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'We kind of magpie it all': In conversation with Squid

The lead singer from the Bristol and London based post-punk band discusses Bristol's pizza offerings, its music scene, and their new record called Cowards.

By Benji Chapman, Music Editor

The cat that's crawling across my laptop screen is making introductions to Ollie Judge a little awkward. What I speculate was an unofficial furry companion to Squid throughout the new album's creation skulks across the screen while Judge playfully looks into the camera, complemented by a twinkling grin as we say our hellos. To my disappointment, he quickly dispels any suggestion that the cat had anything to do with the production of the new album.

'We were recording the album when I just got the cat, so I was probably racing through to get home to him and hang out', Ollie explains as the mysterious feline strolls across his lap.

As he leaves my field of view, I begin to see Judge's surroundings more clearly as a cosy living room swims into view from behind a wall of cat hair. Framed by a Japanese film poster, cushions, and blankets, he shifts around my screen to reveal more.

Judge tells me he's most at home here in Bristol, where he's calling me from. 'I've kind of made my bed here. I think I'll probably end up staying here till the rest of my days, which is quite a nice thought', he says fondly.

He's chosen to stick to one side of a geographic divide in the band by laying his roots here, with Squid's other members being based in-between both London and Bristol.

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Growing up in Chippenham, he explains how the nearby city was initially attractive for its 'Great sense of community, great venues, and the fact you don't have to get a bus everywhere', which factored into its tightly-knight creative sentiment.

More recently, he's been involved locally by helping to fundraise for local musical projects by donating merchandise throughout the mission to save Noods Radio, where he jokes, 'It was taking too much space in my room anyway.'

There's a fascinating spirit to Ollie's conversational flair: a man who speaks sincerely but is fizzing with charm and humour as he jostles around the room to chat about his favourite local bands. Opening by saying, 'I'm gonna avoid the trip-hop cliché', I'm then met with a flood of recommendations from the underground local scene.

'There are so many new bands I'm enjoying', Ollie says. 'There's a whole new wave thing going on; bands like Ex Agent, and there's a band called Sunglasz Vendor- loads of interesting new bands that are quite left of centre.'

Squid @ DROM | Caroline Safran

He shares a specific recollection of a particularly left-of-left-field drone performance: 'It was just a couple who strapped a bass guitar to the washing machine and turned the machine on to make some incredible drone music', he says with a giggle before likening the show to 'Tara Clerkin Trio sponsored by Bosch'.

We're soon turned to the more appetising conversation of Bristol's food spots that laden the city alongside its many venues. When I ask Ollie whether he's a fan of a particular pizza shop among Bristol's myriad of offerings, he affirmatively dubs Pizzarova as, 'the best pizza in town.'

'It's unreal. The best one they do is the hot honey one. It’s so good, although last time I got it, I accidentally carried it home at an angle and f*cked it up.' Between our conceptual imaginings of a Squid-sponsored monthly special, he cracks up and says, 'I'd love that- that would make my year', while we refine a recipe for a mollusc-based special.

The aquatic-inspired and pithy name, as it happens, also arose thanks to Bristol's influence. 'Some of us were really getting into Beak> during the first year of uni.' He shares that the local band, which recently disbanded in December 2024, inspired them both musically and when naming the band itself in its simplicity.

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Although the choices of names for both groups means that a Google search for them has to almost always be accompanied by the tag-on 'band' to avoid scientific journals appearing, the catchiness of 'Beak>' stuck out for its 'monosyllabic animal name', and 'Squid' was born soon after. 'There was almost zero thought behind the name', Ollie says bluntly, 'which is kind of nice.'

Judge recalls his first gig in Bristol under the monicker at Crofters Rights in a slightly sour fashion, though: 'I remember my partner's dad came, and he hated it. I think my dad hated it. All the dads hated it. Someone also spray-painted "Squid" all over the wall across the road - which we thought was cool - but the show was sh*t.'

It wouldn't be long before the band found traction for their unique style of post-punk amid a seismic resurgence of the genre with bands like Black Midi and Black Country, New Road winning nominations for Mercury Prizes and appearing on TV alongside members of Radiohead and Sonic Youth in 2020.

Squid's breakthrough arguably preceded many quintessential events in "British post-punk" however, and their unique sound, which blends elements of post-punk and experimental electronic music, somewhat circumvents the mainstream use of 'post-punk' as an increasingly common descriptive term during radio play.

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Ollie shares how Squid's lift-off moment was in 2019 when the band played the Bristol Beacon during that year's Simple Things festival; 'that was the gig that got us signed to Warp Records'. Pressure for the band was high at that time preceding the release of their first record, as he wistfully reflects how 'we knew they [Warp] were coming.'

'That's when we met our old A&R. He came and saw the show, and we got breakfast the next day and signed to Warp a few months later. That was a really special show.' Connecting with the label has, in Ollie's own words, 'helped in that we're able to have the budget to work with people like Dan Carey, and to access the skills and equipment to realise the fully electronic sound.'

Among a 36-year-long repertoire containing the latest and greatest of electronic music, he further shares how 'it's really insane to think that we're on the same label as Aphex Twin, Boards of Canada, and Autechre.'

Such influences, which seem more removed from the guitar sounds of their debut Bright Green Field compared to its synth-laden sequel O Monolith - or the singles preceding Cowards, for that matter - make clear that the band has been able to be more faithful to their eclectic influences with Warp's help.

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Commenting on the band's varied influences, Ollie describes how 'We kind of magpie it all. It's pretty chaotic sometimes.' With a monthly slot on Noods radio from the band playing almost anything: synth-pop, techno, and folk music to name a few, their variance of tastes is only as astonishing as it is mildly disorienting to listen to.

What I would suggest, however, is that beyond the sudden jumps from '80s synth-pop to Joanna Newsom's harp music that features throughout their broadcasts, the band tastefully navigate such multifaceted influences best in the latter half of their oeuvre. Nowhere is this fact made more apparent, in my opinion, than on their newest record Cowards.

'It's my favourite album that we made', Ollie concurs. 'We finished doing the main recording of the new album the day O Monolith came out so we were kind of working on it in secret. I was really nervous about how the second record would be received. I thought it was kind of like an impenetrable collection of songs.' 

Building on the warm reception for O Monolith on tour pushed the band to invest in an electronic sound further though, and with notable success. For a point of reference here, Squid played Rough Trade in 2023, which holds an occupancy of 200, while their 2025 return to Bristol at the Beacon Hall will house over 2000.

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Teasing the album, which releases on February 7th 2025, Ollie shares how 'I'd say it's [Cowards] a little bit more accessible than O Monolith- a little bit more organic and natural.' He nods with approval as I draw a likeness to Philip Glass, though as I've discovered, it's one of countless artists that make up the band's palette of influences.

When I ask how he feels about ending the tour in Bristol, Ollie shares how 'I'm kind of happy that the show in Bristol is last. We'll be super well-rehearsed. And I can sleep in my own bed. I've got a new mattress coming today, and I'm excited about that too.'

As we both eagerly await the release and tour of Cowards, I can only hope that Ollie will be enjoying deserved quality time with his cat in the refuge of his home beforehand, revitalising during the winter months among the local sounds and smells that consitute Squid's inextricably Bristolian qualities.

Featured Image: Harrison Fisherman

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