Emerging from the vibrant milieu of a shared living space in London in 2023, feral feminist theatre-punks TWAT UNION were born from a blend of camaraderie and playful irreverence. “A lot of us lived together, and we had a long-standing joke that we’d form a band called ‘Twat Union,’” they recall with a smirk. What began as a whimsical jest quickly transformed into a powerful artistic force, ignited by a friend’s invitation to headline a comedy night. With a collective determination, the newly-fledged outfit penned ten songs in just three months, launching their journey with a spirit of spontaneity and boldness that defines the band’s essence to this day.
More than just a throwaway moniker, TWAT UNION encapsulates the group’s mission and identity. “Twat means more for us now than it did before we started the band,” they explain, of their provocative yet playful appellative. “It either opens doors or slams them right in our faces.” The immediately polarising effect reflects the band’s overarching goal: to challenge societal norms while embracing the silliness of life. Through their music, TWAT UNION invite listeners to confront life’s often uncomfortable truths with laughter and empowerment.
Already touted as The Guardian’s One To Watch after only releasing one song, the self-proclaimed “angry girls” of TWAT UNION are all about creating spaces which are equal parts joyful, irate, empowering, and silly, allowing people to laugh and scream at the same time. We have it on good authority that their gigs are being prescribed to treat broken hearts, and they want to spread the Twat Treatment far and wide, priding themselves on having a fan base that spans generations, with devotees aged 4 to 97.
Freshly signed to Alcopop! Records, TWAT UNION’s debut EP, Don’t Look It In The Eye, is a potent exploration of themes that resonate deeply within both modern feminist discourse, and the wider culture. The Twats, as they’re affectionately known, don’t shy away from the important topics including, but not limited to: thigh chafe, urinary tract infections, and people assuming you don’t know how to tune a guitar because you’re a woman (FFS).
We had a caught up with with lead singer Kate Mac to talk more about Don’t Look It In The Eye, their live shows and what they have planned next. Read the Q&A below.
Hi Kate! How are you? Twat Union was born in 2023 with debut single ‘UTI’. How have the last two years been for you as band since then? This year in particular has seen you gain a lot of momentum. What’s that journey been like?
“Hello! We are deep in tour-prep mode so a little manic but generally good!
“The last two years have been a bit of a wild ride for us. Since we released ‘UTI’ we’ve been really busy gigging, recording, honing our sound and theatrical stage presence (all whilst day jobbing it)… so it has been busy! As a band we’ve been very present on the live circuits for the last two years and have played some incredible shows, and it feels so great to release the tracks that people love at our shows out into the wild west of the world wide web. We’ve hit some amazing milestones in the last few months that really feel like a culmination of the squirreling we’ve been doing in the background for a while now – signing to Alcopop, being featured in the Guardian, going on our debut UK tour – and as a journey it feels so amazing to be topping it all off with finally releasing our first collection of tracks into the world.”
Absolutely! And what can you tell us about the new record, Don’t Look It In The Eye? What do you hope fans/listeners take away from it?
“A lot of what we are about as a band is to make people laugh – whether that is with props/visual jokes, lyrics or stage work – all through the medium of something tight and catchy. We definitely think these five tracks totally capture who we are and cover the topics we like to talk about – boobs, UTIs, bad dates, being a female musician and, of course, DIY. We are hoping that listeners take away the feelings we had while writing it, taking some of our genuine frustrations that are empowering to shout about and making each other laugh. There’s also a vibrator guitar solo in there, so listeners can expect to learn new methods of what to do with their bedroom implements…”
Please take us through your songwriting/creative process for the EP. What was your favourite part and what did you find most challenging?
“We do a lot of writing of lists of our experiences whilst jamming riffs (the origin of ‘Red Flag’ and ‘UTI’) and a lot of lyrics are written over a pint in one very specific pub – we find a pint often lets some of the ruder bits out.
“My favourite part of making the EP was probably reworking ‘Singer Of The Band’ – it was one of the first songs we ever wrote and was a very performance-based microsong that originally wouldn’t have worked to release. But we took it apart and wrote new lyrics, using a lot of experiences we’ve since had in the last two years, and it was really fun to rework something we already had into something new.
“The most challenging part… probably the music video for ‘Singer Of The Band’! We shot that in one weekend with a few days to prep, and had to paint about 60% of my bedroom pink to make our pink set…and then paint it back again very quickly…so basically painting.
“But we LOVE the video so all worth it!”
It is an awesome video! Your live shows are becoming increasingly notorious and you have some coming up to support the EP release, also making your debut in a number of new cities. What can we expect from a Twat Union show? How do you want gig-goers to feel after experiencing you perform live?
“We tend to throw the kitchen sink at our shows…audiences can expect vibrator guitar solos, confetti, fake nudity, prizes, tiny flags, tiny shorts and really big thoughts. Basically everything except an actual kitchen sink. We see the audience as our seventh member, we really like to get them involved. We essentially hope to make you laugh, and walk away with the knowledge that you should never wash period-stained bedsheets with hot water.”
Finally, what does the remainder of this year and beyond hold for Twat Union?
“We have a ton of shows booked in for the rest of the year, and we are headed to a lot of different festivals including Bearded Theory, Boomtown and Rebellion and a few more that we haven’t announced yet. We are also heading back into the studio soon to work on some more tracks for a future release so watch this space!”
