THEO BLEAK, the alias of Dundee based musician Katie Lynch with long term collaborators Mark Johnston and Megan McNally, popped up in the RESOUND End of Year lists, so RESOUND caught up with Katie ahead of the release of their next single later this week.
Hello Theo Bleak! As 2024 comes to an end, how are you and how has the year been for you?
I’m doing okay. I’m just always 100mph in my head. Our year has been good, we sort of sat on the bad stuff that happened because we were so busy and focussed on just moving forward. The world has felt scary though and my belief in humanity has withered. I’m happy to be making music and somehow always just sustaining myself enough to release something else. Lucky.
Before we dive into 2024 in a bit more depth, what was your musical taste growing up and who are your influences now?
Musical influences when I was younger were bands like The Almost, Liz Fraser, Alexisonfire, Grouper, The Blue Nile, Anohni & The Johnstons, Coldplay, Jeff Buckley, Slowdive, The Sundays, Regina Spector, Karima Francis, Braids. As I’ve got older, they’ve remained mainly the same, but also I listen to a lot of Dijon, Dean Blunt, Searows, Green Gardens, Current Joys, A.R. Kane and so on. I read a lot too and a lot of my inspiration is from philosophy and post-modern literature. I also really enjoy movie scores!
In 2024, you’ve had a couple of award nominations this year, making the final shortlist for the Scottish Album of the Year (SAY) for the ‘Pain EP’ and Best Acoustic at the Scottish Acoustic Music Awards (SAMA) which you won. Congratulations! How did it feel to be in the conversation for those awards and have your music recognized in that way by others?
Thank you! I was genuinely gobsmacked by the SAY Award shortlist. The work ‘Pain’ was a nightmare to create and I struggled a lot to listen to it, but receiving the nomination nearly a year after its release made me reflect on it and return to it. I was so proud. Winning the SAMA was so so much fun, I felt like I was a kid again when I got given our award. I’m so cynical and beaten down but that day I felt really truly happy about it.
How do you find the process writing songs via an alter ego/character (if it is ok to call Theo Bleak that)? Does it give freedom to write songs that you wouldn’t necessarily in the first person and yet still give catharsis to you as an individual?
Yeah, my identity has certainly become more entwined with ‘Theo Bleak’. I originally created the world to release under but now the world feels so real to me, I don’t have to pretend.
In previous interviews, you’ve spoken about how your music is always evolving and any listener visiting your back catalogue can sense that. Do you have a vision for where you want to take Theo Bleak or is it a journey that develops organically as you grow as both a musician and person navigating through life?
I think my music will evolve and change and never really ‘arrive’, not even when I’m gone. I think the changes reflect growing older, shifting perspective, not letting the sound be influenced by ugliness but rather my actual reality. Having people I love involved in the writing and production is so paramount to our sound now aswell. I have visions for the sound but ultimately I’ll write what my subconscious tells me to.
You have a new single “You’d Said I’d Feel It All Again” out on the 19th December. What can you tell us about that?
Yes, I originally wrote this song last Christmas time, I could sense that someone we were working with despised me. The relationship had deteriorated into this nasty psychological collision between me and him, I remember in some of the last calls I had with him I would just fall silent. I tried to desperately to buy his affection for me and the project back but I definitely knew that was gone. It was that feeling of ‘everything’s ruined’ all the time. The chorus is ‘I know you love me, you just can’t say it out loud’. I’ve spent a year punishing myself, dreaming about him, haunted and knowing that I’ll never receive the email I’m desperately waiting on. Anyway, people can put their own meaning to it and I think it’s a sentiment a lot of people might relate to. It kind of feels festive, like in the way The Pogues felt festive.
Most of your releases to date have been digital though you did put out a lovely 7″, your first physical release, for ‘In My House/Like A Thorn’ earlier this year. Do you have any plans to do more physical releases in the future, whether new music or getting the back catalogue out there?
Our future releases will be physical for sure, there are two big bits of work next year so that will definitely be on the cards!
There is a lot of concern over the sustainability of the music eco-system, particularly at grassroots level. How is it as an independent artist finding your way in 2024?
The sustainability of music is dire. I am in a loop of being in debt to make it work, then just scraping by. I really don’t know what the answer is for people at grassroots level. The system as a whole is broken and the model of the music industry needs to change. Paired with society being in an overall recession, the arts are just another facet disrupted by late stage capitalism. I try to release music and put on shows which are accessible to absolutely everyone. I will continue this cycle for as absolutely long as I can.
I must ask about your single “Don’t Borrow Grief From Later” which has been one of my most played songs this year, and features James from The Twilight Sad. How did you come to have him on the song and any plans to return the favour? He strikes me as a bit of kindred spirit for you maybe?
Megan, Mark and I wrote the song on a gloomy day last year and from the start we joked how perfect it would be for James’ voice. Serendipity brought us to James as we performed on a stripped back line-up at a charity gig with him for a beautiful cause, ‘Playlist for Life’ (https://www.playlistforlife.org.uk/). I was elated when he agreed to sing on the track. I instantly felt like I’d known him forever, I think in many ways we are kindred spirits, I hope he wouldn’t mind me saying so.
You are ending the year with a headline show at the iconic King Tuts in Glasgow on the same day the single comes out. Are there any special plans up your sleeve or can we just expect Theo Bleak giving it full blast?
It is a really special show, we have a few guests. I reflect on some of our previous shows though and I feel we have really stepped it up. I hope we do our very very best for everyone.
Where are you looking to take Theo Bleak in 2025 – you’ve mainly stuck with EPs to date but can we expect a Theo Bleak LP at all?
If all goes to plan, another EP and an album. In terms of live stuff, I will likely just focus on support slots and some festival appearances.
Finally, you are from Dundee, home of the Beano – which Beano character most closely matches the character of Theo Bleak?
I love the Beano! I think I’m most like Gnasher, loyal but misbehaved, and can only really be understood on Halloween.
Thank you and all the best for 2025!
Thank you!
The new Theo Bleak single ‘You’d Said I’d Feel It All Again’ is out 19th December 2024 digitally via Bandcamp and all the usual streaming sites. Theo Bleak play a one-off headline show at King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, also on 19th December 2024, tickets via https://www.kingtuts.co.uk/artist/theo-bleak
Theo Bleak on Bandcamp: https://theobleak.bandcamp.com/
Words by Geoff Shaw (IG: @gsmusicphotos)
Photos by Marilena Vlachopoulou (IG: @darkroom.memoir)