Audio Addict #25

Addict

Audio

Creeper Southampton's goth punks never want to grow up

HONEYBLOOD // the JAPANESE HOUSE // THE TUTS // EAT ME // DANNY BROWN JANUARY 2017 ISSUE #25 / FREE

Editor's Letter

We're relaunching the South Coast's definitive music

themed pub in probably the whole world, quizzing them on

issue is celebrating our mighty homegrown music scene,

they did). There are also some fantastic interviews with the

magazine, and it's more than just a new logo. This season’s with Southampton's very own friendly neighbourhood goths Creeper as our inaugural cover stars. We speak

to vocalist Will Gould about their magical upcoming debut album Eternity, In Your Arms, try and unravel the

mystery they've been teasing us with all summer, and

ask the all important question: where is James Scythe?

Alongside that, we took grungy nuisances Eat Me to Southampton’s The Hobbit, the best Lord of The Rings

everything Tolkien (you’ll be pretty surprised at how well likes of The Japanese house, The Tuts and Honeyblood,

as well as a tasty feature on Portsmouth’s legendary Pie & Vinyl record cafe. On top of all this, we've taken a sneak peak into 2017 and compiled a list of our most anticipated

albums that the new year has to offer, and introduce you to some of the stars we think are going to dominate the year ahead. So without further ado, we hope you enjoy our

sparkling iteration of Audio Addict in this, our 25th Issue.

EDITOR // ISHA SHAH FEATURES // TOM STANISZEWSKI REVIEWS EDITOR // CHARYS NEWTON ART DIRECTOR // DAISY HEARN

CONTRIBUTORS

Josh Abraham, Harvey Baldwin, Sophie Barnden, Lizzie Capewell, Rosie Chalk, Lauren Ford, Joe Gilbertson, Emily Gunn, Maddy Hardman, Daisy Hearn, Charlie Hill, Jasmine Hodge, Amy Jones, Angel Laura, Callum McCormack, George McLoughlin, Charlotte Miles, Aaron Moore, Charys Newton, , Stephanie Ospina, Tobias Pugh, Isha Shah, Matt Smith, Andrew Shelley, Tom Staniszweksi, Emily-Jade Young, MadelineSmith, Jasime Hodge, Sophie Barnden, Jamie O'Melia, Stephanie Ospina

ADDICT

AUDIO

Website: audioaddictmag.co.uk // Email: audioaddicteditors@gmail.com The Audio Addict magazine and blog is produced by students on the BA (Hons) Popular Music Journalism course at Southampton Solent University. The views expressed in the magazine and blog are the contributors' own and as such the University and its staff can not be held responsible.

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CONTENTS 5 Playlist 6 AA Meets: Honeyblood

7 Access All Areas: Money Permitting 8 Buzz 10 Grime Outside London

"Even as a relatively young genre, Grime has naturally evolved over the years"

12 Q&A: The Japanese House 13 Farewell Lennon's: An Obituary 14 The Best Of 2017 16 Why Live Stream Your Life 17 We Are Not Your Novelty

"If a band have a woman at the helm, you’re goddamn guaranteed to find that out before you’ve heard even a snippet"

18 Pie & Vinyl 20 Cover Feature: Creeper

"People were constantly trying to inject colour into Southampton"

26 Why We Love... Danny Brown 27 Fighting The Stigma 28 Interview: The Tuts

" We a l w a y s s a y w e ' r e g o i n g t o r i d e the misogynistic or racist wave to success. Don't give the trolls airtime"

30 Eat Me At The The Hobbit 32 Album Reviews 36 Photo Gallery: The 1975 38 Gig Guide 39 Star Boy

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12 20 30

P l a y l i st

Trouble picking your playlist? Here is what Au d i o Ad d i c t re c o m m e n d s. . .

Th e W e e k e n d - S t a r b o y

“Elements of the song take us back to his album "The Trilogy", whilst still showing us how much he has developed his own sound.” (Stephanie Ospina, writer)

Code Orange - Forever

“Spine tingling breakdowns and earth shattering howls that are nasty in the best possible way, Code Orange have unleashed one hell of a demon." (Isha Shah, Editor)

You Me At Six - Give

“Tells the story of the loss of love and trying to keep someone off your mind.” (Jamie O’Melia, writer)

Justice - Alakazam!

“Proves that instrumental electronic music still has a strong place within popular music in 2016.” (Aaron Moore, writer)

Little Mix - Shout Out To My Ex

“Packed with attitude and sass, the song is obviously about THAT break up.” (George McLoughlin, writer)

Wiley feat. Devlin – Bring Them All

“A big reminder that Wiley is back to doing what he does best and is no longer dabbling in pop.” (Harvey Baldwin, writer) 5

interview

AA MEETS: HONEYBLOOD Words: Charlotte Miles

Exploding from the Glaswegian indie scene in 2014,Scottish duo Honeyblood- AKA Stina Tweeddale and Cat Myers- drew attention with a sound comprising spiky overdriven guitars and heaps of attitude. Now, two years later, lead vocalist and guitarist Tweeddale discusses their second album, Babes Never Die. With ‘Babes Never Die’ tattooed on her ribs, the album title is Tweeddale’s own personal motto: “It was the first song for the album and shaped the way it progressed - it’s taking ownership of the word ‘Babe’," she recalls."The music video for ‘Babes Never Die’ follows a tribe of wild young girls not giving a f**k. I connected with this idea that when you’re a kid you have this unbridled imagination and creativity.” The leader of the pack, Darcy, is also the star of the album cover, who Tweeddale believes is “the embodiment of having this strength inside that people may not believe you have.”

Honeyblood enlisted the help of producer James Dring, who has worked alongside celebrated artists like Jamie T and Gorillaz, to formulate the vision for the record.

“We had such a strong idea of how the album should be, and he was a really good listener, which can be half the battle with a producer.” After their debut album, Honeyblood toured tirelessly for over a year, the time spent away giving their music a chance to develop.

Whilst their self-titled album was written over a period of two years, Babes Never Die only took six months of writing whilst the duo were locked away in an old mill in the middle of Scotland. “I got submerged in the sounds and ideas of the album, it was more of a project while the

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first album was more a collection of songs,” Tweeddale reminisces. One of the most significant differences from their first album is that they now have Myers, who added a newfound sense of depth to their sound. “It’s more drum-filled, and there are more synths to pad out the bassline. The first album was shoegazey, this is more rock. The only constant thing is the melodic presence.”

For their biggest UK tour to date, Honeyblood have decided to perform at intimate venues. “You are able to have a conversation with the audience, and see everyone in the room bumping about together,” says Tweeddale. “I’m looking forward to Manchester, as it’s hometown [supporting group] Eat Fast, and also Edinburgh my home town. London Scala will be fun as it is chance for the people who missed out on tickets for the smaller venues”.

The importance for small venues to be supported and funded is clearly a passion for the singer. “These bands could go on and headline festivals but they need to start somewhere, if you don’t have local venues then how are bands going to start off.” In her hometown of Edinburgh, the venue Sneaky Pete’s was closed, but with huge support from the council and the community the venue was eventually re-opened. “You have to support your local music scene before venues get turned into another Wetherspoons,” she adds.

With the release Babes Never Die, a UK tour under their belt and plenty of festivals behind them, 2017 is going to be a mammoth year for Honeyblood, but one they will certainly take in their stride.

Back & Forth

ACCESS ALL AREAS: MONEY PERMITTING Amy Jones and Rosie Chalk debate the pros and cons of VIP packages and meeting your heroes.

GOOD: VIP meet and greets should be accessible for everyone, but certainly at some sort of cost. I understand some of the prices for big bands are ridiculous, but they’ve got to regulate the meetings in some way – if it was free, anyone could turn up, the situation would descend into chaos and fighting to meet their idols. Paying is a way of ensuring both safety and value of an experience.

Most meet-and-greets include a plethora of other gifts, including merch and exclusive VIP upgrades. Perfect for the fan that wants to get close to the front and have all of these great items to show to their friends afterwards. There are always cries of “Oh, only the people with the most money can get VIP upgrades”, but there are competitions and other offers with some packages to save money. Also, it means that you get to meet the stars, something most fans would want to do at any cost, even if it means sacrificing a Christmas present or two. Why not pay the extra money and have a great experience that you’ll hold onto forever?

I do agree that some meet-and-greets are a bit short for the amount you pay, but that’s only subject to the artists’ schedules and how many people they’ve got to meet. But fans that have paid get some time, however short, to speak to their idols and tell them how much they love them – surely an experience that money can’t buy. (AJ)

BAD: Imagine your favourite band are playing in a venue near you, you’re desperate to go and you see that there are VIP packages available. This will entitle you to early entry to the show, VIP merchandise, meet-and-greet and much more.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? If you're a fan of Blink-182 however, you'll need to fork out an extortionate £489.50 for this privilege. Unless you’re willing to spend an entire month’s wages, or a big chunk of your student loan on them, it’s not affordable.

In some cases, it may not be the artist’s fault for these outrageous prices, but the fault of their managers and labels. However, no amount of money is worth it for simply meeting a bunch of human beings. Some artists - for example, Zebrahead - charged around £70 for meet-and-greets at the Oxford O2 Academy earlier this year.

Enter Shikari’s Rou Reynolds gave his views on the price of meet and greet packages in conversation with Alternative Press, in 2014; “Of course you’re going to be happy to meet people you look up to. Anyone would be. But that doesn’t excuse the fact that the band chose to exploit their relationship with you. It was their decision to charge you. They could have done it for free!”.

Evidently, this issue is still a recurring theme, and one that only seems to increase. The figure previously mentioned that Blink-182 are charging on their latest tour is ten times the standard amount.

Artists should, of course, be respected, but they should respect their fans in return. It’s unfair to charge such extortionate prices for meet and greet packages since they are exploiting fans, knowing that many of them will go to unfortunate lengths to buy these packages. (RC)

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buzz Words: Isha Shah

from Grime to Punk, we explore the most exciting up-and-coming acts the music industry has to offer

BONKAZ

FFO: Section Boyz, AJ Tracey, Stormzy, Skepta, Ghetts

Originating from the same borough that gestated dubstep, Croydon, Bonkaz was just a schoolboy when the hype around Grime first started pulling a crowd. Fast-forward a few years and you can see why he now shares his status with the likes of Skepta, Stormzy and JME, keeping the underground scene alive.

Bonkaz isn’t a rapper or MC who claims that it’s his year - his focus lies within the belief of building up a fan-base along the steady path.

Image: Johnny Fonseca

When it comes to aspirations, they aren’t necessarily measured in trophies, awards and number ones, but are more dependent on personal interactions with his fans. Measuring success on who’s big right now is something that doesn’t cross the rappers mind often, if at all. We’ve seen many artists collaborate with some well-

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respected but also predictable rappers, yet Bonkaz' ideal features include The Kooks, Mike Skinner and Kano, a few initial shockers despite the fact that he has always made his eclectic tastes known.

This diversity shone bright throughout his childhood, growing up listening to a mixture of bands and artists such as Eminem, Nirvana, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Jay Z. Bonkaz would spend most of his time in his sister’s bedroom, stealing her CDs and picking up what she blasted.

In terms of the next few releases, Bonkaz has the drive and passion to produce and master the art of songwriting. Fuck The Fame is his latest creative expression, featuring J Grrey, Knucks and Jevon.

Expect to see this young star go supernova over the coming year.

YOUTH MAN

FFO: Heck, Black Flag, The Dillinger Escape Plan Reputed to be one of the loudest bands around, Youth Man certainly know how to create a racket. Hailing from the midlands, the trio have three EPs in the bag and footprints on the road. Recent release Wax, an EP that was recorded live in front of an audience,

Image: Elmore

Buzz

shows the three piece don’t hold back when it comes to to their live experience. Youth Man have shared the stage with Tigercub, Dead, Letlive, and Astroid Boys - a wide collection of sounds from all over the world, showcasing their diversity and inability to be pigeonholed.

VENOM PRISON FFO: Renounced, Rough Hands, God's Hate

FAUX

FFO: Twin Atlantic, The Xcerts Meet Faux, a Southampton based band who describe their sound as ‘dirty pop’. Their partnering of strong guitar sounds with lightweight vocals creates a pleasant, easy balance. At the core of this sound lies a wide range of genres, making it difficult

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after breakdown. With two EPs solidly aired, their debut record Animus packs in extreme elements from the underworld of metal, stitching together their howling passion and rage. Culture, Power Trip, Knuckle Dust and The Black Dahila Murder are all recent touring mates.

Image: Gingerdope Photography

Featuring two previous members of Wolf Down and Brutality Will Prevail, Venom Prison have taken the hardcore scene by storm.

Vocalist Larissa Stupar channels everything that is snarling, bitter and rough, while the rest of the band slay their way through riff after riff

to pin them down, but the four-piece mainly trade in melodic riffs and effects-drenched guitars. Earlier this year they released their Inhale EP, which sees them experiment heavily- ‘Call’ has lashings of indie-pop, whereas ‘Swimmingly’ has hints of emo-rock.

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THE State of

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grime

outside london Words: George McLoughlin

When we think of Grime we think of MCs such as Skepta, Stormzy, Lethal Bizzle, and Dizzee Rascal, but fail to notice the link. They’re all from London.

Surely there must be a world of grime outside of London for us to delve deeper into? Well, the answer is yes, there is.

Shifting the focus from London inner city life and getting a bigger scope of the Grime scene reveals a host of untapped resources and an emerging expansion of the genre outside of the capital.

Even as a relatively young genre, Grime has naturally evolved over the years, and with that comes territorial expansion. This is no more evident than in Birmingham. Skepta compared the scene in the city to that of South USA Hip Hop and how it would be the future of Grime in the UK. Birmingham’s Grime scene has long been simmering, and acts like SOX, Mayhem and Hitman getting MOBO recognition is proof that there is a growing recognition of Grime outside of London.

Collective Stayfresh, from Nottingham, have a mindset that it’s more than just fresh tracks that keep the people interestedit’s a business.

This perspective has begun to resonate with Birmingham MCs, with Grime DJ Big Mikee stating that: “The Midlands can further progress, there needs to more collaborative work. I'm here for us all to progress and work collectively to blow up." He goes on to add that people being unwilling to work together can "slow things down and cause problems.”

Moving further North we come to Blackpool. Young MCs take to BGM (Blackpool Grime Music) to post videos in their Northern drawl spitting bars that, while not quite to the standard of Grime greats, show that Blackpool is one to watch when producing new talent. Despite outsiders being able to access this material only via YouTube, Little T, Afgan Dan and Grime's queen, Sophie Aspin are growing in popularity.

Looking deeper into the town you get a feel as to why it’s becoming a hotspot.

Blackpool overwhelmingly voted to

leave the EU with 67.7% opting out.

High unemployability, high resentment and probably a high level of sadness at once being a fantasy seaside resort that has crumbled over 20 years has been good for one thing – breeding creativity. Just like with Hip Hop in America and Grime’s beginnings in London, we’ve seen how frustration to be heard with zero resources has been turned into stories we can listen and relate to. This is the case with Blackpool, although the creation of a ‘scene’ seems to have been whittled down to just the YouTube Channel, as there is little evidence of collectives or ongoing collaborative efforts.

Cardiff's locals are very much in its infancy, but is showing promise. Since 2011, when artists such as Tiny Skitz, or Fernquest as he’s now known, and rapper Local first started out, the scene in has slowly grown. Astroid Boys are the latest of the bunch, creating synergy between Cardiff and the UK urban scene, they fuse Hardocre with funky Hip-hop beats and argumentative bars. Using the collaborative template, they have teamed up with London MC Maxsta to start bridging the gaps between cities.

They also see the need to create an identity for themselves as Welsh Grime artists, hence they have created their own sound and slang to set them apart.

Member MC Traxx states: "Wales is quite a patriotic place, which you can see in rugby, so you get a lot of artists bigging up the city and referencing things only people from Cardiff would get.” They do this well without alienating people from outside Cardiff, making bold beats with hard hitting production.

Whatever the Grime scene may be outside of London, one thing is for sure- Grime is fast becoming the genre for the younger generation. What was an adaptation from UK Garage, Hip-hop and Jungle back in the early 00s, it has somehow found a way from the underground to mainstream channels. We need to stop labeling Grime as a London movement and start looking at it as British domination.

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interview

Just Keep Swimming Words: Charys Newton

It’s been a huge year for The Japanese House, A.K.A. 21 year-old Amber Bain. A mammoth run with Dirty Hit label mates The 1975 and Wolf Alice took in dates all over the world, and this autumn sees her release third EP ‘Swim Against The Tide’. We caught up for a chat ahead of her sold out show at Southampton’s Joiners.

You played here about a year ago on your first headline tour- how does it feel, reflecting on the year you’ve had, to come back to the same venues?

It’s cool to come back a year later and play a sold-out show.

When I played here last it was about half full. It’s weird going from playing massive venues with The 1975 to playing smaller rooms, but I kind of prefer it.

Is it more or less nerve-wracking to play in a small venue?

I like playing small venues, but I definitely feel more nervous headlining shows. Not many people get down early enough to watch when you’re a support, so it’s less pressure. In a bigger venue there’s also more of a separation between the stage and the crowd, so it’s easier to switch off that nervous part of your brain.

Your new EP, Swim Against The TIde, comes out in November - what was the recording process like in the middle of that huge touring run?

Touring doesn’t really affect the way I record much, in the sense that I’m constantly recording, regardless of where I am. The only real change that’s come about is the kind of music that I want to make. I’m not sure if it’s a conscious thing, but I’ve been writing stuff a little less depressing and more upbeat- maybe because it’s nice to see people dancing and having fun at shows. I am still writing depressive sh*t, though, like ‘Face Like Thunder’ [laughs].

The photographs for this EP were taken in Morocco, a considerably different landscape to the photos accompanying YOUR EARLIER RELEASES. You said you’re writing less ‘depressing’ music now- was it a conscious decision to reflect that change aesthetically?

I think the images do reflect the music in the sense that the music is sort of warmer, and I wanted the visuals to go with that. I don’t really know why I chose Morocco - when I was there it was 40 degrees and smelled of meat everywhere and I got really ill, so initially I was like, ‘Why did I come here?’ [laughs]. But it was really beautiful and colourful.

The setting is quite a contrast with the title ‘Swim Against The Tide’, too.

I guess there’s an ironic juxtaposition between the title track of the EP and the imagery for it, which is a picture of one of the pink houses. That song is mainly about the loss of someone, as a literal loss or a heartbreak, and how those things are intertwined dramatically. When you lose someone, there’s a recurring feeling of them coming back, in your head or more literal, and I wanted to reflect on that. The whole ‘swimming against the tide’ thing is about that, and I think the barren emptiness of the photos reflect the themes of the song which is basically about being empty, depressed and hollow. Very cheerful!

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Farewell lennon's

Farewell Lennon's: An Obituary Words: Tom Staniszewski

There is no escaping from that the fact that live music venues are disappearing at an alarming rate. Up and down the United Kingdom, we’ve seen venues closing left, right and centre a n d i t ’s t h e s m a l l e r “ t o i l e t ” v e n u e s t h a t a r e m o s t a t r i s k . S a d l y, a n o t h e r o n e h a s b i t t e n t h e d u s t , a n d i t ’s o n e o f S o u t h a m p t o n ’s m o s t w e l l - l o v e d v e n u e s , L e n n o n ’s . T h e p r o p e r t y market has swooped in, purchasing the venue with plans to turn it into flats, leading L e n n o n ’s t o m o v e a l l o f i t s r e m a i n i n g g i g s and club nights to nearby venue The Joiners.

Located just outside the centre of S o u t h a m p t o n , L e n n o n ’s w a s a m u s t f o r a n y fan of live music and a good night out. In many ways it was the perfect little venue. The toilets were disgusting, the sound system wasn’t great and the bouncers seemed very keen on people not jumping around to the music- the perfect place to see a band. There w a s a f e e l i n g t h a t L e n n o n ’s c o u l d s p o t a g o o d band from a mile off. It gave up and coming bands a platform to play to a live audience and, nine times out of ten, they got it right.

Thanks to initiatives like Club Psychedlia, L e n n o n ’s w e r e a b l e t o g e t b a n d s i n p r e t t y much every night to breed life into the Southampton live music scene, which will be f o r e v e r w e a k e r n o w L e n n o n ’s i s g o n e . Ta k e T i g e r c u b f o r e x a m p l e ; t h e y p l a y e d i n L e n n o n ’s in 2015 as part of a nationwide tour in front of about 100 people. Now they’re about to release their first album and go on tour with T h e F a l l e a r l y n e x t y e a r. M u c h l i k e E a g u l l s

before them, Tigercub were given a platform b y L e n n o n ’s a n d a r e n o w r e a p i n g t h e r e w a r d s .

A s w e l l a s p u t t i n g o n g i g s , L e n n o n ’s o p e n e d itself up to students who attended both of the universities in Southampton. Most recently it had been the place where District, a popular student night, was held, the queue to get in growing every week while it was there.

L e n n o n ’s a l s o p l a y e d h o s t t o a r e s i d e n t c l u b n i g ht from South Coast promotions company Club Psychedelia, which had been a staple part of the venue since 2010. In 2015, L e n n o n ’s a d d e d a n o t h e r s t r i n g t o i t s b o w by announcing its partnership with a city festival called Indiependence, bringing in big names including bands like Blossoms who recently scored a no.1 album, The W y t c h e s a n d Ya k , w h o h a v e t o u r e d w i t h The Last Shadow Puppets. These sort of events would not exist without venues l i k e L e n n o n ’s t a k i n g a p u n t a n d o f f e r i n g s o m e t h i n g u n i q u e t o t h e p e o p l e o f t h e c i t y.

Now that the venue has gone, these festivals and events will have to find a new home.

I n t h e a b s e n c e o f L e n n o n ’s , t h e r e w i l l b e a severe dent in the live music scene of Southampton. Bands looking for decent exposure will now to have find the source from somewhere else, for starters. The venue meant so much to so many people and it attracted people young and old from all o v e r t h e U K . L e n n o n ’s , y o u ’ l l b e s a d l y missed, but your legacy will live on.

Image: Martyna Wisniewska

"The toilets were disgusting, the sound system wasn’t great and the bouncers seemed very keen on people not jumping around to the music - the perfect place to see a band"

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Albums of 2017

the best of 2017 With a new year comes new music, and 2017 doesn't seem to be holding back. We've c o m p i l e d a l i s t o f o u r m o s t a n t i c i pat e d r e c o r d s o f t h i s y e a r , f e at u r i n g a n u m b e r o f n a m e s t h at yo u m ay r e c o g n i s e , a n d a f e w yo u m i g h t j u s t h av e t o k e e p a n e y e o u t f o r .

EDITOR'S PIcKs:

DUA LIPA Dua Lipa 2017 is blessed to be the year that singer/songwriter Dua Lipa finally releases her debut album, and it’s going to be full of Synth-Pop bangers. The ‘Hotter Than Hell’ star recently posted on Facebook- “This album is me.

It’s a representation of who I am as a person and as an artist.” We’ve already had a few peeks at this Londoner’s creation, with ‘Be The One’ and ‘Blow Your Mind (Mwah)'.

The ‘Mwah’ is vitally important- it tells us exactly what kind of indie pop dream to imagine. (Isha Shah)

SLOWDIVE TBA It’s been over 20 years since Slowdive released Pygmalian, their last full length album. Now however, in a recent interview with Danish magazine Undertoner, drummer Simon Scott let slip the information on the eagerly awaited follow up: “It has been completed and will be mixed in the summer.” In terms of sound we can expect the album to be inspired by a string of successful live shows. “We want to capture how good we sound as a live band, in the studio.” Expect spacey songs with meticulous attention to detail. (Tom Staniszewski)

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TOKIO HOTEL Dream Machine 2015’s Feel It All was unlike anything Tokio Hotel had released before. Heavy guitars shifted from being a predominant feature to merely embellishing tracks here and there, with synth pads and electronic triggers standing at the forefront of the group’s contemporary electronic sound. Dream Machine is poised to carry this modernistic aesthetic forward, with the first single 'What If' teasing listeners with a sneak peek of what is to come - picking right back up where the catchy, feel-good hooks of the previous record left off. (Daisy Hearn)

DRENGE TBA Sheffield punk nuisances Drenge have been out of the game for a year now, taking time away from touring to write and record album number three. Their last album, 2015’s Undertow, was a deliciously murky affair that saw them recruit bassist Rob Graham and trade in the scrappy viscera of their debut for something much darker, and while the details on Drenge MK III are scant at present, their upward trajectory thus far has been constant. Expect blood, guts and an early summer release. (Charys Newton)

Albums of 2017

SLEAFORD MODS English Tapas With Sleaford Mods bouncing between record labels as quickly as they form a new opinion on anyone who isn’t working class, signing to Rough Trade might be exactly what this Nottingham duo need. Their unreserved, midland accent-covered ‘raps’ are sure to grow into a work of art under the careful, openminded record label home to bands such as Palma Violets and The Libertines.

With the duo’s foul-mouthed albums already dividing opinion, it will be exciting to see this expand into a larger scale. Expect chaos. (Jasmine Hodge)

LOWER THAN ATLANTIS Safe In Sound Due to drop February 3rd, Safe In Sound is meant to be a refined sound of their previous material, and an insight to where the band sees themselves in the near future. “We’re headlining the biggest shows we’ve ever played, so we’ve written what we think is a record big enough to be played in those venues,” frontman Mike Duce told DIY Mag. With new techniques added, the album is meant to portray where the band are after ten years of being together.

If lead singles ‘Dumb’ and ‘Work For It’ are anything to go by, fans are in for a treat. (Emily-Jade Young)

GORILLAZ TBA

THE MENZINGERS After The Party

Damon Albarn’s virtual band released their fourth album ‘The Fall’ seven years ago, and after such a long wait, they are finally gifting the world with another album in 2017. The release has been highly anticipated over recent months, with the band using social media to tease fans about the recent journeys of the virtual characters. The album is yet to be titled, but the wait doesn’t seem to be much longer; animator Jamie Hewlett says the album is “really special” – maybe 2017 will be better than 2016 after all. (Sophie Barnden)

After the release of single ‘Lookers’ back in 2016, the main question on everyone’s lips was when the follow up to 2014’s Rented World would arrive. Well Philly punks are back this year with their unforgettable mixture of indie, pop and punk. Teasing what was to come in After The Party, frontman, Greg Barnett said “We don’t have to grow up or get boring, we can keep on having a good time doing what we love.’” No doubt this album will be featuring in multiple top 10 lists at the end of the year. (Charlie Hill)

FLEET FOXES TBC Dabbling with the more experimental strains of folk on their last album Helplessness Blues, Seattle six-piece Fleet Foxes veered away from the rather traditional Appalachian folk sound of their self-titled debut. Intertwining their soaring, immaculate vocals with an assortment of more complex melodies and greater instrumental depth, the album delves into darker pools of lyrical content. With an eclectic blend of genres to their palette and no official release date announced as yet, the trail in which their next album will venture along is not the only area of uncertainty and intrigue. (Madeline Smith)

CIRCA WAVES Different Creatures Since their debut album emerged in 2015, the thought of a follow up album has been on many fans minds.

Teasing us with a single released in November, ‘Wake Up’ had all the right ingredients from the first record, and so far Circa Waves have returned to their indie-rock roots.

The band have been surrounded by the likes of Foals and The Subways, so the new record could mean a different sound injected into our ears in March.

(Josh Abraham)

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opinion

Why do you live stream your life?

Words: Emily Gunn

Remember four years ago when the iPhone 5 came out? Remember standing at a gig and watching your favourite band through the phone screen of that person in front of you?

Yeah that was – and still is – annoying, and I could rant about that for the next 400 words or so. But something so much worse is emerging: live streaming.

Although this may seem somewhat overdramatic in the grand scheme of things, it isn’t the act of live streaming that’s so irritating, it’s the reason people do it. The whole ‘15-minute Snapchat story’ is still as lame as it was when it started, so why are people taking it up to the next level? Live streaming is for cute puppers, not your screechy-ass singing along to some mid-level indie band with your ‘bestie’.

Image: Isha Shah

For some reason, these people have got it into their heads that a huge majority of people- i.e. their entire list of facebook friends - actually care about what happens in their lives. Furthermore, why would someone watch your potato-quality live stream when they could look at professional photographs the day after, and not have to

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deal with your annoying need for attention and validation from people on the internet? That’s what this is really about: validation. Our lives are so consumed with social media that it feels as if everyone is compelled to manipulate their tweets and posts to get likes and retweets, to boost their fragile egos.

Unless you’re a hermit living in the North Pole, none of us are innocent in this. I can preach about how it’s mildly annoying to see live streams on my Facebook feed, but I will still tweet a link to a piece of my work in the hope that someone will notice and like it. People are never going to stop recording/taking photos/ Snapchatting their gig experience any time soon, and that’s okay. Thanks to social media culture we feel compelled to tell our followers/ friends about how great our lives are, or even exaggerate how bad our lives are (nihilism is cool and stuff, but you’re a middle-class white dude at university – stop), in order to feel included in our own online communities.

So the next time you want to live stream a gig remember: no one cares.

Opinion

we are not your

n o v e lt y Maddy Hardman discusses the rise and fall of the 'female-fronted' name tag.

There comes a point in a female musician’s life when the questions about being female become tiresome. Sure, thanks for noticing that we carry two X chromosomes, but really there are a lot of other things that are far more interesting about us. This and other factors make the music industry a hostile place for those that identify as women. Horror stories of sexual assault and girls being taken advantage of emerge with increasing frequency; an attitude change has to occur for that kind of behaviour to be stamped out, and this begins with just talking to women in the same way as men.

“So what’s it like to be the lead singer of a female-fronted band?” A collective sigh can be heard from space every time a male journalist asks this question. It reminds us that while there may be a huge number of astonishingly talented women in the world of music, we’re still somewhat of a novelty, a gimmick or a puppet guided by a big man behind a desk. If a band have a woman at the helm, you’re goddamn guaranteed to find that out before you’ve heard even a snippet. It’s a real anomaly, one that always bears mentioning by any publication, radio or TV show that happen to feature such a band.

Along with this comes the immediate assumption that this ‘female-fronted band’ appeal only to girls. It sounds ridiculous on paper, doesn’t it?

But we’re terribly flawed as humans, and even if we don’t quite realise it there’s a deep-seated notion that it’s somehow not masculine to listen to bands that have a woman centre-stage. This is why a dialogue shift has to happen, and we cannot sit and expect it to wash over us one night. This is going to take some concerted effort from both genders and all in between (because it is not just biological women who suffer).

Image: Isha Shah

As a former member of a band and a fledgling music journalist, I’ve felt a sense of inferiority on both sides of the coin. That sense may not have been wholly validated and those men might not have seen me as unequal, but the feeling of walking into a room full of men, whether as a keyboard player or as an interviewer, is one of irregularity and singularity. However, there is a definite mantra of inclusion in the new generation of musicians and writers, one that has staying power and belief in itself.

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pie & vinyl

PIE & VINYL Words: Tom Staniszewski

There’s something quite unique about SOUTHSEA's Pie & Vinyl. It’s a record shop that offers an experience like no other. Walking through the door, the whiff of pastry fills the air, and i n s t e a d o f a r e c o r d s h o p, y o u f e e l a s i f y o u h a v e w a l k e d o n t o t h e s e t o f T h e G r e at B r i t i s h B a k e - O f f.

Pies aside, the vast range of records, CD’s, tapes and merchandise are a reminder that music in its physical form IS THRIVING. We spoke to founder and owner Steve Courtnell, who lives and breathes P i e & V i n y l , t o f i n d o u t W H Y Y O U S H O U L D V I S I T.

Back in 2011, music retail was at an all-time low. Record shops, both independent and franchises, were closing down left right and centre. The big names like HMV had lost stores and the future looked bleak.

Certainly not the best time to be thinking about opening a little independent record shop - but that’s exactly what Courtnell did. He took a big risk in a retail market that was in serious decline - five years later, Pie & Vinyl are in an extremely healthy position. Helped by the fact that, as he says, “people are actually buying records again.”

Courtnell felt that the whole process of buying a record should be revamped and specifically tailored to you, the person who will ultimately be experiencing the purchase. “I felt that you needed to have a different experience alongside buying a record, and when I found that download cards came with your purchase of a record, that was the lightbulb moment.”

The addition of download cards was definitely a game-changer.

People can now have the best of both, by purchasing a physical product that you can interact

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with, and having the songs when you want them on-the-go.

Courtnell has, without a doubt, changed what goes on inside a record shop. “Pie & Vinyl is very much a sensory experience and I think that the most memorable experiences that you have are when you stimulate all the senses.” The moment you walk in, your senses start working on all levels. The décor within the shop itself is crucial - it’s almost as if you have stepped into a world far away from your own.

Courtnell heavily emphasised the fact that getting the shop to look good is crucial for the customer. “That’s very important to us. We like the shop to look good and within our branding - we want to look as interesting as possible, dare I say a bit weird sometimes.”

It’s also clear that the team have put a lot of research into branding and using their resources to their full capacity.

The menu, for example, combines music and food, the names of the pies offered taken from bands, albums and record labels, a small detail that goes a long way in adding to the customer’s enjoyment.

pie & vinyl

Record Store Day has been a huge lift for all the little independent stores dotted around the UK, and Pie and Vinyl are one that truly reaps the rewards. They have been involved since opening back in early 2012, and nowadays the shop is synonymous with the national yearly event. But the beginnings were very humble.

“We only had one half of the shop that we have now, so we had three or four local musicians come in and play, it wasn’t that much of big deal,” he reflects.

But with news spreading along the South Coast and beyond through word of mouth and clever advertising, Pie & Vinyl are now one of the big players in Record Store Day. “Now though, we’ve had bands like Band Of Skulls play outside the shop, and in 2015 the first person started queuing outside the door at 3pm the day before Record Store Day. When we opened, the queue was from outside the shop, right the way down the road, past the clock-tower and beyond.”

Courtnell immediately dismisses the idea that Record Store Day is solely about Pie & Vinyl - he sees it as a coming together of local businesses and independent shops in Southsea and Portsmouth.

The music scene and community is close knit in Portsmouth, and Courtnell uses Record Store Day to bring the community closer together. “It was a really big event and we had thousands of people here, and we invite lots of local traders down to get involved it’s a celebration of the area as much as the records.”

With the shop constantly growing, and the vinyl boom still proceeding, it looks as though Pie & Vinyl is here to stay.

Images: Isha Shah

Pie & Vinyl can be found at 61 Castle Road, Portsmouth, Southsea PO5 3AY, and is open 11am-9pm on Weekdays and Saturday and 11am-5pm on Sundays.

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cover feature

Cree

Words: Da

Creeper's upcoming debut record, Etern fans and the public are provided with world - a world previously only seen fr frontman will gould about fan theories

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L- R : S e a n S c o t t, D a n B r at t o n , W i l l G o u l d, O l i v e r B u r d e t t, H a n n a h G r e e n w o o d, I a n M i l e s

eper

aisy Hearn

nity, In Your Arms, will be the first time h a full-length insight into the band's ragmented in EPs and videos. we spoke to s, touring and never wanting to grow up...

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cover feature

Formed in 2014, Southampton-based goth punks Creeper are yet to release an album. Previous releases have sent the band on tours with some of the biggest names in alternative music, debut record Eternity, In Your Arms could be the record that finally cements their place as the heirs to the throne of gloomy pop.

“I think an album is a really big amount of time to fill,” frontman Will Gould explains, his tone somewhat cautious. "I was always really nervous about doing an album because I feel like my favourite records have a narrative to a degree - even when they aren’t a concept record, they still have a flow. The best records pick you up slowly over a couple of songs and then dump you for a couple and it's like a story, it’s like watching a film, and I knew that ours was going to have to be even more like a film because of what we’ve promised with our other records, so I was really nervous about going into it. We’re very meticulous about it. I’ve been working on this particular record for about a year, but this whole thing we’ve been working on since our inception really. We went and bought these massive whiteboards and we drew up all the history and tried to make everything very planned out - we’re very meticulous about detail.”

Enter The Stranger- an unmistakably daunting figure shrouded in black, bearing a harrowing mask. Silently appearing in videos and live performances surrounding the last EP, to those unfamiliar with the band, The Stranger is a slightly unnerving sight, a character plucked straight from the group’s hive mind with beady eyes and a discerning frown. “I had The Stranger in my house for a while - he’s massive.

He was downstairs in the kitchen for a while because there was nowhere else for him to go. The window behind the house backs on to another row of terrace houses, and people could see the stranger - he’s terrifying in this mask - and you could just see him. Imagine if you got up to go to the toilet in the night and you turned round and he was just staring at you. I had to take him down in the end because people would stay over and be like ‘he’s awful’. We lock him up in the storage unit now because we don’t like him being in the house. He creeps us out."

With new albums come new concepts which, this time round, are delivered not in the form of a cloaked skeletal figure, but a black-haired, green-eyed man by the name of James Scythe. Scythe’s backstory is fleshed out in painstaking detail; in

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December 2015, the 39-year-old vanished from where he was supposed to be staying - room 309 at Southampton hotel The Dolphin. The band shared links to a website containing purported details of Scythe’s disappearance, including images from the scene of the investigation, snippets cut from Southampton’s local newspaper The Daily Echo, and a backstory of Scythe's identity detailing his wife - Mary Scythe, formerly Darling - and the tragic road accident back in 2006 that led to her untimely death. Framed by a collection of podcasts investigating 'The Callous Heart’ gang and ‘The Stranger’, the mystery surrounding Scythe’s disappearance is yet to be resolved. “James’ story, as a character, is about him - he's a paranormal investigator, coming to investigate the myths of ‘The Callous Heart' and 'The Stranger,'" Gould explains. "It's about him dealing with loss and death, and learning to accept that he’s never going to be young again - it’s the themes of the record in a cartoonish, bombastic way. I’ve known from right back then where [James] would be. We've made 2 EPs before this, and they were supposed to be referencing the Peter Pan story. There was a gender neutral 'lost boys’ style thing with 'The Callous Heart', and that was in reaction to seeing such a diverse group of people coming to our shows, and then there's 'The Stranger' - he was supposed to be the things you fear, like the fear of growing up and getting older, and so when we came to the album we always knew we were going to make a Captain Hook character, so James' story mimics that of Captain Hook.

"The Peter Pan story in general reflects my life massively, and I think it reflects a lot of people my age. As you get older and you’re kind of in between being being an old person and your youth’s not there anymore, and so all the worries and things that come along with that.”

Where Creeper are often compared to Emo bands before them, their fans seem to be drawn from the same vein, coagulating into one large group of creatives. Upon the band's disappearance, clues to their whereabouts were scattered throughout the city of Southampton - it was up to the fans to find and decipher them. “With the narrative happening in Southampton, we

were always going to make the mystery here - we were just hoping that that would be carried out, and it was." Whilst fans that were local to the city ran about on foot in pursuit of the illusive clues, those across

"I was

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Imagea: Jay Wennington

s always trying to escape when I was younger, I always felt very trapped."

Imagea: Jay Wennington

Image: Jay Wennington

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cover feature

the globe eagerly observed the events via social media." They managed to use groups of people to solve the clues and it was really nice, it was really cool. I don’t know how much that happens anymore, I feel like we were lucky to have been a part of that - that people would spend their time on a mystery involving a band. It’s 2016, people get bored of bands in a heartbeat, so I just feel lucky that we have fans that would do that for us.”

However it wasn't just the fans that scoured the city - the band themselves combed Southampton in search of landmarks and icons that would later be woven into the cover art of Eternity, In Your Arms. The finished piece is purple-skied, a city portrayed with neon highlights and buildings that seem to bear their own distinctly morose energy.

“Southampton's a really important thing for us, we’re really proud of being a Southampton band even if we weren’t all from here. It's like our home,” Gould explains. "I was born in Portsmouth, and I moved here when my parents divorced. I liked Southampton because I felt like it was a very safe place when I was younger, but I found it very dark. People were constantly trying to inject colour into Southampton - when you go onstage and you say ‘Hi we’re Creeper, and we’re from Southampton’ everyone goes: ‘Oh, that’s just another boring grey city in the UK.' I wanted to wrap that up in a world of fantasy so that it was more exciting. It’s almost like a half truth, y’know? It kind of makes it like a fantasy, and it makes it larger than life, and that always really appealed to me as a kid. I was always trying to escape when I was younger, I always felt very trapped - I think a lot of kids do. Especially when you’re a kid and you go through a divorce its’s like the tick list of things that kids go through isn’t it?

Feeling alone, isolated, you know, it's like typical Emo stuff. I think that all my life I’ve wanted to escape, and my way of dealing with that with this band was to try and reinvent everything and make everything like a bigger, bolder, brighter version. I wanted to make something that was really frilly and really purposely pomp and something that would piss off kids that wanted something straight up - I wanted something that would be purposefully fanciful.”

In December the band are set to embark on what may be their biggest tour yet, supporting American rock band Pierce The Veil at a whole host of venues across the UK. Although Creeper have formerly toured overseas, this time round the crowds that greet them will be significantly larger - audience numbers at Brixton's O2 Academy stand bold in contrast to those of the small circuit venues the band have been known to favour. "I just like the idea of something really big happening in a venue thats too small for it," Gould explains. "When I was a kid I wanted to write a musical and tour it in DIY spaces - that was my idea, and I’ve kind of just done it with Creeper instead - it’s now like a travelling circus and it’s really, really fun. We were born from a hardcore world, and over the course of 2 years we’ve reached a lot of younger kids through these tours. Pierce The Veil will be another really big one - we haven’t even met each other yet and they've just been so so sweet and so I’m looking forward to it. The kids that come and see us are the most amazing people - I see a lot of myself in them. When I was younger I was really into bands - I didn’t just get into bands and like a record - I loved it, I wanted to know who they were, what they were about, where they were from, what their parents did, that sort of stuff. I was just fanatical, and looking at these kids now I almost see a window into my past."

It seems that the group have it all planned out from here on up. The new record may vary from material they've previously released, instead bearing a more varied sound, with influences and inspirations drawn from a wide pool of artists and records spanning a number of decades. Embossed with themes drawn from previous releases, Creeper have truly taken the idea of a concept album to the next level.

The final vision for Eternity, In Your Arms is enrapturing, both aurally and aesthetically, yet it still stands to question where James Scythe will end up. “We absolutely know where it’s gonna go," Gould reveals with a sly grin. "But you’d have to be paying attention to understand where the story ends I think, because if you weren’t then you might not think it has ended.”

"When I was a kid I wanted to write a musical and tour it in DIY spaces - I’ve kind of just done it with Creeper instead" 25

why we love

WHY WE LOVE...

Danny Brown Words: Tobias Pugh

Some things are just meant to be. Despite spending nine years in underground obscurity before hitting the mainstream with XXX, Danny Brown was born to rap- “When I was a baby, my mama always used to take me with her to the laundromat. She would take mad Dr. Seuss books and she would just read them to me over and over again - So when I first started talking, I talked in rhymes.”

from which it lifts its name. While running themes of mental illness, poverty and addiction aren’t new in hiphop, they’ve never been expressed like this before. From the swirling post-punky intro of ‘Downward Spiral’, through syncopated rhythms, bizarre samples and unhinged rapping, it constantly feels like he’s on the run from his comfort zone.

As what MTV called “one of rap’s most unique figures”, the squawky voiced Detroit rapper boasts an oversized imagination, an encyclopaedic knowledge of Ghettotech samples, and a love for the insane. That trademark squawk of a voice has seen him rap with the likes of Eminem, Black Hippy and MF Doom, while his beats incorporate Ray Charles samples in shallow bangers like ‘Smokin and Drinkin’’. Although he gained notoriety perfecting the ridiculous, with stupidly lewd punchlines like “sent your bitch a dick pic and now she need glasses”, he’s also mastered the powerful and poignant. On ‘Guitar Solo’ he swaps his hyena-esque delivery (an emotive technique developed from “being around crackheads”) for a grizzly spat depiction of a world of tragedy, broken homes and just the loneliness that surrounds the young and hopeless. It’s this versatility that earnt him the nickname ‘The Hybrid’; a name extending through to his cartoonish existence as a Dr. Seuss inspired ex-drug dealer who loves molly, hates cereal and spends $3,500 on a cat to protect him from mice.

For the sinister ‘Really Doe’, Brown picked the only three rappers he felt could compete with him, and Kendrick Lamar, Earl Sweatshirt and Ab-Soul more than deliver - possibly the best possé cut since A Tribe Called Quest and Leaders Of the New School teamed up for ‘Scenario’ in 1991. Tracks like the near-beatless ‘When It Rain’ or the frantic ‘Ain’t It Funny’ are a testament to his incredible delivery, because no-one else could begin to rap over any of the awkward, almost avant-garde beats.

Where Old was a timeline of hip hop instrumentals, Atrocity is like the sort of album which the old experimental Jazz artists Brown name-drops would make if they were around today.

While Brown has always flirted with the unconventional, no-one could have predicted this year’s Atrocity Exhibition. It’s as off the wall as anything he’s done before and just as dark as the Joy Division song

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As one of the great modern creatives, Danny Brown is incomparable to anyone around in 2016. His charisma recalls a young and excitable Busta Rhymes, but on a much larger scale. He doesn’t care about his lack of front teeth, or complain about haters, or find stupid reasons for feuds - he’s just too busy living his dreams.

Musically, his next step could take him any direction he wants.

His unpredictable and brilliant resumé will soon even boast a children’s book, inspired by his daughter, aiming to boost self-esteem in young black girls. Of all his talents, ideas and eccentricities, the best thing about Brown is that whether it’s a feature or a full project, he’s always at the top of his game, and the only appealing thing for him to do at that height is to take a leap into the unknown.

Opinion

FIghting The Stigma why artists with mental health issues deserve kindness, not ridicule Words: Isha Shah

When it comes to mental health, we are often quick to open our mouths, and equally as quick to close our ears.

Indirectly or not, society is isolating people - we push people back into the dark in order to prevent ourselves from dealing with their problems, dismissing their troubles as being little more than trivial. Even on social media, when artists such as Kanye West decide to tweet from their own minds, we ignore their intentions, replying with hateful words and comments in attempts to gloss over his underlying state of mind.

With the iconic status West carries, the media are quick to shrug off his struggles with his mental health. It’s an apparent myth and lie, a condition we have been told does not exists – the idea that those who are wealthy are unable to struggle with mental health issues due to status alone. The signs have always been there for West - you just have to scroll through this Twitter feed to find out how much help he needs - but instead of listening, we are jumping down his throat with intolerable tweets and memes, mocking his confusion and twisting it to fit our own warped sense of humor.

Most fans are actively aware of the shocking behaviour that West has displayed in public. From storming out of the American Music Awards in 2004 for not being voted Artist of the Year, to invading Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at the VMA’s, or even the way in which he constantly compares himself to the likes of Steve Jobs,

God and Michael Jordan, there is not a passing day that West hasn’t flooded the headlines with insane rhetorics. If there’s one thing he expresses openly, it’s a sense of independence, his timeline littered with comments that boost his self esteem and toy with the idea of self-love. No matter how great his intentions are, these messages are often splurged in jumbled, encoded words, a trait which he is quick to assert as being his own ‘artistic viewpoint’.

The culture we live in has been quick to reject West as a egotistical narcissist who is out of his mind, quickly passing blame to his ‘personality’ as opposed to considering that there might be something more serious going on.

But lets not forget that West is one of the most significant contributors to moder n pop-culture worldwide. Without a doubt, West has inspired artist who don’t conform to the ‘gangster rap image’ of growing up in rough estates surrounded by crime and drug culture. Instead, he voices his Christian Faith, appreciation for Folk, Soul and Classic Rock and Roll - his overwhelming success falls on his re-inventive marketing of himself. Once again, this idea of the rich being unable to struggle pops up – society yet again fails to realise that mental health issues pay little regard to social class, age, genders and lifestyles. In order to truly make a change society as a whole needs to stop and listen properly, instead of trivialising the plight of artists in the public eye and reducing their struggles to little more than inter net memes and backwards jokes.

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interview

On The Brink Of World Domination Words: Isha Shah

The Tuts may only be a trio, but three is more than enough to put on a full theatrical performance.

“Most of the movements you see on stage happened spontaneously - we then replicate them on purpose again,” vocalist and guitarist Nadia Javed tells us. “We have an actual dance routine for the middle eight of ‘Do I Have To Look For Love’.

We’re a high-energy band so we’re hair whipping and getting down on our knees for the fun of it.”

The Tuts were not always an independent band. A few years ago they had a manger - the group later decided that he didn’t have their best interests at heart and parted ways. “We don’t have trust funds set up by our parents waiting for us, or have mummy and daddy who work in the music industry to give us a leg up,” drummer Beverley Ishmael mentions.

Being part of a DIY community certainly has its perks.

The Tuts share their love for this ethic they will take to their grave, but Javed doesn’t want to “die being DIY” - she wants to die “whilst signed to a major label with tonnes of cash to leave behind in my will.”

Update Your Brain is a sparkling example of sheer dedication and hard work The Tuts strived for in making their debut record. “The EPs were a taster and will probably end up being collectors’ items,” guitarist Harriet Doveton laughs. "But the album we put absolutely everything into.

It's our manifesto. I think there’s personal and political overlap, and a lot of young people need to remember that when they're being told to stay out of politics by their parents' generation.”

2016 has been a hell of a year for the band, and not just because of their killer record. The Tuts are known for speaking their mind and saying it how it is, but are still weary of being seen as too negative. “We remind ourselves how important the things we are talking about are, and how many are manipulated into not calling out sh*t that needs to be called out,” Doveton says.

When given a platform to educate and inform,

The Tuts are hardline on unacceptable behaviour, whether it be racist, sexist, homophobic, or just plain horrible. But this doesn’t mean that they can’t have a laugh and spread their positive energy - on the contrary, it’s what they do best.

“A lot people in the punk scene are too scared to say anything, but we’re outspoken working class people that have grown up having to fight our cor ner, so it’s in our blood to be outspoken,” Javed adds. She then mentions that this alone doesn’t seem to stop trolls from doing their thing: “I got called an obnoxious tw*t and read some nasty comments about me online. We got told we were faking accusations as a ‘publicity stunt’.

Also that we’re using the ‘race card’ for publicity.”

While Ishmael reckons The Tuts are flying high, Doveton talks about how any female celebrity is pulled apart online, with people of colour “always having to face huge double standards. We always say we're going to ride the misogynistic or racist wave to success. Don't give the trolls airtime.”

It’s not just The Tuts who have to face this battle with trolls, but any female in the media eye. “I think we’re the best role models for girls, and I hope to reach more of a platform so we can have a positive impact.” Javed states. Doveton adds, “[we need to] appreciate how scary it is to be a role model and to be watched by everyone - every move you make and everything you say. Instead of trying to tear women in power down, don’t put so much pressure on one human; at the end of the day human is what they are - celebrity is just another name for it." Ishmael sums it up perfectly: “top line men need to leave women alone.”

If there is one thing left on this earth for these three to achieve, it’s world domination. Despite Doveton thinking they’re only 15% there, Javed and Ishmael reckon they’re pretty close to completion.

“We’re literally on the brink of it. It could literally happen any week now - it’s now or never.”

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The Hobbit challenge

EAT ME @ THE HOB

Images: Isha Shah

Words: Isha Shah

From a town that has no remarkable bearing on the map, Folkestone’s Eat Me are the promising life of a small town. Last time the quartet set foot on southern soil, they were performing to a small crowd in a DIY garden show a stones throw away from where they now sit at The Hobbit, Southampton’s pub-come-shrine inspired by, and paying homage to, the tales and characters of J. R. R. Tolkien. “The garden show was DIY in the best way. It was just mates basically - except we didn’t know any of the mates,” guitarist Jack Matcham tells us.

“When we were sound checking, the neighbour leaned his head of the window, and I was thinking oh f*ck, I don’t want to p*ss anyone off, and he went ‘rock on!’”

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Failing to pick up on the specially-themed cocktails, the guys go straight for a beer, launching into discussion about their third EP, Melon Enema. “I feel like on the last two EP’s we were trying to work out our influences,” vocalist Jamie Warnes begins. “But with this one we’ve got that under our belt, and we don’t think of it as much. We’ve been going for three years, and we know how we’re different and similar to other bands, so we don’t need to think about that now.” Despite their two-year journey, the bands influences haven’t really changed since they first picked up an instrument, according to Matcham. “I think making the two EPs we made before influenced us more than anything else. We knew what we wanted this one to

BBIT

Since we're at The Hobbit, we thought it would be a good idea to put Eat Me's Lord Of The Rings knowledge to the test...

With whom does Legolas have a drinking contest with?

“Gimli.”

What is the name of the sword that cuts the ring off of Sauron’s hand?

“Narcil.”

After Galadriel passes the test for the one ring she announces that she will diminish and go where?

“West.”

Frodo sees Sauron’s eye whenever he wears the ring, who else has a glimpse of the eye?

“Pippin.”

What happens to Frodo after he hesitates to throw the ring into Mount Doom?

“His finger is bitten off.”

Elrond is an elf who is suspicious of men.

Who prompted this suspicion?

“Isildur.”

Saruman is only shown dying in the extended version of the film, who does he die?

“Stabbed in the back, then falls.”

Lurtz the uruk-hai wasn't in the books, but he was in the Fellowship of The Ring. Who killed him?

“Aragorn.”

Before Gollum became obsessed with the one ring, what race was he closely related to?

“Hobbit.”

be like - because we made one that was live, and one that was really polished - and from that we knew what we were and weren’t happy with. Our music is constantly evolving.

It’s moving from here to here and you’ve got to keep up.”

“A lot of bands think they’re a certain genre, and they stick to it - we’ve never really thought like that. We just want to play what we play. All of our songs sound like different bands.”

While the guys try and wrap up why they don’t conform to the norm, Bush poses a very important question. “When was the last time you went to a rock show and you saw someone play a slap bass solo? The rules are out of the question.”

Who is originally cast as Aragorn?

“Stuart Townsend.”

FINAL SCORE:

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REVIEWS PETROL GIRLS TALK OF VIOLENCE A battle cry calls out amongst a rabble of distorted guitars, heralding the arrival of none other than P u n k q u a r t e t , P e t ro l G i r l s . Ta l k o f Vi o l e n c e i s n ’t j u s t t h e n a m e o f t h e a l b u m f o r n o re a s o n , f u l l o f a n g e r a n d g r i t , t h e y ’ re h e re t o s e n d o u t a m e s s a g e against sexists, racists and whoever gets in their w a y. Vo c a l i s t R e n A l d r i d g e i s o n f i re t h ro u g h o u t t h e 1 0 - t r a c k a l b u m , p o s s e s s i n g r a w, p o w e r f u l ro a r s s h o w i n g n o s i g n s o f e x h a u s t i o n . S i m i l a r t o o t h e r h e a v y b a n d s s u c h a s S t r a y F ro m T h e P a t h a n d A rc h i t e c t s , P e t ro l G i r l s a d d re s s m a j o r i s s u e s s u c h a s i m m i g r a t i o n ( ‘ Tre a d i n g Wa t e r ’ ) a n d s e x u a l c o n s e n t ( ‘ To u c h M e A g a i n ’ ) . I n ‘ To u c h M e A g a i n ’ A l d r i d g e re p e t i t i v e l y y e l l s o u t l o u d a n d p o w e r f u l l y, “ To u c h m e a g a i n a n d I ’ l l f u c k i n g k i l l y o u ! ” t i l l the end of the track, even after the instruments b e h i n d h e r h a v e f i n i s h e d , re m i n i s c e n t o f R a g e

A g a i n s t T h e M a c h i n e ’s ‘ K n o w Yo u r E n e m y. ’ A t W T F e s t i n O c t o b e r, A l d r i d g e a n n o u n c i n g ‘ Tre a d i n g Wa t e r ’ s a i d ; “ T h i s i s s u e h a s s e e m e d t o h a v e b e e n f o rg o t t e n a b o u t i n t h e p a s t y e a r a n d i t s t i l l n e e d s attention.” The issue in question is the immigration s i t u a t i o n i n C a l a i s a n d h o w re f u g e e s h a v e d i e d f l e e i n g w a r- t o r n c o u n t r i e s . T h i s p o w e r f u l s u b j e c t i s c o v e re d w i t h o u t f e a r o f c o n d e m n a t i o n . Ta l k o f Vi o l e n c e s h o w c a s e s t h e r a w s k i l l a n d a g g re s s i o n o f P e t ro l G i r l s . F ro m t h e b re a k d o w n s t h a t p u t m o s t h a rd c o re b a n d s t o s h a m e , t o t h e f u r y t h a t A l d r i d g e m a i n t a i n s t h ro u g h o u t t h e a l b u m . Ta l k o f Vi o l e n c e d o e s t h e s a m e a n d h a s t h e s a m e e ff e c t t h a t R a g e A g a i n s t t h e M a c h i n e ’s s e l f - t i t l e d a l b u m p o s s e s s e d b a c k i n 1 9 9 2 . P e t ro l G i r l s a re t h e a n s w e r t o a l l t h o s e s e a rc h i n g f o r b a n d s w i t h p o l i t i c a l l y p o i g n a n t themes and lyrics. (Charlie Hill)

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JUSTICE WOMAN

Justice, purveyors of electronic wizardry and havers of haircuts, are back. The French duo's third album, follow-up to 2011's modestly successful 'Audio Video Disco', has been a mostlysilent five years in the works, their return clumsily (or intentionally?) announced this Summer through a keen-eared fan's Shazamming at an Ed Banger showcase. Garlanded by characteristically dramatic strings, Safe and Sound heralded Woman's arrival like a welcome chorus of omniscient robot angelsbut it wasn't until second single Randy dropped in September that the world really sat up and took notice.

Seven minutes of adrenaline-pumped, unadulterated, batsh*t crazy future-pop, Randy is the ineffable swaggering sound of Deus Ex Machina- the sound of God from the machine. It's Rick Wakeman in a star-

patterned cape throwing glitter around in a recording studio. Where earlier releases such as 'Ohio' struggle under the weight of their ambition, Randy soars. It's also objectively the best thing on Woman, which is, in itself, the prog-loving duo's best record yet.

Take the slow, twinkling Stop- with a killer hook and slinking vocal, it somehow combines their signature knack for choral arrangements with a Stranger Thingsesque smack of the 80s, to dazzling effect. The smart strut of Fire is simultaneously goofy and ice-cool, only bested by the delightfully stupid Alakazam!. Close Call and Chorus, on the other hand, feel extraneous, but at least they're fun. Justice's previous two efforts- '†' and the aforementioned 'Audio, Video...' were, at their best, eclectic and fizzy- at their worst, overlong, dull and patchy. The joy in both was criminally overlooked by genre purists, with sneery accusations of incompetence becoming almost synonymous with their name. It's refreshing to see Justice vindicated here, on Woman, still rocking, still clad in eye-wateringly tight jeans, sticking two fingers up to their critics and reminding us that prog doesn't have to be a dirty word. (Charys Newton)

7 HONEYBLOOD BABES NEVER DIE A tinge of a noholds-barred attitude from Scottish duo Honeyblood, and ever since their monster debut album in 2014, an air of eagerness has been circling. On Babes Never Die, we finally get to fully see what they’re about. Lead singer Stina Tweeddale and drummer Cat Myers – Shona McVicar played on the first album but has since been replaced- are taking snippet sounds of PJ Harvey and Best Coast, and twisting emotions at both ends of the spectrum.

The name Honeyblood suggests that there will be tales and sounds of rampage, distortion and juxtaposition, which is typified by title track ‘Babes Never Die’. Unmistakeable vocals from Tweeddale weave through the opener. The metaphorical cherry on top of this album comes in the shape of her voice, soaring its way with ease through tracks

such as ‘Justine, Misery Queen’, and yet it is at its most pleasing on the more soothing ‘Walking At Midnight’; undoubtedly the track of the album.

To gauge whether or not this album is striving for mainstream success seems, at this point in their career, besides the point. Despite this, with SkySports picking up on their frantic energy, grunge track ‘Ready For The Magic’ features regularly on the weekend football shows.The added flair of Myers makes for a head-spinning three minutes, and as Tweeddale sings: “Sparks ignite when we collide”, you can’t help thinking she’s talking of their new musical relationship. Still clearly sticking to what was achieved and loved on the first album, Honeyblood haven’t shied away from what many artists seem to find a daunting task: battling the demons of a second album. Perhaps it’s the freshness and new life from Myers, or maybe Tweeddale just has that edge it takes to succeed, either way the passion, energy and fun they’re having on this record shines through on each track, making it infectious to the core. (Andrew Shelley)

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Reviews

TIGERCUB ABSTRACT FIGURES IN THE DARK Tigercub are yet another band to add to the multitude of acts flooding out of Brighton. This threepiece bring grunge to its knees, rough it up a bit and transform it into something new.

Abstract Figures in the Dark brings together the band’s own unique take on the genre whilst splicing together Royal Blood-esque riffs, Radiohead surreality and Drenge’s thrash. Almost a year after releasing their first EP, Repressed Semantics, it hasn’t taken long for a label to snap Tigercub up. After tour support slots with Royal Blood, Dinosaur Pile-Up and Dilly Dally, there are hints of these groups dotted throughout Tigercub’s sound, with ‘Memory Boy’ and ‘Migraine’ both heavy with sludge

loaded riffs that are bound to get anyone jumping head first into a mosh pit. With three years’ experience under their belts, Jamie Hall (vocals/guitar), Jimi Wheelwright (bass) and James Allix (drums) are determined to create a sound that satisfies many people’s needs, as Hall sings “I dreamt I was second best/as passing interest”. Whilst indulging in mammoth riffs, the three piece have learnt to adapt and balance the scale, especially on tracks‘Burning Effigies’, ‘Up in Smoke’ and ‘The Golden Ratio’. Swirling Thom Yorke indebted vocals combine with the menace of Drenge to create the perfect surreal and pulsating indie-grunge dynamic. Tigercub are at the forefront of a new wave of bands playing a dot to dot with genres.

They’re experimenting with new sounds and cramming them together in songs which have a distinctly grungy heartbeat. They are, no doubt, a band who will get the head bangers banging, the indie kids moshing and give the grunge lovers some nostalgic recollection. (Matt Smith)

7 RUN THE JEWELS RUN THE JEWELS 3 The first two Run The Jewels LPs hit hard and fast, with enough hip hop bravado and big beats to level cities. But after 2016’s end-of-year-lists were all wrapped up, their big brother came to Christmas Dinner.

The calm opener of ‘Down’ begins both verses with an ode to hope- a touch of sincerity that signals how the stakes have been raised this year- and a minute into ‘Talk to Me’ they declare spiritual war. Tracks like ‘2100’ and ‘Thieves (Screamed the Ghost)’ form a socio-political manifesto of a record that ranges from near-cliches about defeating the devil with love, to Killer Mike channelling Malcolm X as he says “ballot or bullet, you better use one”. Run The Jewels preach love and tolerance in the same breath as they endorse riots and condemn Steve Job’s ghost. They remain proud anti-heros almost to the degree of moral ambiguity, but there’s never a doubt as to who their targets are and where they stand. While there’s still plenty of oldschool rap brags (‘Call Ticketron’ and ‘Panther Like a Panther’), even they feel politicised- too savagely powerful to waste their time on targets below Fox News.

There’s finesse and variety here, both in El-P’s steadily mid-paced and apocalyptic production, and the two MCs' constant back-and-forth of unrivalled chemistry. There’s an enormous sense of fun as they celebrate their friendship and families while bringing down buildings. There are moments of rare vulnerability and introspection, but never anger the album feels too mature and focused for that.

Describing an LP this full of power and brilliance in 300 words does it no justice: It’s Return of the Jedi rolled up with the end of days, it’s a Christmas f*cking miracle, it’s “RTJ3 motherf*ckers.” (Joe Gilbertson)

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PETER DOHERTY HAMBURG DEMONSTRATIONS With the tabloid fervour surrounding his private life having died down in recent years, a sense of hardwon freedom pervades Hamburg Demonstrations, the second solo outing from Libertines man/madcap shambleton Peter Doherty. Having both gotten clean and gotten the band back together in the seven years since the release of first solo album Grace/Wastelands, it would be an understatement to say that a lot has changed in the time between the two records.

Opening with the gently meandering Kolly Kibbler, Demonstrations is a stubbornly lo-fi affair. While this could have easily segued into 'dickhead round the campfire with an acoustic guitar', instead the backto-basics approach feels genuinely personal and confessional, stripped of bombast and posturing. 'She Is Far' and 'Flags of the Old Regime' are pretty, weary highlights, and both iterations of 'I don't love anyone (but you're not just anyone)' are surprisingly affecting.

Other areas fare less well. Skiffle-indebted The Whole Word Is Our Playground is corny and halfformed, and the less said of 'Oily Boker' (yes, really) the better. There's plenty here deserving of merit though- while on first listen it may all feel a little forgettable, repeated plays reward with a thoughtful, deeply personal document.

(Charys Newton)

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RALEIGH RITCHIE MIND THE GAP It's been an eventful year for Raleigh Ritchie, starting the year off in February with an 18-track album (You’re a Man Now, Boy), and continuing with the release of his new EP, which parallels the vibe of its predecessor. Mind the gap is a 5-song assortment of soothing melodies and slow-paced vocals. The track Motions starts the EP off with a demonic, robotic conversation between a couple in utter despair, which sets the tone for the next 20 minutes.

‘StraightJacket’ is the standout single, playing

DRAWSTRING COOL

Three EPs into their career and the DIY emo pop duo Drawstring have decided it’s time for a full length.

That’s a bloody lot of music to be releasing in just two years, but for this two-piece their creative flow is a never-ending stream of emo pop. When it comes to the promotional side, everything is DIY in the best possible way. Exhibiting their artistic skills in their music video for ‘Melon’, we are presented with the duo simply attaching elastic bands to the middle of a melon until it finally explodes in half. Simple yet innovative, these guys are no strangers to making music videos that bare no relation to the narrative of the song, nevertheless the humour they share shines brightly throughout every creation they make.

Progressing from a bouncy pop song to faster paced beat, ‘Little Conversation’, is a track made up from short words strung together by upbeat gang vocals; sure to be a crowd pleaser live. ‘They Know I’m Not Okay’ acts as a barrier from where the record actually begins. ‘Ache’ and ‘Way Home’ follow its strikingly simple lyrical repetition - the three songs have similar variation, yet the placement of these seems muddled.

Drawstring’s shot at a full-length captures their youthful spirits, the chemistry between the two friends proving strong as their musical ability. ’Cool’, ‘School’ and ‘Chicago Town’ all seem to fit in with the band's teenage angst phase, where the lyrical content falls closely with the new wave of pop punk bands, yet the two-piece don’t dwell on the generic aspects of the genre. While ‘Cool’ comes across as a heavily influenced twinkle emo record, the band have made a braver change to their musical flow compared to their previous EPs. (Isha Shah)

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8 with the clash between good and evil. It also covers the topic of Ritchie’s inner denial of his self-destructive behaviour. The EP ends with the joyful and fun ‘Unicron Loev’ which ups the tempo of the final product in an unusual place.

The overall sound for this track is not something normally associated with Ritchie, containing an array of different synths and drum beats which combine for an interesting track. (Harvey Baldwin)

YOU ME AT SIX NIGHT PEOPLE It seems like Surrey has once again landed its place on the map, but this time, for once, it’s not Harry Potter-related. From selling out stadium shows to opening their very own roller coaster, the past 12 years have been eventful for homegrown boys You Me At Six, not least as they gear up to release their fifth studio album, Night People.

‘Night People’ begins almost as a trick to the ears. Introduced a few months back as a single, we were treated to a real standout track that proved the band had grown in time. This real promise threw you off guard, with its heavy rocky drumbeats and gang vocal chorus cheers; the track is everything you’d expect it to be in 2017. Shadowing an equally edgy and rebellious tune, ‘Plus One’ carries their carefree attitude effectively, with biting words and screeching guitars.

It’s clear that the first snippets have by far been their best and opening the final package feels a little too much like receiving deodorant for Christmas. The unfamiliarity of ‘Brand New’, ‘Make Your Move’ and ‘Can’t Hold Back’ steal the record from its full potential, as these fillers could have made an impact with a little alteration.

Nevertheless, there are nostalgic twists with ‘Take On The World’ and ‘Heavy Soul’ allowing the Sinners Never Sleeps era to rejoice your ears. ‘Give’ ends the journey with Josh Franceschi’s delicate vocals, maximising the rawness of Take Off Your Colours.

You Me At Six have managed to extract the positives from previous record Cavalier Youth to rectify Night People, and this feels like the record that should have followed the success of Sinners Never Sleep. (Isha Shah)

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the 1975

Images: Isha Shah

@ BIC BOURNEMOUTH 21/12/16

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gig guide

Gig Guide

jan-mar 2017

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tHE skints - friday 27th january @ the joiners, southampton

Cabbage - Friday 17th february @ The Joiners, southampton

Violet mud - saturday 28th janary @ the joiners, southampton

KATE NASH - FRIDAY 17TH FEBRUARY @ THE WEDGEWOOD ROOMS, PORTSMOUTH

BEACH SLANG - SATURDAY 21ST JANUARY @ THE HAUNT, BRIGHTON

Weatherstate - sunday 19th february @ the alex, southampton

BLACK PEAKS - WEDNESDAY 25TH JANUARY @ SOUND CIRCUS, BOURNEMOUTH

SUNDARA KARMA - WEDNESDAY 22ND FEBRUARY @ THE WEDGEWOOD ROOMS, PORTSMOUTH

so punk festival - friday 3rd- sunday 5th february @ various southampton venues

LADY LESHURR - FRIDAY 24TH FEBRUARY @ THE ARCH, BRIGHTON

MENACE BEACH - SATURDAY 4TH FEBRUARY @ THE JOINERS, SOUTHAMPTON

PET SHOP BOYS - SUNDAY 26TH FEBRUARY @ BOURNEMOUTH INTERNATIONAL CENTRE

TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB - MONDAY 6TH FEBRUARY @ THE GUILDHALL, SOUTHAMPTON

sum 41 - monday 6th march @ the o2 guildhall, southampton

modern baseball - friday 12th february @ 1865 southampton

foxing - tuesday 21st march @ the joiners, southampton

spring king - monday 13th feb @ enigne rooms, southampton

creeper - friday 31st march @ the 1865, southampton

star boy

star boy Words: Charys Newton

W h e t h e r yo u ’ r e a c o n v e r t o r u n c o n v i n c e d , t h e r e ’ s n o g e t t i n g away f r o m t h e fa c t Astrology is having a moment in 2017. Everyone from your mum to that weird girl on your course obsessed with cacti seems to know everything from their rising sign t o e x a c t ly h o w t h e r e t r o g r a d e w i l l m e s s u p t h e i r l i v e s , i n s p e c i f i c d e ta i l . B u t w h at d o t h e s t a r s s a y o f o u r f a v e s ? W e t o o k a l o o k a t T h e W e e k n d ' s b i r t h c h a r t t o f i n d o u t.

SUN The sun is the planet of ‘essence’-

the placement of the sun in a chart indicates basic personality traits. In The Weeknd’s chart, the sun is in Aquarius, the sign of airy detachment, rebellion and creative genius. Combined with an Aquarius Mercurythe planet of thought, communication and the brain- we can see that his thought patterns are extremely cold, singular, detached and rebellious, confirming the whole ‘love ‘em and leave ‘em’ schtick his music revolves around.

MOON And yet! Here we have the moon in Scorpio to throw everything off. The moon= hidden emotions, impulses and desires. Scorpio is the sign of intense emotions, sexuality, darkness. What happens when you put them together? A lot of intense, repressed, fked up emotions. Throw in a conjunction with Pluto, aka Hades, aka the underworld, death and darkness, and suddenly things seem a little less cold and rational, altogether more on-brand.

CAPRICORN SCapricorn T E L L isI U the M

sign of hard work, the hustle, material gain.

Venus and mars are conjunct in Capricorn- his emotions, love and ideals of beauty (Venus) are inextricably entwined with his sexual projective masculine energy (Mars). This means that his projective energy is spent hustling and grinding, and sexual expression/beauty is an essential part of that for him, but Saturn all up in there too lends an energy of self-doubt and paranoia, evident in the creepy holloweyed debauchery of his music.