DELINQUENT ISSUE 3
FREE!
FEATURING: HINDS WOLF ALICE ROXY BRENNAN CHARMPIT THE ORIELLES & MORE
Photo by Ellie Smith
Artwork by Olivia Morgan
DELINQUENT What’s the difference between identity and personality? Or character? I suppose it’s less ambiguous with regards to a thing as opposed to a being. Identity seems easier to shape and create. In this issue we focus on this idea, and how one can use their identity politically or personally, and whether retaining a unique identity is important. If you set out with a specific identity in mind, does that necessarily determine whether your audience will interpret it in the same way? Talking to female musicians, there is always a strong sense of pride in being a woman in the music industry. However, this pride can stem from quite contrasting reasons. For example, bands like Hinds, whose girl-power attitude beams through in their feature, wholly embrace their platform to advocate this sense of girl-power, especially within the arts. On the other hand, many share the opinion that gender shouldn’t be the component of a band generating the most attention. After all, it’s not natural to label every male or male-fronted band a boyband. There’s a we all
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make music, so let’s all bloody get on with it kind of vibe. After talking to Roxy Brennan from (every band under the sun) Two White Cranes, Grubs, Towel, Joanna Gruesome, to name a few, it’s clear that non-binary is a group even more under-represented in the music industry.
But what about us, the listeners, the readers, the buyers? Why is our ‘taste in music’ so important? Why do we like to be associated with certain artists or genres? My understanding is that this occurs more in the young person due to their crippling self-consciousness. I say that as a young person who, of course, knows everything. That, or because I know only what I surround myself with the most: other cripplingly self-conscious young people. The always untimely question, what music do you like? sends your brain to sit back and mock your pressure-induced amnesia or chronic indecisiveness, High Fidelity style. Which band shall I pick for this person to think me cool? Do I go obscure and risk sounding completely and utterly obnoxious, or go for a bigger name and let them perceive
me as a fool who only listens to the hits? Do I say that I like The Smiths, or will they think I’m a try-hard hipster who buys their band t-shirts from Topshop?
The truth is, they don’t care, it doesn’t matter, and either way you will still perish with embarrassment from a perfectly benign situation. I listen to the big bands, the hits, the obscurities, the DIY demos, the old, the new and the in-between. I’m a hoarder, much to my mum’s dismay. But enough about me. This issue has been a pleasure so, as usual, I’d like to thank all the contributors for their wonderful work. We’ve had a Crowdfunder page floating around prior to this issue so I would also like to thank Robyn Clements, Angela Smith, Jim Sargent, Debbie Smith, Tanith Price, Meg Firth, Caroline, Gill Price and all the anonymous donators for their kind support. One more thank you to Ben Sargent whose help ensures that this magazine stays afloat. Enjoy issue #3. Jean Pavitt
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THIS IS QUEERCORE SHAUNA STAPLETON THE ORIELLES JEAN PAVITT THE ANATOMY OF A LABEL BEN SARGENT HINDS MICA JONES ROXY BRENNAN JEAN PAVITT OH MY GOD THE BLOODY HOUSE IS FALLING DOWN DAISY MOREY REVIEWS BEN SARGENT / JEAN PAVITT WOLF ALICE MEG FIRTH DUDS BEN SARGENT CHARMPIT JAKE CROSSLAND TALES FROM THE BAR SIDE: FLEM THE PUNK SHELLY GORMLESS PRIDE ELLIE BOND MAGIC MOUNTAIN JEAN PAVITT A TALE OF TWO MUSICAL CITIES JULIA KING CONTRIBUTORS’ CHOICE
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QUEER CORE Some bands hide their identity, others prefer to embrace it. When you are queer it’s hard for your art and identity to be mutually exclusive. The two often influence each other, whether it be in lyrics that frankly describe life as a member of the LGBT+ community, or using art to rally against the oppressors and promote change. There are hundreds of queer artists making music in 2017, and whilst this list barely scratches the surface of a varied and eclectic scene, here are 11 queer artists whose identity you should get to know: COLOUR ME WEDNESDAY Self-confessed anti-capitalist, vegan intersectional feminists Colour Me Wednesday are everything you could wish your New Favourite Band™ to be. It all feeds into their music, which tackles everything from SADs and depression to all-powerful carnivores, all via the medium of hugely catchy, hook-laden pop. It’s most evident on their cover of Demi Lovato’s ‘Cool For
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The Summer’, having transformed it into a queer-friendly pop-punk banger (aptly titled ‘Queer For The Summer’) that’s destined to be the soundtrack every future trip to the beach. Not content with just making music, the band have also taken to self-releasing their own records, making music videos and even hand printing their own t-shirts as part of their creative collective, Dovetown. PILLOW QUEENS They may be only 6 months into their career but Dublin’s Pillow Queens have already begun garnering attention, most notably from 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq. It’s no surprise; single ‘Rats’ is a feisty, snarling slice of disported pop, perfect for pushing against the current political climate. The accompanying video is ingenious, depicting Beth Hayden, founder of Dublin’s queer variety show GlitterHOLE, and drag artist Daniel Power as hosts of a “fictional, radical, left, queer educational programme for children” that has to be seen to be believed.
FLOWER HOUSEWIFE Bedroom artists are often written off as mopey, wallowing in their own self-pity, but Flower Housewife is far hopeless. Mini-album The False Spring Queen is a heartfelt and emotive affair, reminiscent of early Waxahatchee, about regrowing, learning to cry again and most importantly, not giving up. The record came out on singer/songwriter June Amelia Cahill’s own label Sundress Records, through which Cahill is also planning to release a benefit compilation in aid of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project for trans rights. DONORMAAL Her name might be ‘Normal’ but DoNormaal is a world away from the majority of rappers currently occupying the scene. Merging hiphop, horror-core, electronica and trap, the rapper whose real name is Christianne Karefa-Johnson, is impossible to pin down. Her lyrical influences are just as eclectic, singing about everything from capitalism and depression to being
a queer woman of colour. The result is Third Daughter, Karefa-Johnson’s stunning 19-track second album that easily matches, if not betters, any mainstream rap album of 2017. MALLRAT Many bands hide their feelings behind metaphors but New York trio Mallrat are different. For them, honesty is the best policy. Raw, open and emotional, their songs convey the harsh reality of living “in a racialised, gendered, traumatised body”. Listening to the band’s album, Every Breath a Fracture, it almost feels like you’re reading vocalist/guitarist Melo Davis’ diary, and this is no bad thing. By being so frank about their experiences you get the feeling Mallrat could help other people in similar situations. YOUNG BUFFY As their name would suggest, Young Buffy are a 90s nostalgia trip. The trio make the kind of music you might have expected Blink 182 and Green Day to have played in their early days. Debut EP Relaxation Music harks back to the halcyon days of home demos, fast guitars and three chords. And even if throwbacks aren’t for you, the band still have something to offer in the form of their cute cat photos. AYE NAKO Aye Nako originally formed in 2008 out of boredom. They’re now being
crowned the best garage band in New York. Purveyors of ‘sad punk songs’, the quartet’s Speedy Ortiz-esque melodic punk soundtracks often personal lyrics about being queer, trans and black. This is evident on their 2015 album The Blackest Eye, which tackled everything from abuse to racism, garnering critical acclaim in the process. Aye Nako’s music was clearly destined to be heard by more than their four walls. RUUNE Making glitchy left-field pop that’s part dancefloor-filler part abrasive noise, Ruune is pop’s most futuristic prospect. Latest EP The Debug Room leans towards the former. “I’m here, I’m queer, and I have nothing to wear that doesn’t make me hate the way that I appear to you” they sing on highlight ‘Gonna Wear It Anyway’, which takes on transgender issues over squelchy synths, a combination which ensures it is likely to become a queer anthem in the very near future. LITTLE WAIST Little Waist is the guise of Audrey Zee Whiteside, a singer-songwriter from Brooklyn who makes alternative punk music with a little help from various friends and collaborators. Their most recent effort Nothing But The Bones On My Back sees Whiteside song’s beautifully reimaged as acoustic country-in-
spired ballads, allowing the lyrics about love and life in Brooklyn to shine through. IZZY AND THE CHIMERA Izabella Unger-Weiss is a disabled, Jewish, nonbinary trans girl who makes DIY folk-pop as Izzy And The Chimera. Citing The Front Bottoms, Kimya Dawson and Leonard Cohen as influences, Izzy’s own music is just as honest and affecting as their contemporaries. This year’s I Won’t Run is proof of this. As the title suggests it’s a record about “facing the things that you’ve been running from”, finally beginning the healing process, and finding the drive to move forward rather than just simply surviving. INVERTS Punk has always been used as a way to combat oppression, and it’s through this medium that Oakland new wave band Inverts have chosen to speak (or rather shout) out about trans issues. “You call me a tranny/ you call me a faggot/ you call me a man/ but I don’t think you understand” shrieks vocalist Elsa on ‘The Repulsion is Mutual’ over dissonant, distortion-drenched guitars. Harsh, punishing and not exactly easy listening, Invert’s music reflects the reality of being a trans person in the world today. Shauna Stapleton
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THE ORIELLES
ONES TO WATCH
Fresh-faced from Halifax, The Orielles are still gliding after their summer-long festival circuit straight into an October tour of our (frankly, not-so-) United Kingdom. The trio consists of sisters Sidonie B, and Esmé Dee Hand Halford, alongside best friend Harry Carlyle Wade, and the foundation of singles they flaunt tease a soon-to-be-announced debut. We hope. Most recent single ‘I Only Bought It For the Bottle’ embraces the guilty pleasure, or not-so-guilty for the designers of this world, of quite simply judging a book by its cover. Taken in by the charm of a David Hockney-style drawing, the bottle is purchased and generates an infectious, garage-pop, post-punk corker. Twangy, playful guitar riffs accompany American-style melodies are becoming something of a ‘classic Orielles’ sound, despite only having a handful of songs in their two-year-old inventory. With two singles out this year on Heavenly Recordings, ‘Sugar Tastes Like Salt’ released prior to ‘I Only Bought It for the Bottle’, after being picked up from the wonderful Art Is Hard Records who released ‘Jobin’,
it is likely that the only way is up for this young bunch. ‘Sugar Tastes Like Salt’ is eight-and-a-half minutes of psych garage-pop; heavy on the instrumental, heavy on the dance moves. A very smooth transition from Art Is Hard single ‘Jobin’, a slower, surf-pop number, reminiscent of bands like The Courtneys. Live, what a treat. Guitarist Carlyle Wade transfixed and surging across the stage, lapping up the crowd’s praises, and still bashing out the distinctive intros of ‘Sugar Tastes Like Salt’ and ‘I Only Bought It for the Bottle’ and then to hand over to Hand Halford’s soft vocals. Naturally, a handful of new songs made an appearance throughout the set, announced by Carlyle Wade alongside its album status: “This one might be on the album, but we haven’t decided yet”. The audience certainly got their groove on, especially during the extraordinary instrumentals. The finale was a spectacular performance of ‘Sugar Tastes Like Salt’, the room swelling with noise and the crowd pleading for an extra five minutes. “Oh, we’ll be back” says Carlyle Wade, and they better. Jean Pavitt
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Photo by Peter Butterworth Ben Sargent / Bowl Cut Records
THE ANATOMY OF A LABEL Empty bank accounts, cupboards full of cassette mailers and the stress of turning up to a venue to find their bass amp has gone walkabout. Who would start a record label? Do we even need record labels in a world where home recording is easy and an upload to Bandcamp easier still? Whatever the answer, I’ve started one. It’s called Bowl Cut Records and it’s almost nine months old. But why did I birth this dodgy-haired creature and how do I nurture it into a full-grown, walking, talking institution with its own recognisable identity? I’ve explored the roots of my label lovin’ and sought knowledge from some elder-statesmen of the DIY label scene to try and shed some light, or at least just have some fun. Formative days spent frequenting the independent venues of Exeter offered modest opportunities to see up-and-coming bands and the odd big name who dared to venture past Bristol. However, when it comes to labels, Devon has been spoilt in recent times. The then Exeter based Art Is Hard Records presented themselves to me via Birdskulls, whose feedback-laden support of Dredge
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had recently enlightened me to the wealth of fantastic music on my doorstep. AIH was a small operation run by two friends, Rich and Dave, but it was gathering steam and has blossomed into one of the UK’s most highly rated indie labels. My younger self was drawn in by the tangibility of this label; the scene was right there, accessible to a young indie kid desperate to find something new, something more exciting than whatever Arctic Monkeys were spewing out in 2013. With the help of Art is Hard and their roster, which has included the likes of Joanna Gruesome, Best Friends, The Black Tambourines and endless more fantastic bands, I began to explore the DIY community. It’s probably fair to say that had I not stumbled upon this humble local label, Bowl Cut would not exist. Art is Hard have built up a bit of a reputation as the introducers of top new music. With many a debut in their back catalogue it’s easy to see why, and they’ve not stopped there when it comes to shedding light on the new and exciting. Their now legendary singles clubs offer a fantastic
chance to find something new and it’s as easy as reading a postcard (for this year at least). While some labels search far and wide for their next release, others stay closer to home. “We were self-releasing our own records and those of our friends” Andrew, of Specialist Subject, tells me as I ask where he and partner Kay’s label stems from. From humble beginnings as a “fictional” label, Andrew used to release his band Magnus Magnusson. A few years hiatus and resurrection saw Specialist Subject grow into not only a record label but a bloody shop! Ten years on from that debut release, the label has a strong identity as the go-to label for DIY punk such as Doe and Muncie Girls. However, that wasn’t always the case: “I never really intended to start a label, at least not to the scale that it is now. It’s grown organically and the identity has developed and shifted as it’s grown.” Now the label’s roster features more than just close friends. However, all the bands released share the goals and values set down by the label throughout its lifecycle.
Specialist Subject is more than just a label. Through the distro they provide fans a chance to purchase records that they love, and support like-minded labels and bands. “Running a distro seemed obvious to me. Loads of the DIY punk labels I was inspired by growing up did that and the idea of trading records, selling at shows, being a part of the DIY distribution network, keeping things as cheap as possible just seemed to make sense,” Andrew explains. While previously reserved for online and a few boxes of records at shows, the distro is now getting a home of its own. In August the Specialist Subject record store opened in the Exchange, Bristol, filling what will no doubt be a Rise shaped hole following the announcement that Bristol’s best loved independent record store will close. It’s an exciting time for a once fictional label and Andrew hopes the store will be a space for music lovers to
connect: “I’m really excited to have a space where we can meet the people buying our records, talk about music, talk about shows. That’s what excites me. I don’t want to run some faceless label that only exists on the internet and functions like Amazon.” On moving to Leeds a year ago I was met with a wealth of independent bars and venues, around which the buzzing DIY scene centres. A city brimming with exciting new bands and exceptional record labels seemed the perfect place to finally begin to put together something of my own. One of Leeds’ best labels is also fairly young. Come Play With Me first appeared in 2015 and has been releasing quarterly split 7” singles from the Leeds city region ever since. Despite it being a “crappy business term”, as founder Tony Ereira puts it, the Leeds city region area works well
for the label. “We didn’t want to make it as narrow as Leeds the city or as broad as the UK or North of England. It’s West Yorkshire and a bit of North Yorkshire: Harrogate and York, down as far as Barnsley, which is actually South Yorkshire, and the surrounds if you like”, Tony clarifies. Leeds city region rolls off of the tongue a little more easily for sure. Unlike many DIY labels which take time to discover their place within the music world, Come Play With Me set out with a very clear vision both in sound and visuals: “I always wanted it, first and foremost, to be really, really high quality music. Also I wanted it to be very broad, even though I knew that would kind of piss people off. I always liked it because I didn’t want to be pigeon-holed as an indie band label or a rock label or whatever.” This ploy has certainly been successful with great bands like Cinerama (The Wedding Present spin-off), Team Picture, and the first single from Magic Mountain, a new band featuring members of Pull Apart by Horses, Menace Beach, and Grammatics . Whilst the records often sound very different, they always look very similar. “I always wanted it to have a good consistent visual identity and I
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wanted the singles to look and feel like a coherent series, not just a haphazard bunch of releases.” says Tony of the singles’ sleeves. This consistency seems to have proved effective and the founder suggests that it could have played a part in Come Play With Me being granted Arts Council Funding, something that will no doubt help the label to continue to grow in coming years. In fact, the funding is allowing the label to grow further, adding to their successful formula of quarterly singles. “We are actually diversifying slightly so as part of the Arts Council Funding we are going to be doing a showcase album later this year and also another one probably in around 12 months time. The reason for this is that we just felt that there is so much going on. If you had the time, the man power and the resources, you could probably easily find really high quality artists to be doing one a month. The album is just kind of an opportunity to say here is a lot of other bands that we haven’t had a chance to work with that we’d really like to and we think are brilliant.” While this strong consistent identity has built up Come Play With Me’s reputation as one of the best singles clubs around, their expansion can
only be a good thing. Hopefully they’ll introduce fans to even more fantastic Yorkshire bands, something Tony believes record labels are all about. “I think, to me, it’s almost like I don’t have time to discover new music, so in the same way I think blogs and zines are important, I like record labels to be highlighting new music to me. The record labels that I really admire, for example Bella Union or 4AD, are ones that when a release comes out on those labels, you know that they’re going to be really bloody good and you’re probably going to like it. Too Pure as well, I really admire them.” Earning the trust of your listeners seems a key part of building a successful label. It’s an idea that continues to pop up; I’ve always known that if Art Is Hard put a record out, it’ll probably be up my street. Specialist Subject work hard to put out music that reflects their own values and the those of their listeners and Tony has strived to create a label that will never disappoint despite the broad sound. One of the labels I was most excited to share a city with as I moved to Leeds was No Dice Tapes. A relatively young label, started when founder Callum was still living with
Photo by Tristan McDonald David & Richard / Art is Hard
Photo by Andrew Benge Tony Ereira / Come Play With Me
Kay and Andrew Specialist Subject
his mum in Scunthorpe as a purely online label. “There was absolutely no interest for anything like that in Scunthorpe, and at the time I didn’t really know anybody who shared an interest in that sort of scene,” he tells me. The label is by far the most pure DIY label I’ve explored with Callum sticking to cassette releases, all of which he dubs himself. “I chose cassettes because I was definitely into the idea of making physical releases, and cassettes or CDs are really the only affordable way to do that as a young person.” A reason very much shared by me with regards to Bowl Cut’s first two cassette releases. Over the last few years No Dice has released the likes of Milk Crimes, Philippa Zang and perhaps the best compilation to have graced my tape machine, 2016: the year all bad things went away and everything turned out to be fine, featuring Trust Fund, Porridge Radio, Two White Cranes, Garden Centre and a whole host of more fantastic bands. No Dice’s commitment to all things DIY is both admirable and inspiring. Despite it appearing as though this commitment to DIY and arguably a certain type of band, Callum reveals there was no intentional identity for the label: “I didn’t really have anything particular in mind other than releasing music that I like.”
Callum runs No Dice purely for his love of music and a craving to be part of an exciting DIY community. While financially he, like many other very small labels, does not have a lot to contribute, but what he can offer is passion and commitment: “There’s not really anything I do that bands couldn’t do themselves. I guess what I am willing to give is my time and effort to artists that I like, and artists that I would like to own the music of physically who weren’t thinking of doing so otherwise.” There is a special place in the Leeds scene reserved for a label that, despite currently being “on ice”, will live on and thrive for years to come.
BOWL CUT’S LABELS LIST: ART IS HARD SPECIALIST SUBJECT COME PLAY WITH ME NO DICE TAPES TOO PURE TRANSGRESSIVE EVERYTHING SUCKS MUSIC MAJOR LEAGUES SUPER FAN 99 GRIP CHIMPS TAPES IT TAKES TIME RECORDS BEECH COMA HEAVENLY RECORDINGS BELLA UNION HOWLING OWL ALCOPOP! RECORDS
Whether Bowl Cut can fight on a forge a space in a busy metropolis remains to be seen, but there is plenty to be learned from the routes of others. Finding a natural identity is perhaps the most important thing, but how this is reached is flexible. Whether it’s a pre-conceived and very obvious one, like that of Come Play With Me, or the more natural, even accidental existence of Specialist Subject, there is nothing quite like the feeling of touching your latest cassette for the first time. So stay tuned for the next, identity-affirming (maybe not) release. Ben Sargent Bowl Cut Records
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HINDS HINDS
For me, the best way to describe Hinds is simply a four-piece, all-girl, garage-pop band from Madrid, who have grabbed the music world by the bollocks. The music industry is undeniably dominated by males. However, Hinds have slipped into the scene perfectly with their boozy partying, heavy smoking and sweaty, energetic gigging. Despite this, making their initial stamp on the music world wasn’t easy at first. Carlotta Cosials and Ana Perrote started the band as a duo act and recorded two of Hinds’ catchiest tunes: ‘Bamboo’ and ‘Trippy Gum’ in 2014. After recruiting the two new members of Ade Martin and Amber Grimbergen, Hinds were beginning to make a name for themselves. However, not under the name that you would expect. Initially, the band was named ‘Deers’ but were faced with legal action from the
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similarly named band ‘The Dears’ from Canada, forcing them into a new identity search. Understandably, they were extremely unhappy about this as they were just starting out as a band, to then be told they could no longer have their original name. One giant chalkboard of names later, the girls came up with a name that continues to be ever-growing. Although they now have a new name, it does not stray too far from the path that ‘Deers’ once walked on. Quite fittingly, Hinds is Spanish for ‘female deer’, therefore by breaking away from their original name, they can still have their say by being the much stronger, more empowering version of their genderless predecessor. Not only are Hinds making it big in Spain, they are taking the whole of Europe by storm and they hav-
Photo by Ellie Smith
en’t stopped there. Doing endless gigs around America, Canada and Australia has really put their name on the map. After releasing their debut album Leave Me Alone at the beginning of 2016, they bagged themselves a world tour, a tour with Twin Peaks, their own clothing collection with Urban Outfitters and even became the first Spanish band to play at Glastonbury, when they made their debut last year. Obviously, this is only a delectable taster of what Hinds have achieved in such a short space of time, and of course only a sweet dip of what is to come for this all-girl quartet in the near future. Their unique, retro image has set them apart from any stereotypical girl band image that may have hindered their raw and organic sound, and it seems by acting unintentionally more like their male counterparts Hinds
are the making of a more charismatic, formidable female. Not only is this demonstrated through their music and wild partying, in 2016 they also teamed up with artist Laurina Paperina to create a zine. The zine highlights the strong bond of female friendship, as the four girls embark on a journey of gory thievery. The first line of the zine reads “Hey girls, go around the world to take…everything!”, again promoting a sense of a strong female force that no one should mess with. Throughout the short comical story, the girls begin to collect the letters needed to spell out ‘Hinds’ and it’s of no coincidence that all the characters that they steal from are male. Forming their name out of severed male animal parts, is a way for Hinds to tell the world that they are not to be messed with. In the third part of the story, Carlotta encounters a unicorn that usually the typical girl would want to steal and keep as a pet, but not this one. Instead, Carlotta says “Hello Unicorn! You are a magic animal! I want your horn!!” whilst aggressively holding a handsaw, and then of course persists to sawing the unicorn’s horn off. I suggest that if you’re a girl sat in
your unicorn-plastered room, do not read this zine because it will rip the magic out of your heart. The story continues on this murderous path with the backlog of girl power reeking out of the pages. One line literally reading “Oh crap, I smell girl power!”. As I see it, disturbing as this zine is, it is beautifully symbolic of them not only ripping the brains out of sewer creatures but also them ripping a new image for the female musician. This fiercely independent group of girls suitably end this zine with their band motto, never date a musician. As if these girls have time for dating, they’re too busy cutting the horns off the most beloved mythical creature. However, it is in no imaginary world that Hinds are taking the world by storm. They have made countless magazine appearances, with NME describing them as “Europe’s most exciting new band”. They’ve recently got an eight page spread in the Spanish magazine EL MUNDO under their belts and last year were flying high in the EasyJet magazine, rightly titled ‘HOW TO DO GIRL POWER RIGHT NOW’. On top of this, last month Hinds made the cover of El País with the words roughly reading that they have conquered the
world inadvertently and that nothing or no one can stop them. For me, what makes these girls all the more endearing is how honest they are in their interviews. They openly talk about their heavy hangovers, their party lifestyle on tours and throwing up in Harrison Ford’s bathroom. What’s not to love about these girls? If endless magazine covers and interviews weren’t enough, then I’m sure recording the official Spanish theme tune of Disney’s Cars 3 has surely made their music portfolio that bit more enchanting. Hinds are doing wonders for all the female musicians and there is no denying that they will continue to motivate. A quote from their ‘European Border Breakers’ speech genuinely highlights their goal to inspire with Carlotta saying “To all the young girls out there, we can do it!”, their Instagram post motivationally labelled “GO PUSSIES”. This raw and honest quality to all the girls makes them stand out in a large and competitive crowd and if any males were to act as half as courageous as Hinds do, I would call them ballsy. Mica Jones
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ROXY BRENNAN Roxy Brennan; you may know her from Two White Cranes, or Towel. Perhaps you’re familiar with her new Furore project, or recognise her as Joanna Gruesome’s step-in front figure. Maybe you’ll know her for Grubs, or from playing with bands such as Trust Fund. A versatile artist. Now Two White Cranes has come to an end, I asked Roxy about her experiences playing in such an array of bands, as well as gender identity in the music industry.
JP: You have played with many different bands throughout your musical career. Do you feel that your musical identity changes with each band?
Jean Pavitt: Could you tell us a bit about your new Furore project?
JP: You’ve spoken before about female/female-fronted bands, and how it often comes attached with this idea of being an aesthetically ‘feminine’ band. How do you deal with this kind of prearranged identity? How would you advise others struggling to abide by a ‘feminine’ identity in music?
Roxy Brennan: Furore started about a year ago when I was on tour with my band Towel. I often feel very creative on tour but it’s hard to find time or space to make any music. I realised that I could write songs using GarageBand on my laptop in the car with my headphones on without annoying anyone, so I started doing that.
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RB: I definitely feel like each band is both a way of expressing a different bit of my personality, but also an experience that then changes me a bit. It has been interesting seeing how different band dynamics and genres and levels of success has had an impact on how I feel in each band.
RB: Hmm, yes this seems to still be a huge issue for me. I started wearing make up more for a while in the last year, and wore it on stage a bit,
which is probably the most “feminine” thing I’ve ever done, but I’ve stopped again. I definitely feel more vulnerable the more feminine I look, which is probably both internalised misogyny and my own feelings about gender. It’s so confusing! I don’t know that I do have any advice, except to say try and wear what makes you feel comfortable. There is no need ever to look a certain way as a band and no one (bandmates or audience) should ever make you feel like you need to look a certain way. JP: Do you feel that this affects the way you promote your music? RB: I have recently come to what feels like an impasse with regards to promoting my own music. I’ve stopped using Facebook and Twitter personally and I am taking a bit of time out generally while I write and record some more. When I start up again I’m really not sure how I am going to keep promoting my music in
a way that makes me feel comfortable. I really like that DIY promotes the idea of controlling you artistic output yourself but it is very tiring and can also end up blurring the line between promoting art you’ve made and you yourself as a human. I don’t want to promote myself as a human anymore - just the songs that I write, if that makes sense. I suppose the idea of being a woman in music forces you further into marketing yourself more, because it is your identity as a woman that makes you different or inspiring or feminist, and that’s very valid of course, but its also very tiring and shouldn’t just be a given. People should only be promoting themselves within their art if that’s what they want to do, if they’ve made that choice. JP: There seems to be a divide amongst females in bands about whether you should reject being labeled as a ‘girl band’ (after all, all-male bands aren’t continually referred to as ‘boy bands’) or whether you should embrace being a female in music. How do you feel about this? RB: This follows on from the last question nicely. I guess I now feel pretty into not highlighting being all female, but this is partly because a lot of people I know identify as non-binary, which is even more under-represented in music, so I think the important thing now is to make music in a way that makes you the most comfortable and allow
the narrative of what you identify as to speak to people in a real way. You don’t necessarily have to label yourself - although if you want to, obviously, do it. JP: You’re closely associated with the Bristol music scene, alongside bands such as The Jelas, Trust Fund and Something Anorak. Do you feel this has shaped your approach to writing music? RB: Oh yes, absolutely, in every way. The Jelas are my favourite band of all time and they are so inspiring. They have been a band for over ten years and they are all such kind, thoughtful people and this is expressed so well in their music. The time I spent making music with Ellis of Trust Fund has also been extremely influential on my songwriting. JP: Now you’re in Brighton, do you feel this has changed? RB: Yes, it’s funny being in a new city with a totally different scene. It has definitely prompted me to rethink how I write and promote music, maybe just because changing your home can do that, but maybe because I am not part of a particular scene here so I suddenly do feel quite outside the DIY community I once had, which makes you rethink things a bit. JP: Are there any venue spaces in Bristol or Brighton that are important to you as a musician?
RB: Roll for the Soul and Cafe Kino in Bristol are my favourite venues in the world. All of my most important shows have happened there. In Brighton I have really enjoyed discovering new venues and spaces. There is a real problem in Brighton, like in Bristol, with accessible venues. Lots of stairs and narrow corridors, which is something that I don’t think the music industry should be putting up with anymore. My favourite venue in Brighton is The Westhill Hall, which is a community centre that hosts punk shows. It’s amazing. JP: Finally, could you give us a handful of bands you think we should be listening to? RB: The bands I like at the moment are: Pinkgrip, who are a very good London punk band. Days Fade, Nights Grow, which is the solo project of Camille, my Towel bandmate who is a total legend. Aye Nako, who are a band from New York. They released an unbelievably good album this year. Dubais is an incredible singer and visual artist who sometimes lives in Brighton. She is super inspirational. The Sticks are another Brighton band I’ve found since moving here. They are profoundly good.
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OH MY GOD THE BLOODY HOUSE IS FALLING DOWN I fell into a tumultuous aggression of alcohol dependency in much the same way that I had come to struggle with food; boredom, distraction, comfort, habit, addiction. Just as I had come to loath my being and ache through my bones. I didn’t see it beginning and I don’t ever see it ending completely. Small echoes of untraceable past that have led to how I am. It fluctuates. And I get better. And I get worse again. With food, with drink, with mind. The three key factors of being. Inconvenience more than illness perhaps. In fact, definitely; I am inconveniencing myself, most likely on purpose. I’m attached to what I know, we all are. Nothing hides a problem like university. Nobody understands food, cooking for myself means that I’ve got my life together; I must be eating well, I must be eating properly. Everybody drinks too much, where’s the line between a bottle of wine alone in your room and a series of pints with people that you don’t really know? What’s the difference? I’ve always drunk heavily anyway. 32, 25, 36: chest, waist, hips. Or at least what they used to be. I haven’t measured recently. I have always been thin. I’m sure there’s probably some level of privilege in that. So,
I’ve grown up with “you’re so slim”, “the tall and slender one”, “skinny bitch”, and interestingly, “that’s one of my favourite things about you, you can eat whatever you want and stay skinny”. It’s come to define how I perceive myself, how I’m perceived. So now I feel my stomach cut into creases when I sit down and I fucking panic. Like really panic. If I think about it too much my chest begins to tighten. There’s not an immediate solution to this state I’ve gotten myself into and that’s scary. I can’t write down a nice little to-do list and conquer the problem throughout the course of a day. I’m stuck in this form for better or worse and right now it’s worse. It feels like a part of my identity is slipping away. I’m not comfortable in my body anymore. I’m trying so hard to regain control but I’ve had an interesting relationship with food over the years and it’s making my current state much more complicated. Not that this is the first time I’ve been stuck in “worse”. It’s just the first time my body has been responsible for the blow. I have the upmost respect for my body; it has stayed intact were my mind has not. It’s been my safe-house, carefully encasing my mind and sheltering it. I’ve washed my hands until they’re dry, cracked and bleeding in an OCD haze; I’ve lacerated myself with razors and nails; I’ve starved myself until my skin’s turned green; and I’ve always healed. But now I’m going to have to aid the healing. I’m going to have to actively make myself better. I feel hideous, I feel fat, I feel like I take up masses of space; exacerbated by my height and comments of “you make me feel emasculated”. Raw spots blister across my cheekbones, I forget to wash for days on end and I’m
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the heaviest I’ve ever been. And like I said, the starving thing; I’m aware it’s stupid, I’m aware it’s self-defeating, I’m aware that it fucks with your metabolism. But it’s so easy when you get going and it’s so quick. My body has put up with a lot from my brain and I’m trying to treat it better this time around. This is probably all coming across a bit pro-anorexia. Far from it. This is what bodily obsession does to you. This is what happens when you sketch out a direct link between your personal value with how attractive you are. This is self-destruction at its finest. The annoying thing is that I know full well how to eat properly, and I do, just too much. My mum dedicated herself to ensuring that my sister and I had a diet which would sustain our growth as children, and fell back into research mode again when we both chose to become vegetarian and later vegan. She’s the reason that I can cook and haven’t got an iron deficiency, and actually enjoy food. That’s probably a part of the issue, I enjoy food. I relish making it and eating it, I love sharing the experience with friends and family, overindulging in food. Now replace “food” and “eat” with the words “alcohol” and “drink”, and you’ll see where the problem lies. Food and alcohol, the loves of my life. Using one to abstain from the other in a continuous cycle. My dad always recalls how as a baby, if I was crying, giving me food would shut me up and keep me happy. This has continued into my adult life. f I’m unreasonably frustrated and angry it is generally due to low blood sugar. But it also means that the slightest sign of upset or discomfort has me reaching for food. I was able to give up smoking by stopping, just stopping (and telling myself that I could either continue drinking or con-
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tinue smoking. One or the other. No contest). But food runs through my mind and consumes my day. I plan my life around meals, a fear of hunger dominating what I do and when I do it. I spend most of my surplus time trying to convince myself that I don’t need to eat anything because I’m not bloody hungry. Bad relationships with food are complicated. Any kind of substance abuse can be quit, not that that’s easy but the cure is to quit, “just say no”, remove yourself from the temptation. You can’t really quit food. You can be doing so well, it’s all under control: breakfast, lunch, small afternoon snack then dinner. And suddenly you’re off the wagon and eating when you’re not hungry. Bulimic binges without the purging. Yet. The food critic A.A. Gill put it pretty well when he wrote “People who think about food when they’re not hungry aren’t normal, aren’t balanced. They’re not happy.” There’s no arguing with that as far as I can see. I’m not fat though. I feel it. I feel enormous and like I take up too much space. But I’m not and I don’t. I’m at least 5’11 and I weigh just over 10 stone, I’m at the lower end of Healthy on the BMI scale. I’m made to feel guilty if I bring up my size and I feel like an idiot for doing so anyway. But it consumes everything, I literally can’t think about anything else. It’s like having an all-consuming crush, when everything you do or say relates back to that one person and everyone’s bored of hearing about them so you turn it inwards and just think and think and think about them in circles inside your head. It doesn’t do anyone any good, it’s all fake and it just makes the emotion more real. Great. Excellent. Superb. Well done. Words and artwork by Daisy Morey
CRUMBS MIND YR MANNERS
SPEED SKATER OLYMPIC GOLD
It’s fair to say Crumbs are one of the nicest bands in the country, maybe even the world. It’s fantastic then that with this affability there is also bags of talent. Mind Yr Manners represents the band’s first foray into the format we call LP and it’s a pun-filled beaut.
While I can’t help but think seven tracks pushes the term EP to its limits, I won’t hold it against Speed Skater. On their quite brilliant debut, Olympic Gold, there is never a dull moment. The band continue along the path trodden by bands likes Trust Fund and Grubs, Jake May being responsible for the toe tapping drums for both Grubs and this new five-piece. The Trust Fund comparison has legs too with singer Bert Clark, who has featured in Trust Fund before, channelling the DIY icon’s charming song writing in the best possible way. Highlights include energetic workout ‘Punching Bag’ and ‘Take It Away’, a song packed full of personality and head bobbing chord progressions. With this first output, Speed Skater join the likes of Neurotic Fiction and Molar as one of the most exciting bands around right now.
Recorded at Suburban Home studios by MJ of Hookworms the album is described as “funk post-punk disco” on Crumbs’ Bandcamp, where it is available on clear splatter vinyl. Throughout the ten tracks we hear exactly this. Opener ‘Weasels Can Wait’ channels the best of post-punk with the recognisable charm of the Leeds/York band. The likes of ‘Cha Cha Feels’ and ‘On Tip Toes’ showcase the wandering funk bass lines of Jamie Wilson before the real gem of the album, the fantastically named ‘Ciggy Stardust’, puts the icing atop of this perfectly punchy debut.
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Reviews by Ben Sargent
ALVVAYS PLIMSOLE PUNKS [SINGLE]
ORO SWIMMING HOUR PENROSE WINOA
TORRES THREE FUTURES [SINGLE]
It’s been three long years since Alvvays grabbed our hearts with summer anthems such as ‘Archie, Marry Me’ and ‘Adult Diversion’. Now as the summer comes to a close Alvvays have returned with a string of singles in preparation for a brand new album, Antisocialites, out 9 September in the UK via the alvvays brilliant Transgressive Records. So far the two tracks to have emerged from the record have come in the form of sizzling synthheavy banners, ‘In Undertow’ and ‘Dreams Tonite’, tracks that seem to bare more resemblance to non-album track ‘Underneath Us’, released on a Record Store Day compilation a few years back, rather than the jangle pop of the band’s debut.
Flamingods, The Black Tambourines, King of Cats, Shunkan. All these bands released debut albums on Art Is Hard Records and the list has just gained a new name. Oro Swimming Hour, the new project from Oliver Wild and Nicholas Stevenson, a children’s book illustrator no less, is here with the infatuating Penrose Winoa. It seems Bristol is the place to go for indie-folk right now, this album coming soon after the release of Pictures of Belgrade’s first EP, an equality acoustic affair. It seems only right this album was recorded in Oliver’s living room, listening to it is like peering in through the window at a group of friends’ quiet night in. Something about the way it is put together sparks loose comparisons to the legendary Neutral Milk Hotel somewhere deep within my mind. This is the kind of album I just want to climb inside of into a paradise of gentle strums and calming vocals where I am lulled into a dream-like state. Come join me. Well, until we’re rudely awoken by that weird screamo vocal halfway through ‘Kellar’.
It was not until End OF The Road Festival 2015 when I saw a mesmerising set from Torres that I realised quite what a fan of Mackenzie Scott’s music I am. There’s an intensity and complexity to her 2015 album Sprinter that really grew on me after seeing the boiler-suited American. If Torres’ new single is anything to go by, the tension and emotion in her earlier material remains an important part of her sound.
‘Plimsole Punks’ on the other hand is about as jangly as it gets. Shimmering lead guitars are supported by fuzzier rhythm hooks making the track a certified toe-tapper and let’s not forget how great it is to see the return of Molly Rankin as she seamlessly flitters between pitches with ease. Be it jangley or synthy it’s just great to see Alvvays return to their spot as Canada’s masters of indie.
Recent single ‘Three Futures’ is the title track from her new album, released 29 September. Subtlety is key as the track builds on a minimal drum beat and distant, other worldly synth sounds loom in the distance. It’s a track that celebrates Scott’s vocals. “I hope what you will remember is not how I left but how I entered” she exclaims with a calm emotion. The pure feeling and detachment within the lyrics and the way in which they are expressed creates an interesting juxtaposition within this track. It’s something I can’t wait to see develop on the full album.
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Reviews by Jean Pavitt
BREAKFAST MUFF EUGH
GIRL RAY EARL GREY
You’re not given much time to settle into this one, with opening track ‘Lunch Money’ exposing pure, thrashing 50 seconds of three-chord punk. What’s not to like? With no song longer than two-and-a-half minutes, Eugh is a brilliantly intense record. ‘R U A Feminist’ belts “if you ever leave me I’ll kill you and I’ll kill me too”, while ‘Birthday Party’ declares “I want to wear your skin to my birthday party” with unsettling composure over a turbulent guitar ruckus.
A much anticipated album. A hazy dusk with three adolescents confiding, simply, about the sweet perils of youth. Heart-on-sleeve, singer Poppy Hankin’s fluttering vocals reveal “just to feel close to you, I’ve never done so many stupid things” (‘Stupid Things’) or “I don’t really like you anymore” (‘A Few Months’) in harmonies redolent of The Beach Boys.
Hailing from the Glasgow DIY scene, Breakfast Muff have not only established a noisy, audacious identity for themselves, but the violently zealous lyrics highlight their opinions on feminism (‘R U A Feminist), the condescension toward young people (‘Babyboomers’) and confidence (‘Clams’). It’s not surprising that the album was created in 96 hours; it is raw, powerful and perfect for a getout-all-your-anger session.
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For a seemingly mellow and delicate album, Girl Ray dabble in a range of sounds and instruments with remarkable subtlety. In title track ‘Earl Grey (Stuck In a Groove)’, the gentle acoustic opening develops into a soft organ-style accompaniment. Guitars turn electric, organ turns to piano, drums accelerate the pace. The ‘groove’ showcases a fling with some brass, which, actually, can be spotted throughout the entire record. Quite stunning.
IDER LEARN TO LET GO Megan Marwick and Lily Somerville, aka IDER, are due a debut album in 2018 having recently signed to Glassnote Records, a label whose previous releases include Daughter and Two Door Cinema Club of all people. It’s a move towards the world of out-and-out pop that is perhaps natural, but nevertheless surprised me. The band played this year’s End of the Road festival, a weekend of music snobs (myself included) who wouldn’t dream of touching anything by Two Door Cinema Club. Of course IDER share little more than a label with these people and Learn To Let Go is a strong statement of intent. The roots of early tracks like ‘Pulse’, which have made a name for the duo as one of the most interesting and exciting new electronic artists and putting them in a pool with artists like Let’s Eat Grandma, are clear throughout the track. More tracks like this and they’ll sit between 6 Music and Radio 1 comfortably for years to come.
JESUS AND HIS JUDGEMENTAL FATHER MY MISTAKE You can always trust Specialist Subject Records to put out a banging punk record, and that’s exactly what we have here in the form of Leeds four-piece, Jesus and His Judgmental Father. It Might Get Better is the second album from the band whose Facebook bio features the quote, “like the Ten Things I Hate About You soundtrack, except way more queer”. But the band are not all about laughs, 2012’s debut album, Kings and Queens, was heralded for confronting queer and trans issues and not holding back when doing so. I’ve no doubt we can expect more of the same from the new album, and it’ll no doubt sound fantastic as well if single ‘My Mistake’ is anything to go by. This is three minutes of chugging, screeching guitar and an infectiously singable chorus. It may have been a long time coming but the second coming has arrived and I’m on board.
Reviews by Ben Sargent
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WOLF ALICE “I’ve literally just walked into my mum’s house in North Finchley,” crackles Theo Ellis’ voice over the phone, a clatter of keys and what sounds like a kettle boiling in the background. Speaking to the Wolf Alice bassist feels surreally like talking to an old friend as we chat about politics, feelings on the road, and all about Visions of A Life, Wolf Alice’s phenomenal sophomore album, scheduled for release on 29th September 2017. Wolf Alice are a band who are refreshingly unpredictable; unconfined within stylistic boundaries as they glide between snarling rock (‘Moaning Lisa Smile’, ‘You’re a Germ’) and the comforting contemplation of more introspective tracks (‘Blush’, ‘Soapy Water’); Two years after their whirlwind debut My Love Is Cool, the formidable London four-piece lurched back onto the scene with ferociously savage single ‘Yuk Foo’, before sedating the storm with the cinematic shimmer and glistening introspection of ‘Don’t Delete The
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Kisses’, a contrast of sounds true to Wolf Alice form. “Our mantra when we write a song is to ask ‘what can we do to make this song its best?”, says Ellis. “I think not being too restrictive and instead having a broad spectrum of influences in music is important. We all grew up with the internet and this whole tribalistic nature of genres is slowly dissipating - like you can listen to fucking Doc Rotton and Skepta and Slayer and no one’s going to bat an eyelid. I think we’re very much a product of that environment and there’s a broad spectrum of styles that we touch wood on. I think that is what makes this album not too different stylistically from our first.” One thing that seems to be unwavering about Wolf Alice is the emotional vulnerability and raw introspection in their lyrics, casting both light and shadow throughout their music. One song in particular from Visions Of A Life encapsulates this raw honesty beautifully: “‘Sky Musings’ of all the songs is the most vulnerable I think.
It’s almost like a sonic panic attack. Ellie always talks about when you’re on a plane you can have quite emotional reactions to things because of the high pressure and because your life is very much in someone else’s hands for a long period of time - which is probably why you see people balling their eyes out at fucking Guardians of the Galaxy on a flight,” muses Ellis. “We were flying a lot, in some months we were doing like 20 flights in a month, so there was quite a lot of time to be left to think - too much time to think and ‘Sky Musings’ is very much an encapsulation of that. That’s probably the rawest moment on the album I’d say.” It’s this unashamed vulnerability that makes Wolf Alice so refreshing. Ellie Rowsell’s fragile yet unwaveringly strong vocals can be deeply comforting for those who share the often bottled-up feelings expressed in Wolf Alice’s relatable lyrics, which are eloquent in their simplicity and moving in their relatability. It’s undeniable that Wolf Alice are a comfort blanket
for a lot of people; “It’s cool to be reminded of that sometimes because you tend to forget unless someone comes and tells you after a show or something. If your music does anything in that sort of way to reassure someone or make someone feel like they’re not alone is really cool, especially because when I was 15 or 14 I definitely looked towards songs and bands as my template. It’s really amazing to know that if anyone finds something assuring or emotionally comforting and can latch on to something in our music for support that’s really cool. It’s cool to be reminded of that sometimes because you forget.” Wolf Alice also provide that much needed escapism from the bullshit life tends to throw at you. If you’ve ever been to a Wolf Alice gig, it’s evident that everyone’s just there for a laugh and to lose their inhibitions for an hour and a half. “Jump in the middle or cry in the corner, just do you,” laughs Ellis. “That’s one of the best aspects of going to a gig I think.” After spending their early years endlessly touring forgettable bars in nowhere towns, Wolf Alice are returning to their roots by doing an intimate run of small city venues. “It’s going to be cool to go back to those size venues, especially because that’s what we did for so long. It’s just an amazing opportunity for us to do it again, and we don’t get many of those opportunities because we’re starting to play bigger venues so we really relish the idea. We felt like it would be a bit wrong for us to come back and just
play big, quite detached, venues. I can’t wait, I’m buzzing.” From Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage to wherever Pontypridd is, Wolf Alice thrive on any stage they step foot on, yet Theo fears he might put his back out; “I think I’ve become too old to keep crowdsurfing on top of 16-yearold girls’ heads now... I’m getting that old man syndrome.” Funnily enough, Theo in fact booted 16-year-old me in the face while he crowdsurfed at Reading Festival 2014. To build up hype for their upcoming album, Wolf Alice sent out postcards revealing the tracklisting. “It was fun to see people react to what track listing they got. In the internet day and age its very rarely that you get anything tangible or physical as everything’s so online, it’s as if everything exists in this slightly fictitious world that we create, and to get something physical through your door gives you a nice sense of attachment to a band, it’s just nice innit? My mum got one as well, she got ‘Sky Musings’, the depressing one.” One of the most admirable things about Wolf Alice is that they don’t take their platform for granted, and use their voice to catalyse positive change. In 2016, they set up the incredible Bands4Refugees and throughout the recent general election Wolf Alice encouraged the young to register to vote. “To see people that young getting inspired by something like political change is re-
ally cool; we played a DJ Set at one of the rallies in London and we met two 16-year-old kids who had just been canvasing all day even though they weren’t old enough to vote. For the first time a lot of young people feel like they have someone who is representing them and there’s more of a black and white political climate than ever before, and the important thing that happened was that the dialogue opened up a lot more so it’s not just reserved to the people sat in parliament.” Corbyn’s wonderful progress and success throughout this election was certainly a pivotal moment in the way young people perceive politics, with influential artists working together to encourage more political participation in a movement that felt like history in the making. Perhaps in the future Wolf Alice will feature in a GCSE History book alongside Stormzy and Jeremy Corbyn; “Anything alongside Stormzy and Jeremy Corbyn in any realm, whether it be in a school book or a party, I’m up for it!” Whether it be alongside political leaders and Grime MCS or in musical history books, Wolf Alice have certainly marked a place for themselves within British history. They’ve always been a band who perfectly capture that teenage angst and dissatisfaction, yet with Visions Of A Life they’ve cemented themselves as a band that can keep us all going through any realm of life. Meg Firth
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Illustrations by Ben Sargent
I’ve never been to Manchester. However, as DUDS enter the stage it seems obvious to me that they hail from the northern metropolis. Is it the matching industrial grey uniforms or the effortless, understated ora of pure enigmatic ‘cool’ that seems to hang in the air around the soon-tobe-sodden End of the Road Festival tent? Whatever it is, before the first strum of the guitar, the first burst of trumpet, I know this set will live up to my pre-festival hype. As an outsider looking in it can be easy to assume Manchester is in hiatus, the images of Oasis and Brit-Pop just can’t seem to die in the mainstream despite now being a distant memory for most. However, with closer inspection, the innovative heat of the city is pumping to the beat of a host of exciting new talents,
DU DS some perhaps with the potential to eclipse some of Manchester’s musical greats.
With frantic, bursting tracks, often falling short of the two minute mark, DUDS are perhaps one of the most exciting and intriguing bands to emerge from the city in years. Last years EP Wet Reduction continued to expand the band’s growing reputation, which has seen them play alongside the likes of Omni across the country. Despite this, shows in their home city and up the road in Leeds have arguably been the most important in forging the band’s very northern identity. Agitated, frenetic drums and dizzying guitars create an immensely immersive kind of organised chaos as the group steam through their set.
Trumpets pop and cow bells chime deep and I’m the tangle of infectious rhythm. At times, three of the six men on stage are playing percussion instruments of various shapes and sizes. As the band prepare to close with the flailing ‘No Remark’, they create what seems to be an improvised interlude in which each band member attempts to emulate trumpet wails with their respective instruments, taking experimental post-punk to its very extremes. With their irregular time signatures and expertly crafted anarchy, DUDS are forging a truly unique sound. Together with the likes of W H Lung, they are leading Manchester and the north of England into an exciting new era of absorbing and enthralling DIY. Ben Sargent
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Photo by Nina Pennick
CHARMPIT Charmpit are on a mission to make you feel something - be it unity or individuality, resistance or acceptance, love or defiance. Their identity makes up as much of the band as their music. Not that the music isn’t special - jangly guitars, dual female harmonies and lyrics which capture both the insignificant, small details and the wider picture all contribute to their DIY tour-de-force. Their stage presence is colorful and camp, but still 100% punk. Self-identified ‘anar-cuties’, the trio (Anne Marie and Rhianydd, vocals and guitars, and Alex, drums) are ready to represent. “Being QUEER FEMMES inspires and drives everything in Charmpit,” Anne Marie tells me. “Rhianydd and I have known each other for nearly a decade! We’ve been there for the journey. We’ve had some powerful conversations at gigs so, yeah, strong identities help people find
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their people & know that QUEER FEMMES CAN SHRED.” Listening to the band you can’t help but feel empowered. In the face of unrelenting despair, they describe their music best: “joyous”. It’s almost a dare - try listening to their cover of ‘All You Fascists Bound To Lose’ by Woody Guthrie without a grin on your face. “We’re a ‘deeds not words’ kinda triplet,” says Anne Marie. “Our music isn’t overtly political but some of our time is spent organising in radical unions, feminist and reproductive justice direct action groups, no borders/anti-raids solidarity work and learning about oppressions we don’t experience directly and how we can be useful in those struggles.’ “I guess we want our identity to be OUT & LOUD so that other queer femmes can find us and we can chat about our different and shared experiences.”
Perhaps surprisingly, they’re against DIY: they prefer DIT (Do It Together). DIT seems a much more fitting title for the culture as a whole, and Charmpit embrace the philosophy wholeheartedly, working with everyone willing to help out. From the start, DIY Space for London gave them a space to find their sound - success has followed through 6 Music airtime and a recent release through Keroleen Records. Recording in a proper studio for the first time, and discovered through Instagram, Jake (of Doe fame) heard their efforts and set out to cut them to wax. New EP Jelly is the end result. “For this EP we recorded in a studio (we recorded our first EP in a shipping container) so we got a lot of help from Chris at Kluster Rooms who was super supportive and great at what he does,” Anne Marie tells me. “Keroleen Records is a tiny DIY label run by Jake (J Cutie) from the bangin’ band, Doe. We did
the design mostly ourselves on a work computer… teaching ourselves InDesign, curated our release show and contacted press with media help from Harriet’s (bassist in The Tuts) label, Dovetown. We’ve definitely had a lot more help on this release and we’re really grateful for all the babes who have given their time to support us.” Only 18 months old and born in the Californian summer, English weather proved the ultimate stimulus for Charmpit to be brought to life. “Winter in England is THE WORST” groans Anne Marie. “We’re two California Girls and we needed a winter project to protect ourselves from forever sadness” Enter DSFL: “Anne Marie’s housing co-op was right by where DSFL had just opened so we heard about First Timers and were like BOOM, back off Winter, we got this.” First Timers is an annual series of workshops dedicated to increasing diversity in the DIY scene and culminates in a weekend of music as each band plays their first show. From the very start, their proactive ethos was front and centre for Charmpit. When I ask them for advice on who should be my next favourite band, they reel off a register of other First Timer bands like black feminist punks Big Joanie (who recently opened for the
Moonlandingz) alongside Solution Hours, Secret Power, Best Praxis, CabraMacabrA, Panic Pocket & Sugar Rush. No-one sees them with at least a slight curiosity towards their name. It’s as simple as it sounds: before leaving California, Rhi performed under ‘The Charmpits’ once and decided the pun had the legs it needed, with a slight change. “We adjusted it to reflect Anne Marie’s punk heart and amped it up to Charmpit”. Since then however, it’s become so much more than when they started: queer people need somewhere to let loose as much as straight folk. See you in the pit (they bring their own “soft, radical queer” charm). A band made up of those traditionally left behind, they spread positivity and a gang mentality. Anyone who feels unimportant can find solace in their message. They champion the oppressed, and they’re dog people too. Through their fun, raucous poppunk, they scatter hope and offer representation. After recently moving in together, and with their Do It Tourgether Tour under their belt, both the future of the band and of music in general look very charming indeed. Jake Crossland
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TALES BAR SIDE: FROM THE
I’m late. There is nothing more cruel and unforgiving than the feeling of knowing you have to start work the moment you enter the bar. No propping the back door open with a chair and having a morning coffee and a rollie. No grazing on headlines or checking my horoscopes. No leisurely poo as the coffee-rollie combo goes straight to my guts. Nope. Today none of those things will happen. My trip over the welcome mat makes my sorry to the landlord come out as a yelp. She doesn’t look up from polishing the brass ale pumps to tell me it’s alright. It’s not alright. She only polishes the ale pumps when she’s pensive. I tell her I overslept and leave it at that. She needs to go into town to do some banking, apparently. My okay to her comes with a surreptitious smirk while I hang
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up my bag and jacket. She says the spirit delivery is going to be here any time soon and my smirk quickly melts away. I forgot, it’s Thursday: spirit delivery day. Delivered by Heston the Monotone. The Fun Sponge. A man knee-deep and savaged by his own mediocrity. Given the choice, I would rather pour hot tar over a box of kittens than listen to one of his bore-laden anecdotes about his vanilla weekend. So I force a smile and okay her once more. I start straight away by taking chairs off tables and turning lights on around the bar. The landlord passes behind me looking at her phone, telling me she won’t be long. Which she will. I say my goodbyes while my head turns like an owl, watching her walk past the windows and into town. As soon as she’s out of sight, I head straight to the coffee machine for a hangover special espresso and a rollie out the front door. Finally, a break.
Today the weather seems to have all the intentions of rain, but without the promise. There is a sweet and weighty smell of musk in the air and the cloud cover turns this morning sepia. I smoke and watch an old lady with large marbled teeth and oversized sunglasses stand in the bus stop across the road. Her tiny white dog is wearing an oversized red tartan coat and chases around an empty Pringles tube. From this angle, it looks as though the lady’s small angry curtain – which she’s taking for a walk – has picked a fight with a Pringles tube. A mullet with a guy hanging off it thunders past, burping loudly as he passes right in front of me, waving my cigarette smoke, or his sausage breath away from his face. He heads towards town with a purpose in his stride. I watch him suddenly stop to dodge a skateboarder riding on the pavement. He turns to look back at the skater
who drinks from a large blue bottle of Frosty Jacks Cider. The skater peers over the lip of the bottle as he skates up to me, dribbling cider down his cheeks. He has an old man face on a young boy’s body. He props his skateboard against the wall of the bar and looks to the sky. His long caterpillar green Mohawk flexes solidly with every head turn. He loves weather like this, apparently. Says it makes him feel like he’s in a zombie movie. There’s a tooth missing in his smile and he seems to know me. Says it’s been a long time since he’s been back here. Ten years nearly, he says. I apologise and mention how terrible I am with remembering people’s faces. He doesn’t seem to mind. He tells me his name is Flem and I suddenly remember him from a house party years ago. He hid in my friend’s cupboard – who he didn’t know – and hung her clothes from his piercings. So I ask if he’s the guy who hid in a cupboard at a house party and hung clothes from all of his piercings. He nods and chuck-
les. Says his nipples bled trying to get those coat-hangers out. He asks if he could have a rollie, so I reach into my back pocket and hand him my pouch. We watch a man walk past with a power moustache and sockless, yolk coloured espadrilles. His mustard coloured t-shirt is short and tight enough to show some under-paunch. He talks on his phone about it all having something to do with his squad goals. His squad goals are his primary focus, apparently. As he strolls past, Flem suggests he name his next tapeworm Hercules, adding a fucker at the end as he passes. Flem spits on the pavement before licking his Rizla paper. ‘So where have you been?’ I ask trying to distract him from the under-paunch. He shrugs while he rolls his cigarette and tells me he’s been living in squats around Bath for the last few years. Says he moved up there with his girlfriend, until things turned weird between them and they split. He asks if I remember Talulah, who I presume was his girlfriend. I
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shake my head. He explains how she went straight-edge and vegan all of a sudden. Kicked him out. Says he lived on a park bench for four days and ate nothing but magic mushrooms. Changed his whole perspective. Says it chewed all sorts of holes in his spirit. He sits on his skateboard with his back against the wall of the bar and asks for a light. I pass him my lighter and for a moment we smoke in silence. A lady wearing white oversized headphones and pushing a buggy stops suddenly by Flem’s outstretched legs. She blinks deliberately and mumbles something incoherent. Flem tells her to stop being reckless around the face. She says nothing and manoeuvres her buggy around Flem’s filthy converse sneakers. She passes some distance from us when Flem shouts that her child smells of sadness. I hate that it makes me laugh. ‘What are you doing back here then?’ I ask. Again trying to distract him. He picks tobacco out of his mouth and says he’s visiting friends, though he’s starting to regret it. He says you should never revisit the past and expect it to be as great you remember it. I wow him and say that’s pretty deep for this time of the morning. I
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take a sip from my coffee and ask him why. He picks his nose and flicks it at a passing Labrador, telling me all his old friends have had kids or work full-time on their careers. Says he visited some old band mates, from his band: Dog Gooch. He asks if I remember Dog Gooch. I cough and nod my head. Says his drummer now works for an asbestos removal company and lives somewhere out in the sticks with his wife and two children. And his old bassist plays in a Christian rock band in a church on the other side of town. I notice the upside-down cross badly tattooed on his neck and ask playfully if he’s a religious man. He doesn’t answer my question. His eyes follow the feet of a man wearing a graphite grey business suit. The man’s cream coloured tie matches the colour of the Frappuccino he slurps from. ‘So what are you up to now?’ I ask as we both watch ash from his rollie fall into the crotch of his black jeans. He shrugs his shoulders. Says he might head to the skate park and see who’s around. ‘Full of kids on scooters these days’ I say. He doesn’t seem to mind. We both look up as it starts to rain. Flem smiles and reckons weather like this deserves a cape. I don’t know what
he means, but I smile and nod my head anyway. He asks if I’m working here now, peering around the doorway. I tell him I do, but it’s not open yet. He asks if I know anyone selling weed and I shake my head and apologise. The rain is fat and warm. I back into the doorway while Flem just sits there. A lorry pulls up in front of us and in it I can see Heston the Monotone flicking through paperwork on his clipboard. Flem’s bottle of cider slowly implodes with its last few chugs. Flem burps the word twatflaps as he watches Heston climb out of the lorry. It makes me laugh and I tell him I’ve got to go now. He gives me his empty, half crushed and dripping cider bottle and asks if I could bin it for him. His Mohawk is faultless and strangely impervious to the rain. He thanks me for the rollie and tells me at least I haven’t changed. I laugh nervously. We say our goodbyes and I watch him skate away down the pavement, pushing a man’s umbrella out of his way as he goes. Shelly Gormless
Words and artwork by Ellie Bond
Pride It’s a beautiful thing to feel included. To no longer feel alone. To know you are part of something. It’s a beautiful thing to feel colour. To see the happiness in rainbows. To feel the warmth they bring. It’s a beautiful thing to dance. To move together. To lose control for just a second It’s a beautiful thing to love. To love without consequences. To love without doubt. It’s a beautiful thing to be proud. To know who you are. To know that’s ok.
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It’s a beautiful thing to be happy.
MAGIC MOUNTAIN
A new addition to the perpetual current of exciting bands emerging from the West Yorshire city of Leeds; a venture outside of Menace Beach and Sky Larkin for Nestor Matthews, a scene away from Grammatics and Mother Vulpine for Lins Wilson, and a project aside from Pulled Apart By Horses for Tom Hudson, with whom I spoke regarding this fortuitous collaboration. Jean Pavitt: Firstly, could you tell us about how you all know each other, and how Magic Mountain came about? Tom Hudson: Ok, here we go........ (deep breath). I’ve known Lins and Nestor for almost the entirety (13 years?!) that I’ve been in Leeds for. I migrated from the West Midlands to Leeds in 2004 to study Visual Communication at the Leeds Art Collage. Lins (and Dinosaur Pile-Up’s Matt Bigland) was on the same course as me and we gravitated towards each other then through a mutual love of loud music, art and film. Within
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my first week on the course I found myself in Mook (a Leeds rehearsal space) for an impromptu jam session with Matt Bigland and Nestor. We all moved in and out of the same circles, house parties, Leeds festival blow outs, played gigs and watched gigs together. Over time me, Lins and Matt Bigland started to form a band called Mother Vulpine as Nestor starting writing with another Leeds pal Katie Harkin and they formed a band called Sky Larkin. Lins joined Sky Larkin for a bit (in the early days) but had to leave due to commitments with our band Mother Vulpine. Mother Vulpine split up, Pulled Apart By Horses and Dinosaur Pile-Up formed out of that, Lins played with Grammatics, Lone Wolf and various other bands. Nestor carried on in Sky Larkin for quite a few years, they went on hiatus and then he joined Menace Beach...... and now we’re here. It kind of feels like we’ve come full circle in a way. A couple of years ago me and Lins had a bit of a musical dry patch and out of fun started writing some fuzzed
up, garage rock tunes inspired by the LA garage rock scene - Ty Segall, Meatbodies, Fuzz, Thee Oh Sees. We asked Nestor if he’d be up for jamming out a few of the tunes to see how things went and sooner or later Magic Mountain was born. JP: Your first release ‘Zodiac’ will be coming out as part of the Come Play With Me 7” singles club, how has it been collaborating with them? TH: It’s been great! Tony / CPWM has been really supportive of the band and asking us to get involved with Come Play With Me and release a single gave us that initial kick up the ass that we needed to get some music out there. It’s an excellent platform for new and upcoming bands to get some music out into the world, plus the extra bonus of getting it cut to vinyl. The rest of the CPWM roster is an awesome mixed bag of Yorkshire talent. Each 7inch is a split single and we have the pleasure of sharing our release with a friend’s band called Jon Jones And The Beatnik Movement, you should check
them out. They sound like the bastard child of The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster & The Jesus Lizard. JP: ‘Zodiac’ will be out in October, have you any other releases planned for the near future? TH: We’ll definitely have some more stuff to follow Zodiac. We haven’t got any solid plans locked down yet but we’re working on it. We’ve got about 8 or 9 songs at the moment so we’ll probably sit with them for a bit, play some live shows and let them develop naturally over time until we feel like it’s the right time to release them. JP: Your previous bands are / were closely associated with the Leeds music scene. Does this city play any part in encouraging this collaboration or your approaches to writing? TH: I guess I’ve never really seen it as a ‘Leeds scene’ as a lot of musicians I hang out with are all friends. The friendship kinda comes before the music with a lot of it. That comradery makes it for me! I think Leeds is a really interesting city. It’s small but has the right amount of venues, bars, record shops, etc. in it to push and encourage people to get involved into music without things being too overwhelming. Rather than being competitive, a lot of people in the Leeds music scene tend to look out for one another, watch each other’s gigs, and blur the lines between friends, fans, peers, band and audience. JP: Are there any venues or spaces in Leeds that are important to you as musicians? TH: For me (and I probably speak for the other guys too) The Brudenell Social Club is our spiritual home. I’ve been going there since I’ve been in Leeds and can safely say I have
seen some of the best gigs of my life there. Nath who owns the Brudenell and does all the booking for the bands (and a whole lot more) is an amazing dude who has injected so much music, creativity and passion in the Leeds music community. Apart from venues the other two places in Leeds that are a bit part of my life are the Lord Whitney Studios and our practice space Role Model. Lins works at Lord Whitney and tend to hang out there quite a lot, have filmed music videos, done various photos shoots, worked on projects and also partied till 4 in the morning there (dressed as a wizard) on many occasions. Tommy Davidson - the drummer in Pulled Apart By Horses, has his own screen-printing studio on the middle floor so I like to spend a few days out of every week bothering him and the rest of the gang that work there. The other place is Role Model, our rehearsal room lock up. It’s a 1980s smoke stained office in the arse end of town that has all of our gear in it and is a place we (loosely) call home. The lists rotate but the bands that currently rehearse there are Pulled Apart By Horses, Magic Mountain, Menace Beach, Post War Glamour Girls and Monster Killed By Laser. It’s a right stinking pal fest! JP: You’ve all played in multiple bands at some point in your careers. Do you feel this has shaped your identity as musicians? TH: Yeah, doing it for a number of years has definitely shaped who I am as a musician. It’s a constant learning process, that seems to consistently mutate and change over time. We’ve all probably made some mistakes, had successes and feel like we’ve already submerged ourselves in the mysterious world of the music industry and because of that I feel like we’re more confident about what we want to do as a band. Also,
after playing in band since I was a kid and having the chance to create music with a varied bunch of people; I can safely say that I have become a better musician, a better guitarist, a better song writer, etc. JP: It’s likely that Magic Mountain will obtain a ‘supergroup’ identity. Because of this, do you think this project will differ from your previous experiences in bands with regards to writing, releasing, promoting, performing etc.? TH: Unfortunately, we’re going to get that as we’ve all come from various bands before, but to be honest we’re just a group of long time friends that have come together to write and play music together. It’s as simple as that. We want to be treated as a new band rather than be compared to what we’ve done in the past. The only thing that will be tricky with Magic Mountain (and is the reason why we’ve only played 2 gigs and one recording coming out soon) is the fact that we have to fit it around our other activities. We wanted to get on things a bit sooner but had to hold back as Menace Beach and Pulled Apart By Horses both had new albums and tours straight after each other so that took up half of this year for us. JP: Finally, could you recommend a handful of bands that you think we should be listening to? TH: Bands I’m currently listening to are Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Meatbodies, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Wand, Ariel Pink, Pissed Jeans, Iggy Pop, Brian Jonestown Massacre. Local / friends band I’m listening to Sieze The Chair, Menace Beach, Cowtown, Thee MVPs, Swedish Death Candy, JOHN, TRAAMS, Baba Naga.
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Artwork by Tanith Price
A TALE OF TWO MUSICAL CITIES ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.’ Having randomly glanced at the book a fellow train passenger was reading as they took their standard commute home from Manchester back to Leeds, Dickens’ fictional take on a tale of London vs Paris in the eighteenth century suddenly got me thinking about a tale of two cities but in today’s world. What is it that makes a city have a strong identity or, more so, an identity at all? With Hull’s Humber Street Sesh in mind for my following weekend’s plans, it made me question what made somewhere like Manchester so very ‘Manchester’ and conversely Hull so ‘Hull’. In terms of similarities, they’re both quintessentially North, however one sits on the West surrounded by a close network of other busy cities whilst the other solemnly finds itself situated in the East. As a huge lover and follower of music, it seemed only natural that my initial thoughts about identity in both cities turned to music. After all, a huge part of Manchester’s identity is somewhat connected to its musical legends and it, rightly so, pays homage to some of the most influential and distinctive sounds in British music. But was it the North West that created the music or the music that created the North West? And does Hull’s music also stem from its peo-
ple’s experiences or does the music itself form Hull’s identity? Ok, so now this is becoming a little too philosophical. Forgive me, as I try to spell out my own take on how both these cities have formed their identity. Identity is something that we can all relate to, we’ve all got one, some more distinct than others. Your identity tells people a lot about you. Does where you are from help shape your musical identity? Does being from Hull where there’s a strong DIY post-punk ethos make you write post punk bangers versus dark Mancunian love songs like The Smiths? And does this assumption speak volumes in terms of emotional identity? With big guns like Fred Perry Subculture picking bands like La Bete Blooms, Lumer, Life & Serial Chiller as innovators in the musical identity of Hull, it seems to me that the city that has always been a hardworking one with a real sense of graft is engrained in the music the people of Hull create. Its hardworking DIY ethos conveys a sense of pain and anguish heavily mixed with explosive pangs of hope and perseverance like there would be at the pubs at the end of a working week on the docks. Then there’s Manchester, a city that can empathise with Hull’s industrial presence and which really began to shine in the late 70s. From its warehouse-upon-warehouse manufacturing days, to its 24/7 party people hacienda days, it saw a real shift in its outlook and equally its perspective from outside the city. Fast forward to now and its become the media capital of the North and is still producing bands left, right and centre like PINS, Duds and False Advertising. Being an extremely expressive city and having made this transition from factory life to Factory records,
again it’s apparent that the city is engrained in the music. Its wholly heart-on-the-sleeve, urban perspective is conveyed so eloquently through dark, real-life scenario love songs and strong riffs. Joy Division, The Smiths, Elbow, The Stone Roses to name a few. So it seems on the surface that Manchester has a stronger identity to Hull, though in fact this is no doubt due to its recent past and the media’s lens. In reality, it appears both cities have a lot more in common than first thought. Industrial working class cities, strong personalities and an even stronger, united work ethic. Could it be that Hull is perceived like Manchester in another ten years? After all, its UK City of Culture 2017 is showing strong signs of growing a distinctive musical identity and is building what can only be described as one of the best urban day festivals – Humber Street Sesh - in the UK. Regardless, the world definitely needs more of this right now. What with currently living in what can only be described as a political ticking time bomb of a planet, it makes me realise just how incredible it is that there are cities out there producing incredible music, talent and, frankly, inspiring identities. But as mine and my fellow passenger’s train slowly draws into Leeds station – fortuitously the halfway point between Manchester and Hull - I couldn’t help but question Leeds’ musical identity…but figured I’d leave that pondering for another journey. After all, as Dickens would say, ‘it is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known.’ Julia King
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WHO: VOMITFACE CHOSEN BY: SHELLY GORMLESS WHERE: SEATTLE / NYC FOR FANS OF: PAVEMENT THE WYTCHES DILLY DALLY
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WHO: SEXTILE CHOSEN BY: TANITH PRICE WHERE: LOS ANGELES FOR FANS OF: JOY DIVISION, EAGULLS, YAK
WHO: DEAD PRETTIES CHOSEN BY: DAISY MOREY WHERE: LONDON FOR FANS OF: THE LIBERTINES, HMLTD, YOWL
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WHO: IDLES CHOSEN BY: MICA JONES WHERE: BRISTOL FOR FANS OF: SLEAFORD MODS, SLAVES, ICEAGE
WHO: TREV CHOSEN BY: ELLIE BOND WHERE: LONDON FOR FANS OF: JAMIE T, VILLAGERS, DRY THE RIVER
Photo: James Robert Birtwhistle
WHO: SLUMB PARTY CHOSEN BY: SHAUNA STAPLETON WHERE: NOTTINGHAM FOR FANS OF: MINUTEMEN, DOWNTOWN BOYS, B BOYS
WHO: MOONCHILD CHOSEN BY: MEG FIRTH WHERE: LOS ANGELES FOR FANS OF: LIANNE LA HAVAS, CHILDISH GAMBINO, TOM MISCH
WHO: DRAHLA CHOSEN BY: JULIA KING WHERE: LEEDS FOR FANS OF: MENACE BEACH, HOOKWORMS, DREAM WIFE
WHO: SORRY CHOSEN BY: JAKE CROSSLAND WHERE: LONDON FOR FANS OF: HAPPYNESS, CHILDHOOD, GOAT GIRL
WHO: NEUROTIC FICTION CHOSEN BY: BEN SARGENT WHERE: BRISTOL FOR FANS OF: GIRL RAY, THE ORIELLES, SACRED PAWS
WHO: PORRIDGE RADIO CHOSEN BY: JEAN PAVITT WHERE: BRIGHTON FOR FANS OF: JOANNA GRUESOME, GIRL RAY, TRUST FUND
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JEROME PLS/PLEASE PRESENTS
AN ART EXHIBITON AT WHARF CHAMBERS MIDDLE FLOOR 2ND NOV / 6-9PM 3RD/4TH NOV / 11AM-8PM HEATHER CARR FAYE HADFIELD CHARLIE HOWARD MIMI KELLEHER BAILEY LI GREG LONSDALE KINGSTONE POPLAR BEN SARGENT THOMAS TYLER CHARLIE WOOD
CPWM001
5053760018360
THE GIRL FROM THE DDR (LIVE)
ESPER SCOUT
ZOZO
COME PLAY
NO BRAINER
5053760021971
NATIONAL ANTHEM OF NOWHERE
GAPS IN THE BORDER FENCE
INTERNATIONAL WATERS
CPWM006
LAMINATE PET ANIMAL
5053760029298
5053760027362
TEAM PICTURE BACK TO BAY SIX
JON JONES AND THE BEATNIK MOVEMENT
CINERAMA
CPWM008
HARKIN
MAGIC MOUNTAIN
Released December 2017 featuring exclusive tracks from The Wedding Present, Team Picture, Esper Scout and many more.
ZODIAC
EVE
www.cpwm.co @comeplaywith
COME PLAY (CD)
CPWM008 (7”)
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MAGIC MOUNTAIN / JON JONES AND THE BEATNIK MOVEMENT
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Released 13 October 2017
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