The Oidz

Headrow House

With: The Orchestra (for now), Silverwingkiller and Bank Details

Across two weekends in January, Super Friendz hosted the Dark Arts warm-up series at Headrow House in an endeavour to pose the question - what is the best new talent that 2025 has to offer? It is the opinion of Stub Quarterly that the answer to this question is... The Oidz.

Last year, I happened upon a term in the depths of Reddit that was missing from my encyclopaedic vocabulary of music – ‘egg-punk’. Intrigued, I read on and realised that a collection of bands that I had self-coined as ‘Fisherprice-core’ were, in actual fact, egg-punk. This included groups such as Gee Tee, Fungas and The Coneheads - all of whom follow a goofy, lo-fi formula generally driven by drum machines and synthesisers emulating the cheapest sound achievable. I was sold - the future is egg.

The Oidz are self-proclaimed egg-punks. Forming in 2024, they are fresh from the womb but well-marinated in DIY band accolades - with members also belonging to projects such as Fuzz Lightyear and Volk-Soup.

The band have retained a sense of relative secrecy thus far. They have chosen to go against the grain of building an empire via social media. Shows are promoted only once via Instagram, where they choose to follow one singular shitpost meme account at a time. Unlike Stub Quarterly, for example, who follow every man, woman and dog for exposure (shout out Kiwi the Maltipoo!).

Until mere days before the second issue of Stub was sent to print, the band had no official releases. However, on 25th March 2025, The Oidz crash landed with the release of their debut EP via Prison Records (a new label spearheaded by egg punk legends;Prison Affair).

It is an unquestionable honour to be signed by the current most exciting band in Western Europe. If you don't know who Prison Affair are by now - get to. The Oidz make music that sounds like it has been recorded underwater, with lyrics about masturbation in space. Prison Affair do the exact same thing... but about prisons.

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Bank Details opened tonight's bill. As Leeds Conservatoire rising stars, there are curious eyes watching over this band following the institution's recent success with alumni English Teacher (sing it with me folks - 'the first band outside of London to win the Mercury Music Prize in ten years'). Bank Details' set is carefully arranged to grow from melodic numbers to a cacophonic and hugely impressive climax. They perform their closing track with such ferocity that you'd get the impression it was their last ever gig, and that-is-admirable.

Silverwingkiller are a deviation from standard proceedings. The two-piece take to the stage with only a laptop and drum kit at their disposal. Almost reminiscent of the experimental California outfit The Garden, their high-tempo techno inspired set transitions from tracks infused with industrial beats to straight up donk. One song begins with a gentle arpeggio, leading the crowd into a false moment of pensive reflection, only to be broken by the drummer launching himself into the crowd Eric Cantona style. Over the years, I've seen many performers do this to energise an audience. However, this caught me so off-guard that I immediately entered fight-or-flight mode, stopped dancing completely and anchored my feet to the floor. This is no criticism, however, and only serves as evidence of Silverwingkiller's ability to evoke a range of emotions with their music.

The Orchestra (for now) is the penultimate act of this showcase. It is understandable how this London ensemble draws close comparisons to Black Country New Road. Yet, in my opinion, there can never be too many six-part Danish crime dramas. I also see NYC's Geese having an influence on this band - singer Joseph Scarisbrick has a dominating stage presence and versatile vocal range for immersing the listener in his storytelling and observations of daily life. The set closes with a fine example of this, the band's first official release 'Woke-Robin’; an eight minute cinematic anthem.

The Oidz open their headline slot with ‘Stage Three’ which is an excellent piece of scene-setting for exhibiting their hallmark features. Nonsense lyrics, a breakneck tempo and a synth hook prescribed by the egg punk overlords.

The stage itself is littered with mannequin limbs that resemble a dismembered alien. Extra-terrestrial themes pervade their music: both overtly, with track titles like ‘Jackin' off in the UFO’; and covertly, with intergalactic pedal and vocal effects aplenty.

Despite having only a handful of gigs under their belt, The Oidz are masterfully tight. The band blast through seven songs in twenty minutes flat. There is very little chat and tuning breaks between songs are interspersed with random sample pad sound bites, reminiscent of a Filey amusement arcade. Being this good is almost an antithesis to their egg-punk ethos. Readers of our last issue may recall the band exclaiming to Trevor Baines during a soundcheck that "it doesn't matter if it sounds shit - it's meant to". Fortunately, balance to the force is restored by the end of the gig, with Ben Parry's guitar cutting out due to technical difficulties at least three times.

For the man in question, tonight is one of celebration. Much of the audience have donned party hats and, for an encore, deliver a 'Happy Birthday' sing-along and caterpillar cake. It is also a celebration of The Oidz first ever headline gig. I am hopeful that this accomplishment will be surpassed by many more in the near future. This is a band worthy of being the next Leeds export, if they wish to be. They are weird, but far from antagonising. In reductionist terms, their music is fun, accessible and utterly unassuming.

It's 2025, global politics have gone to shit and the people are powerless. Release your frustrations, or simply ignore the apocalypse, by getting groovy with The Oidz.

Words by Magnus Pike. Picture by J. Konopinski.