The Ovines – Two Bucks and a Bottle of Ketchup: A Five-Track Firebomb of Chaos, Catharsis, and Working-Class Wit

Review By Glen Parkes

When The Ovines dropped Two Bucks and a Bottle of Ketchup, they didn’t just put out an EP—they threw a pint glass through the window of modern malaise and shouted from the rooftop, “We’re still here, and we’re not going quietly.”

Clocking in at five tracks, this punchy collection captures the gritty reality of late-twenties life in the UK: broke, burnt out, but still clinging to defiant joy. Think punk spirit filtered through a busted amp, dub-flecked grooves that echo off concrete council blocks, and lyrics that swing between biting humour and bleak confession.

Hailing from Kent but firmly rooted in London’s underground scene, The Ovines have been making noise since 2017, and Two Bucks and a Bottle of Ketchup is their most focused and ferocious work to date. The band—Matt Adams (vocals/guitar), Liam Penny (drums), Reggie Sale (bass), and Will Jackson (guitar)—recorded the EP at The Albion Rooms in Margate with legendary producer Bill Gautier, a man whose fingerprints can be found on records by everyone from Paul McCartney to Brian May.

What they’ve created isn’t polished. It’s not polite. But it’s alive—full of passion, panic, piss-taking, and purpose. There’s a sense of brotherhood baked into the DNA of every riff and every lyric. You don’t just hear this EP. You feel it in your chest, in your feet, in the back of your throat.

1. Ten Street Mile
Opener Ten Street Mile sets the tone: jagged guitar lines bounce off snarling vocals as Matt Adams delivers a breathless rant about chasing purpose through monotony. It’s the sound of 9-to-5 despair crashing headfirst into Friday-night freedom. If The Clash and Jamie T raised a band in a Croydon bedsit, this would be the result.

2. Loose Change
A funk-dub groove drives Loose Change, a slow burn about scraping together coins and dignity in a system designed to drain both. There’s humour here—“flat beer and cold chips again”—but also deep frustration. Bassist Reggie Sale shines, laying down lines that throb like a stress headache, while the chorus builds into a cathartic, shouted release.

3. Mind of Mine (Lead Single)
The July 18th lead single, Mind of Mine, is where the band really flexes their melodic muscle. It’s more introspective than the others—an open diary on mental health and emotional overload. Lyrics like “Can’t stop my mind from spinning in the dark / still smiling while I fall apart” hit harder than any drop-tuned riff. There’s beauty in the breakdown, and this track shows the band at their most vulnerable—and powerful.

4. Two Bucks
The title track is a headfirst dive into chaos. It’s rude. It’s raucous. It’s real. The band don’t just lean into punk roots here—they tear the walls down. Matt Adams channels Johnny Rotten fury while Bill Gautier’s production ensures every cymbal crash and feedback squeal punches you right in the gut. The track is an ode to broke nights out, hangover revelations, and finding joy at rock bottom.

5. Loser Mate
The EP closes with a two-finger salute in the form of Loser Mate, a track that skewers toxic masculinity, wage slavery, and apathy with razor wit. It’s angry, but it’s also absurd—and that’s what makes it brilliant. Will Jackson’s guitar slices through the verses like a broken bottle, and the gang vocals in the chorus feel tailor-made for beer-soaked singalongs.

The beauty of Two Bucks and a Bottle of Ketchup lies in its refusal to pretend. These aren’t radio-polished anthems for the masses. They’re snapshots of survival. These songs live in bedsits, sticky pub floors, overdrafts, night buses, and shared smoke breaks. But through it all, there’s connection. There’s catharsis. And there’s a stubborn, joyous refusal to go numb. Fans of the UK underground will already know that The Ovines are a live force to be reckoned with. They’ve shared stages with Buzzcocks, The Libertines, The Sherlocks, and Spear of Destiny. Now, with Two Bucks and a Bottle of Ketchup, they’re about to turn every venue into a pressure cooker. The Ovines’ latest EP is a shot of truth in an age of filters. Two Bucks and a Bottle of Ketchup is messy, loud, deeply human, and impossible to ignore. With Bill Gautier at the helm and years of hard graft behind them, this is the sound of a band who’ve lived every lyric—and now want to shout it from the rooftops.