So a new venue for me, Paper Dress Vintage in Hackney.  Basically it’s a room above a clothing shop that holds 110 people, and this is their 8^th ever gig.  Picked a great night for it too as it was one of the hottest of the year so far – phew!!!  I was fortunate to have had a chat and photos with the band in the Oslo pub across the street prior to the gig and they came over as very grounded individuals with a vision – a lovely bunch of youngsters following their passion and finding a niche for themselves in their chosen genre of music.

I thought my mates and I would be the oldest people there by a country mile and it would be full of twenty somethings, but I couldn’t have been more wrong as the vast majority of the sellout show were definitely pushing 50+!

I discovered them via their support act David Mudra on Instagram (which is fast becoming my go to place to search for new talent).  Only formed in 2025 this young band have come a long way in a short time with their colours firmly nailed to the goth/post punk sound. Given their limited song catalogue (their 7 track EP ‘Silent Pictures’ was only released on 10^th July) I wasn’t expecting a long set, and I reckon it was about 45 minutes – but boy was it good. Ethereal intertwining guitar interplay, creating an atmospheric and cavernous sound built on melodic throbbing metronomic basslines and rhythmic haunting drum beats.

The Mouth Ulcers are:

• Zak Watson (vocals/guitar)
• Josephine Rose (guitar/vocals)
• Jamie-Lee Culver (bass)
• David Zbirka (drums)

Obviously the band were dressed all in de-rigueur black, with only Jamie-Lee breaking rank with red cowboy boots, and messy black eye makeup and hair – so you may as well look like you sound.  Zak has a bit of the Pete Murphy vocal sound about him which is no bad thing, however the subdued vocal mix tonight didn’t do him any favours at all – the usual ghostly spoken lyrics barely audible.  It’s a tiny stage so all 4 were basically stuck in position all night, so I can’t tell if they have any specific moves etc. that single them out for crowd attention.  Obviously Zak being the main focal point is still at the very beginning of developing his stage presence and I look forward to watching his development.

They played the entire EP tonight interspersed with new songs.  I always tend to think that the 1^st LP any band releases is them at their best, and the new songs sound every bit as good.  Young they might be but I didn’t see many nerves tonight, it was a very solid confident performance.  Practice makes perfect and they more you practice the better and tighter you become as a band.

Set list (Click on the link to view the YouTube videos)

1. A Cure For The Diseased
2. Prevail
3. You’re Not In Heaven
4. Western Horror Story
5. Space
6. Satisfy
7. Silent Pictures
8. The Devil’s Mad
9. Flames
10. Stuck In Your Head
11. A Perfect End
12. Closer To You

‘Prevail’ is very Robert Smith at his Cure best.  In fact it’s actually quite difficult to pick out my preferred tracks as tonight every song was pretty damn good – I enjoyed the entire show.  They have created a stark brutal minimalist soundscape (wonder if they live in or near The Barbican?) and have put their own hand crafted stamp on modern goth with more than a nod to their 80s predecessors. 

Fresh, thrashy and ghostly – I hope they have a long and colourful (make that monochrome 🖤 😊) career.

A couple of things to finish off with, I think they need a definitive stand out band logo (one that defines the band) and once they are in bigger venues lighting needs to be worked on to showcase their dark side.  Also £12 a ticket is ridiculously cheap – they could easily have charged £25 tonight without batting an eyelid!

David Mudra

This German certainly has the looks, hair, style, attitude and some bloody good tunes to match.  Tonight it’s just his guitar and a drummer playing his “Music for Outcasts” but actually it’s pretty accessible new wave goth-pop.  The pair put on a pretty polished performance and the songs speak for themselves, finely crafted tunes with sparse guitar hooks and pounding drums.  It’s the perfect opener for the Mouth Ulcers – they could have been hatched from the same egg 😊.

So David is a bit of a Mike Oldfield in that he does everything himself – playing, writing, mixing etc. mainly on the web but now in his early 30s he is finally doing some live shows (probably a better revenue stream for the future).

I’ve put a few videos up on my YouTube site so you can check him out for yourselves and if anyone can tell me the song titles I’d appreciate it.

Marko [30 July 2026]