Spotlight On... Tina Sandwich

Glasgow-based musician Tilly O'Connor performs under the name Tina Sandwich. Alongside her band of pals, she's making some of the most exciting alt-indie pop music coming out of Scotland's musical capital right now. We managed to get ourselves an early listen to their excellent debut EP, For the World, due for release on 8 August, and we are mildly obsessed. With a couple of its singles – I Want and Joni – already out, before the other two arrive, and ahead of the EP launch party at Nice N Sleazy, we catch up with O'Connor to find out more.

Can you start by telling us a little bit about yourself; when did you start making music and who/what inspires your music-making?
This is probably a bit of a cliche but I’ve been writing daft wee songs forever. I remember corralling my classmates to write an anti-bullying song in the playground, or writing a murder mystery musical about the death of boy-king Tutankhamun, which we performed as a leaving gift for a teacher going for a hip replacement – 'Row, row across the river Nile / Row, row, we’ll get there in a while!' Absolutely no one was asking for these songs. Between now and then I’ve just been pulling together at least three of my good friends and forming a band. It’s the most fun you can have.

I’m inspired by storyteller songwriters like Billy Bragg and Kate Bush, maybe a bit of ELO. Sometimes the lightning strike of inspiration comes from a really random song, where I see into its DNA a bit and go “wow, that’s an amazing way to come out of a chorus” and then I steal it… and make it my own.

How did the name Tina Sandwich come about?
I tend to fixate on certain foods and only make them for lunch for weeks. When I was writing Up All Night, the flavour of the month was a tuna sandwich. I sorta did the drag queen thing and did a nudge-wink pun of a name. It’s got a couple of other interpretations which I am totally open to and endorse, but that’s the TRUE story.

Tell us more about your band!
Everyone in the band is an incredible musician in their own right. It creates this spider diagram of influences and expertise; we’ll weave a gorgeous web for you to get stuck in, little fly. Four out of five of us met in Aberdeen. Morven [Pearling] was only studying there and is actually from Glasgow; Liam, Stewart and I are all varying degrees of teuchter. Calvin and I played a gig in London together doing session stuff as I was putting together the live Tina show. I got a bit drunk and confessed how much I loved his band Dutch Wine and how cool it would be to work on songs together.

You’re just about to release your debut EP, For the World, which beautifully traverses a lot of different ideas and genres in a tight 15. Can you tell us about some of the themes on the record; who/what were your influences?
Thematically, I guess it’s a conflict between the outward and the inward. The ego. Did I create this Tina Sandwich persona for me, or for everyone else? Should I keep pursuing music as a career or should I do some good for the world? Can I do both? Is the truth out there!?

With the opener, World Moves, we glitched it out Kid A style. I also wanted it to sound like the Stop Making Sense version of Psycho Killer. On I Want we were looking at acts like Gossip and X-Ray Spex. When we recorded it with Blair [Crichton at 45 A-Side] it came together so easily, I think the first mix is the version we went with for the EP. He got the vibe. 4TW is my hero’s journey/voyage of self-discovery. I could make lovely music all along, I just needed to believe in myself!

And the friends we made along the way were… The Beths and Oasis. Both definitely influence this track. Joni seemed like the perfect closer for the EP as it feels like an ending. A happy one? I’m not sure, it's too soon to tell.

You’re launching the EP with a show at Nice N Sleazy on 8 August, partly to celebrate and partly to help raise funds for a forthcoming European tour. Can you tell us more about the show and the tour?
The show on the 8th will be really lovely. We’re hosting bingo in the first half and a solo set from me in the second. All the prizes have been donated by artists, fashion designers, DIY promoters, tattoo artists. I’m in awe of all of their talent and so honoured and thankful for their help. 

We’ve been given this amazing opportunity to tour Europe supporting LEAP in the autumn. It feels like it could be a real next step for us, but it won’t be possible without an initial fundraiser. Touring on that scale is just not accessible to independent bands like it used to be. None of us have a trust fund we could tap into unfortunately, so we’re looking to the good people of Glasgow to give us a leg-up. 

If you’ve ever enjoyed my music, please come and celebrate with me! My solo sets are a sorta look behind the curtain at a Tina Sandwich song. It’s what the bones of them sound and feel like before I bring them to the band. I’ll throw in some work-in-progress ones for you too, so you can get ahead of the curve.

And what’s next for Tina Sandwich? Will there be more live shows, more music?
Yes and yes. With the nature of these things, I can’t tell you any more just yet. But I’m always writing. Really looking forward to taking some inspiration from our travels in Europe. Oh, and expect an extra-special Glasgow show… soon.

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For the World is out on 8 Aug; Tina Sandwich play Nice N Sleazy, Glasgow, 8 Aug

Follow Tina Sandwich on Instagram @tina__sandwich