FOXES Magazine Issue #10

FOXES MAGAZINE

WILL POULTER

by Alexander Beer

FOXES MAGAZINE

ZELLA DAY

by Chloe Chippendale

FOXES MAGAZINE

EMILIA JONES

by Ebru Yildiz

FOXES MAGAZINE

SUZANNA SON

by Graham Dunn

FOXES MAGAZINE

ZOLEE GRIGGS

by Wolfe & Von

MASTHEAD

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Julian de la Celle

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Tina de la Celle

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Alexander Beer, Chloe Chippendale, Graham Dunn, Phoebe Fox, Myles Hendrik, Cameron McCool, Joshua Spencer, Joseph Sinclair, Annie Tobin, Ebru Yildiz, Wolfe & Von

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Danny Dodge, Natalie Gott, Louis Griffin Melanie Kaidan, Willa Rudolph

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SPECIAL THANKS Paige @ Sunday Best Rick @ Warner Music Dan @ They Do Jessi @ Red Light Management Juliette & Jen @ The Oriel Jessica, Kassidy & Lucy @ Shelter PR Britney @ 42West Pamela @ Sirens Call PR Donna @ Tapestry London Debbie & Jade @ Persona PR

If you’re looking to collaborate with us on future content, reach out to us at info@foxesmagazine.com with any inquiries.

Suzanna wears silver jumpsuit by IZAYLA

She may be a newcomer on the scene, with her upcoming first feature film Red Rocket directed by indie filmmaker Sean Baker, but Suzanna Son radiates confidence and star power. It was the very thing that drew Baker to approach Son after a movie screening, knowing she had something special.

Flash forward two-and-a-half years later, and Son lands the role of the Lolita-esque Strawberry, opposite actor Simon Rex. The A24 backed film tells the story of Mikey Saber, a washed-up porn star who returns to his small Texas hometown, where he doesn’t exactly get a warm welcome.

Son and I chat about her and Baker’s first meeting, juggling multiple creative passions, and getting used to acting in front of a camera.

Photography GRAHAM DUNN Fashion LISA BAE Hair RENATO CAMPORA for FEKKAI at THE WALL GROUP Make Up KATE LEE using CHANEL Beauty at THE WALL GROUP Words JULIAN DE LA CELLE

SUZANNA SON

Suzanna wears top and rings by ACNE STUDIOS Metallic trousers by ZAID AFFAS

Suzanna wears coat by ZAID AFFAS

Suzanna wears cheer coat by ISSEY MIYAKE Coat by ZAID AFFAS

JULIAN DE LA CELLE: You were just at the New York Film Festival, how was the reception to the film there?

SUZANNA SON: I really enjoyed watching it with this audience. I love the laughter. It’s like theater in a way, but I’ve done all the work, so I don’t have to perform. I can just sit there with the audience and enjoy it. It can be a challenge to get out of my head and stop judging myself, but I really loved it.

DE LA CELLE: That’s great. Sean Baker has a reputation for finding the talent for his films either on social media or by picking them out of a crowd. How did the two of you meet?

SON: I had just moved to LA from Seattle.

I had been here for about nine days, and I went to see Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Very on Foot, which is a great movie. I was standing outside of the theater admiring this weird Botox center [laughs]. I’d never seen anything like that; it was very LA. I was holding my friend’s cigarette for him, which sounds like bullshit, but I really don’t smoke.

I guess I must have looked like a character there, wearing this red dress, the cigarette, probably looking kind of pissed off that I had to hold it. And Sean walks up to me with his wife, Samantha, and he says, “Hey, I’m Sean Baker.” And he handed me this little piece of paper with his email on it that I still have, actually! He asked if I wanted to audition for something. And then it took almost two and a half years to actually get to that point. So during that time, I was just obsessed. I probably shouldn’t have put all my eggs in that one basket, but I just couldn’t stop thinking about Sean Baker and wanting to be in one of his movies and finding out everything there was to know about him.

DE LA CELLE: I know that you also play music. At that time, when you moved to LA, was it predominantly for acting? Or were you kind of just juggling the two?

SON: Yeah, I was juggling a lot. I wanted to dance, act, sing and play the piano. I think that’s partly why I didn’t succeed. I probably should have just picked one and really stuck to it. But I’ve always been bouncing around.

DE LA CELLE: What was your introduction to acting, then?

SON: I went to college at first and majored in classical piano and voice, so I was singing a lot of Italian arias and driving myself crazy with music theory. And then I just thought the kids in musical theater were having so much fun, and they got to dance a little bit. So I fell in love with it in college.

DE LA CELLE: I read that for this film, there was a lot of improvisation. What was your preparation for something that you can’t really prepare for?

SON: It was different. I felt so silly at first because I was looking directly into the camera! That’s what I’m used to with modeling. They had to put this embarrassing sticker up for me to know where to look, but I got it. I think I figured it out. They just threw me into it. My first day was a huge singing scene, and that was really vulnerable and scary, but I think that made [the rest of shooting] a little easier.

DE LA CELLE: What was your first initial response to reading the script?

SON: I was shocked. I loved it, partly because her name was Strawberry, and it felt like that role was written for an alternate reality version of me. I prepared by watching Goldie Hawn in Sugarland Express, which is also set in Texas. I gave my character a backstory, where she came from, where she was going. I do that so I can feel like Strawberry and start to live with her, with her little spirit inside of me. I like that.

Suzanna wears coat by ZAID AFFAS

Suzanna (left) wears tulle top by SERPENTI Latex top and pants by ALABAMA BLONDE Suzanna (right) wears silver jumpsuit by IZAYLA

Suzanna (left) wears coat by ZAID AFFAS Suzanna (right) wears silver jumpsuit by IZAYLA

Photography by Graham Dunn, fashion by Lisa Bae, hair by Renato Camparo, make up by Kate Lee, manicure by Millie Machado, words by Julian de la Celle, and special thanks to Jessica & Lucy at Shelter PR.

L. A. SALAMI O O K M A N

D E K U N L E

London poet and musician Lookman Adekunle Salami has been working hard and taking his time, building a more specific sound. In the past, he feels he may have rushed things, overlooked certain elements. “I needed to rediscover who I was,” says Salami. “I was going through a lot of stormy weather in the heart and soul at that point.”

This new music probably won’t be released until next year, but from what we’ve heard, there is a sense of discovery and experimentation that Salami brings to this “new” sound, a genuine feeling of enjoyment for what he’s created. He speaks on the current state of London post-Brexit, how his influences have changed, and some up-and-coming acts he’s been listening to.

Photography ANNIE TOBIN Words JULIAN DE LA CELLE

JULIAN DE LA CELLE: What was it that initially drew you to playing music? I’m assuming writing poetry came first?

LOOKMAN ADEKUNLE SALAMI: It’s all a mix of blurred scenes in my mind now... but I remember it starting off pretty much as a consistent progression from writing poetry, to humming stanzas, to learning guitar chords, to humming melodies over guitar chords, then eventually feeling like I had something worth saying and melodies worth listening back to. I think the main thing that attracted me at the time was making melodies and stretching them, and bending them with my voice. I remember being quite interested in how my voice managed to reach certain places despite the obvious vocal range limitations, discovering for myself that finding a melody was different from being able to sing like silk. Melodies that suited the words, and words that may work with that melody, I think it was that simple practice that filled me with wonder at first. I’ve never thought much of my voice, but when I sang over instrumental chords, it was like being in a really large acoustic room that stretched out of sight, and you could go in any direction depending on a song’s intention.

This was before I lost half my hearing!

That room has since become a dusty little closet full of out-of-sight harmonies.

You really need to strain your eyes to see what the right direction is. What continued to draw me back and keep me interested in music as the room got smaller was having something to say, even if it’s to sit comfortably in saying nothing.

Trying to craft songs that hit home for me in the same way as the songs I loved growing up. Exploring different genres and approaches, trying to translate authentically who I am in the sounds.

DE LA CELLE: I love that. Who are someof your favorite writers and what music

has inspired this new record?

SALAMI: I grew up loving the beat poets.

Allen Ginsberg was a god to me, as well as his teacher William Carlos Williams.

John Fante was an inspiration for my aspirations; Gil Scott-Heron taught me what writing was supposed to sound like...

It’s hard to recall what music inspired the new record; it’s an amalgamation of so many sounds I had felt inspired by. The most prominent one would probably be the subtle trap references that appear in this record. Through the years, I’ve got to admit that I’ve absolutely fallen in love with trap music. It takes me back to my original love for music, which was really established through dancing to Michael Jackson and James Brown. Honestly, though, I was mostly listening to Conway The Machine around this time...

DE LA CELLE: From what I’ve heard of the new music, there seems to be a shift in sound to something more full and experimental... certain elements that sound like sampling, perhaps. What spurred you to change things up a bit, and what felt different recording this record compared to past ones?

SALAMI: I think It’s all a natural progression. There were a lot of lofty sound ideas in my head before I could even play an instrument. In my head, I would say I had developed these sorts of sounds before I even put my first record out. But the reality of putting out music means you’re moving faster than the stuff you can record and then officially put out, and you can end up holding onto songs for so long that you eventually grow out of them and maybe can’t identify with them anymore. I have notebooks full of songs I can’t remember how I relate to... but some of them you remember the feeling you had when you wrote them and played them and how people responded to them if you’ve managed to

play them to anybody. The ghost from it still resonates, which is the only reason you still believe in them... I guess this record is about getting over those ghosts, getting over the past, and moving on.

The last records were done very fast - in hindsight, maybe rushed - recording in a week or so and mixed in another. I can’t listen to those records now; things were overlooked, I feel. So I tried to take my time with this one. I needed to rediscover who I was, as I was going through a lot of stormy weather in the heart and soul at that point.

DE LA CELLE: How important is it to you to write songs that perhaps start conversations about social issues or even people’s own frames of mind and their mental state?

SALAMI: Hmm, it’s hard to say... It usually depends on what the song’s about, I’d say. But whether the words are straightforward or abstract, the goal is usually to capture the feeling or perspective intended.

Social issues in songs, for me, are just having thoughts out loud, not necessarily making statements.

DE LA CELLE: Who are some up-andcoming bands that you’ve been listening to more of lately?

SALAMI: I’ve been loving Crumb - all their records sound like bliss! This band called Famous (if they remember me sleeping at one of their gigs at the Brixton Windmill, and they happen to see this one day - I’m sorry! I was very tired). Greentea Pengs’ record is amazing (and not because I’ve been playing with some of the band!) The same applies to Wulu!

DE LA CELLE: How are you feeling about

the current state of London? I haven’t been back now in about two years; how has the state of Brexit changed the way of life there?

SALAMI: Fuel shortages, food shortages, inflation, higher taxes, energy prices rising 300% ...

Yes, we’ve been having a lot of fun here.

Zella wears dress by DIOR c/o GABRIEL HELD VINTAGE

ZELLA After simmering below the radar for three years, Zella Day’s sophomore album, Sunday in Heaven, releases this fall on high heat to reveal a number of tracks that peer into the experiences of the time itself.

Before the world came to a halt, Day took a break of her own, giving space to creation. She’s back again, touring and releasing music that reflects so much of the introspection that couples isolation and a disrupted world. After writing over sixty songs, spilling over a typewriter at her kitchen table and taping lyrics to her bedroom wall, only ten songs will make it to the record.

DAY Photography CHLOE CHIPPENDALE Fashion DANI & EMMA Hair ASHLEY LYNN HALL Make Up LILLY POLLAN Words NATALIE GOTT

“I was in a hibernation period before the pandemic hit. This kind of elongated waiting period does something to the brain, you know, when you are in the comfort of your own home,” says Day. “And especially with me making my record, the only relationship that the record is having is the one with me.”

Of the ten anticipated tracks, three singles have been released to leave us with nothing short of what already feels like a full-bodied record experience, “Golden,” “Girls,” and “Dance for Love.” Each track could stand alone, born out of their own personal experience and space in time, yet they all come together to reflect on the past few years.

“Girls” is a sun-drunken experience, luring you through Los Angeles to the call of siren vocals and dragging tempos.

Dedicating each stanza of the song to a close friend, it breathes life into the empowerment of women in the city of angels. “‘Girls’ has meant the most to me for a number of different reasons,” reflects Day. “One Particular night before the pandemic hit, we were all hanging out at Jumbos, and I wrote ‘Girls’ maybe four days later.”

“Golden” cannot be taken in justly without the cinematic experience of its video accompaniment. Directed by Titanic Sinclair and choreographed by Katie Rayle, Day dances alone through a partially lit room, only to be caught singing in the last few moments. Embedded in darkness, a contained energy illuminates from her to juxtapose the scene.

“When I decided to redirect my career

and to really focus inward, to regard myself as a songwriter, I had to take a break for a minute, and that was lonely. There was this path forward, and I withdrew myself. And so, in a video like ‘Golden,’ it makes sense that it’s just me because in so many moments, it’s been just me, and I’ve had to really find my power there.

Working in the arts and the industry, with all of the commotion and the noise, you do just end up alone in a room with your instrument or a pad of paper.”

The solitude of Day and the tense energy of each of her movements seemingly parallels the moment of the song’s creations. As one of the last songs written for Sunday in Heaven, Day wrote it just as her plans to return to Nashville were met by a tornado and the pandemic was rearing its head.

“The only thing that I could do and the only thing that was in my control was to write music, which was really profound in that moment because I think if the pandemic taught us anything, it’s to really revel in the moments of joy that you do have; life is happening so quickly that the last thing we have is control.”

Through the chaos beyond single-handed control, Day found the joys of creating art alone. Destruction can grant stillness, and stillness can give way to reflection, hopefully creating something worth celebrating. Day did exactly that.

“The chorus in ‘Golden’ in particular was inspired by this phase I had of going to roller rinks around the city. I was recovering from a heartbreak and needed something to do, something new to do that was physical and inspiring,” shares Day.

Zella wears bra by KHAITE Jeans by CHANEL c/o GABRIEL HELD VINTAGE Cardigan by JEAN PAUL GAULTIER c/o ALDRA VINTAGE

Zella wears bra, cardigan, and bottoms by SAMI MIRO Boots by TAMARA MELLON

Zella wears top and trousers by KENDRA DUPLANTIER Shoes by CONVERSE

“I was frequenting this one rink called Northridge [Skateland], that sadly is not there anymore. Every Sunday that I went there, I left feeling so much better, and like my worries and issues were really small in comparison to all the love and the joy that’s being experienced daily. It’s kind of like, you know, when you’re grieving anything in life, it can be the hardest thing to watch the world move on, and then you have to catch up.”

If it’s as Day leads us to believe, the remainder of the record will be a testament of heartfelt experiences over the past three years, some so personal and some bound to shared experience.

“The record is this heaven that I’ve been trying to define within my music and within myself. Peace with the idea that the relationship with music is never going away — it’s never dissipating, and it’s not going to disappear.”

Sunday, as a measurement of time, suddenly stands still in an unbound place like heaven. With a pandemic that has seemed endless and joys that nestle themselves within the chaos, time feels meaningless. The joys reflected in this record are day-dreamy and foggy, cast with the feeling of a warm California summer.

“In all of our conversations, I was like, it needs to sound like California. Then we got into deep conversations about what that really means. There’s something gritty about the record like there is to Los Angeles. Like how Los Angeles is dirty and starry-eyed, and it’s so retro-futurism, and it’s so stuck in the past.” shares Day. “You go to Southern California for the weather, and there really

something to be said about that. The sun shines differently here, and it sounds like that in a lot of moments.”

After nearly being met by a tornado tearing through Nashville, it feels only natural that Day found herself there again and created a testament to the past three years in a place. As the remainder of Sunday in Heaven is unveiled, we can use the record to reflect on the joy found in chaos and the insight found in being alone.

Zella wears dress by DIOR c/o GABRIEL HELD VINTAGE

Photography by Chloe Chippendale, fashion by Dani & Emma, hair by Ashley Lynn Hall, make up by Lilly Pollan, photo assistance by Aidan Avery, words by Natalie Gott, and special thanks to Juliette at the Oriel & Jessi at Red Light Management.

Zella (left) wears top by ULLA JOHNSON

Zella (right) wears top and trousers by KENDRA DUPLANTIER

ZOLEE GRIGGS Photography WOLFE & VON Fashion ERIN KOBRIN Hair THE ARTIST RED Make Up CAROLINE HERNANDEZ using FENTY Beauty Words MELANIE KAIDAN

Multi-talented, humble, and hungry for new experiences: Zolee Griggs is the type of well-rounded artist every director wants to have on their set.

The twenty-four-year-old Californian has been flying back and forth to New York City to film the hit Hulu show Wu-Tang: An American Saga, which is in it’s second season. Now, as she awaits the release of her latest film project, The Enforcer, also staring Antonio Banderas, Zolee chats to us about her artistic background, her aspirations as an actress and the need to constantly train the acting muscle.

Zolee wears top by JIMMY PAUL

Zolee wears full look by ANNAKIKI

Zolee wears top by FARRADAS KNITS Jeans by SOPHIA NUBES Necklace by ARMS OF EVE

MELANIE KAIDAN: This must be a really exciting time for you as the new episodes of the second season of Wu-Tang: An American Saga are coming out.

What has been the reaction so far ZOLEE GRIGGS: Oh man, it’s fun because I think the first season people were excited, but we weren’t able to always see their reaction collectively. I think with season two, more and more people are watching. So I’ll get on social media and see people’s reactions on Twitter or Instagram almost instantly because they’re that excited to watch. And it’s been great. It’s been very well received, which is something that every actor hopes for and wishes for on a show that they’re on.

KAIDAN: After all of this traveling back and forth from LA to NYC to film the show, and you being a West Coast girl, there must be things you miss from home when you’re in NYC filming and vice versa?

GRIGGS: I think it’s fun to be able to be bicoastal. I miss certain aspects of New York and vice versa when I’m there, but I also know I get to experience both, which is a luxury. I would say I’m just happy to have consistent weather. I mean, it’s alright now in LA; we’ve had a couple of cloudy days. The sun decides when it wants to keep its head out or not, but for the most part, our weather is consistent.

Being able to drive, I think that’s the biggest thing I appreciate here. If I want a break from the city, I can just get in my car and go.

KAIDAN: You get to work closely with RZA for the series. What’s that like? Does he give you any advice for your role? I know the part is a concoction of all different kinds of real-life people and a representation of all of his siblings.

GRIGGS: RZA is so cool. He’s, of course,

so knowledgeable, so laid back, and a legend. Sometimes we as a cast will just have dinner with him, and it’s shocking, but he’s super cool. It’s really him just getting on the phone with me and letting me know specific details or what he thinks; how this show, how this episode, or how the story arc will go. And, you know, we’ll bounce back and forth because of my perspective as a woman. He would tell me little details like Shurrie always wore a dope sweater; she was really into her sweaters and her clothes. And I was able to meet with one of his sisters. We got to talk about the family dynamic a bit. So it’s cool because I don’t just get Shurrie lessons from him; I get life lessons from him too. I’m really appreciative to get those types of life lessons from him because I’m trying to learn. I try to learn from everybody, not just in the aspect of my career, but in all things life.

KAIDAN: And after his extensive career, he probably has some incredible anecdotes that he has shared with the cast?

GRIGGS: The stories about him growing up… I think the craziest stories are in the script because those are all based on their real lives. This is the first time anybody is getting access to these stories.

And so that’s really where I’m having moments of like, “Holy shit.” The fact that they went through all of this at such a young age and that RZA was so mature and wise to make these life-changing decisions that changed the trajectory of their lives forever. He told me that Shurrie would constantly beat up people to save her brothers or protect her family.

You know, like a hothead, but not out of anger, to protect her family, which I respect.

KAIDAN: You must be very excited for The Enforcer to come out. How was that experience? Getting to travel halfway across the world to film and work with

Zolee wears full look by ANNAKIKI Bracelet STYLIST’S OWN

industry giants like Antonio Banderas.

GRIGGS: I’m so grateful to be able to work with such seasoned actors at only twenty-four. He was so cool and laid back, just hearing him talk about how he would approach a scene. It was more on a humanistic level, which is the best thing to do because sometimes it’s not that serious. For certain roles, it does take a lot of work; you have to work that muscle. But Antonio was like, “Look, it’s got to be realistic. It’s got to be on a human level.” And so watching him was great, listening to him was great, but also doing our scenes together was great. We were talking on a social level too. And we’re both Leos, which is really funny, and we were chuckling about that.

KAIDAN: I could tell you were a Leo… GRIGGS: It’s funny because [Antonio] was like, “What sign are you?” And I told him I was a Le. He was like, “Ugh, me too.”

It was such a funny reaction.

KAIDAN: That doesn’t sound like a Leo thing to say at all. A Leo would normally proudly show you a tattoo of a lion on their arm or something.

GRIGGS: That’s what I thought, you know? But he was definitely like, “That means you must be crazy too.” But he was really cool. I’m from LA, so I speak a little Spanish. I was definitely trying to speak Spanish to him.

KAIDAN: You should’ve said earlier because we could have done this in Spanish!

GRIGGS: ¿Tu hablas español también?

KAIDAN: ¡Sí! Was learning Spanish part of your learning experience as an actress? How did you prepare for your acting career?

GRIGGS: Early on, I got a lot of life training from just [life] experience. I was always performative, and I’m thankful that my parents encouraged me. I was active in the church and would speak on the pulpit every Sunday. I would sing in the choir. I would do anything that had to do with church performances. My grandmother was adamant. She’s a Southern Baptist woman, so she passed that on to me. And then, in school, I was in the Glee Club. I was a theater kid through and through. That was me working my muscle continuously. I was like 17 or 18 when I started taking acting classes continuously. I’ve worked with coaches, and I’ve taken classes, and I want to continue to do that because I feel like it’s a muscle, and you have to keep working on it. It’s like your body. You don’t work out once, and then you’re like, “Oh, perfect, I’ve got a six-pack.” You keep going until you achieve what you want to achieve. It’s never too late to go to a class and learn something.

KAIDAN: Are there any people you look up to that you would like to portray at some point?

GRIGGS: Oh yeah, I’d love to play Erykah Badu. I think she is ethereal and beautiful and talented. I would love to work closely with on a personal level. And then also to be able to portray her would just be a lifelong dream. I grew up listening to her music and and studying her without even realizing it. And so if that opportunity ever arises, they better call me!

Wu Tang: An American Saga is currently streaming on Hulu now.

Zolee wears top and pants by JIMMY PAUL Shoes STYLIST’S OWN

Zolee (left) wears top and pants by JIMMY PAUL Shoes STYLIST’S OWN Zolee (right) wears full look by ANNAKIKI Bracelet STYLIST’S OWN

Zolee (left) wears full look by ANNAKIKI Bracelet STYLIST’S OWN Zolee (right) wears top by FARRADAS KNITS Jeans by SOPHIA NUBES Necklace by ARMS OF EVE Boots by PS KAUFMAN

Photography by Wolfe & Von, fashion by Erin Kobrin, hair by The Artist RED, make up by Caroline Hernandez, words by Melanie Kaidan, and special thanks to Debbie & Jade at Persona PR.

YARD ACT

Photography PHOEBE FOX Words LOUIS GRIFFIN

Yard Act have just announced their debut album, The Overload, via Island Records, and it’s fair to say the buzz is electric. 18 months ago, the band released their debut single “The Trapper’s Pelts,” right in the depths of the first lockdown, but they’ve since garnered a rabid fanbase, all with just four tracks.

These made up their self-released Dark Days EP, which contained a roster of fully-realized characters, beamed directly from frontman James Smith, and a supporting cast of undulating basslines and grooving drums from collaborator (and other half of Yard Act) Ryan Needham.

The band has made a habit of taking a good, long look at many facets of modern-day Britain that would make most people uncomfortable. From mental health to the culture war, police brutality to free-market capitalism, they’ve managed to make these subjects not just interesting but danceable and funny to boot. On The Overload, they continue this trajectory, with a sweeping, state-of-the-nation address, alongside some of their best choruses and most gut-punch moments yet. We sat down with the band at the end of a busy festival season to check in before Yard Act became very big indeed.

LOUIS GRIFFIN: Hi James, Ryan. Could you talk us through the journey from the Dark Days EP to The Overload?

JAMES SMITH: We knew we were ready to do an album, and we decided that we didn’t want any of the singles to be on it.

We knew we had enough material. About six or seven of the tracks were written before we booked [recording time], and then about three of them were written in the last month before. They were the tracks that pieced it all together, really.

The last one written for the album was “100% Endurance,” but that was a really late idea you sent, wasn’t it, Ryan? It just sparked immediately with me. It was pretty funny how I wrote that one because I wrote it to an iPhone video off the laptop screen that Ryan sent me.

He didn’t send me the audio for about two weeks. I kept bugging him, but he was really busy at work, and he kept ignoring me. I wrote all the lyrics to this one-minute video loop that I had on my WhatsApp. I was just obsessed, like, “This has got something in it.” Then he finally sent it, and I rushed it out, and the vocal levels were all over the shop. They were barking out the speaker; I was just desperate to get it down. I sent that to Ryan and our manager as soon as I’d recorded it. Straight away, you two were like, “That’s the last track on the album, innit?”

GRIFFIN: What came after the demo process?

SMITH: We saw the theme of money quite early on and realized there was something to be had in that, so even though they were already written, we did rewrite lyrics to make the whole thing flow a bit better. Musically, me and Ryan went down to Bristol in January, and we had a week with Ali Chant, building it up and chipping away at it. Just having fun

and being really creative with sounds. So it wasn’t recorded as a band, really.

GRIFFIN: How was the recording process?

SMITH: Great. We got on really well with [Ali]; he’s really easygoing. He just let us do what we wanted and would sit like a professor in the corner, occasionally chipping in.

RYAN NEEDHAM: He had a lot of patience when we kept trying to put bongos on everything.

SMITH: I think there was only one time when he said, “The bongos don’t work on this one.” We had bongos on ten tracks, but [Ali] slowly phased them out in the mix. His studio’s ace, the way it’s set up, everything is ready to go. So you can jump between things for ideas, which isn’t good if you’re obsessed with just putting bongos on everything.

NEEDHAM: They were actually congas, but we kept calling them bongos and not listening to what he was telling us.

But yeah, he was great. Patience was the main thing because we just winged it and built all the songs. We went in with demos that we’d done, then we took some bits from [those] and added to them and just chucked it all in, really.

But working like that is how we’ve always written songs, so it didn’t feel alien.

SMITH: We used the demos as the templates for pretty much all of them apart from “The Overload” and “Payday,” which were on my computer, and then it crashed and died, so we had to rebuild them. It was a nice way of working, and half the vocal takes on it are the ones I did in my bedroom six months before we went to Ali’s, which is what we did with “Fixer Upper” as well. I like that it’s scruffy, and ththere areines that I go “I didn’t get

that right,” but I’ve learned to live with slurred words and letting things slide.

GRIFFIN: Do you feel that money is more conspicuous as a theme on the album than it has been in your previous work?

SMITH: I guess subconsciously, it’s steered a lot of my writing. I mean, “Fixer Upper” is about money and status, really. From my perspective, a lot of these songs were being written when things were slowly getting more serious for us, and we saw it getting to a point where this could become a job. It made me really weigh up the position I was in, financially, and whether I could afford to gamble that on a career in music because I’d just had a kid as well. It’s like, what do we need to do to make this work? I fucking hate it, but I’ve got to think seriously about money for the first time in my life because having none and only thinking about myself isn’t gonna cut it for the first time ever. I need to know that there’s gonna be a roof over my kid’s head, and I can afford nappies… I mean, they’re fairly cheap, babies, but the costs add up. To do the first tours means my wife’s got to stay home, which means we’re a one-income family, and Yard Act isn’t earning enough for two wages yet. So you look really seriously at how you’re bound by this system. It’s not as simple as just following your dreams and doing what you want. You get very pragmatic and logistical and boring about money. So I guess I was thinking about it a lot and trying to find funny ways to laugh at the situation I’d found myself in.

GRIFFIN: Finally, I wanted to dig into The Overload as the album title – why The Overload?

SMITH: The title was kicking around before the song existed. With “The Overload,” it felt like a good summary. On the one hand, it was about the amount of

words I was using because I felt like that was probably a bombardment; I was aware that it was an incredibly wordy album, more words than most pop albums use. It’s a lot of information to take in because of the amount of points I was trying to make, and at the same time, I was like, “I’m not trying to make any point at all.” It [was also a] summary of how the news cycle makes people feel now.

Everyone feels the need to inherit the entire goings-on of the world into their eyes and ears and solve that problem through social media and the news cycle.

Whether that’s through expressing constant outrage on the internet or throwing enough small amounts of money at different charities depending on whichever issue has been in their face that day in the news cycle. I think that was intensified by the pandemic. Everyone was doing so much less that they gave so much more of their time to the world’s problems.

But that’s not really productive, and they weren’t actually solving anything, and there was a lot of frustration because people couldn’t leave their houses. There was the moral conflict of even going to a protest because you wanted to go out and show your face, but that was held against people. Just the constant infighting and conflict of trying to do the right thing and being spread so thin by the overload of information. That’s not how the world used to work, you didn’t use to know what was going on that day on the other side of the ocean, and you weren’t expected to care about it. And now everyone is, and it’s too much for people to process. If you’re trying to give your time, your energy, your emotions to every piece of terrible, disastrous news you see, you’re gonna drain the bank pretty fast. The emotional bank, and the financial bank, if that’s all you feel you can do to help. So that’s what it was; it just felt like it made sense on a lot of levels.

Will wears vintage military coat and knitwear by KENZO Denim jacket by NIGEL CABOURN

WILL POULTER

From Alejandro Iñárritu’s The Revenant to Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit to Ari Aster’s Midsommar, Will Poulter proves time and again that he is one of the most diverse and innately talented actors of his generation.

His most recent work is playing the role of Billy in Hulu’s Dopesick, which also stars Michael Keaton and a slew of other big-hitters, and shines a light on the inception and devastation caused by the opioid Oxycontin.

Caught in the middle of a hefty press tour for the show, Poulter and I chat via Zoom during some downtime he has in Washington D.C. We discuss Purdue Pharma’s involvement in causing mass opioid addiction in America, what he’s learned from working with some of the all-time acting greats, and why a job in medicine wasn’t ever quite on the table.

Photography ALEXANDER BEER Fashion MARK ANTHONY BRADLEY Grooming BRADY LEA Words JULIAN DE LA CELLE

Will wears green knit and suspenders by NIGEL CABOURN Sleeveless knit by AMI Alexandre Mattiussi

JULIAN DE LA CELLE: This ensemble is incredible, and from what I’ve seen of the show, most of your scenes are with Michael Keaton. That must’ve been such a great experience; he’s a master.

WILL POULTER: Dude, it’s still very much a kind of pinch-me situation for me. I think anytime you really admire someone as much as I admire Michael, your biggest hope is that they’re nice. Their talent is kind of undeniable, but you just hope that they’re as nice as they are talented.

Michael is that. He had such a huge task on this job and had to explore some very dark, emotional spaces. And the fact that he also found room to be as good as he was to me and as generous with his time and advice was really not expected. He really overextended himself in that regard, and I’m very, very grateful to him.

DE LA CELLE: That’s great - those scenes between you feel so connected. What was your first impression of the series when you read the script? And what was it that ultimately made you go, “Yeah, I have to do this”?

POULTER: I think more than anything, it was just how pervasive the effects of opioids have been. It was wild to find out just how many people had been affected. In 2020, when I was first made aware of the project, 70% of deaths by overdose could be attributed to opioids.

And, obviously, we were all, on a global level, consumed by the pandemic that was COVID, but here was an epidemic that was really showing no signs of going away, in fact, getting worse if we weren’t going to do anything about it. I just relish the opportunity as an actor when you get to be a part of any story that shines a light on real social issues. I’m under no illusions about the limitations of my job as an actor. I can only go so far or do so much within those confines. I think, as an

actor, the best I can hope for is to sort of shine a light on the work being done by real people, by the people who are changing legislation, who are actually actioning the social change that we’re drawing attention to.

DE LA CELLE: There were so many times watching this where my jaw was just dropping, and I’m going, “How are they getting away with this?”

POULTER: Right? One thing that is potentially not understood because it found its way into the mainstream medical field is just how addictive this drug is. Opioids behave in a very unique way.

The drug sort of rewires people’s brains and alters their neurochemistry in a way that very few other drugs do. And so what happens is, when people become the victim of opioid addiction disorder, it becomes virtually impossible for them to overcome their addiction. Many of those people were first introduced to the drug because they were relying on their medical system and companies like Purdue to provide them with pain relief; it really does paint a very cruel and sinister picture.

DE LA CELLE: It’s wild how the use of advertising from those companies really shrouded what the drug was capable of doing to people. They were coming up with ways to morph it into something that sounded positive and ultimately enticing.

POULTER: 100%, man. And the thing that I think the series exposes is that benevolence didn’t drive the introduction of this drug. It was greed and the micromanagement of one family over a single company in pursuit of financial gain at any cost. And they knew full well that they were killing American people. And you know what’s really disturbing? When people became addicted, they then vili-

Will wears hooded jacket and knitwear by NIGEL CABOURN

Will (left) wears jacket by YMC Coat by COHERENCE at Clutch Cafe London White knitwear and vintage leather gloves by BELSTAFF Cap by PHERROW’S at Clutch Cafe London Will (right) wears vintage military coat and knitwear by KENZO Denim jacket by NIGEL CABOURN

Will wears jacket by YMC Coat by COHERENCE at Clutch Cafe London White knitwear and vintage leather gloves by BELSTAFF Cap by PHERROW’S at Clutch Cafe London

fied the addicts as abusers. And that was the terminology they used. They preyed on that narrative to explain why their drug had caused the devastation it did. As crime rose, as the rates of child prostitution and infant abandonment rates rose, all associated with this drug, they blamed the abusers, a small group of abusers who were misusing the drug. All along, Purdue were the abusers; they were the people who were abusive throughout this entire process. And the addicts, once again, in so many stories about addiction, were vilified as people looking for a high or people looking for a recreational escape, and in so many cases, that just was not the reality.

DE LA CELLE: Yeah, it’s mind-blowing.

So, with the character you play, Billy, it seems like every episode, we see more humanity and more of him realizing there’s something not right here. What was the most challenging thing in building this character for you?

POULTER: You hit the nail on the head.

I think that was where I was toeing the line. He’s a hungry, ambitious sales rep, who wanted to do well, who was probably pretty insecure and didn’t think very much of himself. He saw this all as an opportunity to make something of himself and sort of cure his own pain, which was the sense that he wasn’t enough. And then the other side of it, which is characterized by, as you say, all these discoveries that cause his more humane instincts to kick in. He’s wrestling with the ethics of it all as he learns that the drug he’s been promoting and has fully invested in is not all that it was cracked up to be.

At what instances do I allow Billy to get swallowed up by the rhetoric at Purdue and trust in the company, and to what extent was he going to rebel? And who was he going to show that to?

DE LA CELLE: Ironically, I read that both

of your parents work in medicine in some capacity. Was that ever of interest to you, or was it always something creative for you?

POULTER: You know what, dude, my grades at school decided that for me. [laughs] Unfortunately, it was never on the table. But I am in such awe of what my family do for a living. I’ve got a bunch of family in the medical profession. As you mentioned, my parents are two of those members, and I’m immensely proud of the work they do. So it was interesting for me to talk to them about this story; even though the relationship to these sorts of drugs is very different in the UK, it was great having their perspective and insight. But as far as me picking out a career, I got very lucky when acting first presented itself as a potential career. I was 12, and I just fell in love with it, and I’m fortunate that it worked out. But as far as how my own experience with work and a profession relates to Billy, it’s interesting because I think my family all do such wonderful things for a living, and I think there’s sometimes part of me that reflects on what I do as an actor and I’m like, “Gosh, it seems kind of narcissistic...”

My family are out saving lives and making a big difference to people’s health, and I’m out here pretending. So I think anytime I can find where my work will intersect with social action, I jump at the opportunity. But I’m under no false pretense about who does the real work in my family, and I’m very proud of them.

DE LA CELLE: Well, that sort of leads me to my next question. You seem to be pretty specific with the kinds of roles you take on, which is shown by the caliber of the work you’ve done and the impact of those stories. Do you feel it’s important to pick and choose roles rather than just take whatever comes your way?

Will (left) wears relaxed blazer by YMC Shirt and jacket by KUON at Clutch Cafe London Vintage scarf STYLIST’S OWN Will (right) wears knitwear by YMC Dungarees by NIGEL CABOURN Boots by GRENSON

POULTER: That’s an interesting one. I’m very lucky that I have a team who help me with that process. They will guide and advise me, and we make those decisions as a team, which I think is vital. I’d be terrified to make those alone. And we’re all reading off the same song sheet, in that respect. I think we’re always looking for things of Dopesick’s caliber, and things that are characterized by the involvement of great creatives and brilliant writing, but also things that really say something about society that we can all subscribe to. Things that highlight the need for change or increase awareness about an issue - those are the things that excite me the most. But, there’s also nothing wrong with pure entertainment.

I think people always need a little bit of escapism, and art and media have always kind of offered that. Even with the projects that don’t seem on the surface like their messaging, or their social application, is all that important or impactful beyond the entertainment capabilities of that piece of work; I think now you’re seeing more and more people think really conscientiously about that. As we develop our awareness about the importance of inclusivity and just being generally more progressive, films across the board, from animation to intense period dramas, and everything else in between, are becoming a bit more socially responsible. And that’s great to see that development.

DE LA CELLE: It’s important for film and television to spark some kind of conversation, I think.

POULTER: Absolutely. We need to inspire conversation, get people talking, leave the theater in a debate. We need more and more of those movies. I think things start with awareness, right? An improvement of knowledge, which then leads to conversation, which we need to foster. I think we need to maintain our ability to

have a conversation instead of being so divided that we don’t converse.

DE LA CELLE: When it comes to creating a character, do you have a basic process that you start with, or does it tend to change with every role?

POULTER: I think I sort of work off an instinct when I read the character. So in that respect, I’m quite reliant on the writers. I can’t overlook for a moment or risk taking for granted just how reliant I’ve been on great writing. Whether that’s Mark Boal in Detroit or Danny Strong in the case of Dopesick. I get led by instinct after reading the script, which forms the foundations for my character. That is to say, if the writing wasn’t so good, I don’t know, maybe I just wouldn’t have even started building it out, you know?

DE LA CELLE: Right. Well, I think you’re one of this generation’s best, and you’ve been able to work with some of the greats; Keaton, Dicaprio, Hardy, etc.

What is something that you’ve taken away from working with them?

POULTER: Thank you, man. I think, in many ways, those guys lead by example. They allow their actions to set the standard.

As a young actor around those more experienced women and men, it’s on you to soak it up and emulate it if you can.

I really admire those people. Like I said, in the case of Michael [Keaton], who works so incredibly hard, and is the ultimate professional, is fantastic at his job, and also finds time to be sociable and forthcoming and receptive to everyone; that’s something I really hope I’m able to achieve as I continue in this craft, and I hope I’m lucky enough to continue for the rest of my life.

Dopesick premieres on Hulu on October 13th in the US and on Disney+ on November 12th in the UK.

Will wears duffle coat by GLOVERALL Knitwear by YMC Woolen vest by BROWNS BEACH JACKET at Clutch Cafe London Pants by NIGEL CABOURN Boots by GRENSON

Will wears vintage leather flying jacket by WALY DESIGN Camo jacket and pants by NIGEL CABOURN

Photography by Alexander Beer, fashion by Mark Anthony Bradley, grooming by Brady Lea, words by Julian de la Celle, and special thanks to Donna at Tapestry London.

Photography MYLES HENDRIK Words MELANIE KAIDAN

more* more* are part of a talented circle of creatives who are taking off again after the coronavirus pandemic brought the world to a standstill. Being under the wing of legendary producer Tony Berg, the duo was able to find a sense community alongside other bands who, much like them, can’t wait to go back out into the world.

Malcolm McRae and Kane Ritchotte discuss their meeting, what music has been influencing them as of late, and the return of live shows after such a dry spell.

MELANIE KAIDAN: I’m curious as to how you both met? One of you is from Alabama, and the other is from LA. MALCOLM MCRAE: We just met through a mutual friend of ours that wanted to connect us. We were both working on individual projects, and this guy would always drink at our bar - I guess Kane would drink at this place as well, and we just never ran into each other. But anyway, the idea was that Kane would play drums on some stuff I was writing, and then we’d met up, and we liked each other and showed each other our music and said, “Fuck the solo stuff, let’s do it together.”

KAIDAN: Were your styles different, musically speaking? Did you have different influences growing up?

MCRAE: I only ever listened to banjo music. Nobody told me about shoes either, so Kane was pretty influential.

KANE RITCHOTTE: Yeah, he didn’t wear a shirt either… No, but I think actually the fact that our musical taste was so in line being from completely different places and growing up with different people…

I think that was the thing that first signaled us to join in this artistic venture. It was bizarre.

KAIDAN: What kind of bands did you listen to at the time or still listen to?

RITCHOTTE: At the time, the music we were referencing was kind of skewed toward the music of the past, although it wasn’t exclusively that. But it was a lot of Roy Orbison, The Beatles, etc. That was what we were big into at the time, which has changed a bit since.

MCRAE: The Beastie Boys, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Talk Talk, Gorillaz, The Strokes…

KAIDAN: So a little bit of everything.

RITCHOTTE: It was definitely more retro music than we listen to now.

MCRAE: Before we started working with Tony [Berg], we both loved the stuff Tony was producing. Ethan Gruska, Blake Mills… These people who we’re now very familiar with within the scene because they all record in the same studios.

KAIDAN: Did working with a legendary producer like Tony Berg influence your sound?

MCRAE: There are two members in this duo, but the way the record was made, it was really like four people in a room making this. Tony is definitely an unofficial member of the band. The fourth being our engineer Will McClellan.

KAIDAN: Take me through your writing process.

RITCHOTTE: I think that it’s constantly changing. It’ll be something that starts with us playing together, jamming a little bit. Somebody will start something and write 50-60% of a song, and then bring it to the other person to complete.

We’ve been writing a lot more together in the same room from the start of it.

On the last record, a lot of the songs were completed - or thought to have been - before we even met each other, and we kind of brought them in together and helped each other. We finesse each other’s songs. But that period of writing was mostly done separately and then brought together. Sometimes we don’t write anything. Sometimes we just kind of look at each other with instruments in our hands, and we’re in a cool room, a cool studio, and nothing happens.

KAIDAN: I guess it’s part of the process, right? Creativity isn’t always there…

MCRAE: The thing is, you can’t write just when you’re inspired. If we’re writing together, for instance, if we’re going into the studio together, we’ll do it, and we’ll make ourselves do it for, what, two hours or whatever, and if nothing comes, nothing comes. But it’s important that you attempt to do it.

RITCHOTTE: At least that way, it feels like when nothing happens, it’s not our fault.

KAIDAN: Tell me more about your videos.

They’re pretty spectacular, and there’s a lot of work put into them, but at the same time, they seem pretty intimate.

MCRAE: The videos are directed by my brother. And actually, the guy who introduced us is the producer on them, it’s my brother’s good friend. So it’s Kane McRae and Brian Abernathy who’ve done the most recent four videos or so. You spend about two years making an album, and you focus on the sonics of it for so long that I think we were a little bit blindsided by how much the visuals tell part of the story as well. So we didn’t initially put as much thought into it. And then I think we realized that we wanted a little bit more creative say in that as well. So that’s what we’ve been doing more recently with my brother.

KAIDAN: And then you have Riley Keogh’s version of God’s In The Details…

MCRAE: Riley just came to Kane and wanted to do a video for that. And he said, “Absolutely, sure.”

RITCHOTTE: That was a little bit of an exception just because her idea was so strong. She and her partner Gina came up with that idea together. It was just such an inspiring thing. In that case, it almost felt like they had ownership over the song, too, as artists. I grew up with Riley, so she heard us at every stage

when we were making no references. She felt so close to it that she had some sort of ownership over it.

KAIDAN: You recently returned to the stage by opening for Haim. How did that come about? Did they approach you?

RITCHOTTE: I grew up with the Haim girls.

We were particularly close for years, and we always stay in touch. Basically, they wanted to play some of their new music, and they hadn’t had an opportunity to do that yet. The way their new record had been arranged and produced lends itself to Danielle being able to play both drums and guitar. So they needed somebody who could do the same two things so that when she was playing guitar, someone could play drums. They asked me to do it for a few shows, and I said, “Yeah, of course.” And then they offered to let more* open because they know how difficult it’s been for us to get shows going. What’s happening now is the first shows that are coming to fruition post-pandemic are shows that have been rescheduled from two years ago.

So there’s going to be a whole phase of another two years where people need to catch up on all the shows they are committed to.

KAIDAN: It’s crazy to think there is now a whole backlog of concerts. But it’s good that your friends have your back!

RITCHOTTE: I don’t know what we would do if we didn’t have such a cool extended peer group of talented, important people in music.

MCRAE: The next few shows we’re playing are sort of in the same vein. It’s oneoff shows where we’re lucky enough to have made a relationship with some of these bands. . It’s a nice thing for us because we’re still learning how to do it as our band.

EMILIA

Emilia wears blazer by FENDI Shirt & tie by PRADA Boots by GIVENCHY Rings VINTAGE

JONE

S

At just 19-years-old, breakout star Emilia Jones has been the talk of the town since CODA, the film in which she leads, swept all three top prizes at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, which in turn led to the movie being bought for a record-breaking $25 million by Apple TV+.

As she should be, Emilia is excited for the future of her career. A recent Hollywood Reporter article mentioned her as a possible frontrunner for The Oscars Best Actress category, CODA continues to gain praise from her peers, and she is gearing to start production on Susanna Fogel’s next film, Cat Person, also staring Succession’s Nicholas Braun.

In CODA, which stands for Children Of Deaf Adults, Emilia gives an honest and, at times, heartbreaking performance as Ruby, the only hearing member of her family, as she juggles with being what seems like the foundation for her family and forging her own path to adulthood.

As most conversations are now postCovid, Emilia and I meet over Zoom, laughing about the usual technical glitches. We chat about the impact of a film like CODA, her work on Netflix’s Locke & Key, and the call that landed her the lead role in Cat Person.

Photography EBRU YILDIZ Fashion TARA NICHOLS Creative Direction TINA DE LA CELLE Hair SEIJI using REDKEN Make Up MISHA SHAHZADA using CHANEL BEAUTY Words JULIAN DE LA CELLE

JULIAN DE LA CELLE: Where are you right now?

EMILIA JONES: I’m in New Jersey. I just arrived yesterday. I’m about to start on [Cat Person]. Whereabouts are you?

DE LA CELLE: I’m in Los Angeles, but I used to travel to London quite a bit for the magazine pre-Covid.

JONES: I miss London. I haven’t been home in so long.

DE LA CELLE: I was gonna ask you, how long has it been?

JONES: By the time I get home, it will have been like a year, year and a half?

The last time I was in the UK was the first lockdown.

DE LA CELLE: It seems like you’ve been going nonstop lately.

JONES: I’ve been really lucky. A lot of my friends are musicians, and because of the pandemic, they haven’t been able to work. So, I feel fortunate that I’ve been able to work almost the whole pandemic.

It’s been fun! We shot Locke & Key seasons two and three back to back. I flew out to start, and it was supposed to take six months to get season two shot, and then they were like, “We’re actually going to shoot back to back, and it’s going to take longer.” It was autumn going into winter when I flew out, so I had loads of thermals. I had to go out and buy shorts and T-shirts for the rest of the shoot!

DE LA CELLE: That’s funny. How long did CODA take to film? I imagine it must’ve been a lot shorter.

JONES: I mean, I trained for nine months.

I didn’t know any ASL or how to sing, so I prepared for way longer than we shot, but we shot it in about eight weeks. We

didn’t have a lot of time, so it was a very short shoot with lots of long hours. But I just remember when we wrapped, I was like, “Oh my god, what am I gonna do with my life now?” Every day I’d been prepping singing, prepping signs, living a character. Then eight weeks, and it’s done.

DE LA CELLE: What was the biggest difference for you shooting CODA vs.

Locke & Key? Shooting a TV show where you can build a character over time vs. something where you prepped for months, but when it’s over, it’s over.

JONES: Yeah, it’s true. I mean, honestly, it’s been nice with Locke & Key because you’re playing this character, and then the character changes. A lot goes on over three seasons, but you feel like you’re in no rush. Whereas with films, you have to plot out your character’s growth.

Sometimes, for Locke & Key, when I started, we hadn’t read the full season. So you have to kind of wing it, play it by ear.

What I do with projects is create a map.

It’s like a little graph, and I’ll pick two emotions, like anger and love. And then I map out which scenes show the most amount of anger or the most amount of love, and then it helps makes sure that when we’re filming, I’m like, “Okay, so this is an angry scene, but I can’t be super, super angry because otherwise, I’ve got nowhere to go for the scene that I’m doing next week.”

DE LA CELLE: The dynamic between Ruby and her family feels incredibly real and genuine. Had you all been allowed time together to build that relationship before filming?

JONES: We had two weeks of rehearsals and training before we started shooting.

I genuinely feel like we were very lucky.

The minute we met, we just gelled. I met Troy and Daniel first. We were actually

Emilia wears clothing by SAINT LAURENT by ANTHONY VACCARELLO Headpiece by GIGI BURRIS Rings VINTAGE

Emilia wears blazer by SAINT LAURENT by ANTHONY VACCARELLO Dress by DOLCE & GABBANA Socks by CALZEDONIA Heels by MANOLO BLAHNIK Rings VINTAGE

Emilia wears dress by MAGDA BUTRYM

going out on a boat to fish for the first time. It was the perfect way to meet because it was kind of like, “Hi, nice to meet you. Okay, let’s go three miles out to sea.” It was like literally dropping us in the deep end. I remember it was three in the morning, and I saw Troy walking up to the boat, and I was like, “Is that my dad?” He’s the coolest man I ever laid eyes upon; he had this walk, he had this cap on, he had his shades just in case, he was super, super cool. And then I saw Daniel, and he just gave me the biggest hug, he’s so warm. So we went out, we were fishing, and we kind of just bonded and got on really well. And then I met Marlee at the Rossi rehearsal. She’s like a mum. She would make pastries and chocolates, and cake and bring them in for the crew. On the weekends, when I wasn’t prepping, she would invite us around and watch football. Honestly, we were just like a family. None of us knew anybody but each other in this town. So we just spent every day off together, really.

DE LA CELLE: Was it at all intimidating communicating with ASL since you had learned it so recently?

JONES: When I read the script, I knew this was going to be a challenge. I thought whoever plays this role is an incredibly lucky actress, but it’s also going to be a lot of work. I’m British, I didn’t know how to sign, I never had a singing lesson, I didn’t fish. So I was like, this is a long shot, but I loved the script. As you said, I fell in love with the family aspect of it. I’m very close with my family. I really love that it’s a love letter to family. I loved that it’s about a family and culture that’s rarely seen on screen. I loved that Sian, the director, wanted there to be authenticity. It was daunting, but I worked really hard. I had an amazing coach named Anselmo DeSousa out in Toronto, where I was filming at the time. We trained for

like nine months. He was a great teacher because he didn’t just teach me ASL; he also taught me Deaf culture, and then I flew to Massachusetts and worked with Anne Tomasetti and Alexandria Wailes, our ASL directors. No matter what it took, I just wanted to work super hard and make sure everything was accurate and that I wasn’t taking the easy route.

And then, yeah, Marlee, Troy, and Daniel helped me a lot also. All our interpreters on set were CODAs. Although every CODA story is similar, it’s also very unique, so I felt very lucky to be surrounded by amazing people who helped me.

DE LA CELLE: What’s so beautiful about this film, too, is I feel like the scenes that are most predominantly signed are the most vocal. Did you find it challenging to be in your head thinking about the signs and be in the moment as the character?

JONES: That’s a really good question. I mean, that’s where I was lucky with everybody helping me a lot with my signs because I trained so hard that by the time I got to the scene, I knew the scene inside and out. Also, I didn’t just learn my lines; I learned the language because Troy is an improviser. So I also had to improvise, but in a language I didn’t know.

It just meant that I could be in the scene and not really think about it because I also had Anne. She was my rock throughout this whole process because she was constantly watching me. If I had been on my own, I would have been thinking about so much.

DE LA CELLE: When you were filming this movie, did you anticipate the reaction it would have? I mean, Sundance, and I’m sure you saw The Hollywood Reporter Oscars article where it had you down as a possible frontrunner for Best Actress.

JONES: I laughed out loud. It’s kind of crazy because we shot this movie with

Emilia (left) wears blazer by FENDI Shirt & tie by PRADA Rings VINTAGE Emilia (right) wears dress by PHILOSOPHY DI LORENZO SERAFINI Heels by SAINT LAURENT by ANTHONY VACCARELLO

Emilia wears sweater by GUCCI

no time and no money. I was a little British girl that was like, “I’m gonna try my hardest, I’m gonna work really hard, and I’m just gonna put everything into this film.” And then it got to a point where the pandemic hit, we didn’t have Apple then, and the theaters weren’t opening up, and I thought to myself, “Is anyone ever gonna see this movie?” And then Sian called me, and she’s like, “We’re gonna open Sundance.” I couldn’t believe it. I love Sundance; I’ve always wanted to go. So that, to me, was winning; I didn’t think it would win awards or anything. It was also really weird because everything was online. And so you’d look at your phone, and you’d be like, “Oh my gosh, Apple just picked up CODA!” and then you put it down, and you’re at home. It’s not like you’re there surrounded by everybody.

DE LA CELLE: I totally forgot about that.

JONES: It’s so surreal. And then also you just hear this knock at your door, and you open it, and it’s an award on your doorstep. Even the fact that people are putting the word CODA and Oscar in the same sentence is just crazy to me, and I just feel like that is winning in itself, you know?

DE LA CELLE: It’s a huge accomplishment, congratulations! I’m sure you can’t really talk much about Cat Person, but I was curious if you could talk about how it came to you or the process behind that, at least.

JONES: It’s kind of a funny story, really. I’m always late to the party, it seems, but I was really late to the Cat Person party, in terms of reading the short story.

My friend messaged me and said, “You need to read this short story.” So I read it and then the minute I read it, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I couldn’t stop talking about it. My mum was with me at

the time, and I was talking to her about it, and my mom was like, “Oh my god, I have a Cat Person story.” And I was like, “I have a Cat Person story too!” I think everyone has a Cat Person story and will relate to it in some way. It sparks conversation, and it sparks thoughts. I just thought it was such an amazing short story. I had a general conversation booked with Susanna Fogel, who is directing the project; I loved The Flight Attendant, so I was excited to meet her. I had no idea about Cat Person. We had this conversation for like an hour, and we were talking about The Flight Attendant, and she watched CODA. And then, at the end of the call, Susanna said, “...And then I’m basically making the short story, I don’t know if you know it, called Cat Person into a movie.”

And I was like, “What?!” I guess because I’d just read it, I went on and on and on and on and on and talked about it indepth, and then two weeks later, Susanna e-mails me and says, “Hey, the role of Margo is yours if you want it.” I didn’t even know the call was an audition, but I guess it was!

DE LA CELLE: That’s incredible.

JONES: So yeah, it was all kind of by accident, but I’m so excited. I think what they’ve done with the script is super cool; they’ve turned it into a thriller. I think people are going to enjoy it. And I love Nicholas, he’s an amazing actor. I’ve met him, and he’s a really nice guy. So I’m excited to start this film!

CODA is currently streaming on Apple TV+, and the second season of Netflix’s Locke & Key premieres on October 22nd.

Emilia wears clothing by SAINT LAURENT by ANTHONY VACCARELLO Headpiece by GIGI BURRIS Rings VINTAGE

Emilia wears clothing by GUCCI Boots by GIVENCHY

Emilia wears blazer by FENDI Shirt & tie by PRADA Boots by GIVENCHY Rings VINTAGE

Photography by Ebru Yildiz, fashion

by Tara Nichols, hair by Seiji, make up by Misha Shahzada, manicure by Maki Sakamoto, words by Julian de la Celle, and special thanks to Kassidy & Jessica at Shelter PR and Brooklyn Grain.

Harrison Osterfield’s introduction into the world of acting began with a crush. “...shamelessly, I first got into acting because there was this girl that I really liked in the drama class. I thought, if I joined the drama class and impressed her, I could take her out on a date,” says Osterfield. “Well, that didn’t end up happening, she wasn’t interested, but the acting seems to be working out okay, which is great!”

Osterfield’s first break was getting to play Snowden in George Clooney’s Catch-22 series, and just this year, he played the lead in Netflix’s The Irregulars. We spoke about the actors that influence him, accompanying his mate Tom Holland on some of the biggest film sets, and what type of characters he’s looking forward to playing next.

Photography JOSEPH SINCLAIR Fashion OLGA TIMOFEJEVA at THE ONLY AGENCY Hair KIERON WEBB at THE LONDON BARBER Make Up MARIA COMPARETTO at THE ONLY AGENCY Words JULIAN DE LA CELLE

OSTERFIELD

HARRISON

Harrison wears blazer by EMPORIO ARMANI

Harrison (left) wears coat and trousers by WAX Shirt by BASIC RIGHTS Boots by CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN Jewelery HARRISON’S OWN Harrison (right) wears shirt by EMPORIO ARMANI

JULIAN DE LA CELLE: Hey man, how are you?

HARRISON OSTERFIELD: Yeah, I’m good.

I’m a bit stressed at the moment, I’m moving house, and I don’t know why I do this, but I always leave it to the last minute. I’m like, “Oh, it’ll be fine.” And then it gets to it, and it’s actually really stressful.

DE LA CELLE: I’m the same way. So, what was it about acting that drew you in initially?

OSTERFIELD: Well, shamelessly, I first got into acting because there was this girl that I really liked in the drama class. I thought if I joined the drama class and impressed her, I could take her out on a date. Well, that didn’t end up happening, she wasn’t interested, but the acting seems to be working out okay, which is great! I just sort of fell in love with it, really.

I mean, for me, it was about being a storyteller, having the audience empathize with characters, whether it was from a line of dialogue or a character’s backstory. Just being able to access so many different people throughout the audience was really special and something that I’ve never really experienced before.

I was quite a shy kid at school, but I just didn’t have any fear. I was like, “Well, it’s written; it’s not my words.” I’m just going to be getting into this character, and I can just give it my all through that.

DE LA CELLE: Did you start with theatre?

OSTERFIELD: Yeah. I was doing school plays and school productions. Then I went to drama school. I came out of that and me and my mates started up a theatre company, and we were going around London with that. That was so cool - I’m from the countryside, so coming into London and being able to go to all these different theaters around London was just so exciting. And it re-

ally gave me a buzz for it. The film and TV world was so far away, and like I was like, “Oh, well, I’ll get there eventually.” And then my first TV job came along, and it was so different! It was different being in a black box theater in London to filming in Sardinia with George Clooney. It’s quite a big jump, and you’re like, “Oh, this is this is actually pretty cool.” I’d love to go back and do some more theatre for sure.

DE LA CELLE: What was it about the BRIT school that intrigued you versus any other London acting school?

OSTERFIELD: I needed something to get me out of my shell a little bit. Coming from a very academic boarding school and then going into that... I say it was like FAME the musical because everyone there is an extrovert, everyone knows or has known what they’ve wanted to do since birth, and here I was kind of just joining on a bit late to the scene. So for me, it was just being around like-minded people that wanted to do the same thing. When you grow up in more of an academic school, and you want to be the theater kid, there’s a little bit of pressure around that, and it can cause a bit of friction with some people, and so it was so nice to just be accepted into that world and to flourish in it, really.

DE LA CELLE: I felt a similar way because I went to a regular middle school, and then my high school was very much a performing arts school. It feels so much better to be in your element and to be yourself.

OSTERFIELD: For sure, and there aren’t many places like that, I don’t think. As a kid, especially in a day and age now with social media and stuff where you’re constantly aware of everyone and being judged by everyone, to have something like a school like that... even though

Harrison wears coat and trousers by AMI Shirt by BASIC RIGHTS Jewelery HARRISON’S OWN

Harrison wears coat and sweater by RICHARD JAMES Trousers by THE KOOPLES Boots by CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN Jewelery HARRISON’S OWN

Harrison wears coat and trousers by WAX Shirt by BASIC RIGHTS Jewelery HARRISON’S OWN

there’s a hierarchy and whatever it is, you’re in the right place, and you’re able to sort of tailor your skills and your talent.

DE LA CELLE: Was there any advice you’d been given by a teacher that’s stuck with you from that time?

OSTERFIELD: It was always to be... well, as a shy kid, I was quite nervous in auditions and things, and then I was told to turn that energy into excitement or a good energy. You think about all this energy that you’ve got pent up in you, and if you’ve managed to turn it into a good thing and you go into this audition and your buzzing, and you’ve got this edge... that’s what I always try and do now. Turning nerves into excitement has been quite a big thing for me.

DE LA CELLE: That’s a good one for sure. I read somewhere that Paul Dano is a big influence for you as an actor, which I was surprised to hear as he is one of mine too, but you rarely hear people drop his name when asked that question.

OSTERFIELD: Yeah, never, and you should hear it more and more! He’s such a good actor, and in everything I’ve seen him in, I’m like, that’s great, that’s really cool. I just love this sort of variety in his work. I connect with him with the lower-status characters, but then occasionally he’ll flip it, and then it’ll be just as good if not better like his character in There Will Be Blood when he played twins, so good.

DE LA CELLE: Who else would be in that group for you?

OSTERFIELD: He’s the sort of one that’s a little off-kilter, but I love Joaquin Phoenix.

I think he’s awesome. I also love character actors that get really engrossed in their roles, like Daniel Day-Lewis. Jake Gyllenhaal is another one; I think he’s a very versatile actor. I really get inspired

by the versatility in things. You hear a lot of people say like, “Oh, well, they’re just playing themselves.” But then those actors are so different. You fully believe that they are that person, which is just so inspiring, and they’re very talented people. And it’s the kind of work that I hope to sort of emulate later on in my career.

DE LA CELLE: What type of roles are you looking to play in the future?

OSTERFIELD: It sounds bad to say, but I’d love to play a serial killer [laughs]. I just think that I’m perceived as the sort of boy next door kind of guy, very sweet and kind and, like, the darker side is something so much fun to play. I’ve played a cyberbully type of character in a theater show. It was the first time I came out afterward, and I had all my friends and family come and watch it, and everyone was just being really off with me. And they were like, “I don’t think we can trust you ever again.

We’ve never seen that side of you.” So I think those darker roles are something that I really want to explore.

Photography by Joseph Sinclair, fashion by Olga Timofejeva, hair

by Kieron Webb, make up by Maria Comparetto, words by Julian de la Celle, and special thanks to Britney at 42West.

Harrison wears coat and sweater by RICHARD JAMES Trousers by THE KOOPLES Jewelery HARRISON’S OWN

GOLD STAR Photography CAMERON MCCOOL Words DANNY DODGE

Marlon Rabenreither – nom de plume Gold Star – has, for the past decade, gifted his listeners with songs of redemption, humanity-the-hard-way, love and junkiedom, and life after epicureanism. Now he welcomes a new EP release entitled Headlights, U.S.A. Portrait of a young artist: lanky and debonair, handsome-faced, simple-featured, with a Rimbaud haircut.

On his knock-kneed baby doe posture sits a tall frame, often curled, into taxi cabs or around acoustic guitars, as if shielding from a perpetual cold that chills only him.

But today my friend Marlon and I bask in the warmth of conviviality. Witness a snapshot of casual conversation between two friends, while one (me) mines the other (him) for examples of ungrammatical profundity.

Danny Dodge: Would you consider your music “metropolitan”? I mean, in contradiction to the California sound, specifically. I guess what I’m saying is your music doesn’t sound Californian to me.

Marlon Rabenreither: Interesting.

Okay.

Yeah.

Dodge: I mean, it does and it doesn’t.

It sounds like our California but not like the California dream image.

Rabenreither: Right, like the Beach Boys.

Dodge: Right. It’s, like, so it’s thing and is still used and overused so much by bands in LA. But I’ve always felt like you were always very separate from that.

It’s funny to talk about sound styles of locations.

Rabenreither: I feel like somebody told me that being a musician – it’s just moving. You’re a mover. You move across the country. Moving stuff, whether it’s feelings or gear, equipment or whatever. People, songs. You’re just transporting stuff around the world for years.

Dodge: You’re in the import-export business, basically.

Just like the old Blondie pins read, I recognize that Gold Star, too, is a group.

The spirit of collaboration has always been present in your work. But it feels reinforced now that you’re playing with, I think, the best band you’ve ever had behind you (the band appearing on Headlights, U.S.A). Tell me how you feel about the value of collaboration in your new work.

Rabenreither: So I definitely started this project very much on my own. As I found a band and other voices and

songwriters and other talents that have connected with the music, I’ve been much more comfortable in collaborating with other people and have gotten to the point now where that’s what really excites me. I feel like I’ve done my own voice. There’s only so much you can say about certain things. A lot of the time, it’s another person’s perspective or ideas or even just their energy, that brings new light or understanding to things. I’d like to shout out Nick Murray, Jordan Odom, Mikey Whiteside, Connor “Catfish” Gallaher, Sharif Dumani, all these people, in playing with me, have made me feel more comfortable in bringing their voices and their ideas. Especially Jordan, as a songwriter, I’ve never really written with anybody before, it’s been great to have somebody to just kick ideas around. I think [during the pandemic] we all were asking ourselves, “Why are we musicians?”

Dodge: There was a big loss of purpose for a lot of musicians.

Rabenreither: If you haven’t played a show in two years, you face a big reckoning of why am I doing this?And after George Floyd was killed and the perspective that brought, thinking what do I have to offer to the dialogue of what’s happening?

So It’s been easier to work through this with other people. I realized that sometimes these little gestures – have value.

Dodge: Completely. It seems like your chemistry with them is so good now.

Just like you’ve achieved your comfort level playing solo, I feel like now, you have achieved finding comfort in playing with a band.

Rabenreither: Totally. I think that’s something that has been illusive for me my

entire life. I felt like I could do this thing as a solo performer; change things on a whim and really dig into loud/quiet and these moments of contrast. My fear with a band was that it would trample the looseness and the feeling of it. But it’s been years now with this crew and they’re all such good players that they’re able to ebb and flow with that. Often at practice, the conversation is: how do we not get in the way of the words. Good music is not about ego, right? And these guys are so ego-less when it comes to understanding that we do this for the good of the song. It’s really hard to find people who really embody that sentiment.

Dodge: For those who aren’t familiar, the rich history of the punk scene in Los

Angeles is paralleled by an equally rich history of communal living, these dwellings affectionately referred to as Punk Houses. This is a continuation of the proto-hippie communal living movement in Southern California that reaches as far back as the 1930’s (when Echo Park was still Edendale) and further back to the mid-19th century via French Bohemianism. Always serving the purpose of shelter at low cost and as a scratch table for art conversation and execution.

The majority of these houses have seen evictions and demolition. One that remains, however, is Big Blue in East Hollywood.

Marlon, you and I both lived there and it’s how we met. You not only lived at Big Blue, you found it, rented it, and later named your third- and breakout record after it. Can you speak on the origins of this now legendary artspace and maybe speak on the value and inspiration it afforded you and others?

Rabenreither: Ok, so the big one is, the house is perfect. On the northside of it, you have the 101 freeway, no neighbors.

On the southside of it, a burned-down grow house that used to be a hardware store. Behind it was this ex-con motorcycle guy, Jake. Then Normandie Avenue in between. You have no neighbors… there’s no rules, man! You have all the freedom in the world and what did we do with our freedom? We filled it with pianos, organs, drumsets, guitars, amps, fucking god knows what, right?? It was huge for us.

So, I made a record; I wrote it there and I recorded it there and it’s about all the things that happened there. Deadass simple, really. But the place is amazing. I don’t think the rents changed the whole time, it’s like $500 bucks a month (interviewers note: was raised to $520 while I lived there). It causes an influx of creative types. These great bands, artists, painters, and whatnot and that is super inspiring to be around. Everybody gave everybody the space to work and do whatever they were doing, whether it’s building motorcycles or collaging or making records. It’s insane that it’s still happening. You hear these stories about LA bands like the Doors or The Gun Club or X living together… weirdly, Big Blue is the only place that feels like it could be like what it was like then.

At this point it was 10 years ago when we got it. Crazy. It’s such an anomaly. Definitely hugely inspiring especially at that moment in my life. It introduced me to a lot of people. There’s incredible value to community and that can elevate you as

an individual. In a lot of ways, that place saved my life …

Dodge: How so …?

Rabenreither: I think it gave me the opportunity to find myself through some dark moments. Being afforded the freedom to create at any time, all the time, and be supported by people gave me the impetus to embrace music seriously.

Up until that record, Big Blue, I was still very much in the fine art world and, with music, I felt like I was almost a hobbyist. I think that record and those songs definitely came from living there.

Dodge: So, would you consider that album Big Blue to be a shift of intention?

Rabenreither: I consider it to be my first record. It was the first time I started to find my own voice, and it’s largely what you’re alluding to that helped me find it.

Dodge: Woody Guthrie said to “keep the hoping machine running”. So, how is your hoping machine?

Rabenreither: I don’t think I would be doing this at all if I didn’t have some insane amount of hope, right? To keep doing this for so long requires an intrinsic amount of hope and, I guess some self-belief, but mostly just hope. (laughs). I think it’s everything, right? It belies a faith in the future and the value of constantly existing and creating. I think without it we would be dead. You and I, especially, would be dead.

Dodge: I love you.

Rabenreither: I love you too, buddy.

Los Angeles-based rock band Dead Sara have just released their first fulllength album in six years. The highly anticipated Ain’t It Tragic boasts eleven tracks written by spunky frontwoman Emily Armstrong and co-produced by drummer Sean Friday.

Forced into a much smaller team due to the pandemic, this project was a labor of love between a very close knit group of artists. Dead Sara didn’t stop until they’d fleshed out every idea, bringing every song to it’s utmost potential. You are thrust into the thick of it with the first song on the album, “Starry Eyed.” The pop rock track is larger than life, with a full, omnipresent, and almost orchestral production. No two songs in the collection are alike, just as no two songs will make you feel the same emotions. “All I Know is That You Left Me for Dead” is angsty and in-your-face, while “Uninspired” describes a general malaise and apathy toward the current state of the world.

Photography JOSHUA SPENCER Words WILLA RUDOLPH

Guitarist Siouxsie Medley’s bluesy riffs are infectious and provoke movement, while Emily Armstrong’s smooth, open voice and annunciated, thought out lyrics slice through like beams of light. The album represents the pinnacle of Dead Sara’s artistry, thus far, as they locked themselves in during quarantine and focused all their energy on nailing those tracks, making them the most contagious, bold, and concise tunes possible, and, as Armstrong put it, “leaving no stone unturned.” The dedication to that idea is evident.

Finding inspiration during the pandemic was no easy feat, but Armstrong was able to allow her lack of inspiration to influence her and stir her creativity.

The ability to create was a salvation for the three rockers. Each genre bending track on the album attempts to capture a feeling, more than tell a story. And that goal is certainly reached. Each song is a world on its own; lean into the down-toearth and relatable, yet masterful, AIN’T IT TRAGIC.

DEAD

SARA

WILLA RUDOLPH: Are you in LA right now?

EMILY ARMSTRONG: I’m actually in D.C. We’re on the road. Doin’ my laundry with the time I’ve got before our show tonight.

RUDOLPH: What’s your pre-show process?

ARMSTRONG: I usually take a nap, I love taking a nap before. Obviously do some warmups, I have my tea, and that’s about it, really. Don’t eat too much. Wait for after the show to eat.

RUDOLPH: No rituals?

ARMSTRONG: No, we’re not like that. I feel like when you become a big band, you start to have rituals, like, if we’re doing theatres and stadiums. They always have rituals. Maybe to stay grounded.

But, no, this is like, get out of the van, get out of the bus, let’s just get on [stage], now.

RUDOLPH: What story is Ain’t It Tragic telling?

ARMSTRONG: I mean, I don’t see it as something where I’m trying to come up with a narrative or anything. Every song we did for this, we treated like we were doing an album for each song. It was more or less about getting the song to be the best song it possibly could be, and whatever it means, have it really come out. What I’ve been hearing in interviews and stuff is, like, “Well, there’s a lot of angst in this,” and, “You really wanted to get back at somebody!” And I said, “Okay! Sure, I don’t know.” That wasn’t my thought process. I was just living in the moment as much as possible with each song.

RUDOLPH: The story people are drawing from it, though, is that it’s a very angsty

story?

ARMSTRONG: Yeah, that I’m just kinda saying “fuck you,” but there’s a lot of humor in it. Obviously there are some fuck you songs that are very noticeable, like “All I Know is That You Left Me for Dead.”

That’s one about wanting to get back at somebody but realizing taking the high road is probably a better bet. Just leaving it after the song. That’s what’s kinda great about this. I would say it’s very therapeutic for me. Just giving something one more thought, one more last hurrah, and then moving on.

RUDOLPH: Totally. I definitely think the humor is evident simultaneously to the more serious emotions. It’s entertaining and quite dynamic. How has your sound changed since your last LP, Pleasure to Meet You, six years ago?

ARMSTRONG: So we did that. And then we went and did an EP, which was more experimental. The second album, we were kind of just adding on to the first album.

We were trying to expand sound wise.

More vocals, more harmonies, stacking on. The third, we were like, let’s just invite a bunch of people, let’s write with people we’ve never worked with before. We outsourced a lot of creativity. From that, we learned what we needed to do. Now let’s use this information and go do it ourselves. That’s what this new album is.

Using what we’ve learned from the first two albums. Some of those songs don’t quite have a storytelling meaning, which is how I like to write. I made it a point this time to get every word that I could, and every phrase to really pop out as best I could. Sean, the drummer, was sole producer. He produced the album. We just sat in a room, and we fucking did this album as a group. With everything we’ve learned from our past, and from playing live, too, and thinking about what it would sound like live… Leaving no stone

unturned. We tried everything on these songs. It’s nice that we had enough time to do this - the only good thing about the pandemic.

RUDOLPH: Was the team smaller on this record because of COVID or was there a larger reason for that?

ARMSTRONG: COVID. RUDOLPH: Do you think that had a negative, positive, or neutral impact on the album?

ARMSTRONG: Positive. And I hate to say that. But it was definitely our saving grace in the most fucked up time we could be living through. We had something that could save us and give us a purpose every day. Going to the studio and getting to write about things. We didn’t know what tomorrow would be like, so sometimes there were those days when we were just like, “Why the fuck are we doing this?” We had to engineer the album ourselves; we set up our rehearsal space as a studio. We were very limited in what we could do, but we made the best of it, and I think that’s a testament to what we really wanted to accomplish with this album and not letting anything stop us. I kind of always wanted to do an album like this, to be honest. We did a lot of our demos this way. We’d just record it in our rehearsal room that we’ve been in for eight plus years. We have the idea and we can manipulate it.

RUDOLPH: What was your writing process for Ain’t It Tragic, and is it quite different from how your writing has been in the past?

ARMSTRONG: Yes. The first couple albums we just went with what sounded good. We didn’t quite experiment with sounds as much. I learned a lot working with writers. I used that to help paint

a picture. Just really took my time with each sentence, with each verse. Even Sean wouldn’t let me get away with anything. He’d be like, “I don’t quite understand what you’re saying here.” I’d just be like, “Oh, for fucks sake.” But he was right. We had to really face it and get to the best that we possibly could.

RUDOLPH: What’s your favorite song off the project, if you had to pick, and why?

ARMSTRONG: Damn. Fuck. Right now it’s “Uninspired” because it was the song that was written in the midst of it all, from beginning to end, in a day or two. I think that’s the only song that was written from birth to finish during the pandemic. “Uninspired” was one of those songs where I came in one day and nothing seemed to matter anymore. Everything in the world was bad news after bad news. Even if you’re in the studio every day getting to do what you love, it still takes a toll on you. Trying to get me to get in the mindset of being inspired was impossible. Why don’t I just say what I’m NOT inspired about? Protesting the “artist” bullshit. I didn’t even know what would happen tomorrow. What if we’ll be stuck here forever?

RUDOLPH: I find that one to be really relatable. Tell us a bit about your tour?

ARMSTRONG: We’re getting near the end, here. I love the East Coast, my god. We’re going to New York and then we’re going to Boston. Then we’re gonna be playing our home town of Los Angeles, the Roxy, a couple shows in one night! We’ve never done that before! I don’t know how I’m gonna do that, but I agreed to it, and I feel like an idiot now for that. That’s going to be the end of this run. Then, we’ll most likely be on the road again. We have some one-offs here and there before next year, but 2022, big things comin’ for sure!