Coming out of West Yorkshire, Tramadol have built a reputation as one of the UK’s most ferocious live hardcore acts. First making noise with their 2021 demo, the band quickly stood out by channeling the raw intensity of Discharge without falling into the trap of simply ticking d-beat boxes.
In a UKHC landscape that’s been producing wave after wave of standout bands, Tramadol caught my attention recently after falling in love with their self-titled EP that came out earlier this year via Donor Records. The stuff rips, but TZ's bass tone is what initially got its filthy hooks in me. If you're a fellow fan of the bass rumble practiced by players like Carl Auge (His Hero Is Gone) and Rick Wright (Nomeanssno), you'll be on board.
I reached out the Tramadol crew to learn about their story, and get to the botton of their putrid sonic approach.
Do you guys know each other from playing in other bands? How did Tramadol come together?
(TW, vocals): Me and Jack had just played our last show with The Wound in December 2019 and we both wanted to do something else together, that was a quick phone call. Jack and Paddy play in Frisk together so that was Vocals/Guitar/Drums sorted. Myself and Lloyd were in a band called No Form years back. And Lloyd and Zealand did their first band together called Bad Manifest.
We had a handful of practices as a four piece through January/February 2020 then obviously lockdown came in, Lloyd got in on second guitar for one or two of those practices prior. It wasn’t until lockdowns were lifted we got things properly locked in and within that time we had riffs to work with right out the gate.
Zealand got on bass and we had our first proper full band practice 21/05/21. We got the demo finished then and there and Paddy recorded it 02/06/2021 at Hot Dogs HQ and we played our first show 16/10/21 at Mabgate Bleach, Leeds. Billy got on Guitar 07/03/24 after Jack tapped out due to other commitments, he remains in Frisk and also plays in The Shits.
Has your band name caused you any headaches yet?
(TW): No trouble for us directly, it has got a few event pages flagged, and a friend of ours posted a picture of Billy with “Tramadol” as the caption and had their Instagram account suspended for a few days for the promotion of drug use.
The bass tone on the Tramadol EP is tremendous.
(TZ, bass): Motörhead and Zebrahead. I don't own a pedal at the moment, so I borrowed Bill's TC Electronics Overdrive when we were recording and it sounded sick.
(PC, drums): We got Brad Boatright to hammer the bass for the master. On the recording we used a 57 and kick drum mic with no DI.
What are some of the lyrical themes you tackle on the EP? "Calculated Slaughter" is such a ripper!
(TW): There's a thread through the EP.
"Crucifixion" is surrendering yourself to an electoral body, specifically in this case the Labour Party. If you're having to pretend away aiding the industrial slaughter of civilians (be it Gaza or Iraq), trading that off with smaller domestic gains to justify continued support, what kind of relationship is that? There has to be a red line. I share the view expressed by Matt Kennard that the Labour Party’s purpose in Britain is to soak up and neutralise the left, keeping its focus within insular party matters instead of in a more proactive position.
Starmer's manipulation of the membership to get him over the line in the leadership race, then systematically purging any socialist presence from the party demonstrates how disposable the membership is to the party leadership. They've happily lost over 200,000 members in the last few years, Rachel Reeves even said the drop was a price worth paying for ridding Labour of anti-semites, which is an incredible smear to people who likely volunteered their help in recent elections. This relationship is characterized in the song as a devil's bargain.
"Easy Targets" is about pure distraction in relation to public outrage in the context of falling living standards, divide and rule. Unaffordable housing, degrading public services, polluted waters isn’t the fault of refugees. The focus on public funds used to help vulnerable people and not a sliver about defence expenditure (which has now increased). This'll never be a serious conversation until that happens, sadly having serious consequences in the meantime.
"Calculated Slaughter" is about how for nearly two years we’ve had government representatives declaring their deep rooted support for human rights, projecting this mirage of a liberal rules based order both domestically and internationally. Repeatedly demonstrated that it can be dropped whenever desirable making a joke of the idea it's rooted in any principle.
It's this pretence that everything is being done and they’re outraged, with plenty of evidence to the contrary. Take a look at the party line a year ago when things were already terrible, the attitudes, obfuscations and denial, to the present day. The Labour party announced in September last year they'd suspended 29 of around 350 arms licenses "at risk" of being in breach of humanitarian law but it was subsequently reported on drop site news that from Sept 2024 to Feb 2025 “munitions of war” shipments continued.
This doesn't even take into account the intelligence and logistical role the UK plays through the RAF that surpasses the arms support as reported by Declassified UK.
"Lucid Dream" is about the awareness of your situation with seemingly no control to change it or denial to recognise and try, only to find you can’t anyway. How much of your perceptions about the state of things are manufactured and/or manipulated to keep you as inactive as possible.
Donor Records did a repress of the EP over the summer. Tell me about your connection to the label. I also love the cover art.
(TW): So I run Donor Records. The 2021 demo was our first cassette release, and through the period of finishing it we’d always planned to keep the first 7” in-house. It was a long process for a 4 song EP with members having other band commitments as well as a lineup change early 2024.
Donor had already a few 7” releases under our belt by this point (Fiend, The Wound, Hellscape, etc.) but the Tramadol 7” is our first repress which is such an achievement for the label and it being a band I’m in as well is also class. It came as a shock too ‘cause the record dropped online digitally at the end of March 2025, myself and my old man were taking it local shops in Yorkshire for first dibs for those who wanted physical copies, we didn’t start shipping online until the release show which was May 2nd and by the end of June we were ordering another round.
Thank you also re: the artwork. I’m very happy with how it all came together. I wanted to build on the reaper imagery whilst also sticking to a rule I set myself to ensure it didn’t look like a crust record. The logo was done by our friend Becky Pearey, which once paired with a drawing I was eventually happy with I knew it was job done.
I take commissions, you can find me through Donor: [email protected]
How active will Tramadol be in the coming months? What else can we expect from you?
(TW): Show-wise, we’re done for this year I believe. Lloyd is away with Powerplant in Australia and Japan so looking to prioritise some writing/practices for another 7" to keep the momentum going. We plan to head back through Europe again which we’ve not done since 2022 when we went over with Frisk. And since we had the UK dates with Public Acid on their Euro tour we’re looking to go over their way when we’re able.
We’ve had a couple of offers to head out to South America and South East Asia which would be amazing but as is commonly the case it’s finding the window to do it in. Europe first, the world second.
(PC): Snarls*
What are some hardcore releases that you've been impressed by in 2025 so far?
(TW): Who Needs the Peace Corps? 7” by Total Con, Loving, Joyful and Free 12" by Mother Nature. Not hardcore but Läbrys Cold as the Touch of Night demo is great, and to miss the point of the question I still have the Wicked Dream 7” by Cicada from last year on repeat.
(LC, guitar): Wits End Demo '25 and the Electric Chair/Physique split 12"
(BT, guitar: Destruxion America 12” for sure.
(PC): City of Fear 12" by Kaleidoscope, also 2024 but Earthworks 12" by Straw Man Army.
***
The Tramadol 7" is out now via Donor Records.
Tagged: tramadol
