MUSIC&RIOTS Magazine 14

music&riots FREE | ISSUE 14 | OCTOBER

HEALTH Noise Goes Pop With Style ATREYU The Beast Has Risen, Again...

LE BUTCHERETTES Breaking Some Boundaries

magazine

WINDHAND

Keeping It Heavy & Honest

CASPIAN

Deep, Epic & Immersive

+

P.O.D. NOPES OH, ROSE RADKEY COLISEUM THE DEAR HUNTER SELF DEFENSE FAMILY WHITE REAPER

NORTHLANE

Monumental, Passionate and Exciting... All Change Is Growth!

1

2

music&riots

October

musicandriotsmagazine.com

3

ROUND UP 12 // BARONESS - They’re back! It’s their first new music in three years, as the band releases their fourth album, Purple... Excited?

We are!

14 // KILLING JOKE - Pylon is the title of their upcoming new album + These influential veterans are ready to unleash a brand new ritual, be prepared...

18 // LAURA STEVENSON - Don Giovanni Records are going to release the long-awaited new full-length from Stevenson. Our expectations are high, and yours?

30

19 // WREKMEISTER HARMONIES - New album features The Body, Marissa Nadler, members of Einstürzende Neubauten, Corrections House and much more...

NEU INTRODUCING 16 // WHITE REAPER - We talked with bassist Sam Wilkinson about their debut album and a bit more...

20 // NOPES - Full of energy and power, we talked with vocalist Alex Petralia to find out what their debut EP stands for...

50

HOT NEW ARTISTS 25 // DILLY DALLY 26 // AYE NAKO 27 // MCCLAIN SULLIVAN 28 // GRAVE PLEASURES

STRANGE MIX 22 // We are just sharing some of the things that we love, merch, brands, gifts or even silly and stupid things...

REVIEWS 72

ALBUMS 88 // Bring Me The Horizon, Deafheaven, Atreyu, All Dogs, John Grant, PIL, Windhand, The Wonder Years, Mayday Parade, Le Butcherettes, Caspian, Childbirth, Crossfaith, Gnaw Their Tongues, Dr, Dre, Editors, Iron Maiden, Julia Holter, Frank Carter & Rattlesnake, Helen, Parkway Drive, Ought...

LIVE REPORTS 112 // Reverence Valada, Vodafone Paredes de Coura.

CINEMA 120 // The Visit, Love & Mercy, Aloha, It Follows, Me And Earl And The Dying Girl, Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, Man Up, Z For Zachariah.

4

music&riots

October

82

CONTENTS

INTERVIEWS

60

30 // CASPIAN - We talked with guitarist Philip Jameson about their brand new album, Dust & Disquiet.

34 // P.O.D. - We talked with drummer Wuv Bernardo and guitarist Marcos Curiel about their brand new and positive album, The Awakening.

38 // THE DEAR HUNTER - Casey Crescenzo told us pretty much everything about this new act and what other plans the future holds for the band.

42 // ATREYU - They’re back and with a brand new album, and it was about that we talked with lead guitarist Dan Jacobs.

46 // RADKEY - We spoke out with Isaiah to know a little bit more about the new and exciting rock’n’roll band in town.

50 // HEALTH - It was about their work on Max Payne 3’s OST and their amazing new album, Death Magic, that we talked with bassist John Famiglietti.

54 // OH, ROSE - And between goofing

around and sharing their thoughts about their debut album Seven, we learned a bit more about them...

60 // NORTHLANE

With Marcus Bridge as the new vocalist, the band releases the most self-conscious and also the most dynamic record to date, where melody and heaviness meet for a great cause. We chatted with Marcus about his entry on the band, the whole process to fit in and the concept behind Node.

68 // COLISEUM - We spoke with singer/

guitarist and main songwriter Ryan Patterson about Anxiety’s Kiss, their fifth and darkest album.

72 // LE BUTCHERETTES - We spoke with Teri not only about their new album but also about feminism, social injustices, revolutions...

78 // SELF DEFENSE FAMILY - We had a chat with Benjamin Tate regarding the band’s last accomplishments...

82 // WINDHAND - We caught up

with vocalist Dorthia Cottrell to talk about living up to expectations while keeping it heavy and honest.

“Everything is taken for granted nowadays and people kind of end up living this fake life behind the screen.”

Marcus Bridge, Northlane

WORDS FROM THE EDITOR Hey dudes, let’s start by saying that we have a new home, a brand new face online, with our new website. So lads, let’s make sure that you can spare a few minutes a day to visit our humble new website. We’re very proud of our comfy new home.

Well, about our new issue, let’s say that we’re are proud and pleased to feature Aussie titans Northlane as our cover story.

Nowadays, not everyone is able to make changes, but these dudes were able to really make a difference, change and stand for something, creating one of the best and most dynamic albums of this year.

Well, still speaking about change, it’s that time of the year you get to decide on your nation’s future, so make sure that you stand up, be heard and make your vote count, a change is needed in all Europe, but you can start that in your own home, because all change in this case can be growth.

Your Editor, Fausto Casais

musicandriots.com

5

LISTENING POST

music&riots magazine musicandriots.com

BRING ME THE HORIZON That’s the Spirit RCA Out Now

THE WONDER YEARS No Closer To Heaven Hopeless Records Out Now

SHINING International Blackjazz Society Spinefarm Available on October 16

FREE | ISSUE 14 | OCTOBER

CEO/EDITOR IN CHIEF

Fausto Casais (faustocasais@musicandriotsmagazine.com)

DEPUTY EDITOR

Andreia Alves (andreiaalves@musicandriotsmagazine.com) Tiago Moreira (tiago@musicandriotsmagazine.com)

ART EDITOR // DESIGNER Fausto Casais

FEATURES EDITOR Fausto Casais

JOHN GRANT Grey Tickles, Black Pressure Bella Union Available on October 9

CONTRIBUTORS // WRITERS

Nuno Babo, Nuno Teixeira, Ricardo Almeida, Sergio Kilmore, Dave Bowes, Mariana Silva, Rob McCance, Rui Correia, Carlos Cardoso, Cláudio Aníbal, Euan Andrews, Luis Alves, Ibrahima Brito, Stella Eliadou, Antigoni Pitta, Arnaud Diemer, Joe Doyle, Miljan Milekić, Alyssa Daniele

PHOTOGRAPHERS

CHVRCHES Every Open Eye Virgin Records Out Now

Andreia Alves, Ricardo Almeida

COVER STORY PHOTO

Picture by Tobias Sutter

GENERAL INQUIRIES

info@musicandriotsmagazine.com

DEAFHEAVEN New Bermuda AntiAvailable on October 2

JULIA HOLTER Have You In My Wilderness Domino Out Now

EDITORS In Dream PIAS Available on October 2

ADVERTISING

(faustocasais@musicandriotsmagazine.com)

FILM EDITOR

Fausto Casais (faustocasais@musicandriotsmagazine.com)

ONLINE ADVERTISING

(andreiaalves@musicandriotsmagazine.com)

HUGE FUCKING THANKS

Lauren Barley, Frank van Liempdt, Deathwish Inc, Thrill Jockey, Amelia Trask, Richard S.Jones, Brid Walpole, Sub Pop, Sargent House, Lucy Hurst, Stephanie Marlow, Amplificasom, Earsplit, Jessi Frick, UNFD, Matador, Spinefarm, Southern Lord, Teri Gender Bender, Riot Act Media, Team Clermont, Bloodshot Records, Joan Hiller, Eros Pasi, Rude Records, Walter Mazzeo, Pure Noise Records, Memorial Records, Hopeless Records, Nathan Walker, Bella Union, Napalm Records, Canvas Media, Sarah Maynard, Sony Music UK, Raw Power Management, Ricardo Silva, Jaz Coleman

SEND YOUR PROMOS TO:

promos@musicandriotsmagazine.com

MAYDAY PARADE Black Lines Fearless Records Available on October 8

KILLING JOKE Pylon Spinefarm Available on October 23

6

music&riots

October

WEBSITE:

musicandriots.com All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or part without our permission. The views expressed in MUSIC&RIOTS Magazine are those of the respective contributors and are not necessarily shared by the magazine or its staff.

8

music&riots

October

INTRODUCING // THE NOPES

9

10

music&riots

October

BIG PICTURE

CONVERGE Amplifest 2015 Picture by: Andreia Alves

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

11

12

music&riots

October

ROUND UP

BARONESS GOING PUPRLE FOR THEIR ALBUM NUMBER 4...

B

aroness return with their first new music in three years, as the band releases their fourth album, Purple, on December 18th via their recently formed label, Abraxan Hymns.

“After releasing a lengthy and investigative record like Yellow & Green we all felt that we needed to make something much more direct and immediate,” explains band founder and singer John Baizley of the approach behind Purple. The album was produced by Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, MGMT) at Tarbox Road Studios in the secluded town of Cassadaga, New York.

“We wanted to write with our normal focus on artistry, balanced against an increased level of energy and focus. It was important for us to write our new songs with the type of enthusiasm and expressiveness that could act as a counterpoint to the album’s dark themes.

As a result, the music came out in an intense, heavy and sonically captivating in a new way, which was important, loathe, as we are to fall into any kind of complacency pitfall or formulaic songwriting routine. Purple is the most fully realized representation of our intention as a band; considering the amount of physical and mental energy spent writing it, we have accomplished something which would have seemed impossible to us a couple of years ago.”

In late July, Baroness shared news that the release would come via their own label, dubbed Abraxan Hymns. Baizley discusses the band’s move towards independence: “We have been incredibly fortunate to work with a series of amazing labels, producers, management, crew members, etc., all of whom we not only consider a critical part of our development as musicians and performers but also our personal friends. After working for so long as a recording and touring band, it seemed like a no-brainer when the opportunity arose to start our own label.”

PURPLE ARRIVES ON DECEMBER 18TH VIA ABRAXAN HYMNS musicandriots.com

13

NEWS 14

music&riots

October

Hinds will release their highly anticipated debut album entitled Leave Me Alone on January 8th, 2016 via Lucky Number. Twelve lo-fi tracks inspired by contemporary American garage rockers like Mac DeMarco, Ty Segall and The Black Lips, Leave Me Alone is an exciting introduction to the fun-loving quartet pioneering the burgeoning indie music scene in Madrid.

Also in January 2016 the mighty Tindersticks will release their new album The Waiting Room, their tenth full-length album, via City

Slang. Their first studio album since 2012’s The Something Rain. The new album features guest appearances by Jehnny Beth of Savages and a duet with dear lost friend of Stuart Staples, Lhasa De Sela. Its brass arrangements are by Julian Siegel and it comes dressed in a sleeve by legendary french photographer Richard Dumas.

Each track from the album will be accompanied by a short film, a visual interpretation by its own director, featuring Christoph Girardet, Pierre Vinour, Claire Denis, Rosie Pedlow and Joe King, Gregorio Graziosi,

ROUND UP

KILLINGJOKE 16th STUDIO ALBUM WILL UNLEASH A BRAND NEW RITUAL, PYLON

K

illing Joke have announced the release of their new / 16th studio album. Entitled Pylon, the new full-length is due to be released on October 23rd via Spinefarm Records.

With the original line-up of Jaz Coleman, Geordie, Youth & Big Paul continuing to hold firm, the band will be headlining shows around the world, starting with a UK run in October.

Pylon was produced in the UK and Prague by the band and Tom Dalgety, whose credits include the hugely successful Royal Blood album, and according to the press release, “isn’t designed to accompany a quiet night at home in front of the fire; Pylon is very much music as ritual – raw, uncompromising and precisely-targeted lyrically, with the artwork put together by regular band associate Mike Coles, the designer behind the very first Killing Joke album.” The band also unveiled “I Am The Virus”, the lead track from Pylon, described as “an intense, angry, uncompromising shout into the abyss”, according to Martin “Youth” Glover.

Killing Joke will be playing a 10 date headline UK tour to coincide with Pylon’s release, starting in Cardiff on October 25th and finishing at the Roundhouse in London on November 6th. This will be the start of an extensive period of touring that will see this most legendary and infamous band taking their own particular message to audiences around the world.

PYLON IS AVAILABLE ON OCTOBER 23 VIA SPINEFARM RECORDS

Richard Dumas and Gabriel Sanna.

English rock outfit Lower Than Atlantis revealed that they will re-issue their 2014’s self-titled album on November 20th via Easy Life Recordings / Sony Red. The album features 15 bonus tracks with 2 brand new recordings, including the new single “Get Over It”, 3 tracks originally only featured on the limited physical deluxe, 2 BBC Radio One Live Lounge covers, 4 brand new covers picked by each member of the band and 4 alternative

versions of album tracks recorded at Rockfield Studios in 2014.

Influential Brooklyn, NY metal progenitors Candiria have signed to Metal Blade Records. Since forming in 1992, the band has released seven full lengths albums, two EPs, and survived a serious van crash in 2002. Now, with a new record deal in place, Candiria is on course to release their first new full length since 2009’s Kiss the Lie. Candiria’s John LaMacchia comments: “The band is extremely

excited to be a part of the Metal Blade family. We couldn’t think of a better way to forge ahead with a new chapter in our career. We have a new album in the works and we definitely plan to hit the road in support of it. 2016 is going to be an amazing year for Candiria.”

Gnarwolves have announced a brand new EP that will be released through Pure Noise Records on November 13. Adolescence will feature five tracks, it will be heavy and short, influenced by the DC hardcore scene, stated the band.

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

15

WHITE RE barely 20-somethings who

than you do on a Saturday�, full-length album, White Re to 2014’s self-titled EP. I talked with ba

16

music&riots

October

INTRODUCING // WHITE REAPER

EAPER , “a bunch of have more fun on a Tuesday night

, have recently released their debut eaper Does It Again, the follow-up It was about their album that we assist Sam Wilkerson.

Words by Tiago Moreira

Y

ou’ve spent quite some time on the road with Deerhoof, Young Widows, Priests, and more. How was that experience like?

Incredible, met some of the best people we know on those tours. We have also learned lot from those tours.

How that experience, in particular, helped develop the band’s sound?

We generally realize we’re better off if we are relaxed and have fun rather than getting every note right.

Now we are loosey goosey.

What are some of the big differences, regarding the creative and recording processes, between the self-titled EP released in 2014 and this debut full-length album?

We had a lot more leg room to do whatever we wanted. So much that we were actually able to write a few songs in the studio (“Wolf Trap”, “Friday the 13th”). We also had a proper studio / producer (Kevin Ratterman), he’s a true bad ass. I hope you get to meet him one day.

How much of a collaborative process is White Reaper’s creative output?

It mostly all comes from Tony, he writes everything and we tell him what we think / might add our own parts here and there, but it’s mainly Tony’s vision.

How did the “Pills” video and concept for it came about?

The video mainly came from us just talking and agreeing it would be funny if Tony was like an escapee from a mental hospital and looked confused and puked bile everywhere, so we made a vid out of it. Our friends Eli and Cooper directed it.

WHITE REAPER DOES IT AGAIN IS OUT NOW VIA POLYVINYL RECORDS

musicandriots.com

17

LAURA STEVENSON RETURNS WITH COCKSURE

O

n October 30th, Don Giovanni Records are going to release the long-awaited new full length from Laura Stevenson, entitled Cocksure.

About this new effort Laura said: “I felt like over-working it would suck some of the spirit out of the songs… this record needed that spontaneity. Spending so much time editing and second guessing yourself takes all the life out of it.”

NEWS 18

music&riots

October

This sense of spontaneity was maintained in the way Cocksure was recorded. In May Laura Stevenson and her band traveled city-bound to Room 17, a studio located in her old neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn. “It’s this very positive and amazing space, and Joe Rogers, the engineer, was so enthusiastic about what we were doing. Everyone was comfortable enough to just really play and not get caught up in anything else” - Laura said.

All the main instrumentation

Frankie Cosmos’ upcoming EP, Fit Me In, is a one-off experiment in “fitting” Kline’s songwriting into an “electronic sound, characteristicof current pop culture”. The EP is a collaboration with Aaron Maine of Porches, who produced the songs using mostly electronic equipment in place of the live band instrumentation. Frankie Cosmos’ forthcoming EP will be the first made with four band members and is slated for release from Bayonet Records on November 13th.

on Cocksure was performed live under the watchful eyes of Rogers and producer Jeff Rosenstock, Stevenson’s long-time friend and collaborator. “Jeff was the perfect person for the job. I wanted to capture some of the magic he has.”

The album was later mixed and mastered by Jack Shirley (Joyce Manor, Deafheaven) at Atomic Garden Studios in Palo Alto, California.

COCKSURE IS AVAILABLE ON OCTOBER 30 VIA DON GIOVANNI

Jenny Lee Lindberg of Warpaint announced her solo debut album as jennylee, after hinting to fans withstudio photos via social media. right on! will be released via Rough Trade Records on 11th December 2015. Co-produced by jennylee and Norm Block, the 10 songs on right on! were all written by jennylee, and recorded earlier this spring at Happy Ending Studios in Silverlake, CA. Joining Jenny on the album are: Norm Block (Mark Lanegan), Dan Elkan (Them Hills, Broken Bells)

ROUND UP

WREKMEISTER HARMONIES ALL STAR TEAM

W

rekmeister Harmonies are set to release Night of Your Ascension on November 13.

Nearly a year in the making and including a cast of 30 musicians, J.R. Robinson delivers his towering third album as Wrekmeister Harmonies entitled Night of Your Ascension. As with previous records, the ensemble is made up of an all-star cast of talented musicians, which include Lee Buford and Chip King of The Body,

Alexander Hacke (Einsturzende Neubauten), Marissa Nadler, Cooper Crain (Cave, Bitchin Bajas), Mary Lattimore, Olivia Block, Eric Chaleff (Bloodiest), Dylan O’Toole and Ron DeFries of Indian, Bruce Lamont (Corrections House), Sanford Parker (Twilight), Mark Solotroff (Anatomy of Habit) and Chris Brokaw (Come, Pullman).

Robinson has long been fascinated with those whose habits or actions have set them beyond the reach of redemption.

He continues to explore

and Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa.

9000 Records (Consouling Sounds) has announced the release of People, when you see the smoke, do not think it is fields they’re burning, the third full-length album from Belgian post-rock/ folk collective The Black Heart Rebellion (part of the mysterious Church of Ra scene). Recorded and mixed by Koen Gisen at La Patrie Studios (Kiss The Anus Of A Black Cat, Flying Horseman) and mastered by Frederik Dejongh (Jerboa), this new effort is due

out on October 23rd and follows-up the band’s second album Har Nevo released in early 2013.

Rocket Recordings have announced the release of Womb of the Wild, the first release by Capra Informis, a new band put together by the unnamed djembi player from Goat and that literally translated from Latin means “Shapelees Goat”. The EP will have nineteen minutes of music and is due to be released on October 23rd.

Birds in Row have announced

humanity’s darkest impulses and society’s response to them. The death of Father John Goeghan and the life of Don Carlo Gesualdo were starting points for the two epic compositions on Night of Your Ascension.

Wrekmeister Harmonies will be touring the US with Bell Witch in December. Night of Your Ascension will be released on 13th November via Thrill Jockey.

NIGHT OF YOUR ASCENSION IS AVAILABLE ON NOVEMBER 13 VIA THRILL JOCKEY

the release of their new album.

Personal War is the new seventrack outpouring from the French punk/hardcore outfit and is set for release on October 30th via Deathwish Inc. Divers is the name of the upcoming Joanna Newsom’s double album, which is due to be released on October 23rd via Drag City. The album features contributions from Nico Muhly and Dirty Projectors’ Dave Longstreth, and has Steve Albini as a co-producer.

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

19

NOPES are a punk outfit from Oakland featuring Matthew Hansen

(guitars), Alex Petralia (vocals), Kevin QuijivixSweeney (bass) and Gabe Simmons (drums). The band has recently dropped their Nectar Of The Dogs EP – five songs of pure and raw energy, lo-fi, and extremely energetic – and we talked with vocalist Alex Petralia to know a little more about the band and the new EP Words by Tiago Moreira

20

music&riots

October

INTRODUCING // NOPES

H

ow did you guys meet? Were there any bands before Nopes?

We all met at our church youth group. Past bands include Grimer, Black America, Mud Mouth, 12 Year Old Pregnant Sister, Unstrung, Helen Keller’s Vision For A Better Tomorrow.

I guess we can assume that the lo-fi element was a deliberate choice of yours, right?

Ain’t no fi like lo-fi, am I right dawg?

It needs to be asked… What do you mean by “Nectar of the Dogs”? Is Dogs an anagram of Gods?

Don’t read into it too much, dude.

All we did was just move around two letters, but I guess “Nectar of the Dogs” could mean a number of things like dog piss, or really any fluid that comes out of a dog.

How was the writing process like for Nectar of the Dogs?

We started writing a ton of songs from our first practice on. We ended up dropping a few songs for the EP, mainly because it would have cost way too much to pay for another day of recording.

What about the recording process with Jack Shirley?

It was cool. Jack’s a good dude and knows his stuff. Recording can kinda suck sometimes, but it was a pretty painless process. Plus, he’s got amazing equipment.

Have you started working on a proper full-length album?

Yes, we’ve written about half of it so far. None of us are used to putting out long albums, so it’s given us a chance to make a lot of different types. We got real weird with some.

Any other plans for the future that you care to share?

Someone please send us to Japan.

NECTAR OF THE DOGS IS OUT NOW VIA MAGNETIC EYES RECORDS

musicandriots.com

21

STRANGE MIX

TIME TO SPLASH YOUR CASH

BRING ME THE HORIZON “THAT’S THE SPIRIT” BOXSET impericon.com

JAMES BOND ARCHIVES taschen.com

STAR WARS SPHERO BB-8 DROID amazon.co.uk

EDDIE’S EVIL BREW ironmaiden.com

PARKWAY DRIVE “IRE” DELUXE SPECIAL PACK impericon.com

STAR WARS DARTH VADER BACKPACK grindstore.com

22

music&riots

October

RISK - GAME OF THRONES BOARD GAME forbiddenplanet.co.uk

23

NEU! DILLY DALLY AYE NAKO MCCLAIN SULLIVAN GRAVE PLEASURES

NEU // VOL.14

DILLY DALLY Where? Toronto (Canada) Who? Katie Monks, Liz Ball, Jimmy Tony, Benjamin Reinhartz For fans of: Breeders, The Pixies, Sonic Youth

A

t a glance, it seems that Dilly Dally is just a new band that is about to release their debut full-length and the press is just saying wonderful things, but one thing is certain, they worked hard to be heard and they’re finally being heard. Katie Monks and Liz Ball met twelve years ago and instantly became friends and shared the same passion for music. The Torontobased duo had a common love for

bands like The Pixies, Nirvana and both self-taught playing guitar.

After releasing some singles and playing live shows in every single venue in Toronto, things weren’t easy and the girls weren’t getting the attention they deserved. After years of rotating members, they have settled with Benjamin Reinhartz on drums and Jimmy Tony on bass, and their live shows became more energetic and dynamic.

Sore is the debut album and, with the singles unveiled, it feels that’s going to be a pure heavy and melodic record, and Monks will become your favorite singer, because she just shouts out her thoughts and emotions. Sore will be released via Partisan Records and Buzz Records on October 9th.

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

25

AYE NAKO Where? Brooklyn (USA) Who? Mars Dixon, Angie Boylan, Jade Payne, Joe McCann For fans of: Speedy Ortiz, Potty Mouth, Breeders

W

e need more bands like Aye Nako, please.

What do we mean by that? Well, it’s easy to explain: bands with great music music and with a

great message.

Let’s go now for a brief introduction. They are a four piece from Brooklyn, made up of Mars Dixon, Angie Boylan, Jade Payne and Joe McCann, and they were formed during the summer of 2010. They explore

26

music&riots

October

punk rock in a raw way and write about abuse, race, trauma, family, love, gender, and a misrepresentation of identity.

In 2013, they released their first, self-released album, Unleash Yourself, a great first album but it was kind of underrated. Recently they’ve self-recorded a new EP titled The Blackest Eye, which was released this last July via Don Giovanni Records. Named after Toni Morrison’s 1st novel, The Bluest Eye, the EP lyrically takes on the similar themes of cultural conceptions of beauty and worth and the devastating long term effects it can have on those who do not fit those conceptions.

This is the time to take notice to young bands that have something to say.

NEU // VOL.14

MCCLAIN SULLIVAN Where? Brooklyn, New York (USA) Who? McClain Sullivan For fans of: Mary J. Blidge, Amy Winehouse, Erykah Badu

I

’m soul with pop and jazz in the mix, confessed McClain Sullivan, in an interview with Nu Soul, back in 2009 around the time her debut EP, My Machine, was being released. Six years after and we receive this email about a Seattle-born singer/songwriter/guitarist who had just announced her new EP and unveiled her brand new single, “Happy Birthday”.

We immediately found ourselves

hooked and in awe of its magnificence – it’s not every day that you find something as hard-hitting as “Happy Birthday”. Upon further investigation we got to know a little more about Sullivan’s artistic endeavors (which, as a side note, includes a soul/indie/hip hop project called Fuzz and Mac) and we got to hear the aforementioned My Machine EP and compare it with her newest track and upcoming EP, Rachel...

We can honestly say that the world has another good reason to smile. McClain seems to have found her voice. My Machine was not that solid and scattered all over the place, but a much needed first step. Rachel looks and sounds like a revelation of someone concerned in finding a true identity.

musicandriots.com

27

NEU // VOL.14

GRAVE PLEASURES Where? Tampere/Helsinki (Finland) Who? Mat McNerney, Valtteri Arino, Linnéa Olsson, Juho Vanhanen, Uno Bruniusson For fans of: Beastmilk, Danzig, Killing Joke

H

acking out this feverish, frantic and very uninhibited music exposes and lays raw some intense emotions. As we get deeper and closer to capturing the spirit of what we set out for this band to be, we are touching some vital nerves. It’s getting under the skin, under the flesh,” confessed vocalist Mat McNerney.

Strong words used to describe the nature of Grave Pleasures, a band

28

music&riots

October

born out of the ashes of Beastmilk, a band that some of you might heard just because they were one of the biggest surprises of 2013 with their debut full-length album Climax and who early in the year split with guitarist Johan “Goatspeed” Snell.

Vocalist Mat McNerney (Hexvessel, Code and Dødheimsgard), bassist Valtteri Arino, Swedish guitarist and songwriter Linnéa Olsson (formerly of The Oath), guitarist Juho Vanhanen (Oranssi Pazuzu) and drummer Uno Bruniusson (In Solitude), are the members of Grave Pleasures who just recently released their debut album, Dreamcrash. They’re taking some of Beasmilk’s output and digging deeper into what can be described as a frenetic and invigorating mix between deathrock, gothic and post-punk.

DEEP, EPIC AND IMMERSIVE...

CASPIAN

being considered one of th There’s a reason for greatest bands of the entire post-rock and instrumental rock scene. They constantly created high quality music over their ten plus years of existen m We’ve talked with guitarist Philip Jameson about their brand new albu t & Disquiet. What it represents, the importance of the visual aspect crea and appreciating Caspian’s music, and more.

Words by Tiago Moreira // Pictures by Marc Lemoine

30

music&riots

October

he y’ve nce.

Dust ting

T

he cover has seven feathers putted together in a circle. Are the feathers a representation of every member on the band right now plus Chris Friedrich (who passed away in 2013)?

Yeah, that’s correct. I think it has deep personal meaning for all of us in the band and I think as an image, alone and apart by itself, is ambiguous enough to not be direct.

I think that some people will get the meaning. People that are close to us or people who have been following the band for a while will understand it but I think if you’re not familiar with the band then it is just a pleasant aesthetically looking thing. We’re always trying to run that middle ground between things that are really accessible and approachable, and things that leave something to the imagination, whether is song titles, the way we write music, or whatever.

Was it easy to write new music after what happened to Chris? Was it easy to keep going?

I don’t think there was ever a moment in time where we considered not playing anymore.

We needed to use our music to cope with the situation and sort of help us move forward.

Music has always been something that helped us navigate through difficult things in life, and of course that was beyond difficult. We really needed our music to step up to the plate and help us make sense of the situation, so it was there for that reason. I think we needed more than ever after that.

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

31

Does the title of the album, Dust & Disquiet, describes the final result that we can hear with the album or the process of creating it?

I think disquiet is just a word that seemed to sum up the last two or three years. Just kind of a bit of an anxiety and an uncertainty as to what our band means to people.

Taking a step back, especially after doing it for ten years. We had a little break and an opportunity to reflect how the last decade has gone and decide to move forward and always wondering where we fit into the musical landscape and how people are receiving the band... [pause] and what we wanted to sort of establish moving forward, I think. That kind of deep reflection can sometimes create a sense of urgency and a little bit of anxiety.

And I think that’s reflected in the disquiet of it.

You’ve said, talking about Walking Season, “With this record we became a little less self-conscious about what we’re doing. I think the letting go of egos was a real turnaround for us.” Did you find yourself in that same state of mind while creating and recording this new album?

Yes, definitely! In fact I think we went even deeper down that rabbit hole, which was a good thing.

It was the process of at least attempting to sort of shed that self-consciousness began with the last record and I think we further kept building upon it, with this one, and tried to explore that even more. We always want to make a really great record but we want to do it as purely as possible and from a position of sincerity, every time. For us the best way to do it is to try to find ways to let go our self-consciousness and any of those insecurities. It’s a battle every time but I think we’re making progress and this album, to me, feels like a good step forward in terms of that.

What’s the importance and role of the visual aspect in Caspian’s music? I mean, in terms of associating certain visual aspects and certain images with certain sounds, when you are listening to music or thinking about it.

That’s absolutely central to this whole thing, in terms of sort of trying to help cultivate a sense of imagination... Yeah, that’s massive!

I think without that imagination or sort of contributing with a piece of yourself to this experience the 32

music&riots

October

music doesn’t really succeed. If you listen to it on a really clinical, close, simply just on the level of music it is exciting and I think we do some really nice musical things but I think you really have to invest a lot of that visual side of your mind to this stuff to really take holds. Yeah man, I couldn’t agree more. That’s really huge to us. When we compose I think there’s always something like that swimming around in our minds that we lash onto and that really help us finishing a song... or sometimes it helps in the seminal moment of creation when you’re puttingsomething together. It’s deeply enmeshed in the whole process.

How does the composition and improvisation coexist in the creative process of Caspian?

That’s a good question. I think most of the time we definitely need a firm, fixed, small concrete idea to get us started. Ten years ago when we were writing music we wouldn’t have one of those. We would just sort of get together in a room and then just start immediately improvising and then that would create that base moment. Now I think we need to start with something a little more foundational, whether is just one small melody, or a drumbeat, or a texture, or a mood, or whatever. Take it from there and then unpack it with that. So, the improvisation comes after the... I guess after that firm moment and then it sorts of metamorphosis back, all the way at the end, to something a little bit more concrete. Live we do very little improvising, just because the structures have to be so set and I think during the creative processes it’s a little bit of both. When we’re writing music we’re certainly not scared to try whatever works and throw something against the wall and see what sticks.

I’m curious to know where it started with the song “Arcs of Command”.

That song took... I think nine months to write. The first two minutes of that song is just the band going crazy. I actually wrote that part by myself, over maybe the course of a month, and I spent a lot of time demoing the riffs in it and some of the main basic core ideas. Then when I brought it to the band that’s when we started adding more of the meter shifts and some of the time things and we made the decision of just keep

it relentless for the entire song and to never really let up. But then the beginning, those first three minutes and that buildup, that was based on another small demo that I had. It was a very small idea but then the band really expanded upon that and everyone brought their own flair to it. We combined the two things in one song and... We second guessed a lot of that stuff.

We almost beat it to the point where there was nothing left and we were going to abandon it all together but then we got to a spot that we were comfortable with and then we just played it over and over again. When there’s that repetition, when you’re playing something for so long, you end up getting comfortable with it and you end up adding things and kind of surprising yourself. That was definitely one of most ambitious, difficult to write, songs that we’ve ever done. It was an uphill battle for a long time and now when we all go back and listen to the record it’s probably collectively one of our favorite songs on the whole thing. It feels like a unified statement for all of us, I guess.

There’s clearly a balance in terms of longer and shorter songs on this new album. Did you approach it in that way, consciously?

Definitely. A song like “Sad Heart of Mine”, we had the melody and the main piano thing there and we decided to not turn it into a nine minutes post-rock song. We wanted to see what it would be like if kept it under four minutes.

Because is that imposing limitation thing that I think... Sometimes is bad, you never want to be dogmatic and just stick to your guns just for the sake of it but just write the best music that you can possibly write, but other times it can be really healthy and it can sort of allow you to think in a different way about a piece of music. So much of this kind of music is really self-indulgent to the point where you can say that anything goes, it’s completely free, and you can just go where the spirit leaves or whatever. And a lot of the times you can get yourself into a corner that you can’t get out of. Some of the transitional pieces are obviously to be transitions and they’re meant to glue the disport parts of the record. The first song is melodically like a truncated

INTERVIEW // CASPIAN

“When we’re writing music we’re certainly not scared to try whatever works and throw something against the wall and see what sticks.” version of the second song, and then the ninth song is the same thing, a melodically teaser/truncated version of the last. I don’t know if people are going to pick up on that but they definitely share the same chord changes and the same melodies. It’s just totally reenvisioned, almost like miniature, ensemble version of the full deal song that follows it. Those were definitely intentional like that.

Run Dry presents Caspian in a completely different set – to be honest it made me think about Mad Season. How was the experience of writing that specific song?

Thanks, that’s awesome! That song it was something that we wanted to do for a really, really long time because it sounds like a lot of the music we listen to and we really enjoy.

Towards the middle of writing the record I said to the guys, “Look, I really want a song on this album that is very different, that has discernable vocals, that’s mellow, and that has something to say.” Calvin [Joss, guitarist and founding member of the band] came in with that, he had some lyrics we all thought it was really beautiful and further more… That was one of those songs that had words and

lyrics that we felt like we couldn’t convey with just our music. We needed those words and lyrics to sort of articulate where we feel we are right now at this stage of our lives and career as a band.

Did it take long to agree on what’s now the final sequence of songs of Dust & Disquiet?

We always know, before we record, the sequence that we want. If we have a song like “Arcs of Command” then we say, “Alright, we have the very heavy, dramatic, and epic song done. We’re not going to another epic, dramatic song like that.” If we have as the final song on the album a big twelve minutes post-rock piece then once we finish that – which oddly enough it only took eight hours to write when “Arcs of Command” took nine months [laughs] – we know that we will not have another one of those. Basically we fill in the pieces over the time and when we enter the studio is just to execute that vision. Not a lot changes from the writing process to the final product. It is all very intentional when it comes to the tracks sequencing and stuff. That’s part of the story that we’re trying to tell, I guess.

and wanting to change what is done? I mean, in term of songs.

Yeah, I think that’s natural. I already listen to songs on the record and I’m like, “Damn, totally should have done that.” And there are small things that anyone... like I said, I think it’s natural for people to listen to their own stuff that way. There has to be a time – and this is sort of a moment of willpower, I guess – where you have to choose that’s “done”. A song is never truly finished, you have to choose when is finished or else it can drive you to madness. When we started doing this ten years ago I think we were under the false premise that you can actually go to a studio and completely accomplish the vision of a song, and I think the longer you do it the more you realize that it’s simply impossible and you have to moderate your expectations. I think now we judge songs by how close they are to the original vision we had and not if they completely fulfill that vision, because it’s not impossible.

Do you find yourself looking back www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

DUST & DISQUIET IS OUT NOW VIA BIG SCARY MONSTERS

33

The San Diego, California-based nu-metal/punk/ rap outfit P.O.D. has been creating music for almost twenty five years now. Known for their positive message, the band has now released their ninth full-length album. It was The Awakening that we talked about with drummer Wuv Bernardo and guitarist Marcos Curiel.

Words by Tiago Moreira

E L E L A T N E M A D N U F E TH

34

music&riots

October

N W O T H T U O S F O S T N EME

musicandriots.com

35

S

this time around? Did you find yourself changing the process?

Marcos: I think Howard understands our band. He understands everybody individually and collectively in the band, and he was a big part on getting this final result.

o, when did you start writing these new songs?

Marcos: We started probably... last year, or even before that. It kind started a while ago and then we started recording the record in February of this year.

Did you know from the get go that it would be a conceptual album?

Marcos: Not at first. We started actually writing tunes first and then we got into a brainstorming to see what producer we would choose and we started talking about the idea of possibly doing a conceptual album with P.O.D. in the near future era. We liked it and we felt the urge of doing it immediately.

So, we decided to give it a go and... I have to confess that it was a lot harder than what we were expecting to be, at first. But it turned out amazing.

What did you find hard doing this conceptual album?

Marcos: You know, a lot of conceptual albums are done by progressive rock bands and they have like fourteen minutes songs. We’re not a progressive rock band and we didn’t want to lose sight writing these tunes.

Being the new album a conceptual piece, did you feel any restraint in having to provide singles to promote it?

Wuv: You know, I don’t think we saw any restrains; it was more like writing the songs... Musically we would have Sonny [vocalist] turning the song into what they were and singles just popped out naturally, you know what I mean? But like Marcos was saying that was more the hard part was lining up the storyline with these songs. We didn’t want purposely go out and try to write a single. So, they kind of popped out on their own, just naturally, and we’re really grateful for that because when trying to go in and write a single... it just doesn’t sound natural.

You’ve recorded the album with Howard Benson, who has been a long-time collaborator. How was it

36

music&riots

October

“This Goes Out To You” was the first song off of the new album to be unveiled. Why did you want to start with this one in particular?

Wuv: That one just kind of came natural. It’s more like an upbeat, uplifting type of track. Ourselves and the label, we thought that it would be cool to come out of the box with a more uplifting and positive type of song, and kind of catchy. The chorus is meaningful for us as far as coming out of the box giving props and thanks to the people that have followed us over all these years, whether it be industry or whether it be fans, loved one... whatever. Just coming out with that positive vibe. We and the label were in the same page so once that’s the case it’s just moving forward and have it a go.

Maria Brink, from In This Moment, and Lou Koller, from Sick Of It All, are guest on this new album.

How did those collaborations fall into place?

Marcos: We try to collaborate with bands that we feel something for, bands that we have a deep relationship with for touring with them.

Maria was a fan of our band and we thought it would be awesome to have her collaborating in one of our records, and we’ve always been fans of hardcore punk rock so to get Lou on a track was definitely a big honor. It doesn’t shy away from doing that. Just few rock bands can get away from doing with it, and we’re one of them. Back in the day we did one with H.R. from the Bad Brains, Page Hamilton of Helmet, Mike Muir of Suicidal Tendencies, and now we have Lou from Sick Of It All. P.O.D. is known for its positive message. Is it hard to provide that positive message nowadays where everything seems to be fucked up or is it even more important and urgent now?

Wuv: I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. It’s more important for us now. We don’t really strive to write positive music. It’s one of those things that comes natural for our band. We have never been a dark band, we have never been...

We touch on world and life topics

but the meter of our band has always been on the positive side. I think Sonny reaches for that in his life and lyrics as much as he can, so for him it just comes out naturally. I think we all agree in the band that we rather be that type of band than not. Like you said, in this world it is fucked up but how much more important is it now to live for positive things?

That way we’re a band that means something rather than just another band that doesn’t mean anything.

Sonny said a few years ago, after coming back from the hiatus, that he was “tired of the industry and how it just kind of becomes business, show after show.” What do you guys, collectively and individually, feel now regarding this issue?

Wuv: To be honest, for us we don’t even see the industry. We’ve been a band going on for 24

INTERVIEW // P.O.D.

“We have never been a dark band, we have never been…

We touch on world and life topics but the meter of our band has always been on the positive side.” years now, we’ve always did our thing, and when the industry or the business people come alongside us to promote the record... Hey, that’s awesome and we let them do it. But we don’t really put our band in the hands of the industry.

The way we see it now is that this is a tough industry, if there’s any industry.People don’t sell records anymore. The way we make our living is going out on the road and hustling. We’ve been doing this since 1992 and nothing has changed for us. We’ve always been the blue collar, hustling, play-in-front-ofyour-face type of band. Nothing has changed for us, is just that the industry around has changed, even though we’ve seen than happening a few times already in our career.

So, we just kind of let it be and we go on with our thing. Thank God we have the opportunity to get in front of the kids faces and play our music for people that appreciate our band, and we will do it as long as

everybody in the band is happy to do it and as long as people want to hear us.

P.O.D. has been active for more than two decades now. How does it feel to be active, well and still relevant after all these years?

Marcos: We’re very privileged in that, and just to be together as a unit for as long as we have... It’s a privilege to be established and not trying to prove who P.O.D. is. People know who P.O.D. is. You either love the band, or you don’t like the band, or you even hate the band, but when you have a P.O.D.show or a P.O.D. record, you know exactly what to expect. It’s a tough road for a band be together, especially for as long as we have been together. We’ve seen bands on the scene that sign to a label, blow up, and the next record they’re already dismembered.

Wuv: Going back to why our band has that positive message… We

need to seek after those things even to stay a band together. Part of being a believer, or looking for positivity, is forgiveness. We’re like family so to forgive your own band members and to be able to put out with your band members whether you’re on the road, or writing an album. You get tired but to dig deep and to have those things that have equipped you, and to push forward and have forgiveness, those are the things we need to have within the band and then also...

Marcos: That’s actually a key element in the story of the new record. Forgiveness! When you hear the entire record, as a whole, it comes out.

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

THE AWAKENING IS OUT NOW VIA UMC

37

THE DEAR HUN

As a band and as a story, first record and conceptual story. That started way back in 2006, with the irth in Reprise a few years later, the band have released Act IV: Reb told us pretty muc h everything about this new act

Words by Andreia Al

Y

ou guys are right now in Italy, which it’s where you’re going to start your European tour. What are you the most excited about it?

I’m actually pretty, incredibly excited about all of it, because we have been trying as a band for almost a decade now to get to Europe and there was always one thing or another that stopped us from doing it. This is the first time that we basically just said “Regardless of how much money it might cost us or what situation we would find ourselves in, no matter what it’s something that we need to make it happen.” Luckily, that also coincided with Manchester

38

music&riots

October

Orchestra offering to have shows with them and having an amazing European label to step in and partnered up on this next album...

So, it was just like everything met up at the right time and for me and I know for the rest of the band - it’s just a dream come true to do it all and to learn more about the world through experiences instead of doing it via Internet.

You guys are going to play with Manchester Orchestra, which it’s really amazing. Have you ever played together?

Well, they’re actually good friends of ours and one of The Dear Hunter releases, The Color Spectrum, one of these backsets was recorded in collaboration with Manchester Orchestra. We’ve always been good friends. We love their music, we love to see them performing, we love spending time with them...

We’ve just added to how perfect this whole scenario is, but really, just being able to spend time with

them and to be in a place we’ve never been and to experience it with familiar faces is the best part of travelling with them.

The new album is simply amazing and it’s very detailed. How are you guys going to convey the studio recordings to the live performances?

Essentially, we kind of have to look into very different things and the record filling process of being a record and the live shows that is kind of us being the four of us of a rock band... So, really, it’s about translating it and re-laying the overall feeling, emotion and the idea of the song and trying to pull off what we did in the studio, which it would be very hard without a full orchestra, a choir and a lot of other things. We’re looking to do our best representation of what the feeling of a specific song would be as opposed to a certain copy of what it was on the recordings.

INTERVIEW // WE CAME AS ROMANS

NTER

always knew how to create great music along with a r North. Now d the first part of the story, Act I: The Lake South, The Rive scenzo e - an epic and intense continuation of the story. Casey Cre and what other plans the future holds for them.

lves

It took more than six years to get the continuation for the conceptual story. What led you to get the right mindset to approach Act IV: Rebirth In Reprise?

Taking a break from the concept records or this specific group of concept records, The Color Spectrum and Migrant, over the last four years or so. I think taking a big break was what was required to get the right mindset to re-approach Act IV and to do it with excitement, you know, genuine excitement about it and not just for the responsibility of doing something, but also it’s just heavily romanticized personal experiences better sort of re-told through the lens of the fictional story. Allowing myself also to grow as adult into learning more about myself and about the world around me for sort of steam my way through all these records, I think it’s just as important, so... Getting the right mindset was just a matter of waiting for the most truly

passionate and organic time in my life to re-approach it.

The title of the album, Act IV: Rebirth in Reprise, suggests that the protagonist as a new chapter and it feels like it is a new chapter for you as well. Do you agree with that?

Yeah, absolutely! I think, cliché aside, it is definitely a rebirth for the band creatively. I think that having taking the break that we did is... the title of the record is very much literal and it can be related to the story, but it can also be very much related to the life’s path of this band and going back to revisit this project from the past that has provided a really strong perspective before and into the future.

Talking now about the story and this new act, it picks up where the story was left off. What can you tell me more about the new part of the story?

The way that the Act III was left off was with this central character having easily gone through a string of very traumatizing events and the way that it had affected him, changed him and manipulated him. Moving forward to Act IV was kind of moving forward a few years and seeing how those manipulations and those moments of your life seemed the long standing affect often and off specific this character returning to a familiar place with a much different mindset and a much more pessimistic mindset. It’s meant to be a downer of an album or a story, but much more defensive, much more on his toes than he was before, but also returning to a place where nobody really took notice of him and he was kind of just able to keep in the shadows but returning now has a much more sort of bombastic presence and a much louder presence. That’s sort of the setting of it, there’s obviously

musicandriotsmagazine.com

39

more to it, but that’s really where the fundamental basis of this specific part of the story lies.

Music wise, you wrote all the music and you had the Awesöme Orchestra playing on the record, which turned out to be something really amazing. How was the whole process?

Thank you for saying that. I really agree that what they brought to the record was immeasurable.

I think that it provided such an amazing talent for addition to the power of sound, but the story behind it is really fun, because they originally contacted me to contribute with music for a symphony that I composed and they wanted to play a movement song as one of their live readings.

We got talking and I knew that I was about to head in to do Act IV and I knew I wanted to include orchestral musicians. In a conversation with them about the symphony, I just talked about the potential collaboration on an album and they were incredibly encouraging and excited about the prospects. We just kept talking and talking about pro bono and book time in a studio back in California. I prepared the sheet music for them and then handed it off to another sort of founding member of Awesöme Orchestra who’s name is Brian McCune and he’s kind of the ranger orchestrator writer of whatever they do on their own. I handed off the sheet music to him and he was able to cleaned it up as knowing what all the musicians and that specific orchestra required. He was able to prepare the parts for them.

In January of this year, I went down to Berkeley, California, and it was just a surreal experience to watch it all come together after kind of put into pieces without really knowing if that was going to work out, but they’re all just virtuous and creative musicians that after four or five days of recording we were able to do more than I would ever hope to do in four or five weeks, just because they were all so talented and faithful. The results some people might say that are overkill, but I think it’s only really overkill if you try to think of something in the sense of just a traditional rock record and that’s never what I viewed of The Dear Hunter’s recordings, so it was so vital that they gave the record that element and that addition to the power. Again, I might be overusing this phrase, but 40

music&riots

October

it was another dream come true to be able to work with them. Having them was so encouraging, for them being so supportive and to not sort of scoff at me for being an outsider... It’s just so encouraging and inspiring working with them, it was just perfect.

This album with the Awesöme Orchestra really feels like a perfect and epic movie soundtrack.

I appreciate that very much. That was something that I really hoped to get the opportunity to do as well - to score a film.

Have you considered doing that after touring this new record?

I would love that! I would genuinely love that... I know I’m overusing this again, but that’s another dream [laughs] because I just have a lot of dreams, but that’s a legitimate one that I would just love to do. It would be so incredibly, creatively rewarding.

That would be awesome to listen to! I know that you are a fan of Terry Gilliam’s work, and it feels like that this whole conceptual story that you’ve created is inspired by Gilliam’s magic yet visionary and genius world. Is he a big influence on your music?

I definitely think that aside from five or six musicians and artists that I listen to constantly, film is my number one influence and he is my favorite filmmaker and he has a huge impact on the things that I do and the choices that I make, even to the point where I animated a few music videos for the band and all were done in sort of somewhat different, but really in the same style as the animations that he used to do for Monty Python. I think the story was one that I didn’t necessarily try to overthink, but absolutely when I sit and imagine in my mind through the sake of sort of reflecting on it and writing the music around it, it has always felt like I am scoring a film that didn’t exist anywhere other than in my head. Undoubtedly, it could be directed by someone like Terry Gilliam, that would definitely be my first choice for any anything that I could have a director. Film is a huge inspiration. Music is something that I surprisingly wherever I go into making an album I stop listening to other music. I know it’s inescapable, but I really don’t ever want to take references of anyone else, I don’t wanna make the

mistake of outleading or just sounding like something else and I wanna try to be as organic and naturally me as possible. It would be foolish of me to say that I don’t want to be reminiscent of other things, but I just try not to help that along. I try to hindering any sort of copy or unplanned reminiscence. For inspiration is more visual medium than sonic medium.

Have you ever thought of turning your story of The Dear Hunter into a film?

Yeah! That has always been a thought and it would be absolutely wonderful, but I barely have enough money to get us to Europe, to tour us around. To do something like that right and to really be worthwhile, it would be so expensive, but if anybody ever came out of the woods and said “I really like your story and I think it could be very unique and interesting in a film setting or a short film”, I would absolutely drop everything and help make that happen. I do believe the music is very visual and I feel like the story isn’t too concluded to translate into something like a film, so that would be just perfect. I would absolutely love that and then get a real kickass score as well.

Have you seen any film recently that you really loved?

I really loved Birdman. I thought that Birdman was a fantastic film. I saw a documentary called Jodorowsky’s Dune. There’s a Terry Gilliam’s movie called Lost In La Mancha, which is his failed attempt to make Don Quixote film, and this movie Jodorowsky’s Dune is about this director who is a very surrealist kind of off the wall director I think from the 60’s or 70’s and he had some success, so a film studio set him to do any film that he wanted to.

He had a friend telling me about this book called Dune and he would really love to do the film Dune, so he went through all of the emotions, all of the costumes, he planned all of the crew, actors and he was ready to shoot the film. I think Salvador Dalí was going to play a role in it and then all of the sudden - days before filming, - he had everything pulled and the movie was handed over to David Lynch. The movie that exists now, Dune, which is sort of wildly understood as one of the less understood of David

INTERVIEW // THE DEAR HUNTER

“I wanna try to be as organic and naturally me as possible. It would be foolish of me to say that I don’t want to be reminiscent of other things, but I just try not to help that along.”

Lynch’s films, but this documentary tells this entire story that does so in such a creative way makes you really good and able to see this film that never existed and that was something recently I watched that I really loved. I’ve been travelling for the last month and a half or so and all I’ve doing is rewatching the TV show Twin Peaks and I can’t wait for the next season of that.

Now going back again to your story, you guys have two more acts planned to be released. Is there anything you wanna share with us about those last two acts?

It’s a tragic story about this character. Act IV is very dark, but Act V starts to get a lot darker and that’s what I’m really excited to eventually make. I never really in my mind committed into a genre, whether was fantasy, sci-fi or drama. And that goes back to someone as Terry Gilliam who his movies can be filled with anachronism, like Time Bandits (1981) or The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988). Films

that are irrelevant whether or not they’re accurate to the story is so grand and that was something that I’ve always wanted to take where it’s not a matter of whether or not everything works out on a logistic platform. It’s more about the story comes first and that served the purpose of itself. Act V and Act VI are a bit darker and a bit more dramatic on the surface, but I don’t know necessarily the story for Act VI could work as a record, it could be a little strange, but I am really excited to do Act V. That’s what I’m excited to do.

In the meantime, you’re going to release a graphic novel of the story as well!

Yes! It’s actually finished and we’re just trying to figure out a way to print it. We have it all finished and it’s ready. It could be printed tomorrow, but we are trying to find a partner, a distributor or a printing company who would back it because the main thing and actually the person who wrote the script

for it is Alex Dandino - he writes comic books - so I didn’t want to restrained to myself, I wanted him to step in and he’s a good friend of mine. The hope is that it can exist as more than just some supplemental material that can speak for who likes graphic novels and comics, whether or not they like the band and vice-versa. If you like our band, you don’t have to like the book... But I think we wanted to make something that could stand on his own, so the graphic novel for Act I is finished and it’s just waiting for printing.

I really hope we can find somebody who believes in it enough to partner up, but if not we’ll just self-release it and print it ourselves.

musicandriots.com

ACT IV: REBIRTH IN REPRISE IS OUT NOW VIA RUDE RECORDS

41

The Beast Has

And they return after what seems to be six long damn years.

Atreyu, the metalcore band from Orange County that was loved and hated throughout the 00s, finally returns with a new album, entitled Long Live. It was about the album, and the coming back part, that we talked about with lead guitarist Dan Jacobs.

Words by Tiago Moreira

42

music&riots

October

I

n January of 2011 you guys announced a break. Now that the new album is completed and ready to be released, can you look at it and say what was the impact of the three-year hiatus?

I feel the record wouldn’t sound as it is and would be as it is if it wasn’t for the experiences that we had. Obviously prior to the hiatus but also because of the hiatus. I think all us as individuals, we’ve toured for so long and grew up

s Risen, Again... straight out of high school into touring never really getting out of Neverland and find out who we were as people outside of the band Atreyu. So, I feel that was affecting how our music was sounding, our performance, everything just started kind of changing... In good ways and also in ways that we weren’t comfortable with it. Eventually it led to a point where we just all became very uncomfortable and it was like, “We really need to take a break.

We need to get excited again and

be passionate about what we’re doing.” When we came back we were all stronger, smarter, and most importantly, excited.

just the darkness as far as like not having the band. The band is our life, is our everything, so not having that is just darkness.

Can you please shed some light on a few lines off of the title track?

“A symbol of promise and of light / When we were wandering lost in the dark / Somehow we’ll make it through the pain.” I’m curious to know what it means “lost in the dark” in this case.

The dark is kind of like not knowing who we were as people or who we were outside of the band. Or even

Was it strange those first moments without the band?

Yeah! It was really strange. We all grew up from being teenagers into our late 20s, even early 30s for some of us, only knowing Atreyu. We were just these guys from Atreyu and never who we were outside of that, so by taking that break... It was weird because you’ve got to figure out a way to

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

43

survive, to pay the bills, and stuff without using the band for it, which none of us ever had to do before.

We all kind of went out and had the chance of find ourselves a little bit more, and find who we were as people. It really made us more confident as individuals, and songwriters, and even as business people.

Talking about impactful moments... I guess the people’s response to “Thank You” (song released last year) was very important for a band that wants to create original stuff and not just go on a nostalgia trip.

Exactly! It was something that we wanted to make very clear when we came and we started to play again. We’re not just trying to do a cash grab / nostalgic tour, or something like that. We did one show, the ten year anniversary of [2004’s album] The Curse, just to celebrate that but other than that we wanted to immediately release new music as well as starting playing shows and show that we still got it... And even better than we were before. We’ve had just much more time to get better at our instruments and perfect our craft.

Did you feel a sense of clarity from the get go writing Long Live?

Absolutely! We’re a kind of band that writes all the music, internally. There’s no co-writing, ghostwriters, or anything of the type. We do it all. So, I think we had a lot of a built up ideas and things like that but we really just wanted to get out. So, the writing process was actually really easy because of that. Sometimes we would write two songs in a day and comeback in the next day to write another song. It came to us really quickly. It was very comforting in how easy it was to put the record together. There was definitely a clarity that we didn’t have before, which I think it’s really bringing it all together nicely.

Why did you decide to put “So Others May Live” as a bonus track? I mean, that song is so fuckin’ good and so fuckin’ massive.

I think partially because we’ve released it so much sooner than the actual album itself that it almost felt like its own thing. I don’t know, part of me wishes it was on the record because, like you said, it’s a great song and has so many 44

music&riots

October

elements of Atreyu and as well new elements of Atreyu... I don’t know, it’s definitely a song that we will be playing live, and we will probably play it live for a long time as well.

The video for “So Others May Live” was shot on Orange County in the day after you playing The Curse from front to back in the same place, and it was your first proper home show after the hiatus. How was it that like?

Actually our first proper show that we did was at a much smaller club, with something like 500 people capacity. It’s a place that we grew up playing, even before we were in Atreyu, when we were in a band called Retribution, back in the 90s.

For us is a very nostalgic place to play in, as well as just the fact that we were coming back is a nostalgic experience in itself. Yeah, it was kind of a way to test the waters playing a really small and intimate place because when you haven’t played in years you don’t really know what the market is like for Atreyu. Just because people are supporting on the internet it doesn’t necessarily mean that people are going to show up for your shows and buy your album. So, we did this show first and it sold out in just 30 seconds. It was the fastest sell out that we ever had as a band. That definitely got us really excited, even more than we already were about coming back.

Can “I Would Kill Lie Die” be interpreted as a declaration of love by the band’s members to the band?

It’s actually... Yeah, it could. The beauty of music in general is, and the way we tell people to try to listen to our music... Yeah,there’s two meanings. One is what we mean as far as the lyrics and story behind it, and there’s the other meaning that’s entirely of the listener. Whatever the song means to you, it’s what it is. Sometimes people find out what the song really means and that makes them feel differently about a song they thought it meant something else.

That song in particularly is about Alex’s [Varkatzas, vocals] son, he just had his first son and he is the first one in our band to be a father.

It was a really amazing experience for him but also a very difficult experience, he had a really hard time with it. There’s a decent amount of lyrics on the album that are actually very influenced by Alex’s experience having a child.

I know that the sequence of the album was created to have the album with two different sides.

So, where does it start the Side B of the album?

Side B starts with the Revival (Interlude). So, when you get to the Revival (Interlude) it’s kind of like, almost an intermission. It’s basically a nice way to call what’s a breath of fresh air in what’s such a heavy record.

How was it like to work with Fred Archambault [Avenged Sevenfold]?

It was awesome. We work with a different producer every record because we’re always hoping to the grass be greener on the other side. Every producer taught us something and we’ve learned so much over the years with all these different experiences with these different producers, in terms of songwriting and producing music.

Fred was very hands off and he did let us do our thing – like I said, we write our own stuff and at this point with don’t need much help with it – and he was there more to capture the moment. For the most part he was there just as an engineer. Of course he would say something if some part of some song was sounding a little bit off or something like that.

Does the five coffins on the cover represent the unwillingness to die and the invigorating pulse within the band?

Exactly! Even the video for Long Live, if you take a look at the artwork and the video... The video was directed by our bass player Porter McKnight, and the artwork was also made by him. We wanted to basically represent our band coming back, and this being the new version of Atreyu (something fresh). Also kind of representing the only people that can make this band and not exist anymore are ourselves. If you see the video there are five characters that try to kill us (members of the band), and the video is us trying to avoid them to succeed, and then we find that those five characters that are trying to kill us are ourselves. So, it’s like we’re not going to give ourselves the glory of ending our own career, and so we kill ourselves. With the artwork, and with the video, we just wanted basically this really beautiful imagery that was really dark at the same time that represented not only us in this album but

INTERVIEW // ATREYU

“We all kind of went out and had the chance of find ourselves a little bit more, and find who we were as people. It really made us more confident as individuals, and songwriters, and even as business people.” also getting to showcase Porter’s work. He’s such an incredible photographer, in particular, and we’ve never used his stuff for anything we’ve done... It makes perfect sense to have him doing. That way anything that you hear and see related to our band – music, artwork, videos, etc – it was created by us. I have my own merch company and I make all of our band’s merchandising. We’re a very self-sufficient band which we weren’t as much before.

There’s definitely a dark aesthetic attached to this album but wouldn’t you say that underneath it there’s a lot of light?

Yeah, absolutely. That’s kind of almost the all vibe of Atreyu in general. We always have this kind of darker vibe to a lot of our stuff but there’s also clarity and a brighter light underneath it.

Sometimes even the way our music is presented, in some parts of some songs there’s a very uplifting feeling... Like a feeling of hope, or something like that.

A very passionate feeling that we put across that I myself consider to be very touching.

As Alex said, you guys have been

friends since junior high school and there’s a lot of history. I guess you had the opportunity of looking back during the three-year hiatus. What do you make of this journey?

It’s crazy. If you even told me that Brandon, Alex, and myself when we were 12 or 13 years old, that this band that we were creating would be going on for the rest of our lives, it would be something that really shake us as people, and changed our lives by giving us opportunities that we would never had otherwise... I wouldn’t believe it. When we were doing The Curse and people were asking where we would be in the next five years, I didn’t have the slightest idea where we would be. I couldn’t even image. Ten years later here I am doing interviews, creating new music, touring the world... I’m from California and I’m right now doing this interview with you and I’m in London. It’s very surreal and I think that with the hiatus we learned how to appreciate it even more. We took it for granted.

I think a lot of bands, especially younger bands, take it for granted and we tend to forget how amazing this is even the tough times. Just travelling the world

with your friends is a blessing.

Will “You Give Love A Bad Name” make its presence in the next tours?

Absolutely! For me that’s a song that needs to be in our set, especially if we are playing a festival, because when we are performing in front of people that potentially have never heard of Atreyu or never had the opportunity of watching us live a song like that, which is very popular because of Bon Jovi, can make the audience connect with us and feel a part of the show.

Plus, it’s such a great song.

Final and obvious question: can we expect a bunch of new Atreyu albums in the future?

Yeah, for sure. This is just the first of many more. We’re very hungry and the response that we’ve got so far for this album has been so good that fuels our fire to just want to keep going.

musicandriots.com

LONG LIVE IS OUT NOW VIA SPINEFARM RECORDS

45

BAND OF BROTHERS

E K D A R T E HAVE YOU M 46

music&riots

October

Vocalist and lead guitarist Dee Radke, bassist and vocalist Isaiah Radke, and drummer Solomon Radke form the power-trio Radkey. The three brothers from Missouri started their career opening for the legendary Fishbone and from that moment on it was all hard work. Last month the fruits of that hard work were display with the release of their debut album, Dark Black Makeup. We spoke out with Isaiah to know a little bit more about the new and exciting rock’n’roll band in town.

Words by Tiago Moreira

E Y? www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

47

H

ow was it growing up in St. Joseph, Missouri? I know that you guys were homeschooled.

It was kind of boring. There was not a whole lot to do. You couldn’t really play venues at a young age so we kind of had to branch out and start playing in Kansas City, Washington, etc. There’s wasn’t nothing really big there so it was nice to get out.

I read that you wanted to be a divorce lawyer when you were a kid. Is that true? Man, that’s an unusual one.

Yeah, it is true. I thought it would be something that I would be really good at, I don’t know. Arguing is kind of a strong suit of mine.

Was it rough to play in a rock band in St. Joseph?

It definitely was just because there’s not a whole lot of support there. Just being a young band trying to get out and play shows, it was possibly the worst possible place to grow up. Branch out to places like Kansas City and Washington was really great otherwise our band would never been able to get legs and live, especially when your hometown is trying to kill you before you can even be born.

Did you guys really played your first show opening for Fishbone?

How old were you guys at that time?

Yeah, we did. A band dropped out of the bill and our dad, who is our manager, just basically submitted us for it and they just put us on the show without asking if we ever played a show before. They just asked if we could play for thirty minutes to which we said “Yes!”... but that wasn’t even true. [laughs] So, we just wrote enough songs to be able to play that show. I think that playing that show really helped keep the moral up for the future. Being able to play such a cool show the first time you play live in front of an audience is luck and something that definitely can motivate you. I have to be honest, it was really scary. It was a lot 48

music&riots

October

“It seems that a lot of young people jus want to hang out and have a good tim and just really worried about how they look, what people think of them, etc...” of pressure to play our first show opening for such a legendary band like Fishbone. Once you’re on stage you don’t really think about it. It was a really cool experience.

A couple of years ago you released a track entitled “N.I.G.G.A. (Not Okay)”. I’m curious to know what made you want to talk about such subject. I mean, we’re living in a society that is using that word on a regular basis.

It’s just one of those things that...

We knew this kid that went to a predominantly white school and we saw, in social media, that he was letting them all call him that.

It was really degrading, sad, and pathetic to look at. So, we had to write a song about it. At least let some people know that there are some people who don’t think is cool and maybe you should watch what you say around some people.

It’s just a fuckin’ horrible word,

you know? There’s no way you can turn it around and make it cool.

This debut album is coming out five years after the band was formed. Was it an intentional move on your part?

Yeah, we felt very strongly about not putting an album before we were actually ready. We wanted the album to be really good. We wanted to resemble everything that we are into, and some of those things we couldn’t really create back in the day. It was all this kind of straight, fast stuff, and now we have the songs to really put out a record. The other songs, they are like EP songs. It’s cool, it’s fast, but we really wanted to make a point with the album and it took a while but I think it was really worth it.

What did you want to convey with the title “Dark Black Makeup”?

INTERVIEW // RADKEY

st me y ” It’s kind of like just about the youth these days. They seem like they just don’t care, like they are just mad at something... I don’t know. It seems that a lot of young people just want to hang out and have a good time and just really worried about how they look,what people think of them, etc. Life is short and you should have a good time while you have the chance.

That song is us trying to tell some people, “Wake the fuck up and turn your life before it’s too late.”

How much time did it take you to write the entire album?

It took a long time. We recorded the album in like two different sessions. We recorded like four songsand a month or something later we went to record the rest. So, it took definitely a long time to write but the recording wasn’t too bad.

I know that the album was

partially recorded in the UK. How was that like, to be far away from home recording your debut album?

It was pretty cool. We recorded at McCall Sound Studios in Sheffield and it was a really amazing experience. We never spent so much time just hanging out and recording. It was really cool, especially being so far away from home because then it seems like you’re in a different world doing it. I think it really helped the sound and you can really hear the Sheffield vibe in there.

What about working with the legendary Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys, The Fall, Jarvis Cocker)?

That was amazing. He’s really, really good at everything. When it comes to tones, the way the song is supposed to sound, etc. He really has a way of like making your

songs sound 100%, the way it is supposed to sound no matter what your band’s sound is. He doesn’t try to put his own signature thing on it and so you always end up sounding like yourself. A really good version of your band.

Your father is also the band’s manager. I’m curious to know what that’s like. It’s not as usual as it used to be.

It is really cool. You don’t have to deal with any strangers, everyone knows each other. It’s all worked out really well. Having our dad as our manager just makes everything much easier.

musicandriots.com

DARK BLACK MAKEUP IS OUT NOW VIA STRANGE LOOP RECORDS

49

hea In a world where people are always craving for the “new shit”, Health’s trajectory as band could be by now just a mere shadow of what it used to be. All that excitement that they managed to create in 2007 with their debut self-titled album didn’t disappear, but we also find now the band in an upward trajectory. It was about their work on Max Payne 3’s soundtrack and their freakin’ amazing new album, Death Magic, that we talked with bassist John Famiglietti.

Words by Tiago Moreira

noise goes po 50

music&riots

October

INTERVIEW // BULLY

alth

op with style www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

51

I

t’s been six years since you’ve released Get Color, but the truth is that you haven’t stopped working during these six years. How was the experience of creating music for Max Payne 3?

It was great. Very rewarding. It was a lot of work, basically almost an entire year, 10 to 11 months, working all the time, and redoing everything, changing things, getting notes, and the game would change... But it was very, very rewarding. I’m really proud of it and it was great to experience the game and how it works. Also, it was great to make interactive music.

Did they invite you to do it?

Yeah, they invited us to do it.

I’m the only guy in the band that plays video games, I really like video games, and I was a big fan of Rockstar video games already.

Especially because they’ve also had always great music in their games.

So, when we heard that Rockstar wanted to work with us I was in my head thinking, “What if they ask us to score a game? No, that never will happen.” But it did happen. [laughs] And you had really big shoes to fill, because Max Payne 1 and Max Payne 2 have great soundtracks.

Yeah, and a like very recognizable theme. There’s a lot of things that we did. We listen to Max Payne 1 and Max Payne 2 soundtracks for preparation for Max Payne 3, and we wanted to use the same key, a lot of... Every level in the game that isn’t a flashback we tried to reference the original Max Payne scores as much as possible in our own style. We cared very much with narrative of the story and how that works and interacts with the game. Stuff that gets you more into the game.

How much of those 67 hours of music have you used in the game?

We only used the best of it. And that figure can be impressive but 52

music&riots

October

that’s because a lot of it we just had to redo it and a big reason is also because all the music that we’ve made was interactive and they can be recombined to make new pieces of music. So, there’s always different ways, we would have to end up get rid of everything or squashing everything. They changed the direction of the game a little bit and so we had to redo like 40% of what we already been doing for five months.

Did you start working on this new album before or after working on the score for Max Payne 3?

Before. We had about a good three or four of the songs on the album written before starting working on the score of Max Payne 3.

One of the biggest achievements with Death Magic is the sound that you’ve managed to get, the production. I’m curious if working for Max Payne 3 helped to achieve that in any way?

Definitely influenced us in certain things. Max Payne 3 was kind of a relief because we were struggling with how to do the album the right way and not getting very far when Max Payne came up, and that was good because we didn’t have the same pressure like how the lyrics sound. We used a lot of the same instruments and stuff. So, I would say that it helped us in terms of us coming out with new sounds and producing music faster, but the actual sound that we were going for is pretty different with the record versus Max Payne 3.

Do you feel that there’s an aesthetic shift with this new album?

I think it’s very much in line with what we were doing. I think if you look in sounds in the line we’ve been doing... The sounds it’s within the realm of Health, for sure. The thing is also the second album, Get Color, was supposed to sound expansive, raw but slick album, and it does not. We actually had a terrible experience and a lot of failures with that album because of the sound. So, that’s the big reason why we realized that this record had to sound very big, very pro.

How hard was to achieve the “clean cutting” sound of Death Magic?

Once we found the right people and got into the groove, and figured out how to do the songs, it was kind of easy, but... [pause] Ok, I would say

it was not easy. It took us an extremely long time to find the way how to make the sound different, to find the people...

We went through a lot of failures.

In 2012 we rented the studio and we had the album, basically had the finished album, not all the same songs, and we threw it away and started again.

Another prominent change is the voice which is clearer than ever, not at all buried in the background. Did you start creating the album with that idea in mind?

Yeah, we knew that we would have to go forward with the vocals, but it had to be in the right way, it had to sound the right way. And that was a thing too, we haven’t worked that much with other people before, hardly, and in other times we had bad experiences so, it was important for us to find somebody that we trusted to handle changes relating the sound.

We were talking about the aesthetic shift. Do you think that it could be just a matter of perspective? The Health that we know but with a cleaner sound and with more prominent vocals?

I think it’s a natural progression.

It’s been going more in that way, because we didn’t change the vocals... The vocals are in the front, and they sound better, but we didn’t change the style. We didn’t like take reverb. Most pop records they don’t have reverb on the vocals. We have to have reverb on the vocals, it is part of our style. So, we kept everything stylistic the same, we just wanted to be much more pro. Also, music has shifted. The times changed and technology is shifting. Nowadays even stuff that isn’t supposed to be powerful manages to be powerful, like girl pop. It should be powerful and we should take advantage of everything we got today.

Would it be fair to assume that modern hip hop was an influence on creating Death Magic?

Yes, definitely! It was an influence just because of the bass and minimalism. What is so cool about modern hip hop is that, in the archives is basically the rock ‘n’ roll, the pop music that is cool but it’s not like cheesy pop. It’s dangerously fun. Is the music better now? Probably

INTERVIEW // HEALTH

“... we kept everything stylistic the same, we just wanted to be much more pro...” not, I don’t think so. But what’s cool about music now is that it can be so minimal and so powerful, and you can have a song with nothing going on. A lot of modern hip hop is insanely minimal and really intense. Of course we can’t go super minimal because there’s a lot of stuff going on with our music, but we’re trying to go more minimal.

Listening to “Life”, it makes sense in the grand scheme of the album, but it can be a total surprise for people that don’t have the full context.

Yes, it would come as a big surprise for people that don’t have access to the entire album, and that’s why we’re not putting that song out before the album comes out. Even though that’s the song that would be a single, we don’t want to release it as a single because you need the context of the album, like you were saying. People would go, “What the fuck?!” [laughs]

The idea of sharing your cellphone number. I’m curious to know how that’s working out for you.

I have people call me all day. When the video came out it was crazy. I had to turn off my phone just to go to sleep, just because I was receiving calls of people from different countries and continents, and obviously the time zones were an issue.

But now it kind of calmed down and so I only get like one or two calls a day. But every day I get text messages, which I prefer. It’s fun.

If you’re fan, you have the number because you saw the video then you can call me or text me, but I prefer the second option.

Are you planning on releasing a third remix album?

Yes, we’re planning on doing it. So far is sounding really poorly. We’re trying to get great remixes, and it has to be that way because of the other two [remix albums, Health// Disco and Health::Disco2]. And

right now the culture for remixes, has to be better than the other two. The culture changed, the blog culture is not the same... You really want a good and solid remix album because we have this weird predicament of having two good remix albums in a row. No one likes remix albums and we happen to have two good ones so this third one needs to be good.

What I would like with this third one is... The record now is much more melodic and accessible.

Back then we were using the remixes to expose our music to other people, having stuff more poppy, and now we can go the other way. We can have much more hardcore, dance core, dark.

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

DEATH MAGIC IS OUT NOW VIA LOMA VISTA

53

Oh, Rose are a band born in the awesome, influential music city of Olympia, and together they make music that gives you the goosebumps. Olivia, Liam and Sarah chatted with us, while Kevin was taking a nap. Between goofing around and sharing their thoughts about their debut album Seven, the band let us know a little bit more about themselves and the essence of their band.

D N A Y V A E H , Y Z

FUZ 54

music&riots

October

dreia Alves

n Words by A

. . .

S U O R U T N E V

D AD

musicandriots.com

55

the road every night, and getting to know each other really well also. It was super organic.

Are you all from Olympia?

Olivia: Sarah and I are both from Nashville, North Carolina.

Liam: And I’m from a small town in Washington called White Salmon.

Kevin is from New York. We all met in Olympia and we all live there now, but we’re all from different places.

Y

ou are currently on your album release summer tour. How is it going?

Liam: Yeah, we are now taking a few days off in San Francisco, in the Bay Area.

Olivia: Yeah, we’re staying in Oakland and San Francisco. We played a show last night in a place called Hemlock Tavern and stayed up until 5 in the morning, so it’s pretty nice not having a show tonight because we’re tired. Our bass player, Kevin, is basically sleeping right now. [laughs] Let’s talk a little bit about you guys. How did you get together?

Olivia: We’ve been friends for the past three years from living in Olympia, but we started playing music together about a year ago.

It started with me and Liam playing and recording the EP and then we planned a two month tour last summer. I got Kevin to come playing bass with us and Sarah started to play synth and jumped on. This is kind of how it evolved.

Liam: It evolved really fast because we started the band and then a few months later we were on a two month tour, so we kind of had to get all of our stuff figured out pretty quick.

Sarah: Kevin, Liam and I had only been in one or two shows by the time we left for the tour, so there was a lot of getting to know each other and getting the feel of what our dynamic was like emotion on

56

music&riots

October

What did lead you guys to go to Olympia in the first place?

Liam: I went to Olympia to go to college at Evergreen.

Sarah: Me too!

Olivia: I wanted to leave North Carolina and I’ve been travelling around the U.S. for a few months.

I visited Olympia before and I was just ready to settle down somewhere and I made some good connections. Sarah had a room opened at her house and so I moved in with her. Just travelling and stuff... And then Kevin also was just travelling like a road trip and ended up in Olympia too, but he’s in school and he’s gonna take some time off.

They both just graduated.

How is it like to live in a city with such an influential music scene like Olympia’s?

Sarah: It’s pretty awesome!

Kevin: It’s really awesome! The music scene in Olympia is really diverse and really thriving kind of in the underground. It’s exciting to be part of a scene that has so many different kinds of bands that are really good and really different from each other, and for the most part super supportive of everyone.

Like everyone is just stoked that so many people are playing music that it doesn’t even matter what kind of music it is. People are just excited to go see the bands and support them.

Olivia: It’s really cool. It’s like a great place to live and that’s a really small, but it’s right between Seattle and Portland. It’s really close to other cities, but it doesn’t feel like a small town and a really tighten community.

Which bands were a major influence in shaping your music?

Liam: We all come from pretty different backgrounds musically, I think. Each of us have probably a pretty huge list of inspirations and music that really moves us. I think we’re all audio heads.

Olivia: But it’s cool because Liam

“... the lyrics are about the idea of being a phoenix in way but being kin of pushed into fire but coming back.” and Kevin, even in our recording process, they listen to music and play music like they know what they’re playing, like the chords or whatever. It’s interesting for practicing because me and Sarah really just go off with a feeling, but we just don’t really know what we’re doing a lot of the time... But it’s an interesting way of communication between the males and females and the band, because we’re like learning from one another. I’m like “I don’t

INTERVIEW // OH, ROSE

e f na nd e ” know, what am I playing? What’s this chord right now?” and they’re like “It’s bla bla bla.” [laughs] Liam: I think we’re all like doing a really good job, although of figuring out how to communicate when we all kind of have different vocabularies when it comes to writing music together. Practice isn’t always easy because of that, but I think we’re really doing a good job communicating and staying calm. We always get to where we wanna be with the music.

Olivia: When I listen to music, I listen for vocals. I listen to anyone who has a voice and makes my hair stand up because that’s probably my biggest influence.

Since you mentioned that, your voice is really unique and strong.

How do you find the perfect melody to fit in your voice for the songs?

Olivia: The perfect melody... I think it just feeling-based, just a mood or something and words kind

of come up... It might be something that someone said to me and create some idea of a mood or maybe an image. For example, right before we left for tour we were playing a song together and we’re gonna work on it when we come back, but the lyrics are about the idea of being a phoenix in a way but being kind of pushed into fire but coming back. I like to write songs about pain, but like resurrection, so it’s like feeling confident and feeling

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

57

intense about a certain feeling or situation or scenario...

Liam: I would say that a lot of your vocal melodies are very emotionally-driven.

Olivia: Yeah, definitely!

Sarah: It’s important to not to take act on it like when you feel like it.

I found Olivia in a bathroom at a bar singing and just recording it.

She was just following that urge when it comes.

Olivia: Anywhere that I can. When I get a little melody in my head, I’m just like “Oh! I need to record this on my phone or something!”

The song “Seven” came about in two different bathrooms: one was in a small apartment in New York City last summer and that’s when I got the lyrics stuck in my head and there’s a recording of me singing on that bathroom; the other recording was six months later of me finding that singing in a bathroom and I kind of got back to it and realizing it.

“Seven” is probably the most intense and heavy song on your debut record. What more can you tell me about that song?

Sarah: That song came up really organically in practice. Sometimes we’re writing a song and have trouble working through it. I remember the first time we played that and all of it just came together super well. We all knew exactly what we were gonna play. There have been a couple of songs like that and yet it all just melt together, like super fluidly.

Olivia: And performing that song is always the most intense song for me to perform, because I just feel like it’s the fullest spectrum of the emotion. All I’m saying in the song is “It’s been a lot of standing up, but I’ve been down before” and I think it’s just in my past and where I’ve come from it becomes like a mantra of overcome struggle and feeling empowered, you know, get back up. That’s pretty much all that is. In order to heal from something, you have to constantly revisit it and that can be really frustrating and I think that’s what the song tries to convey, especially at the end where it’s just like screaming because it’s this sense of release and letting go, but being so angry that it happened all of it...

Being angry because you have to feel it again or feel it for the last time ever. Just feelings. [laughs] Your album is called Seven, it has seven songs and its cover has 58

music&riots

October

seven roses. What’s the meaning behind the number seven?

Sarah: When we talked about what we should call that song [“Seven”] we tossed around a couple of different ideas. It wasn’t originally called “Seven” for a while, usually we called the new song until we thought of a name and then it had a couple of different names, and then Seven came up... Olivia and I were outside talking and she was like “Maybe we should call it ‘Seven’” and we talked about how it would never be the number 7, it will always be written as if seven were a word that could stand alone and in this context removed from a numeric association, like out of the context of numbers... Just seven as a word. If numbers are words, what does this word mean?

Olivia: I think with that song titling that song - it does stand alone, but also I think the whole album in general, and that’s why I knew the album was going to be called Seven. It couldn’t be anything else, and then we had seven songs and those were the songs that we’ve been playing together and learning as a band over the past year. The EP was pretty much “pre-ohrose” and Seven is how we came to know one another as musicians and no more no less.

We didn’t need any more songs, because each one of those songs can stand alone and together they make an awesome album that we’re all really proud of.

Seven was recorded between the winter of 2014 and spring 2015.

How was that process for you guys?

Liam: Kevin has been putting together a studio and this album is the first thing that we recorded there. Basically, we just have a garage and our backyard with a

“We didn’t need any more songs, because each one of those songs can stand alone and together they make an awesome album that we’re all really proud of.”

bunch of sound treatment and we recorded all the instrumentation together in January and February.

Olivia: It’s just like a project and it was fun.

Liam: Kevin and I are getting really excited about putting together the studio, because both he and I are engineers and we record music outside playing music, so we decided we wanted this album to be the first thing we recorded there.

Olivia: It’s like having our hands all over it.

Sarah: We had done some vocals, but then my parents came in to tell that they rented this place.

We were staying in this really old house near downtown and we ended up redoing all the vocals in the staircase of that house.

Liam: It had a beautiful decoration.

Olivia: It was in the middle of the day and we were just having fun.

I was just alone in this staircase and they had run all these cables down to the living room in order to record, so that was really cool.

Oh! The reason we thought that we should record the vocals in the studio was because there was this weird frequency that was like “Kchhhh” on the song “Seven” and we were like “Maybe it’s this room, like the way that you’re singing it doesn’t work.” And then we recorded in the stairwell and it kept happening. We realized that it was this weird sound that I was doing with my mouth...

Liam: Yeah, it was something in her voice that was like vibrating in this way that made that really strange noise. [all laugh] But, with anything, it helped her growl. [laughs] What’s next for Oh, Rose in 2015? Any plans to tour in Europe anytime soon?

Liam: Sure! [laughs] Sarah: I really daydream about going on a European tour. That would be so insane! [laughs] Olivia: That’s other thing, at this point we’ve done everything ourselves. We booked this tour ourselves with help from people, networking and stuff. We’re using our own money until we fund it and get to place to place.

We’re not attached to a label or anything like that and I think for the next year it will still be just constantly playing shows, making more connections and writing new material. I would definitely like in the next year release another

INTERVIEW // OH, ROSE

album. We already have a bunch of songs in the works that I’m so excited to go back home and start working on them, because they’re gonna be great.

What do you guys like to do besides making music?

Sarah: We love karaoke!

Olivia: And bowling!

Sarah: We love swimming and get a sun tan. [all laugh] Liam: We definitely love swimming.

Sarah: We like pizza. [laughs]

Olivia: We just like to have fun and pretty much just be total weirdos with our friends. Just laughing.

Liam: Yeah, I think one of the most important things about this band for me is that before we were a band we were all best friends and I feel really lucky to start a band with my best friends. It feels so good.

Sarah: Before this interview, we were all just laying on the bed like passing our phones around and talking about people we knew from

high school and just goofing off. [laughs] Liam: Right after this interview, we’re going back to do that. [all laugh] Olivia: Yeah, I’m excited to back lay down. [laughs]

musicandriots.com

SEVEN IS OUT NOW (SELF-RELEASED)

59

NORTH

Monumen

60

music&riots

October

HLANE

ntal, Passionate and Exciting...

All Change Is Growth!

Words by Andreia Alves // Pictures by Tobias Sutter

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

61

Nowadays we’re seeing human rights being vanished and our dear planet Earth being slowly shattered by human kind’s cruelty and lack of awareness.

When will come the time for a change?

When will come the time for people to stand up together against all that? Those questions are debated on the new Northlane’s album, Node. With Marcus Bridge as the new vocalist, the band releases the most self-conscious and also the most dynamic record to date, where melody and heaviness meet for a great cause. In a time where the guys are prepared to do their first headline European tour, we chatted with Marcus about his entry on the band, the whole process to fit in and the concept behind Node.

62

music&riots

October

Y

ou were recently hospitalized and you went through surgery. How are you recovering from that?

Not too bad, I just was in the hospital for a couple of days, but got out and I’m now home and resting. [laughs] I’m feeling a lot better now.

You guys announced a web-wide puzzle to reveal the new track “Leech” and it took less than 12 hours for your fans to crack the puzzle. Were you expecting such quick response to that challenge?

Not really, I was expecting to be really quick because even in my short time in the band I’ve seen how quick things fans can do... we were amazed that they could figure out in such a short time. It was pretty surprising. We have pretty dedicated fans that got stuff like that done quickly. [laughs] Now that you released your new album, which it’s your first album with Northlane, how do you feel about that and being part of Northlane?

It’s been pretty exciting since it started with me joining the band to where things are now. All happened really quickly, but it came along the way... It’s so weird to think that... I was just at home kind of doing nothing while I was in the studio recording an album and all that was pretty surreal. [laughs] It’s been really fun. I mean, Josh writes a lot of the vocals and things like that... Josh wrote all the lyrics and we kind of got together and it felt so good working on the melodies and how the vocals would stood out in the songs... It was a really cool way of working together and Josh just kind of put all of his focus to the lyrics where I could be able to talk about focusing

melodies and stuff and make better songs.

After Adrian Fitipaldes left Northlane, the band went through an audition process to find a new vocalist. How did you get in the picture?

There was the whole process of people sending their auditions and when they heard mine, they sent me a couple of emails during the whole process... I tried out with a few friends of mine that helped me play, and so gave that a go and I got in touch with the band for a little while and after that they wanted to meet up again. We did that and this is it. It’s been like the perfect match, instantly really quickly and really crazy, so it’s been really positive and when you get along with someone that you meet like that and all that happens really quickly with new people is really crazy. [laughs] It’s been fun and awesome.

The song “Rot” was the first song you wrote together and then it was released right after that. How was that for you?

Yeah, that was pretty insane.

Even throughout the whole process of recording, the song wasn’t completely finished, but we were kind of still changing things at the very last minute.

With the rest of the vocals, originally it would have been three drops and go, really how many times we changed the song... There’s a longer and different version of how this turned out to be. Yeah, we worked quite a lot to make it perfect with the first song, which is pretty intimidating at first and probably doing a lot more like heavy vocals stuff, I suppose. That was a brand new sound... It was scary because it was the first thing that people would think about us, but people turned out to love the song and it was received really well. [laughs] Just before you guys went to record the new album, you went on a tour with the band. Was it scary for you?

Yeah. I think that you kind of learn a lot on the road, can’t really learn on home or just in the studio or whatever... I think all around my vocals got a lot stronger.

INTERVIEW // NORTHLANE

“We’re influenced by a lot of stuff from the 90’s like Linkin Park or Limp Bizkit and stuff like that... It’s all over the place, I suppose, but it’s a cool mix of stuff that we like.”

musicandriots.com

63

“Everything is taken granted nowadays and kind of end up living thi life behind the scree Since I’ve started I’ve been training a lot and it was pretty surprising for me at least to see how far has come since then. It was pretty crazy how far we have come in such a short time.

The new record is sort of a new page for the band and it feels like a turning point record. It has more depth, dynamics, ambience and even more clean vocals. As a whole, it’s definitely a step forward in Northlane’s discography.

What was the mindset going into writing Node?

All of their albums already have been quite different from each other, and I think this is quite of a big leap. But I think going into it just kind of writing what would suit my voice and I just decided to try to write what we heard. For us to write and going with what was best of what we can do. I think that Jon as well has been writing a lot simpler but is also what’s been written is very complex, like this sounds super professional sound, but is also very influenced by a lot of other stuff and it’s not necessarily heavy music, I suppose.

We’re influenced by a lot of stuff

64

music&riots

October

INTERVIEW // NORTHLANE

for people is fake en.”

from the 90’s like Linkin Park or Limp Bizkit and stuff like that...

It’s all over the place, I suppose, but it’s a cool mix of stuff that we like. [laughs] On this record you approach themes about how you guys see the world and how much love you have for it, but things aren’t always so great within society and you express that as well. Can you enlighten us about the lyrical content?

Josh wrote all the lyrics which is a cool way of doing everything. A few songs can be taken into everyone’s lives very personally, really personally I suppose, like stuff around us. “Impulse” is a song that focus on how to be part of a lot of technology and how that isn’t necessarily a good thing.

Everything is taken for granted

nowadays and people kind of end up living this fake life behind the screen. It’s kind of the craziest thing, you can see a baby holding iPads and it’s becoming a normal thing to have that in our lives since a very young age. It’s really crazy how it depends on who we are, you know what I mean? Like how helpless some people can be without it now just because they’re never really interacted properly. Overall, there’s a lot of other things that you can apply in life, a lot of the things... I think the other things are just kind stuck in my head. [laughs] It’s an overall theme...

There’s a lot of messed up stuff in the world and we can’t really do a whole lot about it, showing that a lot can be done if you put the

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

65

effort in it and if you feel like doing it.

You sing in the title-track, “You can be the change,” and the motto “be the change in the world that you want to see” sure applies on this song and in the whole record. What was the inspiration behind this song?

Node itself means a point where multiple parts meet or intersect and it’s a just a cool energy of being connected and also I suppose for us, at least for me, is like a representation of me coming to join the band and set my own new path after coming together and through that process we are unite and then make a difference.

Node is a particularly meaningful name, which is about the power of human connection. Tell me more about the idea behind this name.

As one person, I suppose people can feel pretty small and I actually think that people can do something or make a change in our world.

Even today, I suppose, it’s a pretty amazing thing to see how in the US that has now legalized the gay marriage and stuff like that is something that has taken years and years for people to come together and support and encourage that change. The government now changed the rules and it’s pretty insane. Stuff like that show that when you come together you can make a difference when you thought you couldn’t and that is happening. It’s really moving forward by coming together and trying to make a difference.

“Obelisk” is the lead single of the new album and you released it with a video shot in Western Australia earlier this year. I read that the video examines the concepts of time and space. What can you tell me more about that?

I suppose this song kind of represents how we’re able to live in a world that is we’re gonna really live in forever. Once you die, you’re going to take with you the impact you had in the world, the memories that you’ve made. When you die you’re not going to be able to take your money or your house or whatever... It’s just best to not spend your life worrying about a lot of stuff and you should focus 66

music&riots

October

on really doing what you love. It’s pulling your heart really, because it’s pretty hard to live doing what you don’t love.

Off this record, is there a song that stands out the most for you?

For me, there are two. I really like “Nameless” which is a crazy track for Northlane to be doing. [laughs] I also like “Animate”. That song have been stuck in my head for the whole process of recording. For me that’s the one that sets the album as a whole, I suppose. It’s spacey and weird. [laughs] I really like that one just because is quite different. I’m interested to see what everyone else is gonna think of it.

You released a limited edition boxset that features eleven 7” vinyl records and each one has a different cover artwork. What can you tell me about this special edition?

I was shocked with that because I’ve never seen anything like it. [laughs] The thing with the symbols for each song ... we just started thinking that would be cool to link the songs with the symbols... It’s just a cool way of representing us as in the first video. [laughs] The boxset is so cool, I just think it is the coolest thing. [laughs] It’s insane.

This was the third time that the guys worked with producer Will Putney and it was your first time. How was the recording process with Putney?

It was pretty good! Working with Will was really good and laid back, having the guys work with him before, it was just a bit easy for us, like everybody going into the studio and it only takes a little while to fill out to produce us and to see how he is and how to approach it from there. But because they have the experience, it was kind of like the right thing to do. He has a really cool way of working, like how he did the vocals was really cool because we did like pretty much one song a day like the final recordings. Recording the main vocals to one song, the backing vocals for another song, and then that the next day as well. It was good to kind of taking it easy and what not. Yeah, he had some really cool ideas. It was really great to work with him.

You guys will play your first ever European headline tour in October.

What are you the most excited about it?

It’s all very exciting, the whole tour is going to be pretty mental!

It’s such a good line-up. It’s weird to play side by side with those guys. Playing a headline tour and planning long sets of new music as well, which is really exciting. I know that the Europeans are excited to hear us play a little more than a half hour. [laughs] We’re really excited to get everywhere and do a lot more than that.

Which songs off the new record do you guys like to play the most live?

We haven’t had much chance of playing many of them live, but probably “Obelisk” and “Ra”, I think they’re really fun to play live. It was weird when we were trying to rehearsal all, I was thinking about “Ra” is a lot easier than “Obelisk” [laughs] but I’m really excited to start playing “Leech”. It’s exciting to play all these new songs live. [laughs] What do you guys usually listen to while on tour?

We all listen to a lot of different and funny stuff, like I listen to other stuff like Bruno Mars, Michael Jackson... There’s a lot of random stuff. There’s heavy stuff here and there, but it’s kind of cool to have a bit of diversity in it and mix it up. It kind of makes the cool ideas when you’re writing.

You kind of have these different influences.

And what records have you been into lately?

I’ve been listening to the new Twenty One Pilots’ album Blurryface, I’ve been listening to that non-stop in the last couple of weeks. It’s really awesome. [laughs] Now there are a lot of other people picking up on the fact that they’re really pretty good. That’s good to see. [laughs]

NODE IS OUT NOW VIA UNFD

INTERVIEW // NORTHLANE

“... when you come together you can make a difference when you thought you couldn’t and that is happening.” musicandriots.com

67

NEW OLD

Now we can say that Coliseum don’t 68

music&riots

October

It's sometimes difficult for some bands rooted in the punk genre to be able to fully transform and transcend themselves into other realms while retaining their core identity. Coliseum are one of those bands to which there are no rules or barriers, insisting even that their rootedness in punk rock was precisely what gave them the freedom to crossover to the post-punk and post-hardcore realms, all through the course of their five studio records. Here to talk about Anxiety's Kiss, their fifth and darkest album yet is singer/guitarist and main songwriter Ryan Patterson who gave us some interesting insights into the band's inner dynamic, songwriting process and other of his side activities, among other subjects.

D SOUND

t fit in any kind of specific scene ...

Words by LuĂ­s Alves // Pictures by Nick Thieneman

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

69

Y

our influences, they have been well documented over the years. There are countless bands, artists, and sounds that are important to us and their seeds helped us grow.

our new record Anxiety’s Kiss maintains some of Sister Faith musical traits, but it’s thoroughly noticeable that Coliseum’s sound is now stepping onto another level through the incorporation of some industrial and post-rock sounding patterns.

Do you feel this new record is opening up the gates to a new creative era for the band?

The outsider’s perspective seems to be that Anxiety’s Kiss is a huge leap forward for us, so who are we to argue? The perspective and inner workings within the band are sometimes irrelevant when it comes to how the music is perceived by fans and critics, I suppose. Luckily, in this case, Anxiety’s Kiss seems to have been very warmly and positively received. For us, this “modern era” of Coliseum began with House With A Curse and this current creative path began with Sister Faith. With Anxiety’s Kiss we did what we always do; challenge ourselves creatively to attempt new things, work hard to be better songwriters and performers, always look forward and never repeat ourselves.

You’re starting to go beyond your core punk sound. The early spirit and straightforwardness is still there, but most songs feel somewhat slower in tempo with an atmospheric vibe. What recent musical influences do you feel have set Coliseum upon this path?

We’ve never felt restrained by genres or expectations. I think that this is very clear from our discography. When I felt that we’d done what we wanted to do with certain sounds or ideas, we tried new things. Ultimately, I’ve always wanted to have memorable, interesting, and moving songs.

Personally, I don’t think that punk is an idea that is constraining in any way, that’s the beauty of it.

Punk for me is about thinking and living outside of the lines, looking at everything askew in order to find the beauty or ugliness in it all. That spirit is certainly there because it’s part of our DNA and it’s in our hearts, but we’ve always pushed ourselves to look to the future with our music. We’re far away from where we started, but that is still entirely us at the same time. As for 70

music&riots

October

Anxiety’s Kiss has been Coliseum’s second effort with the same line-up, something that has never happened previously. How was the songwriting process this time around with Kayhan and Carter, and how do you feel about the band’s inner chemistry at this point?

The band’s chemistry is the most powerful it has ever been and at this point I can’t really imagine Coliseum without Carter and Kayhan. Carter is the band’s longest running drummer and has been absolutely essential in us becoming what we’ve become. Both Carter and Kayhan have contributed more to songwriting each time and Anxiety’s Kiss was a very full-band effort. The music to a few songs were written mostly or entirely by one person; “Drums & Amplifiers” was written entirely by Carter, “We Are The Water” and “Wrong/Goodbye” were written mostly by me if I recall correctly, “Course Correction” and “Sunlight In A Snowstorm” were built on bass parts that Kayhan had written. Then most of the other songs were written together or from sections each of us brought to the table.

You’ve jumped right into the writing and recording of “Anxiety” shortly after “Sister” had been released. What impact do you think that sudden change back into writing mode again had in the final record?

I felt that we’d connected so well on Sister Faith and touched on something special with that record, so I didn’t want to let that energy we’d picked up dissipate by taking a break for many months or a year before starting to work on another record. I also didn’t want to take six months and sit on my own alone writing most of the record by myself. I knew it would be better with all of us collaborating from the onset. So we jumped right into the process of writing a new record less than a year after Sister Faith was released. It was an exciting and productive time. We wrote Anxiety’s Kiss in a relatively quick time and the songs came fairly easily. I think jumping into it quickly made a huge impact on the album and was crucial in keeping us along that same

creative path.

What themes have you approached for inspiration to your lyrics in Anxiety’s Kiss?

Sister Faith had been a much darker and more personal record, dealing with loss and mortality.

The title Anxiety’s Kiss relates to the fallout from that time period.

The song “Escape Yr Skull” directly relates to the album title but with the exception of “Sunlight In A Snowstorm,” most of Anxiety’s Kiss is a little less personal, but not intentionally so, it’s just how the songs ended up. Obviously inspiration comes from any number of places and the vibe of the music often somehow fuels the content of the lyrics. The first few songs on Anxiety’s Kiss are socio-political, addressing human empathy, capitalist class structure, and victims of police shootings, then “Drums & Amplifiers” touches on my feelings about punk and hardcore devolving into the same trappings as baby boomer culture. From there the lyrical content goes into realms that are a bit darker and more abstract, themes of lust, obsession, dominance, escape.

Songs like “We Are the Water”, “Course Correction”, “Dark Light of Seduction” and “Driver at Dusk” all bear some distinctive traits such as the use of synthesizers, varied echoey guitar sounds and a darker musical tone. When have you started to feel the need to experiment more with other types of sounds and to write some of these songs with a darker atmosphere?

We’ve been exploring darker elements of our sound for quite a number of years, starting with House With A Curse. That album goes to some dark and dense places, in many ways it’s our Southern Gothic record. It was also where we started to explore the use of synthesizers, although in a very subtle form, and also feature strings, accordion, and other instrumentation beyond the standard guitar/bass/drums. On Sister Faith, we chose to make the record a bit less dense. We kept dark post-punk songs, added more melody and continued using subtle synth textures and effected guitars.

With Anxiety’s Kiss, I suppose we wanted all of these elements to be less subtle. If there was synth in the song, we wanted it to be clear in the mix and have its place in

INTERVIEW // COLISEUM

“Punk for me is about thinking and living outside of the lines, looking at everything askew in order to find the beauty or ugliness in it all.” the song. We continued to give the guitar more room to be expressive with single notes, texture and melody, while always building the foundation of the song on the bass guitar and drums.

Other than these numbers, what do you feel are the album’s best moments?

Currently, my favorite song on Anxiety’s Kiss is “Dark Light Of Seduction,” but I love them all of course.

Now going back a bit, the band started in Louisville, Kentucky.

When have you first started to discover punk music and how do you view the band’s trajectory from that point up until now?

I got into punk, hardcore and alternative music when I was an early teenager, at age 13, via skateboarding and MTV’s 120 Minutes show. I started Coliseum when I was 26. When Coliseum formed, I’d done a lot of bands up to that point that had been short-lived and broken up or fell apart relatively quickly. I wanted to do a band that lasted for a long time and could carve out some kind of legacy. We’ve done that and we’ve done far more than I expected or imagined.

Given all the sound changes throughout your career, have you felt that your fans always accompanied your evolution since the start? What are the first hardcore fans’ opinions about all of the band’s various stylistic changes over the years?

That’s a question for the fans, former or current, not for me. We make music that is sincere and moving and exciting for us and hope that it connects with people.

It has always come from the same heart and with the same motives.

Do you have any kind of musical side projects besides Coliseum or any other endeavors outside of the music world?

I’ve spent my entire adult life working toward being involved with music and art every day, so I don’t have any endeavors that don’t involve music and art. I own the company/website ShirtKiller.com, which handles the online stores for hundreds of bands. I do graphic design, creating shirt designs and album layouts for bands, along with most of Coliseum’s art and some of my own art projects. I also play in bands at home when Coliseum is not touring, I’m in the bands Six Bells, Black God, and Whips/ Chains. Kayhan is in the band

Yautja and Carter is in the band Null. We all stay busy between Coliseum activity.

You guys have been on the road with Old Man Gloom recently.

How was that tour, the audience’s reactions to the new material and where are you going to tour next?

Our tour with Old Man Gloom was in early 2015 on the West Coast of the States and it was great. It was just a week of shows but they were all wonderful. We’ve been on tour across all of the States all summer headlining and playing a lot of the songs from Anxiety’s Kiss.

People seem to really dig the new songs, it’s the best reaction to a new record/songs that we’ve ever received.

After Anxiety’s Kiss, what can we expect from Coliseum in the future?

The album is very new and fresh so we’re still in the throes of it and aren’t looking to the next step at all yet.

musicandriots.com

ANXIETY’S KISS IS OUT NOW VIA DEATHWISH INC.

71

MAKING WAVES AND G N I K A E R B SOME S E I R A D N U BO Words by Tiago Moreira // Pictures by Monica Lozano

72

music&riots

October

It’s always intense and interesting a conversation with Teresa Suárez, the leader of the Mexican punk rock band

LE BUTCHERETTES

and also known for her artistic name Teri Gender Bender (you got to love that name). With the recently release of Le Butcherettes’ third album, A Raw Youth, we spoken with Teri not only about the album but also about the surroundings of it: feminism, social injustices, revolutions, cultural differences, and much more.

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

73

W

hat did you want to convey with the title A Raw Youth?

Out of every catastrophe that occurs in the world – political, social, or even an emotional relationship – I think that in order to survive and work through it you need to have some type of a very strong spirit, a very resilient spirit. And I consider that to be a raw youth, because that comes from somewhere within, and that’s ageless. For example, when people are discontent with their government and they take it to the streets, like what happened in Turkey, but those are rebels. Out of discontent rebellion comes out, and out of that you have art that starts forming. Basically it’s the will of not necessarily wanting to win but to prevail. The will of not wanting to be squashed down. The will to survive.

It would be good to point out that surviving and living are two different things, and surviving is just the first step. African Americans for many years were just surviving but they were trying to truly live, to have freedom to what they wanted with their lives.

Exactly! They are not indeed the same thing. Because there are many people how are satisfied just “living” and “being”, no questions asked, do what you’re told without questioning. People that are like, “Ok, I’m going to the convenience store and get my Doritos, eat, consume, and process.” I guess this [the album] is basically an answer to people who question what’s outside this golden cage. “What can I do in order to find myself?”

Finding individuality and being able to keep my individuality without losing my integrity in this kind of society. Nowadays everything is too politically correct and you have to kind of be careful with what you’re saying. In Mexico you can talk about anything, I feel, while in the US it’s like, “Ohh, you can say this because you’re offending this or that community.” What the hell? Is this just living? Are we, or are not, fight for something that’s almost palpable? I think it’s about free speech that we’re losing slowly

74

music&riots

October

because everyone is scared to being trolled, or attacked, or bullied.

The sharks are just looking for any type of blood nowadays. Especially with the internet where you can by anonymous and so there are a lot of cowards that are kicking that in the easiest of ways. Like the so called protesters who say that want to fight for the LGBT rights and then what they do is just change their photo to the LGBT flag. That’s nothing, it’s ridiculous.

I feel that they’re kind of “liberal” with stupid shit like this thing with the women’s asses but when it comes to the really important stuff – racial, social, economical, financial problems – they are kind of uptight in a way.

There seems to be a lack of focus.

You’re definitely right. It’s exactly how it feels. It’s infuriating.

They’re “liberal” in the sense of wanting to legalize marijuana, legalize gay marriage, and other stuff like that but only because they’re not stupid and they see a way to make even more money with it.

What are the differences between being a woman in Mexico and being a woman in the US? There are definitely small things that I’ve noticed. It’s definitely harder to start something, like a business, in Mexico, because it’s engrained in our culture. Octavio Paz in his book, The Labyrinth of Solitude, analyses this term that we use here in Mexico, which is “la chingada”. He dissects the Mexican culture in “chingada”, which comes from the expression “rapes woman”. Things like that are engrained in our culture and it has a really heavy emotional significance, very heavy baggage. It’s still very poorly seen if you are an outspoken woman, especially if you are a little older. If you are outspoken the older woman will talk horribly about you and they will cast you off as a black sheep. There’s still a lot of prejudice in Mexico whereas in the US I think it’s just colder. No one really cares about you. They’re just in their own world doing their own thing. There’s the hypocritical guideline of it, “Yeah, you’re a woman. We support you but we’re just going to fuck you up like the rest of the lower class people.” In Mexico is more like, “Ok, you’re a woman so we will fuck you up a little more.” [laughs] It sucks! How is it in Portugal?

It’s kind of like in Mexico. I was

talking about feminism with Shawna from War on Women, and I was explaining to her that here in Portugal many women don’t even realize they’re being treated unfairly, especially in the small villages.

In Mexico is the same thing. I went to this private school where they made the women to use a dress, meaning show your legs, while the men had the comfortable pants.

So, I made a protest and a petition.

I wanted to gather all the female students’ signatures to see if we would have the option of wearing pants. And believe it or not some women didn’t want to do it. They were like, “No! Why? I like showing my legs.” I tried to explain that there was nothing wrong with that but we should have the option of wearing pants and not show our legs. Of course they didn’t give

INTERVIEW // LE BUTCHERETTES

“... for me this one is just about you getting sick of being too confused and you just want to find an answer just to have more stability in your life.

That’s basically what it is, finding your own kind of people, your own tribe.” a shit because they liked to show their legs and for them not having the option was not really a problem.

So, growing up in a society that has all these things so engrained and that doesn’t celebrates / accepts people who challenge and questions all these things, did you feel isolated when you started to learn about feminism and you started to question everything around you?

Definitely. Ironically enough because my parents had a job in Denver, US, and I also grew up there and I started noticing it there because my mom and my dad would work a lot. My mom would come back home and sometime she would be really, really frustrated.

I would ask her what was going on but she would never want to tell

me because she was trying to protect me, I guess. But I could hear my parents arguing and I heard her once tell my dad about the driving test she took in order to have the driving license and to have a higher job as a post mail employee, “I tell you, I did a great job at the driving test. I didn’t hit one cone whatsoever and the guy still failed me. What is this?” And it turns out that this guy was later in the new news because he had sexually molested some of women that worked in this... basically this whole Bill Cosby style but a post mail gossip. I remember her saying that some of the people that worked with her were saying that she was crazy. “If you failed the driving test is because you did something wrong.” So, that’s when I started noticing... I was probably five years old and I remember

thinking, “That’s weird. Why is my mom battling so much for this?”

But also my father, he would come from work and feel frustrated because his boss was an older black man and he hated Latinos and so no matter how hard my dad would work, he would get any raises. So yeah, race and sex issues... When my father passed away there was no more masculine protection. We went to Mexico and that’s when I started to feel intensely because my mom was a widow and so there was a lot of questioning about where was the husband. My mom even had to lie sometimes, “My husband is away at work,” because we were not living in a closed community, it was exposed, so she had to lie just out of fear because people wouldtry to take advantage if they knew that there was not a man there, protecting the house.

musicandriots.com

75

That’s when I started to turn my anxieties into music.

The last album deals a lot with guilt and kind of confusion of being a women. Would it be fair to say that A Raw Youth is the next step, in the sense that swallows that guilt and confusion and transforms them into anger, a fighting spirit, and an overall stronger mindset?

That’s a good question. This is what I love about interviews. Those questions that someone asks you but you’ve never really thought about it until the moment you’ve being asked. But yeah, for me this one is just about you getting sick of being too confused and you just want to find an answer just to have more stability in your life.

That’s basically what it is, finding your own kind of people, your own tribe. For example, the cover I’m kind of dressed up as... My mom thought I was dressed as a Muslim woman with the red veil, and I guess she’s right because... I love Middle Eastern culture. Most stories that strike me the hardest are from Middle East. The circumcisions, the kidnappings, some of them selling their daughters away for very little money, etc. For example, Malala Yousafzai (Pakistani activist for female education) and the school shootings. When she survived the gunshot to her head... It’s amazing what she decided to do. To speak against this people instead of living in fear. And that’s to me the real...

She’s more punk rock than any of these fuckers. That’s “A Raw Youth” right there. Inspirational, motivational, and it gives you faith that humanity isn’t completely bleak. There’s still hope. If only more people would awaken... Sadly sometimes something horrible has to happen in order for us to awake up. When I lost my father... BOOM, I had to wake up and get out of my bubble. Or like my grandfather, when he was eight years old in Spain his father stepped on a mine and was killed instantly. He had to go with his mother and his seven brothers to Mexico and help them.

All those things that make you go, “Why is my generation so self-entitled? Why do we think we deserve it all when our parents had to fight and work hard to get where they’re at?” That makes me angry, the “give me, give, give” and “me, me, me” generation”.

Regarding the cover, it is also based on this book of short stories based on real life experiences in the 76

music&riots

October

Middle East, which unfortunately I can’t remember the name, and one of them tells the story of this woman that lives in a village and for some weird reason they single her out as a black sheep. So, one man of that village corners her and starts raping her, and then he calls his friends to rape her as well and before you know it the entire village rapes her. So, what does she do? She lays low for a while, like Batman in the cave reenergize himself, and when she recovers she starts training herself, teaching herself how to shoot guns and before you know it she goes to the village and kills everyone. And then she – I guess the story exaggerates a little bit – gets on her horse and rides into the open desert. So that’s who I had in mind. In my head I was her, the woman that took revenge upon the whole village that raped her.

You recorded Cry Is For The Flies in just ten days and you confessed that “your mind was in the middle of so many clouds.” How was it this time around?

This one was actually pretty fun to record. I mean, it’s always fun to record because they’re always playing around with different sounds and stuff like that, but this time was really smooth. We recorded the drums... Chris Common recorded the drums, he in this phenomenal band drummer and he was in this band called These Arms Are Snakes, but he’s also an incredible engineer... Plus we all lived together at the studio, at the house, so we just locked ourselves in the studio and Chris recorded the drums in two days and then the rest I started to listen to the drums we had recorded. It was very easy because I guess we were at home, in El Paso, Texas. If it would get really hot, because of the heat here, we would take a break and go to the movies and stuff like that, to then come back and keep working on it. So, it was a very smooth process. The writing process, that was... You know, we’re on the road a lot so sometimes you get bored and so you’re always recording stuff on the computer. I guess once we got a break from one of the tours we did for Cry Is For The Flies I sat down with our producer Omar [Rodríguez-López of bands like At the Drive-In and Mars Volta] and we picked out the, I guess, thirteen stronger songs of all my demos and those thirteen songs all had

something to do with being pissed off. One of them, “They Fuck You Over”, was a song I had in the closet for a long time. I wrote that when I was sixteen and that’s when I was in Guadalajara and I was just really frustrated... When I tell people, “This is my band” some of them were like, “Yeah, ok. Whatever.” At the time I didn’t see it as I see it now, but in that moment I was just pissed because I wasn’t being taken serious, because of my gender, and because it was a little different in Guadalajara. So, people that wanted to “help us out” were ripping us off, taking off some money that we would make at shows, or stealing our guitars...

Basically all those songs have that in common. A certain type of rage that’s born out of injustice.

Talking about Chris Common…

Here you are with another drummer. Are you getting used with the fact of changing drummer constantly?

I’ll tell you something interesting, and may have anything to with this. I just recently found out that my father was a drummer. The whole time he was alive he never really talked much about... well, anything. He was really quiet, very reserved... very loving but very quiet. So, when I was on tour my mom send me a picture of my father in the 60s playing drums. I had no idea, when I saw the picture I cried and I thought to myself, “Oh my god, this makes sense.” No I understand why so many drummers are going through my life. I guess that unconsciously I’m looking for my father to drum for me. I know this might sound kind of weird and maybe even a little creepy but I see my father in Chris. [laughs] But on a more serious note, the cool thing about being in a band is the fact that you can work with all these different people. It’s a blessing even if sometimes it is a little bit confusing and nerve racking. Sometimes there’s a lot of understanding and you feel that you and this other person are on the same page and then with time you see people changing, wanting different things... Well, people acting like people. Recently I saw a friend that I didn’t have seen for 13 years, and now we are reconnecting and hopefully it will stay that way and we will not grow apart again. So, of course you will be scared of recommitting or opening yourself up but you can’t blame that new person for

INTERVIEW // LE BUTCHERETTES

“Basically all those songs have that in common.

A certain type of rage that’s born out of injustice.” other person’s acts. And I guess that with time you start to know yourself a little bit more and better. At least now I know my boundaries, I know that I have to be clearer, and I know that I have to be rougher... because that’s been my problem in the past. I’ve been always way too nice. One of the first drummers in my band, five or six drummers ago, she was one of my best friends but I didn’t set out a boundary. I didn’t tell her that those were my songs, I was writing them, and that she wouldn’t get writing credits. She didn’t understand that.

How did the collaboration with Iggy Pop on the song “La Uva” came to be?

It started in Los Angeles. We got asked to open for Iggy and the Stooges because of Mike Watt from the Minutemen. We played a couple of shows together and he was so nice to open up for us when we were presenting our first album [Sin Sin Sin, released in 2011]. So, Mike was really into it and he told Iggy, “Hey, you should have Le Butcherettes open” and Iggy said yes because he really like our band.

We played three or four shows in California and he was very into the idea of doing something in the

future, and... We only speak Spanish when we see each other.

He’s really fluent in Spanish and he is kind of like us, he sees the all the bullshit in the American culture so he was in Mexico for a long time. I think there was a genuine connection and so a year or two passed and then we played at the same festival, with my other band Bosnian Rainbows, and we had the chance of reconnect there and I told Iggy, “Hey, remember that time that you said you should do something?” He remembered and he was still into that idea so with the help of his awesome manager – a guy called Henry that’s nothing like the other “big time” managers that you see, the guy genuinely loves Iggy and wants the best for him – we were able to work out the logistic of it. I sent the Iggy the song and he really like the song to the point of saying that he already had thought about four different characters/voices to use in the song. So, when we met up in Miami to record it he was so embarrassed, “Oh it sucks that you are here in South Beach Miami. After the recording I want to show you the real Miami.” He took something like five takes.

Me and Omar, we told him that he

was free to do what he wanted, to explore as much as he wanted, and... Man, he was so into it. The lyrics were all in his head and it was very professional. No rock star pose or anything like it.

He confessed that he wanted to bring a bunch of grapes [uvas in Spanish] and wear a robe but he was afraid of scaring us. [laughs] After the recording we hang out.

He showed us the real Miami. He took us to the Cuban barrio and driving us around... It was so sweet. He took around there and the Haitian barrio as well.

He was concerned that we would have a bad experience in Miami.

“No, South Beach no. Let’s take you somewhere.” I found it so endearing. When the song was mixed and mastered we sent it to him and really liked... I don’t know, it is just very surreal that someone so legendary cannot be aware how awesome he is, because he is so humble.

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

RAW YOUTH IS OUT NOW VIA IPECAC

77

Y

ou said to New Noise Magazine, “Our model has been intentional failure in exchange for no expectations from the audience”. You guys have put out two amazing records under the name of Self Defense Family and literally dozens of EPs and splits and seem to be raising a pretty decent fan base. Off course you can lead yourselves by higher standards, but you really seem to be going pretty well as artists.

This to say: we probably shouldn’t take most of what you say seriously, should we?

As just about anyone who has at some point been “going pretty well

as an artist” can tell you, this bears little correlation to success and failure. The “failure” Patrick was referring to was refusing to change our art to be more successful. Our goal is to make records that we enjoy; art for art’s sake. While this does mean we will never likely be attached to any scene and “catch on” in the traditional sense, it also grants us the freedom to produce whatever kind of art fascinates us and also helps ensure our longevity.

Scenes come and go and often the bands who ride these waves are destined to be viewed as ephemera and quickly cast aside as that moment fades. Existing outside of the threat of coolness means that we can enjoy our small victories and failures without having that jeopardize our ability to keep producing art.

How many people is Self Defense

Family composed of at the moment and how many of them played in the new record, Heaven is Earth?

It’s hard to say. I think there are maybe 12 of us who contribute in some way and are part of the family. Heaven is Earth was recorded by Alan, Mark, Mary, Patrick, Chris, and myself.

How did you end up being so many? I guess it is hard to synchronize all of you. What’s the creative process like?

Again, this was another move to help ensure our longevity. We are all busy people, and don’t really feel like all living in the same city: right now we are spread between San Diego, The Bay, Albuquerque, Philadelphia, Albany, Montreal, New York, New Haven, Reykjavik, and London. The model we use is “everyone is invited to do

N E F E D F L E S 78

music&riots

October

everything/no one is obligated to do anything.” Some of us have jobs that allow us generous time off or the ability to work remotely while others work in a more square setting or play in like three other bands. This will dictate how much participation one of us will have time for. Rather than calling someone a “fill-in” or telling them they can no longer participate, we just keep it loose and it works itself out. It actually makes the writing process really fun. As we are so widely dispersed, most of our writing and recording is done while we are tour or playing shows as that is really the only time we are ever together. We usually go into the studio with almost nothing or maybe some rough ideas and what is on the records is a result of that.

I have been involved with SDF for almost six years now and I have never gone out with the exact same

lineup... at least not all playing the same instruments.

I understand you’ve recorded the new album in four different studios in four different cities two tracks per studio. Why? Why not? We really enjoy spending time together and recording, but we didn’t really feel like doing a tour. Instead, we sold uncle Tre at Deathwish on letting us go on a short tour where we don’t play any shows and instead just record. We tried to encourage each engineer to put as much of a mark as they were willing to on the songs (Jon Low even plays saxophone pads in the background of one of the songs he recorded with us). We wanted to see how much of an impact studios and engineers had on the process.

On one hand you guys lyrics are

subtly vitriolic, on the other quite direct and aggressive - this reminds of bands like KEN mode, or something inherited of acts like Minor Threat. But there is a different stance sometimes, one where it seems like your voice falls into more intimate territory.

Are there different sides to S.D.F., one more serious or confessional than the other, more prone to mockery maybe?

I would hope there are different sides to every band. The idea of writing the same thing over and over again is a true nightmare.

Again, we are doing this whole thing because it brings us joy.

Some days it is more fun to play keyboard than guitar; other times harmonica. For Patrick the direction of the lyrics is influenced greatly by whatever he is going through at that moment. I am sure that is true for everybody but

Y L I M A F E NS With a new album and a split EP with Touché Amoré, Self Defense Family are alive and kickin’. We had a chat with Benjamin Tate regarding the band’s last accomplishments and thoughts on what they do, why they do it and how they do it.

Words by Ricardo Almeida

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

79

seems especially important when you consider that all of his lyrics are written in the studio while we are tracking instruments. We often don’t have more than one day in any given studio so vocals have to be done in the same session as the songs. Most people write over time and spend lots of time reflecting. With Patrick, the process is so truncated that whatever wikipedia article he happened to read that morning or whatever text he received from a disgruntled expartner will have a huge bearing on the direction of the lyrics.

extra instruments on it. That said, I think the writing process for this was closer to our normal zone and as a result further away from Touche’s. From what I understand their normal writing process is agonizing over each detail. We only had one day with Will Yip to do the record so that approach was not going to fly. They performed very well outside of their comfort zones and were a blast to work with. I think the idea originally started getting kicked around while we were on tour together in Europe in 2013.

Earlier this year you guys put out a split collaborative EP with Touché Amoré, Self Love. For me, the music just sweats punk rock youth and makes me want to ride my skateboard listening to it. What I really loved about that release is that both bands seemed to step out of their comfort zone to some extent. Would you agree with that? How and when did that collaboration came to your minds?

I think the record would have been terribly dull if it just sounded like one of our records with some

Something I noticed in that EP is that Patrick seems to be making an effort to sing in a more “traditional” format, although he’s screaming a lot. That had already happened back in the End of a Year days, but these time the outcome seems to be more successful. I make you the same question I made to the band Enablers, “Did you ever felt like your vocal approach was a

limitation, or maybe, on the other hand, a trace of personality?”

I think it is both. Patrick certainly cannot sing to save his life; though his progress in the past year has been admirable. If you ask him he will generally tell you that the point of art is to do things your way until people begin to see that as the correct approach.

Regardless of how it is received, his atonal barking is an essential part of the process. There will be a lot of times in the studio where we will find ourselves having some version of the conversation “Does this sound too pretty? eh, don’t worry about it, Patrick is still going to sing on it.” He is the rug that really ties the room together.

You’ve been on Deathwish Inc. for a while, tell us about that.

Growing up as hardcore-punk kids, it must be an honor of some sort to share a label with acts like Converge, Modern Life is War and so on. Also, they seem to be moderately fine with the

“... even a dear friend’s opinion on we should produce will be met wit equally dismissive shrug/fart nois that of a complete stranger.”

80

music&riots

October

INTERVIEW // SELF DEFENSE FAMILY fact that you don’t tour that much and release loads of stuff on loads of different labels.

Uncle Tre is great. I think he understands what we are doing and that we are ultimately a pretty low risk investment. We will never be his best seller; on the other side of that coin, we will never break up.

The chances are good that over a long enough time line he will sell all of the records he presses for us.

Also, the Deathwish folks put out a bunch of legacy acts. They still release material from the Hope Conspiracy... who have played like five shows in the last three years.

Can we live?

I don’t know if I’m implying this because I am just here and now and I’m rather young, but do you feel like it is still possible for a band or label to achieve the same “legendary” status labels like Dischord or Subpop achieved in the pre-internet era. Not that it really matters, but I feel like the internet brought the idea of

“consuming” as much music as possible, and at the end the day one doesn’t get to dive deep into the bands and labels the way one used to.

I have no idea really. I mean, I am 31 which is dead in dog years and near-dinosaur status in terms of subculture. I remember the days of looking through the catalogues that came in the physical copies of records that would advertise the label’s other releases and thinking “score, this makes finding new music so easy.” I went digging through the rosters of Touch and Go and Drag City when I was probably in middle school (Pavement was my favorite band.) Nowadays, the internet has replaced almost all of that. I don’t think labels put little cards announcing other releases of theirs in records anymore. Labels seem more like an identity thing now.

While access to music is no longer an obstacle, labels have found their niche in helping to curate associations between certain bands. People can refer to Run For Cover bands or Deathwish bands and that will put an association into your head. That said, I don’t know what we are doing for either of those labels on that end... but thank you Tre and Jeff for putting out our records anyway.

records we are taking with us to Australia; we leave in a few days.

We will be recording another island 7” while we are there. We will likely be on the west coast of america later this year and next year will probably see us a little more active on the tour front than this year did. Along with that expect another LP and another spattering of EP material.

You say “I don’t give a shit” a lot – and that’s fine. Do you give a shit about those who give a shit about your music?

Yes and No. Certainly if you are talking about taking the needs of people who like us into account when we are producing new material then the answer is an enthusiastic “I DON’T GIVE A SHIT.” However, it is incredibly enjoyable to meet like-minded peers who also produce good work and having them like your music. I have encountered some people who have become very dear friends on the basis that they enjoyed our music.

But at the end of the day, even a dear friend’s opinion on what we should produce will be met with an equally dismissive shrug/fart noise to that of a complete stranger. We ride for spite.

What’s next for Self Defense Family?

I just finished boxing up all the

n what th an se to

HEAVEN IS EARTH IS OUT NOW VIA DEATHWISH INC.

musicandriotsmagazine.com

81

n a h d n i w

AN IRRESTIBLE

82

music&riots

October

nd

E TRIP...

Words by Dave Bowes

Hailing from one of the most fertile music grounds in the US, Richmond, VA doom troupe Windhand are on the cusp of releasing their third full-length, Grief’s Infernal Flower, and people are quite rightly getting a little flustered at the prospect.

Everyone from Rolling Stone to Vice are getting in on the act, so we jumped the line and caught up with vocalist Dorthia Cottrell to talk about living up to expectations while keeping it heavy and honest. musicandriots.com

83

T

we brought it up with Relapse, and they said “Go for it”.

hanks a lot for taking the time to chat with us. An easy one to start off with - can you tell us a little about the origins of the band?

Garrett (Morris, guitar) and Echasiah (Bogdam, guitar) had been playing together for a long time with a different drummer and bassist, and they had never actually played a show before. They put an ad out on Craigslist looking for a singer and they listed their influences as High On Fire, Sleep, Danava and Kyuss; I saw it and I responded. I went to try out but we just ended up hanging out - I don’t think I sang at all.

They invited me back, and I kept going back. I think Heap Wolves was the first song we did.

And how are things right now?

We are about to leave on a little one-week tour on Sunday. We’re going to try out a couple of new songs because we haven’t actually tried the new stuff out yet so we want to try those out before the record comes out in September.

Are there any songs that you’re particularly looking forward to trying out?

I really want to play “Hesperus” but we’re not going to play that just yet because it’s not going to be one of the songs that’s going to come out before the record.

The guitar tone on “Hesperus”, and on much of the album, is just huge. How did you ever come to settle on a sound like that?

Well, Garrett and Echasiah have had their sound since the beginning of Windhand but as far as the way we recorded it, Jack Endino really paid a lot of attention to the way that Soma and the first record sounded and tried to be really true to it by keeping that sound on this recording.

The pairing with Jack Endino is quite a masterful one. How did you end up working with him?

Garrett has been a huge fan of his for a long time. Garrett records a lot of local bands around here and he recorded our first two albums, and he’s in touch with Jack Endino.

Jack came to one of the shows we played in Seattle with High On Fire, Garret got to meet him then and

84

music&riots

October

You wrote your first two albums on the road, but not this time.

How was that experience?

We didn’t actually have time to do that this time around. Once we got done with touring for Soma, we came back and we had a schedule. We knew we had to record by March so we just stopped playing shows and worked on the album in that block of time. It’s the first time we’ve ever done it like that.

Except for Forest Clouds – we’ve had that song since Soma, but it kind of got reworked for the Salem’s Pot split and we recorded it again for the new album because we thought it fit.

Do you feel that having the pressure of such a strict deadline affected the sound of the album?

It was definitely weird. Like I said, we’ve never written that way before so we were practicing three, four times a week, maybe. It was a lot of pressure but because we wrote them all together, I think the songs sound a little more cohesive, and the record as a whole is perhaps a little more cohesive.

One of the biggest standouts on the album is “Sparrow”. What is the story behind that?

I wrote that song when we were in tour in Europe last year for Roadburn. I wasn’t sure if it was going to be one of my songs or one of Windhand’s songs but we wanted to have varying paces on this new record and we knew that we wanted to put at least one acoustic song on there. I had written a different acoustic song to put on the record but changed my mind about it when I went to Seattle. It’s one of my favourite songs that I’ve ever written so I wanted to put it on here.

The phrase Grief’s Infernal Flowers has a certain poetic charm. Where did that title come from?

It’s a line from “Hesperus”, actually, but we don’t really like to explain a lot about the lyrics or titles or anything like that. We think it’s cooler when people take whatever they want to take from it.

Have you always preferred music where there is perhaps a little more mystery to the band?

Yeah, definitely. Also, when I was growing up we didn’t have the

internet so a lot of the times you didn’t know what the actual lyrics were, and sometimes when I found out what they actually were it would be disappointing to me.

You’ve had a busy year yourself, having released and toured your solo album. Does having this other outlet ever change your approach to Windhand?

No, not really because I’ve been doing that acoustic stuff since before I joined Windhand so nothing really changes in that respect?

Though there is plenty of overlap, your solo material and the work you do with Windhand sometimes seem quite distant.

Did you have quite eclectic tastes as you were growing up?

I grew up listening to classic rock and classic country - the kind of music my dad listened to, and he plays guitar and sings too. WhenI got a little bit older and angsty, as far as getting into metal and heavy rock, I was into the normal stuff - Pantera and Slayer, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden...

Do your songs tend to change much when you take them out on the road?

For the most part, some things tend to be shorter and some sound better when they just fall apart, when we let Ryan (Wolfe, drums) just keep playing until he feels like stopping. Sometimes we’ll stop at different times; it just depends on the mood of the room or the mood that we’re in.

Given how fantastically wellreceived Soma was, was there any pressure on you for Grief’s Infernal Flower?

We never want to disappoint the people that like your band but ultimately I think it’s more important that you play music that you like and that you want to hear yourself. Hopefully, the honesty behind that will come through and somebody will like it.

Richmond’s music scene has always been incredibly varied, as well as world-renowned. Has having a scene like this affected the band’s outlook?

Well, none of us actually grew up here. As for the band, the music scene is all over the place but everybody is pretty much all friends. We all hang out all the time, we all play music with each other all the time – it’s very

INTERVIEW // WINDHAND

“... I think it’s more important that you play music that you like and that you want to hear yourself. Hopefully, the honesty behind that will come through and somebody will like it.” incestuous. I’m sure that helps us develop as songwriters.

video but it was fun coming up with the idea.

Is the DIY scene as strong in Richmond as it used to be back in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s?

It’s hard to say. Now that we’re a little bit older we don’t go out to shows as much. I know there are a lot of house shows, a lot of DIY spots that come and go, but there is one medium-sized venue that everybody plays; a bar that everybody hangs out, called Strange Matter. But yeah, as far as that goes, there’s definitely a strong, family-type feeling.

Is there still any of that reticence when it comes to being on stage?

You always get butterflies but it’s a different mentality; more excitement, like you want to do it, whereas none of us want to take band pictures or pretend to play guitar.

Are there any video plans for the new album?

There’s going to be at least one coming up pretty soon, maybe two.

I can’t really say much more.

How do you see the process of making music videos? Is it another outlet for the band or is it more a promotional act?

This is the first time that we’ve really come up with a story for the video. The last video that we did was kind of DIY, flashing images that we liked, so it was fun to do this one. None of us are in it. All of us are pretty awkward, camera-shy so none of us wanted to be in the

Do you feel more excitement when playing club venues or to larger crowds, like you did at Roadburn?

They’re both fun, but there’s something about playing a small, cramped stage. There’s always something magical about it.

What’s the strangest venue that you’ve ever played?

This kind of rednecky bar in Virginia, and we played a cool church in DC, but that first was kind of a mix between a frat boy place and a redneck place in the middle of nowhere in Virginia.

them, I’ll say that. Everybody was really receptive and even though the tour was short, it was definitely one of our most memorable experiences.

How do you feel about the critical reception you have been given, especially with people saying that Grief... is one of the most anticipated heavy albums of the year?

It blows my mind. None of us really understands it. We’re all happy about it, but I think we all just feel lucky. Maybe we were in the right place at the right time but I have no idea why this is happening.

Is there anything you still want to achieve?

I don’t think any of us think like that. We just want to keep playing music that we want to hear and hopefully we are able to keep doing it the way that we have been. I think we’d still be here even if nobody knew our name.

You also went out with Sleep quite recently. How were the crowds?

No. I was a little nervous about it because, you know, it’s Sleep! I’m glad we weren’t going on after www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

GRIEF’S INFERNAL FLOWERS IS OUT NOW VIA RELAPSE RECORDS

85

86

music&riots

October

87

1 REPULSIVE | 2 Pure shit | 3 terrible | 4 must avoid | 5 average | 6 good effort | 7 good | 8 very good | 9 EXCelLent | 10 pure c

OUT NOW

BRING ME THE HORIZON That’s the Spirit RCA (2015)

FOR FANS OF:

Linkin Park, NIN, Pvris, Chvrches, In Flames

88

music&riots

October

10

Love them or hate them... With five records and almost a decade of existence, the Sheffield mob is back to conquer the world.

When their last effort, Sempiternal was released back in 2013, we were already being prepared for what would come next. They were aiming for big things, preparing a big change, their stand for creative freedom with no such thing as boundaries attached to them is the best way to describe what these dudes have unleashed with their new beast of an album. Yes, That’s the spirit...

Well, let’s say that Sempiternal was a game changing album for them, not for any kind of musical scenes, because the true game changing was when they added Jordan Fish’s contribution to their music, after that everything went insane and epic, they achieved something quite special and found their sound, reinventing everything in style and in a fashionable way.

That’s the Spirit is deep, adventurous and ambitious, it’s a monster that will once again be fully

REVIEWS

classic

loved and truly hated, but they are not here to please the fans or upset their haters, they don’t give a simple fuck about that, their actual sound is their own ID and what they believe and what they are in love to.

Track by track, you’re amazed by what they achieved, starting with “Doomed”, an atmospheric fight between what reality should really be and what Oli really experienced. “Happy Song” brings a positive stand in what we’re used to know with Oli lyrics, a song that represents a new chapter in BMTH sound. “Throne” and “True Friends” are epic in every single way, heavy and impossible to not sing-along, it’s amazing to see how they mix huge chorus with

a certain amount of heaviness, blending that with the most infectious and sticky that pop music has huge chorus and groove-driven anthems.

At this point, for the listener is the point of no return, or you stop listening to the album because you found it cheesy, teen, whatever or you’re completely drowned in their own world, where you easily go back and listen to the same music, over and over again, discovering that their sound is full with details and getaways, complex and breaking new grounds.

There are tons of clichés all over the album, they’re not reinventing the wheel or anything, for example, tracks like the “Avalanche”,“Throne” and “Run” are perfect examples of

the influence of Linkin Park’s Meteora in the whole new generation of musicians. That’s the Spirit, is layered and full of electronic, mature and extremely personal, Oli’s cathartic lyrics are both compelling and straightforward, with no such thing as bullshit attached, bringing their songwriting to another new level.

Jordan Fish’s keyboards shaped the sound that sets free Oli’s anger and voice, achieving a whole new level regarding emotional depth.

Complex and dynamic, Bring Me The Horizon have created a monster, a masterpiece that will for sure define the lines of what modern rock will follow for the next 2, 5 or even 10 years...

musicandriots.com

FAUSTO CASAIS

89

OUT NOW

8

OUT NOW

OUT NOW

7

7

ALL DOGS Kicking Every Day

Salinas Records (2015)

The last few years have brought us an huge amount of that classic 90’s indie rock esque, the clichés of nostalgia are here to stay, especially if you lived that golden era of 90’s alternative indie rock sound. Now think about Sleater-Kinney, Sonic Youth raw sound, and blend that with new acts like Bully, Hop Along and Speedy Ortiz, you can picture what All Dogs might sound like.

Right? Are you excited? You have reasons for it, especially because All Dogs fuzzed sound is huge, full of mindblowing songs and awesome lyrics. All Dogs’ singer Maryn Jones kicks ass, her lyrics along with her unique way of singing brings a fresh approach into this whole train of DIY punkish-indierock female fronted band revival of the 90’s. Kicking Every Day is an emotional journey, kicks ass and it’s a cathartic experience all the way through.

FOR FANS OF:

FAUSTO CASAIS

Bully, Cat Power, Speedy Ortiz

90

music&riots

October

ASIAN DUB FOUNDATION More Signal, More Noise

ATREYU Long Live

British reggae/electronic crew Asian Dub Foundation are back... Once again, the band offers an exciting clash of many different influences, but one thing stays unchanged. ADF are loud fighters for equality and human rights.

They did it through their whole career, and they do it now. This record has some great songs, “The Signal and the Noise”, “Bubblegum Radio” or “Zig Zag Nation”, to name a few, but maybe the biggest strength of this record is getting attention to one of their previous ones. In a time where Europe is receiving hundreds of thousands of refugees, when many governments try to stop or isolate them, we need to play “Fortress Europe” and ask ourselves – “Do we really got to that point?”

Orange County metalcore heroes are back, after their five-year hiatus, but the main question is: What to expect when a band is so damn random regarding their own sound and even their ID? Well, Long Live represents a new and invigorated chapter in their lives, but also opens their new found nostalgic path regarding what The Curse really stands for them after all these years. It’s amazing to see that the dynamic between Alex Varkatzas screams and Brandon Saller melodic vocals are still there, bringing back some of the classic elements and dynamics that they’ve created in the The Curse. Long Live is strong and well crafted, the lyrics are powerful and their trademark sound is still there, in their most eclectic release ever.

FOR FANS OF:

FOR FANS OF:

Spinefarm Records (2015)

ADF Communications (2015)

MILJAN MILEKIC

Dub Pistols, Transglobal Underground

FAUSTO CASAIS

Avenged Sevenfold, Eighteen Visions

REVIEWS

OUT NOW

OUT NOW

OUT NOW

8

8

7

BATTLES La Di Da Di

BLACK BREATH Slaves Beyond Death

BLEED SOMEONE DRY PostMortem | Veritas

If exists a band with a unique sound that band is Battles. Most call their style Math Rock and this is the third album from the New York quartet. And it’s still the same and rightly so. Disruptive and complex, it’s an ode to the instrumental and technical rigor. The intricate way to support their sound, always associated with very characteristic visual stimuli, La Di Da Di, like their predecessor wins because of the overwhelming rhythms.

Sometimes calm, sometimes electrifying, no soul can remain indifferent to this sonic bombardment, while achieving the necessary harmony by a band looking for the perfect symbiosis between instrumental acoustic and electronic elements. In fact, they always get a good result and deliver a very positive experience. Loop on this.

Remember when Black Breath were the hot new Entombedcore band, despite said term being universally loathed and used only by the laziest of scene bloggers? Well, no more, because Slaves Beyond Death is the death metal album that the Seattleites were born to make, dialling up the filth, the degradation and the madness and drawing out the pain for as long as they can stand it. Truly next level output for the band, both in terms of some technically astonishing work across the board and in their focus on melody and atmosphere over runaway momentum, this is not just a savage return to form, but an exciting new phase for one of the most ferocious death metal bands of the past decade.

Never mind your preconceptions, math-deathcore is still one of the few genres where it’s easy to separate copycats from the real deal, trust us when we say that Bleed Someone Dry are the real deal.

PostMortem|Veritas is well crafted and well-written, their own intensity blends perfectly with their technical and mechanical riffary machine, in a pleasant combination of breakneck speed and sheer, their brutal stand is almost impossible to ignore. There is no slowing down track after track, it’s easy to feel all their effort and input.

PostMortm|Veritas is strong, confident and from the heart, they even grabbed CJ from Thy Art Is Murder and Luca from Zu in their shores. Well done lads!

FOR FANS OF:

FOR FANS OF:

FOR FANS OF:

Warp Records (2015)

Southern Lord (2015)

NUNO TEIXEIRA

Tera Melos, Don Caballero, Animal Collective

Fire Was Born Records(2015)

DAVE BOWES

FAUSTO CASAIS

Thy Art Is Murder, Whitechapel

Nails, Trap Them, Entombed

OUT NOW

OUT NOW

OUT NOW

7

8

7

BLESSTHEFALL To Those Left Behind

BOYSETSFIRE Boysetsfire

Fearless Records (2015)

End Hits Records (2015)

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE Venom

Metalcore is having a great year, even if this popular genre of the heavy music family had more downs than ups regarding new releases in the last few of years. 2015 marks the return in full force of this genre, somehow bands were able to reinvent themselves, showing that nowadays it’s hard to only stick to one specific genre, providing them a new found inspiration and sound. To Those Left Behind is the perfect example of how Blessthefall sound is now more complex and dynamic, showing a huge evolution, both as musicians and as songwriters, proving that metalcore now is more than simplistic brutality, there is still space for huge melodies and catchy pop anthems. This is Blessthefall natural next step.

Now that we got used to have them back, Boysetsfire are ready for round two. After good and successful While a Nation Sleeps..., the band is back now with the new, self-titled record. On the twelve new songs, we have typical Boysetsfire sound, and there is just no place for mistake. Clash of highly energetic, aggressive hardcore with anthemic punk rock melodies give us everything we love about this band.

To be honest, I don’t see smashing hits, à la “Rookie” or “Requiem”, but this record has more than a few big songs to offer. Combination of melodic pieces such as single “One Match”, with hardcore destroyers à la “Dig Your Grave” gives us enough diversity to keep this record on playlists for a long time.

Bullet For My Valentine are slaves to their debut, and they will probably always be. Even a decade after The Poison, everything they do is compared to that record, but on the other hand, it’s hard not to do it with song names such as “Tears Don’t Fall Pt. 2”, or a record called Venom. On pretty much every record in the last 7-8 years, the band have offered similar or the same things. A few good songs, one or two great ones, and a few average ones. Yeah, and the worst guitar solos ever. Venom is no different.

This record doesn’t bring anything revolutionary, but songs like “No Way Out”, “Army of Noise” or “You Want a Little” are well worth a listen.

FOR FANS OF:

FOR FANS OF:

FAUSTO CASAIS

We Came As Romans, Of Mice & Men

RCA (2015)

MILJAN MILEKIC

Ignite, Hot Water Music, I Am Heresy

MILJAN MILEKIC

FOR FANS OF:

Avenged Sevenfold, Metallica

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

91

OUT NOW

8 OUT NOW

FOR FANS OF:

CROSSFAITH Xeno UNFD (2015)

7 CASPIAN Dust and Disquiet

Big Scary Monsters (2015)

I wondered a dozen of times, before putting “pen to paper”, the consequences of classifying the Massachusetts-based Caspian as a steady and solid band. There’s something that can be lost with such “pale” description, but on the other hand it would be worthy to underline their impeccable level of coherence in terms of the quality level (which is high) of their music. Dust and Disquiet, the band’s 4th album, isn’t a restore of old furniture nor the five-piece is enclosed by self-constructed walls – the emotional depth delivered in the amazingly different “Run Dry” verifies it. “I think now we judge songs by how close they are to the original vision,” said Caspian’s guitarist Philip Jameson.

I thankfully acknowledge the quality, and importance, of such vision.

FOR FANS OF:

TIAGO MOREIRA

Red Sparowes, pg.lost, This Will Destroy You

92

music&riots

October

Frenetic, intense and fucking insane, there are no limits and such thing as boundaries that these dudes won’t break. Xeno is a conceptual album, a story about hope, failure, love, betrayal, a world where it’s impossible to tell where truth ends and fiction begins, clearly with roots in manga and anime. Everything is fucked, the world is fucked up and slavery is here to stay, we all just need to resist, never back down and fight for what we believe, this is Xeno motto, quite cool, right?

Crossfaith really nailed it, each song represents a different emotion and there is plenty to meditate after several and intensive listenings of Xeno. Along the way with their metalcore pedigree esque, Xeno has its own stylistic sound, from that classic Nintendo game sounds to rap metal, house music and even some emo bites, all fueled by Kenta Koie screaming and melodic esque. By the way, Caleb Shomo gives a hand in the infectious “Ghost in the Mirror” and Benji from Skindred makes us dance and bounce in “Wildfire”. Xeno is unique and diverse, the sound of modern mashup metal.

FAUSTO CASAIS

OLD SCHOOL LINKIN PARK

OLD SCHOOL SPINESHANK

THE PRODIGY

REVIEWS

02.10

OUT NOW

7

7

CHILDBIRTH Women’s Rights

CHRISTIAN MISTRESS To Your Death

Childbirth are a group of three very independent and honest women, some kind of a supergroup, we must say...

They are Julia Shapiro of Chastity Belt, Bree McKenna of Tacocat, Stacy Peck of Pony Time. Their music is straight-forward punk rock inspired by the Riot Grrrl movement and 90’s alternative music.

After releasing their debut album, It’s a Girl, the girls went with the same approach on this new effort, but now they go even further with their lyrics and their powerful message. As the title of the album suggests, Childbirth talk about women in general, sharing their thoughts about our fucked up world and feminism, all full of humor and irony.

It’s so awesome how they talk about important issues with such openess and amuse. Well, they just can do it!

Heavy Metal is the law! And Christian Mistress are here to follow the law...

To Your Death is the latest offering from Christian Mistress outlaws. If you are thinking about heavy riffs, headbanging and classic rock anthems, this might be the record you’re looking for. Pure American Heavy Metal that’s something that nowadays seems outdated, but there is something about Christian Mistress that truly differs from their peers. The straight-up and classic rock esque is there, but it’s the way the powerful voice of Christine Davis blends with rich and killer riffs from the guitar duo Oscar Sparbel and Tim Diedrich that really makes us believe again that Heavy Metal is still somehow full of excitement and danger.

Relapse Records (2015)

Suicide Squeeze (2015)

FOR FANS OF:

ANDREIA ALVES

Bikini Kill, Chastity Belt, Tacocat

S

9

FOR FANS OF:

FOR FANS OF:

FAUSTO CASAIS

16.10

8 DARK BUDDHA RISING Inversum

7

Neurot Recordings (2015)

DAVE HEUMANN Here in the Deep Thrill Jockey (2015)

EUAN ANDREWS

RICARDO ALMEIDA Eagle Twin, Kongh, True Widow

Aftermath / Interscope (2015)

Arbouretum head guy Dave Heumann releases his debut solo album and a laid back, lightly fried affair it is.

Mixed by PJ Harvey collaborator John Parish, the sound of Here In The Deep shares audible similarities with the Dorset war queen’s work. The opening guitar strum and crunch of “Switchback” keeps feeling like it should explode into a firework storm, but instead seems content to just grind its teeth in disconsolate circular motions. Tracks like “Cloud Mind” and “Ides of Summer” have definite traces of folk getting heads together in the country while the instrumental “Morning Remnants” feels like the dawn arising after a difficult, dark night. A postcard from a good place.

FOR FANS OF:

16.10

FOR FANS OF:

OUT NOW

ixteen years after 2001, Dre returns with Compton, an album clearly inspired by the development of the film about NWA, Straight Outta Compton.

Right and known that Detox was placed in the trash, because it didn’t represent the freshness of Dre’s work brought so far - 2001 (1999) and The Chronic (1992) were highly acclaimed and are today considered works that influenced several generations of rappers and producers -, this Compton is mainly a rediscovery of Dre capabilities as A & R and producer.

His school dropped new players to the game again with King Mez and Justus, two recent figures in the world of rap chosen to assist him. Undoubtedly, they brought a new approach to the West Coast vibe, shaped by Dre and added by guests Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg or Marsha Ambrosius. Kendrick, unsurprisingly, turns out to be a devastating monster in the creation and offers a huge gift of talent on both tracks in which he participates.

All the production is superb, but the high points show up too much for start with “Talk About It” and “Genocide”, in a whole wellbuilt, highly cinematic, which will be, for a long time, the perfect OST for heading the streets of LA or any other city.

Diamond Head, Blues Pills, Scorpions

The name of the band fits their sound perfectly. Dark Buddha Rising dwell deep in the darkest of the trances. Picture this guy, kind of a mysterious monk, hidden in a pitch-black dark cave, high in the mountains, going through some really profound stream of meditation, revisiting his every step, and doing it for a long, long time. Although their sound is introspective and warm, it might get one onto some very uncomfortable places at times - meaning one must be left with himself and his own demons in order to complete the crossing here. The album is a trip, a good and sometimes twisted one. The only think that gets a little weird here is that there seem to be two worlds struggling: one reminiscent of 60s/70s substance induced rock n roll psychedelia, and one other way more ancient and deep. Maybe there are some monks somewhere doing lsd and digging some Sleep, who knows.

DR. DRE Compton

Arbouretum, Karhide, Theodore

RUI CORREIA

NMA, Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg

musicandriots.com

93

02.10

9

02.10

DEAFHEAVEN New Bermuda

OUT NOW

Anti - (2015)

After the critical and overall success of Sunbather, Deafheaven show no signs of slowing down, and New Bermuda is the perfect example of that. With a fanbase quite bipolar, some just like them because it’s cool and hipster enough listening to Deafheaven nowadays - even if they think black metal is another box of cereals - others love them because they really know that Deafheaven are a gem, a mind-blowing group of individuals that are doing art in the most raw and abrasive way.

New Bermuda means a new destination in life, a nebulous point of arrival, and an unknown future where things get swallowed up and dragged into darkness... With this in mind, it’s easy to understand songs like “Come Back” and “Gifts for the Earth”. If you’re expecting Sunbather part 2, you’re so fucking wrong. New Bermuda is way heavier than its predecessor, the indie-shoegaze-post-rock esque is still here, but it’s fair to say that New Bermuda is a passionate and sophisticated black metal album.

FAUSTO CASAIS

FOR FANS OF:

Mayhem, Slowdive, Alcest, Satyricon

94

music&riots

October

7

7 EDITORS In Dream

PIAS (2015)

DESTRUCTION UNIT Negative Feedback Resistor Big bow to Sacred Bones by toasting us with some of the dirtiest and confrontational towards established music. From them arises a name like Destruction Unit, which reaches my ears and quickly tie me to a straightjacket and shoots me to a sonic beast. I contemplate a smaller God that with a sufficient number of listeners, will put a house on fire.

Their trippy shoegaze merged into Punk and voices with enough reverb to feel enclosed, gives a claustrophobic sensory experience. Don’t stop, always move forward, motto for 8 themes in an album able to amaze even the most convinced of punks. The death is always lurking and it took the kick in the balls of Destruction Unit, to alert us to life.

In Dream is Editors’ fifth album and the second album to feature their “new” line-up with Justin Lockey and Elliott Williams. Their previous album, The Weight Of Your Love, saw the band approaching a more rock side on their music, but with this one they go deeper into electronic music and pure experimentation. They know perfectly well how to diffuse the different elements of dark pop and electronic making a bunch of catchy and atmospheric tunes. In Dream is also the first Editors’ album to feature a duet, Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell shares vocal duties on the track “The Law”, sounding almost like a Beach House’s song. Goswell also added backing vocals to “Ocean of Night” and “At All Cost”.

Change is good and Tom Smith and the guys know the importance that a little change doesn’t hurt once in a while.

FOR FANS OF:

FOR FANS OF:

Sacred Bones (2015)

RUI CORREIA

Trash Talk, METZ, Jay Reatard

ANDREIA ALVES Interpol, Beach House, The National

REVIEWS

OUT NOW

7 ALMA Alma

Fierce Panda (2015)

This is the debut mini album by Londoners ALMA. There’s just so much greatness and beauty in the soundscapes that these guys created. For instants, it’s like we’re listening to a version of Explosions In The Sky mixed with Sigur Rós. You just get so involved in such cosmic post-rock sound with sublime atmospheric sounds. It can be mini, but it’s damn good. This is the perfect record to look up at our immense sky at night and wonder what’s out there.

ANDREIA ALVES

OUT NOW

7 DESIGN Daytime Sleepwalkers This Is Core (2015)

Daytime Sleepwalkers sounds like a bastard son of an orgy between Bauhaus, Marilyn Manson, Revolting Cocks and Depeche Mode early sound, their weirdness and rawness bring all the dirt and filth of a sound that is a pure revival of 80’s and 90’s underground industrial goth rock. It’s fair to say that Design created their own sound, something that cannot be labeled in a specific genre, even their clichés are priceless and needed. Well done!

FAUSTO CASAIS

GNAW THEIR TONGUES Abyss of Longing Throats Crucial Blast (2015)

OUT NOW

8 HIGH ON FIRE Luminiferous E1 Music (2015)

Far too dynamic to be a real Doom band, too melodic to be a Sludge band and too nimble to be just a simple Black Sabbath clone. The strong suit of this band is that they have the ability to channel their influences, especially the Sabbath riffs and solos and incorporate them into their own very unique and diverse style. Many bands just try to be heavy and noisy and fail on both counts, but for these guys the thundering drums, the bashing bass and the abrasive vocals just come out effortlessly and in the most natural of ways.

NUNO BABO

OUT NOW

9

In the four years since Per Flagellum Sanguemque..., Mories has been a busy lad, with splits, collaborations, several albums under the Seirom and Aderlating banners and a constant clearing of the vaults all ensuring that the foul taste never quite left our mouths. Still, the acrid bite of copper is redoubled with Abyss Of Longing Throats, a harrowing heptaptych that puts the oft-utilised tag of ‘anti-music’ to rest. In other words, this is the most musical and structured GTT work to date, one swollen with morbid grandeur as cinematic waves of synth and drone sweep over blistered landscapes of martial percussion and the retches, moans and curses of Mories.

Given the project’s reputation, the atmosphere throughout is unsurprisingly suffocating, the clanking industrial doom of The Holy Body verging on Khanate levels of intensity while the decidedly more straightforward black metal is a remorseless blast of air in what is otherwise a lightless vacuum, but once again it’s Mories’ use of negative space and minimalist, creaking malevolence that ties the whole thing together. As a brave and uncompromising musical force, GTT has never been anything if not ambitious, but Abyss..., from its languorous pacing to his rigorous attention to detail, is a striking work of horror.

DAVE BOWES

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

95

OUT NOW

7 FRANK TURNER Positive Songs For Negative People XL Recordings (2015)

Frank Turner is one of those artists who never disappoint. His new record is no surprise. He offered everything he’s best known for, and everything he does best. Positive Songs For Negative People is one of those records that sound familiar since the first listen, but don’t think Turner is repeating himself. Ok, maybe just a little bit. All of his strongest weapons are here – melancholic folk punk melodies, lethargic and emotional vocals, with addition of amazing lyrics. If you loved him before, you will love him even more.

Turner delivered a good record, perfect for the starry nights, or evenings by the fireplace with the cup of hot tea in a hand. Oh, yeah, be free to skip the first song.

MILJAN MILEKIC

FOR FANS OF:

Billy Bragg, Chuck Ragan, Dave Hause

OUT NOW

8 FRANK CARTER & RATTLESNAKES Blossom International Death Cult (2015)

Breaking news guys! Frank Carter is angry again! Former Gallows frontman, once “sick of singing about hate” moved on, formed Pure Love, a more rock oriented project and released a good record called Anthems. Now, two years later, he’s angry again, and ready to show it. I can’t help myself but compare The Rattlesnakes to Gallows, and while there are some similarities, it’s quite easy to tell the difference.

Gallows are an amazing band, especially in Carter era, and they offered an unique combination of street punk and hardcore, while The Rattlesnakes have more of a rock and garage influences. Blossom gives ten songs, filled with aggression, energy and anger, with screaming guitars, thunderous bass and heavy drums, but it’s obvious who runs the show. After all, the band name is Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes, right?

FOR FANS OF:

MILJAN MILEKIC

Gallows, Pure Love & Gallows again...

96

music&riots

October

OUT NOW

02.10

5

7

FUTURE PUNX This is Post-Wave

GREAT COLLAPSE Holy War

In This is Post-Wave, the debut album of the New Yorkers Future Punx, it’s easy to fall into the cliché of saying that this is a revival of the Post-Punk and New Wave era (alright, I said it).

They assume much of the uncompromised (or not) aesthetic of bands like Devo or Sparks, in which satire is very present. Playing with the unintelligent scenes of the 80s, comes “Ever You Go”, one of the best album themes.

In New York, there are many bands now having fun doing the Post-soundsmade-long-time-ago... but hey! They have a complete mess of references.

They know it and they have to release it somehow. I understand them. The novelty effect is virtually nil, but the mood is there as their potential to surprise.

Great Collapse is a punk all star band featuring Thomas Barnett (Strike Anywhere), Joe Saucedo (Set Your Goals), Todd Henning (ex Death By Stereo) Chris Chasse (ex Rise Against) and Tom Arnott (At Risk/Love Equals Death). With Strike Anywhere on hold, we all been questioning where the hell Thomas Barnett was... And damn, Great Collapse was the perfect answer.

Holy War is a conceptual-driven effort, where tracks like “New Abolition” and “The World Between” are pure inspiration to do something, to fight back, because we are all fed up with endless wars, wealth inequality, police brutality, corrupt governments. Holy War has a message and stands for something, in this explosive hardcore meets classic punk catchiness anthems.

FOR FANS OF:

FOR FANS OF:

Dull Tools / Adagio 830 (2015)

Devo, Sparks, The B-52’s

End Hits Records (2015)

RUI CORREIA

FAUSTO CASAIS

Anti-Flag, Rise Against, Boysetsfire

REVIEWS

IRON MAIDEN The Book of Souls

OUT NOW

9

PLG (2015)

The release of a new Maiden record is always sure to stop the music world on its tracks. After the band announced that this was to be their first studio double record in 40 years and ever since singer Bruce Dickinson’s recent health struggles came to public knowledge, expectations for this record immediately went through the roof.

Meeting those expectations, as The Book of Souls starts, Maiden made sure every listener feels like they’re not opening just another book, but a new revised chapter on the bible of how to do a flawless heavy metal record. Opener “If Eternity Should Fail” begins in strange fashion with a Mexican-themed melody, but as it ends later with an eerie acoustic passage, after a remarkable eight-minute heavy metal voyage, you will probably think that this might be, undoubtedly, one of Maiden’s best album openers ever.

As the book continues unraveling, “Speed of Light”, driven by Adrian Smith’s hard rocking riffs, “The Great Unknown” and “When the River Runs Deep” all bear a distinct “Fear of the Dark” meets “Dance of Death” feel, with Bruce screaming again like it’s ‘92 and some stellar solo trading performances from all three guitarists.

However, the main highlights of disc one are the 13-minute epic “The Red And the Black” and “The Book of

Souls”. The first one marks a trip onto progressive heights through several “Rime” reminiscent riffs, “Wicker Man” styled crowd chant parts and various tempo shifts, while the second starts off with an imposing riff, setting up a middle eastern tone upon which Dickinson’s vocals unravel in majestic fashion.

Its mid section builds up later onto an impressive frenzy, making you remember at times of the old “Losfer Words” instrumental.

The album’s second chapter begins then with “Death or Glory”.

Its catchy main riff, galloping pace and resounding epic chorus section make it the track closest to the energetic levels of their ‘80s material, and for that matter, “Shadows of the Valley” will also remind you of a huge past Maiden classic of the “Cyborg” era, with plenty of dual guitar based riffs being played upon Harris’ signature driving bass.

The third song, the hard rockingRobin Williams-inspired “Tears of a Clown”, acts not only as a fitting tribute to the comedian, but also as a warning about hidden depression and the perils of emotional duality in life, and as the book draws nearer to its close, the Dave Murray penned “Man of Sorrows” sees Maiden, perhaps strangely enough, combining an early Scorpions vibe in its intro with a

Yes-inspired finale, turning it into one of the most unusual numbers they’ve ever recorded.

But if one is to talk about crossing through uncharted musical territories, album finisher “Empire of the Clouds” sees Maiden boldly go where they’ve never gone before.

Its 18 minute journey represents the crowning achievement of Bruce Dickinson as a writer and portrays the story of the 1930 R101 Zeppelin disaster, beginning with a never before heard (on a Maiden record) orchestral section describing the planning stages of its voyage. The full band joins in later during the ship’s take off and full flight, before a terrifying piano section marks its impending doom and aftermath. After listening to it, it’s safe to say that after 31 years Maiden have finally written another grand epic able to compete with Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Simply put, The Books of Souls is one of Maiden’s finest and most solid records. We can clearly say that this is the strongest record ever done by Maiden’s three-guitar line up in the 16 years ever since Bruce Dickinson and Adrian Smith returned to the band. One hopes that this is isn’t their last, but if that was to be the case, it would also the highest possible note on which to end a career.

Nothing short of amazing. Period.

musicandriots.com

LUÍS ALVES

97

OUT NOW

OUT NOW

7 HOOTON TENNIS CLUB Highest Points in Cliff Town

The Original Faces Kranky Records (2015)

OUT NOW

9 Picture yourself wandering a deserted stretch of highway on a cold, autumnal night and chancing upon a burned-out motor car piled up next to the road, long since abandoned and left to rust and spoil in whatever the elements could throw at it. Raking through the stoor and detritus accumulated down the years within this forgotten vehicle, you flick open the car’s old cassette player and out pops a battered C90 cassette. And on that knackered old tape, you might just hear the debut album from Helen.

Grouper’s Liz Harris has decided that it’s about time for some serious rocking out and has gathered together Scott Simmons and Jed Bindeman to form a rock and roll power trio heavily indebted to the unfortunately termed “shoegazing” movement, but with enough ragged guitar workouts to evoke halcyon memories of pre-grunge groups of twenty-five years hence. At their most piledriving and furious, Helen sound like the Jesus and Mary Chain’s wall of melodic noise topped off with wistful Slowdive vocals. Tracks crash into each other, interspersed with loops of queasy guitar spillage, often sounding as though someone has spliced these songs together with glue and sticky tape in plaidshirted evocation of a long-distant summer night.

A remembrance of youth shared in making a glorious sound and a fitting next phase for the haunted realms of Harris’s songwriting.

EUAN ANDREWS

FOR FANS OF:

Slowdive, Jesus and Mary Chain, Grouper

98

music&riots

October

JOTNARR Burn and Bury SuperFi (2015)

Heavenly Recordings (2015)

HELEN

7

From choosing their name from a street sign to their whimsically long song titles, Hooton Tennis Club’s spontaneous, playing it by ear approach is working wonders for them.

The product of their too cool for school approach is Highest Point in Cliff Town; twelve delicious tracks of rambling, rambunctious riffs and lyrics that bemuse and entice. From the slightly off-beat madness of “I’m not Going Roses Again” and “P.O.W.E.R.F.U.L P.I.E.R.R.E”, down to the bittersweet melodies of “Kathleen Sat on the Arm of her Favourite Chair” and “Jasper”, the album’s DIY vibe and tonguein-cheek tone stem from the innate chemistry that the band share among them, which steers the album away from repetition and makes it an exuberant listen of dreamy slacker rock.

After two concentrated bursts of blackened misanthropy in 2013, Colchester’s Jøtnarr have returned with twice the weight, twice the length and twice the scope, steering themselves away from the lightless chill of their second-wave-worshipping early recordings and into more doom - and postrock-inflected territory. There’s no shortage of fury, the brief Hernswolf burning as mercilessly as a spot-welder while Sunless woozily sways from elegant sludge to flurries of tremolo and stygian shrieks but, as there can be no darkness without light, they have presented the violence and chaos with commensurate calm to match. It might lack the throat-grabbing immediacy of their demo, but its measured approach is a strikingly effective one, making this not just a great genre EP, but a great metal record, period.

FOR FANS OF:

FOR FANS OF:

STELLA ELIADOU

Kid Wave, Menace Beach, Black Lips

DAVE BOWES

Rorcal, Darkthrone, Winterfylleth

OUT NOW

JERUSALEM IN MY HEART If He Dies, If If If If If If

8

Constellation Records (2015) The mesmeric new album from Lebanese national turned Montreal native Radwan Ghazi Moumneh finds him refining further the intoxicating meld of electronic techniques with Arabic modes of musical expression.

Following some years as a strictly live performance based project, this second full recording sounds like a gauze filter has been placed across traditional song forms of the Middle East. “A Granular Buzuk” is the perfect example of Moumneh’s operational mode, as acoustic instrumentation slowly transforms through electronic processing to create an entirely new digital hybrid gradually accumulating layers of scree and distortion as a soft pulse beats a pattering hybrid before a final frenzied collapse as though deliberately overloaded. “7ebr El 3oyoum” focuses on a skyscraping vocal meditation turned to thundering drumbeats while the hurried breathing which opens “Qala Li Kafa Kafa Kafa Kafa Kafa” swiftly morphs into smeared noise and almost Moroder-like electro throb.

Moumneh is taking the traditional instrumentation of his home region and terraforming it into a singular and highly personal expression of his own identity, akin to his carving a Fourth World musical structure from his very soul.

EUAN ANDREWS

REVIEWS

OUT NOW

9 JULIA HOLTER Have You In My Wilderness Domino (2015)

The LA-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Julia Holter is another serious case where complexity and apparently simplicity are intertwined often to the confusion of the listener. At least that’s the point made with her latest studio effort, Have You In My Wilderness, in which Holter mocks the very definition of the word accessible. Yes, it is arguably her most accessible work to date, but there’s still a big trench to be dug. The chameleon effect that runs through the entire album makes the listening experience not only pleasurable, but also puzzling and at times nerve-racking. There’s a disquiet present, nagging the brain and forcing you to keep digging. Its layers, dynamics, and atmospheric swings make it an incredibly intricate maze and an absurdly absorbing piece. It’s a herculean effort to avoid being in awe of it.

TIAGO MOREIRA

FOR FANS OF:

Fiona Apple, Joanna Newsom, Jenny Hval

JOHN GRANT Grey Tickles, Black Pressure Bella Union (2015)

08.10

9

O

n HBO’s Talking Funny Ricky Gervais describes Louis CK’s comedy with, “This is a man falling apart for my pleasure.” That’s the feeling transmitted by the former lead vocalist of The Czars.

Grey Tickles, Black Pressure (which can be translated to “middle age nightmare”) doesn’t feel just to be in parallel with the comedy world.

Grant seems to walk on the same tracks of people like CK, Bill Burr, George Carlin, Gervais, Bill Hicks, etc. “I can’t believe I’ve missed NY during the 70s / I could have gotten a head start in the world of diseases / I’m sure that I would have contracted every single solitary thing,” he sings on the title track. The funnily dangerous, awkward, and untamed John Grant is revealed once again. But he goes on with brilliant punchlines like “You probably went to Chernobyl for your honeymoon” (“You & Me”).

Like any great comedian, Grant knows that, “He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.” The definition of love quoted from 1 Corinthians 13:4 that opens and closes the album is an affirmation of the positive pole’s existence on Grant’s electrical circuit.

Grant is an astute motherfucker, his music can be as itchy as his thoughts and as profound/witty as his lyrics. Whether you like it or not, John Grant is one of the best, most crafty songwriters of this generation.

TIAGO MOREIRA

FOR FANS OF:

John Grant, The Czars, Jonathan Wilson

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

99

09.10

8

OUT NOW

KOWLOON WALLED CITY Grievances OUT NOW

7

Kagoule are 90’s kids. As in, they were born in the 90’s. Yet their debut album leaves you with the impression that it could have been recorded in a dirty Seattle basement in the heyday of grunge. With Urth, the Nottingham three-piece toe the line between light and dark, creating a sound that is as thrilling as it is unsettling, and showing a maturity beyond their years. There is a structure in every single song that brings to mind the controlled chaos in Fugazi’s sound, with bassist Lucy Hatter’s vocals cutting through the intensity of Cai Burns’ delivery to soften the blow at times. Grunge associations aside, Urth is a record alive with youthful anxiety and restlessness, with no track gone to waste.

As with most things that are actually worth something in the end, the new Kowloon Walled City takes its time to conquer the approval of the more selective listeners. Not that Grievances isn’t great music, but because one can easily be mistaken to think they have just recorded the same album again – to think that would be a lazy man’s fallacy. It’s a sign of the times, I guess, where culture is often confused with entertainment and perceived has a disposable product created to be consumed fast. Not only have KWC sharpened their already quite singular guitar and bass sound – definitely where a large part of the band’s identity resides -, but also perfected their songwriting. A song like the opener, “Your Best Years” bears witness to the maturity of the band and signature style when it comes to create grandiose, sludgy and rather doomish rock music.

That guitar lead by the second minute will certainly grab the listener’s attention, bringing up whatever goes through his mind when considering his best/ worst moments. A simple guitar line that encloses true emotion, what else can we ask for?

FOR FANS OF:

FOR FANS OF:

KADAVAR Berlin

8

Nuclear Blast (2015)

Kadavar have slowly but steadily become more prominent, secure and self-assured of their style and vision.

Their sound can be categorized as a fusion of Black Sabbath heaviness and Led Zeppelin quirkiness with a sprinkle of Jimi Hendrix’s acid rock feel. While their previous works where more derivative and showed a band still trying to achieve their goal, on their third full-length release the member are in perfect synchronization to create some mean and lean stoner rock.

Grams of reverb, Kilos of bass and tons of distortion and melody help create a very interesting record in an ever increasingly stale genre. This goes to show that you can take the past as your basic template and create something thoroughly rooted in the present.

You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but in this case the cover helps to show that these guys know what they want and they know how to get it.

NUNO BABO

FOR FANS OF: Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, The Shrine

100

music&riots

October

Neurot Recordings (2015)

KAGOULE Urth

Earache (2015)

ANTIGONI PITTA

Fugazi, Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins

RICARDO ALMEIDA

Thou, Unsane, Whores, KEN mode

REVIEWS

OUT NOW

7 P.O.D. The Awakening Universal (2015)

Whatever you think about P.O.D., they’re anything but lazy. Every single time they drop an album we already know what to expect, huge songs that are going to be stuck in our heads for days. The Awakening is another effort about dealing with life, making mistakes, fighting and trying... Every single song is a potential hit and they have Maria Brink of In This Moment and Lou Koller of Sick Of It All as noble guests. The Awakening is solid and strong, another well crafted album.

FAUSTO CASAIS

OUT NOW

7 PIGS Wronger

Solar Flare Records (2015)

Pigs is a Brooklyn-based band formed in 2008. Although they are a city band, their sound is particulary assimilated with that Texas smell of a bar where a country noise rock gives its show, and as if they went together in a van trip between the heat of the road and the desert of patience.

Three guys that play in many bands, countless shows in several places, and still can’t leave it alone, cannot be still and want to keep following their journey.

SÉRGIO KILMORE

OUT NOW

8 SNAIL Feral

Small Stone Records (2015)

Feral is a remarkable effort, a bold experimentation with a heavy cosmic vibe that goes deep into our brains, leaving a trace with high levels of psychedelia on it... Diverse and heavy, Feral goes from doom to psych, from punk to that classic Alice in Chains dirtiness and raw sound. It seems like they’re gathering all the good genres and splice them into this epic and expansive effort. Snail have been around since 1992, 20 years later they delivered their masterpiece.

FAUSTO CASAIS

LE BUTCHERETTES A Raw Youth Ipecac (2015)

I

OUT NOW

9

f there’s one thing that I refuse vehemently to put it as arguable is the power, capability, skill, and grandiosity of Teri Gender Bender as a musician, artist, activist, songwriter, and frontwoman. Her output under the moniker Le Butcherettes has increasingly grown in quality whilst the intensity and rawness (both emotionally and sonically) have remained intact (to say the least), ensuring that Le Butcherettes of today are truthful to the intents that kicked off this ride back in 2008 with the Kiss & Kill EP. The band’s third album kicks the first door differently from the other two studio efforts. It’s unmerciful raw and direct, a punk rock scream to the bone. Perhaps “My Mallely” would be the more logic choice to open the album, but “Shave My Pride” is the perfect cadence shifter. It’s a punch in the face. A wake up call is in order. Not that Bender has lost, or denied her ability of infuse pop, create beautiful melodies and hooks that ease and exalt the listening experience – actually that department received a magnificent improvement – but when the lyrical themes are so real, relevant, complicated, and necessary, then one must “grab the bull by the horns”.

A Raw Youth is the book that they don’t want you to read. It’s the hard hitting truth “embellished” with top notch songwriting.

TIAGO MOREIRA

FOR FANS OF:

Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney, Ex Hex, The Distillers

musicandriots.com

101

09.10

OUT NOW

OUT NOW

7

7

8

KISSES Rest in Paradise

LA LUZ Weirdo Shrine

LIMB Terminal

LA’s disco duo Jesse Kivel and Zinzi Edmundson, known as Kisses, are back with a new and joyful LP. Since the release of their latest record, 2013’s Kids in L.A., the duo got married and had a baby - you can see on their promo photos some candid photos of Zinzi’s big belly. When thinking about the sonority of Kisses, we go instantly to a cheerful disco. You can’t stop moving while listen to their hypnotic tunes, and Rest In Paradise is no exception.

This time around, they teamed up with some cool musicians, we’re talking about Andrew Raposo and members of his band, Midnight Magic, who brought some new elements to the mix. Rest In Paradise is meant to be danceable and optimistic, but that’s what every release by Kisses are, right?

How to complete a song with only your voice? In a way so clear that all other instruments create an hegemony with the words that spring? And as suddenly the voice disappears and the instrument continues the verses and poems?

In Weirdo Shrine, the second album of La Luz, all of this happens. Surf Rock.

Is this the label that Seattle band has to live with. And they do not care much about it as openly embody the typical guitar of Californians 70 and the typical aaaah haaaa, vocalized in a profusion of a certain exaggeration.

Overall, it’s a very interesting album, with rhythm transmitting an unusual happiness and shamelessness. It could be a bit more aggressive, although the appearance of a greater force in certain songs.

Limb are the kind of band who needed to develop their work normally without being situated in a particular space or stagnant to a musical building. And as time passes and the band increases its cohesion, Terminal takes an enormous step forward. Maybe by the result of constantly touring across the UK, or the introduction of new drummer ex-Uncle Acid or even the hooked up for production the legendary metal producer Russ Russel, in this particular a brilliant thump card that created this work sounding more explosive, clearer and polished. The band give a thick stoner vibe by swinging the groove in every note, never failed to be heavy as well. Terminal will likely be considered one of the best release in this year, in its genre.

FOR FANS OF:

FOR FANS OF:

FOR FANS OF:

Hardly Art (2015)

Hit City U.S.A. (2015)

ANDREIA ALVES

New Heavy Sounds (2015)

NUNO TEIXEIRA

Best Coast, Beach Day, Dum Dum Girls

Blondie, Chad Valley, Disclosure

SÉRGIO KLMORE

Stoneburner, Eyehategod, Weedeater

OUT NOW

OUT NOW

16.10

7

7

7

MOTORHEAD Bad Magic

NECK DEEP Life’s Not Out to Get You

NOTHING BUT THIEVES Nothing But Thieves

The legendary rock’n’roll band is back with their 22nd studio album.

Yes, you read it right, twenty-second.

One thing that differs Motörhead from the bands of their generation is their constant need for new music and new material. I can’t recall any other artist with four decades on the scene who continues to record on a regular basis, and offer a new album every two or three years. Lead by absolute legend, Lemmy Kilmister, Motörhead created only thing they could ever create – fast, aggressive and highly energetic r’n’r record. They are not what they were back in the 80s, they are not chart toppers nor hot stuff on the market, but they still make music they love, and do that very good.

It’s fair to say that Neck Deep are hot stuff in the music market these days. It’s also fair to say the band managed to establish themselves as a leading force in the third wave of pop punk. And they did it all in just three years. Just a year after the successful debut, they got back in the studio and recorded Life’s Not Out to Get You. Technically, this album has everything one good pop punk record needs. The band offered catchy melodies, sweet vocals, pace, energy, and emotion. Although I can’t see any smashing hits, or songs that can get them exposure to wider, non-pop punk audience, I see a solid record, and a good summer soundtrack. Unfortunately, just for one summer.

Southend’s Nothing But Thieves are a rock band. A rock band in the broadest sense of the word, with little respect for boundaries. Kasabian, Muse, Arcade Fire, Jeff Buckley, and Radiohead are some of the countless influences displayed on their debut self-titled album.

The quintet doesn’t hide how much they love to play around with their sound, bending its identity at each track until that core element is noticed and used as a link... It’s most likely the pop sensibility that they proudly exhibit throughout the entire album. Like most of their influences, NBT are very much concerned with their surroundings, making the lyrics not only an excuse for another beautiful sound, but something more relevant. It seems like the first step towards world domination.

FOR FANS OF:

FOR FANS OF:

FOR FANS OF:

MILJAN MILEKIC

Motörhead, Motörhead and Motörhead

102

music&riots

RCA (2015)

Hopeless Records (2015)

UDR (2015)

October

MILJAN MILEKIC

State Champs, New Found Glory

Kasabian, Muse, Jeff Buckley

TIAGO MOREIRA

REVIEWS

08.10

02.10

8 LOMA PRIETA Self Portrait

8 MAYDAY PARADE Black Lines

Fearless Records (2015)

The latest album from Loma Prieta isn’t a revolution in the band’s sound or aesthetic. The preference for lo-fi is still presented in the display of the new material and one is “obligated” to wonder the effect of such insistence.

You see, Loma Prieta are undoubtedly at the forefront of hardcore/screamo music – even if the following doesn’t translate it – and have been showing it for quite some time. Self Portrait is, like its predecessor I.V., a rather exciting and enthralling collection of songs that display an unmeasured level of songwriting quality, made by a band that is perilously emotionally, courageously personal, and irremediably dark. If it’s hardly debatable the remarkable quality that the album exudes, then the way the album is presented can be easily questioned.

It was ten years ago that these dudes from Florida started this band. Their progression over the years is just unquestionable, sound wise and as a group of musicians as well. Now they have a pretty loyal fanbase and at their fifth album they show how they still manage to deliver a refreshing effort. Forget the powerful pop-punk tunes you heard on Monsters in the Closet - their previous record released in 2013 - and give yourself to this new album that is a blast! Produced by Mike Sapone - which has worked with acts like Brand New, Taking Back Sunday Black Lines is full of driving rock riffs with a lot of emotion-driven lyrics, which leads to more edgier and heavier songs. Derek’s voice is more dynamic and confident than ever. As a bonus, they got on board Dan Lambton of Real Friends singing on the opener “One Of Them Will Destroy The Other” which is a great way to start the record.

FOR FANS OF:

FOR FANS OF:

Deathwish Inc. (2015)

TIAGO MOREIRA

Yaphet Kotto, Envy, Funeral Diner

IF YOU LIKE, ALSO TRY THIS:

ANDREIA ALVES

Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, Bayside

TAKING BACK SUNDAY Tell All Your Friends (Victory Records)

BRAND NEW Deja Entendu (Razor & Tie)

JIMMY EAT WORLD Bleed American (Dreamworld)

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

103

OUT NOW

OUT NOW

7 MOON ZERO Moon Zero

Denovali Records (2015)

As an opening track “Laika” beams in on a headrush of Blade Runner synths, it’s clear that there are artists out there for whom it will always be Los Angeles 2019 and Vangelis’s soundtrack a formative musical experience. Rightly so, the film and attendant music remain an influence on so many modes of modern thinking and artistry. Moon Zero is Tim Garratt, a man enmeshed into the 21st century London cityscape and looking to find meaning within urban malaise. This debut album was created in five hours flat out of basic tape loops, making this ambient electronica with a most immediate and visceral impact.

Perfect for night explorations deep underground.

FOR FANS OF:

EUAN ANDREWS

Vangelis, John Lemke

104

music&riots

8 OUGHT Sun Coming Down

Constellation Records (2015)

7

In the wave of post-punk revival that highlights this time of misinformation and at the same time of clear certainty, Ought is making us think about the mundane day-to-day, where our life is sucked into the vacuum of social networks. The band displays a synergy that easily expresses the personal reality of its elements and many of us in society. The lazy rhythmic repetition, noisy guitars capable of torturing ears and carelessness in Tim Darcy’s voice, perfectly complement a unique and conscious language. “Beautiful Blue Sky” demystifies the intention of the band, it’s a real bucket of cold water over the apathetic elements of society “Warplane / Condo / New development / I feel alright (...) beautiful weather today / How’s the church?

How’s the job?”. Confronted by reality, we ignore it for the sake of happiness, because while the world’s problems are deep in the navel of mankind, all remains intact.

We are witnessing a new emancipation of female voices in America (and elsewhere), that it is worth and is welcomed. Despite the considerable sonic differences, quality of bands like Perfect Pussy and Speedy Ortiz depend directly on conscious writing of its vocalists Meredith Graves and Sadie Dupuis, respectively. This is the case also on Palehound, with the self-expression of Ellen Kempner in her Folk/Indie Rock representation, which reveals a natural talent for writing love post-relationship songs. After all, this was the inspiration for the design of the album and for those who are sick of hearing the side of the men, I would opt, without a second thought, to do therapy with the mood and lyrical honesty of Ellen.

FOR FANS OF:

FOR FANS OF:

RUI CORREIA

Iceage, Protomartyr, Parquet Courts

October

OUT NOW

PALEHOUND Dry Food

Exploding in Sound (2015)

Speedy Ortiz, Courtney Barnett

RUI CORREIA

REVIEWS

OUT NOW

IF YOU LIKE, ALSO TRY THIS:

OUT NOW

9 PARKWAY DRIVE Ire

7

Epitaph (2015)

What a great year regarding new releases, especially when we’re talking about heavy music. Ire is Parkway Drive’s fifth album, it’s also career-defining statement and a huge leap regarding their previous efforts.

Parkway Drive as group reach to that point of their career where they really needed to aim everything in this new release, plus they should be ambitious as fuck and push their own limits.

Because they have done all that, Ire rocks like an absolute bastard. Heavy and brave, Ire is accomplished, heavy and unbelievable powerful from start to finish. Songs like “Vice Grip” and “Crushed” are leading the way to become one of the most brutal and ferocious songs of this year, still regarding heavy releases. Winston’s vocal range is more strong and confident than ever, showing in perfection the band’s new found musical depth and urgency.

FAUSTO CASAIS

FOR FANS OF:

Lamb Of God, Biohazard, King 810

PENTAGRAM Curious Volume BIOHAZARD Urban Discipline (Roadrunner)

LAMB OF GOD Sacrament (Epic)

KING 810 Memoirs of a Murder (Roadrunner)

Peaceville (2015)

This band from Virginia has had to endure line up changes, label problems and personal problems, the only constant being the lead singer Bobby Liebling who somehow managed to keep it all together and never let this legendary project perish.

They’ve been around for 40 odd years and have evolved from a cult act to a revered and influential doom metal band. Menacing rhythms intertwined with bass and guitar melodies and unified by Liebling’s acidic voice to create an extremely heavy and very seventies entrenched sound. That can be a problem or a blessing depending on how you look at it, for those looking for a modern sounding band, who applies an arsenal of studio tricks steer clear of this.

FOR FANS OF:

NUNO BABO

Saint Vitus, Trouble, Cathedral

musicandriots.com

105

PUBLIC ENEMY Man Plans God Laughs Spitdigital (2015) OUT NOW

8 PETITE NOIR La Vie Est Belle / Life Is Beautiful Domino (2015)

When our hears are introduced to “Best”, the first track on the album to feature Petite Noir’s voice, there’s this déjà vu that transport us to Arcade Fire’s single “Reflektor”. Understandable since “Reflektor” had two amazing Haitian percussionists on it. But is Yannick Ilunga able to deliver unique voice with his debut? Absolutely! He even has a name for it: “noirwave”. La Vie Est Belle / Life Is Beautiful show us an artist that isn’t afraid to go on a limb, and if necessary fall and hurt himself.

Petite Noir blended cultures, blended the most wide-ranging, and sometimes very much contrasting musical influences in a work that takes proud of being irremediably positive. Ilunga is probably one of the few that can be compared with Grace Jones.

FOR FANS OF:

TIAGO MOREIRA

Grace Jones, Amadou & Mariam

106

music&riots

October

T

he hip hop mastodons are back with a new record.

Those are the news you probably couldn’t see on every single website and magazine. There is no hype. No madness and anticipation. After 33 years of career, Public Enemy are not on their prime, nor this record is their best one.

But still, they are damn important.

Back into the underground, far from eyes of mainstream crowd, they continue their fight. During the course of their career, Public Enemy may not be among super popular bands, rockstars or regular chart toppers, but their real strength lies in their influece. They haven’t been important only for hip hop artists, they were foundation to many rock and especially punk artists and their work.

Musically, this album can’t

OUT NOW

7

offer anything new from the group.

Basicaly, it’s an old school hip hop record, with many jazz, soul, or blues influences spread across eleven songs. The real strength of this record is on the lyrics. Public Enemy are the ones who talk. War, crimes, social injustice, you name it. We may think that the problem of racism has gone, but yet, here’s Ferguson to remind us. And Public Enemy to higlight it.

Three decades of career is enough to give them enough power to say whatever they want, and a chance to be heard. They decided to use it. Like I said, this may not be their best record, but it’s definetely a record worth a listen. In a time where the roots of hip hop movement are almost lost, where the biggest stars talk about money, cars and asses, somebody has to carry the flag.

Public Enemy are still willing to do that, but, I do think they could use some help.

MILJAN MILEKIC

REVIEWS

PUBLIC IMAGE LTD. What the World Needs Now...

Pil Official (2015)

Y

ou can’t disassociate John Lydon from PIL and you can’t do the contrary either, because one cannot exist without the other. No matter how disjointed, chaotic or experimental the music is, ultimately its Lydon’s presence and bravado that gives life to these songs.

He may not be the most gifted lead singer, but the way he is able to channel his dissident and oddball persona, gives the themes meaning and intensity.

When he was fronting The Sex Pistols, his lyrics where, as one would expect from a punk band blunt, abrasive and direct, with

OUT NOW

8

PIL his lyrics are more often than not abstract and quasi ethereal.

And all is bound together by the talented musicians that constitute this collective.

They can unify seamlessly the disjointed and jumbled verbal abuse with the melodies, to create an intelligible picture painted

by Lydon with his acerbic poetry whether he his singing about love, war or plumbing.

After the appropriately titled This is PIL, this is the second album since the reunion and at first glance it sounds deceptively more accessible than their previous effort. Like with all the great records, only repeated listenings reveals the details of the sonic tapestry.

In Lydon’s quest to devise incoherency and disarray, he has managed to create an accessible form of experimental music.

NUNO BABO

OUT NOW

8 PULO REVÉ É

Self-Released (2015)

Let’s be honest, the term post-hardcore nowadays implies – most of the times anyway – some “stuff” that’s not that pleasant... Copycats with no soul whatsoever. The album has 12 tracks?

You’re thinking about smashing your face into a concrete wall by track six.

Pulo Revé fortunately have an album with 12 tracks that are utterly enjoyable and pleasurable to explore...

Yes, here you have something that you want to explore. The debut album by the Saint Albans-based five piece is extremely well packed with all these different elements: indie rock, emo, noise, post-rock, hardcore, etc. É is a hell of a debut album and it goes to show that the “genre” is still relevant.

After this awesome work, Pulo Revé are now under (close) scrutiny.

FOR FANS OF:

TIAGO MOREIRA

The Mars Volta, La Dispute, letlive.

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

107

OUT NOW

OUT NOW

7

8

SOULFLY Archangel

SUZUKI JUNZO If I Die Before I Wake

Another year, another Max Cavalera record. The Brazilian is still one of the most prolific musicians within the genre, returning once again with Archangel, Soulfly’s 10th studio release. While most songs circle around his brand of Groove/Thrash, highlights like “Archangel”, “Shamash” and “Bethlehem’s Blood” display some diversity intertwined with Cavalera Conspiracy’s trademark brutality, ingeniously combining various ethnic tones with a battery of fist-clenching riffs. However, Archangel doesn’t sound that much distinctive from Cavalera’s most recent works, which prompts the question of whether Max should spend more time crafting his material in order to add a bit more depth to it before releasing it. Still, having this in account.

Capable of descending from frenzy to fugue in a blink of the third eye, Suzuki Junzo’s grasp of implosive psychedelia remains impressive and this latest cassette captures him at his most immersive. Joined by High Rise’s Takahashi Ikuro on drums, side A’s studio material spans the breadth of psychedelia as Suzuki launches into noise-fuelled ecstasies and languishes in strained minimalism, each twang and frenzy drawing the listener into a realm of anti-sound so otherworldly that the Black Lodge seems like Milton Keynes in comparison, while the claustrophobic swell of live closer... Norma Desmond is a masterclass in the use of tone over technicality as a musical worldbuilder.

It might be tricky to find a copy but the hunt is more than worth the effort.

Was Ist Das? (2015)

Nuclear Blast (2015)

SLAYER Repentless

OUT NOW

Nuclear Blast (2015)

7

Being Slayer’s first record since Jeff Hanneman’s death in 2013, Repentless raised the question of whether the band was able to maintain their identity after losing what many considered to be their main creative force.

This concern is only natural given that Hanneman crafted the majority of the band’s most iconic songs, and although King was responsible for writing most of ‘94’s tech-masterpiece, Divine Intervention, his creative input for the band has never been as strong or engaging ever since the release of that record. However, it’s clear that King recognized the importance of having to deliver a doubt-shattering record to prove that Slayer could still continue without its former members, and Repentless is the embodiment of that statement. It might not be the strongest record the band has ever released, but breakneck ragers like “Repentless”, “Take Control”, and other more obscure cuts such as “When The Stillness Comes”, the Hanneman-penned “Piano Wire” and punishing closer “Pride in Prejudice” show that Slayer still know how to conduct their business despite their losses.

Given current circumstances, Repentless came out as a pretty solid Slayer record, but on the downside the innovation factor is practically non-existent. King could have stirred up the waters had he given Gary Holt free reign to write some material, but ended up delivering something that can be considered more of a sequel to 2004’s Christ Illusion rather than a truly unique record exploring the full possibilities of the Araya, King, Holt and Bostaph line-up.

FOR FANS OF:

LUÍS ALVES

Slayer, Slayer and more Slayer...

108

music&riots

October

LÚÍS ALVES

FOR FANS OF:

DAVE BOWES

FOR FANS OF:

AMT, Eternal Tapestry, Guardian Alien

Sepultura, Cavalera Conspiracy

OUT NOW

OUT NOW

8

8

SVALBARD One Day All This Will End

THE DEAR HUNTER Act IV: Rebirth In Reprise

The ‘stadium crust’ tag might have been a giggle but it’s proving apt, the d-beat pummel of opener “Perspective” and its eventual collapse into emotional tumult ranking as only one of the many monumental shifts to take place on Svalbard’s debut full-length. From the melodic chuggery of “Expect Equal Respect” to Lily’s soaring bliss, it shows that they haven’t lost the knack for grabbing onto a good hook but rather than providing the basis of these songs, it’s more of an embellishment that ties their past efforts to the fine grasp of tone and momentum that they’re displaying these days. They’re giving their intellectually and emotionally weighty hardcore the space to breathe and grow and it has resulted in an album that exceeds some already lofty expectations for the band.

If you know The Dear Hunter since they formed, then you are familiar with the fantastic conceptual story they’ve been developing over the years; for those who are just now getting in touch with their music, you should stop reading this review and go back to 2006 to listen to the Act I: The Lake South, The River North. Act IV: Rebirth In Reprise is the continuation of the six-act story of the main character, known as The Dear Hunter. Act IV is monumental and shows the rebirth of the band - especially of the frontman Casey Crescenzo. The album features the Awesöme Orchestra, which gave an epic touch to the amazing compositions of Crescenzo like we’re listening to a film’s soundtrack. It’s intense and bold, bravo!

FOR FANS OF:

FOR FANS OF:

Holy Roar (2015)

Bastions, Oathbreaker, Baptists

Rude Records (2015)

DAVE BOWES

Circa Survive, Tides of Man

ANDREIA ALVES

REVIEWS

30.10

7 SOFY MAJOR Waste

Solar Flare Records (2015)

French Sofy Major embody their addiction in hardcore noise rock outfit, cropping new boundaries and lay-back pace in the band, without moving away from their rampant outbursts, melodic excerpts are more of a treat with passion and care, enveloping the transmission of its play. There are some outstanding tracks, the opening track gives the title to the album, but is with “We See Fire” that they kick on it to a brave and expand concept.

SÉRGIO KILMORE

OUT NOW

7 TANGLED THOUGHTS OF LEAVING Yield of Despair Pelagic Records (2015)

Depressive, painfull and dark. This is a 70-minute portrait of the sad decline of real human interaction and devaluation of artistic endeavour.

A set of combined elements of post-metal, jazz, noise and doom.

Challenging, deep, ugly and beautifull, all at the same time. There are some moments of hope in their evaluation, where you earn by enduring the noise, the grim repetition and the constant feeling of dread.

SÉRGIO KILMORE

OUT NOW

7 WE WENT BUFFALO Living Ghosts

Fuzzorama Records (2015)

Stoner projects are a dime a dozen nowadays, but some bands still manage to infuse a little spunk into their work. Fortunately this Vancouver trio manages to round up their influences namely 70’s experimental rock and create a record that is in equal parts heavy and ethereal. The raspy vocals bond perfectly with the guitar, bass and drums, trailblazing through one song after another. Not for everybody, but for that ever lurking niche of Stoners and Rockers out there...

NUNO BABO

OUT NOW

8

16.10

WINDHAND Grief’s Infernal Flower Relapse Records (2015)

Windhand’s third full-length album, Grief’s Infernal Flower, is the culmination of a goal, a high point (it would be indecent to call it a peak since they have many years ahead of them) of a mountain that they started climbing back in 2012 with their self-titled debut album. The Richmond, Virginia, doom metal outfit are by now in the forefront of a genre that was pivotal to the creation of many of the existent extreme music genres. It’s the balance between the monolithic riffs of the duo Asechiah Bogdan/Garrett Morris, with the occasional soulful solos, the earthy ambiences, and the impeccable, hazy vocals of Dorthia Cottrell, that make this album an irresistible trip. Tracks like “Sparrow” and “Aition” just deepen the end result with the band’s fervent folk being unapologetically exposed. Windhand’s music will grab you by the neck and amaze you every second of the 71 minutes of Grief’s Infernal Flower.

FOR FANS OF:

Pallbearer, Yob, Acid King

TIAGO MOREIRA

8 ZEBRAHEAD Walk the Plank

Rude Records (2015)

Nowadays there are not many bands like Zebrahead, these guys are not capable of making a bad record. Every single release has something new, something that really makes us enjoy them even more, it’s amazing... Walk the Plank is another take about your life, you and everyone you might know, it’s about having fun, life and beyond that, it’s that type of album that you will relate to with every single song.

Zebrahead are masters of what they do, every single pop-punk band should learn something with them, because every time they release an album we are thrown back into one of the good things that makes punk rock a unique way of blending feelings, in this case is a classic back-to-basics regarding having a good time. Well done guys!

FOR FANS OF:

FAUSTO CASAIS

Goldfinger, NOFX, Bowling For Soup

musicandriots.com

109

THE WONDER YEARS No Closer to Heaven Hopeless Records (2015)

OUT NOW

9 110

music&riots

October

L

et me start by saying that some writers and musicians go through a phase where nothing good comes out and they’re lacking creativity. That’s something that every artist fear to feel, but sometimes it’s inevitable. That was the case with The Wonder Years’ vocalist, Daniel Campbell, who suffered from writer’s block while writing the

lyrics for the band’s upcoming album. I know, reading this it seems that their new album might be a total fail, but instead it’s probably their best one to date.

No Closer To Heaven is a tremendous effort, an honest statement from the Pennsylvania’s group. Every song has some sort of intensity, whether it’s a fast or a slow song, and Dan’s lyrics are just perfect. It’s doesn’t feel at all that he went through a period that he couldn’t write a single lyric. His lyrics are strong and honest, and the

REVIEWS

REVIEWED IN OUR NEXT ISSUE

KYLESA Exhausting Fire

JOANNA NEWSOM Divers

PROTOMARTYR The Agent Intellect

SHINING International BlackJazz Society

DILLY DALLY Sore

!!! (CHK CHK CHK) As If

quote “We’re no saviors if we can’t save our brothers” is like the best way to describe the whole lyrical theme. To add a little more greatness to this record, Jason Aalon Butler from letlive. was a guest vocals on the brutal song “Stained Glass Ceilings” and they also had additional group vocals provided by Allison Weiss, Charlie Saxton, Brett Jones, Joanna Katcher, Natalie Schaffer and Dave Summers.

It’s records like No Closer To Heaven that makes bands reinvigorate themselves and go deeper into their feelings and emotions. It’s one of the best records of this year, just simple as that!

PENTIMENTO I, No Longer

CHVRCHES Every Open Eye

FOR FANS OF:

KILLING JOKE Pylon

LANA DEL REY Honeymoon

Real Friends, Modern Baseball, The Hotelier

ANDREIA ALVES

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

111

JEFF The Brotherhood (x)

REVERENCE VALADA Day 1

Just like last year, the general visuals of the venue colorfully slapped you in the face. There was a vast room for camping (though still with too little lighting), the various food stands were as handy as ever, and the lovely adjacent village of Valada made for some occasional fraternization over a beer or two.

Similarly to the first edition, there were two smaller stages (Praia and Rio) additional to the main stage (Reverence), but this year saw a change in schedule.

There were fewer bands in total, which allowed both for the audience to be able to walk between stages and missing very little and for the bands to have longer slots. This made the concerts seem less tense and time-constricted without losing their delightful punctuality.

Cutting to the first day, the only complaint would be that the sound was too loud for such a small stage. There was a respectable representation of Portuguese bands: Beautify Junkyards delivered curiously stimulating and mesmerizing covers and Galgo blew everyone away with their tight execution. JEFF the Brotherhood provided for an amazing apotheosis, spreading their classic rock/ Sabbath vibe throughout an enthusiastic audience.

112

music&riots

October

LIVE!

Alcest (u)

Sleep (x)

REVERENCE VALADA Day 2

Grave Pleasures

When the second day started, the sun was already burning everything in its path. Maybe that didn’t go too well with some of the bands in the blazing afternoon, since the excessive bass (maybe due to sound issues) would often come out as suffocating. After a few small concerts, the head turner for the crowd appeared to be Stoned Jesus, along with their clean stoner rock solos, as well as post-punk gothy Grave Pleasures. On another angle, The Warlocks gave the people some rest, gently delivering them into trance through psych-rock.

The Reverence stage was then opened by the already cult Portuguese Process of Guilt, whose enthusiastic audience – now bathed in a cool breeze – was a good omen for the rest of the evening. The Industrial-driven Bizarra Locomotiva brought an unsubtle touch of perversity, and they played their part well by letting worship and shock happen properly. On the other hand, regardless of how well their music suits the festival, Alcest didn’t seem to fit in such a huge open environment, and the exhaustingly voice-smothering loud drums certainly didn’t help. The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion had a surprisingly clean sound, as well as some delightful bluesy rock’n’roll pep talks in between songs, with a front man so prone to shenanigans as expected. However, everything was toned down as Sleep entered the stage. Even if an hour and half might have been too long for these veteran stoner-doomers, the audience certainly didn’t think so and joined them in slowing down time and space.

At the same time as these concerts, in the Praia stage, the more than heavy Ufomammut matched the expectation of a sludgy pachydermatous show, complemented with mesmerizing background projections. The ‘70s-inspired DeWolff should also be mentioned for their neatly packed southern psych party offered by undeniably great performers and musicians. musicandriots.com

113

Ufomammut (x)

REVERENCE VALADA Day 3

On the third day, we were again regaled with a lot of powerful acts from Portuguese bands. Still in the afternoon, Fast Eddie Nelson were able to pull everyone who was sitting down into their southern bluesy riot, all in the course of a minute, and kept the party going throughout their gig. Both The Act-Ups (PT) and The Jack Shits provided for really engaging, playful garage rock shows (including The Jack Shit’s front man’s cheeky going-away tomfoolery). Samsara Blues Experiment got together an impressive amount of people even before the concert began and gave them the riff-powered blast they deserved, as well as a sharp execution of their big bluesy bass-charged music. On a completely different spot of the spectrum, Miranda Lee Richards bewitched her audience into a placid state with her sweet country voice and desert echoes.

The returning 10 000 Russos got to play on the main stage this time, and proved to be more than up to the task, spreading a well presented doom vibe before being followed by Joel Gion & Guests. The former The Brian Jonestown Massacre member didn’t quite have the most responsive of audiences, but maybe the less than clean 114

music&riots

October

LIVE!

Amon Düül II (y)

Process of Guilt (u)

sound could have something to do with it.

Sean Riley & The Slowriders made for one of the lightest acts of those three days, and its Americana kind of flavor went surprisingly well with the festival’s aura.

The prog mammoths Amon Düül II could have gotten a better sound quality out of Renate Knaup’s witch-like voice, which could become piercing at times; however, I’m sure their demonic drummers and magnificent closing made up for it.

Lastly, The Horrors offered what could be considered your go-to psych rock concert: a taste of garage, a handful of distortion and an almost theatrical way of carrying themselves along with a constantly dancing audience, even if the sound came out a little fuzzy.

As for the smaller stages, one could mention the acid distorted Electric Moon, who seemed to get an impressive reaction, and Magic Castles, who built the perfect opportunity for a lighter dreamier moment.

Reverence is too big to fit in any report, and if you didn’t visit it yet, you should check for yourself the friendly folk, the colorful sky, the dusty sweaty ground and the cosmic grins to go all around. If you have visited, then I’m sure I’ll see you next year!

The Horrors (x)

Words: Andreia Figueiredo // Pictures: Valentina Ernö (x) + Jorge Pereira (y) + Natacha Monteiro (o) + João Ribeiro (u)

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

115

VODAFONE PAREDES DE COURA - Day 1 In 23 years of Festival Paredes de Coura never succeeded the following: SOLD OUT. The town of Paredes de Coura is a kind of hippie’s heaven of the 21th Century, where love, drugs... and social networks hang with each other. There was also a struggle through this long period of time. The struggle for honest music and its feeling, because the revolution will be made through it.

Be free, smoke, fuck and drink what you want, Coura draws debauchery. In fact, much of the public respects the terms of freedom and all the community trusts the people passing along the banks of Taboão (thankfully). There is a great sense of belonging to this place and so the effort is none when we go through the steep hills to the village. Paredes de Coura got the best of music as motivation: TV On The Radio full of soul in the vast territory of indie; Legendary Tigerman combative and sexy with his Rock n ‘Roll; Tame Impala serving the Portuguese with the first dose of its psychedelic universe seasoned with R&B; Lykke Li harmoniously melancholic and mystical and lastly Charles “Black Jesus” Bradley, makes us believe in something greater than ourselves: Love.

The message spread in Coura’s heavenly valley and after that, we’ll never be the same (at best).

The first day kicked off with concerts only on the main stage (Vodafone), like last year. As has been an habit, the evenings on this stage opens with Portuguese acts, in this case Gala Drop, a band that was in charge to take the first psychedelic reveries of the festival with an untouched lawn in front of them (for now), perfect for people to sit and enjoy.

This act was followed by the first concert suited for moshing. Ceremony, which ended in Paredes de Coura their European Tour presenting their latest album The L-Shaped Man showed a post-punk version of the band, revering idols of gone 70s and 80s with space and time to (older) hardcore punk songs. It was a very effective and lively concert, but strange too, because they sounded like a tribute act with little desire to grab their own identity. I did a necessary interregnum and the return to the concerts took place with Slowdive, already night made, for a beautiful journey with eyes closed and with the shoegaze surfing in every way.

For last, a natural auditorium completely filled (it was counted 25.000 people a day, 100.000 throughout the festival), welcomes with open arms one of the most desirable names in this edition: TV On The Radio. In good shape and in a 116

music&riots

October

Ceremony

Slowdive

The Lega

TV On The Radio

LIVE!

Iceage

Father John Misty

good creative tide, but still unmatched to the era of Dear Science (2008), TOTR cult grows in this valley and gives the first fruits of a solidified rock with significant samples and voices that turn up the subconscious.

Everybody wildly shakes with “Wolf Like Me”, everybody imagines the effects of meth flowing through the body (reference to Breaking Bad) with “DLZ” and everybody claps with future gospel “Golden Age”. We can expect everything, always with the very special additives from a band that is on a top of a plateau, with no other band in sight.

VODAFONE PAREDES DE COURA - Day 2

andary Tigerman

Tame Impala

Opening the main stage, peixe:avião, with its black krautrock ruled by strained undulations and a nuclear format band on stage, deserved a stronger focus that it would be only achieved at night.

The concert of Joshua Tillman aka Father John Misty was an MBA in interaction. With a strong beginning with “I Love You, Honeybear” and “Chateau Lobby # 4”, it was easy to grab there any unbeliever. Completely faithful to the character and themes, Tillman sailed with his accurate sarcasm, in provocative poses and highlighted by lit lighters, a Portuguese flag raised by the protagonist and a sense of empathy blows when we heard “Bored in the USA.” Now, I quickly move to the secondary musicandriots.com

117

stage (Vodafone.fm), with curiosity to see the “new version” of Iceage. As two years ago, it was again a strange role ... for the worse. The new Plowing into the field of Love requires a new care on stage that is not compatible with the punk excess that in no way has changed.

Back at the main stage it’s time for Blues Rock from The Legendary Tiger Man. “Veni, vidi, vici” was the motto of achievement witnessed at the end of the show, when we all together shouted “Rock n ‘Roll” and faithfully resurrected in us its presence.

Without moving from the place, about 25 thousand people waited for the psychedelic trip of Tame Impala. Music, light and image interconnected perfectly in the show and from the beginning, they were received with open arms, when the anthem of the year “Let It Happen” plays in extended version.

In fact the extent of music was one of the brands in this concert, determining a set with less songs and more time to absorb the trip. A shy Kevin Parker was loosening up and he started to interact, naturally absorbed by the enthusiasm of Coura’s people. Enlightening victory for the Australians in the first show of the tour.

Mark Lanegan

VODAFONE PAREDES DE COURA - Day 3 Day 3 of the festival featured some lineup errors: the danceable rock of X-Wife which opened the main stage, had everything to score a stronger night position while Allah-Las could have calmed a hot late afternoon with their pretty straight forward surf-rock.

Mark Lanegan, in turn, discharged all the red lights on the stage, but the sound does not deceive, is the harsh Blues, on account of many cigarettes and whiskey. It is certain at the end, that the show combines better with an auditorium, where the walls of a room do not let escape the bitter words of Lanegan. The concert closed with a beautiful cover of “Atmosphere” of Joy Division, which these days are present, whether by tribute bands (Ceremony, remember?) or fashion trend.

Following to the second stage, I visited one of the biggest surprises of this year: Merchandise. Cohesive and with a very clear sound, recalling the best reasons from other nostalgic British band: The Smiths.

It will not take much time to see them stepping bigger stages.

Behold, back to the main stage, it is time for the greatest communion throughout the festival. Charles Bradley accompanied by His Extraordinaires, presented the audience with the best groove of another generation of musicians who carried forward the conventions of black music such as James Brown and Ray Charles. But I venture to say, they took the stage by assault with genuine 118

music&riots

October

Merchandise

Charles Bradley

LIVE! timelessness of a front man who feels every note, every dance and every tear of happiness that drops from his face.

This is the more consistent soundtrack with the overflow of love that covers this valley and hardly something that arose later would be able to lift us again to a state of ecstasy. That is why The War On Drugs had the difficult task of closing the night, but in fact their trippy sound (on the road style), served perfectly for a final trip.

VODAFONE PAREDES DE COURA - Day 4

Natalie Prass

Lykke Li

Early on, two good surprises were served in the second stage - Holy Nothing, Portuguese band that interacts through projection and the electronics of their synths and effects in a more human shape - showed sufficient arguments for wanting to repeat a new dance with them; Natalie Prass, who followed them, made it easy to like her in mere seconds. The sweet and commanding voice deserved the harmony prize of the festival.

Also in this stage, Fuzz, led by Ty Segall on drums, consummated an old fashioned massive destruction in what became the busiest concert on the second stage of Coura and became noticeable the thirst of many for the dirtiest Rock. Temples in turn, on the main stage, did their best with psychedelic rock and did not fled from its foundations (you heard it, Tame Impala?). Lykke Li, one of the most interesting names in Swedish music, appeared in a black cloak, full of theatricality. There was time for main songs as “No Rest For The Wicked” and “Follow Rivers”, but also for the unusual cover of Drake “Hold On, We’re Going Home”, on a space in which all gained significant weight by the dramatic, and unique vocal cadence of Lykke Li. The protagonist vanished in the darkness of her music, creating pretext to her mystique.

Reaching the final straight of this festival, we received the eclectic Ratatat, a New York duo that gives us a very specific version of psychedelia and tropicalism, camouflaged by guitars, samples and abstract projections. In mode after party, I was ready to see The Soft Moon, last strong trump card, which offered one of the most intense concerts. Luis Vasquez transmits its ‘I’ in music, like many few deliver. I highly recommend anyone finding Soft Moon live, to free anxieties, to shake the foundations of being.

Words: Rui Correia // Pictures: Hugo Lima

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

119

THE VISIT

9

DID YOU KNOW?

DIRECTOR: M. Night Shyamalan STARRING: Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie, Kathryn Hahn, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Samuel Stricklen, Patch Darragh, Jorge Cordova, Steve Annan, Benjamin Kanes USA 2015

Stay in your room! You must keep that in mind, because when things get weird and scary, there is nothing more safe than the door shut and hide under the bed...

M. Night Shyamalan is back to his roots. Let’s salute to that! After several missed shots, seems that he found himself with this weird and terrifying dark comedy. The Visit is the story of a brother and sister who are sent to their grandparents’ remote Pennsylvania farm for a weeklong trip. They never had any contact with them, even their faces were totally unknown for both brothers...

Deeply disturbing and original, The Visit brings all the classic 120

music&riots

October

horror clichés and mixed them with sharp takes of pure comedy, providing that essential element that nowadays seems lost in the cinema, the experience of watching a movie and the mixed feelings that this will cause in the audience.

The Visit brings joy, relief, really good laughs, rap battles, tension and creepy moments that will unnerve you. We can even say that this might be Shyamalan best movie in over a decade, the creepiest comeback from one of the best filmmakers of the last 20 years. Let’s wait if he can keep up this vote of confidence.

FAUSTO CASAIS

M. Night Shyamalan used his fee from the Will Smith produced science-fiction adventure epic fail After Earth (2013) to selfproduce the film in question.

+ According to statements made on Twitter, M. Night Shyamalan prepared three different cuts of the film. One that was “pure comedy”, another that was “pure horror”, and a final one that “fell somewhere in between.”

CINEMA

LOVE & MERCY

8

DIRECTOR: Bill Pohlad STARRING: John Cusack, Paul Dano, Elizabeth Banks, Paul Giamatti, Jake Abel, Kenny Wormald, Graham Rogers, Joanna Going, Bill Camp, Brett Davern, Nick Gehlfuss, Erin Darke, Max Schneider USA 2015 Love & Mercy is the biopic of the genius and iconic musician Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. It all may seem wonderful like his music, but this film is not so easy to digest because it goes to deeper and stranger places of Wilson’s life, which wasn’t always an easy one.

This film portraits two phases of his life: in the 60’s, when Beach Boys were on the rise but Wilson was struggling with emerging psychosis as he attempted to craft his masterpiece; in the 80’s, when he was completely broken and sick and was under the control of the therapist Dr. Eugene Landy. Dano and Cusack, who play the role as Wilson in the 60’s and 80’s respectively, are efficient to show how fragile but graceful was and is Wilson as a musician, but mostly as a human being. It’s just a in-depth film of his life during and after the critical success that Beach Boys achieved.

After watching this movie, you’ll be singing-along all the Beach Boys classics and probably respect a little more the legend that Brian Wilson is.

ANDREIA ALVES

ALOHA

6

DIRECTOR: Cameron Crowe STARRING: Bradley

Cooper, Rachel McAdams, Emma Stone, Bill Murray, John Krasinski, Danny McBride, Alec Baldwin, Bill Camp, Jaeden Lieberher USA 2015

First of all, I don’t really get how a movie like Aloha, that’s kind of consistent and a heartwarming, was so crushed by the critics.

It’s not brilliant, of course, yet is not as bad has it’s been told. Cameron Crowe just goes nice and steady on this film, just as on his previous one, We Bought a Zoo. Aloha is basically a romantic comedy that involves patriotism, astronomy, and Hawaiian folklore. Brian Gilcrest (Bradley Cooper) is a military contractor that returns to Hawai and reconnects with a long-ago love Tracy Woodside (Rachel McAdams), but in the meantime, he falls in love with Allison Ng (Emma Stone), an Air Force liaison. The whole film develops around that love triangle, with beautiful landscapes and charming moments. Emma Stone is funny and enthralling as usual, and she’s probably one of the reasons this film has some grace.

Despite Aloha received negative reviews from worldwide critics and has grossed only $26 million against a budget of $37 million yeah, that’s a fact - it still is a pretty watchable movie with a good cast and good plot.

ANDREIA ALVES

musicandriots.com

121

IT FOLLOWS

9

IF YOU LIKE, ALSO TRY THIS:

DIRECTOR: David Robert Mitchell STARRING: Maika Monroe, Keir Gilchrist, Olivia

Luccardi, Bailey Spry, Lili Sepe, Debbie Williams, Jake Weary, Daniel Zovatto, Ruby Harris, Leisa Pulido, D.J. Oliver, Linda Boston, Ingrid Mortimer USA 2015

If I could sum up David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows in one word, it would be; refreshing. Horror movies nowadays have become exploitative trash used to lure casual moviegoers in to a cheap cinematic experience full of clichés and jump scares. However, It Follows is a very intelligent horror movie as it uses a solid script and ambiguity as its main scare tactic instead of CGI, gore and an elaborate monster.

When used correctly, ambiguity is one of the best cinematic tools.

It makes the audience think and make up their own minds about why certain things occur in the movie. This has been used effectively in movies such as Donnie Darko, Inception, and 2001: A Space Odyssey to high critical acclaim.

In terms of plot, It Follows is an homage to 1980s slashers so of course it centres around a teenage girl named Jay (Maika Monroe) and her coming-of-age story while being haunted by a killer of sorts. The 122

music&riots

October

“antagonist” so to speak of It Follows is a parasite passed through to others via physical intimacy. It’s much more interesting than the usual disfigured psycho going rampant with some sort of bladed object which in today’s world, would be all CGI. We never actually learn what “It” is as it takes on human forms, this is very effective as in horror movies, less is always more and director David Robert Mitchell is totally aware of this. Plus, the soundtrack sounds like it was composed by John Carpenter so that alone means the film should deserve some recognition.

In an age where horror movies are just high budget, computerised B movies, It Follows is a gem, it’s crafted with real artistic merit and is the most refreshing horror experience you can find today outside of little known indie flicks and video games.

JOE DOYLE

Rabid (By David Cronenberg)

Cabin Fever (By Eli Roth)

The Ring (By Gore Verbinski)

CINEMA

ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL

8

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE-ROGUE NATION 8

DIRECTOR: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon STARRING: Thomas Mann,

RJ Cyler, Olivia Cooke, Nick Offerman, Connie Britton, Molly Shannon, Jon Bernthal, Katherine C. Hughes, Matt Bennett, Masam Holden, Bobb’e J. Thompson, Gavin Dietz USA 2015

DIRECTOR: Christopher McQuarrie STARRING: Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Sean Harris, Simon McBurney, Jingchu Zhang, Tom Hollander, Jens Hultén, Alec Baldwin, Mateo Rufino USA/CHINA 2015

Winner of the 2015 Sundance Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award, Me And Earl And The Dying Girl is not the typical teen movie, is deeply compelling and totally clicheaverse. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon movie is what we may call boy meets girl and girl is dying of cancer, and I already know what you’re thinking: Oh no, another Fault In Our Stars?

Wrong! Me And Earl And The Dying Girl is more 50/50 meets Short Term 12, is funny and depressive at the same time, but it’s going further regarding new levels of emotion. This is not the typical teen movie, a true indie gem that is incisively and entertainingly intelligent. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon raised the bar with this movie, let’s see what he will do next.

The Mission Impossible franchise is back! Let’s start by saying Tom Cruise is top notch in this new incarnation as Ethan Hunt, it’s probably his best performance in the all Mission Impossible franchise. Rogue Nation is ambitious, adds new elements, more ironic humour (Jack Reacher style), a retro TV show approach in the way espionage is portrayed, more similar to 007 franchise. Filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie takes the seat on the fifth instalment of the series, which makes perfectly sense regarding how everything went perfetly well with Jack Reacher, also with Cruise on it. Meanwhile, new faces like Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg and Jeremy Renner were essential for the new and fresh approach of the franchise.

FAUSTO CASAIS

FAUSTO CASAIS

MAN UP

7

7

Z FOR ZACHARIAH

DIRECTOR: Ben Palmer STARRING: Lake Bell, Simon Pegg, Ophelia Lovibond, Olivia Williams, Stephen Campbell Moore, Rory Kinnear, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Harriet Walter, Sharon Horgan, Ken Stott, Ruolan Zhang USA/FRANCE 2015

DIRECTOR: Craig Zobel STARRING: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Chris Pine, Margot Robbie ICELAND/SWITZERLAND/NEW ZEALAND 2015

There is something about British romantic comedies, we all love Four Weddings and a Funeral, Richard Curtis’ movies and even the overrated Diary of Bridget Jones is somehow something to be praised about. Man Up brings the best of all the classic clichés of British romantic comedies, bringing the amazing Lake Bell and the always funny Simon Pegg together, to the screen. The story is unpredictable, funny and emotionally weird, sometimes awkward, but misery loves company, right? Lake Bell goofy and clumsy side is so indie-likeable, Simon Pegg’s character perfect match, the dialogues between them are amusing and smart. Annie Hall meets When Harry Met Sally British lookalike.

In the wake of a nuclear war, a young woman survives on her own, fearing and thinking that she’s the last woman on earth.

Z For Zachariah is well crafted, but... Yes, there is a but, it’s a movie that brings beliefs and fears all in one, from religious allusion to hope, or sometimes lack of both, which could be tricky for the viewer. The post-apocalyptic scenario is there, Margot Roobie nails it and both Chiwetel Ejiofor and Chris Pine performances are quite good, adding the exact amount of drama to this somehow end of humanity scenario.

Craig Zobel’s post-apocalyptic drama is smart, subtle and charming, raises some important questions regarding beliefs and pure surviving. Well done!

FAUSTO CASAIS

www.facebook.com/MUSICandRIOTS.Magazine

FAUSTO CASAIS

123

NEXT ISSUE

CLUTCH CHVRCHES PENTIMENTO LOMA PRIETA BLACK BREATH BOYSETSFIRE NOTHING BUT THIEVES MAYDAY PARADE DILLY DALLY THE WONDER YEARS KILLING JOKE SHINING OUGHT BLESSTHEFALL AND MUCH MORE...

Killing Joke 124

music&riots

October

AVAILABLE AND FREE! YOU CAN READ ONLINE, ON YOUR IPAD OR TABLET AND IN YOUR PHONE

JOIN OUR TEAM AND GET INVOLVED! musicandriots.com

follow us everywhere