MOUTH ULCERS: From Spooky Suburbs to Silent Pictures
- Mariia Bulkina
- 6 days ago
- 4 min read
Fresh out the oven, MOUTH ULCERS are an up-and-coming group of goth and post-punk lovers from London. Starting out as a band only last year, they have already managed to grow quite a bit, putting on headline shows around the country and across the channel. In line with the release of their fantastic debut EP Silent Pictures, we caught Zak and Jamie-Lee from MOUTH ULCERS to hear their personal perspective on the record. The band discuss what moving parts go into their sound and visuals, whether their souls are truly as dark as their lyrics, and how music of other genres may inspire their creative directions.
Nothing in the world of MOUTH ULCERS is predetermined, as the band did not originally set out for any big projects, but simply worked their way through GarageBand demos, adding more layers each time. Moreover, they did not even necessarily set out to create a goth band, but it was something that came naturally from their influences. “We’re all from small towns out of London where not much really happened. And it’s always quite mysterious and gloomy at night”.
The darkness of the suburbs, and their own melancholic, introverted characters were bound to shape the direction of MOUTH ULCERS. The choice of musical style is precisely what Jamie-Lee attributes the band’s rapid success to: “there’s not really other younger bands that are doing this genre specifically, I feel like it stands out quite a bit. You’ve got post-punk, but this is more goth in a way.” Whether it is a certain craving for the bass-fuelled angst in the air these days, or whether MOUTH ULCERS are simply fulfilling the niche that was always out there, it is clear the band has already gathered a strong, loyal audience in what is only the foundation stages of their journey.
Diving into Silent Pictures more deeply, Zak has shared that his favourite off the EP might be Satisfy. The track starts off slow, but gradually intensifies, resulting in a big, dramatic ending: “It’s not an instant catchy song right from the start, you’ve got to let it build and let it sink into your skin a little bit”. Even more, the listening experience would be elevated when the EP is played on a night drive along a dark, fast motorway, as Zak explains: “You’ve got to be careful though, because sometimes you can drive a little bit too fast if the songs are going quite quickly”. The same raucous energy of MOUTH ULCERS is also translated live, especially on tracks such as Closer to You. This one is Jamie-Lee’s personal pick: “I just like how strong it is, and Zak also goes quite mental when we play it”.
Another reason why MOUTH ULCERS became so beloved so quickly is the strong, cohesive visual world that they have managed to build, whether it is channelled in the music videos or their social media promotion. Both Jamie-Lee and Zak are visual artists themselves, and they admit that this certainly helps the band’s creation process. “We do it all ourselves. Even most of the photos of us are self-shot on a tripod, because we want it a specific way” - shares Jamie-Lee. Zak also adds that the visual experience always goes hand in hand with the music for this band: “we’re also making music that people can experience like images and video inside their head”.
For such intricate visual detail, there is a giant volume of influences that MOUTH ULCERS take inspiration from, beyond just music. Both Zak and Jamie-Lee give a lot of praise to David Lynch and his work like Blue Velvet and Lost Highway: "in a lot of those moments they dive into another world, they don’t fit anywhere on Earth”. The vocalist also mentions Eraserhead and its soundtrack full of ambience, noise, and harshness. He goes on to picture: “I’d like to think that you could put some of our songs on in the background of those films and it would work, it wouldn’t do any damage to the film”. And Zak is not wrong, which further shows how intertwined both the sonic and the visual world of MOUTH ULCERS truly is.
Circling back to their post-punk core, Zak also cites BAUHAUS’s Daniel Ash as one of his all-time icons, and someone he would one day dream to work closely with. The band are not always constrained by the genre, where Jamie-Lee’s favourite artists range from SLOWDIVE to the likes of BILLIE EILISH, admittedly, all quite dark in their own ways. And these influences are not forgotten, as the band’s next material might lean more into shoegaze, with dreamier and softer tones. Zak adds: “in the future, going a bit more electronic might also be quite cool. I think it’s inevitable, you're going to want to experiment”.
MOUTH ULCERS are clearly thinking ahead, as their next goal is to head straight to writing an album, which has already been a steady work in progress. Whether it is going to sound similar to Silent Pictures, or divert into another dimension, we're sure it's going to sound no less phenomenal. MOUTH ULCERS are set to conquer the stages all around the place over the course of next year, playing iconic venues such as Kentish Town Forum in London. As Zak eloquently summarised: “it’s a lot to keep up with, but we’re enjoying it all”.
MOUTH ULCERS released their debut EP Silent Pictures on 10th July 2026.
Words: Mariia Bulkina
Photos: Jake Schneider
With thanks to: Super Cat PR and Mouth Ulcers
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