The Pill first appeared on my radar from a YouTube recommendation. A music video entitled “Woman Driver”, described as ‘an anthem for all the girlies who don’t know how to change their oil and check their tires… we got you babe, neither do we’.
I quickly realised I’d stumbled across a new favourite. Luckily for me the Isle of Wight duo was set to be hosting a gig on the 2 October 2025 just a few minutes’ walk from London Bridge at Omeara.
Bad booze
There’s a general curtesy for attending a gig that, for me, involves a bit of ceremonial drinking. Especially when you’re having to navigate your way through the gentrified streets of Borough. It’s as though each and every corner was infested by yuppies and posh pint drinkers who’d poured out of their workplaces and piled onto the streets.
After tanking a few cans of dodgy premixed gin and tonic on the train, an endurance test to say the least, and dodging my way past a sea of gilets and finance bros I found myself walking through the doors of the charming Omeara.
Opened by Mumford and Sons member Ben Lovett in 2016, Omeara is situated between two Victorian railway arches. It’s the perfect place to see a gig if you’re tied down by the last train of the night back to Sussex.
Past the surprisingly cheerful bouncer and through the main doors I found myself in a modern bar with rustic metal stools, LED glowing signs and green plastic foliage. I should have known what I was in for. All signs pointed to one thing. The bar was an aesthetic Pinterest thirst trap armed with the bare basics of beers.
This was not the place for a creamy pint. And yet I stomached it, forking out an unsavoury £8 for a pint of pond-coloured Neck Oil IPA in a flimsy plastic cup.
But let’s not get too upset, I was there for The Pill not the beer. And what Omeara lacks in beer selection it makes up for in its 350 capacity Victorian style ballroom.
The Pill
Beneath a sea horse soft toy hanging from the top of the stage, The Pill emerged in colour-coordinated sparkly blue shorts and long sleeve black shirts. The duo opened with ‘Scaffolding Man’, describing frontwoman Lottie Massey’s thrill and confusion of being seen bathing through the window by a scaffolder.
The track slips from disdain to an unrequited love song of sorts, the kind that emerges from a one-sided love affair with an unassuming married workman. Their cheeky charm makes it hard not to smile when they open their mouths.
“Are there any sugar daddies in the building?” Lily Hutchings enquires, prompting a selection of men of a certain age to glance amongst their ranks.
“It looks like there might be a few, no? That’s good, because we don’t like them.” Prompting the beginning of unreleased track “Salt Father” which tears into the sad life of a sugar daddy. The Pill have an air of naughty teenagers about them. It’s like they’re not fully sure how they got there, but now that they are it’s their duty to do something fun with the platform.
The most curious track of the set was undoubtedly “16-60”. Once again The Pill are outpouring a questionable love story, but this time it’s falling in love with a player on the video game Club Penguin.
“You can be 16 or 60, I’m into it, cause I love falling in love on the internet.”
Already an interesting topic choice, but to make matters a little more unhinged, frontwoman and guitarist Lily Hutchings revealed it’s about being groomed whilst playing the video game as a teenager.
After a few more unreleased songs, the gig took a strange turn as Lily Hutchings launched into a punk rock rendition of Anaconda by Nicki Minaj, announcing it was Minaj’s birthday and that she’d been invited to the gig. She did not attend the gig, nor is it her birthday in October.
Following their exceptional performance of Anaconda, a spotlight was turned on as The Pill scoured the crowd for men with mullets to scorn. They have an advanced hatred for mullet-bearing Heineken drinking rugby lads, a spirit encapsulated in Money Mullet, a “hate song about mullets.”
The set ended with “POSH”, a track that compresses The Pill ethos into a leopard print 2 minute car crash. Describing a night out of nicking rolling tobacco off creepy men and chip-fuelled indigestion, it’s the exact disarray that characterises the band’s brilliantness.
I’m delighted to have discovered them so early in their career. In a world of full Coldplay and Ed Sheeran, it brings me peace of mind to know there’s still creative talent out there.
Mark my words, The Pill will be huge someday.
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