Portsmouth's Crystal Tides aim for the top 40 with debut album Toothpaste and secret gig

In 2023 they became the first act to win the Road To Victorious competition, scoring them a main stage set not just at their home festival, but several others across England.

Then last year they sold out Portsmouth Guildhall – no mean feat, and they regularly tour across the UK.

Now they are bidding to be the first independent band from the city to crack the top 40 album chart with their debut album, Toothpaste, which is released this Friday.

And to mark the release they have been pushing a special “Pompey” variant of the album on vinyl, which gives fans access to a secret release day gig. Buying this version of the album is the only way to access the gig – at an as yet undisclosed location.

Frontman Billy Gregory tells The News that the five-piece band are in buoyant mood, adding: “I think everyone's a little bit nervous in the Crystal Tides camp with the album approaching, but yeah, it's really exciting.”

The band has put out a series of singles and EPs since forming in 2018, gathering momentum, radio play, and crucially, fans with each release, but an album was always the goal.

“I think this is definitely the right time for an album,” explains Billy. “It was important for us to wait, as much as we wanted to do it earlier.

"We wanted to build the fanbase so we could really make an impact when we did release it. And it also allowed us to grow and develop our music to the point where actually, we're really happy with it, and this is what we want to release.”

While five of its tracks have been released as streaming singles, this Friday will be the first time fans can get their hands on the full 10-track album.

“There’s nothing regurgitated from the previous eight years – it's all brand new. It definitely encapsulates that original Crystal Tides sound. I think that was the key – we wanted what we were eight years ago, but just a better, polished version. I feel like we captured that really well.”

Sidelines is the oldest song on the album, dating back to an EP session in 2022, but they didn’t feel it fitted with those songs so kept hold of it. After extensive writing, demoing and recording, they had the album in the can last March.

“The important thing for all of us in the band, is that we all still quite enjoy listening to the album,” says the singer and guitarist. “A lot of the times in the past, we've written songs and gone, right, what's next? What's next? Whereas I think because this is such a big body of work, it's actually something that we keep coming back to. And we're super proud of it.

“That was another goal of ours – to make sure that whenever we listen back to this, whatever point we are in our lives, we go: ‘That's amazing’.

For the launch day gig, the band are playing the album in order, in full.

"It will be the only time ever we do that. There were talks that we were going to maybe consider doing it for the album tour, but I think we wanted to make this show in particular very special, especially because it's for the people of Portsmouth as well.

"The whole campaign has been backed around us being the first independent band, hopefully, to become a charting success in Portsmouth.

"We wanted to make this show really special and give the fans a one-off, so it will be two sets.

"It will be the album front-to-back, as it would be played on vinyl or CD. And then we'll go off for 10 minutes, have a bit of a drink, and then come back on and then play a set of original old-school classics. All the bits that people already know!”

However, stocks of the vinyl giving access to the gig are running low, but the group have also been busy signing hundreds of regular copies for release day.

“I ordered the bundle for myself. We all, all the band members, ordered a bundle for ourselves as an achievement to say, ‘this is ours’.

"We all said we'd do it, but I think out of the band, I was the only one who ordered it unsigned. I said to the boys, why would you order it signed? ‘We're all in the band together! You don't want us to sign our own things.’ And they all were like, ‘Oh yeah, we ordered it signed. We thought it'd be funny’.

"I'd like to put mine on the wall without our rubbish signatures on it!” he laughs.

But he adds: “It's quite a surreal thing (signing albums). And I love that we've got such a supportive fanbase and we really, really couldn't be doing what we're doing without them.

"If they want things signed, I'll happily spend days signing stuff for them because if it wasn't for them, then we wouldn't be doing this.”

The cut-off for album sales to count towards the chart position is Thursday, February 12. To help keep things moving along, they’ll also be visiting a few record shops to do signing sessions.

And they’re under no illusion about the scale of the task to get in the charts.

“Hopefully we'll pick up a fair few additional sales at places like those, just to sort of tip the scales for us.

”It is proving tough, But I think the important thing is what we have done, what we have achieved, everyone that we've spoke to, they've all said we've run a really strong campaign. We've done really well with what we've sold already.

“And even if we don't get it, that we should be really proud of what we have achieved.

"There is always obviously a chance that we might not get it, and that's okay. But I think it's important to know that we've done something really, really good.

"We've released something that we wanted to release and we've actually sold a hell of a lot of units for a small band from Portsmouth.”

How to get your hands on a copy of Toothpaste

To buy a copy of the album, go online at: crystaltides.os.fan.

The band will also be taking part in a series of instore signing sessions at record stores across the region during release week:

*Vinilo, Southampton: February 7, 1pm

*A Slice of Vinyl, Gosport: February 8, 3pm

*Banquet, Kingston: February 9, 6pm

*Pie & Vinyl, Southsea: February 10, 1pm

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