Show Review: Truthpaste, Bonnie Kemplay, August at Sebright Arms, London.
July 8th, 2026.
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“I’ve been in your house”
July 8th, 2026
I arrived at Sebright Arms for night one of Dork Magazine’s summer series. An anxious line trailed down the stairs to the venue as Shame blared through the speakers. When the sliver of light from the green room opened, it looked as packed as the bathroom at Paper Dress on a Friday night. On tonight was Truthpaste following August and Bonnie Kemplay.
There is something timeless about August without being tired or redundantly familiar. Breaths within songs are just long enough to feel their weight before exceeding into self-indulgence. After collecting the whole band and navigating the bouncer’s complicated route to a location for standing, I interviewed August. The conversation quickly derailed into each member of the band declaring their favorite Harry, including Dirty Harry, Harry Enfield, Harry Kane, Harry Nilsson, and Harryhausen from Monsters Inc. Someone came up to August (singer/guitarist) and opened with “I’ve been in your house..!” Returning once again to the discussion of music, current influences offered included Scott Walker, Frankie Valli, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Feeble Little Horse. You can see August play their next gig at the George Tavern on the 13th of August.
Bonnie Kemplay played an intimate set. Her voice sounds tender, as if she is singing to a small group of friends, opposed to a packed, sweat-drenched crowd. That sweat-drenched crowd continued to grow, validating the concerns of two girls I ran into at the bar earlier stressed about securing tickets. Bonnie’s set wasn’t too long, but the consolation was retrieving a wave of semi-fresh air when ascending the stairs from the humid basement. You can hear her new EP Someone, Somewhere here:
Truthpaste has an uncontrollable bubbliness, like laughter unsuppressed by an inappropriate setting. If you shut your eyes, the severe heat feels like you are at an outdoor show with the sun burning your face, instead of just being subjected to the brutal London weather in an overstuffed cellar. Their first song included an excerpt from Milkshake that sounded like a folk band from the 60s had decided to cover a song about ice cream they'd heard on the radio. My friend and I looked at each other as the set’s energy noticeably shifted. Their evolution throughout the set began with a kind of unpolished rockabilly towards beats made for dancing. In fact, dancing was so important for the last song that the drummer left his post to join the rest of the band as well as the audience. You can hear their new EP I Don’t Know Either here:
It is hard to justify being farther than 4 inches from a fan in a time like this, and even harder to force your friend to break bedtime regulations, but tonight was worth it. My night ended with a stop for toothpaste on the way to my bus, to the train, to the chip shop, before my final walk home.
| Keywords: | London | The Sebright Arms | Truthpaste | Bonnie Kemplay | August |
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