The Test Press by Big Scary Monsters

The Test Press

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Big Scary Monsters

This is a Newspaper by a Record Label called Big Scary Monsters

2019

pictured above: Kilo, Dolly and Ron Swanson

it’s a great idea on paper A great idea on paper, a great idea on paper, a great idea on paper… by team bsm This is a newspaper by Big Scary Monsters, an independent record label based in Oxford, England. Why did we make a newspaper you may ask? Well, why not?

So far, we’ve been responsible for releases from the likes of: American Football, The Get Up Kids, Jamie Lenman, Beach Slang, Delta Sleep, Minus The Bear, Martha, mewithoutYou, Kevin Devine, Orchards,

Balance and Composure, Cursive, Pedro The Lion, Andrew W.K., Tall Ships, Meet Me In St Louis, Joyce Manor, Gnarwolves, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Bear vs Shark, Tangled Hair... we could go on.

There’s a lot more to each and every one of our bands than just the music that they make, so we’ve built a physical platform for them to talk and write about some of those things including: mosh pits, Brighton, mental health,

favourite bands, Nandos and being DIY. We also just wanted to show off how great our bands are too. Oh and we also love dogs, so much that our real boss is Ron Swanson (pictured above). Continued on page 17 >>>

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n e e r dG

o bout o W sk ga hin a pet t y n a ing n w o

We offer free pet advice We can help you: find your perfect pet understand how best to care for your pet improve behaviour and your relationship with your pet if you are no longer able to care for a pet. Get involved – donate, foster or volunteer.

Call 0300 303 9333 Visit woodgreen.org.uk #askwoodgreen

Wood Green – bringing pets and people closer together Wood Green, The Animals Charity, Registered Charity No. 298348 00424JJ0319

00424 Ask Wood Green Cambridge A5.indd 1

The Young Women’s Music Project (YWMP) is an educational charity based in Oxford, which provides an inclusive and supportive space for young women aged 14-21 to make music together, learn new skills, express themselves, and grow in conﬁdence. In the free music sessions and workshops, the young women make and record music, plan and hold gigs and events, and discuss issues affecting young people. YWMP.org.uk Info@ywmp.org.uk Charity number: 1161028 PHOTO CREDIT: HELEN MESSENGER

28/03/2019 13:25

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welcome

Welcome to the inaugural issue of The Test Press, a newspaper put together by the lovely folk at Big Scary Monsters.

We decided to put this thing together because we thought why not? For a while now we’ve realised that there’s much more to us than just putting out records: for ten years we hosted a 5-a-side football tournament, but after several broken bones decided it was time to call it a day. In 2018, no longer content with putting up with shit from bands on the record label side, we launched our own festival in London, and unbelievably doubled down in 2019 to start one in our hometown of Oxford too. And if that’s not enough, we’ve also been putting on pop-up shops in places around the UK too. In these pages you’ll find advice from Employed To Serve’s Justine Jones on how to circumnavigate a mosh pit, Orchards’ Lucy Evers sits down with Cardiff based mental health charity HATW to discuss coping techniques, Nathan from Martha has a chat with Joey from itoldyouiwouldeatyou, and our pal Rob Mair explores emo from both sides of the Atlantic. To top it off we’ve got an advice column from Em Foster and Jim Beck (you might know them as the vocalists in Nervus and Cassels), Tangled Hair, Delta Sleep and Woahnows tell us about their perfect Sundays, and American Football give us their latest scores. We’ve also partnered with some great organisations who work on a range of issues that affect our society: Young Women’s Music Project who work closely with young women in Oxford to take their first steps into the music industry, Heads Above The Waves who work tirelessly to support young people through mental health issues, The Proud Trust who are based in Manchester offering support and a safe space for LGBTQ+ identifying young people, and Wood Green, The Animals Charity, who have a dedicated service to help pet owners and those thinking of getting a pet with guidance and support (we love animals). Enjoy

NAME: Connor Patrick Laws

BSM Album Reviews.................................................4 Cartoon Strip by Jamie Lenman...............................4 A Guide To The Mosh Pit by Justine Jones.................5 Tackling The Brighton Scene by Tom Bennett............5 Orchards In Conversation with Heads Above The Waves by Lucy Evers......................6 What’s Your Perfect Sunday?....................................7 The A-Z of Math Rock by Ollie Connors ....................8 Something To Write Home About with Matt Pryor.......................................................9 Transatlantic Foes by Rob Mair.............................................................10 Restaurant Reviews with Tiny Moving Parts.....................................................10 What’s Your Favourite City?......................................11 What Is A Music PR? with Jamie Otsa........................12 GET SCHOOLED: How To Stand Out by Jamie Collettta...................................................13 Ask Em & Jim...........................................................13 Martha vs itoldyouiwouldeatyou...............................14

FAVE BAND OF ALL TIME: Alexisonfire or Jimmy Eat World

LIKES: Pints of Guinness, Stupidly expensive coffee, Telling people their record collection isn’t very big, My record collection, Taking pictures, Arsenal FC, Being on tour DISLIKES: IKEA on sundays. Spurs. Milk NAME: Dave Owen photo credit: Helen Messenger NAME: Kevin Douch

NAME: Josie Faulkner

ROLE: Owner

ROLE: Admin & Events Assistant

FAVE BAND OF ALL TIME: The Get Up Kids

FAVE BAND OF ALL TIME: My Chemical Romance

STUPID FACT: Aged 12 I drew caricatures of footballers and sold them for 50p at local craft fairs

STUPID FACT: When I was born, my parents were super into Star Trek, and they agreed that if I was a boy I would be called Jean-Luc Picard.

SPORTS: American Football’s Latest Scores..............16

ROLE: Junior Label Assistant

STUPID FACT: I once brought an emergency quiche to the office just in case we worked so hard that we forgot to have lunch, dinner or a break. You’ve gotta be prepared in this fast moving industry…

DISLIKES: Cheese, the song Babycakes, Holy Roar

contents

Best Of The Bunch: What Happened To BSMs Lost Bands by Mario Gambardella............................14

meet the team

LIKES: Reading FC, Curb Your Enthusiasm, dark and stormy’s, schadenfreude

Big Scary Monsters 3

ROLE: Label Manager FAVE BAND OF ALL TIME: Alkaline Trio or The Bronx. And Oasis (yeah Oasis). STUPID FACT: I’ve got a very stumpy finger from when I accidentally stuck my hand in a lawnmower when I was 18. I’m great at doing fractions on my hands these days.

LIKES: Hooch, Cats, Horror Films, Camping, Norse Mythology

LIKES: My dog, Passionate/ Intelligent People, Tranmere Rovers FC, The Pub

DISLIKES: Trap, Slugs, Guinness, Cider

DISLIKES: Twitter, Stupidity, Negativity, Ignorance

Editor...............Josie Faulkner Art Director......Gemma Hefferon-Douch Team BSM......... Dave Owen, Josie Faulkner, Connor Laws and Kevin Douch

BSM would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to The Test Press Jamie Lenman

Jim Beck

Justine Jones

Em Foster

Tom Bennett

Joey Ashworth

Lucy Evers

Nathan Stephens Griffin

Hannah Morgan Si Martin James Kenneth Trood Adam Wherly Blake Mostyn Ollie Connors Matt Pryor Rob Mair Jamie Otsa Jamie Colletta Tiny Moving Parts

Mario Gambardella Dave Jackson Nicola Leel Sam Rushton Alpha Male Tea Party Rob Flynn The Winter Passing Cult Dreams Connor Dawson Tangled Hair

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album reviews

Gender Roles

Orchards

Yndi Halda

Lazer Rush

Losers/Lovers

Under Summer

From the moment Lazer Rush starts you know you’re in for a really good time. You could be watching Gender Roles live at a venue, in a kitchen at a house show or just listening to the record during your day but the result will always be the same; a really big smile on your face. With only four songs and clocking in under 15 minutes you’ll be excused for listening through more than once.

Brighton’s mathpop darlings have been making glittery waves for a while now, and in summer 2018 their infectious sound culminated in their debut EP ‘Losers/Lovers’. Packed full of twirling guitars and summery vibes, Orchards are hot out of the oven with steaming bangers that will have you dancing in circles all summer long.

Yndi Halda’s Under Summer is an album that yearns to be played in one sitting, preferably in a quiet environment to take in their all-encompassing soundscapes. It’s totally relatable, even without any lyrics, and can be interpreted in any number of ways depending on your mood. It’s is a marvellous presentation of different ideas encapsulated in one body of music: calming, reflective and expansive, all melded together in just one hour.

Tall Ships

Gnarwolves

The Winter Passing

Through Silence

Everything Touching

CRU

Double Exposure

Two Words One Girl

It pisses me off daily that Tall Ships didn’t become the biggest band in the world. So much fun live, so dashingly handsome, full of ideas and the songs - oh, the songs. Everything Touching is a near perfect debut record and if you don’t get goosebumps over that opening T=0 riff you’re doing it wrong.

When you cram an E.P with more bangers than your local butchers, litter the song titles with Aldous Huxley references and then add into the mix insane live shows with a continuous onslaught of crowd surfers as standard— and — BOOM — you got one of the best E.Ps by any UK punk band of the last decade. Yeah it’s that good.

Thin Lizzy wrote a couple of good songs but the Emerald Isle’s own The Winter Passing write banger after banger after banger. Double Exposure is full of huge choruses, hooks to sink your teeth into, some soft moments and a chiseled spirit that’s only come from playing what would seem like thousands of shows. I love them, you should love them, it’s the parishes own The Winter Passing.

I was head over heels obsessed with The Used’s debut record so when asked if we wanted to put out a Through Silence single to coincide with them opening their two date UK “tour”, I answered with an immediate YES. Crap songs, horrible title, the CDs didn’t even arrive on time and we never worked with them again. Lesson learned. I saw The Used though.

Woahnows Understanding And Everything Else This record should come with a public health warning as once you’ve listened to it, you’ll have 11 tracks of banging, top drawer, melodic punk rock take up permanent residence in your skull that will NEVER leave. Catchier than the common cold, you’ll need a massive chisel to get through how hard this record rocks. Geddon as they say in the West Country.

what’s your perfect sunday? Trood: Tangled Hair My perfect Sunday involves a rocky start. That’s right, I’m hungover. The sun is pissing on me with it’s spring rays as I gently, but confidently, ease out of bed. I look to my left and see my girlfriend slowly but surely realising that we once again; accidentally drank all the beers. We arrogantly come up with a plan to seek the help of a fry up. We arrive at a breakfast place and tentatively research the menu, we find our desirables and pop a couple of flat whites on there. I persuade myself to order a Bloody Mary and an orange juice. We eat and drink it all. I’m fat and need a sleep so we

wander back to the flat. Back To The Future parts 1,2 and 3 are on Netflix and Heidi has passed out due to the hash browns. Five hours have passed and my headache has become a shadow of its former self. Heidi awakens hungry and enthusiastic. I congratulate her state of conscious with two scenarios. One, we order a pizza and put on True Detective season 1: or two, we get a McDonald’s and put on True Detective season 1. We decide on both. Then we sit back in bed and watch Matthew and Woody do their thing. Perfect.

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a guide to the mosh pit Ahhh the Mosh Pit, the ultimate right of passage for any self respecting music fan by Justine Jones Whether you’re currently in the moshing game or look upon it with disdain whilst clutching your tote bag — you have to admit it’s what drew you to live music in the first place. There are many types of mosh pit - posi punk pits (lots of jumping), hardcore pits, push pits, the list goes on; so I’ll start by saying I’m talking about your good old fashioned push pit. My first push pit was when I was 14 at the Astoria in London watching Billy Talent supported by Rueben. During the first song a man in his 40s threw his pint in the air (and all over me), because his favourite song was being played and stormed into the pit. With my now soaking side fringe, I blindly bumbled my way into the eye of the storm (pit) after him. After my first pit I quickly realised that your skinny jeans squeeze your phone out of your pocket like

photo credit: Andy Ford

Make your surface area as large as possible so more people can carry you” Colgate and I saw several lone shoes in the middle of the floor. So make sure your shoes are on tight and leave your phone in a locker.

Stand next to a tall person so that when a crowd surfer comes your way you at least get warning and have a buffer before they land on your

head. If things get too hairy (no pun intended) in the pit you can always exit out of the side and use the pincer manoeuvre and get to the front via the left or right hand side. Alternatively you can always get two tap waters that you spill everywhere and people move out of the way so they don’t get soaked and smile weakly

the Brighton scene

A scene is good anywhere if it’s you, your mates and someone has some equipment”

by Tom Bennett

photo credit: Helen Messenger

whilst over apologising all the way to the front. The number one rule is try to be as little of an inconvenience as possible whilst pushing the shit out of people. Another topic of discussion is crowd surfing etiquette, too many times I have seen stage divers out stay their welcome and linger too long on stage (some even have the nerve to take a selfie with the vocalist!). Get up there and get in the crowd as quickly as possible, and for the love of God don’t dive bomb or go feet first into the crowd. Make your surface area as large as possible so more people can carry you, a sort of crowd angel if you will. That’s what I’ve learnt from my decade or so of going to shows — you come across all walks of life, but if people are considerate of others it could be the perfect swap for getting fit this year without going to the gym.

We get asked a lot about what the scene is like in Brighton and to be honest the answer every time is that it’s great. It’s a small place filled with bands and because of that, there’s a lot of great shows happening all the time. Bands from the other side of the world, travelling from crazy far away places like Sunderland are always playing in Brighton as well, which only helps creativity, exposing people to all kinds of new music. When we first started out, a lot of our mutual friends from Brighton were playing regularly at the time and we loved it. It’s always so much fun to watch your friends smash it with a crowd that loves it. Just being around those people helped us make a lot of new friends and meet bands, promoters, librarians, all sorts. Going to watch bands like The New Tusk and Broadbay is probably why we started being a band in the first place. With a lot of big cities, it feels more accepting, but that probably comes

down to the fact that they’re so big and busy that you can hide for a bit while you figure everything out. With Brighton, it’s similar, but it’s not big. You really can get away with doing what you want musically here, there’s always someone that’ll be into it. Specifically, the ‘scene’ at the moment, for the style of music we play, is definitely doing well and there is always a large group of those people we really enjoying watching, playing with, hanging out with and having come to shows. The ‘scene’ in Brighton for whatever type of music you want to play or be a part of is great, mainly because it’s quite fun here and perhaps, at points, less judgemental than a lot of places in the UK. I mean it’s all encompassing, expensive and really busy, but we like it and there’s loads of gigs. A scene is good anywhere if it’s you, your mates and someone has some equipment. It hard to tell if we were all mates and then did shows, did we do shows and now we’re mates? Who knows? Who cares? Now sit down, stand up and play ‘Wonderwall’ for the love of rock.

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in conversation with: Orchards speak to

Heads Above The Waves It’s OK to not be OK, but it’s not OK to stay not OK”

Orchards

photo credit: Helen Messenger

Orchards’ very own Lucy Evers chatted to Heads Above The Waves about the reasons behind starting their charity and why, in today’s society, it is so important to take extra special care of our precious minds. by Lucy Evers The phrase ‘Burn Out Generation’ is being applied more often to describe the increasing pressure put on our creative generation to consistently strive for greater things and attempt to be a ‘normal functioning human being’. We overload our screens with unreachable expectations and unrealistic ideal lives. Mental health statistics are only growing as people learn what it takes to take care of our high maintenance minds. I also feel the pressure to create up-beat and positive

about it: what do you do when you feel the strength of an emotion? It reminds you of a song or draws you into listening to one. That product has generally come from someone else feeling an emotion, and their way of expelling it is to write it down. So, being that person means you wear your emotions on your sleeve, so at any given moment you have the ability and power to create something thought provoking and heartfelt. This is a blessing, but also adds to that unreachable expectation. To always be one better than you

music can be such a wonderful outlet for your creativity” music that others fall upon in darker moments. Musicians have a duty and a blessing to create a product that will always be in demand. Think

were before. Now it’s more important than ever to take stock of our emotions, to expel them healthily and know how to claw our way

out of them once we’re done re-experiencing it.

Lucy Evers: What prompted you starting HATW? Hannah Morgan (HATW): A fortuitous combination of things really. Si and I both have backgrounds of dealing with different forms of selfharm and got chatting about the similarities between what we’d experienced growing up. It was super refreshing that we weren’t alone and actually the things I’d struggled with were universal. Si wanted to create a t-shirt for his band with the slogan “Pop Punk Saved My Life” on to raise money for the Samaritans. People at his work encouraged him to apply for funding to set up as an organisation that helped people using our own experiences, so we went for it!

We felt that lots of organisations were already doing what we do, but there was a clear gap in the market of organisations actually focusing on various forms of self-harm and speaking to young people on their level. No one was talking about how The Wonder Years lyrics had helped them, or how they wanted to give skateboarding a go as a way to de-stress. We wanted to bring an authentic vibe to mental health support, making asking for help and using coping techniques cool and accessible. We’ve pushed the merch side of things as a way to break down the stigma around mental health issues, but we also wanted to follow up with support, advice and signposting to help. Thus began Heads Above The Waves!

Lucy: Why the music industry over every other creative outlet/ industry? Hannah: We’re really open about all types of outlets or coping techniques. One size doesn’t fit all and there’s not one solution. It’ll often be a combination of things all working together to get you to a better place. But music is something we talk about a lot because it’s both of our coping techniques. Whether Si is using drumming to express himself and release his emotions, or I’m going to gigs and watching live music as a way to escape and feel alive: music is a huge part of our lives. Whether it’s listening to records or playing an instrument, music can be such a wonderful outlet for your creativity and an awesome way to connect with people who feel the same things

you do. Now more than ever it feels important to talk openly and honestly about things, and about how music can be a positive outlet and can inspire hope.

Lucy: How does HATW help/support musicians? Hannah: We’re really lucky to have a shop/drop in space in Cardiff City Centre on Womanby Street, which is the street that houses some of the best live music venues in the country. Lots of bands are usually popping in to grab a cup of coffee, use the WiFi or have a mooch around. Whether you’re in a touring band or a local musician, we’re there for people to pop in and have a chat, blow off some steam and talk about coping techniques. We’ve also done lots of interviews and videos with bands and musicians in the past as a way to share knowledge and inspire others. Hopefully we’re helping by shining a spotlight on issues and giving people a platform to talk!

Lucy: Everyone’s mental health is utterly unique. But what advice would you give to someone who needs help taking care of themselves? Hannah: Something I’ve learned doing HATW is that you’re only going to be able to get help when you’re ready and to not be hard on yourself if you stumble on your path. It’s all about picking yourself back up again. On a personal level I felt that I needed to be a shining example of perfect mental health, but I still struggled every day not

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Big Scary Monsters

it’s good just to hear someone believe in your ideas and have that encouragement.” to slip back into old negative habits and bogged down in painful memories. I had a big turning point when I realised that instead of putting on a brave face that it was OK to be honest and say “Actually, I’m having a bit of a tough one today and I’m not feeling so great”. Because then that propelled me to thinking, “Right, what do I need to do to be a bit gentler to myself today? How can I take care of

myself a little more right now? How can I let my friends and family know I’m not good and I need them to check in on me and send some posi vibes?” This led to me feeling more in control of my thoughts and to being more aware of my patterns and low points; how to counteract them and help myself. It’s OK to not be OK, but it’s not OK to stay not OK. It’s all

about figuring out what you need, trying out anything that might help, building up your support network and working on building your coping techniques into your life. Do things at your pace, do what you can and speak to yourself the way you’d speak to your best pal. Show yourself some love!

Lucy: What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given? Hannah: As HATW, the people that Si first spoke to about funding really liked

the ideas and literally told us to go for it was the best advice we’ve been given. Sometimes it’s good just to hear someone believe in your ideas and have that encouragement. Lucy: I hope you reading this, yes you, take some comfort from the things we’ve said. Everybody’s mind is utterly unique. If you EVER feel like you can’t keep the ground steady beneath your feet please NEVER hide away. Ask for help. if you don’t feel as though you have somebody there are amazing organisations out there (like HATW) who are there for you!

Don’t compare your life to others because your path isn’t theirs. It’s uniquely yours. Enjoy the journey and know that nobody is alone in this. Your smile is beautiful. Use it.

ask Em & Jim

We’re excited to introduce you to our advice gurus Em (Nervus) and Jim (Cassels). Facing a dilemma in life, love, work or school? Send your questions to bsmagonyaunts@gmail.com

My parents find it hard to understand that ‘working with music’ is a ‘real job’. Any advice to make dinner conversation with them smoother? Sad Boi, Guildford

My favourite promoter keeps adding another and another band to the bill and I don’t think my back can survive 4 bands. What can I do to elevate my back pain? Youngoldchap91, London

Jim: It’s not a real job. There’s currently a recruitment crisis across many of our public services, including the NHS and education sector. Do the right thing; quit your fake music job and become an RE teacher at a rural comprehensive.

Jim: https://www.amazon. co.uk/Inflatable-FlockedQuality-Modern-design/ dp/B003MW9CZW Inflatable Chair Flocked High Quality & Modern Funky design: Amazon.co.uk: Sports & Outdoors Shop Inflatable Chair Flocked High Quality & Modern Funky design. Free delivery and returns on all eligible orders. www.amazon.co.uk

Em: What do your parents do? A lot of the time people’s jobs only make sense within a frame work of capitalism. Tell them capitalism is bullshit and do a sick 50-50 grind off of the dinner table. I’ve fallen out of love with Weezer - why have they gone so bad? Rivers, L.A Jim: Pretty sure the singer from Weezer is called Rivers and lives in L.A. Are you the singer from Weezer? If so, write better songs. If not, just stop listening to Weezer. There’s literally hundreds, possibly thousands, of other bands you can listen to. I’d recommend starting at the CD section in ASDA. Em: I don’t know why they’ve gone so bad, but it happened just after the blue album and it keeps happening so at this point you can only assume it’s deliberate.

Em: I’m not a doctor, but I am a fan of the 4 band bill. Controversial I know. I’d actually recommend CBD. This guy Taz at Proper Grass in Watford sells buds of CBD Lemon Haze at £10 a gram and it’s great for chronic pain. My boss has a reputation for being ‘mean’, how do I show the world his fluffy compassionate side? Mosh Pit Dave, London Jim: Secretly photograph him playing with a dog. Ideally a sausage dog. Ideally called Ron. Em: Maybe you could organise a photo opportunity of him buying a round of Greggs sausage rolls for the team.

Do you have any top tips on becoming an internet celebrity? bluetickguy, Bristol Jim: There’s currently a

recruitment crisis across many of our public services, including the NHS and education sector. Do the right thing; stop trying to become an internet celebrity and instead retrain as an anaesthesiologist.

Em: I saw some YouTube guy just had to clarify that he didn’t shag his cat so maybe if you muddy the waters a little bit and make it seem like you might shag cats you’ll be an internet celeb in no time. Good luck with the fame thing

photo credit: derekbremner.com

I’m getting really old and finding it hard to go to gigs and listen to music. Any advice? Mean Kev, Oxford Jim: Follow your instincts, music is obviously no longer for you. Explore new pursuits, such as crochet, croquet, or croquette-making. Em: I would just send someone very keen yet less experienced out to do all that graft and then just take the credit for it. Works for major labels hahaha just kidding.

ilikedogsandmusic.com @ilikedogsandmusic

what’s your perfect sunday? Wherly: Woahnows So for the last couple of years we’ve spent almost every Sunday as follows... Wake up early and get to church. By church I mean the car boot sale at Cheddar, where they serve a mean veggie breakfast called the Big Booty Breakfast. Nothing beats a tad of Sunday morning bargain

hunting. After that we head out for a walk around the Mendips, then come home to cook a mega roast. If there’s any energy left at the end of the day I might shred the skate-ramp for a bit, but if not it’s straight Netflix and Phil with the projector and the wood burner on!!

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the alphabet of BSM & math rock

by Ollie Connors

is for Arctangent

Could it be anything else? BSM has had a strong presence at the Bristolian math-rock & post-rock festival since its inception, even having a BSM vs Holy Roar Records stage at the 2018 festival.

is for Beards –

An essential part of the math-rocker’s look, to stroke when a really interesting time signature happens.

is for Cap’n Jazz

One of many bands to feature math-rock demi-gods Tim and Mike Kinsella. The duo also played together in Owls (essentially a Cap’n Jazz reunion band), American Football and Joan of Arc, and separately in projects such as Owen and Their/They’re/There.

is for Don Caballero

The granddaddies of math rock. Many point to Slint’s “Spiderland” as the first math-rock record, or even before that to acts like King Crimson, Yes and early Genesis, but it was on 1995’s “Don Caballero 2” that we saw the first recognisable elements of the genre we know and love today.

The Edmund Fitzgerald

Former stalwarts of BSM hometown Oxford’s math rock scene. After their split, two members of this trio, Yannis Philippakis and Jack Bevan, formed a new band called Foals. I wonder what happened to them?

is for Fall of Troy, The

While you could be forgiven for thinking that BSM doesn’t sign heavy bands considering what makes up most of their roster, you’d be surprised

at how far into the realms of post-hardcore the label gets. Not only have they released records by The Fall of Troy and the screamo-y Secondsmile, in their early days they put out a record by a band called Chariots which wouldn’t sound out of place as a Holy Roar release.

is for Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly

While not necessarily a mathrock act, the political folkster does make for a good story about BSM owner Kev Douch. When at Reading Festival, he ran into an old school friend, who asked what Kev was up to these days. When Kev responded that he was running a record label, the school chum asked what sort of acts he had signed. Kev then pointed at the main stage that Mr Duckworth was playing on at that time and said “Erm…that guy, actually”. Classic Kev.

H is for Hell Is For Heroes

In 2018 BSM put out a 15th anniversary vinyl edition of HIFH’s classic The Neon Handshake, an album without which we probably wouldn’t have as strong a scene as we have today, alongside 2000s math-influenced BritRock brethren Hundred Reasons, Biffy Clyro and Reuben.

is for Ireland

Republic of – home of dearly missed math-rock heroes and former BSM band Adebisi Shank and more recent signings The Winter Passing.

is for Jack Clothier

Jack runs BSM’s sister label Alcopop! Records, famed for whacky antics like taking over the UKIP website, releasing compilations on a restaurant menu and having possibly the drunkest day in British indiepop, “Alcopopalooza”. They also sometimes put out some pretty good records.

is for Kingston

The Surrey suburb has provided many bands for BSM over the years, including Colour, Tangled Hair and Tubelord. Plus the beloved Banquet Records.

is for Lack of non…

…male representation, the redressing of – I was just looking through my alphabet and realised I’d only namedropped two non-males in my list. Mathrock is sadly an extremely male dominated genre, but BSM is helping to redress the balance by releasing material from the likes of Orchards, Cultdreams, Lemuria, Nervus, Thin Lips, Tricot, and the aforementioned The Winter Passing.

is for Minus The Bear

This Botch spinoff band were one of BSM’s first from across the pond, featuring alongside Kevin Devine, La Dispute, mewithoutYou and Modern Baseball in the label’s Stateside roster. Sadly, they called it a day in 2018 after an EP and a final tour.

is for Nomeansno

The seminal Canadian punk rockers have been named a “secret influence” on early math-rock by music critics, with their technical playing style. Another influence on math that may surprise some is hardcore band Black Flag, whose 1984 record “My War” contains unusual polyrhythms some have cited to be a forebear for math-rock as we know it.

is for Orchards

Brighton’s math-pop darlings Orchards signed to BSM at the start of 2018, and have been making one hell of a glittery raucous ever since on both sides of the Atlantic.

is for Polvo

A band from North Carolina mainly active in the early 90s, Polvo are one of many bands to disavow the math-rock label. Some cite their reasons for this as wanting to avoid being pigeonholed, others feel it sounds too nerdy. If you look at the crowd at the average BSM show, the latter seems fair enough really.

is for Quetzal

A song from math-rockers TTNG’s 2009 debut “Animals”. Q is a really hard letter to find stuff for, guys.

is for Ron Swanson

Named after the magnificently moustachioed gruff libertarian boss from NBC’s “Parks and Recreation”, this darling dachshund belonging to label owner Kevin Douch is the real boss of BSM.

is for Shellac

While generally categorised more as noise rock or posthardcore, Shellac and in particular frontman Steve Albini are venerated within the scene, with Albini producing over the years for the likes of Mogwai, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Mono alongside BSM’s own Meat Wave and Tubelord.

is for Time Signatures

Because of course it is. One of the central tropes of math-rock as a genre, as the rhythm section don’t like to just let guitarists have all the fun making noodly riffs, this basically signifies anything more complex than your bogstandard 4/4 time signature.

is for U&I, &

&U&I were formed from the ashes of Blakfish, one of BSM’s most vaunted bands. Their celebrated record Champions turns ten years old in 2019 – we are all so very, very old…

is for Variations on Swing

Meet Me in St Louis’ sole full-length release is commemorated each year by “Meet Me In St Louis Day”, which is on September 24th.

is for WK, Andrew

BSM once put out a square vinyl release for the Party Hard dude. Yep. That happened.

is for Xylophone

Some math bands use incongruous instruments in their work, such as the xylophone. And you thought my entry for X was going to be tenuous!

is for yourcodenameis:milo

I just wanted to talk about this band because I feel like everyone’s forgotten them. They were vaguely mathy, right? I loved yourcodenameis:milo and I still want their reunion tour to happen. So…yeah.

is for Zach Hill

The former drummer for Californian math-rockers Hella, whose 2002 debut Hold Your Horse Is provided the name for a former BSM act, now drums for experimental hip-hop act Death Grips.

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Big Scary Monsters 9

something to write home about by Josie Faulkner Matt Pryor from The Get Up Kids on the bands that rock his world right now… It’s 8am on a Wednesday morning in Lawrence, Kansas. Matt Pryor has only just had his morning coffee when his phone goes off, an unsuspecting call from BSM in the UK, wanting to find out about the bands he’s most excited about at the moment. Being in one of the most coveted emo bands in the world, Matt takes pride in championing new music that’s coming up through youth culture, discovering them mainly through his daughter’s punk band LK Ultra. “Lately I’ve heard new bands one of two ways. Through my daughter (really all of my kids, but mainly my daughter); I listen to what they’re listening to and

heard the name but I hadn’t actually heard them until they submitted to the tour. And I really like them a lot and everyone else seemed to too. I just think that they have a cool vibe, in my mind, what people would call kind of indie/emo or indie pop. I’ve never seen them live and for them to play shows with us, I think it’s going to be a really fun tour. One of my favourite bands right now is a band called Spook School from Scotland. I learned about them because they were on tour in America opening for Diet Cig, that I really like quite a lot. My daughters band were opening that show and so we were listening to the other bands that were on the bill. I’m actually kind of bummed because I was helping my daughter’s band load in and load out because they were

when his phone goes off, an unsuspecting call from BSM in the UK” then what their friends are listening to and we listen to it in the car. And then the other way is when bands submit to play with us, you always have to go through and listen to everything. I unfortunately have gone to so many shows that it feels kind of like going to the office for me. I tend to not go to shows when certain bands are in town as I tend to just go say hi at sound check or whatever. I really tend to like absorb music through recordings more than anything, but then if it’s jazz or something, then I will make the effort to go see them play.”

BSM: So who is on the top of your radar right now? Matt: “We’ve just announced that we are going on tour [in Europe] and Muncie Girls are coming out with us and I like them quite a bit. I’d

playing first before Spook School. So we had loaded them out, and my sons were at the show and they wanted to go home. I had to take them home and didn’t get to see Spook School play which is funny because they came from so far away to end up playing just down the street from my house. I hadn’t heard them so I didn’t fully get it until after that show had happened. But I guess they just tore it up. So every time we were in the car we were listening to Spook School and I was just like shit, “Why did I miss this band play? When am I ever going to be in the same place as them?” Unless we go to like Glasgow or something. They’re super catchy and super poppy, and that “fuck you, I’m still alive” song is so great. It speaks to me as someone who felt like an outcast when I was younger. Sometimes I still do. It’s something that kind of like anthemic to me.

We’ve had a couple of really good bands come and support us. There’s a band called Retirement Party. They’re from Chicago. They’re really cool! They’re kind of like mathy and I think the first

those feelings. I can relate to that. And then also she was really cool to my daughter’s band, LK Ultra, who are a band here in Lawrence, Kansas. She’s like super supportive [saying]

who have started putting on shows in the basement of it that are all ages shows, you know like basement shows in that old school house. And so my daughters band recently played a benefit show for

photo credit: Dalton Paley

time I heard them I was like “Are you guys from Chicago?” They have that kind of like noodley sort of guitar – not noodley, noodley sounds condescending I don’t mean it like that – but very notey guitar stuff. I really like that a lot. Remember Sports. They’re really good. They sound like, in my mind, 90s power pop like Velocity Girls or something like that. Like old throwback kind of stuff, to me, and I was just kind of like they were super awesome, they were really great live. The band Diet Cig who I’ve seen twice, no I’ve seen once – I’ve been to two of their shows, but I didn’t see them the first time. I don’t know the singer of that bands name, but she’s got this almost Kate Bush-like kind of energy [that] I thought that was kind of a fun energy to bring. The band is like super powerful, especially as they’re a two piece and being loud and dynamic and having really like catchy choruses. But then also being like empowering with things to say which even though I’m an older straight white man, I can remember and I still get

“Right this is a band that’s young, femme and queer and trans kids that are trying to make punk rock music and say things that are important

them to raise money to buy an actual in house PA system and they raised $1200! I’m in this small town and so to have a scene that is that

my daughters band recently played a benefit show” to them.” And she was just very, very encouraging of them and I’m really grateful for that because I think what the world needs now is voices like that who are saying something meaningful.”

BSM: Is there a healthy scene in your town that influences your hot new picks? “Yes, especially for the all ages community and the younger high school and college age bands. There’s actually a venue just outside of town that is an old one roomed school house that was built in like 1920 or something like that and they’ve converted it into an events space for wedding receptions and stuff. There’s this whole punk collective of people

strong is pretty impressive. I mean they’ve got probably 8-10 bands that are really young and really quite hungry to make this scene into a thing. It’s pretty fun to watch.”

BSM: Do you miss those days? “I don’t know that I miss them. I know that I remember them fondly. Ah you know I don’t really need them I can just watch what’s going on with the kids right now. But I don’t necessarily want to play all basement shows anymore.”

Remember Sports

Big Scary Monsters

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transatlantic foes — Emo, America, and the UK by Rob Mair In the 1980’s, America gave us emo. And while it took the UK a little time to catch on, it’s impossible to ignore

UK, shallow waves were being made in places like Leeds, Stoke-On-Trent and Dundee; industrial heartlands where bands were playing with hearts on sleeves.

without these pioneers, it’s a fair assumption that today’s BSM’s roster would look very different” the quality of acts the UK produced in the 1990s and beyond. Indeed, without these pioneers, it’s a fair assumption that today’s Big Scary Monsters roster would look very different. While America’s emo revolution of the mid-late 90s was propelled by the likes of The Promise Ring and Cursive, Braid and Knapsack, in the

Just like the US, where emo bands found themselves on Crank! or Deep Elm or Jade Tree, Helene Keller’s and Ian Simpson’s UK-based Subjugation label helped put the British scene on the map, releasing iconic albums by Leeds’ Baby Harp Seal (‘Baby Harp Seal’), Bob Tilton (‘Crescent’), and more. In fact, ‘Crescent’ predates

The Van Pelt’s seminal ‘Sultans of Sentiment’, yet possesses the same obliqueness and talky, lyrically dense musings as its rightly-lauded cousin. Stoke’s Spy Versus Spy were also picked up by Subjugation, yet by appearing on Deep Elm’s ‘Emo Diaries Chapter Four: An Ocean Of Doubt’, with the woozy ‘Set The Spokes Alight’ – immediately after The Movielife, no less – they helped put global eyes on this small corner of the musical world. Such is the power and intensity of these albums, it’s not hard to draw a line of influence right up to Big Scary Monsters’ very own Crash of Rhinos and their explosive ‘Knots’ album; classic,

uncompromising, Britishmade emo of the highest order. By 2003, just as emo was making noises on both sides of the Atlantic, a proliferation of emo bands across the UK emerged, with Kingston-UponThames’ Hundred Reasons helping the sound reach a mainstream audience, and the likes of Stapleton and Kids Near Water fuelling an expectant underground. Quick on the uptake, the fledgling Big Scary Monsters signed Leicester’s My Awesome Compilation and Teeside’s My Favourite CoPilot, releasing definitive EPs

Wagamama

Nandos

by both bands (BSM007 and BSMMFCP001 respectively), putting it at the forefront of the burgeoning scene. In 2012 – in a move that could be seen as a marker for the future direction of the label – Big Scary Monsters’ released Cursive’s ‘I Am Gemini’, finally bridging the gap between the UK DIY label and classic American Mid-West emo. Today, with signings like Doe and The Get Up Kids, that ethos remains in place, with Big Scary Monsters signing the best both countries have to offer.

We are late to the Wagamama train, but we are making up for lost time. Over the last year, we started eating ramen more. Nandos has been our most visited restaurant every time we’ve come to the UK, but Wagamama will be tough competition next time over. The U.S. needs Wagamama

top places to eat in the UK.

Nandos! The world wide sensation! A consistent first stop for us upon arriving in the UK every time. We’ve had it on four continents. The peri sauce is boss. The spicy rice is extra nice! Halloumi could be the best preparation of cheese in the world. It’s sooo cheeky. This restaurant would be reserved for our taste buds’ birthdays if that was something people celebrated.

Surprise! It’s not Nandos. 1 by Tiny Moving Parts

Red’s True Barbecue

Red’s True Barbecue is where we go when we want to eat too much. There might not be many BBQ restaurants in the U.K., but Red’s does it as good as the Memphis greats! Just reading the menu is fun. The food is great, and the portions are heaped.

McDonald’s

The GOAT! With incomparable value and convenience, McDonald’s grabs our number four pick. Whether we’re looking for a snack, a meal, or just some wifi, Ronnie McD has it. And all around the world, they have different options which makes it a fun treat every time! Y’all gotta get on that all day breakfast though.

Burger & Beyond

Surprised it’s not Nandos, right? We are too! Last time we played in London, we stopped by the Camden Market. The bar was set high, but Burger & Beyond had what we were looking for — juicy, cheesy burgers and crisp crinkle fries. Or chips…crinkle chips? Save it for a sunny day and go for a walk down the Camden Lock Pier, or visit the restaurant location when it’s chilly but you’re craving an amazing burger.

 Euro pick - Serways

Serways are service and petrol stations/restaurants off the autobahns of Germany. We go there for the currywurst and potatoes. We’re stuck eating on the go a lot when we tour, and Serways is one of our favorite places to stop. And a huge benefit to this place is getting petrol station snacks for dessert. Also McDonald’s has chicken wings in Germany so they win the Euro pick consolation prize.

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Big Scary Monsters 11

favourite cities

Doe - Nicola Leel City: Glasgow Favourite venue: Probably Stereo Favourite place to eat: A big reason we love Glasgow is because there are so many good veggie vegan places, but at a push probably Mono Favourite Attraction: Uhhh, we went to a museum once that was nice?

Delta Sleep Dave Jackson

to visit on tour

City: Leeds, The Beacon of Yorkshire Favourite venue: Brudenell Social Club! I lived the next street over from Brudenell for the best part of 5 years and there is no other place in the UK like it. You can stand at the bar and chat with a local about plastering, then head through to the venue and watch Shellac play to 400 people and get change from a fiver for two pints of Theakstons Bitter. Favourite place to Eat/ Drink: Dough Boys at Belgrave Music Hall. Best pizza in Leeds and they do half price pizza slices during the day. They actually made a Twin Galaxies Pizza for us when we did our album

The Winter Passing City: Bristol Favourite venue: Exchange Favourite place to eat: Cafe Kino + Slim’s Soul food Favourite Attraction: The street art and the Clifton Suspension Bridge Favourite thing about the city: The people, we have so many close friends in Bristol, it always feels like home away from home! Best memory of the city: Staying at our friend Wherly’s (from famous rock band Woahnows) farm in the countryside near Bristol airport during the snow storm in 2018, it was a weekend to remember!

Alpha Male Tea Party

City: Cardiff Favourite venue: CLWB IFOR BACH (Although it was Buffalo Bar until it got closed! RIP!) Favourite place to eat: Blue Honey, some cafe that turned into a karaoke bar in the evening with an asian street

food kitchen at the time. Favourite Attraction: CASTLE! Favourite thing about the city: The fact that people are up for a really good time! Best memory of the city: First ever show there, hands down. It was the first time we ever shot a confetti cannon off and the first time we received an encore!

Jamie Lenman City: Farnborough, my hood Favourite venue: I’ve picked one that isn’t there any more. The good old Tumbledown Dick, which was a big empty room on the side of a pub where local bands could get gigs. Reuben did their first show there back when we were called ‘Angel’, Hundred Reasons and Vex Red used to play there too. Favourite place to eat: Ironically the running gag with ‘the Tumbly’ was always that it was going to get closed down by the

health inspectors, until finally that actually happened! They turned it into a McDonalds which suits me fine, and also immediately qualifies as my favourite place to eat. Favourite Attraction:The VUE cinema in Farnborough decided to tackle falling attendance by dropping ticket prices to a fiver, instead of pushing them up like everywhere else, and as a consequence we go all the time. Favourite thing about the city: They do an all-weather boot sale in the carpark where we shot the cover for Racecar Is Racecar Backwards, you can always

4&8

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launch there in 2015. Sweethearts. Drink wise, urge you all to scope out The Angel, you can get a pint of Alpine Lager for £1.40 and sit by the fire. It really warms to cockles. Favourite Attraction: A night called Cosmic Slop in south Leeds, if you’re in the know you’ll know it’s the best night out. Favourite thing about the city: All the houses in Hyde park/Burley have huge basements, it sounds simple but it means you can set up a studio in your basement and practice for free all year! That’s what we did anyway. Best memory of the city: Watching Pulled Apart by Horses play to a rammed out, tiny room above the Packhorse Pub in Hyde Park, they tore that place apart!

Jim Beck Cassels

City: Bristol Favourite venue: Stag & Hounds (RIP) Favourite place to eat: Spitfire Favourite attraction: Waterfront! Favourite thing about the city: The people Best memory of the city: Every gig ever, being treated like royalty. Please never change.

Orchards Sam Rushton

Favourite thing about the city: The people are nicer in Scotland (apart from me) and the air is fresher Best memory of the city: When we bought Buckfast for Speedy Ortiz and had a cheeky drink sup before the show. Audrey was a complete convert and we got a cute pic together but then my disposable camera ruined it :(

City: Oxford Favourite venue: The Cellar Favourite place to eat: Atomic Burger Favourite Attraction: Oxford United Favourite thing about the city: People come and watch us when we play there. Best memory of the city: Our album release show at The Cellar was wicked. Still one of my favourite shows we’ve ever played I think.

Tangled Hair find some awesome shit there. Plus they got a post office in the ASDA what stays open on sundays! Beat that! Best memory of the city: Basically every memory from the ages of about 15-20, good and bad. I think one of the best was maybe the ‘Star Wars’ night they held just before Phantom Menace came out. I tied my hair back and went as Qui Gon Jin in a grey bath-robe with a big torch for a lightsaber. All the scene was there, Colin Doran had this boss ‘Episode One’ t shirt, everyone was caught up in the fever. That was twenty fucking years ago - innocent times!

City: Ramsgate Favourite venue: Ramsgate Music Hall Favourite place to eat: Shakey Shakey chip shop Favourite Attraction: Italianate Glasshouse even though it was closed. Favourite thing about the city: Ramsgate’s open minded opinion of 5-string bass guitars Best memory of the city: Hanging out with Tera Melos, despite their reservations about the 5-string bass guitar

Big Scary Monsters

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what is a music PR? Jamie Otsa from Wall Of Sound PR pulls back the curtain on working in music PR

Founded in 2012, Wall Of Sound PR has become the go to for bands in the DIY/alt-rock scene. Having worked with a diverse range of artists, from Tricot, The Spook School and Art Brut to BSM’s Orchards, Cultdreams and Alpha Male Tea Party, head honcho Jamie Otsa reveals that the world of music PR isn’t all glitz and glamour. young, affordable and flexible company that was passionate about smaller bands.The whole ethos of Wall of Sound PR is that we want to create a punk-spirited community around the business—whether that’s fostering relationships between our clients, working with people on our wavelength, or supporting charitable causes through our work. BSM: What is the role of a music PR? JO: I see our role as cultivating and maintaining relationships within the wider media for our clients, with a view to growing their fanbase, credibility and profile. One of the things that’s most important is identifying a strong narrative for a project that journalists can dig into for a story. It’s our job to find angles that could lead to potential press coverage, and use our knowledge and expertise of how various media outlets work in our clients’ favour. There can also be elements of image control, damage limitation, and crisis management. BSM: How has music PR changed over the years? Big Scary Monsters (BSM): How did you get into Music PR? Jamie Otsa(JO): I used to be in a band and when we split up I started promoting local shows with my mate Sean. From there we got into putting on all-dayers and working on festival line-ups. Around the same time I was doing a lot of writing for the likes of Punktastic and Ourzone Magazine, and also editing the music news website for national promoters Glasswerk. Eventually we started a little independent booking agency and management company called Access Management. I’d had

some basic experience of the role of PR from my writing work, so I started doing bits and pieces for the bands on our roster. I set up Wall of Sound PR in 2012 and we’re now a three person company. BSM: Why did you decide to set up your own PR Company? JO: We had some great success on those early campaigns considering I had no idea what I was doing, and after that I started taking on a few bits of freelance work here and there for punk bands. I realised I was actually pretty good at getting coverage and there seemed to be a niche for a

JO: It’s a very interesting time to be answering that question, though I can’t comment on the heady days of music industry excess because I sadly missed them all! When I started in 2012 there was still a heavy emphasis on print deadlines and we were sending out CDs to people for review. These days nearly everything is digital and even that has changed a lot in the last year or two. For a while there was a strong reliance on Hype Machine and a big spread of blog coverage, but due to the sheer volume of music and the commitment level required from bloggers to keep a mid-range active site running voluntarily, there’s been a big decline in wider

news coverage and smaller sites. I think it’s actually been beneficial, as the overall standard of coverage seems to be rising. We’re seeing a big switch to video and photo content, but there’s still room for an in-depth long read article in the right place. BSM: With so much “new music” floating around, how do you get your clients/bands through or above all the noise? JO: As ever, I find the best way to cut through the noise is to know your audience: be polite, persistent and passionate about whatever you’re working on. BSM: What are the worst things about working in music PR? JO: Rejection, deadlines, constantly managing client expectations, the always-oncall nature of the job, drinking way too much coffee and getting the shakes, checking your emails every 2 minutes in a delusional state of paranoia that maybe they’re broken and that’s why nobody is replying to you...the usual. BSM: What are some of the best things about working in music PR? JO: Getting coverage! Seeing our bands in print publications, or on some of the biggest websites in the world, or going viral on social media, or hearing their new song on Radio 1 - these are things that never really seem to get old. I just love shouting about music and people that I’m passionate about, and

helping to bring more art that I believe in into the world. BSM: Why is a PR campaign integral to a bands success, particularly when they can self promote on the internet? JO: That’s another interesting question. I’m not sure it actually is integral to a band’s success, which I probably shouldn’t say (please hire us), but I think there’s very much a time and a place for PR. It can be an incredible tool when used correctly. It’s more like a booster shot which can really help when it’s used at the right point. I’m constantly telling bands who contact us that I like their music but to come back when they have a firm plan in place, or a new record, or more of a story going on, or further tour dates. BSM: What advice would you give to someone starting out/looking to get into music PR? JO: Be persistent. I think the way most people end up getting into it is transitioning over from writing. That’s certainly a great way to establish relationships with PR people in the first place. Also, a lot of PR companies offer internships or work experience, so the best thing to do is just get in touch and ask. Or, you could just start giving it a bash with absolutely no experience like I did! The music industry can be really difficult to get a foothold in, but if you’re passionate, genuine and work hard that goes a long way. Be polite and respectful to people and easy to work with — it doesn’t go unnoticed.

photo credit: Adrian Cantu (Blake)

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Big Scary Monsters 13

get schooled:

how to stand out If you’re a band just starting out it’s not as easy as it looks to get ahead. For the better part of a decade Jamie Coletta has been working her way through the music industry, helping bands “get closer to their dreams”. The PR and marketing queen has worked with a whole host of names: from PUP, Mom Jeans and Jeff Rosenstock to Foxing and Pkew Pkew Pkew. Having previously worked for RCA and SideOneDummy, she’s just begun a new venture No Earbuds. Jamie knows a hell of a lot about trying to make it in the biz, so we asked her for some tips on how to get your band noticed... One consistent problem that bands in the indie-punk/emo genre run into is finding a way to stand out and garner the attention of fans, labels, media, industry, etc. Of course every band thinks their sound is entirely unique, creative and groundbreaking, but the unfortunate truth is that isn’t always enough. So many incredibly talented

bands struggle to climb out from their local music bubble, and if you aren’t in a position to spend money hiring a marketing professional or call upon a family friend or peer in the industry to guide you, you’re on your own. Over my near-decade spent promoting and marketing music on the label side, I’ve gotten a good read on some

things that seem to work for some artists. Unfortunately there is no science to any of this, but I believe there are some things you can do that could amplify your chances of cutting through the noise. My focus is on the indie-punk/ emo community overall, but the principles are simple:

BE REAL Fans are smarter than ever these days, and they really don’t want to be marketed or promoted to. Sure, if you have a show coming up or something to actually promote, go for it. But I’m talking about how you conduct yourselves otherwise, on social media and on the stage. Just be a normal person and not just a promo machine. Talk about your interests, share music you’re listening to with fans, etc. Give people a chance to get to know you a bit better as a human being, and you’ll be surprised with all the ways your audience can grow from there.

BE YOUR BIGGEST FAN Speaking of fans, you’ve gotta be your own biggest fan. Whenever I first start talking with a band, I ask them about their goals. Sure, I want to know the specific dreams you have because that’ll factor into the overall strategy at hand, but what I’m really looking to find out with that question is just how much do you believe in yourself? If I’m going to get invested on any level, I need to know you are, too.

BE ON TOP OF YOUR OWN SHIT You should also be the #1 expert and most knowledgeable person on your team at all times. It’s so easy to defer responsibility to managers, agents, labels, publicists, etc but the most successful campaigns I’ve ever been a part of are the ones where the entire team, artist-included, are in the mix somehow.

Photo Credit Erica Lauren

Now, some more concrete actions you can take right now: ll Consider your content. Once you make the record, your work isn’t even close to finished. If you want to stand out in today’s music community, a helpful approach is to consider the grander visual and artistic vision for the project. If you yourself are well-versed in the various skills needed to create ongoing, smart content around your record, great. If not, start looking around you. You may know photographers, videographers, editors, etc in your own scene that are looking for opportunities to develop their skills, too. ll Interact with your peers and share their content on social media. Just the simple act of getting your name more consistently out there on people’s timelines will help, even if you don’t feel or notice it right away. ll Help other bands touring through your city. Get people out to the show, offer a place to stay, whatever you’re comfortable with. If you’re able to help, you should. Not saying every band will be gracious and remember you years down the line, but being a good person always helps. It has to. ll Keep your outreach to industry and media simple, and utilize your knowledge of the current media landscape to prove you’re on top of your own shit -- for example: private soundcloud streaming link first, never a reverbnation profile.

There’s truly so much more to it, but those are some quick ideas to get you going. Oh, and if you think that any of this seems too obvious, then you clearly haven’t seen the other side of a label’s demo submission folder or @mentions and it shows!

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sweets for the evening’s activities. Once home, I’ll shut the blinds (if the weather’s a bit smelly) and saunter around the wilderness, helping out strangers in Red Dead 2. Then close the evening with either a Harry Potter or How To Train Your Dragon. That’s pretty much it. To be honest, I’ve gone all warm and fuzzy just thinking about all of that.

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My perfect Sunday goes a little something like this:Wake up around 7.30am and get ready to go to church. Only joking. My perfect Sunday actually starts by gradually waking up around 9.30am. Once out of bed, I’ll stick on an episode of Columbo (preferably anything from season 2-6) and eat pancakes. I’ll then seek out a good old Sunday roast and stock up on chocolate and

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what’s your perfect sunday? Blake: Delta Sleep

Big Scary Monsters

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best of the bunch:

what happened to BSM’s lost bands?

In the early part of the 2000’s, Big Scary Monsters was widely known to have specific artists -people would say certain bands sounded like ‘BSM bands’. In fact Rocksound blatantly coined the term ‘BSMcore’ back in 2007 as a way to describe artists who sounded like they should be on the label, and when they first started off at the turn of the century, they had carved themselves a pretty specific niche. by Mario Gambardella

MEET ME IN ST LOUIS In 2005, Meet Me In St. Louis released an EP called ‘Promise me that we’ll never be like them. I don’t want to wind up like that. Relax, baby. We’re going to end up like us’, and was cited as the first to popularize math

unheard of at the time for bands to do something like that, especially as internet platforms like Patreon and Gofundme wouldn’t be set up for another several years. However on October 30, 2007 the band announced that Toby Hayes had decided to leave Meet Me In St. Louis, but assured that the rest of the band would find a new vocalist and continue going on strong. Although that wasn’t to be and the relationship between Toby and the band dwindled until his departure. Whilst finding a new vocalist hadn’t worked out, Toby’s sound was far too unique to be replicated. Finding the search unsuccessful the band

decided to finish and to do one final tour instrumentally (which happened to be the first tour Blakfish did). On the 6 February 2008, the band confirmed that they were no more.This very sad departure only meant fan devotion became stronger, having the first ever ‘Meet Me In St Louis Day’ - an unofficial bank holiday invented by the band’s label Big Scary Monsters takes place every Wednesday 24 September, with fans all over the world paying their respects. It is hoped this will become an annual event so that the bands memory may live on and future generations appreciate their musical brilliance.

Either way, without these groups coming through at the time that they did, Big Scary Monsters themselves wouldn’t be the record label they are night now. What I’ve learnt, especially with music scenes, is that they fall as quickly as they rise. We remember them fondly because of what they did to change our perception of music, but with that we create a very tight bond with what we associate with that feeling, that feeling of nostalgia. For me personally, all these bands made a large impact on my life despite if these groups are aware of it or not.

Secondsmile may go down as one of the forgotten heroes of millennial UK post-hardcore and it wasn’t until two years after Big Scary Monsters began that they were starting to find their sound and market. When their EP came out in 2004, the scene was seeing the peak of what people called the ‘Mighty Atom era’; a time

where Mighty Atom Records had a definitive sound that was lead by them releasing the initial records of Funeral For A Friend. With the Secondsmile record, it really felt like a transition from what was considered the ‘Mighty Atom emocore’ era of UK music into the early days of what we now consider math rock. This tailored off into releases

from Chariots, Sparks Lights & Flames and Days Ago, who were part of a very small but significant bridge between the two scenes in 2005. Secondsmile would eventually lose vocalist Ollie Goodman and the band decided to carry on without him, having lead guitarist Ross pick up the vocal duties. It was a very different style

that they went with, however it meant they were able to get noticed by people outside of their original scene. They ended up releasing Walk Into The Light And Reach For The Sky in 2006, followed by Years in 2008. The band parted ways not long after Years, but are still friends to this day.

CATS AND CATS AND CATS

from acts like Broken Social Scene and Arcade Fire. Despite the sound being very popular, there were not many bands making this sound at the time. They may have not made the biggest contribution to the label as a whole, but they were such a unique group

of individuals, their quirky sense of humour really made them stand out amongst other similar indie and emo acts. Around the home counties, niche indie and emo acts thrived in the scene. The stranger the music, the better. Cats and Cats and Cats are

remembered fondly by those who experienced them live or listened to their music, having introduced fans to a more unique style of indie-rock that catered to math rock and emo as well.

rock in the UK — they adapted the sound and contextualized it based on their local scene of Guildford, Surrey. After releasing an EP through Function Records, the plan was to release a full-length album with Big Scary Monsters and they were planning to record it with Alex Newport, who had produced phenomenal records for At the Drive-In and The Mars Volta. This was going to be an expensive affair, so in 2006/2007 they decided to ask for help from their fans, by asking them to donate money towards recording the album via their myspace page. As silly as it was, it was

SECONDSMILE

Securing a small time frame in the history of UK indie was Cats and Cats and Cats, who took inspiration from Saddle Creek Records’ discography as well as brogue pop elements

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BLAKFISH

Combining elements of bands like RX Bandits and technical post-hardcore stalwarts At

Big Scary Monsters 15

The Drive In, Blakfish started getting on radars because of their friend and manager Kirk Harrington who had got them on Meet Me In St Louis’ last ever tour. They became close friends with the band and it released a six-way split EP called ‘The Six Machine’ in 2007, released by BSM. It featured five other bands including: Caesura, My First Tooth, Colour, The Defeat and Minotaur Explode. Their debut EP gained a lot of praise throughout

the underground scene, including the track ‘Jeremy Kyle Is A Marked Man’, as well as receiving airplay from BBC Radio 1. There was a charisma about Blakfish that made them so loveable. Their sense of humour seeped into their music and live shows, while off stage their fans became more and more passionate and enamoured with them. After relentless touring, Blakfish found it became their undoing. While on tour with

Biffy Clyro in 2010 guitarist and vocalist Sam Manville quit during that fateful tour and the band had to cancel all further dates - driving straight home from what a lot of people considered the stepping off point for their career. The relationship between Sam and the rest of the band became toxic, with neither party talking to each other for a very long time. That year Blakfish would play their last ever show without Sam at

the Flapper in Birmingham to a sold out crowd, they had friends and guests provide vocals and it was a bittersweet ending for the band. But those who were around will know how much they changed the spectrum for that genre of music in the UK. Blakfish are still to this day highly regarded within the posthardcore and math rock scene in the UK.

Martha vs ITYIWEY

Touring America, changing set lists, new records and influence: Two bands share their experiences with each other. Starting out in a DIY band can be hard, so we tracked down two of the hardest working bands on the scene right now to open up a discussion about what it’s like. With so much going on for both parties: Durham’s Martha have just released their brilliant third album, while London based collective itoldyouiwouldeatyou are on the road for the best part of 2019, we managed to knuckle down Joey Ashworth and Nathan Stephens-Griffin to have a chat with each other – an opportunity for them to ask each other anything. Joey Ashworth: We’ve never been to the U.S. and the prospect seems mad daunting - the place is massive and I feel like I’d get in trouble just showing up - do you have any advice there? What are the crowds like? What should we not do? Nathan Stephens-Griffin: We were very lucky to be touring with Jeff Rosenstock who through years of very hard work has built up an audience and is playing quite big shows. So for us it was easy, we just showed up and played to Jeff’s very enthusiastic open-minded fans. Advice wise I really don’t know! Take care on the long drives. To me I always feel like people are very

forthright and confident, but then I feel like that everywhere. God this is rubbish advice. Sorry. Anyway, enough about us, what have you lot got planned for the near (and more distant) future? Joey: We are actually demoing new stuff quite extensively at the moment! Got two tracks pretty much

tomorrow, what’s a track that for you would have to be in there? Nathan: That’s a good question. I think having four songwriters in the band means that the answer to that one is potentially fraught, because if I chose one of “my” songs I look like a narcissist and if I choose one of the others, then it’s

done and another we’re hoping to bash out over the Queen Zee tour. We wanted to get started on the new thing as early as possible because we know we’re all over the place and the longer we have to think about stuff the better. Other than that, tours tours tours!! Next I’d love to get into actual material. Obviously everyone moves their set lists around as new stuff comes out, but we’ve found it really hard working out what to cut [and what to keep]. If you were playing your last show

like I’m dissing the other two. You start to see why things got so tense when Fleetwood Mac were making rumours. But it’s also the case that we write very collaboratively a lot of the time and there are songs that might start as one person’s idea but then develop into something completely different. In terms of a song that developed in that way, that’s always fun to play, and that sort of encapsulates the spirit of what Martha are about, I’d say all four of us really love playing ‘1967, I miss you, I’m lonely’ and

it’d definitely be on our final set list. It’s a song above love crossing borders, and about the futility of incessantly over thinking things, and also it has a cheesy as fuck sing-along. It’s one of the first songs we wrote, but doesn’t ever feel boring to play. Also Americans often think we’re singing, “I miss you, I’m horny”, which is obviously funny.

trying to peel back those subtle pushes on my psyche and kind of pick apart what’s me and what isn’t. You have a new record coming out! This is your first for BSM yeah? Nathan: We’re very excited to be working with all the BSM folks! That label has released loads of great stuff, and they have made us feel really welcome. We have some idiosyncratic ways of working and they have been very supportive of our nonsense. I think the main thing is that they were very enthusiastic about the record itself, which is important. Above all else, you want to know that the people releasing an album actually believe in it! Photo Credit Oli Isaac-Smith We’re just excited and anxious to Another question for you, get back to actually being is ‘Oh Dearism’ an Adam a band again, because Curtis reference? If so, what we’ve been not doing very about that concept made much since last summer, you want to write about it/ and it’s felt like an eternity. reference it? Hopefully people will be into Joey: Yes it is!! A lot of this the record, and we can start record is me trying to work to feel like human beings out how what I feel about my again. own mental health, gender, ‘Love Keeps Kicking’ by sexuality etc. is influenced Martha is out now via Big by wider dialogues pushed by Scary Monsters. the media and politicians. A ‘Oh Dearism’ by lot of Curtis’ work talks about itoldyouiwouldeatyou is out the imperceptible influence now via Alcopop! Records. those in power exert on the wider populace and this record take the form of me

Big Scary Monsters

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latest American Football scores Pittsburgh Stevers 34-KinselLA Rams 24

Stay Home or enjoy some Friday night gridiron? When itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s American Football at 704 W High St, Urbana, Honestly, there is only one answer. Pre-game, the American Football Marching Band took to the field. Marching bands are always a special sight on the pitch â&#x20AC;&#x201C; especially when Everyone is Dressed Up. But, when youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re watching The One With The Wurlitzer, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a magical experience. Magical barely describes the game itself though â&#x20AC;&#x201C; a match dominated by offenses and marred by appalling defensive plays. Quarterback Steve Holmes â&#x20AC;&#x201C; given licence to run the show â&#x20AC;&#x201C; threw three unanswered touchdowns in a masterful first quarter display. His opposite, Mike Kinsella, responded strongly in the fourth, even completing a superb blind pass that he Never Meant. With the clock ticking down and trying to force the game, Kinsella proved that Instincts Are The Enemy, leading to an uncharacteristic turnover that ended any hope of reeling in the Stevers. The KinselLA Rams may have felt they were Born To Lose; after that defensive disaster, this hack needs a Drink (Or Two or Three)â&#x20AC;Ś

feed me a box of words

In 2005 we released the debut album from time-traveling Boston based band The Campaign For Real-Time. These days, keyboardist Brendan makes a living designing crosswords for The New York Times. Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a special BSM edition he very kindly put together for us.

Across

Down

1. When tripled, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Optimal Lifestylesâ&#x20AC;? band

2. Toys with strings

4. Minus The ___

3. We ___ Promised Jetpacks

6. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Come To Mexicoâ&#x20AC;? band

4. Beach Slang record â&#x20AC;&#x153;___ Thrillsâ&#x20AC;?

7. Making out in public, initially

5. ___ Male Tea Party

9. Much-needed thing after partying too hard

6. ___ Love

10. Warning word 12. Real twat 13. ___ halda 16. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Apollo 13â&#x20AC;? shuttle 17. Vinnie ___ 18. ___ Wave 19. Pirate chant starter

11. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Tokyo Vampire Hotelâ&#x20AC;? band

12. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Shuffleâ&#x20AC;? singer Lenman 15. The Fall of ___

8. ___ Football

14. Below, to the bard