All-round good Eggs

I've always had husband-and-wife lo-fi screwball punk duo the Lovely Eggs down as being irrepressibly cheery. So it was a surprise to hear them sounding tired and ground down in conversation with Daniel Dylan Wray for the Guardian, and to learn that new album Eggsistentialism is - in the words of guitarist/vocalist Holly Ross - "a snapshot of when we were at our lowest".

What's behind the uncharacteristic malaise, you might wonder? Primarily, it's the pair's struggle to save the Lancaster Music Co-op, a non-profit organisation in their home town that makes instruments and rehearsal and studio space available to local musicians on the cheap. It gave them a leg up, and now they're very decently doing all they can to ensure that it survives to give a leg up to others in future.

Ross rails against how engaging in bureaucratic battle and "doing that pen-pushing shit" has made her feel, but ultimately they're too heavily invested emotionally to quit: "We couldn't give in. Because of what this place means - giving working-class people access to space and music, just like we had. If the Co-op dies, independent culture and subculture in Lancaster dies, and we can't let that happen. It's a space for freaks like us." Fair fucks to them for flying the freak flag in the face of the odds.