DIY, November 2018 by DIY Magazine

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NOV QUESTION!

This issue, we’re celebrating 2018’s great and good and so it seems only right to ask The Big Question: What are some of Team DIY’s favourite records of the year? SARAH JAMIESON • Managing Editor Florence + The Machine - High As Hope Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino The Xcerts - Hold On To Your Heart

EMMA SWANN • Founding Editor IDLES - Joy As An Act of Resistance Parquet Courts - Wide Awake! Arctic Monkeys - Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino

EDITOR’S LETTER To say that 2018 has been a strange year for a lot of us is quite the understatement. But, while it feels like everything is, well, going to shit out in the real world, this year has also offered up some incredibly special moments within music and that’s what we’re focusing on and celebrating throughout this new issue. From cover stars Shame - who’ve proved themselves one of the most exciting and hardest working new bands of right now - to the likes of Nadine Shah, IDLES and Dream Wife, who are all breaking down boundaries, building communities and making their voices heard, this lot are some of the most important voices of the last twelve months. And you bet they’re worth listening to. Sarah Jamieson, Managing Editor

LISA WRIGHT • Features Editor IDLES - Joy As An Act of Resistance Demob Happy - Holy Doom John Grant - Love Is Magic

LOUISE MASON • Art Director The Breeders - All Nerve Oliver Coates - Shelley’s on Zenn-La John Grant - Love Is Magic

WILL RICHARDS • Digital Editor

LISTENING POST

We’re in a reflective mood this month, readers, so we’ve been banging on some of our 2018 faves as we spend this issue looking back on the year. THE MAGIC GANG - THE MAGIC GANG When a band show so much promise, then blow even all that out the water? Yeah, that. Plus oh, those dreamy melodies.

Foxing - Nearer My God Brockhampton - iridescence Shame - Songs Of Praise

GOAT GIRL - GOAT GIRL

RACHEL FINN • Staff Writer

BODEGA - ENDLESS SCROLL

Empress Of - Us boygenius - boygenius Daniel Avery - Song For Alpha

What could possibly be better than witty post-punk with cybercultural references smeared across its chops? Oh yeah. JACK IN TITANIC.

Still sounding grubby in all the best ways, the foursome’s debut was a frequently rollicking, sometimes lackadaisical affair. Ace.

The Steen, Forbes, Finerty, Green and Coyle-Smith Budget Legal Firm, open for business.

“Mirror, mirror, on the wall… are my roots starting to show?”

NEWS

6 THE JAPANESE HOUSE 12 DEMOB HAPPY 16 HALL OF FAME 18 HAVE YOU HEARD? 20 JÄGER CURTAIN CALL 24 FESTIVALS NEU

26 CREWEL INTENTIONS 28 ANOTHER SKY 34 BODY TYPE FEATURES

C O N T E N T S 4 diymag.com

36 SHAME 44 NADINE SHAH 48 DREAM WIFE 50 IDLES 54 YOUNG FATHERS 58 THE BIG 2018 SUMMIT REVIEWS

62 ALBUMS 72 LIVE Founding Editor Emma Swann Managing Editor Sarah Jamieson Features Editor Lisa Wright Digital Editor Will Richards Staff Writer Rachel Finn Art Direction & Design Louise Mason Contributors Alex Cabré, Ben Tipple, Cady Siregar, James Bentley, Joe Goggins, Matthew Davies Lombardi, Nick Roseblade, Rhian Daly, Sarah Pope, Sophie Walker. Photographers Burak Cingi, Ellen Offredy, Fraser Stephen, James Kelly, Jenn Five, Jonathan Dadds, Leah Lombardi, Meg Lavender, Molly Keane, Neelam Khan Vela, Phil Smithies, Phoebe Fox, Robin Pope, Sharon López. Cover photo, page 3 and this page: Jenn Five For DIY editorial: info@diymag.com For DIY sales: rupert@sonicmediagroup.co.uk lawrence@sonicmediagroup.co.uk For DIY stockist enquiries: stockists@diymag.com

m DIY HQ, 23 Tileyard Studios, London N7 9AH Shout out to: Espero Studios, the Strongrooms Cafe, Pop Montréal for their hospitality, Jack White’s very dapper tour manager, Sports Team for actually coming good on their promise from our Neu interview to bring a shark to their Scala show and iconic Shoreditch boozer The George Tavern, which is currently facing closure: head to savethegeorgetavern. com to help keep this excellent venue alive. DIY is published by Sonic Media Group. All material copyright (c). All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of DIY. Disclaimer: While every effort is made to ensure the information in this magazine is correct, changes can occur which affect the accuracy of copy, for which Sonic Media Group holds no responsibility. The opinions of the contributors do not necessarily bear a relation to those of DIY or its staff and we disclaim liability for those impressions. Distributed nationally.

“It’s important to not rush things and find exactly what kind of music you want to make.” 6

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After emerging from under a shroud of mystery and refining her sound over multiple EPs, a period of upheaval in her personal life proved the driving force necessary for The Japanese House’s debut full-length to finally take its shape. Words: Rachel Finn. Photos: Emma Swann.

ounging in a meeting room at her publicist’s office, The Japanese House’s Amber Bain is reminiscing with a feeling between awe and disbelief about the 18 months she’s had since the release of fourth EP ‘Saw You In A Dream’ last year. “Within a month, my life completely changed,” she explains. “In February, a really long relationship I was in for about three or four years ended, so I moved out of that house, moved in alone, got a dog and sort of finished working on the album…” It may not have been the most ideal event to happen right in the middle of working on a debut record, but it did offer Amber the chance to view the making of the album through a new lens. After spending the past three years refining her sound, on The Japanese House’s as-yet-untitled debut full-length, she’s embracing experimentation and finding her strength as a songwriter by producing some of her most lyrically direct work yet. Releasing the equivalent of an album’s worth of songs before actually releasing a full album “was logistical” in some ways, she explains, because

of her intense touring schedule over the past few years, during which time she headed out on several of her own headline tours, as well as buddying up with Dirty Hit labelmates Wolf Alice and The 1975. “But I was really glad that I did that because if you compare the first shows to now, it’s a completely different person on stage,” she reflects. “I’m not naturally a performer. I’m more of a behind-thescenes songwriter and producer, but I’ve learnt how to become that person. I’m glad I waited this long because I don’t think I’d have been able to make the same album two years ago. I think it’s important to not rush things and find exactly what kind of music you want to make.” Recorded between Angelic Studios in Oxford, ICP Studios in Brussels and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver’s rural studio in Wisconsin alongside producer BJ Burton and George Daniel of The 1975 (with Matty Healy also contributing vocals to one of the songs), her debut pulls together everything she’s learned so far while consistently pushing it a step further, displaying an emotional vulnerability she admits she wouldn’t have been able to express quite so candidly a few years ago. 7

Take ‘You Seemed So Happy’, for example. Under its jangly, upbeat instrumental lies a darker meaning. “It’s about quite extreme health anxiety. I knew someone who died in quite a horrible way and it sort of clicked for me like, ‘oh, people can just die?’. I hadn’t really thought about that before and that sort of triggered this extreme fear where I’d honestly be taking a blood pressure monitor with me everywhere I went, compulsively checking my blood before leaving the house, taking a thermometer with me… “It like, destroyed my life for a bit and destroyed my relationship for a bit ‘cause I was just horrible to be around. I’d always be in a state of complete panic, just like thinking I was on the verge of dying. On the surface I obviously seemed really happy and not depressed and not anxious, but actually inside I was feeling horrible.” Another sonic curveball comes in the form of the glitchy, synth-heavy ‘Everybody Hates Me’, a song about hangover-induced anxieties. “I was hungover for about three years, just every single day,” she admits. “[It was] that feeling of waking up and being like ‘I’ve ruined my life, everyone hates me, I hate myself’. That anxiety was so intertwined with alcohol and it was drilled into my system to feel like I’d done something awful and now I’ve stopped drinking, I don’t have to feel that every day.”

of the lyrics on the first EP, I was 15 or 16 when I was writing those songs. Even I’m like, ‘oh I wonder what I’m talking about there exactly?’. I wrote the chorus [for ‘Lilo’] when I first met that girlfriend and I wrote the verses just before we broke up. It was just this really weird reflection on the entire relationship for me.” Even ‘weirder’ perhaps, then, is the video for the song, in which Amber’s ex (fellow singer-songwriter Marika Hackman) appears playing her love interest in a series of scenes. Was that not a strange experience, we ask? “No... not really! It did seem very natural, but slightly weird kissing again because obviously that’s something that you’re not supposed to do with your ex...” she laughs. “I still talk to her every day so it wasn’t too crazy, but it was just quite emotional ‘cause we still love each other so much. I think it’s also amazing that she agreed to do it, because she really didn’t have to do that.”

“I was hungover for about three years.”

But if the album sounds all doom and gloom - FYI we’ve heard half of it and can promise it’s not - lead single ‘Lilo’ arrives as a breath of fresh air, full of serene synths and dreamy vocals recounting the experience of looking back at a relationship with a strange sense of distance. “It hints at how lyrically I’m a lot more blunt than I used to be. Some

Though the album may have begun life under one set of circumstances and ended up being finished in a set of new ones, Amber manages to bring the two together to create a cohesive and emotional portrait of a tumultuous period in her life from which she seems to have emerged a stronger person. “Obviously I hope people like it and that they feel it’s good, but ‘good’ is such a weird word…” she muses when asked what she hopes listeners feel when they hear the record for the first time. “I guess I hope they feel how I felt when I was writing those songs in some way. I hope that people feel connected, that’s what I hope most. I think that’s as much as I can hope for.” DIY

GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT TITLE: TBC WHERE: April Base in Wisconsin, ICP Studios in Brussels and Oxford’s Angelic Studios. SONGS: ‘Lilo’, ‘You Seemed so Happy’, ‘Everybody Hates Me’ DUE: 2019 OTHER DEETS: The album’s artwork was actually shot in California’s Death Valley, by one of Amber’s fave photographers Jim Mangan.

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DIY

On the Gram

ue to the name of our magazine, dear readers, we often get some slightly strange requests in our social media inboxes. Sorry, Jane from Surrey, but we’re really not sure on the best way to assemble your new desk. As our expertise lies far away from actual DIY, we’ve done the sensible thing and asked some of your favourite bands for their #1 DIY tips. We’re a magazine of the people after all. This month, it’s... Murray from The Xcerts.

These days, even yer gran is posting selfies on Instagram. Instagran, more like. Everyone has it now, including all our fave bands. Here’s a brief catch-up on music’s finest photo-taking action as of late.

“It’s extremely hard to believe I was once an emo kid with floppy hair who would straighten his hair [was it though, Murray? - Ed] but facts are facts and my mum has the photos to prove it. Once I discovered Biffy Clyro, I stopped straightening my hair and went for the au naturel aesthetic. However, I most certainly did not throw out the straighteners as they proved to be a fantastic tool for ironing shirts and jeans. So if you have a pair hidden underneath your bed, dust them off and get those clothes looking sharp. You can, of course, use an iron like everybody else, but it’s 2018, let’s celebrate individuality.”

Shame here, clearly ignoring TLC’s explicit advice. (@shame)

SPONSORED

“Theatrical? Moi?”

DIY’S PICK OF

LNSOURCE In desperate need of a live music fix but can’t decide where or who? If you feel too spoilt for choice, here’s just a few of LNSource’s upcoming shows worth getting off the sofa for.

middle kids 26th November, Village Under-

BACK TO SCHOOL We’re having a big ol’ party to welcome in our Class of 2019, and you’re all invited... Don’t get us wrong. Here at DIY, we love casting our eye back over the triumphs of the recent past and indulging in a healthy dose of nostalgia. Heck, the majority of this issue is dedicated to celebrating the musical winners of the past 12 months and toasting the year that was 2018. But we’re also always looking forward to finding the people who’ll soon join them and The Next Big Thing waits for no one - not even with Christmas ho ho ho-ing around the corner. So, ahead of our annual super mega double issue new band extravaganza (out in December), we present to you a teaser of our tips for the next 14 diymag.com

calendar year – aka DIY’s Class of 2019. And, because we love a knees up, we’re presenting it in the form of a big, fun and, most importantly, free party. On Friday 7th December, we’ll be heading to Waterloo’s underground musical destination spot House of Vans with three of the bands soon to be inducted into next year’s Class in tow. They are, drum roll please... Kent punks and Slaves’ best buds Lady Bird! Forward-thinking pop quartet Anteros! And our headliners, the flamboyant and frankly ridiculous Sports Team! Plus we’ll be inviting some old alumni back to spin tunes into the night. Tickets are free, on a first come, first served basis. Sign up at houseofvanslondon.com.

ground, London Returning following the release of debut ‘Lost Friends’ back in May, the Aussie trio will be hot off a support tour with Bloc Party by the time they head to East London.

juanita stein 23rd November, The

Courtyard, London She’s supported The Killers just about everywhere in the past eighteen months or so, released album ‘Until The Lights Fade’ this summer, and is now returning to the picturesque theatre for a headline show.

sonny

22nd November, Thousand Island, London The South Shields singer-songwriter has an impressive quiff. He’s also headed to the glittery confines of Thousand Island this month. For more information and to buy tickets, head to livenation.co.uk or twitter.com/LNSource

P R E S E N T S

UK TOUR 2019 THU 24 JANUARY

TUE 29 JANUARY

EXTRA DATE ADDED

FRIARS AYLESBURY WATERSIDE

NEWCASTLE O2 ACADEMY LD OUT SO

WED 30 JANUARY

MOTHERWELL

FRI 25 JANUARY

DOME

CONCERT HALL OUT AND THEATRE SOLD

SAT 26 JANUARY

FRI 01 FEBRUARY

O2 ACADEMY LD OUT SO

UNIVERSITY THE GREAT HALL

BRIGHTON

CARDIFF

OXFORD

MON 28 JANUARY

BLACKBURN KING GEORGES HALL

SUN 03 FEBRUARY

SOUTHAMPTON O2 GUILDHALL

TUE 05 FEBRUARY

LEICESTER

O2 ACADEMY THU 07 FEBRUARY

GUILDFORD G LIVE

FRI 08 FEBRUARY

LONDON

T ROUNDHOUSE SOLD OU

SAT 02 FEBRUARY

SAT 09 FEBRUARY

UNIVERSITY THE GREAT HALL

ROUNDHOUSE

EXETER

EXTRA DATE ADDED

LONDON

SUPPORT FROM ALL DATES EXCEPT 09 FEB

THEVACCINES.COM

A C R O S S T O W N C O N C E R T S , S J M C O N C E R T S , D F C O N C E R T S & P C L P R E S E N TA T I O N B Y A R R A N G E M E N T W I T H C O D A A G E N C Y

PLUS AND

UK TOUR 2019 EXTRA DATE ADDED

THURSDAY 24 JANUARY OUT FRIDAY LDJANUARY SO25

GLASGOW

O2 ACADEMY SATURDAY 26 JANUARY

LEEDS

FIRST DIRECT ARENA MONDAY 28 JANUARY

NEWPORT CENTRE

UK & IRELAND TOUR 2018

T TUESDAY 29OU JANUARY SOLD

BOURNEMOUTH O2 ACADEMY

T THURSDAY JANUARY OU SOLD31

BIRMINGHAM O2 ACADEMY

NOV 12 — DUBLIN OLYMPIA THEATRE NOV 14 — LONDON O2 ACADEMY BRIXTON NOV 15 — OXFORD O2 ACADEMY NOV 16 — BRIGHTON THE DOME NOV 18 — CARDIFF THE GREAT HALL NOV 19 — BIRMINGHAM O2 ACADEMY NOV 20 — GLASGOW O2 ACADEMY NOV 21 — NEWCASTLE NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERS ITY WITH SPECIAL GUEST

FRIDAY 01 FEBRUARY

LONDON

THE SSE ARENA WEMBLEY

LAURA JEAN

PLU S

(LOND ON ONLY) A CROSSTOWN CONCERT S & FR I E N DS PRESENTATIO N I N A S S O C I AT I O N W I T H C O D A A G E N CY NEW ALBUM

TELL ME HOW YOU REALLY FEEL OUT NOW

T H E W O M B AT S . C O . U K

• BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE WILL RUIN YOUR LIFE OUT NOW • A CROSSTOWN CONCERTS, SJM CONCERTS, DF CONCERTS AND KILIMANJAROLIVE PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH PRIMARY TALENT INTERNATIONAL

T I C K E T S AVA I L A B L E F R O M

SEETICKETS.COM - GIGANTIC.COM - TICKETMASTER.CO.UK - SSEARENA.CO.UK - AXS.COM ROUNDHOUSE.ORK.UK - STARGREEN.COM - GIGSANDTOURS.COM - GIGSINSCOTLAND.COM @CROSSTOWN_LIVE -

/CROSSTOWNCONCERTS -

@CROSSTOWNCONCERTS 15

HALL FA M E

NE WS

A monthly place to celebrate the very best albums released during DIY’s lifetime

Lily Allen - ‘Alright, Still’

Shit sex, creepy men and the stoner habits of her own (soon-to-also-be-famous) brother. Nothing was safe from the acid pen of 21-year-old Lily Allen as she booted her way into the public eye with a debut that’s irrepressible, still. Words: Lisa Wright.

THE FACTS

Release: 13th July 2006 Stand out tracks: ‘Everything’s Just Wonderful’, ‘Smile’, ‘Littlest Things’ Tell your mates: Final track ‘Alfie’ was an ode to the stoner habits of her brother, who’d later go on to star in Game of Thrones. The boy did good.

16 diymag.com

t’s a tiresome byproduct of successful popstardom that those with the most uncontainable characters are also often the ones sentenced to a career of tabloid hell. Women who don’t play ball and gleefully call out the dickheads aren’t “palatable”, and, from the beginning, none were more gleeful and less willing to toe the party line than Lily Allen. Emerging in 2005 at the height of the Myspace boom with early tracks ‘LDN’ and ‘Smile’, the then-21-year-old Londoner may have had a famous dad, but she was predominantly elected as a generational spokesperson by her online peers. Her cheeky blog posts and socially-attuned, witty slices of genre-crossing pop resonated of their own accord and soon the wider industry were forced to pay attention to the mouthy young singer whose demo CDs were being traded for increasingly silly amounts of money. Far from a flash in the pan, however, she had the chops to back the hype up. ‘Smile’ was released properly and reached Number One, and, soon, debut ‘Alright, Still’ followed, narrowly missing

out on the top spot. Implicitly imbued with the multicultural sound of the city, fusing elements of reggae and hip hop in with sparkling, hook-laden pop, it was a record that burst with personality from every pore. Whether making half-baked excuses to shake off creepy guys on nights out (‘Knock ‘Em Out’) or reminiscing about lost weekends with a former flame (‘Littlest Things’), Lily’s un-sugarcoated take was effortlessly relatable. Of course, then she wasn’t just one young woman flipping the bird to the establishment, she was one highly influential young woman with an increasing tribe of followers behind her. And that didn’t sit well with the shitrags. 13 years on and with a recent biography explicitly detailing the tumultuous media relationship that’s categorised the whole thing, Lily’s inadvertently become equally as famous for her public persona as her musical prowess. But with recent fourth LP ‘No Shame’ earning the singer her first Mercury Prize nomination and a renewed swell of creative praise, the tides are turning back in favour of a singer who’s always walked the walk and done so to some of the most playfully righteous songs out there. DIY

PLUS SPECIAL GUEST

30 01 02 04 05 11

OUT S O L DGLASGOW NOV O 2 ACADEMY OUT S O L DLEEDS DEC STYLUS DEC MANCHESTER ALBERT HALL DEC NEWCASTLE BOILER SHOP DEC BRISTOL O 2 ACADEMY DEC BRIXTON O 2 ACADEMY

DICE.FM GOLDENVOICE.CO.UK YOUNG-FATHERS.COM A GOLDENVOICE PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH PRIMARY TALENT INTERNATIONAL 17

SUNDARA KARMA lllusions

............................................................................................................................................................................................

“Y

es, but what should I do?” questions a Siri-like voice before a crash of cymbals wash away the robots and a funky guitar line takes our hand into Sundara Karma: Phase Two. If there’s one thing that’s abundantly clear even from the opening notes, it’s that they’re not going quietly into the night this time around. If Sundara always sat slightly on the peripheries of the indie realm - a little bit too overblown and literary to be comfortable bedfellows with the Catfishes they were often billed alongside - then on ‘Illusions’ they’re not exactly dialling down the idiosyncrasies.

There’s a chorus that harmonises Oscar’s falsetto with a synthetic vocal effect, a warm, slow-building mid-song instrumental interlude and a final, whirring, spacey fade out (completed by cheering and whoops). If it all sounds like a lot, then that’s because ‘Illusions’ is packed with ideas. But what’s impressive here is that actually, it doesn’t sound too ritzy at all. Instead, it’s a laid-back banger that preps us for a record that’s undoubtedly going to go all in all manner of weird and wonderful new directions and shows a band cavorting around a musical playground entirely of their own. (Lisa Wright)

YAK

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE QUEEN

Bellyache .......................................... Yak have always used intensity as their greatest weapon. New one ‘Bellyache’, however, uses restraint to its advantage. The space given to the song by its slow, steady drumbeat allows all manner of psychedelic squeals to worm their way around. Wah pedal-assisted guitars give the track a woozy, otherworldly quality, before a stab of incessant noise barges through for a chorusof-sorts. A fascinating change of pace, ‘Bellyache’ shows that Yak refuse to be pigeonholed. (Will Richards) 18 diymag.com

SUNFLOWER BEAN

Come For Me .......................................... ‘Come For Me’ marks a brilliant progression for Sunflower Bean. ‘Twentytwo In Blue”s calling card was ‘Crisis Fest’ - ‘Come For Me’ is a natural predecessor, Julia Cumming strutting her way through with intoxicating confidence. It’s so unashamedly big, radio friendly and in-yourface that it’s a shame it’s consigned to a betweenalbums EP. As it closes with a hair metal-worthy shred, ‘Come For Me’ immediately asserts itself as Sunflower Bean’s finest hour, and the next step of three future rockstars. (Will Richards)

Merrie Land ...................................... There seems no more poignant a time than now for The Good, The Bad and The Queen to make their return. Set to fairground-esque, plinking backing, this title track spins a stream-ofconsciousness tale of abstract thoughts. The observations are prudent, of people “disconnected and raised up in mansions” and of “two hundred plastic bags in a whale’s stomach”. Beneath the purposefully feather-lite sonic exterior, the ‘supergroup’ are soundtracking a real-life horrorshow. (Lisa Wright)

GERARD WAY

Baby You’re A Haunted House .......................................... Back in 2014 Gerard Way re-emerged to deliver a debut solo record that cribbed from Britpop’s finest. Now, just in time for Halloween, the singer is back with an unexpected new single, and it picks up the hyper-melodic, hook-laden mantle of that record and douses it in a warm fuzzy crackle. An irrepressibly headshaking bop, ‘Baby You’re A Haunted House’ is like Weezer covering a classic ‘60s early Beatles romantic romp. Everything we’d want from Way and more. (Lisa Wright)

It’s tiring work, being in Hull’s premier punk band.

LIFE

Mush & The Starlight Magic Hour Night & Day, Manchester. Photos: Sharon López.

ith hanging decorations adorning the venue and a junior Gallagher child on the list (it is Manchester, after all), local boys The Starlight Magic Hour are first on. Channelling the lurching, teetering-onthe-edge-of-chaos grottiness of the Fat White Family, via a touch of The Pogues, the sextet are a gloriously chaotic proposition. The rest of the band may be dapperly suited, but singer Michael Cunningham - sporting a red velour tracksuit - is a careering tumble of hedonism. Clearly having taken some lessons from sadly departed Fall frontman Mark E Smith’s school of stagecraft (the primary one being, you don’t always have to be on the stage or even looking at the audience if you don’t feel like it), the singer perches behind pillars, sprawls on the floor and generally lurches about like a man unencumbered by the trivialities of most. The songs are mostly good too - dark-hearted shanties that veer between romping hoe-downs and disturbing dirges. Leeds boys Mush might be a tighter proposition but there’s a glint in their eyes, too. Like early Parquet Courts or, going further back, Television, the quartet deal in taught, interplaying guitars and playfully wonky melody, while curly-haired singer Daniel Hyndman has more than a whiff of ‘Courts singer Andrew Savage’s vocal inflection to his own sometimes deadpan, sometimes exaggerated delivery. Though the influences are clear, however, there’s nothing derivative about this lot. From the cheeky lollop of ‘Gig Economy’ to idiosyncratic, Trump-baiting, eight-minute closer ‘Alternative Facts’, these are tracks full of nuance and smarts. Mush could be something quite special. Having unveiled new track ‘Niceties’ - recorded for Jäger

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Curtain Call - the day before, Hull punks LIFE enter with some new tricks up their sleeves. Midway through recording their forthcoming second LP and with an increasing arsenal of political yet personal, society-challenging jabs at their disposal, the quartet are whittling their niche into something unique. Sure, pals IDLES, Slaves et al might speak about the world, but this lot - youth workers by day, musicians by night - are coming at it from a slightly different angle, one based in directness and lived experience with the young people around them. It rings through not just in the tracks - frustrated yet danceable blasts that rattle between the disdainful (‘Euromillions’), the cheeky (‘Popular Music’) and the more anxious stamp of ‘Niceties’ itself - but in singer Mez Green’s onstage chat too. Telling the Tories where to stick it, and speaking candidly about his work and the economic problems around it, he’s a righteous narrator with a strong line in dance moves - part dead serious voice of the working class, part gloriously affected flamboyant flounce. It’s a combination that makes LIFE an irresistible force. Heading into 2019 in a stronger place than ever, by rights this should be the year the wider world starts cottoning on to their charms too. (Lisa Wright)

With Very Special Guests to be Announced

2019 UK Tour . 02 April - Barrowland Ballroom Glasgow . 04 April - Rock City Nottingham . 06 April - O2 Victoria Warehouse Manchester . 08 April - O2 Academy Bristol . 09 April - O2 Academy Sheffield . 10 April - O2 Institute Birmingham . 12 April - O2 Guildhall Southampton . 13 April - O2 Academy Brixton London Sundarakarma.com A Live Nation, DF Concerts, DHP & Friends presentation by arrangement with Primary Talent International

ANTEROS

DIYLive

The Garage, London. Photo: Emma Swann. Anteros have spent the past few years carving out a path as eclectic pop shapeshifters. Tonight - the second stop on a seven date UK tour - they prove why they’re fast becoming known for their celebratory live shows. With dynamic frontwoman Laura Hayden at the helm, the show never falls short of being a pure party. The recent announcement of the band’s album, ‘When We Land’, means we’re treated to some new live additions to the set. Latest single ‘Ordinary Girl’ provides a slower, more contemplative moment of calm, (but since it’s Anteros, the band perform it with a high-powered energy regardless). ‘Call Your Mother’ might be the band’s most refined work to date and live it sounds massive. That’s not, of course, forgetting some of the band’s older tracks. Breakout single ‘Breakfast’ is pure pop joy and the funk, disco-esque of ‘Drunk’ (preceded by a cover of ‘These Boots Are Made For Walking’, no less), with its intoxicatingly upbeat chorus proves to be a real highlight. A band going from strength to strength, tonight’s show is a joyful, uplifting affair and for Anteros it will only go up from here. (Rachel Finn)

DO IT YOURSELF NEU TOUR Earlier this year, we unleashed Do It Yourself: a special issue aimed at people wanting to work in the music industry, featuring helpful stories, tips and tricks from those who’ve been there and done it successfully already. Now, following its London launch back in June, we’re taking this show on the road with our inaugural three-date Do It Yourself Neu Tour, in association with BIMM, Horus and Ticketmaster. Next month, we’ll be hitting Birmingham, Brighton and Leeds for three events, bringing you real world advice and some very exciting new bands to boot. From 2pm in each city, we’ll be presenting a series of panels, featuring local and national industry bods and artists, all offering up their experiences to help you get the best start to your career possible. Then, in the evening, we’ll be opening the doors again for a live show, featuring three bands from the city, all breaking out and destined for greatness. And the best thing is that tickets for the whole shebang (that’s the day and evening together) are priced at a teeny tiny £5. The Do It Yourself Neu Tour is supported by PRS Foundation’s The Open Fund. 22

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NOVEMBER: 26 • BIRMINGHAM Sunflower Lounge (feat. Youth Man, Table Scraps and more TBA) 28 • BRIGHTON The Hope and Ruin (feat. Penelope Isles, Porridge Radio and more TBA) 29 - LEEDS Headrow House (feat. Special Guest Headliners, Caro and more TBA)

SOLD OUT

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FESTIVALS

Photo: Molly Keane

FIRST FIFTY

Showcasing the first 50 names announced for next year’s Great Escape, the now-annual shindig that is First Fifty again takes over various East London venues for a smattering of gigs featuring some of the buzziest new acts around. From Slow Club alumni Rebecca Taylor’s Self Esteem project to noisy Irish boys Fontaines DC via the so-new-they’re-basically-foetal Jockstrap, Chappaqua Wrestling, Walt Disco and Sick Joy, November in Shoreditch has never been this hot.

DIY PRESENTS

29th November, The Macbeth • FONTAINES DC • • THE HOWL & THE HUM • • CHAPPAQUA WRESTLING •

IT’S A KIND OF MAGIC The Magic Gang, Loyle Carner and Mabel headed to Liverpool Sound City. The first names for May’s Liverpool Sound City have been revealed, with The Magic Gang, Loyle Carner and Mabel among them. Heavy Lungs and Our Girl are also Merseyside-bound across the event, which takes place between 3rd and 5th May next year. For more details, head to diymag.com.

SOUTH BY SOUTH NEXT Drahla, Fontaines DC and Amyl and the Sniffers all Austin-bound in March. A big, long list of names for March’s buzz-centric SXSW in Austin, Texas has been revealed, with DIY faves Drahla, Fontaines DC and Amyl and the Sniffers all featuring. Oxford troubadour Willie J Healey, Puma Blue and Westerman are also Texas-bound, with more names to be added in the coming months. SXSW 2019 takes place between 8th and 17th March 2019. Head to diymag.com for the full list.

Q&A

Firsts and more: Fontaines DC have a busy month by the looks of it. What’s new in Fontaines DC’s world? We’re currently recording our first album with Dan Carey in Streatham, London. We’re also really looking forward to touring the UK with Shame in November. You’re playing First Fifty: what was the first gig you went to? Grian: Westlife Carlos: Green Day Curley: Meatloaf Tom: Eric Clapton Deego: Thin Lizzy ...and the first record you bought? G: The Very Best of the Velvet Underground. C: The Beach Boys - Surfin’ USA C: Gorillaz - Demon Days T: The White Stripes - Elephant D: Bob Dylan - Blonde on Blonde Finally, for newcomers to your live show, what can DIY readers expect from it? Songs we wrote in Dublin about life there played with conviction.

EUR’ THE ONE FOR US A handful more acts have been added to January’s Eurosonic Noorderslag. After September’s announcement that Fontaines DC, Boy Azooga and Gurr were all set to play January’s Eurosonic Noorderslag in the Dutch city of Groningen, the event has announced a few more acts. Octavian, Nova Twins and Lafawndah are among the additions, alongside Hilary Woods and Haerts. Eurosonic takes place between 16th and 19th January. For the full list, head to diymag.com.

CIAO, MILANO! As you’ll have read over on p22, we’re taking our special Do It Yourself issue out on the road this month and it’s not just around the UK! We’ll also be heading over to Milan for this year’s edition of Linecheck Festival to get involved there, too. DIY will be joining the fest’s NIMPE Music Factory programme - which sees fifteen European artists bunk up under one roof - for a series of workshops and panels, aiming to offer up advice and tips for the next generation of acts. This year’s edition of Linecheck Festival takes place from 22nd to 24th November in BASE Milano, and is part of Milano Music Week. 25

CREWEL INTENTIONS

“The whole notion of highs and lows has been a running theme in the two years I’ve been away.” - Chilli Jesson

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When Palma Violets called it a day two years ago, they did it so quietly that no-one seemed quite sure if they had actually broken up. thing There was no statement, no big farewell celebration, just one last friends-only show at 180, their famed Lambeth base. If it weren’t for the emergence of new bands from their ashes, we’d probably still be questioning it now.

THE BIG

“It felt like a natural conclusion,” says Chilli Jesson, former Palmas bassist and, now, Crewel Intentions frontman. The band had begun to pull in different directions musically and, instead of battling to mould those new paths into something coherent, they separated. In the two years since, Chilli has been keeping a low profile. He got a job in a pub where people would come in, recognise him, and ask him to “sign my name in their Guinness”. “It was tough but it was fucking funny at the same time,” he says now. “Everybody gets a job at some point. It was just quite strange for somebody who had been on this rollercoaster.”

Stepping out of the sidelines, former Palma Violets bassist Chilli Jesson is back with a new band, ready to claim the spotlight he was always made for. Words: Rhian Daly. Photo: Emma Swann.

Between pulling pints and giving out foamy autographs, however, Chilli was also hard at work on something else - building up an arsenal of songs with collaborator Marley Mackey, and finding gang mentality in a completely new band (completed by Telegram drummer Jordan Cook, Yak and Gallon Drunk’s Leo Kurunis, and keyboardist Rupert Greaves). “I’d written five songs in five years and lived off one,” he says, cackling, in reference to ‘Best of Friends’. “And then I suddenly have this whole flurry of music and I’ve got one non-judgemental person in a room, listening to what I have to say. It felt natural and exciting.” There’s a difference to his writing this time around - the lyrics, which form real narratives, are far more personal. “I opened up avenues and doors that I’ve never spoken about,” he explains. “There’s a lot to do with my father, who passed away when I was young.” While doing so, he found a new songwriting partner in his sister, Georgie - a poet. “She’s dealt with a lot of the same emotions that I had, so it’s a very easy relationship to have. I’ve always wanted to do something

together. She’s someone that comes in and says, ‘Fucking hell, that’s shit’, and she’s allowed to because she’s family. I don’t think anyone else can do that.” That brings us to ‘Youth In Overload’ - Crewel Intentions’ debut track. Big, bright, and chiming, there are echoes of Nick Cave and even subtler hints of Pulp within the song’s swooping frame, while Chilli tackles the anxiety he felt when he found himself without a band, job, or money. “And when you’re laid in bed at night / And you’re paranoid and wired / And you got nothing left to hide,” he sings, voice growing in urgency. “The whole notion of highs and lows has been a running theme in the two years I’ve been away,” he says. Youth is another recurring motif in Crewel Intentions’ first material. One track, which shares its name with the band’s, is a Western-inspired epic that opens like pistols drawn at dawn before venturing into something more tender and emotional. On it, Chilli declares himself both “young” and “a child”. “It’s a lot to do with my childhood, but also being 17 and being in a band and, now, being 24 years old. I feel like I’ve learned a lot but not much has changed. There’s definitely this diving into these huge emotions that I just discarded from a younger age and building them into songs.” The music might be more serious these days but don’t think Chilli’s lost his playful streak. While discussing what came first, the band name or the song, he starts insisting he was unaware of “this cheesy ‘90s film” until someone mentioned it to him later. Suddenly, he changes tact. “You know how much I love 19th-century tapestry, which is what crewel is for,” he jokes. “I merged all my favourite things into one short sentence. If you know me then it’s easy to understand.” It would be convincing if he didn’t burst into a fit of laughter as soon as he finished speaking. Similarly unserious for someone who’s toured the world, crashed into the charts, and made it out the other side of the music industry hype machine, Chilli is refreshingly unconcerned about goals and ambitions this time around. Instead, he’s just focused on getting his music out, and looking towards their biggest show so far and a tour supporting Johnny Marr. “It’s just a step at a time,” he says matter-of-factly. “It will go where it goes.” DIY

ANOTHER SKY

These four Londoners take the composite parts of a rock band and re-mould them in brilliant,

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creepy new directions over socially conscious lyrics. Words: Will Richards.

‘Chillers’, the new single from London four-piece Another Sky, is a suitable title. Set over choppy acoustic guitars and menacing percussion reminiscent of Radiohead, the track takes aim at Hollywood bigwigs. “Why worry about the weather or nuclear weapons when they can eat for free on a black card at Nando’s?” vocalist Catrin Vincent spits with venom. Rather than sarcastically taking shots at anyone in sight with tongue firmly in cheek and serving as a Banksy artwork in musical form, it’s delivered as an outpouring of frustration that cries out for genuine connection.

I knew I didn’t really fit in, but I couldn’t grasp what was happening, and I took it very personally. I thought there must be something wrong with me. To come to London and find like-minded people, and intellectualise what was happening, and learn from this new perspective, it was really important for me. It’s been quite profound, so I guess it comes across in the lyrics.”

Following recent track ‘Avalanche’, a blistering attack on toxic masculinity, ‘Chillers’ presents Another Sky as a new rock band of a different ilk. Musically, they melt the modern and the traditional together without boundaries, but it’s lyrically that they make their feelings known, a mission statement carved out from Catrin’s own personal evolution and delivered in her menacing, unique bellow.

Though ‘Chillers’ and ‘Avalanche’ employ sarcasm in order to smash their message home, positivity also sits at the heart of Another Sky, and they move towards a new EP and eventually a debut album with an empathetic outlook, one that champions community and conversation. “I think I believe that the more people talk about these things, the more comfortable everyone will be,” she affirms. “I really don’t like taboo subjects. I know it’s quite a paranoid atmosphere right now, and it feels very divisive. People don’t want to bring up subjects like Brexit just because it’s divided the country, but I believe people should never have to bottle things up.

“I’ve always written lyrics that are politically conscious, and it’s like Marmite,” she tells us. “I do feel a duty [to write about these things] though - I wouldn’t be authentic or honest otherwise. I was always affected by [politics] as a child, but I couldn’t quite grasp what was going on until I went to university and moved to London, which is such a diverse city. I came from a really small town mindset that

“I believe that negativity is inaction, while positivity is an action, and though I think negativity is crucial - you have to be able to realise that things aren’t good, in order to solve them - we can get in this loop of negativity, and it becomes really passive. Even if your situation looks bleak, or feels like nothing can cut through or get better, I believe you have to cling onto positivity no matter what.” DIY

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UK TOUR 2019 JANUARY TUE 22 BRISTOL O2 ACADEMY WED 23 LONDON KOKO THU 24 NOTTINGHAM ROCK CITY SAT 26 MANCHESTER ACADEMY SUN 27 GLASGOW SWG3 GALVANISERS GIGSANDTOURS.COM TICKETMASTER.CO.UK AN SJM CONCERTS PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH CODA

HANNAH’S LITTLE SISTER

JOCKSTRAP Buzzy, unpredictable alt-

Fun-loving new Liverpool bunch.

pop from London duo. Composing strings for Dean Blunt’s recent ‘Soul On Fire’ EP alongside A$AP Rocky and Mica Levi before even releasing their debut single, London duo Jockstrap are an intriguing prospect. New track ‘Joy’ sees a muddle of strings mixing with a sharp, bubbling mix of sampled vocals and hyper-modern synths, the transition is played out with little to no regard as to the genres skip like a game of hopscotch. Listen: Weird and wonderful new single ‘Joy’. Similar to: If modern alt-pop and classical tones made weirdo bedfellows.

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LALA LALA Emotionally-driven, off-kilter indie rock from Chicago. The indie project of Lillie West, Lala Lala reaches inwards to dredge awkward feelings to the surface and displays them with a widescreen dream-pop ambition. On new album ‘The Lamb’, she veers from moments of delicate nostalgia one moment and upbeat musings on the apocalypse the next, but both sides suit her well. Listen: The introspective yet uplifting shoegaze-y goodness of ‘Water Over Sex’. Similar to: Gazing dramatically out of the window on a long train journey whilst thinking about life and stuff.

Liverpool-based fourpiece Hannah’s Little Sister only have one track out in the world, but ‘20’ does enough on its own to identify some serious promise. Clearly taking inspiration from rock’s grubbier side, the vocals of Meg Grooters soar above the distortion and become brilliantly anthemic, adding bundles of fun and passion into the gritty rock song. Listen: Debut single ‘20’. Similar to: ‘90s grungers with a penchant for mainstream pop.

RECOMMENDED SASAMI New Domino signing formerly of Cherry Glazerr channels indie rock royalty. Formerly a member of Cherry Glazerr, Sasami Ashworth has shared bills with The Breeders, Japanese Breakfast, Liz Phair and more. Her music is clearly borne from these kind of indie rock landscapes, with choppy guitars and wobbly synths circling around her calm, steady yet impactful vocal. Two songs from this year - ‘Callous’ and ‘Not The Time’ - are coming out on a new 7” via Domino. Listen: The strong and steady thrash of ‘Not The Time’. Similar to: Mitski, Snail Mail, Pavement

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BUZZ FEED

ALFIE TEMPLEMAN 15 year-old studying at the schools of DeMarco and Parker. The imagination of almost all 15 year-olds runs wild, but not many spin it into a debut EP as good and accomplished as that of Alfie Templeman. Forged in his bedroom outside school hours, the ‘Like An Animal’ collection fizzes with youthful vigour and untamed energy. Its title track is clearly indebted to the slacker styles of Mac DeMarco and Rex Orange County, but the wooziness of Tame Impala and MGMT’s penchant for weirdness both penetrate the track, which turns school night boredom into something special. Listen: His woozy, promising debut EP. Similar to: Boy Pablo, Rex Orange County.

All the buzziest new music happenings, in one place.

BREATHE IN Fresh from touring the UK in support of IDLES, the Danny Nedelko-fronted Heavy Lungs are heading out on their own headline run next January. View the dates on diymag.com.

ON THE PLAYLIST neu

Every week on Spotify, we update DIY’s Neu Discoveries playlist with the buzziest, freshest faces. Here’s our pick of the best new tracks: PIZZAGIRL ‘Body Part’

SLOWTOUR FOURTH ROUND Sigrid’s new single ‘Sucker Punch’ is a sugary pop smash, but it’s transported into the club on a slinky new remix courtesy of techno frontrunner Four Tet. Listen to it on diymag.com.

He supports Slaves at Ally Pally this month, and Northampton rapper Slowthai has now announced a tour of his own for March. Peep the dates on diymag.com.

Another left-ofcentre, hyperactive pop gem from the Liverpudlian. THE NINTH WAVE ‘Sometimes The Silence Is Sweeter’ Maybe, but right now we’re thoroughly enjoying the volume being up on this goth-pop ripper. HATCHIE ‘Adored’ Ahead of January UK shows with The Vaccines, the Aussie newcomer is back with another slice of widescreen bliss. CREWEL INTENTIONS ‘Youth In Overload’ Chilli Jesson’s brilliantly outlandish on his first postPalma Violets release - meet ‘em on p26. 31

NEU LIVE

MUSTSEE SHOWS THIS MONTH Like being the first to see the next big thing? Get ready to brag to your mates about watching this lot before they go big, sell out, and spectacularly break up.

RACHEL CHINOURIRI

This London-based songwriter channels Daughter in her hushed, glacial ditties, and brings them all to Hackney’s Paper Dress Vintage (13th).

BIG INDIE BIG NIGHTS FOURS

EASY LIFE

Two Tribes, London. Photos: Emma Swann.

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Across the last six months, we’ve been bringing the buzziest of buzz to Tileyard Studios’ Two Tribes Brewery as part of our Big Indie Big Nights series.

From the scuzzy rock of Thee MVPs to the shimmering indie of ST MARTiiNS and the infectiously energetic Glossii, there’s been a whole range of young talent through the brewery’s doors. None might have more ambition than this month’s guests though, London quartet FOURS. Fresh from releasing new single ‘Even In My Dreams’, the band are full of energy tonight, and it bursts out of every note. There’s 32

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hints of the bombast of Florence Welch, the insatiable groove of Haim and the distinct ‘80s influence of Michael Jackson in their sound, and across their half-hour set, more bangers than a sausage factory. ‘Even In My Dreams’ is a huge, sugary rush of powerful pop to crush heartbreak with, while ‘Last Summer’, a new song about “sleeping with the same person every summer”, is just as enticing. ‘Fade To Love’ is the band’s calling card though, a track that thrusts melody to the front and channels The 1975’s signature choppy guitars. Not content to leave it there, though, the band close on a new song, a move that proves just how much confidence they move forwards into 2019 with, and it’s not hard to imagine that they’re set for big things. (Will Richards)

Fresh from bringing a tropical punch to Later… with Jools, the Island-signed bunch play London (21st), Leicester (22nd), Bristol (23rd) and more.

GENTLY TENDER

With two songs out in the world and a hell of a lot of hype, this post-Palma Violets crew come to Glasgow on 28th November.

Pushing fun to the forefront on their energetic surf-pop, this Sydney fourpiece are the latest proof that Australia is the world’s most

BODY TYPE

fertile breeding ground for new music right now. Words: Will Richards.

“For us, Body Type is all just about taking up space.” - Sophie McComish

As we’ve outlined many times across this year, Australia is currently one of the buzziest corners of the planet for new music, and with their self-titled debut EP, Body Type look to be next in line, a wonderfully energetic bunch that it’s impossible not to fall head-over-heels for.

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Vaguely crossing paths in their native Perth before properly meeting after they all moved across the country to Sydney, the seeds for Body Type were sown when Georgia [Wilkinson-Derums, bassist] saw Sophie [McComish, guitarist/ vocalist] and Annabel [Blackman, guitar] play at “a kind of open mic in some crapola pub”. “I went to watch them,” Georgia remembers, “and I just got such a buzz. The whole time before I was just thinking ‘This is funny’ but then I saw them on stage, and they were occupying this space so well, and I was just running up and down the venue really excited, like ‘Jeeesus christ, we’re actually gonna be a band! That’s fuckin’ cooool!’” This kind of excitement and giddy energy flows wonderfully through the EP and its lead single, the impossibly 34 diymag.com

catchy surf-pop cut ‘Palms’, which recalls Alvvays in its shimmering, irresistible melodies, and The Big Moon in its raucous gang mentality. “We all had a lot of time to kill - we were all outsiders!” Georgia says of the quartet’s motives for starting the band, but it quickly took on a greater, ironclad meaning to them, as Sophie outlines: “It was about finding three fantastic women that all had the same ambition and creative drive. For us, Body Type is all just about taking up space, and existing in a space…” she continues, before Georgia takes over: “It’s still cool to see women on stages. I think any time I see a woman on stage, I’m still impressed.” Sophie agrees: “There’s something so magical that happens when you’re playing songs with three other women on a stage.” In terms of plans moving forward, the quartet have a bucketful of songs written and ready to go, have just finished up an Australian tour with Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, and are preparing for their next steps with the energy of kids after too many fizzy sweets, always putting fun at the epicentre of what they do. “We’re gonna do another EP soon I hope,” Sophie outlines of their next steps. “We just wanna record record record, come overseas, play play play. Yep!” DIY

World tours. TV performances. Umpteen festival triumphs and one of our albums of the year. Safe to say Shame have had a pretty good 2018. As they head into the final stretch, we caught up with the band to toast the whirlwind 12 months that truly put them on the map. Words: Lisa Wright. Photos: Jenn Five.

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t’s November 2017, and five young men are horsing about in an East London studio, dressed in tea towels, bed sheets and a donkey mask, attempting to recreate a scene from the nativity. There are far more empty tinnies around than in your average school play and, last time we checked, none of the Three Wise Men normally went commando, but there’s still something tangibly exciting in the air and the image of the guitarist puffing on a roll-up with a star around his head is one that’s strangely appropriate. See, back then, when we costumed up Shame to be inducted into DIY’s Class of 2018, it was already pretty obvious that the South London quintet had a twinkle about them that was brighter than most. On the cusp of releasing debut LP ‘Songs of Praise’ and with a burgeoning live following growing by the day (the band had just sold out the 800-capacity Scala), it was clear that their socially-charged blasts of cathartic, yet sneakily melodic punk were starting to seep into a wider world than just the musical hotbed of politically-minded young talents that their Brixton base was home to. Fast forward 12 months and we’re sat in a different part of East London, dressing the band up in rather nattier garb for another photoshoot just ahead of their last tour of the year, where they’ll headline the city’s 2,300-capacity Forum. That’s almost certain to be a sell out, too. It’s familiar but notably different and though the band are still pissing about, smoking fags and recounting tales of their whirlwind year just the same - “Mac DeMarco came over and shouted ‘SHAME ON YOU’ about 50 times to me in Perth,” recalls guitarist Sean Coyle-Smith as we’re sipping a post-shoot pint - there’s no getting away from the fact that Sean, singer Charlie Steen, bassist Josh Finnerty, guitarist Eddie Green and drummer Charlie Forbes have had the kind of year that most new bands dream of. Shame have undoubtedly been the name on more lips than just Mac’s. It began, as so many years do, with a ridiculous scene in Wetherspoons.

t’s a pleasing nuance to Shame’s all-consuming 2018 that ‘Songs of Praise’’s magnetic, visceral ten tracks were released right at the top of it, while the remnants of Christmas lights and leftover crackers were still loitering in kitchen corners. Landing on 12th January, the record was preceded with enough anticipation to put them in the indie public eye but it was only when a series of unanimously excited reviews started unfolding that the hype began to escalate. “The most surprising thing was after it came out. It was anticipated, but the reaction we then got was the more bizarre thing for us,” says Eddie. The night the record was released, the band got a call to say they were going to be on the front page of a national newspaper the following weekend. By Friday, they’d landed in the Top 40. Of course, they celebrated as all young twentysomethings with more Instagram followers than pounds in their bank account are wont to do: by putting their ‘Spoons table number up online and waiting to reap the spoils. “Within about five minutes the manager came out and was like, ‘What the fuck are you doing?! I’ve got orders for 50 fried eggs here’,” recalls

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Eddie. “He wasn’t even nice about it,” Josh laments. “He was like, ‘If you wanna come and do your Facebook shit, do it somewhere else.’” “He thought we were YouTube bloggers,” grins Steen. “That’s how uncool we looked.” It’s this seesawing between glory and comical disaster that characterises the majority of the band’s tales. This summer, they were booked to play Reading Festival’s Main Stage, thus realising a childhood dream; of course, on the day, the show was an absolute torrential washout. In the middle of a successful tour and in the throes of World Cup glory, Sean decided to get inked with a tattoo - his first - saying ‘World In Motion’; of course, England got knocked out the following day. If there’s an anecdote that seems strangely to sum up Shame’s ridiculous year, it’s that of the guitarist waking up on the morning of his 21st birthday, in sunny

“Compare us to IDLES One. More. Time…”

San Diego, next to Steen, who’d pissed their shared bed. “Waking up in piss - not even your own piss - is how close we’ve become,” Sean sighs. Yet if life hasn’t quite thrown them limos and luxury just yet, then it has given them the fruits of a wealth of hard graft that no amount of thunderstorms or footballers or nighttime incontinence can scupper. Over this year, Shame have played, they estimate, around 200 shows, including 35 festivals, across 25 countries. They’ve taken three flights in a day to get to a gig, played the gig, and then got on another flight a few hours later. They’ve driven for 15 hours across an identical American landscape to stay in an identical American Holiday Inn to the one they left before (“That fucks you up,” grimaces Eddie). The way they speak adoringly about a newly-opened branch of Pret-a-Manger in Copenhagen airport suggests that

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“Waking up in piss – not even your own piss – is how close we’ve become.” - Sean CoyleSmith 39

Sidebar of Shame Over here at DIY Towers, we’re not ones to point the finger and mock people’s insecurities. ‘You do you, babe’ is our motto. But Shame, well, Shame seem to enjoy regaling us with their ridiculous escapades more than most. Here are some more of their woeful 2018 tales... Eddie: Steen insists on sleeping naked. In Sicily, we were sharing a room and every fucking time I’d come back and there’d be a watermelon next to the bed and Steen akimbo, naked. Like, alright mate! That’s the third time I’ve seen your penis today! Forbes: The last night at Laneway was good, when we all nearly drowned. We all went skinny dipping, swum out really far and then the next thing you know we’re all really out of our depth and the tide starts coming in. Steen: We’d been given this drink called Pastis which is like absinthe, tried to get in a police buggy... Sean: Another down-point was being done three times in 24 hours by the Spanish police. Steen: In the space of 12 hours we got robbed for over £1,500. Forbes: I got stopped coming out of Benicassim by the police for not wearing my seatbelt and Joel from Wolf Alice had to pay my fine for me. Sean: But we live our lives with forgiveness and love in our hearts... Eddie: Shut up, mate.

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they probably need someone to give them a cup of tea and a hug as a matter of urgency. But in return, they’ve honed one of the most thrilling, urgent, edge-of-your-seat shows out there. In any given festival line-up, they’re almost always the most exciting proposition, whether they’re creating a raging moshpit in a tent, converting a new herd of followers on a main stage or inciting a crowd of Sicilians in the grounds of a castle to chant their name, as they did at Ypsigrock. The next morning after that festival, Steen woke up to a message. “He’d got back to where we were staying and said he’d just stayed out for a bit,” recalls Forbes. “The next day, checks his phone and some random girl had sent him a picture of himself asleep on the floor, with a load of vomit around him. No recollection at all.” Like we said, it’s a seesaw.

ike any group of pals, Shame are infinitely better at self-deprecatingly joking about the more ridiculous moments of their friendship, verbally clambering over each other to get the punchlines in, than bigging up their genuine achievements. There’s a lot of those moments, too. Like the time that Steen accidentally ended up in Steve Lacy’s dressing room because it said ‘The Internet’ “and I thought it was the wifi hotspot”. Or the time that the singer got into an argument with Alexa Chung at Glastonbury because “I said The Libertines would be shit and she said I have a negative aura”. Or the time that Sean got told by Plan B that he looked like a member of Dexy’s Midnight Runners. “I’m still not sure to this day whether that’s a

compliment...” he muses. But there’s also a huge amount of undeniable victories that even this lot can’t play down. Immediately leaving after the release of their album for a huge, four-month run of shows across Australia and the US as a completely new band again, they undoubtedly succeeded where many, many before them had failed. “When you hear about a lot of bands touring America it can be pretty soul crushing, but we went to all these college towns and the shows were rammed,” says Sean. Emerging from Austin’s next big thing-indicating new music festival SXSW as one of the biggest successes of the week, Shame even found themselves squeezing onto the front of the New York Times. “It was the size of a 5p coin, but we got there,” chuckles Steen. “If you’ve ever held the New York Times, it’s fucking huge and you unfold it and there’s a postage stamp-sized picture in the corner of us, but I’ve still got a copy.” When they returned home, meanwhile, it was to a sold out UK tour and, shortly after, a performance of ‘One Rizla’ on Later... With Jools Holland that burst through the screen, exciting and pissing people off in one deliciously visceral swoop. “When you start getting the hardcore Smiths fans commenting then you’ll never win because we’re not The Smiths,” begins Sean. “I think I might have endeared a couple though because they think I look like Andy Rourke,” chips in Eddie. “That’s the number one comment on the Jools Holland video. And there was one guy

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“Alexa Chung said I have a negative aura.” - Charlie Steen 41

who just really hated Josh for some reason...” “‘There’s no room for shorts in rock’n’roll!’,” mimics the guitarist, animatedly.

et throughout it all, despite the anecdotes, Shame have clearly shirked most of the rock’n’roll pitfalls that, this time last year, they were so adamant they wouldn’t fall prey to. Sure, the five might have little to no actual life skills (“I went on holiday to Norway and realised I don’t know how to chop an onion,” sighs Steen), but - for a young band given the keys to the kingdom they’re coping with music life pretty damn well. “At the start, it’s a bit like you have to take advantage because you don’t know how long you’ll be in that situation for. We were like, let’s have as much fun now as we possibly can,” begins Sean. “But this year, when we’ve been selling out shows

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and playing bigger places, that’s what pushes you to really realise that you could be doing this for a lot longer than you expected and what makes you want to get as much longevity out of it as possible,” Steen finishes off. And there’s the crux. Shame might not have got a Number One with their debut, or won the Mercury Prize that they were early bookies’ favourites for. They might still have a lot left still to achieve. But over the past 12 months they’ve proven that, far from just a hyped exponent of a buzzy scene, they’re a band that can break out of the confines of their peer group and into the wider consciousness, onto stages around the world and TV screens and into mainstream radio playlists and that, one day, they could just get all those other accolades too. Next up, following this tour, the band are setting aside several months to disappear and work on album two. If

“This year has pushed us to realise we could be doing this for a lot longer than we expected.” Charlie Steen

you’ve been to any of their recent shows (and if not, well, you’ve had enough opportunity...) then you’ll have heard one newie - the recently-titled ‘Human, For A Minute’; they’re hoping to dish up a couple more across these forthcoming dates too. But primarily, they’re in no rush to churn out a follow-up without giving it the required time to fully fulfil its promise. “We’re still very much figuring out, not what we wanna do, but we’re playing around with things,” explains Sean. “Like guitar chords and singing properly... “ quips Steen in his dirty baritone. “We’re new but we’re learning...” “We’re batch cooking songs,” joins in Forbes. “Slow-roasting different ideas,” adds Josh, “and then when we get time off they’re just gonna... Pew! Pew! Pew!” he finishes, shooting imaginary musical bullets into the pub air. “Oh, and we’re going to start a dumpling fast food chain!” “Steen’s just learnt how to chop an onion so we’ve got that bit sorted...” deadpans Eddie, as the rest begin excitably brainstorming ideas for their new culinary venture. Luckily for the stomachs of London, it’s a business model they’re likely not going to need for some time. Ending the year as one of its most notable breakthrough bands, Shame are going into 2019 with the potential to steer their ship into bigger and more exciting waters with every next move. As Steen reiterates at the end of each incendiary live show: Shame. Shame. Shame. That’s the name. Just you try and ignore it.

Around The World In 365 Days

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Over the past year, Shame have been on tour pretty much relentlessly. They’ve travelled to the other side of the planet and back, trotting around Europe and the US a fair few times for good measure, too. And throughout it all, DIY have been there to document the band at various pit stops along the way: here’s the best of Shame’s chaotic on-stage year, in pics.

MARCH (SXSW)

MAY (La Boite, Madrid)

APRIL (Electric Ballroom, London)

MAY (Sidecar, Barcelona) JUNE (Electric Fields)

JUNE (All Points East)

AUGUST (Ypsigrock)

AUGUST (Reading Festival)

SEPTEMBER (End of the Road)

‘Songs of Praise’ is out now via Dead Oceans. DIY

RAW POWER

“What my album’s done for a lot of people is lend a voice to their own activism.” If 2018 was the year that pushed a selection of fresh, politically-charged voices to the fore, then none used their newfound platform with as much righteous gusto as Nadine Shah: an eloquent, outspoken force to be reckoned with. Words: Lisa Wright. Photos: Phil Smithies.

here’s an oft-used phrase in creative circles of an artist “finding their voice”. Where after a period of testing the waters, learning to be brave, working out how to trust their instincts and so on and so forth, they finally work out their own personal recipe and the world responds in tandem. Nadine Shah is not one of these artists. Though it’s only in the last 12 months, with the release of now-Mercury-nominated third album ‘Holiday Destination’, that the wider world has pricked up its ears to the Sunderland-born, London-based singer, her story is less one of someone finding their voice and more one of people finally being ready to listen to it. Back in 2013, she released debut LP ‘Love Your Dum and Mad’. Written following the deaths of two former boyfriends to suicide, it showed a musician imbued with the same sense of social compassion and empathy as the one reacting to the refugee crisis on her most recent album. But back even five years ago, conversations around mental health weren’t nearly as open and progressive as

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they are now and the record only resonated out to a small degree. “It’s a vicious cycle because what I was trying to do was discuss the fact that these stigmas around mental health exist, but these stigmas exist because people don’t wanna discuss it,” assesses the singer of the record’s impact. “It didn’t really do what I wanted it to do, and although it did do some beautiful things for some people, a bit of me’s like - what if they’d heard it now? I think people didn’t know where to put what I was making, they didn’t know where to place it.” With 2015 follow up ‘Fast Food’, she still found that people were placing her wrongly. Penning dark, brooding tales of internal turmoil and making weighty, cathartic noise with a full band, she’d regularly find herself put on bills alongside a bunch of acoustic singer-songwriters whose only similarity was that they too were female. “At festivals, because my stage name is a female’s name, people assumed it was gonna be me by myself or with a ukulele and I’d be put on the folk tent,” she recalls, her generally cheery, effusive demeanour temporarily capped at the memory. “The most significant thing this year has been playing main stages at festivals and being put in the right slot instead of being put on the ‘all female’ stage.” She continues: “I used to get Laura Marling comparisons all the time, which personally I mean... I wish. She’s the best lyricist of all time and I’m her biggest fan. But sonically it’s a completely different world to the one I

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“It’s a really beautiful time to be a woman in the music industry because there’s so much solidarity.” 46 diymag.com

exist in, and it’s just because she’s another female solo artist. We were always conditioned to think that there was only room for one of us and ‘female solo artist’ became a genre. So automatically you’re battling against each other and there’s a competitive nature that’s ingrained in you. Whereas now we know that’s ridiculous and it’s a really beautiful, exciting time to be a woman in the music industry because there’s so much solidarity.”

who are visibly Asian and their stories of Islamophobia, or how unwelcoming the UK was being to refugees from different countries,” she explains. “Maybe people find my voice a bit more poignant coming from a Muslim woman, I think maybe that’s part of it.”

n a social media landscape where expressing any kind of political view leaves you open to intense public scrutiny (“There’s been loads of conversations about whether music should be political and if Taylor Swift f it seems insane that it’d take three records and was isolating some of her audience by urging them half a decade for an artist to be regarded more to vote because they’re Republicans, but THANK comprehensively than for the surface level of their GOD someone with that power and reach is finally saying gender, then it’s one of many deep-rooted issues that something,” she notes, by way of example), Nadine’s Nadine has encountered and spoken out against. As candour and undiluted frustration across the last 12 a second generation immigrant and a Muslim woman months have been a hugely empowering force. More than in the music industry, she’s sadly not exactly lacking in wanting adulation and personal praise, it’s markedly clear injustices visible to her from all angles. Ironically, even in conversation that what a bigger spotlight and a larger the fact of actively speaking out about these things levels platform means to the singer is that she can shout these another concern. “[You get labelled] a difficult woman. So stories louder, and reach the places where they might need I’m also very aware of having to pick my battles, but there’s them the most. “I wish I was Adele. I keep saying it but I so many unfortunately at the minute to speak about,” she wish that Adele could have taken my album and put it out. exhales. “Originally it was as a mental health ambassador, I mean, it’d sound a lot better with her voice anyway, but and then talking about a rise in nationalism and the refugee she has far more clout than I have and she can speak to crisis, women in music... so many different things at one so many more people,” she says. “I felt for so long that I time. And I worry that people will stop listening, because was just preaching to the converted, but one thing that’s they’ll think, oh she just complains about everything. But been so beautiful is you’ve kind of got to...” that although people I’m speaking to already Yet encouragingly, have the same political what’s actually stance as me, they’ve happened is that people been reassured that have started listening to Think Nadine’s a bit of a legend? Turns someone’s talking about a far larger degree. Like out it’s in the gene pool... it. What my album’s fellow November issue “My mum put ten quid on Florence to win the Mercury. done for a lot of people stars - and Nadine’s Then, when we didn’t win, she was sat on my table is lend a voice to their favourite band - IDLES, and she did a ‘loser’ sign at me. I turned around after own activism, and that’s the singer has found they’d announced the result and she was just doing the really important. If you that finally, this year, big ‘L’ at me. She still calls me loser in text messages can’t find the words, use her messages have these. They’re yours, started to reach a wider now, too. The opposite of a stage mother...” take it.” circle. Nominated for the Mercury Prize alongside Heading into 2019, a majority of names Nadine now has LP4 “pretty much written”. This time (Noel Gallagher, Florence + the Machine, Lily Allen et al) around, as she approaches her mid-30s, her attentions far more well-known than hers, the singer came up from have turned to a different side of the spectrum. “I kept behind to emerge as one of the favourites. And, though saying, oh I’m not gonna write a political album again, but she eventually lost out to Wolf Alice’s ‘Visions of a Life’, the yeah of course I am. I think it’s predominantly gonna be impact of putting ‘Holiday Destination’ and its message focused on gender politics.” She pauses, chuckling. “I’m on such a high profile stage was still huge. On the night, never gonna make any money... Unless a tampon advert she performed lead single ‘Out The Way’, its stark opening takes one of my songs...” lines (“You say ‘Out the way’, ‘Out the way’, ‘Out’ / Well where would you have me go? / I’m second generation, Commercially obvious, her topical choices may not be, don’t you know?”) a thrillingly confrontational thing to see however what they are is far more important. As she’s on a nationwide platform. Any intrigued persons looking previously noted, “there has to be music to escape [to], up the track on YouTube after the show, meanwhile, would and music to soundtrack your heartache, but there also have been greeted with an equally unapologetic video, has to be musicians that are documenting the times featuring the singer staring dead into the camera, with a that we live in”. Now, after years of making pertinent, bloody, broken nose. “I was pleased we were able to play questioning records that firmly fall in the latter camp, it that song at the Mercurys, because I thought if we have a seems like rest of the world is starting to cotton on to chance to speak to a lot of people, let’s tell them this story Nadine Shah’s vital documenting, too. “You’re putting and let’s not sugarcoat it. Let’s use the most visceral and yourself in a really vulnerable situation and I think that was direct one that we have,” she nods. my biggest concern when writing this album. But [my team] kept saying to me: Yes. Say more. Be louder,” she nods. These stories aren’t just social commentary either, they’re “So I am gonna keep talking about being a Muslim woman ones made all the more affecting and unflinching by their in music because I see the response. And I keep saying it, personal nature. Though Nadine jokingly describes herself but until we’re in a position where I feel that everybody in as “an undercover cop” because people often assume her society is properly portrayed and represented, and we’re to be fully white, later she recounts a particularly traumatic at a point where we have a realistic view of society, then I incident last year where she was racially profiled going refuse to stop talking about it.” through US immigration. “It was so harrowing. I was in the airport and there was nothing I could do about it. So I’ve ‘Holiday Destination’ is out now via 1965 Records. DIY been directly affected by this rise in nationalism and this decline in empathy, and I can’t help but think of my family

Mum’s The Word

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DREAM WAVE Never ones to rest on their laurels, Dream Wife have been using their

latest tour to showcase a new wave of female and non-binary artists while opening up a conversation about gender equality across music

to boot. We catch up with the trio on the road to witness how 2018 has

seen their ‘Bad Bitches’ community go global.

Words: Rachel

Finn. Photos: Meg Lavender.

t’s 7pm on a dark October evening in Nottingham city centre and in a space above the Rescue Rooms, Dream Wife are asking a congregation of around twenty people, all sitting around in a circle on a colourful array of blankets, to introduce themselves to the group. Some introduce themselves as local music fans, others have recently picked up instruments for the first time and are looking for bandmates and some have come alone hoping to meet others who share their interests and music tastes. Whatever their reason for attending, all have

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been recruited via Instagram by the band - singer Rakel Mjöll, guitarist Alice Go and bassist Bella Podpadec - as part of a series of meet-ups before each show on their autumn UK tour, bringing together fans and representatives from the local music scene of each city they visit, keen to promote female-identifying and non-binary people in all areas across the music business. With a sleepover-meets-seminar vibe, over the next hour an informal discussion takes place about the difficulties of starting out in local scenes that are often male-dominated, both for artists

“We didn’t expect to get so many applications - we got 433 in a week!” Rakel Mjöll

and those behind-the-scenes. One of the panelists, Maddy Chamberlain, who works at Nottingham-headquartered live booking agency DHP, stresses how she’d like more female and non-binary artists sent her way to even up the gender balance when putting together shows. Meanwhile, tonight’s main support Queen Zee note the importance of aspiring artists just getting on stage and giving things a go, explaining that they didn’t really even have any proper songs the first time they played live. By the end, pacts to start bands together are formed, the beginning of friendships are made and by the time the band go on stage later that night, there’s a sense of community running through the crowd that feels special. The band’s focus on gender equality in music comes as part of a year which for Dream Wife was, as Rakel admits, “ridiculous”. The group began 2018 releasing by their self-titled debut before diving head-first into a touring schedule that took them around the world, packing in 150 shows across Europe, the US, Canada, Australia and Asia. But, despite having long since implemented a ‘bad bitches to the front’ crowd policy at their shows, the trio weren’t content with only getting their message across live. Instead, back in July, they put out an open call to find femaleidentifying or non-binary artists to support them on a range of dates. The response the trio got from artists around the world was overwhelming. “We didn’t expect to get so many applications - we got 433 in a week!” Rakel exclaims, noting how such a number pretty much bins the argument that there isn’t enough talent out there to make lineups gender diverse. “[These artists] exist and that is a fact that we now know, so it proves this disconnect,” adds Alice. “It’s intimidating if you don’t know the music business, let alone if you feel like an outsider to it. I think it’s about bridging these gaps and normalising this accessibility to people who feel like it’s not their place. These conversations we’re having tonight, they matter to us to be able to connect the dots a bit.” It’s a seemingly straightforward idea, sure, but like any progressive concept, it’s had its opponents. When the band made a social media callout wanting to connect with female

and non-binary producers, sound engineers and managers, the Instagram post made its way onto a Dublin music forum, and the negative reaction of a few men already working in the industry caused a heated debate to erupt online. “There were a bunch of guys that were working as promoters as part of the Dublin music scene that were commenting bullshit, being like, ‘How dare they? Don’t they know that [gender] segregation is outlawed!’ Rakel remembers with a laugh, stressing that everyone, regardless of gender, is welcome to attend their events. “But by [writing] a few of those really narrow-minded comments, they got ambushed. Then when we got to the meet-up, everyone was talking about it! Loads of people who had been like, ‘let me set you straight’ were there.” “We caused quite a stir!” agrees Alice. “It was so great that everyone was in the same room talking about this thing that had happened online when they were separate, like from the URL to the IRL.” Not content with preaching from behind the screen, Dream Wife are all about taking these ideas and manifesting their message in the real world. It’s something they’ve also committed to by putting signs up at each of their shows stressing their zero tolerance approach to harassment - a real-life embodiment of their song ‘Somebody’ and its rallying call-to-arms against sexual assault and victim blaming. “There’s nothing extreme about going ‘hey, don’t harass people!’ If someone is harassing you, regardless of gender, we’ll kick them out, simple as that,” Rakel stresses. “We’ve got your back and [our shows are] a space of love. We’re just going to take care of each other.” For many bands, a world tour and the release of a debut album would make for a pretty successful year, but Dream Wife have topped it off by fostering new connections between music communities, promoting the work of artists who might not otherwise get heard and taking one giant swipe at the patriarchy in the process. Guess we’ll see you at the front then? ‘ ‘Dream Wife’ is out now via Lucky Number DIY

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MEET THE BANDS

As we mentioned earlier, Dream Wife invited a slew of new and upcoming female and nonbinary artists to join them on the road. Here’s your chance to get a little more acquainted...

BIG JOANIE

Feminist punk trio from London set to release debut album ‘Sistahs’ on Thurston Moore’s ‘Daydream Library Series’ label this month. Listen to: ‘Fall Asleep’

GIRLFRIEND

Dublin-based five-piece delivering delightfully heavy grunge-meetsemo goodness. Listen to: ‘Small Smile Grow’

ANATOMY

Queer femme noise band from Leicester who describe their sound as “spooky doo-wop”. Listen to: ‘Anatomy Theme’

BOBBY KAKOURIS Delicate and emotionpacked folk solo project from Glasgow. Listen to: ‘Clean’

CAT APOSTROPHE Four-piece making selfdescribed “radically soft pop” straight out of Leeds. Listen to: ‘Small Things’

DOLLIE DEMI

Headstrong, razorsharp garage rock from Manchester. Listen to: ‘Ruby Lips’

THE HIPPAES

Soft punk trio from Portsmouth who are allegedly going to name their debut ‘French Crisps’, ahem. Listen to: ‘Sou’wester’

ARXX

Brighton-based duo making punchy rock tunes to dance to. Listen to: ‘Tired Of You’ 49

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AS IDLES CROWN THEIR GAMECHANGING YEAR WITH A HUGE, SOLDOUT LONDON SHOW AT THE FORUM, WE MEET FANS, FRIENDS AND TOURMATES TO DISCOVER JUST WHY THIS BAND ARE SO IMPORTANT TO SO MANY. WORDS: WILL RICHARDS. PHOTOS: EMMA SWANN.

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ights like this don’t come around too often. Across 2018,

leading up to and in the wake of the release of the bombastic, vital ‘Joy As An Act Of Resistance’, and right up to tonight’s huge, sold-out show at London’s Kentish Town Forum, IDLES have cemented their place as the most important band in the UK right now. Don’t just take our word for it, either - there’s a 10,000-strong legion of fans (and they’re just the ones who’ve actively clicked ‘Like’) to whom ‘Joy…’ reads something like the Bible.

tonight’s show: there’s a palpable energy in the room tonight, one of a crowd fully aware that it may be the last time they see IDLES in a venue this size, and that they’re seeing a band at the blistering peak of their powers. ‘Joy As An Act Of Resistance’ is a record that champions vulnerability, openness and community, and these threads also sit at the heart of the show. Joe dedicates ‘Danny Nedelko’ to the immigrants that make this country a better place, with the titular man in question bursting out on stage at its finale, while ‘Divide & Conquer’ is introduced as an ode to the NHS.

In speaking to the band’s most devoted “We’re all a bit broken, a bit flawed and a fans - a clan growing at great pace with bit damaged, but we feel like we’ve been each passing day - it’s clear that in laying fixed by IDLES,” says Louise Hughes, one their deepest fears and vulnerabilities on of the admins of the fast-growing, bandthe line in songs, IDLES are one of the approved AF Gang Facebook community. country’s most potent voices, forging the “For me - and it sounds corny, but I’m kind of connection only achieved once in a Miss Corny of the AF Gang and I can’t help generation. AF Gang member Helen Reade it - I find that [Joe Talbot] is the people’s can attest to this more than most. poet laureate. He says it how it is and he says what you think. We find that we have “What they’re saying is what we really need so much in common and it just makes to hear right now,” she explains before the me really emotional, the way we help one show. “My partner passed away of cancer another. We are all strangers, but we’ve at quite a young age, and we have two all been brought together by our unity and children. When I first love for this band. heard ‘Brutalism’, and Honesty is the way heard that visceral grief, forward. It’s the only “We’re all a bit and that absolute internal way you can be; wear broken, a bit flawed rage that I couldn’t your heart on your articulate - because I sleeve and be honest. and a bit damhad to look after two kids It’s a beautiful thing. aged, but we feel - it just connected, and it They just rip at your became a daily routine. heartstrings. For ages like we’ve been ‘I can get through my I couldn’t listen to fixed by IDLES.” day, and I can cope with ‘Television’ without everything, if I listen to crying because of - Louise Hughes, this album, because this that one line: ‘Love AF Gang person, whoever he is, yourself’.” understands where I’m coming from.’ Starting out as a fan page purely set up to exchange stories, information and more about IDLES, the AF Gang has slowly but surely morphed into a manifestation of the band’s mission statement, a safe space to share vulnerabilities and worries as well as marvel at the togetherness that IDLES have fostered in so many. It also - almost too poetically to be true - gained its ten thousandth member on the 10th day of the 10th month of this year, on what also happened to be World Mental Health Day. “It’s grown in an elaborate way,” Brian Mimpress, who also admins the group, asserts emphatically. “Where it’s going to end, I don’t know. I said to Lindsay [Melbourne, another admin] the other day, I think the AF Gang will outgrow the band, unless they end up being The Rolling Stones and doing it when they’re in their seventies! I believe the AF Gang will be there forever now. I really do.” This kind of devotion, fostered so quickly and organically, is abundantly clear at

“My daughter then went to live out in Spain, as part of her university degree, and IDLES were playing at BBK Festival,” she expands, beginning one of a host of stories we hear tonight from fans concerning either the music of IDLES or the members themselves, all helping them gain understanding, clarity and strength in their own lives. “I said to her, go and see IDLES, they’re amazing! She said ‘Who?!’ and I said ‘Listen to this album, go and see IDLES, and try and interview them!’ because she was doing a radio course. They agreed to do the interview, and Freya and Joe sat together talking for hours about loss and grief. There was this 19 year-old kid saying ‘my dad died a couple of years ago’ and Joe going ‘well my mum died’ and the two of them had this really beautiful bond.

DANNY NEDELKO

As Heavy Lungs’ frontman and the titular character from ‘Joy…’’s lead single, Danny’s been thrust into the spotlight in more ways than one recently how’s he finding it all? Your new song ‘Blood Brother’ - a return ode to Joe - is coming out on a 7” alongside ‘Danny Nedelko’. What did you want to say about him through the song? Danny: It’s a song of love and admiration. George Garratt [Heavy Lungs drummer]: A carefully orchestrated false sentiment! Did Joe ask you if it was ok that he named the song after you? Danny: Kind of! It was at [Bristol venue] Arnolfini two years ago. Girl Band were playing, and he took me aside and said ‘I’m writing a song called ‘Danny Nedelko’’. And then two years later, it’s out! Nobody believed me, but it’s true! Are people shouting your name at you all the time now? Danny: Not as much as you’d think. I’ve been recognised a bit though. It’s very surreal. They always say though, fame doesn’t change you, it only changes the people around you. George: There was a post on the AF Gang where a woman asked for people’s opinions on IDLES’ music so she could make artwork, and her email address was dannynedelko@gmail.com. Danny: We saw some bootleg merchandise in Manchester, with a black t-shirt and futura font saying ‘DANNY NEDELKO’ - we’re all gonna buy them and all wear them on stage.

“That’s what’s so beautiful about the vulnerability that IDLES offer. If you can make yourself vulnerable, you can

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EVERYONE LOVES IDLES

While making this issue of DIY, dear readers, we’ve noticed an overwhelming trend: we can’t seem to make it through a conversation without someone professing their love for a certain bunch of Bristolians...

SEAN COYLE-SMITH Shame

“IDLES getting Top 5 felt like a real moment. Their End of the Road show was the first one after the album came out and it was nuts. I felt a bit tearful watching it; people just sung back every word.”

NADINE SHAH

“They’re my favourite band. I have an issue with some political music because I think it’s just T-shirt politics and I don’t believe them. But with IDLES, I truly believe them. I really do. There’s so much conviction behind what they do and that resonates with people.”

make really meaningful connections with people, from joining [AF Gang] in the low hundreds, to now coming somewhere like this and seeing literally loads of mates who understand your back story. We’re all carrying something damaged, and to be able to say ‘Here’s my vulnerability and this is your vulnerability’: it could be a mental health problem, a grief problem, or just ‘I don’t feel like I belong anywhere’ - there’s always a hand being held out.” This hand being held out firmly goes both ways between band and fans too, as frontman Joe Talbot explains: “It’s about building an energy and a relationship and a dialogue with your audience. That hasn’t changed, it’s just that from some of the people that have come to our shows, they have been mindful and proactive, and built something way more important than IDLES.” He describes the community spirit around the band as giving him “a rejuvenation,” as he explains: “I have faith in people again, and faith in a small pocket of the internet again. It’s a relief - this album of ours is a very personal thing that we’ve done, and when you release an album that you care about, it’s like falling backwards and hoping that you’re caught, because you’re laying yourself bare on a record, and the reaction is a catch in certain ways. It’s not about

getting /10s, it’s about going to these shows and playing those shows, and people allowing you to be vulnerable and allowing you to feel safe in that room to give everything that you have. It’s a gift, and that’s something we’ve learned from the AF Gang - there are lots of people out there that are willing to be vulnerable themselves, and allowing us to be vulnerable back, and it’s magic. It’s not something we ever comprehended.” “In the words of Kathleen Hanna: girls to the front,” Joe demands to the sweaty mass of bodies before him at the Forum before closing tonight’s set with the frenzied ‘Rottweiler’. The crowd parts and a sea of audience members switch places without a hitch. The often macho bravado of punk shows is absent, replaced by a genuine sense of community and respect, and a sold-out crowd brought a little bit closer to each other by this band. 2018 has been a tough year for more reasons than it’s possible to count most of which Joe denounces across the show. Being able to sweat, sing and dance out these frustrations to the most empathetic music being made right now, as well as being made to feel part of a genuinely important musical community, make tonight one that will live long in the memory. DIY

GUS TAYLOR The Magic Gang “When a band achieves massive things like IDLES, then it means a whole deal more because it’s like they’ve infiltrated popular culture and with such a great message. That was such a great moment.”

STEPHEN MALKMUS Pavement (!)

“They’re awesome. We bonded at a very under-attended festival in Indiana. The singer’s handsome, like a handsome punk. He looks kind of rough, he’s not a pretty boy, but he’s kind of sexy I thought, which you don’t expect from their sound...”

“I believe the AF Gang will be there forever now.” -Brian Mimpress,

AF Gang 52

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D’YA WANNA BE IN THEIR GANG? Through their AF Gang Facebook community, IDLES have brought together legions of followers all helped by the band’s vulnerability and emotional intensity - let’s meet some of them, shall we?

LOUISE, 49, AF GANG ADMIN

“IDLES kept coming on 6 Music and I gave them a whirl, so we went to see them and they literally blew me away. It sounds pathetic, but it was as if somebody had ripped open the flap of skin on my head and got inside my brain. I’ve never seen a band so tight, it was just completely mindblowing. The beautiful thing is that I popped my IDLES cherry at MOTH Club along with Brian and Lindsay, who run AF Gang with me.”

BRIAN, 47, AF GANG ADMIN

“It was February 2017, and I was sitting on the bus one very cold morning. I remember it very well. I love music it’s always been my passion in my life - and at the time I was desperate for something new. I honestly thought that I’d done it, and there was never going to be a band for me again. And then ‘Mother’ came on. I’ve said it many times before, but it felt like I was getting punched in the face and hugged at the same time. I kept rewinding and rewinding it. It was a month before the album came out, and I knew it was special.”

NICK, 47, STAINES

“I first heard them on the radio - I heard ‘Stendhal Syndrome’, and I hated it! I said to my girlfriend ‘What’s this crap?!’ and then I started hearing it again, and it seeped in, and I totally take it back! When we met Joe after a gig, she said ‘Nick hated you to start with!’. That was the start of the rollercoaster, and now it’s pretty much an addiction. Vinyl, gigs, t-shirts, going out to Barcelona, Paris, and possibly New York next May!

RACHEL, 34, DORSET

“The awkwardness of the sound compared to the generic stuff you hear on the radio really struck a chord with me. I’ve kind of been in retirement for the last five years, because I had a hip replacement recently. Even listening to my old favourite bands, I just had tears streaming down my cheek at the thought of never going to a gig or being able to mosh or crowdsurf or stagedive again. So I actively ignored it for a while. But then I had the hip replacement about a year ago, and as I’ve got more mobile, I’ve been listening to music more. I heard ‘Danny Nedelko’ a few months ago, and found myself dancing around the kitchen, which I hadn’t done for years! It was only when the dog was going bonkers, and I was saying ‘What the hell, what’s wrong?!’ that I realised ‘Oh my god I’m dancing! No wonder you’re going bonkers!’”

CONNIE, 20, BRISTOL

“[IDLES] mean everything. They inspired me to start a mental health blog (hit up mybigmentalhead.wordpress. com), which the AF Gang have had so much input with. They’ve inspired me to get a job in Bristol and move out and leave home. They’ve inspired me to discover new bands - I’ve been going to so many small gigs to try and help these small bands get to where IDLES are now. They’ve really helped my personal mental health, and I’m always going to be grateful to them for that.”

THE

BIG

VOICES 2018 OF

THREE of a KIND Ending a year that’s seen them release third album ‘Cocoa Sugar’ with a UK tour and massive Brixton Academy gig, YOUNG FATHERS remain the most idiosyncratic, conventionswerving band we have. Words: Will Richards.

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“Allowing ourselves to act on basic fuckin’ impulses is the foundation of the whole group.” Graham Hastings

f there’s anything Young Fathers have shown over the last half a decade, it’s that they’re not predictable. From smashing their way into the spotlight with a Mercury Prize win for 2014 debut ‘Dead’ to following it up with second effort ‘White Men Are Black Men Too’ just a year later and getting a reputation for being one of the most furious, incendiary live bands on the circuit, they placed themselves firmly in heads and hearts, carving out a specific niche while managing to never scratch the same itch twice. With third record ‘Cocoa Sugar’, released back in March, the Edinburgh-based trio - made up of Graham Hastings, Kayus Bankole and Alloysious ‘Ally’ Massaquoi - flirted with lighter, more instantly appealing textures while continuing to relentlessly tread their own path. Speaking to Young Fathers comes with the same atmosphere as listening to ‘Cocoa Sugar’ or seeing them live; a band consistently second guessing themselves, their music and their fans, creating an atmosphere that sits on a knife-edge, they’re never the same from one moment to the next, and all the more thrilling for it. “We’re not really into trying to fake it,” Graham lays out, looking ahead to a huge year-ending tour which heads to the States in November and finishes up in the UK with a massive show at London’s Brixton Academy. “We always think that if we’re enjoying ourselves, then it’ll reflect and the crowd will pick up on it. Playing live is one of those situations where every moment you’re on stage, people are watching. There’s not really a millisecond where you can

fake it. We’ve built it in such a way that…” he continues, before re-evaluating once again. “I don’t know if it’s bulletproof, but no matter how we’re feeling, whether it’s good or bad, as long as we’re there then we’ll play the show. There’s not really a recipe for a great show - sometimes the greatest shows are when you’re feeling the worst. But it’s making it so we can have the ability to be spontaneous and in the moment every night, because if we didn’t have that, I think we’d go a bit crazy.” The trio’s live show is one of spontaneity and fluidity, the songs from ‘Cocoa Sugar’ taking on a new life and encapsulating the band’s singular vision while also expanding and changing night after night. Far from simply recreating the band’s studio albums, their hugely lauded live show sits in a completely different realm. “For us, the songs are just the basic root,” says Graham. “When you’re trying to transcend something in a show, you need to build on it. A lot of people that come and see us, we speak to them and it’s always that comment of ‘I never really understood it fully until I saw it live’ and that for us is a compliment. Our ultimate goal in this whole situation, with the studio albums, with taking pictures, with making videos, doing artwork or whatever, is trying to encapsulate what happens on the stage. It feels like that’s the only way that people get it. 100%. People sometimes struggle with us, ‘cause we’re a bit of a weird band, but when they see it live and see how we are on stage, they’ll say ‘Ah, it makes sense to me now’.” As well as seeing all the pieces of Young Fathers’ world fall into place, the live show also shows the meaning of 55

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2018

“People sometimes struggle with us, ‘cos we’re a bit of a weird band.” Graham Hastings

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the band’s songs to be as malleable as the instrumentation. “Without sounding too cheesy or cliche about it,” Kayus begins, “the more you play a song, the more it becomes a whole new thing on its own. When touring in America, a lot of songs start meaning something different depending on where you are. Some people take the words differently. The word ‘war’ for example - that can mean something to you, like a battle with your love. To someone else it can mean something completely different. We even change the words sometimes, depending on where we are. It’s exciting that you have this platform to do whatever you want, where you can reconstruct what you thought at one point and then change it for the next.” For a band so lauded for their political conscience and knack for making ‘important’ music, their creative process more often than not thrives on the spontaneous, latching onto a feeling rather than holding focus groups on the next political statement they’re going to make. As such, ‘Cocoa Sugar’ is an album undeniably influenced by the scary, often paranoid world we’ve found ourselves in over the last few years, but the impact of such change is transmitted via much more subtle methods; there’s an underlying feeling of instability and insecurity splattered across the album, just not handed over in bite-sized lyrical soundbites. “Sometimes when you make songs, you don’t know what you’re feeling, or can’t articulate it in that moment,” says Ally. “It’s only after it that you can realise what you were alluding to, or where it stems from - it doesn’t even have to stem from anything, it could just be a series of great words and great sounds that you put together. It doesn’t have to

have meaning. As people, you can automatically put feelings towards that because you’re part of that journey,” he continues, before Graham hammers the point home: “Every moment, whether we’re in the studio or on stage, allowing ourselves to act on basic fuckin’ impulses is the foundation of the whole group.” Currently putting the finishing touches to some fancy new additions to their stage show in time for the US and UK tours and that Brixton show though they’re nonchalant about it, labelling the night at the iconic venue “just another show” - Young Fathers are set to end 2018 with their crown as the country’s most hard to define but oh so easy to love trio, asking as much of their audience as is asked of themselves and creating a collaborative, two-way community in the process. “We’ve never been a fan of making anything that needs to be explained before you see it or hear it,” says Graham. “For us, it’s kind of the opposite to how it all works. We shouldn’t have to explain anything, and we don’t want to, and it’s open even to our own interpretation between us. The three of us have different opinions of the songs and what they mean when we’re making them, and if that can happen between three of us, we hope that that can happen tenfold between everybody else. To try and sit down and say ‘No, this is what it means, and you need to listen to it in this context’ is the opposite of how we work. Everybody should be allowed in the door, and then make whatever discovery you’ve got to make, or think that it’s shit, or think that it’s brilliant that’s all we want. Come in the door and then go wherever you want.” ‘Cocoa Sugar’ is out now via Ninja Tune. DIY

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ALTTICKETS.COM FB.COM/ALTTICKETS.COM @ALTTICKETS 57

THE

BIG VOICES OF

WHO Harry Koisser FROM Frontman of Birmingham’s favourite freelovin’ indie sons, Peace. NOTABLE MOMENT OF 2018 Practising what their band name preaches with third album ‘Kindness Is The New Rock’n’Roll’. Also announcing a ‘World Tour’ solely consisting of two shows approximately two hours away from each other.

2018

WHO Jack Kaye and Gus Taylor FROM Brighton’s chirpy Beach Boys-loving quartet, The Magic Gang. NOTABLE MOMENT OF 2018: Getting into the Top 20 (and narrowly missing out on a Top 10) with their self-titled debut. A victory not just for them, but for all of us.

THE

BIG Summit 2018

Because who better to address the state of the nation than six musicians who’ve spent the majority of the last year travelling around in the back of a van? Interview: Lisa Wright. Photos: Jenn Five.

WHO Soph Nathan FROM Singer in Our Girl AND chief guitar maestro of The Big Moon NOTABLE MOMENT OF 2018 Kicking off the year as part of DIY’s rather wonderful Class of 2018 Tour, before putting out her second debut album (an oxymoron, but true). “and through it AAAAAAALLLLLLLLL...”

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WHO Andrew Flood and Aoife Power FROM Buzzy young London-via-Limerick up’n’comers, Whenyoung. NOTABLE MOMENT OF 2018 Playing at Shane MacGowan’s 60th birthday party - and getting to slap Bono in the face while there.

Ah, 2018. What a year. There’ve been highs. There’ve been lows. And there’s been Alex Turner’s shaven bonce. But how will we remember it all? And, amid the country’s achievements (getting quite far in the World Cup) and disappointments (getting unceremoniously booted out of the World Cup shortly after), how have some of DIY’s favourite stars personally fared? To get to the bottom of it all, we grouped together an elite taskforce featuring Peace frontman Harry Koisser, The Magic Gang’s Gus and Jack, Aoife and Andrew of Whenyoung and queen multi-tasker Soph Nathan of Our Girl AND The Big Moon to dissect the last 12 months in all their glory. Their verdict awaits... TO KICK THIS VERY SERIOUS SUMMIT OFF, LET’S TALK ABOUT YOUR PERSONAL HIGHLIGHTS OF 2018. Gus: Me and Soph were just talking about Love Island this year - that was really good. And then there was the crossover between Love Island and the World Cup... Soph: So good... Gus: I don’t think I’ve ever been happier. Andrew: I didn’t watch Love Island, and Ireland weren’t in the World Cup, so it was a crap summer. Harry: You know it’s Love Island, not Ireland right?! Andrew: That could be a tourism show. ANYONE ELSE HAD A

NICE YEAR? Andrew: We got to tour with a little band called Peace... Gus: Who’s the worst in each band to tour with? Harry: It was pretty smooth, but there was one moment where we got a bit deep into some really dark techno in Coventry. Aoife: You had a ghetto blaster on your shoulder. Harry: I got WAY too into it. Jack: Was this in a club? Harry: No, this was in the dressing room with the lights out. A friend who I hadn’t seen since I was 12 years old got back in touch and I forgot he was there, just standing in the corner of the room, looking scared. I had a great time. Gus: We had our debut

albums out this year as well, yours [to Soph] was really great. Soph: Thanks! So was yours. Andrew: And Peace had, what, album number three? Harry: Yeah, at this point they just fall out of you. Oh! There’s another one. THAT MAKES YOU THE ELDER STATESMAN OF THE TABLE, HARRY – ANY ADVICE THAT YOU’VE LEARNT ALONG THE WAY? Harry: The old wizard... I’m trying to think now, what have I learnt? There has to be something?! I think sometimes I was really conflicted about things, and now I [realise] I was wrong. I think it’s an album two thing. Being like, I am completely 100% right about this stupid-ass thing that will cost us loads of money and then later on realising, I shouldn’t have done that. I’m talking specifically about one song where I was convinced we had to get Dom’s [Boyce, Peace sticksman] drums pressed on to vinyl and sample back the whole vinyl. Gus: That’s quite extra, isn’t it. Harry: We did it, and it was really laborious and timeconsuming and then it sounded bad and out of time, so we just used the original. It costs quite a lot to make vinyl and the more you buy, the cheaper it is. We were getting one made. Gus: It’s imaginary money though, isn’t it. You don’t see it. Harry: You don’t see it, but maybe something that I’ve learnt is that you COULD have seen it. YOUR DEBUT GOT TO NUMBER 12, THE MAGIC GANG! HOW DO WE FEEL ABOUT THE CHARTS THESE DAYS? Gus: I couldn’t believe it. We were hoping for a Top 40, so that was amazing. Soph: [Our Girl] were up against two Mamma Mia soundtracks. Jack: Just ahead of us was a five-year-old Ed Sheeran album, so that put things into perspective a bit. Soph: You have to stream a tune like a million thousand times to make a download though. Gus: I think it’s 186. Aoife: I’ve never really followed chart music, so we’ve

“I feel like this is the year that the cappuccino finally got forgotten.” Harry Koisser, Peace “and through it AAAAAAALLLLLLLLL...”

THE

BIG

“I went from hating football to thinking the World Cup was my entire life.” -

VOICES 2018 OF

Jack Kaye, The Magic Gang never thought about it much until now. It doesn’t really matter. Gus: But when a band does achieve massive things like IDLES, then it means a whole deal more because it’s like they’ve infiltrated popular culture, and with such a great message. That was such a great moment. Andrew: Has anyone actually seen The Greatest Showman by the way? Everyone: No... Gus: That’s why we’re not sat at Number 3. LET’S GET TO THE REAL NEWS NOW, NAMELY, ALEX TURNER’S SHAVEN HEAD. DO ANY OF YOU HAVE ANY PERSONAL FOLLICLE TALES YOU WANT TO SHARE WITH THE GROUP? Harry: I think I’m getting Robert DeNiro’s hair from Taxi Driver. Soph: Naturally? Harry: No, I mean I’m booked in to get it. Soph: I’ve had the same haircut for ten years. Andrew: I’ve never been to a hairdressers - always cut it myself, or my mum used to do it. Had a mullet for a few years. A little plait down the side. Harry: A little rat tail. Such a great look. ANYWAY. WOLF ALICE WON THE MERCURY! THAT’S NICE ISN’T IT! Gus: Yeah! Growing up, it was always a big deal and Wolf Alice [winning it] felt really deserved. They’ve worked so hard. Andrew: In a time when the album is becoming less 60 diymag.com

important, [the Mercury Prize] still regards it as the pinnacle of your artistic output which is really important when labels and people don’t care as much. [Everyone nods sagely] Jack: I won a penalty shoot-out competition and that’s the only award I’ve ever won for a sporting activity. Still got the trophy. Harry: I’ve got a lot of awards for archery. I was really good when I was younger. Just gifted. It was phenomenal. And then I gave it up. I was so much better at it than music. Gus: Do you think you could have made it to Team GB? Harry: 100% without a shadow of a doubt. ANY OTHER SECRET CHILDHOOD SKILLS IN THE GROUP? Gus: Ah, you’re pushing for the story... So, I was on Raven. The year I did it coincided with India’s 60th year of independence, so the BBC were like, let’s send the kids’ channel over there. I spent 6 weeks off school in India doing Raven. Andrew: What’s Raven? Gus: Didn’t make it to Ireland, then? It’s like a fantasy outdoor pursuits game show. You do challenges like obstacle courses and things to win jewels. Soph: Did you go far? Gus: I finished fourth. I was robbed. Andrew: So it’s like a sixweek... assault course? Gus: It wasn’t 24/7. Soph: Did your parents go with you?

“I’ve had the same haircut for ten years.” Soph Nathan, Our Girl / The Big Moon

Gus: No. Soph: Were you scared? Gus: I cried my eyes out when I first got there. Harry: And then again when you finished fourth. Gus: I actually did. ALSO, THIS YEAR WE WERE UNITED IN WORLD CUP FEVER... Jack: I’ve never been more into something that I don’t actually like. I went from hating football to thinking it was my entire life. All the players were so likeable. I fell for all of them. Gus: That’s something we haven’t had in the England national set up for years. 2018 WAS ALSO THE YEAR THAT GRIMES AND ELON MUSK BECAME A NEW CELEBRITY COUPLE... Gus: He’s such a piece of

shit. The paedo tweet... Harry: It was a very Year 10 response. Gus: From someone who’s supposedly one of the most intelligent people in the world. Harry: If they make each other happy, we’ve got to let them be. Also, there’s no celebrity couples because there aren’t celebrities anymore. You don’t get bands getting mobbed down Carnaby Street anymore. Who’s the new Pete Doherty? He’s busy eating his massive breakfast. Gus: Oh that’s the real story of this year! When are we gonna get to that! Harry: The real issues! The coat and his squinty eye are the best bits about that photo. Andrew: The bottle of

strawberry Yazoo in the corner is the best bit. How could you drink that with a fry up?! IN GENERAL, WHO DO WE THINK HAVE BEEN THE WINNERS OF 2018? Gus: Probably Jack and Dani from Love Island. Soph: They live together now. I say that as if I know them. There’s a show coming out about them though. Gus: I’d definitely watch that. Also Gareth Southgate’s a winner. Aoife: For us, a really big thing was that the abortion referendum went through. It’s really crazy that it was still a thing. We were here when it happened, but it was really nerve-wracking. Soph: That was probably a bigger moment than Gareth Southgate’s waistcoat, to be honest. Harry: The waistcoat or the referendum: which is it gonna be? It’s a toughie, guys! AND WHO IS AT THE BOTTOM OF 2018’S TRASH PILE? Harry: I feel like this is the year that the cappuccino finally got forgotten. I’ve started ordering them again because I feel bad. Jack: What makes you

think that? Harry: I noticed that people had stopped ordering the cappuccino, so I ordered one and the person I was with said, ‘What do you think it is? 2002?’ So now I do it all the time; I had one this morning. Jack: Have you noticed a spike in any other coffee? Harry: Well, the flat white is obviously the main one. But yeah, cappuccino sales are down big time this year. People just don’t want foam! NOW, LET US LOOK FORWARDS. DO YOU HAVE ANY AIMS AND GOALS FOR 2019, CHAPS? Aoife: To release an album, hopefully! Harry: We get another Glastonbury this year. There wasn’t one this year. That’s why this year sucked! Gus: Hopefully we’ll play Glastonbury next year, just for the ticket more than anything. Obviously it’s great to play Glastonbury as well... Jack: But mainly we just want the ticket. That’s the spirit! Onwards and upwards to 2019! DIY

This year’s new set of Blue Peter presenters, and their furry sidekick.

REVIE eee

MUSE

Simulation Theory (Warner Bros.)

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h, Muse in 2018. Where to begin? The days of ‘Origin Of Symmetry’, ‘Absolution’ and the Devon trio making some of the most engaging, interesting rock in the world seem but a speck in the rear-view mirror, as Matt Bellamy and co have threatened to become a parody of themselves over the last decade. On 2015’s ‘Drones’ they became obsessed with... drones. They legitimately sang “your ass belongs to me now” on the chorus of said record’s lead single, and were as committed as ever to telling us that, yes - the government is bad.

diymag.com

For better or for worse, ‘Simulation Theory’ doesn’t dial back these absurdities one jot. The cover looks like someone trying to recreate the poster for Drive after a few too many tokes on the devil’s lettuce; the first song is called ‘Algorithm’ and insists that, yes, we should indeed be terrified of Instagram’s new non-linear layout (“Burn like a slave, churn like a cog / We are caged in simulations, algorithms evolve”). single ‘Thought Contagion’ sings of bracing for “the final solution” (!). As ever with Muse, the lyrics are little more than faux-profound empty platitudes,

EWS and nothing to scribble on your school backpack. But when the place of the band has shifted so much recently, and overblown absurdity has become their greatest asset, does it really matter? Take a step back from the ins and outs of the record and ‘Simulation Theory’ stands as a ridiculous, bombastic stab of maximalism from one of the world’s biggest stadium rock bands. The chugging intro of ‘Algorithm’ is perfect for walking out to at a sold-out Wembley Stadium to, and it’s clearly been written with exactly that in mind. Single ‘The Dark Side’ is a suitably groovy aside from the album’s relative lack of danceability, and by the time you’ve stopped laughing at the frankly jaw-dropping robotic intro to ‘Propaganda’, you realise you’re toe-tapping to its

‘80s-indebted verse without even realising.

1. ALGORITHM 2. THE DARK SIDE 3. PRESSURE 4. PROPAGANDA 5. BREAK IT TO ME 6. SOMETHING HUMAN 7. THOUGHT CONTAGION 8. GET UP AND FIGHT 9. BLOCKADES 10. DIG DOWN 11. THE VOID

The highlight is ‘Get Up And Fight’, beginning with hints of tropical house (stay with us) and skipping along with confidence before throwing out the best chorus the band have written in a decade. ‘Something Human’ is almost admirable in its absurdity - the lawsuit from Atomic Kitten’s ‘Whole Again’ is in the post - and if a Muse album isn’t meant to make you laugh, gasp and double-take in its ridiculousness, then we don’t wanna hear it. (Will Richards) LISTEN: ‘Get Up And Fight’, ‘The Dark Side’

eeee KING NUN I Have Love ................................................................................................................................................. (Dirty Hit)

Coming from a label that counts Wolf Alice, Pale Waves and The 1975 on its roster, it’s a safe bet that anything King Nun release is going to be fucking brilliant. And, let’s be clear, this EP is unquestionably brilliant. However, King Nun aren’t about safe bets, and each track from ‘I Found Love’ is as intriguing and enthralling as the next. It’s an unchained riot from the get go. Packing in more “yeahs” than you can count, ‘Heavenly She Comes’ is an angst-ridden belter, and ‘Chinese Medicine’ is equally volatile, building up with an off-kilter beat before a drum roll opens the floodgates to a torrent of energetic guitar. King Nun don’t just do loud, though, they do breezy and fun too. See ‘Family Portrait’ for a bit o’ that. Midtempo and unexpectedly touching, it indicates a pace shift compared to the foursome’s earlier tracks, which scratch like caged animals. A live favourite, ‘Greasy Hotel’ tells of a twisted establishment through delightfully curious lyrics, framed at each end by a stunning chorus. Think Foals sonics with Vaccines sensibility and you’re some way there. Barely clocking in at 15 minutes total, ‘I Found Love’ is only a tiny taste of what King Nun have to offer, especially given that it arrives well over a year since their last release. Fortunately, quality triumphs hugely over quantity and no doubt these tracks predate even more excellent material from the budding quartet. (Alex Cabré) LISTEN: ‘Heavenly She Comes’

eeee WHENYOUNG Given Up (Virgin EMI)

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Following a string of infectious singles over the past year or so, ‘Given Up’ showcases the key features of Whenyoung’s refined sound from the get-go. The title track boasts Aoife Power’s frolicking vocal channelling the tender charm of early ‘90s alt-pop bands like The Vaselines, and a plodding bass line reminiscent of Kim Deal. It’s followed by a tribute to fellow Limerick-ians and spiritual forebearers The Cranberries; a sound-alike cover of their 1989 track ‘Dreams’. Less yodelling, but just the same saccharine charm. ‘Heaven On Earth’, meanwhile, is a signature Whenyoung jaunt that features another swaggering bass line alongside whirring guitar arpeggios and a pumping kick-and-snare beat, demonstrating the trio’s keen ability to marry sunny pop hooks to a Ramoneslite punk core. Perhaps most impressive of all, though, is final number ‘Sleeper’. It dramatically expands the band’s sound by using brooding cello strings to take the initially simple arrangement of tender acoustic guitar and cooing vocals to a distinctively mournful and atmospheric conclusion. More than any other song of theirs to date, it demonstrates a musical maturity that could open the doors to a more expansive sound. It’s a sweet surprise. As the lyrics of the title track go, “It’s your world and you create it”. These four tracks show that Whenyoung are keen to carve their own distinct niche in the open-ended platform of guitar pop - and so far, they’re doing a great job. (James Bentley) LISTEN: ‘Given Up’

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ee MUMFORD & SONS Delta

(Gentlemen of the Road / Island)

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If, 10 years on from their freakishly popular banjototing debut, it seems a cheap shot to have a pop at Mumford & Sons, the perennial punchbags of mainstream country rock, then ‘Delta’ is proof that Marcus and his pals really do bring it on themselves. On 2015 LP ‘Wilder Mind’, the quartet swapped waistcoats and tweed for leather jackets and moody press shots, “going electric” and turning the dials up if not to 11 then at least to about six and a half. Now, however, they’ve given up trying that costume on for size and are back flogging another set of empty epics. Like Coldplay down the farm, their brand of stable boy stadium rock is purpose-built to swell at the chorus and fill huge spaces, but there’s nothing with any real warmth or likeability underneath it. At this point Mumford & Sons know exactly what they have to do to keep the Spotify streams rolling over, and ‘Delta’ feels like an exercise in box-ticking, no more, no less. (Lisa Wright) LISTEN: ‘Woman’

TRULY EXCEPTIONAL.

ALBUMS

eeee THOM YORKE Suspiria (XL)

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A Thom Yorke film score has been hotly anticipated ever since Radiohead bandmate Jonny Greenwood began his forays into cinema music. Dario Argento’s original 1977 supernatural masterpiece ‘Suspiria’ has a sizeable cult following, and the film score by Italian electronic prog-rock outfit Goblin remains one of the most acclaimed in horror movie history. The resultant fan outcry is straightforward - what is the purpose of remaking such an iconic and recognisable work? How can you distinguish yourself when there is already such a memorable score associated with the subject? Radiohead fans will be pleased to hear that the record is not entirely made up of scored excerpts; Thom takes the vocal for a handful of structured numbers. The main theme, ‘Suspirium’, elegantly glides across piano keys in a hopeful manner that seems at odds with the terror that features elsewhere. The sitar-droning ‘Has Ended’, meanwhile, bears similarities with the ‘Hail To The Thief’ track ‘A Punchup at a Wedding’. Best of them all, though, is ‘Unmade’ - a regal ballad that transcends the works of Radiohead as a kind of lamenting hymn. A twinkling piano refrain almost evokes the image of a ballet dancer prancing about a grandly decorated room. From micro passages like the 30-second ‘An Audition’ to the 14-minute swell of ambient vocal track ‘A Chorus Of One’, Thom successfully contrasts optimism and tenderness with hopelessness and terror, with an impressive breadth of emotion being evoked across each track. He’s clearly thrived from the pressure and expectation, creating something truly exceptional. (James Bentley) LISTEN: ‘Unmade’

eee NAO Saturn

(Little Tokyo / Sony)

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‘Saturn’ is full of glossy, soulful R&B, born out of a turbulent period in Nao’s late 20s where “I was lost and I genuinely had to ask ‘how do you make it out of here?’” But despite the album beginning in confusion, ‘Saturn’ sounds genuinely uplifting throughout, her impressive vocal range being the focal point. Opener ‘Another Lifetime’ is powered by emotion and vulnerability, whereas ‘Make It Out Alive’, featuring SiR, is one of the album’s more memorable moments, Nao’s hypnotic musings on an existential crisis of sorts sounding almost carefree in their delivery. By reflecting so intensely on her struggles, Nao has emerged a stronger person for it. (Rachel Finn) LISTEN: ‘Make It Out Alive’ feat. SiR

ALBUMS

eeee LAURA JANE GRACE & THE DEVOURING MOTHERS Bought to Rot (Bloodshot)

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Paying homage to Tom Petty’s solo debut ‘Full Moon Fever’, there’s an unmistakable Americana twist across ‘Bought to Rot’. “My apologies for however I fucked up,” Laura sings on ‘The Apology Song’, “I don’t want your life to be any harder than it has to.” Her words are filled with wisdom, whether delivered strikingly straightforward (see the seething ‘I Hate Chicago’) or building on Tom’s storytelling prowess to pass on a lesson learned. When it closes out with her grittily declaring “you can go wherever the fuck in the world you want”, it’s unquestionable that she’s earned both this expressive and personal freedom. (Ben Tipple) LISTEN: ‘I Hate Chicago’

eeee BOYGENIUS boygenius (Matador)

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Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker have stood out as three leading new voices in indierock over the past couple of years, and all that promise is melted together gorgeously on their new collaborative EP as boygenius. Each member has their moment to shine (Lucy helms the shimmering, foreboding ‘Bite The Hand’, while ‘Me & My Dog’ is Phoebe’s heart-racing folk-rock stomp and Julien’s voice is as soaring and affecting as ever on the emotional ‘Stay Down’), but it’s when they come together on closer ‘Ketchum, ID’, an ode to the state of Idaho and the detachment of constant touring, that ‘boygenius’ really comes into its own and sees the project become more than the sum of its parts. (Will Richards) LISTEN: ‘Ketchum, ID’

“You can’t sit with us.”

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ALBUMS eee BILL RYDER-JONES Yawn

(Domino)

Though Bill Ryder-Jones initially made his name with idiosyncratic Scouse weirdos The Coral, since the start of his solo career the singer has largely trodden a far more restrained, introverted path. However, across his last two LPs - 2013’s ‘A Bad Wind Blows In My Heart’ and critically-acclaimed 2015 follow up ‘West Kirby County Primary’ - there have always been moments of directness and light to punctuate the shadows. On ‘Yawn’, these are absent. Instead, its 10 tracks all sprawl along at a similar down-tempo pace, Bill’s fragile whisper of a croon only adding to the aura of lethargic night times spent alone. Individually the likes of ‘Time Will Be The Only Saviour’, with its creeping strings and weighty sorrow, or the Rizzo quoting ‘There Are Worse Things I Could Do’, are tender, sad things, but as a whole piece, ‘Yawn’ can wind up a claustrophobic listen. (Sarah Pope) LISTEN: ‘There Are Worse Things I Could Do’

Q&A Filled with creative doubt at the start of ‘Yawn’’s writing process, help came in the form of some DIY faves. Bill Ryder-Jones tells Lisa Wright how producing Our Girl’s debut helped get him back on track. Did you have much of a break and a reset after ‘West Kirby...’ before starting writing for ‘Yawn’? The only frustrating thing about doing the best job in the world is that when you finish [an album], you immediately start thinking about your next move. All I wanna do is the same thing again, but can I do the same thing or how can I change it? Inevitably when you sit down, the first few songs are clearly not good enough and written for a reason thatand written for a reason that’s [more calculated]. But then after a few months I start forgetting all that and I re-discover why it is I like writing. Is there a certain mood you need to be in to be creative? Lack of confidence is the main thing. To get a good song, your head has to believe you can do it. It’s two extremes for me: I either have to feel completely fucking useless and that no-one’s gonna give a shit so I may as well just write for myself, or consider myself someone who’s worth hearing. What helped you start believing in this material more? Working with Our Girl on their record, I came back from that session really energised. They were so loving towards me and very supportive and full of praise. I’ve never been around people who were so happy to tell you you’re doing a good job and I came away from that going, they’re unashamedly doing their own thing and I shouldn’t be so critical of myself.

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MISSED THE BOAT ON THE BEST ALBUMS FROM THE LAST COUPLE OF MONTHS? DON’T WORRY, WE’VE GOT YOU COVERED.

eeeee

BROCKHAMPTON iridescence ........................

As joyous a mishmash of styles as ever from the LA boyband.

eeee

SWEARIN’

Fall Into The Sun ........................

A powerful advert for reconciliation, it’s the reunited band’s best yet.

eeee

FUCKED UP Dose Your Dreams

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Unashamedly angry and unrelenting, the best kind of audio assault. 67

eee JULIA HOLTER

eeee NANCY

eeee J MASCIS

(Domino)

(Cannibal Hymns / B3SCI)

(Sub Pop)

Over her past four albums, Julia Holter has built a reputation for making music that sounds strange, sometimes beautiful and often unconventional. For her fifth album, she curates a mix of disparate sounds and feelings; just as you feel you’ve got the album figured out, it throws a curveball. ‘Everyday Is An Emergency’ is almost eight minutes long, the first half a mash-up of jarring and repetitive wind instruments colliding into each other before the track changes tact completely, becoming a moving piano ballad; ‘Another Dream’ is an otherworldly, synth heavy number that sounds like an eerie nightmare. Unusual yet distinctive, ‘Aviary’ may alienate some but you can’t fault the depth of Julia’s grand vision. (Rachel Finn) LISTEN: ‘Another Dream’

Aptly self-described as “punk cabaret”, ‘Mysterious Visions’ is a garish pop-art collection of soaring synths and disorientating distortion. Nancy takes the American myth and twists it at their own will. The result is wonderful: a deliberate, colourful mess. It hits you in the solar plexus, with its grinding, livewire guitarwork and snotty vocals. It’s charged with unstoppable energy. When Nancy is done toying ‘Try to Take Time’ has the hammock-swinging pace of Mac DeMarco, smothered in fuzz and disillusionment. The psychedelic grooves of ‘Teenage Fantasy’ are amplified and expansive: a galaxy all of its own. It’s like a kaleidoscope: vivid and ever-changing. (Sophie Walker) LISTEN: ‘Blood in my Shoe (Walk to You)’

Dinosaur Jr frontman J Mascis’ solo work in recent years has flown under the radar a little, but it really shouldn’t have. He continues in the same vein as 2015’s ‘Tied to a Star’ on ‘Elastic Days’; who could have predicted, back in the early days of the band that he’d one day end up sounding quite this melodic. His signature guitar tone remains at the heart, which he’s happy to noodle away with breezily. On the likes of handsome opener ‘See You at the Movies’ and the quietly epic ‘Cut Stranger’, you get the sense that he’s just about holding himself back from launching into a full, Dinosaur-style solo, while elsewhere, he pairs pretty acoustic work with crisp percussion, especially on ‘Sometimes’ and ‘Drop Me’. The sense of ‘Elastic Days’ being a fully realised piece of work is accentuated by a host of guest turns on backing vocals, with Zoe Randell of Luluc being the standout amongst a star-studded cast of collaborators that also includes Mark Mulcahy of Miracle Legion and Pall Jenkins of The Black Heart Procession. The last couple of Dinosaur Jr records in particular have been praised for their consistency, but J Mascis is continuing to fire out hidden gems under his own name, too. (Joe Goggins) LISTEN: ‘Cut Stranger’

Aviary

eeee EMPRESS OF Us

(Terrible Records)

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COMING UP

Sometimes titles tell you everything you need to know. Take Empress Of’s debut ‘Me’. Lorely Rodriguez wrote and produced everything on it. On ‘Us’, she’s brought some friends into the studio, and her ability to play well with others yields a stronger, and more focused album. It’s a series of contemplations about relationships and love, “about different experiences of the heart.” And on ‘Everything to Me’, ‘Timberlands’ and ‘I’ve Got Love’ her lyrics feel like deeply personal observations. She’s as captivating as ever, but the rough edges have been smoothed, giving us something more immediate. (Nick Roseblade) LISTEN: ‘Timberlands’

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FIDLAR

Mysterious Visions ....................................................

Almost Free

It’s about time the LA lads returned, right? Album three is out 25th January.

SHARON VAN ETTEN Remind Me Tomorrow

It’s been a while, but the singer-songwriter’s finally following up with a fifth LP. Out 18th January.

RAT BOY Internationally Unknown Jordan Cardy’s roped his new best mate, veteran punk Tim Armstrong in for the ride this time. Released 25th January.

Elastic Days

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eee SMASHING PUMPKINS

SHINY AND OH SO BRIGHT, VOL. 1 / LP: NO PAST. NO FUTURE. NO SUN. (BMG)

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Not too many people heard ‘Ogilala’, the bare-bones solo LP Billy Corgan put out under his ‘William Patrick’ moniker, but those who did would have recognised that the songwriting talent that catapulted himself and Smashing Pumpkins to global stardom in the nineties remained undimmed. Plenty of reason, then, to approach this new Pumpkins album - the first to feature both guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin since 2000’s ‘Machina / The Machines of God’ - with optimism. Billy has re-teamed with Rick Rubin, and the super-producer’s stately work lends a fluidity and continuity to a group of songs that comes off as a little bit of a grab-bag. There are wholesale ‘90s throwbacks in the form of ‘Silvery Sometimes (Ghosts)’ and ‘With Sympathy’, both breezy, dreamy guitar-driven numbers in the vein of ‘1979’ or ‘Perfect’, while Billy revisits his rock chops on ‘Solara’ and ‘Marchin’ On’. It’s those earlier, more reflective numbers that are the most successful here, not least because they feel as if he’s picking up where he left off with ‘Ogilala’. Presumably, volume two is to follow; that might be the moment at which they truly begin to sound like the Pumpkins of old. They’ve made a solid start. (Joe Goggins) LISTEN: ‘With Sympathy’

eeee TY SEGALL

eeee MIYA FOLICK

eeee ARCHITECTS

(In The Red)

(Terrible Records / Polydor)

(Epitaph)

On ‘Fudge Sandwich’, Ty Segall takes a collection of songs and reinvents them as his own. It’s not Ty’s version of the song - it’s him exploring the collective psyche of each track and re-assembling them. ‘I’m A Man’ - originally written by the Spencer Davis Group - is given an entirely fresh, quintessentially Segall overhaul, while he adds a multitude of gritty and post-apocalyptic elements to John Lennon’s ‘Isolation’. Trading in layers of piano for the echoes of distorted guitars, he adds a coat of insanity. With others, such as ‘Class War’ by the Dils, he does the opposite and strips down an already hi-fi song to its bare lo-fi layers. With ‘Fudge Sandwich’, Ty breathes new life into an already solid collection of rock songs, and he’s as ever-mutating a musician on this as in real life. (Cady Siregar) LISTEN: ‘Isolation’

Whereas her previous EP releases leant on a guitardriven sound, for her debut Miya Folick opts for a more eclectic mix of influences. Jumping from the theatrical pop heights of ‘Stock Image’ to the delicate and moving balladry of opener ‘Thingamajig’ and then again to the playful ‘Leave The Party’ and the #MeToo-inspired call to arms of ‘Deadbody’, the LA musician is nothing but dynamic. Many tracks sound as if they could have come from different albums, or even different artists, Miya’s voice able to sway to hit harmonious high notes in one line and tackle a rich, lower tone in the next. The one constant is her ability to jump from one song to the next in a way that rarely seems jarring; it’ll serve her well to keep the multi-faceted nature of her sound from here on out. (Rachel Finn) LISTEN: ‘Thingamajig’

In the two years since Architects released the thunderous ‘All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us’, guitarist Tom Searle passed away after a battle with cancer. ‘Holy Hell’ presents Architects’ most overt response to their circumstances, taking on the oft-conflicting characteristics of grief head-on. With its mantra loud and clear on opener ‘Death Is Not Defeat’, it unashamedly tackles the realities of loss. It’s also the best Architects have sounded. Tom’s legacy runs throughout; new guitarist Josh Middleton effortlessly continues the dominant riffs that underpin the band’s sound, while ‘Doomsday’ - spearheaded by Tom prior to his death physically brings him to the record. Powerfully honest and refreshingly unfiltered. (Ben Tipple) LISTEN: ‘Doomsday’

Fudge Sandwich

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Premonitions

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Holy Hell

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Billy’s all-male remake of The Craft hadn’t really turned out as planned.

ALBUMS eeee B.E.D B.E.D

(Heavenly)

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eeee WESTERMAN Ark

(Blue Flowers)

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Through a handful of 2018 singles, Will Westerman has shown himself to be a songwriter with the ability to project an oasis of calm onto listeners, championing patience and vulnerability. This continues in earnest on new EP ‘Ark’, his most accomplished work to date. Helmed by single ‘Albatross’, a gorgeous escape into a calmer, more sure-footed state of mind, the EP twists the singer-songwriter rulebook in gorgeous new directions, assisted by subtle but affecting production from Bullion. The excellent ‘Outside Sublime’ champions selfacceptance (“Be what you want, I’ll always be your champion,” he repeats) and ‘Ark’ serves as a deep breath away from the chaos of everyday life from one of the most compelling new artists around. (Will Richards) LISTEN: ‘Outside Sublime’ 70 diymag.com

One’s an amusingly sardonic musical anti-hero, one’s a French house DJ and the other’s a member of a feminist punk band. It’s an unholy trinity that has no right to work, but on ‘B.E.D’ the trio’s wildly diverse starting points combine to an unexpectedly cohesive whole. “We’re just obvious: listening to Florence and the Machine and having a roll-up,” mutters Baxter on ‘Only My Honesty Matters’. Etienne’s there to underwrite the sentiments with sad, pillowy synths; Delilah pitches in occasionally, ensuring proceedings don’t go too far into crotchety old man territory. Across the record, all prop each other up to create something that’s more than the sum of their parts. In this case, three in a B.E.D fits just fine. (Lisa Wright) Listen: ‘Only My Honesty Matters’

eeee I DON’T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME 1981 Extended Play (Fearless)

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A musical fusion of former pop-punk trailblazers Dallon Weekes and Ryan Seaman of Panic! At The Disco, I Don’t Know How But They Found Me forged their identity in the vibrancy of neon lights, swapping mixtapes and MTV’s reflection in their eyes. So entrenched in ‘80s nostalgia are the pair, it’s instrumental in their own mythology: a band who failed to take off in the era that killed the radio star. These are their ‘lost tapes’. ‘Extended Play’ is glamrock with a twinkle in its eye. ‘Choke’ is their greatest theatrical glory: Broadway rhythms and brass sections are met with razor-sharp guitars and Dallon’s gothic timbre. A bold statement of intent that’s bound to catch like wildfire. (Sophie Walker) LISTEN: ‘Absinthe‘

eeee IAN SWEET Crush Crusher (Hardly Art)

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Ian Sweet is the project of Boston-based Jilian Medford, and this second LP sees her grab all the promise of her 2016 debut and years at the heart of her hometown’s DIY scene and turn it into something great. Opening track and first single ‘Hiding’ is its highlight, a breezy indie-rock number that looks back on losing yourself in an allconsuming relationship, and feels like a eureka moment. The rest of the album deals in similar emotions; ‘Holographic Jesus’ puts the template of ‘Hiding’ through a Slowdive-shaped blender, and when she stretches her voice on ‘Falling Fruit’, it’s with enough power to make you sit up straight immediately. (Will Richards) LISTEN: ‘Hiding’

AN OASIS OF CALM.

“Bugger, I left the heating on again…”

ALBUMS eeee WILLIE J HEALEY 666 Kill

(YALA!) ..................................................................................

On 2017 debut ‘People and Their Dogs’, Oxford boy Willie J Healey landed at the more affable end of the singer songwriter canon. Though there remained a solid dose of introversion involved in his lo-fi jangles, there was a Mac DeMarco-esque twinkle in the eye that sparkled throughout. One year on and instead there’s a gentle sadness to ‘666 Kill’ that permeates its six tracks of intimate, Neil Young-recalling acoustics. ‘Lovelawn’ pits surprisingly graphic morbidity against the sweetest guitars around; ‘Guitar Music’ ironically runs on slow, nocturnal piano plonks, while its title is a gorgeous, porch-side ode to death. Not to wish ill on the poor lad, but melancholy suits him well. (Lisa Wright) LISTEN: ‘Lovelawn’

BACK TO THE

DRAWING BOARD with WILLIE J HEALEY

Q1: What do you do when you’re lonely?

Q3: What does it look like where you recorded 666 Kill?

Q2: What does a Lovelawn look like?

Q4: What does your devil look like?

eee THE PRODIGY No Tourists (BMG)

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Once vanguards of dance, The Prodigy’s last few albums have felt like the Essex outfit have been treading water; live, these new offerings have largely just been outed to top up the hits. ‘No Tourists’ is different. Musically, they go back to basics, sounds and motifs form their roots permeating the LP. ‘Light Up the Sky, ‘Resonate’ and ‘We Live Forever’ are all built around ravey loops, but it’s harder hitting than anything on 1992 debut ‘Experience’: murky bass lines, abrasive breakbeats and a menacing malice underpin the dark maelstroms. ‘No Tourists’ shows that The Prodigy haven’t lost their ability to mix heavy breakbeats, rampant synths and shouty choruses to create something thoughtprovoking and danceable. At times, ‘No Tourists’ feels like a companion to their debut. That was the night out and this is the morning after’s hangover. While this isn’t vintage Prodigy, it gets pretty damn close and gives hope there is still life in the old dog yet. (Nick Roseblade) LISTEN: ‘Fight Fire With Fire’ 71

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ENERGY AND EMOTION AT FEVER PITCH.

BLOC PARTY ....................................................

Alexandra Palace, London. Photos: Emma Swann.

loc Party’s 2005 debut album ‘Silent Alarm’ remains a cornerstone of every millennial indie fan’s musical upbringing. Sandwiched between debuts from Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys, the album went down in indie history books as a defining record from a generation when this type of music was the most exciting being made on the planet. Things are very different today, for both Bloc Party and guitar music in Britain, but tonight at Ally Pally all that’s set aside for an hour of pure nostalgia. Bloc Party’s secret weapon around the record’s release was the best rhythm section in the game. Possessing a seemingly telepathic connection, bassist Gordon Moakes and drummer Matt Tong held the band’s songs together impeccably and gave them furious new life. After their departures in 2015 and 2013 respectively, the band’s engine room was replaced by bassist Justin Harris and drummer Louise Bartle. If the significant shoes they had to step into were a worry prior to the ‘Silent Alarm’ tour, they’re rubbished tonight - Justin holds everything together sturdily, while Louise is one of the only tubthumpers around that can bring the same unrelenting energy and intricacy as her predecessor, a ball of energy that anchors the band flawlessly. On top of their new rhythm section, the chemistry between frontman Kele Okereke and axe-wielder Russell Lissack is as electric as ever. Flipping the usual trait of album shows on its head (literally), ‘Silent Alarm’ appears back-to-front tonight, a running order that might seem strange on the face of it, but ends up flowing to an incendiary climax. ‘Compliments’ and ‘Plans’ open with a flutter, before Kele implores the crowd to rise with the energy of the skittish ‘Luno’, and from there the energy and emotion remains at fever pitch. As the band depart, though, it could be argued that this kind of evening should remain a youthful dream and nothing more. The ticket price for tonight demands more than a 13-song set, granted, but - as could be said for Bloc Party’s career post 2007’s ‘A Weekend In The City’ - their re-emergence for an encore is a shaky, disconnected affair. ‘Silent Alarm’-era offcuts ‘Two More Years’, ‘The Marshals Are Dead’ and ‘Little Thoughts’ provide more welcome throwbacks, but when an awkward, elongated break to fix Russell’s guitar leads to some slightly desperate stage chatter from Kele, promising the crowd the next song is a “banger”, only to then race into a clunky version of ‘Ratchet’ before trying to claw back some momentum on the suitably anthemic, widescreen closer ‘Flux’, it might’ve been best if they’d left it in the mid-’00s. (Will Richards) 73

DEAFHEAVEN

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ULU, London. Photo: Robin Pope.

LI VE

n this year’s ‘Ordinary Corrupt Human Love’, Deafheaven pushed themselves further out of their comfort zone, melding genres together with more fluidity than ever before. And tonight’s show in London, mid-way through an exhaustive run of gigs, writes the next chapter of the story emphatically. Opening with the shimmering ‘Honeycomb’, the band balance heaviness and playfulness delicately and perfectly. Kerry McCoy sports an Oasis at Knebworth t-shirt, and by the time ‘Honeycomb’ skips into its sprightly mid-section, he’s throwing out riffs much more akin to Noel Gallagher than his metal peers. George Clark, meanwhile, steps back from eyeballing the front row and bashes a tambourine against his mic stand, the Liam to Kerry’s Noel.

Dipping into cuts from 2015’s ‘New Bermuda’ and breakout 2013 LP ‘Sunbather’, the band are more fluid and more fun on stage, guitarist Shiv Mehra shredding at the edge on ‘Worthless Animal’ and George launching himself into the crowd at the climax of anthemic closer ‘Dream House’, adding a new kind of showmanship to their arsenal. It’s a complete joy to watch. (Will Richards)

RINA SAWAYAMA

...............................................................................................................................

Heaven, London. Photo: Burak Cingi.

t can seem self-indulgent and, let’s be honest, boring to be a new pop star in 2018 if you’ve got nothing to actually say. Luckily for Rina Sawayama, she’s at no danger of being mistaken as such. Sure, her live show has all the hallmarks of a classic pop show, but her set especially seems to foster an incredible sense of community, dissecting some of the issues affecting people of her generation and turning it into something joyful and celebratory. Tonight is the last stop on the tour in support of last year’s eight-track mini-album ‘RINA’ and something of a homecoming for the singer, who, as she tells the crowd whilst almost on the brink of tears, was playing rooms less than a quarter of the size of this one less than a year ago. Rina’s music tackles both the good, the bad and everything in between when it comes to social media, technology, sexuality and mental health. Almost every song is punctuated with crowd singalongs and fierce choreography, but there’s a firm commitment to inclusiveness running throughout the whole show too. Before the gleeful power-pop of ‘Ordinary Superstar’, Rina reminds us that we are, of course, all “ordinary superstars” and during the opening of latest single, the pansexual bop of ‘Cherry’, she asks the crowd “Who here is queer?!” to which about half of the room roars in response. It’s something she’s so committed to that she’s even set up a special ‘Alone Together’ wristband scheme at her shows, where fans who are attending alone can meet up with others also on their own. Her sound may be drenched in aspects of 00s nostalgia, but it’s also decidedly forward facing, both in sound and vision. You leave with the sense that whoever you are and whoever you want to be, you’re very much welcome in Rina’s world. (Rachel Finn)

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THE DEBUT EP OUT NOW ON TOUR WITH P!NK SUMMER 2019

LOS CAMPESINOS! ....................................................

Forum, London. Photos: Jonathan Dadds.

great deal of anniversary tours tend to come from bands that have lost their way on recent records, harking back to a time when their music felt more vital. Los Campesinos! don’t quite fit this mould, and neither does this celebration of the ten-year anniversary of their first two albums, ‘Hold On Now, Youngster’ and ‘We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed’. The first half of the night features songs from the first two records, including rare showings of ‘This Is How You Spell “HAHAHA, We Destroyed the Hopes and Dreams of a Generation of Faux-Romantics”’ and ‘...And We Exhale and Roll Our Eyes in Unison’, as well as a much-loved cover of Pavement’s ‘Frontwards’, rolled out for the first time since 2010. LC! are a significantly different band today, but there’s no sense of the band resenting their previous form as they thrash through twelve early cuts before taking a half-time break. They then go on to show just why and how they’ve become one of the UK’s leading cult bands, dipping into all corners of their discography and pointing as much to the future as the past. From the moment they re-emerge to run through ‘I Broke Up In Amarante’, the idea of tonight being purely a nostalgia trip is rubbished. From the heart-wrenching ‘The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future’ to ‘For Flotsam’, every single song is met with fervent singalongs, reaching fever pitch with the chanted finale to closer ‘Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks’. Here’s to the next decade. (Will Richards)

JULIEN BAKER

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Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London. Photo: Phoebe Fox.

ulien Baker shows are often sombre, reflective affairs, her tales of sorrow filling rooms of those who are more than likely in attendance to try and make some kind of sense of their own feelings. Tonight though, at the singer’s biggest UK show to date at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire, things feel distinctly different. The singer strides on stage and, before she can tune her guitar, is greeted with an impromptu rendition of ‘Happy Birthday’ from the crowd. It sets the tone for a night that’s joyous, powerful and thoughtprovoking. Opening with ‘Sprained Ankle’, Julien is constantly tapping her toes on a pedal board on stage, triggering loop pedals like the Duracell bunny and regularly

76 diymag.com

balancing playing guitar and piano during the same song. Oldie ‘Everybody Does’ is as intensely hard-hitting as it ever has been, and ‘Blacktop’ sends out a call to “come visit me in the back of an ambulance,” but there’s a determination from Julien tonight to see the hope in these seemingly hopeless tales. If not your traditional birthday party, it’s a night that leans on positives in order to banish the negatives. The singalongs continue through the title track from last year’s ‘Turn Out The Lights’ LP and an encore of ‘Rejoice’, before Julien’s collaborators and crew rush the stage with a birthday cake and bunting, and everyone leaves feeling extremely thankful, and a little more hopeful. (Will Richards)

LI VE

POP MONTRÉAL

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Various venues, Montréal. Photos: Emma Swann.

n its 150-or-thereabouts years of existence, Canada has proven itself pretty good at the ol’ music thing. POP Montréal is an urban festival centred around the bars and venues of the city’s Mile End neighbourhood: an area which itself has connections to Arcade Fire, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, and Grimes, to name just three. Some of tonight’s more famous names might be from south of the border, but it’s some locals who prove Thursday night’s revelation. Equal parts gnarly garage rock and in-your-face post-punk, Lemongrab are nothing short of brilliant. Vocalist Gaëlle Cordeau spends the set prowling the stage as if it’s every bit her territory already: think the steely menace of Savages’ Jehnny Beth coupled with the playfulness of Shame’s Charlie Steen, as she screams vociferously in the middle of a quickly-opened ‘pit. BODEGA may be a known prospect, but that doesn’t make tonight’s set

any less exciting. Debut ‘Endless Scroll’ now firmly canon, ‘Jack In Titanic’ finds itself a fists-in-the-air anthem. Vanille open Friday’s evening festivities at L’Escogriffe. Describing themselves as “your area sad band” the Montréal outfit bring impeccable jangly indie melodies to the fore, not unlike compatriots Alvvays. Saturday introduces riotous punk courtesy of Rose Bush. The group begin with a “One, two, fuck you”, and it’s no stretch to say they’re heavily influenced by ‘90s riot grrrl. With bassist Ali Levy and guitarist Amanda Lea sharing vocal duties, it’s scratchy, minimalist and discordant. At Barfly, Newfoundland’s Lo Siento are smashing through their Spanishlanguage garage rock. It might be the ramshackle nature of the tiny bar, or just Argentinian

frontwoman Pepa Chan’s pitch, but we’d be lying if we didn’t note a musical similarity to Hispanophone sisters Hinds. The subject matter on show is quite different, though, with anxiety, female solidarity and indigenous people all touched on. Finally, it’s the turn of Chiffres. Another Montréal act, the trio peddle intense, brooding post-punk, visceral and to-the-point, bristling with a compelling menace. If POP Montréal has shown us one thing, it’s that below the big names, under even the buzzy new acts, Canada’s hitting as big as it ever has. (Emma Swann)

LEMONGRAB

BODEGA

“Don’t look at me, I’m shy!”

SPORTS TEAM

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Scala, London. Photos: Sharon López.

n the months running up to the show, Sports Team’s Scala gig became a thing of legend. First of all, they told us they were planning on bringing sharks (!) along, as well as all manner of joshing online about venue capacity and an inevitable sellout. Before they even stepped onstage, the show already looked certain to be a ‘moment’, even if mostly due to sheer hilarity. Calling the gig their ‘Robbie at Knebworth moment’, the same ridiculousness is immediately apparent as they bound on stage to ‘Let Me Entertain You’. But from the second ‘Camel Crew’ crashes in, it becomes a whole lot more. Sports Team are the most bravado-filled band on the block, and tonight they build something that looks set to last - from the first note to the final, the floor is one mash of bodies, yelling every word to songs that, on tonight’s showing, could become anthems. The shark turns up (and then gets thrown into the ‘pit to be ripped to shreds), vocalist Alex Rice scales the venue to gaze down upon the crowd as a new kind of hero, and as balloons rain down on the ground for a triumphant closing ‘Stanton’, what started as an elaborate joke ends with the true arrival of Sports Team, a band who could go the whole way. (Will Richards)

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LI VE DILLY DALLY ....................................................

Sebright Arms, London. Photo: Emma Swann.

hen Toronto’s Dilly Dally returned with their second album ‘Heaven’ in September, they were vocal about the fact that the album didn’t come easy. Arising out of a tumultuous period for the four-piece in which the question of whether they’d even continue as a band at all emerged, the album acted as a message of rebirth, full of affirmations of hope and a sense that they weren’t willing to go down without a fight. So, tonight’s it’s good news that the band are back on fighting form. Kicking things off with a run of new tracks - ‘I Feel Free’, ‘Sober Motel’ and ‘Doom’ - the new material blends in seamlessly with that from 2015’s ‘Sore’, and their energy is as relentless as ever. A Dilly Dally show is one that uplifts, swaying between moments of intense noise, Katie Monks’ brutal screams ricocheting through the tiny basement, and gratitude as they humbly thank the crowd. This tour is something of series of warm-up shows for their bigger UK and European jaunt early next year, but despite the small venue, their comeback is a welcome - and vital one. (Rachel Finn)

SUNDARA KARMA ....................................................

Omeara, London. Photo: James Kelly.

y the time Sundara Karma closed out the touring run for their debut ‘Youth Is Only Ever Fun In Retrospect’, they’d climbed high on the rungs of indie rock’s ladder. Capping off their biggest UK tour with a glorious show at London’s Brixton Academy back in October 2017, their final hurrah was as euphoric as the tracks on that first record, with huge soaring singalongs being the main order of the day. Fast forward to just over a year later, and the band find themselves in an altogether different spot. After a reasonably quiet 2018 - making just a handful of live appearances - the band have since reemerged with a new track and an altogether new attitude, and their first headline show of the year – taking place in the brilliantly intimate Omeara - shows it off to the max. Emerging on stage donned in surreal masks – it is almost Halloween, after all – there’s a sense of Venetian mystique to the whole affair: not only is their set a re-introduction of the band to their closest fans, but it’s also a visit into unknown territory. One listen to newie ‘Illusions’ will have prepared some for their sonic swerve, but it’s still undoubtedly a surprise for most here tonight. Deciding to pepper new material in among their well-loved hits, they pair the dizzying likes of ‘Flame’ and ‘She Said’ alongside some of their forthcoming album’s more bombastic offerings; new highlight ‘One Last Night on this Earth’ sounds particularly incendiary in its Bowie-esque prowl. And while the majority of tonight’s set is entirely unchartered ground, there’s an infectiousness that proves they’ll be back at Brixton in no time at all. (Sarah Jamieson) 79

LI VE ANNA CALVI ....................................................

Ritz, Manchester. Photo: Leah Lombardi.

ettling into an early groove with the evil-Lana Del Rey vibe of ‘Indies or Paradise’, Anna Calvi sets up the musicianship battle of the evening - her voice vs. her inch-perfect guitarplaying. No sooner than she’s delivered a bout of operatic delivery, she’s shredding strings in a manner that’d make Thurston Moore blush. From delicate whisper to primal howl, through ‘Hunter’, ‘As A Man’ and ‘Don’t Beat the Girl out of my Boy’, she writhes and pulses, the crowd following with her every sway. The set peaks with the sexually-charged ‘Alpha’. It’s a rapid descent into a snarling breakdown, which once again finds Anna pummeling her defenceless guitar before ending up laid on top of it. There doesn’t seem to be an individual or item on stage that isn’t absolutely pushing its limits to deliver something memorable. As a calling card she even saves a Suicide cover for the encore, closing with ‘Ghost Rider’. Impeccable, immaculate and incredibly imposing, Anna Calvi stands proudly under the title of latest album ‘Hunter’. Nothing is secure, no one is safe and on tonight’s evidence everyone will be left besotted, obliterated or somehow both. (Matthew Davies Lombardi)

MITSKI

....................................................

Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London. Photo: Robin Pope.

o longer confined into such a small performance space, Mitski’s show has become more like a theatrical performance than a series of songs performed in quick succession. Over the course of her set, into which she crams an incredible twenty-five songs, she allows her body to convey the emotion at carefully timed moments, slowly coming to life more as the set progresses. At first she moves in a deliberately calculated manner, as though a robot or wind-up doll: she paces up and down the stage with fervour, eyes cast down at the floor during ‘Francis, Forever’, swivels her arms in rotation during ‘Washing Machine Heart’ and wags her hands behind her ears during ‘I Bet On Losing Dogs’. But by the time she arrives at ‘Geyser’ and ‘Your Best American Girl’, she’s throwing herself across the stage, performing pliés and diving onto the floor in a way that would seem to be a spontaneous expression of emotion, if the knee pads she’s wearing didn’t suggest that it’s all part of the show. She’s joined by a four-piece band right through to the end, when they leave her alone for ‘My Body’s Made of Crushed Little Stars’ in a short, almost-furious outburst, before a poignant ‘A Burning Hill’ and ‘Two Slow Dancers’. “Just one more song and then goodbye…” she tells us before set closer ‘Goodbye, My Danish Sweetheart’. It’s a performance in equal parts humble and theatrical that beckons the audience into Mitski’s world before deftly pushing them away. (Rachel Finn)

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Academy Events present

JANUARY 2019 29 BIRMINGHAM O2 INSTITUTE 30 GLASGOW OLD FRUITMARKET 31 MANCHESTER ALBERT HALL FEBRUARY 2019 01 LONDON O2 ACADEMY BRIXTON LIVENATION.CO.UK A LIVE NATION PRESENTATION IN ASSOCIATION WITH 13 ARTISTS

DANDYWARHOLS.COM

ACADEMY EVENTS presents

plus special guests

(15th & 21st only)

(20th & 22nd only)

Sat 15th Dec BIRMINGHAM O2 Academy Thu 20th Dec MANCHESTER O2 Ritz Fri 21st Dec LONDON O2 Forum Kentish Town Sat 22nd Dec GLASGOW O2 Academy THETWANG.CO.UK

ACADEMY EVENTS and friends presents

DECEMBER 2018 WED THU FRI SAT

12 13 14 15

LIVERPOOL Arts Club + OXFORD O2 Academy2 + LEEDS The Chapel + BIRMINGHAM O2 Academy2*

*SUPPORTING

WED THU FRI SAT

19 NEWCASTLE O2 Academy2 + 20 MANCHESTER O2 Ritz* 21 LONDON O2 Forum Kentish Town* 22 GLASGOW O2 Academy*

+ WITH SUPPORT FROM

O C TO B E R D R I F T

TICKETMASTER.CO.UK & ALL USUAL AGENTS 81

quiz of sor ts, we’ll A big inter-band pub es one by one. be grilling your fav

IT’S YOUR ROUND

EAN, & DAVE MACL VINCE NT NE FF o Django Djang ttenham ions St. Arthur, To / £4.90 Location: Mann ess Cost: £5.50 inn Gu / e win d Drink: Re

SPECIALIST SUBJECT: NEIGHBOURS, 1987 – 97

GENERAL KNOWLEDGE

Q1: In what year did Dr. Carl Kennedy make his first appearance? Dave: It’s later, I’m gonna say 1992 because it was after Daphne and Des moved out of the house. Vincent: I reckon 1994, after the glory years were over. It was 1994!

Q4: How did activist Kerry Mangel die in 1990? D: Duck hunt! She was shot in a duck hunt! She was, somewhat specifically, shot in a duck hunt. Another correct answer. D: It’s all coming back to me...

Q2: What was the song that soundtracked Scott and Charlene’s wedding? D: [Immediately] Angry Anderson. And what was it called? D: [Sings] “Suddenly I’m standing here...” It was indeed called ‘Suddenly’.

Q5: Natalie Imbruglia was in the soap from 1992 - 94. What was her character called? V: She was a Daniels wasn’t she? She was living in a house with the Robinsons... D: I’ll be so disappointed with myself if I don’t remember this. I had a big crush on her then. V: Mel? Is it Mel? It’s Beth Brennan (later Willis), unfortunately.

3. What was longtime favourite Toadie’s surname? V: Fish D: No, it was Rebecchi. Correct! You’re smashing this!

SCORE 6/10 Impressive nostalgic knowledge from the unexpected Aussie soap fans, but if you need someone to help you with your maths homework, then you’d probably best go elsewhere...

82 diymag.com

4/5

Q1: What is the scientific name for a lie detector test? V: A polygraph test. Correct! Q2: How many bones are there in a shark? V: Well there’s the ribcage, skull and the spine... D: But the spine has loads of bones. V: Maybe it’s just one big bone, like a rod. Or is the spine just cartilage? D: Maybe it’s all cartilage? I’ve never seen a shark skull. I think it’s a trick question. V: I’m going to say 18. Dave is right! A shark has no bones and is, in fact, made of cartilage. 3. Who coined the phrase ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world’? D: It’ll be Gandhi or something. V: Nah, Gandhi wouldn’t have said that. It’s not

someone who’s a thinker, it’ll be a sports star or Peter Andre or someone. Is it Mariah Carey? Kanye West? D: John Lennon? It was just Gandhi, but Pete Andre was also very... close? 4. How many sides on a pentacontagon? D: Like one of those dice they throw in Dungeons and Dragons? V: Is it 6 x 6? A multiple of 6. I’m gonna say 36. Well, a pentagon is 5 sides - first error. So a pentacontagon is 50. 5. In which year did Channel 4 begin broadcasting? V: Is it coming to an anniversary soon? D: I’ll go 1984. It was 1982. V: It probably didn’t get to Scotland and Northern Ireland until 1984...

2/5

who do you trust?

new music out now 83

shame songs of praise HHHHH DIY Magazine HHHHH NME HHHHH Dork HHHH The Guardian

HHHHH Record Collector HHHH The Times HHHH Q HHHH Mojo HHHH Uncut 9/10 The Line of Best Fit 9/10 Clash 8/10 Loud & Quiet

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DIY, November 2018

Articles inside

Three of a Kind: Young Fathers

Unity: IDLES and the AF Gang

The Dream Wave

Raw Power: Nadine Shah

The Famous Five: Shame

Body Type

Another Sky

Crewel Intentions

The Power of III: Demob Happy

Float on: The Japanese House