This Town Needs Guns

This Town Needs Guns

This Town Needs Guns, now known as TTNG, are a British math rock group from Oxford, England. They form in 2002 and remain active. Their sound sits within math rock and related indie and rock styles, including crossover prog, emo, indie rock, midwest emo and rock.

Line-up and name change

The band begins as a four-piece with Stuart Smith on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Tim Collis on lead guitar, Simon Thompson on drums and Ian Lewis on bass. Thompson and Lewis leave in 2005, followed by changes on drums and bass before the line-up settles into a trio. Chris Collis joins on drums in 2006, replacing Matt Bennington, and Henry Tremain later joins from Pennines, first taking over vocal duties in 2011. Jamie Cooper, who plays bass on the debut album period, leaves in late 2011. Tremain then moves onto bass, with the group continuing as a trio.

The band later adopts the shorter name TTNG when releasing its second album, and explains that the change avoids confusion around the original name while also distancing the group from associations with gun violence.

Recordings and releases

The debut full-length album, Animals, releases in the UK through Big Scary Monsters Recording Company and in the US through Sargent House Records. The band’s labels also include Rallye Label and Yellow Ghost Records.

Members

Tim Collis plays guitar throughout the group’s history. Chris Collis plays drums and percussion from 2006 onward. Henry Tremain contributes lead vocals from 2011 to 2018 and again from 2019, bass from 2012 onward, guitar in earlier periods, and backing vocals in 2018–2019.

Former members

Former members include Simon Thompson, Ian Lewis, Matt Bennington, Stuart Smith, Dan Adams, Jody Prewett and Jamie Cooper. Former touring musicians include Chris Baker, Henry Kohen and Garrett Karp.

Earlier work and occupations

Before or during their time in the band, members work in a range of other jobs: Jamie Cooper works as a graphic designer, Chris Collis as a librarian at the University of Oxford, Tim Collis as a primary school teacher, and Stuart Smith building websites for a publisher. Dan Adams also plays trumpet as well as bass.