Biography
Ex-Vöid, a British group, merges the raw sting of punk rock with the bright hooks of jangle pop and layers in shoegaze-tinged distortion to produce tracks that feel sugary, abrasive, and thoroughly enjoyable. The band, launched by alumni of Joanna Gruesome, issued its opening single in 2018 with a pronounced punk edge; the nine-track debut album Bigger Than Before, released in 2022, introduced modest studio refinement while preserving the group’s forceful delivery. On the follow-up In Love Again, due in 2025, the ensemble emphasized infectious melodies and layered vocal harmonies without softening its persistently jagged guitar attack.
Alanna McArdle and Owen Williams, who had previously collaborated in Joanna Gruesome and within the loose London collective Gob Nation, formed the new project after their earlier band dissolved in 2017. Echoing Joanna Gruesome’s fabricated origin story of an anger-management class, the pair spun a tale in which McArdle contributed astrology and occult pieces to lifestyle magazines while Williams performed in the punk outfit the Snivellers, which actually issued the three-song satiric release The Servile Worm Demo. They further maintained that rehearsals resumed following a shared modern-dance class; regardless of the precise catalyst, McArdle and Williams took up guitars and vocals, adding bassist Laurie Foster and drummer Jonny Coddington. Within months the quartet recorded a three-song cassette single for Don Giovanni Records. Prefect Records followed in 2019 with the seven-inch pairing “Only One” and “Ex-Vöid,” after which positive press led to expanded touring that included support slots alongside Waxahatchee and Speedy Ortiz plus numerous headline club dates.
Bigger Than Before appeared in 2022 on Don Giovanni in the United States and Prefect in the United Kingdom, comprising nine originals and an exuberant reading of Arthur Russell’s “I Couldn't Say It to Your Face.” Williams devoted much of 2023 to recording and touring with his concurrent project the Tubs, which includes fellow Joanna Gruesome veteran George Nicholls. Ex-Vöid resumed activity in 2024 with live shows and songwriting for its next record. The resulting sophomore album, In Love Again, marks the band’s first release on Tapete Records and introduces drummer George Rothman in place of Jonny Coddington.
Alanna McArdle and Owen Williams, who had previously collaborated in Joanna Gruesome and within the loose London collective Gob Nation, formed the new project after their earlier band dissolved in 2017. Echoing Joanna Gruesome’s fabricated origin story of an anger-management class, the pair spun a tale in which McArdle contributed astrology and occult pieces to lifestyle magazines while Williams performed in the punk outfit the Snivellers, which actually issued the three-song satiric release The Servile Worm Demo. They further maintained that rehearsals resumed following a shared modern-dance class; regardless of the precise catalyst, McArdle and Williams took up guitars and vocals, adding bassist Laurie Foster and drummer Jonny Coddington. Within months the quartet recorded a three-song cassette single for Don Giovanni Records. Prefect Records followed in 2019 with the seven-inch pairing “Only One” and “Ex-Vöid,” after which positive press led to expanded touring that included support slots alongside Waxahatchee and Speedy Ortiz plus numerous headline club dates.
Bigger Than Before appeared in 2022 on Don Giovanni in the United States and Prefect in the United Kingdom, comprising nine originals and an exuberant reading of Arthur Russell’s “I Couldn't Say It to Your Face.” Williams devoted much of 2023 to recording and touring with his concurrent project the Tubs, which includes fellow Joanna Gruesome veteran George Nicholls. Ex-Vöid resumed activity in 2024 with live shows and songwriting for its next record. The resulting sophomore album, In Love Again, marks the band’s first release on Tapete Records and introduces drummer George Rothman in place of Jonny Coddington.
Albums
Singles
