Based in Worcester, Time Of The Mouth (TOTM) are a pop-rock trio made up of Chris Jones (frontman and guitarist), Mitchul Tyler (bass) and Ollie Badger (drums). Following on from 2018’s release of Beautiful Storm, we caught up with the guys to learn about them and their new single, Tears.

Hi guys, thanks for coming in to talk to us! Let’s talk basics first. How did Time of the Mouth form and how did the name come about?

TOTM were formed when Chris (who was 14 at the time) was approached by two school friends who had seen him perform his solo acoustic songs, to ask him if he was interested in forming a band.The name came about when, during a band naming session in Chris’s living room the three 14 year old lads found the name ‘Time Of The Month’ highly amusing, only for Chris’s Mum to enter the room and immediately ban them from using that name, so a similar sounding alternative was sought hence the now familiar version of TOTM.

What’s been your biggest musical achievement of your careers so far?

There have been a few highlights, which have been spread over the time that the band have been together. Playing at the LG arena on the acoustic stage before ‘The Who’ played on their Quadrophenia tour definitely stands out, as does our headline show at the O2 Academy 3 in Birmingham. Getting airplay on radio stations in America and Australia has also given us a buzz.

What drew you to wanting to be a part of the music industry?

A desire to perform, a love for music and a reluctance to accept living in the ‘real world’.

Your new single Tears was released on Friday – congrats guys! The subject of the song is rather dark but sadly all too common these days. Is this something you’ve had a certain experience with?

We have all had experience, either through friends, family or personally of various mental health issues and the message of the song is really to encourage people to reach out and seek support rather than bottle up mental health issues as we know that this can lead to very sad and tragic outcomes.

Do you think there is enough support for the mental health of musicians?

It’s something that is starting to be taken more seriously and there are various organisations out there, like ‘Music Minds Matter’ that have been set up to support musicians with their mental health issues.

It’s quite a serious music video – what gave you the idea to have your fans holding up signs with their diagnoses and issues related to mental health?

We were keen to get our fans involved with this video after getting to know the issues that some of them have have faced in their day to day lives. We have been told on a few occasions that our music has helped them when they have been suffering from mental health issues, as it has either reminded them of happier times, or it has provided them with a form of escape from their problems for a little while. Hearing this has meant a lot to us, and inspired us to come up with the idea for the video, so it seemed very natural to ask some of our friends and fans to take part in the video.

If you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be?

Apart from a guarantee of success for TOTM, we would love the industry to be less about financial resources at our level. We know so many great bands who don’t have the financial clout to buy their way onto tours, or to pay small fortunes for PR or guaranteed radio airplay, so a more level playing field would be fairer and would help make the industry more pure and more talent based. The total extermination of the entertainment culture that brought us the X-Factor and BGT would be nice too…

What has the rest of 2019 got in store for you guys?

We have an album ready to launch when the time feels right, but for now it’s really about getting out all across the UK and playing as many shows and festivals as we can to as many people as possible. We are working with some great people who are helping us to build on our successes so far, so you can expect a couple more singles, videos and hopefully a lot more exposure for us during the rest of 2019.

Check out the video for their new single Tears below:

Catch Time Of The Mouth at West Street Live in Sheffield on May 6th or at Uncover in Worcester on May 31st

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