MEAN & FILTHY

track-list:
Plug Me In Again
All The Same
When We Come Down
Shades of Red
The 50ft Woman
Lizard Moon
Lazy
Sexy When You’re Mad
Maze of Hedges
Mo Cluaran (My Thistle)

Mean & Filthy are:
Liam Hill – vocals
Mike Parkin – guitars
Scott James – bass
Nav Saran – drums

Scottish alternative rock outfit Mean & Filthy have released their debut album, ‘Lubricated Philosophy‘, bringing together ten tracks shaped by a remarkably broad range of musical influences and several years of songwriting.
Calling ‘Lubricated Philosophy‘ simply alternative rock only tells part of the story.
Mean & Filthy combine heavy riffs with atmospheric passages, warm vocal harmonies and emotionally charged songwriting, while elements of metal, funk, folk, hip hop and electronic music find their way into the band’s sound.
Rather than following a single formula, the album allows those different influences to emerge naturally from song to song.
‘Shades of Red‘ and ‘Lizard Moon‘ show the heavier side of the record, pairing hard hitting riffs with floating vocals, while ‘Sexy When You’re Mad‘ and ‘When We Come Down‘ bring a more positive sense of energy and movement.
Elsewhere, ‘Maze of Hedges‘ and ‘Mo Cluraran (My Thistle)‘ introduce Celtic folk influences, adding another dimension to an album deliberately built around contrasts.
Those contrasts are central to Mean & Filthy’s identity.
Heavy and sometimes abrasive guitar work can sit alongside anthemic chords and warm harmonies, allowing the music to move between weight and openness without losing its character.
Comparisons with Alice in Chains, Audioslave and Porcupine Tree provide useful reference points, but the diversity behind ‘Lubricated Philosophy‘ makes it difficult to place the album comfortably within any single corner of alternative rock.
The record is also the result of a musical relationship stretching back to the mid 2000s, when Mike, Liam and Scott first played together while still at school.
After following different musical paths, they reunited with Nav in 2020 and began developing the material that would eventually become Mean & Filthy’s first album.
With ‘Lubricated Philosophy‘, Mean & Filthy have turned years of ideas and wide ranging influences into a debut that values variety without sacrificing its own identity, introducing a Glasgow band willing to let heavy rock, melody, atmosphere and Celtic roots coexist within the same record.