never easy is much a name for Ugly Tomorrow and Numb$kull’s band as it is a mantra.

Because nothing worth having does come easy. It often gets harder as time goes on. But for the duo, the pursuit of bringing this band to life and having other people respond to what they are trying to create has made all of the toil worth it.

Musically, they have carved out a unique place for themselves, sitting somewhere between the ethereal numbness of shoegaze, the crushing intent of nu-metal and the heartwrenching emotion of mid-00s emo and pop-punk. Though this is no nostalgia fest, as the new album ‘i still care’ demonstrates, feeling thoroughly modern and effortlessly fresh in its whirlwind of caustic melodies and tear-stained refrains.

As they make their way across the UK and Europe on a very special headline tour, Rock Sound caught up with the duo to find out what it means to finally reach the place you have always dreamt of being.

Rock Sound: What have been the main feelings you have felt finally having this album out in the world?

Ugly Tomorrow: Relief, man. It’s been a long time coming. Feels good to know people enjoy it. When you’re a kid, and you find something new that you want to show your friends, it’s nice to have that feeling around our band.

RS: How do you feel where you are now compared to the intentions you had at the beginning of the project?: How much has changed and how much has stayed the same?

Ugly Tomorrow: When it first started, it was just an outlet. At that time, the scene wasn’t even a scene. I don’t think many bands were doing the whole shoegaze/nugaze/nu-metal thing. But I was at a point in my life where I was like, ‘I don’t know what to do with my days’. I just knew I wanted to do something, so I picked up the guitar and started playing a bit.n But there was no thought behind it. There was no like, ‘Oh, let’s do this, to do that, to do this.’ I just made some songs and, without knowing it, found a sound, vibe, and emotion that resonated not only with me but with others. So when we started working together, it felt cool. It was a couple of months after that until we released the first song. And there was no idea of this being anything. It was just something that felt fun.

Numb$kull: We’ve both been playing for so long and making music without any like touring or kind of success. So that wasn’t the goal. We make music because we make music. We do it for ourselves first. But of course, it’s super nice, and it still blows my mind that so many people are listening to it now. We’re grateful for sure, but we do it for ourselves, mostly because of necessity more than anything else.

RS: The only way you find yourself in that position, and even find each other on the same wavelength, is through a longstanding love and respect for the music that you like, and then subsequently want to make. People see through it when you’re doing something just because it seems like the cool thing. But to make this at a time when it felt like you were the only ones, that comes from the heart.

Ugly Tomorrow: With the past projects I was doing, I was trying to stay up to date with what was popular and sound new and fresh. But now I’m kind of over that. I don’t really feel like I fit into those scenes anymore, unlike when I was, like, 17/18. But I grew up on this kind of stuff, so let me just try to make some songs like that, and because of that, it felt the most organic and honest. When I showed some friends, they were like, ‘It doesn’t feel like you’re trying to be anything’.

RS: But then you see artists, how they dress, how they act, what they post, and everything, and it feels very manufactured. I think it’s a blessing that this project worked out for us because we don’t have to manufacture anything.

Numb$kull: We don’t overthink anything either. When it comes to influences, we are very different, but we still grew up liking the same stuff, like skateboarding. Because of that, you can really hear a mix in there. But it’s much more of a freestyle thing than us going, ‘Let’s combine this band and this band’. I like to think that the ideas are always floating, and you can just go and catch them. It’s not you that decides it. It all happens organically.

RS: How did that relate to when you realised the words and emotions that were coming out and being applied to these songs? What was it like talking to each other about the things you were feeling?

Ugly Tomorrow: The thing is, the words would just come out. If it sounds cool, that’s cool. Suppose it means something, if it doesn’t mean something. The thing is, with the first album, I was just in my own world. Like nothing matters. I’m not trying to do anything; this is just what’s coming out. Then, when it came to this album, I realised a few things. I realised that people liked us and that I didn’t have to work three jobs. I realised that I don’t completely hate myself. But then I was kind of like, ‘Fuck, what do I say now?’ Because I don’t feel that same way. I don’t feel that fucking depressed. But then that created a new depression of  ‘Why can’t I feel how I felt when I made those songs because that’s what works?’ What do I have to do to make myself feel like that, which is a terrible thing to think.

I went back to the project files for the first few songs, listened to them, and heard how raw and honest they were. And I sat there and cried for a minute because I was just like, ‘Damn’. I wished I could go back to feel like that, but it also made me realise I don’t have to feel like that either. I can live on, make new emotions, and appreciate that.  It took a minute to find. Finding out how to feel a certain way again. Because those feelings come and go, and no one wants to be depressed. But when that depression gives you a kind of popularity, it’s like, fuck.

RS: It feels like you’ve found a place where there are glimmers of hope rather than just pure devastation. Is that where the idea for ‘I Still Care’ as a set of words to umbrella this era came in?

Ugly Tomorrow: Yeah, well, the first album was ‘It Never Gets Easier’, and it really does never get easier. But with ‘I Still Care’, I feel like they come from each other. Everybody goes through that feeling, like, ‘This sucks’ but you still want to make it work. With this job I hate, I want to enjoy life. And with this girlfriend who broke up with me, I still want to be happy and find someone new. If someone dies, I still want to care about the moments we had. If you stay within that feeling of, ‘This sucks’, that’s how you get stuck in the perpetual darkness, and that’s no fun at all.

RS: How has that felt for the two of you, growing not just within the band but as individuals as well?

Ugly Tomorrow: The thing is that we’re two dudes, so there are mixed feelings. One person likes this, one person doesn’t, one person wants this, one person doesn’t. I think, for both of us, at the end of the day, the consensus is that we will bicker and fight, but that doesn’t matter because we make it through.

Numb$kull: Making the first album was way easier than making the second one, because we didn’t have expectations. But making the second album was mentally draining, and it was hard on both of us because I think we had a lot of expectations of ourselves. There were a lot of arguments and back and forth, trashing songs as well. But if there were other people who didn’t want to do this as much as we both do, I don’t think they would have survived making this album at all.

Ugly Tomorrow: The thing is, at this point, it’s not for us. There are people who the songs mean so much more than maybe they do to us. I think it would be a shame if we were to just kind of hold on to these like, moments of ‘Fuck you’.

Numb$kull: We’re getting better at it. We’re also learning and growing through it, which is good. The more you struggle and the less comfortable you are, the more you’re learning. If you drop your ego and listen, that is possible.

RS: That’s especially true when you’re out on the road together, because that’s a completely new thing for you both as well.

Numb$kull: Yeah, we never expected to go on tour overseas, or do any of that. So I think, like, it’s also a combination of the pressure of it, with learning how to deal with that. You get homesick, but sometimes you come back from tour, you’re like, ‘What am I doing?’ And then you get the post-tour depression, because it’s hard to find meaning afterwards. It’s a weird thing, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

Ugly Tomorrow: It’s been both our dreams for so long. I think every musician’s dream is to go on tour and to do these things. So, when you do have that, and you do finally reach that moment of, ‘Okay, we’re doing this, you have to appreciate it. But you learn what you do and don’t like from a tour or from making an album, and then next time you can avoid it. You can see why so many bands break up after two or three albums. But I think it’s important just to be open and talk and say, ‘These are the things I don’t enjoy, so let’s try to do something different next time.

RS: Saying all of that, to be at this point doing these things with this band, what does it mean for never easy to be playing such a pivotal role in your life at the moment?

Numb$kull: I’ve been thinking about that a lot more lately. For me, it’s kind of weird because I still feel like I haven’t achieved anything. It’s still that feeling of wanting more, which is like a blessing and a curse, because it’s hard to be satisfied in that mindset, but it’s also what’s going to drive you further. But saying that, it has changed my life. There’s still work to do, but I’m still super excited and super grateful. I know this is special, so I’m not going to take it for granted.

Ugly Tomorrow: I’ve been trying to find a meaning for my life and find a path less travelled as an artist. And I guess that it’s the satisfaction of knowing that I did something. We’re a very niche band in a little pocket of the music world, but it does feel good to connect with people the way we have.

never easy are currently on tour through the UK and Europe alongside Love Is Noise and newshapes. Here are the dates you can catch them.

APRIL

30 – MANCHESTER Deaf Institute

MAY

01 – BIRMINGHAM Mama Roux
02 – LONDON Oslo
04 – HAMBURG Logo
05 – WIESBADEN Schlachthof
06 – MUNICH Backstage
07 – PRAGUE Bike Jesus
08 – BERLIN Cassiopeia
09 – COLOGNE MTC