tubs, who are led by former Joanna Gruesome cofounder Owen “O” Williams, just released their second album, Cotton Crown, which continues their mastery of janglepop melodies with more than a hint of sadness. That bittersweet combo makes for a terrific record — listen to it below and read our review here.

For more on the album, Owen made us a list of eight songs that influenced it, including ’80s UK groups The Housemartins and The Style Council, Hüsker Dü, The Sundays, SZA, and more. Check out his list and commentary below.

Cotton Crown by The Tubs

THE TUBS’ OWEN WILLIAMS – EIGHT SONGS THAT INFLUENCED COTTON CROWN

1. The Housemartins – “Bow Down”
I’ve always been a big Heaton Head but sometimes his sonic choices make my skin crawl. For this reason, I tend to prefer The Housemartins. His lyrics have always been a particular inspiration – they’re much stranger and more sinister than a lot of people realise. I love the line here about making a model of himself out of plasticine.

2. SZA – “Notice Me”
SZA is my favourite pop star and a big lyrical influence. She has an amazing ability to shift through a series of unlikeable, uncomfortable emotions through the course of a song: misery, selfishness, self-effacement, arrogance, vulnerability, murderous rage, sexual jealousy. And yet this is why she’s loved. There’s always something at stake, and not just a ruthless, unfair moral inventory of herself, but of everyone else.

3. Antenna – “Antenna State”
This is Shogun from Royal Headache’s new band, who we had the pleasure of playing with in Sydney. They’re our favourite band currently operating in the world. There’s a new emotional dimension to the lyrics and chords which really suit Shogun’s voice. Hearing him sing always inspires me to push the soulful aspects of my own voice and see how they interact with the kind of punk and indie rock we’ve all grown up with.

4. Hüsker Dü – “Sorry Somehow”
I’ve always liked the kind of weird overly-yet-underly produced late Hüsker Dü albums. On ‘Cotton Crown’ we wanted to capture that kind of tension-aggression and pop without ceding too much ground either way.

5. The Style Council – “My Ever Changing Moods” (single version)
On tracks like ‘Chain Reaction’ we were interested in doing some Weller style soul, and I was listening to this one a lot.

6. The Voice Squad – “The Parting Glass”
I like drawing from traditional folk tunes because I do a lot of trills anyway. I think this, and the fact that everyone seems to think I sound like Richard Thompson, accounts for the folk influence which is pointed out a fair bit. It’s not really in the instrumentation. Though we like drinking and singing about drinking so that might be another point of comparison.

7. The Sundays – “Life Goes On”
This is my favourite lesser-known Sundays tune. Their approach to melancholic guitar playing influences our slower tunes.

8. Poison Ruin – “Resurrection II”
These guys are my favourite contemporary punk (?) band. They sound very different to us but our aesthetic markers are quite similar I think.

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The Tubs will be opening for The Wedding Present on their upcoming Bizarro 35th anniversary tour, which includes a Brooklyn show at Music Hall of Williamsburg on May 23. They’ve also added a few headline shows surrounding those dates, and their full schedule is here: