Hailing from East Anglia, SUDS craft heartfelt folk-tinged emo songs that feel intimate, warm, grand, and captivating all at once. Formed in Norwich in 2018, they caught the ear of indie label Big Scary Monsters and released their debut EP In The Undergrowth in 2023, showcasing a delicate blend of indie-emo melancholy and folk-infused charm. This was followed swiftly by their first full-length The Great Overgrowth, earning critical praise for its blend of wistfulness and optimism.

Intimate and personal but also lush and anthemic, the album was a remarkable debut, and the band has just released their sophomore release Tell Me About Your Day Again. With four-part vocal harmony choruses and poignant trumpet appearances, the album is another superb collection of punchy and heartfelt songs.

The band cut their teeth playing squats and small clubs, remaining closely tied to the UK’s DIY scene, touring relentlessly alongside other bands of kindred spirits with communal sing-alongs and goosebump-inducing crescendoes. They’ve brought their heart-on-sleeve songwriting to Austin’s SXSW, 2000 Trees and The Great Escape, and will be heading out on a full UK tour with Sherwood favourites Soot Sprite in February 2026.

We caught up with the band to find out more:

Can you tell us the story of how SUDS came together, and what the initial goal of the band was?

SUDS came together in the weird world that was post Covid. Dan and Mae had been in iterations of ‘SUDS’ for years before, Jack and Harry were in bands together in the past, but we all met through coincidentally playing gigs together. Circumstances changed, SUDS needed new members – Jack joined on drums, and he brought Harry along on the bass. We met for a coffee, still bearing face masks, and begun this silly little thing together. The initial goal was always just to do something that we loved, it was all about the music, but feel so lucky that it’s grown in to so much more for us.

How did your relationship with Big Scary Monsters come about?

The whole story with our relationship with BSM felt like a fever dream, they are a label that have hosted so many legendary bands over the years, bands we have listened to in our teens and throughout our lives. We were lucky enough to play some shows with BSM bands while SUDS was in its infancy. BSM approached us after we released our first single – My Own Mind. After discussions with them, and us not quite being able to believe what was happening, we agreed to work together releasing an EP called ‘In the Undergrowth’ our debut album ‘The Great Overgrowth’ and now ‘Tell me about your day again’.

How do you hope people feel when listening to your music?

We have always loved the thought of listeners relating to the songs in their own personal way. Whatever it may provoke in the listener, we just want it to mean something to them. Help them in feeling that emotion, processing and understanding it. All in all, we want anyone who listens to our music to be able to connect with it.

How is Tell Me About Your Day Again going to differ from your debut?

Tell Me About Your Day Again is the most honest and genuine SUDS that anyone has ever heard. All these years we have been trying to figure out who we are, both individually and together as a band. The idea that The Great Overgrowth is this step in to nature, that nature can heal and bring comfort – that may be something in our past now, and that’s reflected in this album. These songs are about us, constantly learning, growing and struggling. In some ways that’s different to the first album, in some ways it’s the same.

Can you unpack the title of the album for us and why you chose it?

The title is from the song From Everything I Never Said. It’s directly about coming home from being away whether that’s from a tour or just from work, and being so excited to hear someone you love tell you about their day. That relief you get in being back somewhere safe and getting to listen to someone you love talk to you. I think it’s something we all look forward to or one day hope to have when you don’t have it. That’s what the album is also partly about, appreciating people in your life, appreciating the little things that get you through, because sometimes that’s all you have, and that’s enough.

Emo and folk seem like unlikely bedfellows, but they definitely work well together in your case. Are there any artists or scenes you consider particularly influential to your sound?

The correlation between emo and folk seems quite obvious to us. Our influences have always varied significantly individually but there is a lot of crossover. Ratboys, Macseal, Paramore, Slaughter Beach Dog, Belle and Sebastian, Joan Baez, Nick Drake. When we’re in the van on tour it’s usually a lot of pop like Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan mixed with Thin Lizzy and KISS…

Your upcoming tour with Soot Sprite is hitting some seriously beloved grassroots venues, can you talk about what these kind of spaces mean to you as performers?

Firstly, huge shout out to Soot Sprite. A band we adore and cannot wait to share the stage with for a week, the nicest people and best rockers around. The music industry would be nothing without these grassroots venues, these places make it all possible. The fact we get to tour round the country, playing shows to strangers and friends, it’s just magical. None of this could exist without the real people who run these places, who really care, and really love live music. These places deserve so much more love and recognition for what they do for our scene, grassroots venues are the lifeblood of the music industry.

How do you feel about the current state of DIY music in the UK?

DIY Music in the UK has always been the lifeblood of the music industry, unfortunately we’ve never had a government that has supported it even remotely in the way they should. That means it’s left to the folks doing it to make it happen. We’re incredibly lucky that there are DIY venues, promoters, artists and bands all over the UK who work tirelessly to make things happen. We just hope it gets to a point where there is some financial support for these sectors so that more young people can see that you can do something you love and make a living from it. Buy tickets at independent venues, from independent ticket providers, buy tickets to see DIY bands and if you can buy merch at their shows. It’s everything.

Who would perform at SUDS dream festival?

It would be a big mates fest with some of our heroes thrown in for good measure. Spanish Love Songs, Ratboys, Macseal, Dikembe, Heart Attack Man, Jetski, Pool Kids, Soot Sprite. And then we’d make all our dreams come true with American Football, Tigers Jaw, Hot Mulligan, Paramore, Modern Baseball, and of course Sabrina Carpenter.

What is the ultimate goal of SUDS?

We’ve had so many talks about where we are and what we want to achieve, and we’ve truly realised with the process of writing, recording and releasing this new album – we just want to do what makes us happy. We want to keep gigging, making new friends in bands and talking to the amazing people that come and watch us. We want to write music that means something to someone, we want to care about the things that are important to us and look after all of our loved ones. So the ultimate goal of SUDS really is to be happy.