3 weeks ago
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“Picture Of Health” tells the story of a fictional character who lives vicariously via online fitness and financial gurus, drifting through each day in pursuit of the next short-lived rush. “I’ve parted seas and I’ve smoked cigarettes, I’ve travelled a thousand miles just to make love in your bed. I’m a picture of health,” lead singer Isaac Stroud-Allen snarls on the chorus.
He created the character, with the track being inspired by ”over the top, emphatic tracks” like Bonnie Tyler's “Holding Out for a Hero” and Madonna's “Like a Prayer”. “I was thinking, imagine if the saviour was chugging WKD and addicted to Lost Marys,” he laughs. “He’s looking for dopamine to get over a breakup. That’s what the song’s really about, and the bridge is the big reveal of that.”
Written with the intention of opening their live set, the track kicks off with crashing drums, snarling, heavy-set bass and scuzzy electronic riffs. “We played it live a lot before we went into the studio. It helped us learn more about the song,” Stroud-Allen reflects. “It had so much time to breathe. It’s pretty explosive off the back, so it’s a bit of a vibe checker.”
In January, My First Time performed at Best Fit's new music festival, the Five Day Forecast. “We’d played The Lexington around 18 months to two years ago, and it was a bit tepid crowd-wise. But this time it was sick. It was the loudest crowd we’ve had and it felt like people had really done their homework,” guitarist and vocalist James Mellen says. “It was a good way to kick off 2026, it was the best gig of the year so far,” Stroud-Allen adds with a laugh.
Stroud-Allen, Mellen, and bassist Naia Jones all met while studying at the University of Bristol. “I met Isaac on a night out and slept on his sofa,” says Mullen. Stroud-Allen chimes in: “James was sofa surfing on our sofa for the whole year. I was looking for people to join my band at the time.” Jones was Stroud-Allen's classmate, switching from lead guitar to bass to cement her place in the lineup – a decision she views as a “promotion, not a demotion.”
Prior to forming the band, Stroud-Allen performed frequently at open mic nights and wrote his own songs, which he describes as “the classic Catfish and the Bottlemen indie tunes,” before drawing influence from IDLES and other punk bands, on early singles like “Man Of Ill Repute”. “We pick things we like out of different genres; it varies. ‘Don’t be boring’ is our slogan.”
Stroud-Allen's writing uniquely captures the experience of the modern generation navigating capitalist society, blending realism with cynicism and self-awareness. “To me, this is what I find brilliant about Isaac’s writing,” says Jones in reference to “Picture Of Health”. “It hits so many points in one verbal assassination or critique of culture. There’s a hesitance in our generation to participate in your own life as part of capitalist society. We want to shed light on those issues, but also laugh at them and say, ‘isn’t this shit,’ too.”
English (US) · 