8 Y 2 01 JUL OM K.C OR DD REA
Falling into
Let’s Eat Gra n
dma.
PALM CITY DJ SET
July 2018 Issue 23
Ed’s letter.
Index.
Sometimes, an act will make a jump. A leap forward that is so out of step with their peers they suddenly seem unexpectedly shiny and new. That’s what’s happened with Let’s Eat Grandma on their new record, ‘I’m All Ears’. Teaming up with the likes of pop genius SOPHIE and mastermind of reinvention Faris from The Horrors, it’s made an exciting duo full of potential into a prospect which, genuinely, sound like The Future, capital letters and all. That’s why we’re so delighted to welcome Jenny and Rosa to the cover of Dork for the first time. They’ve made one of the records of the year, and yet still there’s a feeling there’s even more to come. Add to that the likes of Pale Waves, Spring King, Matt Maltese, Boy Azooga, Snail Mail, Idles and so many others, and we’re typically stuffed. Enjoy!
S tephen
Editor / @stephenackroyd
“Femininity is such a powerful thing”
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LET’S EAT GRANDMA P.28
All material copyright (c). All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of The Bunker Publishing Ltd. Disclaimer: While every effort is made to ensure the information in this magazine is correct, changes can occur which affect the accuracy of copy, for which The Bunker Publishing Ltd holds no responsibility. The opinions of the contributors do not necessarily bear a relation to those of Dork or its staff and we disclaim liability for those impressions. Distributed nationally.
UPDATE 4. SPRING KING 8. INDOOR PETS 10. IDLES 12. DUTCH UNCLES 13. BAD SOUNDS 14. PALE WAVES 18. YOU ME AT SIX 19. KING NUN 20. BANGERS
W E LCO M E TOT H E B U N K E R.CO M U N I T 10, 23 G RA N G E RO A D, H A S T I N G S, T N34 2R L
HYPE 22. SNAIL MAIL 24. HATCHIE 25. MELLAH 26. FEET 27. YOWL
P U B L I S H E D F RO M
FEATURES 28. LET’S EAT GRANDMA 36. MATT MALTESE 40. BOY AZOOGA
Cover photo: Jennifer McCord
REVIEWS 44. YEARS & YEARS 46. LYKKE LI 47. LILY ALLEN
BACK PAGE 62. HER’S
Scribblers Ben Jolley, Dillon Eastoe, Eala McAllister, Chris Taylor, Jake Hawkes, Jenessa Williams, Liam Konemann, Rob Mesure, Sam Taylor, Steven Loftin Snappers Dimitris Legakis, Jennifer McCord, Patrick Gunning, Phil Smithies, Poppy Marriott, Sarah Louise Bennett Doodlers Russell Taysom
GET OUT 48. CHVRCHES 50. LIVE AT LEEDS 54. THE GREAT ESCAPE 58. TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB
Editor Stephen Ackroyd Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden Associate Editor Ali Shutler Contributing Editors Jamie Muir, Martyn Young Events Liam James Ward
On The Stereo Years & Years - Palo Santo
It’s reviewed in full on page 44, but Years & Years’ second album is a genuine pop emergency. So much so, we’ve had to rework our whole scoring system to
account for it. Yep, it’s that good.
they’re ready to demand our attention all over again.
Spring King - A Better Life
No Rome - Do It Again
Tarek and co’s second album is everything we’d hope for immediate, incendiary and up for the fight. Few bands can kick off the way Spring King can. With ‘A Better Life’ 3
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The first taster of a new EP, due next month, No Rome’s first offering for Dirty Hit is nothing short of remarkable. Teaming up with Matty and George from The 1975, it’s another triumph. Obviously.
Arctic Monkeys Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino Last month we gave t’Monkeys’ new album a fence-sitting three stars. This month, we’re rethinking our workings. You can find out what we’ve decided on page 46, but let’s just say it’s unheard of.
Update. IF IT’S NOT IN HERE, IT’S NOT HAPPENING.
.Spring King, Live At Leeds, May 2018. S.
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g n i r p S The Big Story
Spring King are here to make summer approximately 4352423 times better with their infectious indie tunes - and their new album’s imminent. Words: Ali Shutler.
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I
n case you hadn’t noticed, Spring King are back. Their
brilliant debut saw them hurtling forward, held together by gaffer tape, good luck and buckets of hope, as they tried to come to terms with their demons. ‘Animal’, the first taste of new album ‘A Better Life’, sees them moving faster. There’s a streamlined purpose and just as much hope. “’Animal’ takes you two hundred miles an hour, and by the end of it, you’ve got rid of all the demons. You’ve shaken them out,” starts Tarek Musa before adding a smile. “It’s a workout.” “Guitar-wise, it’s inspired by Pantera. Not that it sounds anything like it. I was really getting back into heavy music,” explains Pete Darlington, who set out to write 100 riffs for this record. “The spirit of a lot of that stuff is there. For me, that song was the first time we captured the first step of what we needed to do next. It was the first time we knew where to go. It captures the essence of what the next record. It has the energy of the old stuff, but it sounds bigger; it’s heavier, but it’s super melodic as well. All of those things, they’re the new record.” “The new record feels like one of those shots of ginger. It’s the most concentrated form of what you can get,” adds Tarek. “Every single element of every single song has been carefully looked at and thought about, from a writing perspective, lyrical perspective, production perspective,” Pete continues. “There’s no fat anywhere. It’s super lean the whole way. It’s intense. And we know we’re an intense-sounding band anyway. “Listening back, it feels like you’ve been on a bit of a ride. That’s the dream for me. I want people to listen through it, and feel like they’ve been through something, an emotional experience of some kind. There’s a lot of different vibes on the record. There’s
some stuff that makes me think, shit, are we really going out there? I love the songs though. We’re just experimenting a little bit. It’s still the same band, it’s just something a bit different.” “I always love recording in bedrooms, that’ll always be a thing for me, but for Spring King, it’s all about growth and not doing the same thing twice,” offers Tarek. “It’s about having an awareness of where you are, and where you want to go.” And the band are aiming big. They’ve already announced a supermassive UK tour, with all roads leading to London’s Forum and Manchester’s The Ritz. “We’re feeling ambitious and confident,” Pete begins. “We’re feeling happy with the music we’ve put together. It’s a big step up for us. “It was put up or shut up,” adds James Green. “We’d love to do The Ritz; we’d love to do The Forum, so let’s do them. They’ll be the biggest shows we’ve ever done. It’s nice to stamp our authority on it and show people we mean business. “It could be the biggest mistakes of our lives,” starts Pete. “But it doesn’t feel like that at all.” ‘A Better Life’ has been a workout in itself. Months of talking, dissecting, finding their feet and working out what Spring King can become have all been poured into the band’s second record, from the title and beyond. “We were talking about what kind of message we wanted to give,” shared Pete. “Politics in this country is fucked. The world’s in a weird place and a lot of bands write angry music about that. And that’s great. I love that. For us though, I wanted to offer something positive. ‘A Better Life’ captured that.”
“Our ambitions are bigger than ever before” This is the first album Spring King have written properly together. Their debut saw them all flesh out Tarek’s and Pete’s songs. This time though, they all contributed to everything. “It’s nice, cos someone might have a line that would inspire something else,” James reflects. “Instead of sitting on your own, banging your head against the wall trying to write a set of lyrics, it becomes a much more collaborative, inspirational process. “It’s still 95% banging your head against a wall though. It felt pretty no holds barred. If someone’s idea gets put down, it’s not a personal dig. The best stuff just gets through.” To start with, the band shared images with each other to help explain what was inspiring them and what the music meant because, for Spring King, the music has got to mean something. “’Animal’ was a lot of rusty, burnt out cars. It was sci-fi, brutalist buildings and people setting fire to cars in the desert. It was dusty,” starts Tarek. For Andy, everything felt apocalyptic. “It’s all I could think about, but it’s changed so much since that initial sharing process. The record is something completely different now. It’s interesting how we all thought it was going to be one
thing, and it came out the other side as something completely different.” ‘Animal’ isn’t this rusty thing now. It’s different. The band and the record went on a similar journey, finding something out in that desert to bring them back. “This record, it’s about letting people know that in this negative moment in time, you can take it as an opportunity,” James explains. “There’s always the opportunity for you to take the reigns, to take control of your own life. Grab it by the horns and put a positive spin on it. Take responsibility and take control of your destiny.” “It’s about being aware of the frustrations you have and being able to pinpoint it as frustration and being able to get over that,” says Tarek. “It’s about being able to convert that into positive energy.” Spring King’s future starts here, and they’re in the driving seat. “We’ve grown up a little bit,” promises Tarek. “We know what we want now, completely. It’s to play harder shows; we’ve got bigger ambitions regarding what we have on stage, we’re going to try and do something spectacular. Something we’ve never done before. We’re just pushing it. “‘A Better Life’ is so much more developed than the last record. It’s so much more challenging, in terms of challenging what we want and ourselves. Our ambitions off the back of this record are bigger than ever before. “It’s about realising and capturing this opportunity to do something really big with it. I feel like we’re less naive than with the debut. We’re ready to go.” P Spring King’s
album ‘A Better Life’ is out 17th August.
Buzz-O-Meter As you know, Dear Reader, we’re prone to getting ‘quite excited’ about stuff - here’s what’s giving us a buzz this month. Give Yourself A Try
Another month, another inconvenient bit of timing from The 1975. As we go to print, the fantastic foursome have just announced they’re dropping a brand new single - but after this magazine is due in the printers. By the time this is out, you’ll have heard ‘Give Yourself A Try’, and likely know what ‘A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships’ is all about. Right now, we’re just buzzing off the buzz, mate.
Now, now Gorillaz aren’t mucking about, then. The cartoon troupe placed cryptic posters around the All Points East site - which your beloved Dork noticed, thought about, then forgot to check up on. Thankfully, 24 hours later somebody followed the link and figured out there’s a new album, ‘The Now Now’, coming on 29th June.
Big Indie Summer, pt. 2 Over the next few months we get albums from (*deep breath*) Bastille, Pale Waves, Idles, Florence + The Machine, The Japanese House, Spring King, Death Cab For Cutie... Big Indie Summer is extending into Big Indie Autumn.
Banger alert!
Spring King Us vs Them
Spring King 2.0 has bottle. First track back ‘Animal’ showed their teeth, but next on the plate ‘Us vs Them’ is ready for a scrap. With new album ‘A Better Life’ on the horizon, this is a band out to get their dues. A big, bombastic bass, a thumping, robust chorus - it’s every bit a patented Springers Party Starter - and yet it’s also a marker on something new. “I can feel my old life fading,’ Tarek proclaims. True that.
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“Sell out? I didn’t need to be told twice”
Signed and sealed
bangers, otherwise what are you doing with your life? It has to be bangers. Bangers, mash. Mash is like the slower songs, the interludes. You need to have a little bit of mash, but other than that, bangers. All bangers. How many songs have we put out now? They’re all like, singles. They’re loud rock songs, fast pace - that’s how we write songs. I don’t know whether or not that’s a good thing; maybe we need to evaluate how to approach an album.
Are you going to re-record old songs?
Pets at home Fresh from signing a deal with Wichita Recordings, Indoor Pets popped up at The Great Escape to play Echochamp’s takeover at The Western, by invitation of The Magic Gang’s Paeris Giles. We cornered frontman Jamie Glass to talk about all the new things his band have planned. Words: Ali Shutler. Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett.
So, you’ve signed to Wichita?
The latest news. Ish.
Get more as it happens, every day at readdork.com
This is happening.
We have yeah, as of last week. I’d like to say it was a long time in the making, but it wasn’t really, it just happened. They came down to our London show on our headline tour a couple of months back, and they enjoyed it. I’ve never heard of it going so easily; it was smooth. It was like, ‘Hey we love you guys, can we sign you?’ and we were like, ‘Yes’. That’s it! That was it! There was no having to deal with negotiations or anything like that. It’s a great fit. Wichita are a favourite of mine, and I wouldn’t have considered them
liking us. I don’t know why, I always felt less than. Cloud Nothings and FIDLAR are huge influences on me, and you go back to The Cribs, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Bloc Party - they know what they’re doing.
start a campaign as soon as we’re ready to go. We’re not going to rush ourselves, we’re going to make sure the product’s right, but that’s our aim at the moment, to have a really solid back end of the year.
Has the signing come with a renewed focus, are you approaching things differently?
An album and a record deal, that’s all big stuff.
Now there’s pressure to deliver. Now that there’s an actual person or group of people who are saying like, ‘Where’s the album?’ or, ‘You signed this, so you have to deliver’. Now it’s like, oh shit, we have to actually do it. Before it was almost like we were pretend. We were always making music because we wanted to make music. Now it’s my job. It’s amazing, and at the same time, terrifying. We’re going in the studio next week to start recording the album, and that’s my job to do that. That’s not a holiday, that’s my work.
Is that album the next thing?
Yeah definitely, I can’t even be coy about it. We’re going to go into the studio, finish stuff that we’ve already started, and record a heap of new songs too that we’re excited about, then we’re just going to
Grimes has unveiled a bunch of “working titlez” for her new LP
Yeah, big boy trousers. Really big. It’s nice, and it doesn’t feel right. I’m waiting for someone to be like, ‘You know we were only kidding, right? We’re just messing with you. Obviously, we’re not going to do this’. It feels good. It’s easy to get carried away and be like, oh that’s it now. I’ve got the validation that I’ve always wanted as a person. But it’s not - this is the hard bit now We have no excuses, we have to deliver.
This is where it starts.
We have to jump in because we’ve got no reason not to now. We don’t want to regret it, dipping our toe in. We’ve got to take the plunge. The songs are there, ready to go. I’m really excited.
Are they all bangers?
I can’t understand how any song can’t be a banger - you have to write
George Ezra gets his story time on
Grimes has shared some “working titlez” for her forthcoming album. Posting an image to her Instagram story, the names are “subject to change” but posted “just so y’ll know its real”. The follow-up o 2015’s ‘Art Angels’ apparently features songs called ‘thats what the drugs r 4’, ‘Cryptid (Heavy metal magazine)’ and ‘Deth Angels’.
Some things are meant to happen. We might not know it until they do, but once the stars have aligned, they just feel right. Prepare yourself for one of those happenings - George Ezra has read a CBeebies Bedtime Story, ‘Here Comes The Sun’ by Karl Newson. It’s about an owl on a “magical, shooting-star-filled journey”. 8
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We’ve got a few songs in mind; we’re going to sit down once we’ve got everything recorded we’re going to evaluate it. We’re a bit scared of having an album that everyone’s already heard. There are some songs it’d be ridiculous not to have on there, but we’re very interested in having the majority of it new material that people are actually excited to listen to.
Have you got to stop making jokes now, become a serious rock band?
I’ve been told I have to delete my Twitter account asap, I’ve bought a leather jacket, and a nice big James Bay hat. You know the one I mean? I’ve got the signed artist look now, definitely. I don’t wear glasses anymore; it’s just sunglasses. Sell out? I didn’t need to be told twice.
What have you got planned for the rest of the year? You’re obviously recording for a chunk of it.
I can’t give you any solid facts, but the aim is to finish this album in the next couple of months. Then we’re going to be going on as many support tours as we can to make people aware, get that fanbase going before we put the album out. I’m expecting this year to be the build-up to an album that’s probably released either at the end of this year or the beginning of next year. World domination from then onwards. P
Indoor Pets are playing a Dork Live! show at The Key Club in Leeds on 26th September.
Giddy up, Mitski
Mitski has announced a new album, set for release later this summer. Titled ‘Be The Cowboy’, the follow up to the critically lauded ‘Puberty 2’ is set to arrive on 17th August via Dead Oceans. “For this new record, I experimented in narrative and fiction,” she says. The news comes alongside a new track and video, ‘Geyser’. You can check out the Zia Anger directed clip on readdork.com.
The importance of being Incoming!
Idles understand that sometimes it feels as though everything’s in the shitter, but they’re going to try their best to make a difference anyway - and you can too. Words: Ali Shutler.
Hello, Joe from Idles. How was life been since you released ‘Brutalism’?
It’s been a steady incline, it hasn’t knocked us off our feet, and it’s made us feel more and more privileged as it goes on. Every week there’s something new, and we embrace that as it comes, then we leave it behind and move on. It’s been fucking stunning.
Tell us about the new album.
It’s done. It’s finished. It’s really good. It’s more succinct; it’s more powerful, it’s more honest. It’s a very concise piece of art that we fucking love and I’m really excited to play it, and enjoy it.
This is the first record you’ve written where you know people are listening and will hear it. Did that impact things?
That’s the thing. That’s where it all changed. We started writing the second record, knowing, realising and finding out what people enjoyed on the first album and what they didn’t enjoy. So we started to overthink our writing. We started to do what we did years before that, which was try and subside our own wants and needs
for other people’s. As an artist, you shouldn’t do that ever because it’s not what people want. So we scrapped it and started again. I went through some horrific life occurrences during the second album, and it made me realise I will never give a fuck what people think, as long as I’m honest and I’m kind, and I’m compassionate. It made me realise that it’s completely fine, nothing bad is going to happen if you become vulnerable to your audience. In life, people embrace that. If you share your problems, people will help you. That’s how it works, and I’m enjoying that, and that’s what the album is about.
Your band shares ideas and messages, but it’s never absolute. You never talk down to people or tell them what to do.
There are two ways you can be a preacher. You can be the Catholic kind of preacher, where you tell people what to do, and tell them what the punishment will be or you do it like. What’s the phrase, maybe a guru? Lead by example. Just live how you believe you want people to live. So, we just treat each other with respect onstage, give each other a kiss at the start, break down some of the barriers of what people think a man should do as a rock musician and just be nice, and smile and dance about like no one is watching. People go ‘ah, that seems like fun and want to get involved. Often it works. And if it doesn’t, I’m not going to tell anyone off.
There’s a definite physicality to your music. How do you police that so people of smaller stature don’t get hurt? I said that we’d never had that issue where we had to stop people being dicks in an interview just before a tour we did recently. The interviewer came to a 10
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“We’re not going to change the world, but we’re going to change our world”
show, and it was the first time we had to do that. It’s a really fine art and I certainly haven’t mastered it. I don’t know how to stop people being pricks. Sometimes to be a good friend, you have to tell your friend to stop being a prick. Respectfully I can say look, this is not what our music is about, can you please treat each other with some respect?
Do you think what you’re doing with this band is important?
Absolutely it’s important. It’s important for everyone in this room, in this country, in this world, to be able to enjoy expressing themselves. That’s art. That’s what art is. We just happen to be doing on a platform where we get paid but the importance of what we do is that we improve as people, and we enjoy our being, doing and existing. Lovingly expressing yourself is the most productive thing you can do in life.
What do you want to achieve with this second album?
Enough money to support my cocaine habit. I’ve actually been sober for three months now, from booze and all the naughty stuff. What do I want from the second album? I want to instil a new optimism that’s based on pragmatic thinking. I want my friends and my family and our listeners to feel like there’s a future where you can listen to your adversaries, and build a new existence together, as a collective. When you appreciate each other’s differences, and you can
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move forward without sectarian solutions. It’s not about saying this is mine, get out. Instead, you should be saying, ‘Okay, you’re completely different to me, I don’t agree with you, let’s sit down and learn from each other’. That’s what I’d love for the album to do. But it’s just an album. What we’re doing is minor, but it’s about spreading our collective ideologies as a way of just celebrating difference. And maybe a few people will start that conversation amongst themselves after the album is finished, and it will spread a bit. We’re not going to change the world, but we’re going to change our world by doing this. This is us being better people, that’s all. From my perspective, what I’d love is for it to change the world. What I think it’ll do is change us as people and artists and friends.
How do you stay inspired?
I stay inspired because it’s not all negative. Of course it can get better. Human beings don’t want to fucking eat each other. We just need to sit down with people that are racist and say, I understand why you’re angry, you are poor, you’ve had your job taken away from you and your government aren’t allowing you to have any breathing space at your home, in a high rise, at your job that doesn’t exist anymore, with food banks, that are now being split between more and more people. I get it; you want someone to blame. When my daughter died, I wanted to blame someone. I was angry at the universe, but there’s no one to blame. It was just random savagery. People want a quick fix, look at Brexit. They want to smash something up, but optimism is just hopeful pragmatism. I know everyone is capable of love and understanding. It just takes time. The media and the Tory government, they want us to eat each other. They want us to panic and they want us to be scared, and to blame someone. But I am hopeful because I know people are capable of fucking magic. P
Idles’ album ‘Joy As An Act Of Resistance’ is out 31st August.
Never say Idles don’t have a plan to reach the top. S
Get a hobby
Get serious about chips with Dutch Uncles Most bands, when contemplating a podcast, would probably do something pretty down the line. Talk about ‘the music’, whatever. Some may find a twist, sure. But how many go deep on the important subject of chips? One. One band does. Dutch Uncles. Obviously. Words: Sam Taylor.
Hey guys, how’s it going? Dunc: You’ve caught us on a rough day. Our bodies are just catching up with us after a heavy weekend at Sounds from the Other City followed immediately by some ambitious Podcast recording.
Where did the idea come from to make a podcast about chips? Dunc: Neil suggested the idea to
us at our Xmas party/end of album night out. The idea back then was to do a podcast primarily on Indie music matters, where we can comment on current music news happenings, and industry trends, while being able to offer some advice for starting bands as well as highlighting the absurdities
of the journey through our own Spinal Tapisms. Neil: We’ve been struggling to find a place that does good chips recently. There are so many bars/ restaurants and takeaways in Chorlton, and they are really resting on their chip laurels. So why not get it out in the open and talk about them. Dunc: The name Chips of Chorlton is a phrase we’ve been bandying around for some time. There’s a certain arrogance that goes into thinking that your dinner party patter is worthy of outside ears, so we like to quickly diminish and mock our actions/egos here by jokingly quipping that “we must think we’re the Chips of Chorlton”.
What makes a good chip? Dunc: There are a lot of elements
to consider within the parameters of our current chip review programme. Right now we’re sticking to bar chips, but we anticipate moving on into actual Chip Shop chips once the bar scene runs out, and from there who knows? We might even take on the big boys, your McCains and your Aunt Bessie’s and such, or maybe even make our own. Right now it’s a wrestle between price (financial and social),
ambience (time of day, how many chip freeloaders are you sat with?) and of course potato (it probably matters). You’d be surprised just how mad some bars actually present their free match chip butties for example (something we’ve covered in the first episode) as well as the strategies that come with buying chips for the table in certain public houses, and what atmosphere it encourages in those situations at each different place. There’s also the very modern reality of the need to time your visit to your local chicken/chip shop to make sure the oil levels in the fryer are just so to your liking. There’s LOTS to consider, and criticise. Neil: For me, it’s basics… Get a good spud and cook it well. Can’t be that hard, can it?
What’s the best sauce to dip chips into? What are your thoughts on toppings? Dunc: When we review chips we
like to keep them as basic bitch as possible, that way you can see the love that’s gone into the process. Fads like Cheeseburger fries (which are a dominating force around these leafy parts) are for people making up for a lack of a soul. That being said, if we’re having a celebratory chip (in Spoons usually), then we’ll definitely push the (gravy) boat (full of curry sauce) out for the occasion. Neil: With Chippy chips, I’d go with ketchup. If the gravy or curry sauce has a good rep, then that’s also fine. Takeaway, I go with a Ketchup/mayo combo. In a restaurant, I’m back to Ketchup. I also expect the restaurant to have made their own.
What else do you talk about on
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“When we review chips we like to keep them as basic bitch as possible” the show? Neil: Dutch Uncles have been
around for over a decade now, so they’ve got a lot to talk about. We mull over what’s happening in the music world and relate it to the experience that Dutch Uncles have had. The ups and downs are funny and informative, so I thought it would make great listening. Dunc: It’s proved to be most therapeutic for us, so far, to relive the surprisingly comical moments where we took a wrong turn at this band thing, have really taken the sting out of those memories. Plus it’s a way to open up, that songwriting isn’t able to achieve, so that’s something I’m looking forward to our guests (in the coming episodes) having the chance to do as well.
What advice would you give fans looking to start their own podcast?
Dunc: Know your niche. If you’re not appealing to the people looking for the specifics, then it won’t serve anyone. P
Find Dutch Uncles’ Chips of Chorlton podcast at AudioBoom and iTunes.
Top Tweeps What have your faves been up to on ‘social media’ this month? And why are we printing bits of ‘the internet’ on paper weeks after it happened? charli xcx ft. charli xcx, charli xcx & charli xcx (prod by charli xcx) Charli XCX (@charli_xcx) Title of our mixtape. (Thanks, Chazza.) Reclining your seat on a plane is one of the most Tory things you can do Shame (@shamebanduk) This doesn’t really need saying, does it? Down with Tories. Next albums either gonna be a concept album about AI or a good album Matt Maltese (@matthewmaltese) Matt Maltese, or Matt Bellamy. You decide. How excited are you to hear The Rhythm Method’s World Cup song? #ChinUpEngland The Rhythm Method (@thrhythmmthd) We’ll be honest Dear Reader. We’re more excited for this than we are anything else we can possibly imagine. New Order? John Barnes? Baddiel? Skinner? That bloke from the Lightning Seeds? You’re about to take one hell of a beating.
Who wore it best?
Tarek from Spring King, or Mark from Peep Show. They’re basically the same, right?
A day in the life of...
Callum ‘out of’ Bad Sounds What do Bad Sounds get up to on their average day? Well... this! 8.30 Today we’re on tour… ish.
Tonight we’re playing in Utrecht, Holland and we drove halfway last night, so we all wake up in a hotel in Calais. We’re supposed to be meeting at the van at 11am, so I get up around 8:30 to shower and practice some yoga before we have to leave. Before we left home yesterday, we officially committed to our album and delivered it for mastering. We’ve been working on it pretty much around the clock for the past three or four months in one way or another, so it feels weird to finally stop working on it and say, “I think it’s finished.” We’ve definitely both been stressing out about getting it finished and fussing over minor details… “anxious” is pretty much our default setting anyway, so the pressure of delivering something that we’re really proud of (and hopefully will be in years to come) has kicked that into overdrive lately. So basically, I’m aware of how dumb and pretentious it sounds, but I think yoga really reminds me to chill the fuck out. When I get down to the lobby Sam tells me that he got up early and went for a run around the area and saw a dead rabbit. Ewan is still asleep.
right next to the canal. The toilets are unisex. Soundcheck is the least fun bit about playing live. We have a broken hi-hat clutch, so I run into town to find a music shop to buy a new one. The sun is shining on Utrecht, and it is absolutely stunning. Everyone here seems to be super beautiful and super healthy. I manage to get to the music shop and back without being mowed down by any cyclists. The rest of the evening leading up to the show is super chilled. We have some dinner together and hang out with some of the guys from the venue. They’re mostly volunteers, and they’re all really nice. The other bands (Brooke Bentham, Ruby Empress) are really good and make me nervous to play. This happens quite a lot.
22:10 While we’re playing the room
is full of strangers, which is good. Some people have travelled from Germany to see us. This is the nicest
and most unexpected surprise of the night, and we all really appreciate the handmade banner they’ve made for us. It says “YES”, and they hold it up at all the right bits when we play ‘Are You High?’. After the show, we hang out for a bit and chat to a few people. A man comes up and tells us, “I think you should work with Brian Eno”. He doesn’t know Brian, so I don’t think it will happen, but it’s a lovely compliment, and I’ll take it.
00:30 We’re staying in a hostel just on the other side of the canal. I want to shower before bed, but there are no towels. I have to drip dry. “There are 1 million bicycles in Utrecht,” the wallpaper next to my bed tells me. I believe it; then I fall asleep listening to a Harry Potter audiobook. P Bad Sounds play
Barn on the Farm from 5th-8th July, Truck from 20th-22nd July and more across the summer.
11:00 We leave the hotel and
go to a supermarket to grab some breakfast. The dietary requirements of the members of this band are a bit of an adventure. We have two vegans, one vegetarian, one normal, and one non-dairy/non-potato… yeah. European touring is awesome because the people are so lovely and they seem to really look after bands, but life “on the road” as a vegan can be a little tricky. So we all stock up on what Ewan calls “beige food” (bread) and he even takes a punt on a weird olive paste thing. He didn’t enjoy it. The rest of the afternoon is spent in a van driving to the venue.
16:30 We arrive at EKKO (the venue we’re playing at tonight) without knocking any cyclists off their bikes. The venue is super cool and 13
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Riding the wave
6 tracks “We’ve got about
Think of a new band more exciting than Pale Waves. Nope. You can’t. Hurling towards a debut album, we caught up with Heather Baron-Gracie to find out what’s going down. Words: Ali Shutler. Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett.
Hello Heather. We spoke at the very end of last year, and it feels like you just haven’t stopped since.
No, we’ve not. It’s been non-stop for the whole year. It’s been overwhelming at times but the demand’s there so, it’s amazing. We couldn’t ask for a better year so far.
Your live shows have always been great, but it feels like you’ve upped a level recently. What’s changed?
We’ve all got a lot more confident, especially me. That’s where people notice that the most because obviously, the front person is the main entertainer. I’ve watched videos back and thought, fuck, have I actually been that shy? And that scared? And I was. It took me a while to find myself, and I’ve still got a long way to go, but compare how I was five months ago to how I am now, it’s pretty much night and day. It’s weird how just doing your own shows and gaining that confidence off your fans can improve you as a performer. It reassures you at the same time. I’m starting to find myself a lot more. It’s a gradual thing; I’m slowly getting better and better, or more confident.
And the album. Is it done?
It’s not done. It’s in London at the moment, in Wandsworth, asking ‘I thought we were meant to be doing this?’ It’s going well, though. We’re aiming for it to come out in August. We’ve got about six tracks recorded, fully, and obviously, we’ve got way more to record. At the moment, we do have an album tracklist in mind, but I’m writing as much as I can. Then I think it’ll be a last minute thing of this should be on the album, and this shouldn’t be. But
recorded...”
it’s going great.
and connect with them.
Do you have a vision for it? Can you see what it’s going to be?
You just dropped ‘Kiss’. What’s the story behind that song?
I can. I definitely can, but it’s mindblowing to think that we’re going to have an album out. Us. An album.
You’re part of the Dirty Hit Family. Bands like The 1975, Wolf Alice and The Japanese House built worlds with EPs before going for the album. You’re diving straight in.
We’re going to go all the way. It felt like everyone wanted an album so fast, that if we didn’t deliver an album, at this point, then it wouldn’t be the right move for us. Because we already created all this sorta hype, it felt right to release an album so soon. And times are changing. The way people consume music and the way people want music is changing, so it felt like we needed to release the album now.
What can you tell us about the album? We love secrets.
There’s more variation. What people have heard so far has been single after single. We’re not really like that. We love RnB, and I love emotional music and dark emo tracks. This album, it’s got a combination of all of that. I think people are going to listen to this album and understand us. And not expect it. It’s going to be like revealing our true self, that’s what I feel like. I feel like what we’ve released so far is only a part of us and now when we release the album, that’s going to be pretty much all of us on show. This is us; this is how we write, this is what we like. The album obviously has those bangers ‘cos we’re a pop band, but it has some intense, dark moments in there.
Are you excited to share that side of you?
I love that side of things. Everyone in the band jokes about me being this emo because I’m always fighting for the dark tracks and everyone is like, ‘You’re a pop band, come on’, so I can’t wait for people to hear these dark tracks
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‘Kiss’ is one of our older songs. It’s always been a song that’s so great to play live and is always received so well because it’s such a fun song. It’s not too dramatic; it’s quite light-hearted, it’s quite naive. I like how we’re releasing it before the album because you can see how I’ve grown as a songwriter. I wrote ‘Kiss’ when I was 17 or 18; I’m excited for people to hear how I’ve changed. It’s just a really uplifting song, and I’m excited for people to hear it because they’re going to just put it on, on a hot day, or a dark day. It’s just going to make you feel good. It’s basically a drug that makes you feel nice.
Are you trying to release all the old songs and get them out the way before the album?
I never really thought of that, but it seems to be, doesn’t it? We don’t have a lot of old songs that are going on the album. If anything, we only have two so far that people have heard. I’m trying to make the album as new as I possibly can. Nothing frustrates me more than
Banger alert!
Pale Waves Kiss
Things tend to end up following a certain pattern for most new bands lucky enough to capture a whiff of hype. There’s an initial explosion, a few singles, then EPs, a build up to headline tours, more singles – that debut album only arrives at the perfect time, when the buzz has got loud enough that it’s no longer a gamble. And yet here we sit, at the start of 2018’s festival season, just waiting for Pale Waves to announce that first full-length. Whispers suggest it’ll be with us by the end of summer, marking a startling rise for this year’s most likely new superstars. Except there’s nothing ‘likely’ about their elevation to the A list anymore – in
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when a band gives you and album and, ‘Okay, I’ve heard ten of those tracks already, and there are three new ones’. I just want to give Pale Waves fans so much more music than they’re expecting. I want them to be overwhelmed with how much more they’ve got to listen to.
It feels like a lot of this album is about toying with people’s expectations?
I think a lot of people, they see us and judge us off our image rather than really just listening to us, looking at what we’ve done or how hard we’ve worked as a band. People see us and think, ‘Who are these fake goths?’ I didn’t know you could be a fake goth. It’s the twenty-first century; you should be able to dress and look how you want. We’re just trying to really show people who we are, what we’re into and what we like. We’re staying around. This is us. When people chat shit, it just makes me laugh. It doesn’t even get to me anymore. It did at first, because I wasn’t used to it. I wasn’t used to being on show to everyone. When you gain a bit of recognition, you’re seen as this object that people can comment on, they don’t see you as a human, in a way. They comment on your appearance, what you say, what you do, what you create. I’ve met people that have chatted shit about me, I’ve gone up to them and said ‘Hiya’, and nothing. Nothing at all. We’re just trying to create more of a Pale Waves world, and people like that aren’t welcome.
You’d think with an album in the works you’d be taking it easy this summer and focusing on that. But nope, you’re playing pretty much every festival ever.
all truth, they’re already there. And if proof was needed, ‘Kiss’ is happy to provide it. Another of the band’s older songs polished up and sent out to face an eager public, it shimmers in the sparkle of Pale Waves’ 80s pop glitter ball. A band with a strong, instantly recognisable sound, they’re well aware that – at this point – consistency is a strength, but ‘Kiss’ shows development too. With a timeless quality, it’s packing a chorus straight out of the Big Book Of Anthems, its dark heart juxtaposed by a playful desire to lark about in the fast lanes. With that album promising a whole bunch of never before heard material, this could be the point where Pale Waves cash in the last of those potential chips. Next time we hear from them, they’ll be fully grown. They’re ready – are we?
“I didn’t know you could be a fake goth” We’re literally running around the country playing all these festivals. We’ve been asked to play these festivals, so we’re going to go and do them and be on show to as many people as possible. That’s what you want. When you have something that you create, you want as many people as you can to really step back and listen to it, and hopefully, appreciate it and fall in love with it.
The latest news. Ish.
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This is happening.
You write pop songs, but they’re these super emotional, personal pop songs. What’s it like playing them to a field of strangers?
It’s quite terrifying; I’m not going to lie. When it’s a Pale Waves crowd, it’s so different because they know the songs. They connect to those songs. They’re in love with those songs, just like me. When they’re singing it back to me, I’m not just on show; they’re on show as well. When I see them, I see them singing their heart out, and it makes me less scared, because I know they’re with me.
Has being on show impacted your songwriting?
I want them to have the best time and feel comfortable and feel safe. We don’t look like the normal norm of society. We dress how we like; I’ll say everything that’s on my mind. We don’t really have any restrictions when it comes to ourselves, and that’s what I want people to walk into a Pale Waves show and feel. I want them to feel like they can be themselves.
And the album, who’s it for?
It’s influenced me more to write even more honest lyrics. I’m a very passionate person, and I’m very strong with my character. I have to say what I think. I can’t not. I can’t fake it, especially if I’m emotional. You will know if you’ve upset me. You’ll you know if I love you. I can’t hide my emotions at all, and that influences everything I do, especially my writing. I’m so open, and I have to be honest. I just spill everything out my mind, and I don’t even think about everyone hearing it. I just write it, and I’ll deal with the rest later.
It’s for the fans. It’s for them. And myself, obviously. It’s for the world; I want to leave this world knowing I’ve left it with great music that’ll stay around forever. I’m still writing actually, just before this I was recording some vocals on the bus. This is the crucial moment for the album. After this, I’m going to go back up there, listen to see if it’s good or not, and then start again. That’s how it’s been for the past few months. We’ve got another month of recording the album, and then it’s done. It has to be done. P Pale Waves’ debut
What do you want people to take
The Joy Formidable are gearing up for a new album
from a Pale Waves live show, because there’s going to be a lot this year?
album is coming very soon indeed.
Alice Glass has defeated Ethan Kath in court for a second time
Come with us now on a journey through time and space – The Joy Formidable are searching for that new sound on new tune, ‘Dance of the Lotus’. The squalling rocker is the first taste of the band’s fourth album, and although there’s no word on a release date, tour dates are pencilled in for the autumn, including Reading & Leeds.
Alice Glass has claimed she’s beaten her former Crystal Castles bandmate Ethan Kath in court for the second time, after his appeal in his previously dismissed defamation lawsuit was denied. Kath had attempted to sue Glass after she accused him of “a decade of abuse, manipulation and psychological control.” 16
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RIP, ‘The Quiff’ Not to be OTT, but Bastille’s new video for ‘Quarter Past Midnight’ features an earth shaking moment in modern indie pop.
“Music isn’t about haircuts and shoes,” the boring ones cry. But they’re wrong, Dear Reader. Pop music is all about haircuts and shoes – and absolutely anything else we want it to be, too. In the big melting pot of culture, to concentrate solely on The Art, as worthy and amazing as it may be, is to ignore the vibrant seasoning of the world around it. Context is everything, and everything – at the end of the day – is haircuts. Not that any of us need to justify ourselves. Styling choices are very important. Some of our brightest talents are powered purely by hair alone. Bastille’s Dan Smith is basically a birrova genius, not only fronting one of the biggest bands on the planet, but being a dab hand at the old production game, and running his own label too. We’ve not scientifically proven that talent all stems from his iconic quiff, but like Thor and his hammer, we’re about to find out. Yes, this is all a roundabout way of breaking it to you. Dan’s quiff is gone. We know. When we were first told, we needed a sit-down and a cup of tea too. “Wait…” we realised, “is that why he’s been wearing hats for weeks now?” Yes, it turns out. It is. The act itself takes place in the video for most recent single ‘Quarter Past Midnight’. In it, Danny boy loses his locks before it all starts getting a bit weird. “We made the video over a couple of days and nights in Paris,” Dan explains. “It’s is a nod towards some of our favourite films and directors. Like the album as a whole, it’s a surreal journey through euphoric highs and lows of a night, and all that comes with it: the escapism, warped realities, and unclear memories.” What remains unclear is when we’ll be getting Bastille’s much anticipated third album. We know this is a first taster of it, and Dan has promised a fan we’ll have it before November, but beyond that – who knows? Keep ‘em peeled and check out the video on readdork.com now. P
matt maltese
bad contestant the debut album out now
In The Studio
You Me At VI You Me At Six are back and raring to go.
Y
Words: Steven Loftin.
ou Me At Six frontman Josh Franceschi wastes no time in outing the difficult conception of his band’s sixth outing, the aptly titled, ‘VI’.
The latest news. Ish.
Get more as it happens, every day at readdork.com
This is happening.
“We didn’t write a song as a band for the best part of two and a half to three years, and that killed the creativity,” he explains. It hasn’t been that long since 2017’s ‘Night People’, but the frontman was raring to go right after the record’s January release. “I remember being in Europe in March of last year,” he continues, “and I said to the boys, could we start talking about, or writing for the new record now? There was very much a feeling that we had to change our blueprint because it wasn’t inspiring us anymore. We needed to mix it up.”
Focusing on rekindling their love for what they do, the fivepiece hunkered down in various studios, only surfacing to pop to the pub and eat. “We decided to not go to America to make the record and to make it England,” Josh offers on this change of pace, “but to make it in a residential studio so that there’s none of this turning up between ten and midday and leaving by six.” By doing so, they reignited what they loved about the band to begin with; hanging out with their mates and cracking out tunes that represent who they are as opposed to who they thought they should be. “There’s a documentary called The Defiant Ones, about Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine. I was watching that when we were back in the studio, and that was just the perfect way of articulating everything I’ve been feeling for the last year and a half,” Josh considers. “I hadn’t been able to understand how to articulate it, and that was a step back to set up, and ‘Night
Disclosure have dropped a one-off single Disclosure have released a new single, ‘Ultimatum’ feat. Fatoumata Diawara. Despite previously teasing their third record, it doesn’t herald a new album announce, apparently. “Sorry it’s been a while,” they apologise.
People’ was our step back to set up for this across the board.” For various reasons, ‘Night People’ failed to launch whatever it was that You Me At Six had in mind, but with ‘VI’ there’s the chance for the band to resurrect themselves. Starting with Max Heyler and Dan Flint tinkering away on their laptops building electronically rather than their usual studiobased method, it’s resulted in a sound that feels fresh, especially when compared to its predecessor. The fact that the band are here at all is a testament to their love for what they do, and their want to be the best they can. After all, a surprisingly small number of bands manage to reach the sixth album. “It’s one of those things that when we were growing up, our whole thing was; can we make one album?” Josh muses. “Then you make that one album, and it’s like, fuck, can we be in a band that can make two albums? Can we be in a band that makes three? Then you start looking around and seeing
Muse are (still) in the studio
Muse frontman Matt Bellamy has posted a behind-the-scenes video snippet online. The clip shows Dom Howard recording some “tribal” drums in the studio, suggesting the group may be making progress on their next album. 18
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Years & Years have launched their own cryptocurrency
“We needed to mix it up”
your friends and other bands drop off, or no longer make music.” And so here You Me At Six are. A sixth album due out, the release of two new tracks (‘Fast Forward’ and ‘3 AM’), and they are raring to start this new chapter with a fresh appreciation for not only what they’ve achieved, but also what they’re capable of. “I’ve seen it with people that are carrying the flag and killing it, [they] are people that can motivate themselves when it’s good and when it’s bad. That would be my main criticism of myself over the last eighteen months,” he freely admits. “I found it very difficult to motivate to be in You Me At Six, whereas I think when you get that hunger back in you… it’s a very powerful thing.” P You Me At
Six’s album ‘VI’ is out 5th October.
Y&Y have created a cryptocurrency to hype up new album, ‘Palo Santo’. The record is set within a fictional sci-fi world that uses “YearCoin”, which fans can collect online by completing tasks.
James Blake wants you to stop calling him a sad boy
James Blake has asked people to stop describing his music as “sad boy”, in response to the reaction to his latest release ‘Don’t Miss It’. “It is only ever a good thing to talk about what is on your mind,” he says.
Have you seen...?
Window shocker
Where the f**k have you been, King Nun?
We put them on the cover, and then they spend the first half of the year in hiding. Here’s what our fave new punksters have been up to.. King Nun, where have you been?
Nathan: We’ve been working hard, rehearsing, making new songs. We’ve been busy. It’s all for the best. We feel like it’ll be worth the wait. Theo: We recognise how long our absence has been, but it’s in the pursuit of something better than we’ve had before,
There’s a new EP, right? What inspired it? Tell us secrets.
Theo: We wrote this song, called ‘I Have Love’, which we played
for the first time today. It’s a song about love in the world, despite what it’s like. It’s really important for punk bands to say that because you get a lot of wallowing in misery. We’re trying to turn that around. Then there’s this whole visual shebang. We’re trying to get this lightness/ darkness thing involved. It’s beautiful, and it’s sad, and it’s violent, and it’s fucking funny. James: I like the fact that at this stage, it’s hard to gauge where it’s going. What comes next is more cohesive and will be more of an impact. It’s a step in a further direction. It’s more of an establishment of what the King Nun name means. Rather than good music, it’s good King Nun music.
How much do you hate waiting to share your music?
Kyuss: We want to be ominous, but we’re not
The Kooks are back with new music
The Kooks have revealed two new tracks, ‘No Pressure’ and ‘All The Time’, as tasters of a new album. Fifth full-length ‘Let’s Go Sunshine’ is set to follow on 31st August, with Luke Pritchard describing it as their “most exciting” yet. 19
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“We’ve been busy. It’s all for the best” very ominous people. It’s almost like an exercise in restraint. We care very hard. We’ve already started the next, next thing. James: The important thing is that it comes out right. It feels like a new phase for us, and if we get that wrong… well, it has to be perfect. Kyuss: We’re all perfectionists. 99% just won’t do, that 1% will piss us off until the end of time. James: We’re still hungry. We want to progress to the next stage. I feel like we can hit that real soon. I’m excited about the future, I’m proud of the past, and the present is here. P
Jake Shears’ solo debut is coming
Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears has been teasing his debut solo album for a while, and now the deets are here - the self-titled record will land on 10th August, featuring one of the best track names of 2018 - ‘Big Bushy Mustache’. RE AD D O RK. CO M
Confidence Man have shared a new video for their track ‘Out The Window’. The latest cut from their debut album, ‘Confident Music For Confident People’, it’s a clip that features dismembered body parts, ice cream and lots of dancing. “After spending a day at a unicorn farm with Confidence Man, there’s finally a video to approach the Snapchat generation. Type #multiverseoverload into the GIF application of your choice, kids!” said directors Schall & Schnabel.
Five alive
Sigrid has a brand new video for her most recent single ‘High Five’. In an interview about the clip with i-D, the video’s director Ivana Bobic namechecks Spielberg flicks E.T. and Close Encounters, as well as a love of “high school movies” in general. “‘High Five’ is about the importance of being completely open and honest with each other,” explains Sigrid. “We used high fives as an image of superficial relations. I love the tune, and there was such a good team behind it! Emily Warren, Martin Sjølie, Odd Martin Skålnes and I.”
So you think Drenge can’t (write a) dance (number)?
Drenge have released a new video for ‘This Dance’, their first track in three years. “Could Drenge write a dance number?” asks the band’s Eoin Loveless. Yes, it turns out. They could. Not that Drenge themselves do much dancing about in the video, you understand. They leave that to ‘the professionals’. Cheats! Check out all these vids and more on readdork.com right now!
Bangers Summer sizzlers!
The best new tracks.
Track of the Month
Christine and the Queens Girlfriend
We’ll often talk about the heroes we need. In an era of comic book movies and overly haughty bombast, we might even follow it up with a comment about the heroes we deserve. But really, does everyone great have to be categorised in one, neatly labelled box? Can’t they be more than one thing? Because that’s exactly what we have in Christine And The Queens. Now, we’ve got the first taster of new music since breakthrough debut record ‘Chaleur Humaine’, which – in ‘Tilted’ – gave us that rarest of treats; a genuinely organic superhit. Like everything Héloïse Letissier creates, we were introduced to an artist that was much more than just another singer. Identity, art, movement and dance all combined to make a performance piece that stopped us in our tracks. It’s a thread that runs through to ‘Girlfriend’, a perfectly crafted idea which exists on its own terms. Described as paying ‘tribute to her long-time love of the G-funk sound’, we’re quickly ushered into a new era in the Christine and the Queens story. More confident in her own identity, there’s a muscular swagger at play. Disrupting traditional labels of masculinity and femininity, the ideas permeate the music through every pore. “I initially set out to smash against macho culture and macho men,” explains Letissier. “I became obsessed with this idea of the macho man, and still being a woman. What does it mean if I’m this figure, and I’m a woman? Does it make me an aberration? Is it joyful?” “I felt I had to address female desire and it’s diversity,” she says. “How sometimes it’s blacked out or ignored. It’s still something quite suspicious or slightly dirty. I felt like it was important to be more unapologetic about that. “There are hints of nights spent having sex and coming back covered in sweat. Like a male figure, the young hero who has love stories, and comes back in the morning and his friends are like: “What happened to you?” I want to be that.” That’s what stands Christine And The Queens out from her peers. Drawing her own influence and making her own rules, she can be both the one we need, and the one we deserve. In being exactly who she wants, she’s the best in all of us. P Stephen Ackroyd 20
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Man’ and ‘House In LA’ are the opening one-two punch of their next chapter. The latter a brooding cocktail of harmonies and slow-building revelations, like the reopening of a long-lost treasure, becoming more valuable as time passes. Yet it’s ‘Happy Man’ that clicks with an urgency that heralds their grand return as a genuine moment. With a sound that can only be Jungle, they’re running on party vibes. P Jamie Muir
Behind The Banger
Whenyoung
Whenyoung just dropped an ace new track, ‘Heaven On Earth’. We grabbed them to find out all about it.
Whenyoung
Heaven On Earth
Bastille
Quarter Past Midnight
With minimal fuss, Bastille have progressed to becoming one of the biggest bands on planet indiepop. Straddling divides, they’re able to play many roles – but while for others that means music by committee and a bland lack of invention, in leader Dan Smith they’ve always had that extra sparkle. From their ‘Other People’s Heartache’ mixtape series to his own label, he’s a quiet talent with a clear vision. So while ‘Quarter Past Midnight’ is definitively Bastille, it’s also fresh and new. That flawless vocal remains, but musically it’s a track that plays in the adrenaline rush of the early hours. This isn’t for your Nan’s 9pm bedtime, but the promise of an all-nighter to come. P Stephen Ackroyd
Idles
Colossus
Idles are back, and they aren’t very happy with the world. New track ‘Colossus’ takes aim at the cult of the ‘real man’, that
lager-swilling, muscle-bound, emotionless stereotype that manages to persist. A slow, menacing build eventually flips into the kind of frenetic punk banger the band are known for, with singer Joe Talbot’s repeated refrain “It’s coming / It’s coming / It’s coming” giving way to a final fast-paced flurry featuring lyrics like “I’m like Stone Cold Steve Austin / I put homophobes in coffins,” an inspired comparison if we’ve ever heard one. Idles are important because they manage to be both exciting and incisive, coupling furious, mosh pit inducing bangers with social commentary that doesn’t feel forced or clichéd. It may have only been a year since their last release, but we didn’t realise how much we missed them. P Jake
Hawkes
Whenyoung have released a new track and – as well as reminding the world once again that they’re Very Bloody Good – they’ve pretty much done our job for us by naming it ‘Heaven on Earth’. Expanding on their excellent selfdescription, the track really is a grade A banger, a slice of sunny indie-pop that’s so upbeat even the repeated mentions of “Icy hell” don’t bring it down to earth. The jangle of the guitar adds to the sense of wideeyed wonder that the track conveys, complementing lyrics like “nothing much to lose / everything to live for.” Optimism? Whenyoung have got it in spades. P Jake Hawkes
Hype! Hype! Hype!
No Rome
Do It Again
Jungle
Happy Man
Four years on from their self-titled debut that fizzed like a soundtrack recorded for a scorching hot summer day, Jungle’s next move keeps the fire burning. ‘Happy
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Already rolling their production sleeves up with The Japanese House and Pale Waves to remarkable results, The 1975’s Matty Healy and George Daniel are at it again. Teaming up with No Rome, it’s another picture perfect moment. ‘Do It Again’ is taken from new EP ‘RIP Into Hisashi’, and shimmers with hints of that trademark 1975 magic. But, crucially, it’s not a dominating force. This isn’t a case of turning an urgent new talent into a facsimile of a more well-known act. No Rome possesses a flow that fits perfectly to Matty and George’s natural, dry-iced pop stylings. It’s a project born from art and design as much as it is the music – a combination of ideas that complement and challenge each other to new heights. And what heights they are. Fresh and immediate, ‘Do It Again’ is alt-pop at its very sharpest. To many, it will serve as an introduction to the world of No Rome, but even to those already anticipating Rome Gomez’s next steps, it’s more than a mere marker. It’s the real deal. P Stephen Ackroyd
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Hello Whenyoung. What can you tell us about ‘Heaven On Earth’? Andrew: It’s quite an upbeat one. Good for people dancing. Aoife: We recorded it with Chris Hayden. He’s the drummer in Florence + the Machine, and he’s a great guy to work with. Andrew: It’s our first release on Virgin EMI, which is exciting for us. The first one came out on Hate Hate Hate, then we did Yala! with Felix from the Maccabees, and now this is on Virgin EMI, so it feels like… a lot of pressure. Aoife: We’re so excited. We’re really happy with the song. Niall: It’s going to form part of an EP that we’re releasing towards the end of the summer. Aoife: We recorded a video, we directed it ourselves, and we’re excited about that as well. That’s going to come out soon. It’s based on the seven deadly sins, and hell. So you’re keeping up with the pace of it? Niall: Yeah we’ve got loads of songs, just really want to get them all recorded. Andrew: But no time off. We were on tour with Peace, and we had two days off, and our management booked us into the studio for those two days. But it’s good. Aoife: We came out of it with new songs, so we’re really happy. It feels like a big year. Niall: We’ve got a show in Dublin, the line-up is Nick Cave, Patti Smith and Whenyoung, which is ridiculous. We got the offer like, are you sure there’s no one else on that? You sure? Aoife: We got lucky. Niall: Patti Smith’s an absolute hero. Aoife: It’s nice to be busy. We’re always so dedicated to rehearsing and writing and doing that with day jobs, and now we’ve just been able to focus on music completely, so it’s great. Niall: I think we’ve been so busy as well, some of it’s kind of gone over our heads. We keep getting offered amazing shows, and it’s mind-blowing. Aoife: That Patti Smith one is insane. Niall: When we were told, we lost our minds. Aoife: Now we’re like, we actually have to do it, so keep it together! P
.”Paramore changed everything for me” S.
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Hype. Snail Mail ESSENTIAL NEW MUSIC.
Baltimore newcomer Snail Mail is only 18-years-old, but she already has more experience and songwriting nous than many musicians ten years older. Words: Jenessa Williams.
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indsey Jordan doesn’t like interviews. She doesn’t
New band news
Get more as it happens, every day at readdork.com
On the grapevine
really like travelling either, and she definitely doesn’t like being rushed. What she does like is making music. As Snail Mail, the 18-year-old has 15 years of playing guitar under her belt, and pairs it with a self-deprecating, painfully honest lyrical depiction of growing up that marks her out as something very special indeed. Not bad for somebody who’s only just out of high school. “I graduated, and we left to LA for tour the next morning,” she explains, working her way through a slice of pizza after a packed-out show in Leeds. “I think things have picked up fast, but not as fast as people think it has. There’s so much work that goes into this, so much learning and adjusting. “Seeing so many places but never really spending any time there has been hard because I like repetition
in my life. A combination of the strong band putting out strong press and the touring has been records that experiment with genre intense, but the hardest bit has so well, I admire that longevity. probably been making the record.” Hayley is a really strong singer and Across ten tracks, forthcoming a talented performer who’s evolved debut album ‘Lush’ is a sneak so much over time – I want that.” peek into Jordan’s life, full of With a similar knack for summer romances and teenage expressing lyrical honesty over boredom. Whether those years are upbeat melodies, it’s not an behind you or not, it’s an instantly outrageous ambition to hold. From relatable listen, and lead single ‘Pristine’ one that builds on the through to the candour that made defiant ‘Speaking + From Baltimore, US her 2016 EP ‘Habit’ Terms’, vulnerability + For fans of Soccer such a buzz-builder. is key to Snail Mail’s Mommy, Diet Cig A self-confessed modus operandi, + Check out ‘Heat Wave’ perfectionist, it’s a and something that + Social @Snailmailband project that Jordan + See them live: Snail Mail Jordan refuses to sees as very much of a will be back in the UK later apologise about. chunk of herself, and “Apathetic rocking this year for Green Man, End of the Road, and a a testament to her bums me out. It’s headliner at The Dome in enduring love of her so boring - get your London on 25th October instrument. feelings out there. “When I write a song, it always I’ve never regretted anything I’ve starts out on the guitar. It’s always written; I don’t name names, and been important to me to have an I try not to get too in my own head. outlet all to myself, and it turned Whatever feels cathartic to write into something I loved. I think about, I just do and then what it’s the challenge of learning happens happens. I have had a something that you can never truly situation where somebody realised perfect; there’s always an uphill that a song was about them, journey.” though.” If an uphill journey is one that Were you bothered? Snail Mail has her sights set on, She pauses, shrugs and takes there is one band that she’s holding another bite of pizza. tight as her inspiration. “Not really. And I’m not worried if “Paramore changed everything it happens again. It would be cool if for me – they’re the best live band, people do have their own personal and everything about them is sick,” relationship with the record, but she enthuses, visibly brightening there’s no real agenda for it other up at their very mention. than it being something I wanted “The fact that they’re still a to make. I would hope that it would
The Facts
It’s tour time for Easy Life as they announce a bunch of dates
Her’s are going to release their debut album this August
Popular new beat combo Easy Life are set to hit the road this November for a run of shows. They’ll kick off in Leeds on the 7th before playing Manchester, Glasgow, Nottingham, Brighton, Birmingham, Newcastle, London, Leicester, Bristol and Oxford. They’re also booked in for 2Q Festival in Lincoln on the 3rd.
Her’s have announced their debut - the appropriately titled ‘Invitation to Her’s’ will be released on 24th August via Heist or Hit, preceded by new track, ‘Low Beam’ which you can hear on readdork.com now. The song is “a commentary on toxic masculinity,” they explain. Her’s are hitting the road for a tour this October, too. 23
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“Apathetic rocking bums me out. It’s so boring” make people excited about writing their own songs and calling back their ex’s.” She smiles, screws up her napkin and dusts down her hands. “If the ex is worthy of the call, that is.” P Snail Mail’s debut
album ‘Lush’ is out now.
Our Girl are hitting the road for a bunch more tour dates
Our Girl are heading out on tour in support of their debut album. ‘Stranger Today’ will be released on 17th August, with the live run kicking off on 12th October in Birmingham, taking them all over the country before winding up with shows in London and Brighton at the end of the month.
Hatchie
Brisbane newcomer Hatchie is making waves with her shimmery, dreamlike pop.
second single, ‘Sure’, which veers more towards her love of shoegaze. “He wasn’t even really a dream collaborator because I would never even dream that that was possible. It wasn’t even an option in my mind!” she recalls. Words: Chris Taylor. While shoegaze is a big part of Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett the Hatchie sound, citing Slowdive, The Sundays and of course Cocteau t sounds like I’m lying Twins as influences, a lot of her but, for the last couple of songs, ‘Sugar & Spice’ and ‘Sleep’ in years, I’ve always wanted particular, have gigantic pop hooks to come back here,” says front and centre. Brisbane native Harriette “I like pop as well as cooler Pilbeam, aka Hatchie. alternative shoegazey music, so I We’re sat in the park across the like mixing those kind of elements. road from Leeds’ Brudenell Social I wanted it to be a bit brighter and a Club, where she’s due to play her first bit glossier as opposed to just being ever UK gig as part of Live at Leeds, reverbed out,” she says. the day after her 25th birthday. The end result is a sound that “I’ve always wanted to play shows blends the melancholy of breakups in the UK. I came to Live at Leeds and one-sided loves with bright, four years ago with my boyfriend dazzling melodies; very much because his band was playing, sticking to the ethos that sugar and and we saw Dum Dum Girls and spice makes all things nice. Crocodiles. It was awesome.” But, even though her EP ‘Sugar & This is the first stop on Hatchie’s Spice’ is full of these glittering jewels, brief UK tour since her debut this isn’t so much indicative of the single ‘Try’ became something of a Hatchie of today, more sensation in spring of an insight into where last year. Record labels, she’s come from. agencies and managers “I thought it was good + From Brisbane, Australia were clambering to + For fans of Sunflower to start off with pop and sign her after the tune Bean, Middle Kids, Dream then work my way out was released by the Wife from that and refine it Australian equivalent + Check out ‘Sleep’ in that way. ‘Try’, ‘Sugar of BBC Introducing, + Social @hihatchie & Spice’ and ‘Sleep’ are + See them live: You’ve Triple J Unearthed. just missed her, sorry. She all about two years old; “It was shocking, has a few dates coming up I’d had them recorded exciting and in Australia, though… and ready to go, and overwhelming. We’re it just made sense to release those lucky to have Triple J Unearthed in songs. Australia; it’s such a good starting “I’ve set this point to start with. point for a lot of artists starting out. If People know me as that kind of I just put it out anywhere, it probably sound now, but I’m ready to grow. would’ve got a bit lost. It got to the I’m still figuring it out with the right people early on.” demos and that, but I’ve already Pilbeam had been in other evolved a lot as a person and as an Brisbane-based bands, such as Go artist, so I’m very open to my sound Violets and Babaganouj, but now evolving to match that. It’s not gonna she’s enjoying “being able to do be anything crazy though,” she whatever I want without to make any continues. “I’m just doing whatever compromises.” That experience has comes naturally and not thinking too given her the freedom to find her own hard about it.” voice. The success of ‘Try’ is no fluke. This new, evolved Hatchie is a far Such a confident and self-assured cry from the self-confessed “worrier” debut, ‘Try’ is a twinkling, dream who “put things off because I’m pop treat, full of gorgeous harmonies worried about it not being the best it led by a voice that, when the chorus can possibly be.” hits, brings to mind Cocteau Twins’ And as she takes to the stage at Elizabeth Fraser. It’s a song that, Brudenell’s Community Room, she funnily enough, grabbed the ear has no need to worry. With the early of another Cocteau Twin, Robin afternoon sun shining outside, her Guthrie. shimmering, dreamy hooks sound “It was another shock,” Pilbeam magical. It’s the soundtrack to a teen explains. “I’ve been a huge fan of romance, of daydreams, heartbreaks Cocteau Twins for years. It was really and anxieties, all with a hopeful twist casual as well. We just had a couple of and spectacular pop hooks. phone conversations where we talked Whatever this evolved Hatchie is about my music, and he talked a lot going to sound like, it’s sure to have about his experiences with recording even more people clambering to work and a little about his ideas of the industry.” with her. P Hatchie’s EP ‘Sugar & Guthrie went on to remix Hatchie’s Spice’ is out now.
“I
The Facts
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Check out...
Bodega This Brooklyn five-piece are picking up a whole heap of buzz right now. With an A-listed 6 Music single and a triumphant Great Escape under their belt, they’re getting ready to drop their debut album, ‘Endless Scroll,’ next month. Top pop fact: it was recorded and produced by Austin Brown (Parquet Courts) on the same Tascam 388 tape machine used for their LP ‘Light Up Gold’. Listen to: ‘How Did This Happen?!’
Gladboy Norwich band Gladboy are here to save your souls. The self-described junkadelic trio are making sweet garage and charismatic pop. Debut single ‘Weight of Expectation’ is a whimsical insight into wasted potential, the surreal and glamorous track showcases an urgency for success. Listen to: ‘Take Me Away’
Mellah
He’s signed to Columbia, worked with producer James Ford, crafted several recording studios with his own bare hands (“just about to go and sand the floor”), and built more buzz than an angry bumblebee after your sausage rolls. South London’s Mellah is an interesting chap. Hey Mellah, when did you first realise you wanted to be a musician, then?
The Frights
Saltwater Sun Our Reading-based chums will already be familiar with Saltwater Sun, but now the hometown heroes are going wider. Dropping singles on Hand In Hive - home to fellow buzz merchants Dama Scout and Swimming Tapes, no less - it’s starting to work too. Listen to: ‘The Wire’
I could play for free whenever I wanted with whoever I wanted. I’ve been in bands since I was 14, It became way too popular, and I I’m now 29. There’s been a fair found I had hardly any time to be in amount of slog but I love it, so there myself, so I decided to build it’s always felt worth it. I’ve been two more so I could have a couple writing songs since I was about 16 to rent out to other local bands but only started thinking about so they could have an affordable sharing them about five years space to rehearse and record. I’m ago. It all started clicking when I building them with a friend and decided to put an EP together with producer Oli; we’re dedicating one a producer friend of mine called Oli of the rooms to recording with Rustwood a couple of years ago. I the same affordable sent it to a label called ethos in mind. I got Lucky Number, and some money when I they decided to release signed to Columbia it. It’s been fairly + From London, UK hectic since then. + For fans of Boy Azooga, last year, and this Goat Girl, Sorry seemed like a good + Check out ‘Cigarette way to invest it back What was it like Lighter’ into a community that working with James + Social @mellllah has given me so much. Ford? + See them live: He’s only Also, I like building It was good fun. We got Beat-Herder, Bestival stuff. just worked on one and Boardmasters in the song called ‘Cigarette diary at the mo, but we’d expect more dates to pop How did you go about Lighter’, which was up shortly putting the studio released a couple of plan into action? It weeks ago. We have must’ve been pretty challenging. some plans to work on another tune It’s a lot of work, yes. You have to in a few weeks’ time. build a whole room within the existing room to soundproof it. It’s What do you get out of making quite frustrating because once it’s songs? finished, it just looks like... well, I often ask myself that question, not a room! No one really gauges how entirely sure. The catharsis comes much sweat has gone into it. when I say something that feels true, that’s my main aim, I’m not Do you have any other similar trying to do anything more than. grand schemes in mind for the I think the more honest you can future? be with yourself when writing the It’s been a long process building the more people will relate because we rooms, my plan is to focus on the all have the same fears and loves. music from here on in. I’m starting to put together the bones of an Building recording studios sounds album which should be finished by like a great project. What sparked the end of this year. P the idea? I built my own little studio in an Mellah’s EP ‘Middle England’ is industrial lot in Peckham about four years ago. I wanted a space out now.
The Facts
Words: Sam Taylor.
San Diego surf punks The Frights are on their third album, but - we’ll be honest - it’s the presence of FIDLAR’s Zac Carper on production duties that first made us pay attention. Storming our sister mag Upset’s stage at The Great Escape, they’ll be back with that full-length later this year. Listen to: ‘Crutch’
has it been a slog?
I’ve always had a desire to make noises. When I was a kid I used to incessantly tap on everything and anything, I was kicked out of most lessons at school for drumming on tables. I always thought in rhythm, everything I did, walking, writing, chewing... I used to make a beat out of it. I started on the drums and then progressed to more melodic instruments, but I still play everything like I’m playing a drum.
How did you come to be in South London, did you grow up in the area or move there like all the other bands seem to have done?
I grew up in Wandsworth, southwest London, moved south-east to Forest Hill with my dad when I was 16. I had a brief stint north of the river in my early twenties but came back to what I knew pretty sharpish. It’s a different city down here. It feels like much more of a community. The music scene in north felt really fragmented and quite competitive.
Tell us about musician life so far, 25
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Feet
“We have a ridiculous ideas board”
The best thing to come from Coventry since, erm, The Enemy? These Feet are made for bangers. Words: Jamie Muir.
Amyl and the Sniffers If there’s one frequency of buzz that’s got way, way louder post May’s new music extravaganza the Great Escape, it’s that of Aussies Amyl and the Sniffers. Rag tag, garage rock brilliance, if you’re able to remember how awesome Be Your Own Pet were at the height of their powers, you’re almost there. Just, y’know, add mullets. Listen to: ‘Cup Of Destiny’
Bakar With a new mixtape, ‘BADKID’ just dropped, Bakar is riding a wave. Mixing genres with ease, from post punk to grime, there’s hints of all sorts of exciting, fizzbanging talent to opening track ‘One Way’. With a hook Jamie T would be proud of and an anti-establishment delivery that’s apologising to nobody, he’s one to watch very closely indeed. Listen to: ‘One Way’
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here’s something different about being in the presence of Feet.
Whether it’s the wise-cracking jokes or the knowing shift that what they’re doing is blossoming into something unstoppable - this is a band unabashed in being great but most importantly, in enjoying every move along the way. That, or they’re buzzing that they’re in the midst of The Great Escape with packed out shows on the horizon, and for guitarist Callum, that he managed to finish his dissertation in the van down. Uni is over, and now Feet are graduating in style. “It’s been good getting that out of the way,” points out bassist Oli, as the band gather in an empty pub looking out to the seafront. “When we’ve been at Uni we’ve been raking up good responses to things that we hadn’t even noticed because we haven’t been gigging and couldn’t see it.” Higher education’s loss is now the world’s gain - Feet aren’t like most 26
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new guitar bands swaggering into view. Morphing that fiery brand of in-your-face breakdowns with an unstoppable knack for sizzling indie melody, they have the potential to not only shake rooms up and down the country but soundtrack daytime radio at the same time. through the tracks they’ve unveiled Twinkle in eyes and legs flying, so far - ‘Backseat Driver’ weaves they’re the best combination since and builds its way into a potent chips and dips - and the best thing powerhouse, while ‘Macho Man’ out of Coventry since…. well…. moves with sun-kissed charm into Frontman George (otherwise a glorious pop gem. The latter came known as Jeep) ponders. “In Cov, it’s packaged with ‘Petty Thieving’, a not necessarily that no one is doing shift-shaping beast that pummels anything. There are a midnight drive people doing things, before breaking into but the consensus is glinting Smiths-esque it’s not happening. It’s + From Coventry, UK glides. It’s an ability to + For fans of Blaenavon, not at the forefront of jump and change that Spring King, Superfood anyone’s mind, so it’s matches the sounds + Check out ‘Petty quite hard to do.” and artists they listen Thieving’ “Trying to find to perfectly, never + Social @feetband somewhere just to + See them live: They’re the same and always practice and jam is on tour from 15th June diverse. hard,” explains Harry. with Declan McKenna, and “We have a “In a way, it’s forced playing loads of festivals, ridiculous ambitions including Truck and Y Not us to write songs the board,” cracks Harry, this July way we do now. An about to reveal those idea starts and we just goals they’ve been waiting to dive record it as it’s being written, and you into. “The first thing that was written think where can it go? That’s how we there was to buy all of the really good write the songs we do.” cheese from Lidl, from all of the Usually taking place late at Lidls in the UK. The second one was night, the so-called ‘living room headline Glastonbury or something. treatment’ involves them all sitting The third one was to have a Number down to decipher a track - chucking One from the first album, then all ideas around no matter if it’s their Number Ones forever.” instrument or not, usually around George turns and grins. “So not nine cups of tea deep and completely very ambitious.” sober - “it just doesn’t work Cheese today, the world tomorrow. otherwise,” states Will. Brie can’t wait to see what comes It’s a sound you can hear flowing next. P
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The Facts
So you wanna be a pop star?
Gabriel Byrde, Being a pop star is a serious job. You can’t just walk through the door and get started. You need to have a proper interview first. This month’s applicant is Yowl’s Gabriel Byrde. The board will see you now. What can you tell us about yourself?
Hello. I’m Gabriel, and I sing in YOWL.
Why do you want to be a pop star?
Job security, a clear career ladder, healthcare. I’ve got some very important opinions on some very important issues that I’m desperate for everyone to hear too.
How would your bandmates describe you?
If you want to ask them yourself they’re contractually obliged to praise me; though well-contained, my ego remains too fragile to handle slander. For the good of the band, I surround myself only with sincere compliments and reassuring back slaps.
What are your best and worst qualities?
I usually pick a good meal deal. I can be quite a snotty person. I mean phlegm-wise. Not conceited.
Yowl
What is your biggest failure?
I still can’t do the finger slap thing.
What accomplishment are you most proud of?
I managed to convince a crew of real musicians to play their instruments for me; instruments they spent years learning while I Googled how to make apple bongs and get rich quick schemes that never worked out. Bunch of suckers.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
Sometimes I try to set myself monthly goals, and I still let myself down. In five years maybe I’ll finally get down to the bottom of my list. I had to bump this interview up pretty high thanks to your weird insistence on deadlines.
What is your salary expectation? If we agree to gauge my contribution to society as somewhere between engineer and doctor we’re looking around a sweet 50k. Anything heavily taxable would be alright. Honestly, the lack of a bandowned van seems to be our biggest hindrance at the moment, so if a company car’s on the cards, we’ll just take some wheels, please. P
Yowl’s single ‘Warm (In The Soft White Fire of Modern Living)’ is out now.
In the know
The Magic Gang There are always more bands the biggest question is who do you listen to when it comes to recommendations? Obviously Dork, your new music bible, should be your first port of call, but there are others too. This month we ask Gus from The Magic Gang - who, you may have noticed, always pick out the best support bands.
Hiya Dork, thank you so much for asking me to have a little rant in your wonderful magazine. I’ve got some new bands that I’d like to talk about; let’s start with Our Girl. Three beautiful people that I’ve known a long time. I lived with Soph during the uni golden years and used to play in bands with her. I used to chill with Josh at uni, and I met Lauren when they formed. I’ve been lucky enough to have a listen to their album (which is out August 17th!), and you’re all in for a real treat. I love the way that Our Girl have that ability to melt your face off, but also have those softer, more delicate moments that really tug on the heartstrings. One of my favourite bands to emerge out of the whole Brixton Windmill gang are Hotel Lux. Five lovely chaps making music that’ll turn your stomach. They play around with gruesome subject
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matter in their lyrics - Lewis Duffin is a great frontman and an equally good lyricist. The rest of the band are all great players too, the instrumentation keeps you guessing, but they’ve definitely honed in on that Hotel Lux sound. Can’t wait to see them at Truck Festival! So, on our last UK tour, we invited an artist that goes by the name of Alan Power to open up for us… He totally blew me away. He writes beautiful songs, and his stage patter is second to none. He hasn’t officially released any music as of yet, but he does have a video of him playing a tune called ‘Cush’ on youtube that you should check out. I’m a huge fan of Glen Campbell; I can really hear echoes of his work in some of Alan’s songwriting. Oh man, I can’t wait to hear what he’s been up to in the studio. Matt Maltese, been obsessively listening to his stuff recently. What a songwriter, I love how his lyrics are incredibly sincere, but they’re not sickly or pretentious. There’s a subtle and playful humour - dry as can be - that’s present throughout his work. It’s spot on. His ear for melody isn’t half bad either. I get real undertones of Bacharach on his single ‘Like a Fish’. I’m so looking forward to hearing the album; I even pre-ordered the 12”, I’m a keen bean. Anyway Dork, thanks for hearing me out P
The Magic Gang play Truck from 20th-22nd July, alongside Friendly Fires, George Ezra, Drenge, Peace, The Big Moon, Fickle Friends, Pale Waves and loads more.
FUTURE
SOUND.
On their debut, Let’s Eat Grandma fizzed with potential. On the follow up, ‘I’m All Ears’, they sound like the future. Words: Liam Konemann. Photos: Jennifer McCord.
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f all the bands named for punctuation jokes, Let’s Eat Grandma are probably the best. Childhood friends Jenny Hollingworth and Rosa Walton were barely out of primary school when they first started playing together, booking gigs around Norwich at an age where most other kids were still figuring out what to do in that awkward phase between playing with dolls and getting legless off cheap cider in parks.
Gemini’ and today, the pair have lived out the last of their teenage years, with all the twists and turns that time involves. “I think the couple of years that we wrote the record over was a big time of change for us. Especially being the age that we are.” Rosa agrees. This is probably reflected most in album closer ‘Donnie Darko’, which clocks in at just over eleven minutes and meanders between hazy psych, poetic pop, and Psychedelic Furs’ ‘Love My Way’ style New Wave. Some of the track’s lyrics speak to the confusion of having a mind that’s being pulled in multiple directions at once, with lines like “hear the buzz of the hornet fly trapped inside my orchid mind” and “it’s not real life, I can’t be dialling 999”. In a more literal sense, the record is influenced in no small part by the fact that they are almost constantly on the road. “We’re always travelling,” Jenny says. “Not just touring, but Rosa and I live in Norwich, so we’re always on the train. Literally all the time.” “It’s a running theme in our lives. We always say that we feel most at home when we’re on the train or in a Travelodge,” Rosa laughs. The recording process tends to be a rolling circus, too. Some of the sessions for ‘I’m All Ears’ involved a trip to SOPHIE’s house in LA, to record ‘Hot Pink’ and ‘It’s Not Just Me’. The change of location bled into the tracks, Jenny and Rosa think, bending the music to its will. “I think [‘Hot Pink’] definitely sounds like LA in comparison to the rest of the album. It’s got a much sunnier, brighter feel about it,” Rosa muses. Jenny nods. “Yeah, I think you do get influenced by your surroundings when you’re writing.” It’s not just the music that location has an effect on, though. Between the three of us, we develop a theory, the components falling into place over the course of our chat. The basic principle - okay, the only principle - is that some people are location specific. SOPHIE, for instance, is unequivocally an LA person. “She’s really cool. Like, I know that seems funny to say but often when you meet people they
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“It’s a mindfuck.” Let’s Eat Grandma. London, May 2018.
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S
In 2016, they used the songs they started writing together as a playtime activity to form the basis of their genre-bending debut ‘I, Gemini’. The record was kind of sweet and kind of eerie, made all the more so by Rosa and Jenny’s playground clapping games and childlike voices. Not unreasonably, comparisons to the twins from the Shining surfaced over and over again. That was the way they liked things, too - in promotional shots they were matchy-matchy, hiding behind entwined curtains of long brown hair. Let’s Eat Grandma’s momentum accelerated as they hit the usual high points - Glastonbury, Jools Holland - until the cycle for ‘I Gemini’ wound down and things went quiet. The faux twins disappeared from view. Then, in January of this year, came ‘Hot Pink’, and the pair blew their own game wide open. They ditched their old personas, and happily stepped back out into the public view as individuals. Adults. Written and produced with SOPHIE, ‘Hot Pink’ is something of a warning shot for the rest of their new record. With its fierce vocals and industrial production, the song is a klaxon sounding the alarm of change. Extra, extra; the old Let’s Eat Grandma is gone. On ‘I’m All Ears’, the bubblegum psychedelia of ‘I, Gemini’ has been replaced with glimmering, sharpedged pop. The result is a sprawling pop epic that weaves musings on youth, friendship, and change with light-hearted instrumental interludes. “The sound we had with ‘I, Gemini’ was a better representation of us back then, and this is a better representation of where we’re at now,” Rosa notes. “It’s just inevitable that we’re going to progress and develop our sound and I think that we like going in lots of different directions at once.” That’s true in both a literal and lyrical sense, it seems. The new album spends a lot of time talking about movement and change, seasons shifting and things coming to an end. In the gap between ‘I,
“SOPHIE’s one of the coolest people I’ve ever met”
just seem so much like you, but SOPHIE’s on another plane,” Jenny says. “She’s so composed” adds Rosa. “She’s one of the coolest people I’ve ever met. Just in her persona, she’s so collected. She thinks about everything before she says it.” “Everything has a point,” says Jenny. By this same token their other producer on ‘Hot Pink’ and ‘It’s Not Just Me’, The Horrors’ Faris Badwan, is a London person. “He’s too much of a goth,” Rosa grins. “I think he’d burn in the LA sun.” “He kept saying he wasn’t a goth, but then he was doing a goth documentary,” Jenny says. She ticks off the criteria. “He has a tattoo of some bats, and he wears all black and doesn’t sleep.” Not very goth, then. Still, our theory crumbles a bit when it comes to Let’s Eat Grandma themselves. If everyone is of a particular setting, then what about Jenny and Rosa who are, at this point at least, a little bit of everywhere? Norwich has a particularly tight music scene, but with all their coming and going, it can be difficult to feel totally at home. “I think we never used to feel like we fit into [the Norwich scene] but now when I go home, and I go to a gig in Norwich I feel like I know
loads of people there, and it’s really nice,” Jenny says. “I’m actually wearing a badge from this music event for all the young people in Norwich that my friend puts on.” She pulls aside her jacket to reveal a badge that says ‘SKYNT’, pinned to her waistband. It’s unusual for a band of their age and scope to not be based in London, but you get the feeling that Let’s Eat Grandma move in their own way. Still, after the success of ‘I, Gemini’ it’s easy to think that Jenny and Rosa might have felt pressured to perform a certain way or maintain a particular image. But Jenny smiles knowingly at the suggestion. “It’s more that journalists copy each other,” she says. “So somebody will write one thing and then everyone will assume that’s [the narrative] because everybody just reads what everybody else says, and don’t write their own ideas. Which is quite funny. You’ll notice that people use the same phrases all the time without really thinking about where they came from.” “Often it’s press release stuff, but sometimes it’s just completely independent of that,” Rosa adds. “And everybody just says it as if it’s an original idea.” Well. That’s us rumbled. Rosa and Jenny laugh, but it isn’t as if there’s any friction here. They’ve just clocked what the game is, and aren’t particularly interested in playing it. While they developed a reputation for being somewhat mysterious on their last record, these days there is a new openness to Let’s Eat Grandma’s lyrics. Now they’ve had more time to grow into their beliefs, Jenny and Rosa felt confident in making ‘I’m All Ears’ much less
cryptic than its predecessor, and using their tracks as a vehicle for the things that affect themselves and their friends. Besides, they aren’t overly concerned about how other people interpret their writing, anyway. “We don’t write music even thinking about other people listening to it, we write it for ourselves,” says Jenny. “It remains something that we do because we enjoy it, and I think we’re being honest because we have a lot of shit that we want to talk about really.” “Maybe now we’re more confident in our feelings and our beliefs about stuff than we were when we wrote the first record, so we’re more purposeful with saying stuff,” says Rosa. “Somebody asked in another interview if it was a statement, and I think that’s assuming that we write songs with the intention of [people hearing it]. Obviously, we release it, but we don’t sit there and be like, ‘We want everyone to know this’,” Jenny says. She considers for a moment. “I guess it might be a statement, but not intentionally.” It’s true that they have plenty to talk about on this record. When they dropped ‘Hot Pink’ back in January, Rosa and Jenny dove straight in with a subject they feel strongly about. ‘Hot Pink’ deals with misogyny, in the way that we as a society treat femininity as being inherently weaker or less valuable than masculinity. “Femininity is looked down on in comparison to masculinity, and it shouldn’t be like that,” Rosa says thoughtfully. “It shouldn’t be inferior; it’s such a powerful thing. I think people feel like they can’t express that side of themselves, whether it’s girls or guys or whoever. The song was just about celebrating
femininity and the power in it. It’s something that we think about a lot, and a lot of our friends think about a lot and feel and struggle with, so it’s something that we felt we needed to write about.” The track is also, at least in part, about the traditional dynamic of relationships - about who holds the control, and who is expected to behave in certain ways. “People often approach it from this traditional point of view as to who initiates what and what happens in it. I just think it’s a bit stupid. Even when you should do things, like when you should do this with someone, when should you do that. I just think it’s bloody outdated. And dumb,” Jenny laughs. “And I think it’s fine if that’s what you want to do, but it’s not for everyone.” Power dynamics come into play a lot on this record, in more ways than one. ‘Snakes and Ladders’, for example, delves into dependence and pressure. But while on the surface the track could be about a particularly toxic dynamic between people, that wasn’t the intention at all. “That track’s a lot about power and consumerism. The snakes and ladders bit was just about power in society really, and game-
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playing,” Rosa explains. Jenny nods. “Also the deceit element, of snakes.” “It’s a lot about having to buy into consumerism and brainwashing,” says Rosa. “Also the suffering involved, and the problems people have in the world as a result of it,” Jenny adds. “And the effect on the environment as well,” says Rosa. It’s clearly something they feel passionately about. They lean into the table, trading off sentences in one continuous shared thought. “I have to stop myself sometimes because it gets me so down and angry,” says Jenny. “It gets to the point where there’s only so much you can do about it,” Rosa agrees. “You’re also aware that you’re contributing to it, and there’s no way out really.” “That’s what the song’s about. Having to contribute to something that goes against your morals. It’s a mindfuck,” says Rosa. The pitfalls of the mind play out elsewhere on the album, too. The gentle piano ballad ‘Ava’ tells the story of a friend mired in misery, as the narrator tries desperately to offer a helping
“I like going back to Norwich, it makes me feel more normal” hand. “’Ava’’s about trying to support someone who doesn’t want your support because they’re in such a bad place, and accepting that you can’t always do everything to help people. A lot about mental health, really,” says Rosa. Is that something they explore a lot? “Yeah!” they say in unison. “I think a lot of the songs are at least partially about it,” Jenny says. “It’s quite a trend in our lives,” Rosa smiles. “It’s something that affects us and people who we’re close to a lot,” says Jenny. “And so many other people,” Rosa adds. ‘Ava’ is a touching tune, lilting and softer than the rest of the album. Despite being the stylistic outlier on the record, though, it is also one of the clearest examples of what the album is truly about. At its heart, ‘I’m All Ears’ is an extended riff on friendship. “A lot of the tracks, most of them are about platonic relationships. Or even the platonic relationship that you have with someone you’re going out with. Things should be based on friendship anyway,” Jenny says. “I think romantic relationships are important, but I think platonic relationships are important in a different way. When you break up with someone you often lose that connection, and you don’t see them again, whereas platonic relationships can last a lifetime, but you don’t have to be [officially] committed to them because they’re your friends. It doesn’t go away. People don’t really fall out with friends that much unless you’re in high school. Or if they do something really bad – and then good riddance.” While it may be true that adults tend not to fall out with their friends the way we do with partners, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s always
smooth sailing. Sometimes life just gets in the way particularly when your life is that of a travelling musician. Jenny explores this in the third single off ‘I’m All Ears’, ‘It’s Not Just Me’ with the lyric “back then I’d just decided, I was so misguided, that you’d all forget about me in time.” “I felt that because we were travelling and doing things with the band that I didn’t have enough time to spend with my friends, and I felt like they were all doing things together that I couldn’t be a part of,” she says. “I feel like people might read into it like, ‘People might forget about the album’, but it’s nothing to do with being in a band. I’d be far more upset if my friends forgot about me than if people forgot about the record. My friends are more important to me than that.” She pauses for a moment. “It’s hard when you miss people.” “It’s hard when our lives are so separate to all of our friends’ lives, and that makes it isolating in a way,” Rosa agrees. “That’s why I like going back to Norwich, hanging out with people and going to their gigs; it makes me feel more normal,” says Jenny. With ‘I’m All Ears’, Let’s Eat Grandma are getting their balance in a new, adult world. Maybe true ‘normality’ - whatever that might be - is fleeting at the moment, but Rosa and Jenny are establishing their own baseline. Besides, it doesn’t seem like they’d have it any other way. “I’m just enjoying being at home most of the time at the moment, so that’s why I’m like this, but if I was there all the time I’d be like, ‘I am going fucking mental, somebody let me leave now!’” Jenny laughs. If they mean to go on like this, then all the better for us. P Let’s Eat Grandma’s
album ‘I’m All Ears’ is out 29th June.
Greatest Comedian The The
Londoner Matt Maltese holds a mirror up to everyday life that reflects back love, hope, humour and everything in between via theatrical musings that make you feel like just maybe, everything will be okay.
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Words: Jamie Muir.
f you turn to track four on Matt Maltese’s debut album ‘Bad Contestant’, you’ll find a song called ‘Like A Fish’. In just over three and a bit minutes, it captures exactly what makes Mr Maltese something undeniably exciting, wistful wide-eyed joy, crippling honesty and a way with words that flick off one another like a modern-day storytelling prince - but even then, you don’t have to look far to find why.
As the swelling number croons into view, all baroque strings and effortless charm - Matt begins. “You said you use chocolate, when you and him take off all your clothes. Why the fuck you tell me that? Can’t drink that image out of my head.” Pulling no punches, let’s say it delves into more than just a Kinder Surprise when it comes to unexpected twists and turns, a mantra that perfectly captures why at only 21 years of age, he has the sound of an unflinchingly raw generation first and foremost pouring out of his mind. As Matt puts it, “I like the truth, and I like songs that put the truth out there regardless of how ridiculous or messy it sounds.” “We all have these experiences or whatever that are too strange to speak out loud about,” he continues. “I like the idea of just writing songs where you aren’t thinking about what someone might think of you because unfortunately, a lot of us do have feelings that are quite pathetic and do things that are quite pathetic.” We’ve all been there, and the awkward realities of growing up in 2018 have never sounded so gorgeous. Dodgy sweet sixteens, crippling jealousy and heartbreak, hopeless romance heading nowhere fast - Mr Maltese is sitting prime and proper with tales to gather around. “What brings out the most emotion in me is when things aren’t sugarcoated” he confesses. “You can still make things sound nice with a great melody and nice lyrics but also, it being a representation of the truth is important to me”. It may sound strikingly serious, but Matt Maltese is embracing the show of it all. Born to Canadian parents but raised in a distinctive
flavour of British life, music was always the avenue that spoke to him most - growing up and going to school in Reading enraptured in what music could do and the ability it gave him to convey his true feelings. A self-confessed introvert, it meant Matt spent countless hours writing, playing and learning in his bedroom, a “bit of an anti-social guy, sometimes to my detriment” he accepts. “It was a way for me to connect those things that were going on in my mind. If you’re a 13-year-old boy, you often can’t even talk to your mates about your feelings for whatever reason. “I found that songs, and it sounds silly, but they’re my friends.” A diet and circle of sounds made up of his favourite lyricists acted as an inspiration. John Grant. Joni Mitchell. Courtney Barnett. That ability to strip down the metaphors and layers associated with the everyday emotions and feelings felt by all, it’s that which caught Matt’s eye and something he’s refused to let go off ever since. “[They] were definitely lyricists that inspired me to write those revealing lyrics - lyrics that aren’t trying to round up an emotion in a grand metaphor but rather just address the details of life that are maybe a little bit gross and maybe a bit bleak, but overall have this beautiful sentiment”. That sentiment rings throughout ‘Bad Contestant’, an album that perfectly snaps a picture of an artist taking something undeniably classic but voicing it into this very moment in time. Charismatically direct, it can go from sweeping Bond scores to lush orchestral drives, Scott Walker to Father John Misty, all to the sound of Matt setting up shop down the local boozer - Martini in hand and a scrapbook full of stories to tell. Poet Laureate of 2018? He’s on it. “I guess it all came from being in love with a form of expression,” lays out Matt, harking back to early days spent plugging into the lyricists and voices that would fill his mind with potentials of his own. “Seeing and listening to artists that you love and then wanting to emulate that.” There’s something about those early years that has remained strong for Matt, something most artists usually are sharpish to get away from - but there’s a spirit around it all. “What’s nice when you’re younger is that nothing comes with it,” points out Matt, mulling around the thought of being an artist and how that very idea when first starting out seems so surreal and distant. “I think it’s important that you start with a child-like attitude, because as soon as you have an agenda, it changes what you
“As much as I can be incredibly sad, I can also be a bit fucking excited” create.” Stripped of ego, Matt trades in pointing out... well, the things that may seem bizarre but ultimately, are things everyone will of gone through. Whether it’s the sound of a crumpled crisp packet from another tiresome date, he’s a lo-fi lover in the elk of Jarvis Cocker if he had to contend with Tinder and rising rent in his day-to-day. It involves a certain disregard of opinions and thoughts from those looking in and an acceptance of larger than life normality, something strewn and sprinkled across everything he touches. “I think a lot of us have feelings that are actually quite pathetic” continues Matt, “and we do quite a lot of pathetic things too. Most of my songs are autobiographical, with of course some made up bits too, but come from my own experiences face to face with people. If I had just stayed in my room then this album wouldn’t exist, I had to do some living too.” While the heart-laden tales he created were forming into their own insatiable manner, ‘Bad Contestant’ is a grand album, warm and vulnerable in equal measure. That sense of collaboration - whether with Hugo White of Maccabees fame in the early stages, or Foxygen’s Jonathan Rado and Alex Burey for the album itself - lit a fire in Matt to where he could take his vision and a reassurance that it was okay to do exactly what he wanted to. Seeing the baroque stylings of Foxygen or the ability Alex had to create a track in his parents’ back garden, it showed just how easy and possible everything was. “It gave me that confidence to bring out this new side of myself, and without doubt discovering those strands of existence and discovering those communities who say ‘this is okay’ is really great and reassuring”. After 12 days spent in Mr Rado’s LA studio (a long way from his bedroom to say the least) and time spent “extroverting the introvert” the results are an album concise and packaged as a scrapbook of everything glorious about Matt Maltese. From first listen it’s undeniable theatrical, beguiling, mesmerising,
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you name it - it’s a record that lives for huge cinematic moments yet ultimately pulls you close to Matt at his piano pouring his heart and soul out. “When recording and working with others there was a certain sense of protectiveness at the start when people were suggesting what or who I should work with,” he remembers, “but with Rado and Alex, they do these things that I just don’t understand where they could have got those from. I love to work with people like that. “It’s good to work with people who are better than you. Being able to write these songs, and then when recording take a step back and think shit, some of these sound like Disney songs which is kinda what I was looking for. You want it to shock and surprise you, and that time making the album certainly did.” Strong in its identity and purpose, similar to the countless nights where Matt would roll up with his keyboard to play with punk bands and thriving creatives in the new wave of London bands, it’s ultimately an optimistic one full of audacious tongue-in-cheek fun. “As much as I can be incredibly sad, I can also be a bit fucking excited,” he laughs. “We all have these different sides of ourselves and its okay to show them.” With diary one rolled into place and the grand opening set, Matt Maltese is at a big landmark indeed. A modern-day viewfinder into love and life, ambition looms large. He wants to be prolific, releasing album after album and playing them to crowds lured in by evenings spent pondering nuclear annihilation, odd nights on horse tranquillisers and generally just navigating a world that, y’know, can be a bit fucked. “I know life is full of strange fucking crapshoots, but who knows. I’d love to keep creating.” Whether in the corner of a working man’s club or on the grandest stages possible - Matt Maltese is painting the world in his own shimmering palette. Classic but new, now that’s a sizzling cocktail if we ever did taste one. P
Matt Maltese’s debut album ‘Bad Contestant’ is out now.
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Boy, do these lot have some stories to tell… Our mate Double M is one of many blooming ace storytellers out and about at the moment. You know the type, who could sing you the menu at Subway and still make it sound like an emotional rollercoaster of life between two slices of bread. Here are a few well worth a try after delving into Matt’s world. We’ll get the candles…
Father John Misty
Y’know - this guy eh?! Prolific doesn’t even cut out, but nobody else is telling stories about Taylor Swift, weird nights in hotels and château lobbies like this one. Praise be. Essential Track: C’mon, do we have to choose?
Alex Lahey
Much straighter to the point, but ever since her debut album ‘I Love You Like A Brother’ came out last year, we’ve been living full on Planet Lahey. Which definitely sounds like a radio station on Grand Theft Auto right? Essential Track: ‘I Haven’t Been Taking Care Of Myself’
Richard Hawley
Wise beyond his years, this Sheffield icon should be a bloody national treasure by now. As Alex Turner once said: ‘Someone call 999, Richard Hawley’s been robbed’. (We haven’t heard of any crimes but if he has been, then someone, please call). Essential Track: ‘Tonight The Streets Are Ours’
Courtney Barnett
Continuously getting better and better, the former Dork cover star always has a tale to tell - with new album ‘Tell Me How You Really Fell’ a must-have. Essential Track: ‘Nameless, Faceless’
Alan Power
Now here’s one to keep an eye on - making a name across the country with some huge support slots with Spector and Mr Maltese himself, think Phoenix Nights with a stunning, crisp white suit and amazing hair. Essential Track: He has a bloody amazing story about Glastonbury you should ask about…
Boy
meets
world
Boy Azooga’s Davey Newington knows how to pen a bloody good tune, and their debut album may just be one of the underground hits of the summer. Words: Ben Jolley.
R
ather than following the more traditional route of forming a band and then recording an album, Cardiff’s Davey Newington flipped that idea on its head for his shape-shifting Boy Azooga project.
Having grown up with classically-trained parents, music has always been a big part of his life: “Right from the get-go, really; my dad got me into Queen when I was super young - I used to play along on a biscuit tin to the greatest hits video,” he laughs. And it was that formative experience as a child that gave Davey his first introduction to the drums; his mum and teacher even arranged a day off school when his kit arrived. Soon taking up lessons inspired by his jazz drummer granddad, Davey then got into guitar at the age of 12 or 13: “I’ve always been obsessed with music”, he enthuses. As a teenager, he’d accompany his parents when they’d perform in the National Orchestra of Wales. “I used to love going to those concerts because it’s so different to the stuff I’m used to,” Davey recalls, talking to Dork from his bedroom at home in Cardiff. “Your body absorbs all the sounds, and it’s a wicked atmosphere, but people can tut at you if you’re moving too loud. It’s a lot more formal – there’s no crowdsurfing at my dad’s concerts - that’s for sure,” he laughs. During his school years, Davey was a part of a number of orchestras in Cardiff, went to a percussion club on Saturdays and then did his first proper rock gig aged 13 with a band made up of schoolmates. But it was going to see The Darkness perform that made up Davey’s mind. “That was a ridiculous first show to see because it was so over the top, but it was amazing. Justin Hawkins came out on a white tiger above the crowd, and I remember being like ‘I’m gonna be in a rock band now’.” It’s this genre-hopping musical upbringing – which also includes a stint as Charlotte Church’s Pop Dungeon drummer (“those were some of the most fun times I’ve had, even though it was a challenge musically”) that has led him to release such a diverse record with Boy Azooga. More of a mixtape of sounds and styles than one succinct collection of songs, Davey says the tracks took the shape of an album as he
“I’ve always been obsessed with the afterlife, but not in a weird way” was recording them. Without a record label breathing down his neck pushing for a quick release, it allowed him creative freedom. “If you can record without worrying about time or money you can perfect it a bit more, but then on the flip side spending just three days in the studio is good because of the pressure,” he considers, concluding that the first way of working - without constraints – suited him best. With some of the songs written almost ten years ago, including one when he moved out, it’s a vast collection. Expectedly, then, each song sounds different from the last. “I think the blink-y interludes and skips allow you to be a bit freer - whereas if it was just song, song, song it might be quite jarring.” That’s not to say Davey is ruling out a more ‘traditional’ album format in the future, but for now, he’s happy that Boy Azooga’s debut “feels like a lot of thought has gone into it and that it takes the listener on a journey.” Although there’s not a particular overarching theme or concept to the album, the main idea that springs to Davey’s mind is… death. It’s not what we were expecting, but it makes sense – especially on tracks like ‘There’s A Taxi To Your Head’. “It’s more of a party song,” Davey says, “but it’s got darker tones, and it’s about the afterlife. I’ve always been obsessed with it… but not in a
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weird way,” he reassures; “I’m just very interested in it”. Aside from death, there’s a song about his dog ‘Jerry’. Overall though, while there isn’t a specific subject, Davey knew he wanted to make the record flow in terms of the music: influenced by The Beach Boys, choruses overlap in different songs and interweave. After completing the album, he decided it’d be fun to play the songs live. And, simple as that, Boy Azooga was born. “I had a bunch of ideas of what to do in a live gig – I wanted it to be quite percussion-heavy,” he
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considers. After having a jam with them in his flat, Davey recruited friends Daf Davies, Dylan Morgan and Sam Barnes to form the Boy Azooga live quartet. When Dork calls, Davey is still reeling from playing one of their best gigs yet at Clwb Ifor Bach – the same venue where the band played their first gig. “We did five dates last week across the UK and then in Cardiff a lot of the crowd got onstage, it was really fun,” he says of their successful return a year later. “That really was energetic - we encourage a party atmosphere
DAVEY ON… THE IMPORTANCE OF MUSIC
“It seems such a shame that, nowadays, music is sort of pushed back and, if you’re not lucky enough to grow up in a house where there’s a lot of music, I reckon there’s a lot of untapped potential in young children. Music is getting taught in lunchtimes now for GCSEs if you want to do it; it just seems bizarre. I guess if they don’t think it’s going to make you a living then it’s not important, but there are so many more benefits from people doing music.”
DAVEY ON… ‘1, 2, KUNG FU’
“I think I wrote it down in my phone notes and then when I was recording ‘Loner Boogie’. I just shouted it, and it became the name for the album. It’s snappy and, it sounds ridiculous, but I was a massive Jackie Chan fan when I was growing up. I watched ‘Behind My Stunts’ on Channel 5 which walked you through his stunts, and I read his autobiography; so the album title is a sort of nod to my childhood.”
and a bit of crowd-surfing,” Davey says of the vibe at their live shows, though he still can’t believe they’re selling out venues. “It’s still a shock and flattering when people come down to see us. I think because we’ve had such a long time of doing the slog in other bands, we’re super appreciative of the fact that people are into it and coming along. Whereas if people had started coming to my gigs when I was 16 or 17, I wouldn’t have been that…” he pauses. “It’s good to have a bit of perspective.” As a four-piece, Boy Azooga fuse pop hooks and indie guitar riffs
with infectious choruses. “It’s weird because the album was meant to be a celebration of all the stuff I’m in to,” Davey continues, “so I can’t really think of it as one thing. It is basically pop music, they are pop songs, but I’m into lots of different stuff.” At their shows, Davey wants people to feel, quite simply, happy. Bringing a rave-y atmosphere to venues up and down the country, his inspiration for hedonistic gigs came after watching Ty Segall play Primavera festival at 3am. “It was just completely mindblowing, and I was like, ‘I need to
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write some more up songs’, because it was just non-stop adrenaline.” Having formed the band after writing an album, Davey agrees that it was quite an unusual process. But for Boy Azooga’s second album – yes, they’ve started working on it already – the quartet is coming up with ideas and songs together for the first time. “You have those voices in your head saying, ‘You need to think about making it more energetic and lively’, because it’s going to be performed,” Davey says of the new creative process. “Whereas when
RE AD D O RK. CO M
I was making the first record, it was literally just me, my mum, my girlfriend and some of my close mates that I would play the mixes to”. And what does the future hold for Davey and Boy Azooga? “I’m not sure really, I want to play more shows, travel a bit more, release loads of music and I’ve got some ideas for side projects; making and creating loads of things because, having been in lots of bands before, that’s what I’ve always done.” P Boy Azooga’s
debut album ‘1, 2, Kung Fu’ is out 8th June.
Reviews. Six stars out of fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive!? It’s not unheard of.
Pop Emergency Or ‘how can you get six stars out of five?’
The Big One
Years & Years Palo Santo Years & Years’ first album was great. Their second, ‘Palo Santo’, is a pop revolution.
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t’s not as if Years & Years were previously slouches. Their
debut album marked them out as one of the breakthrough acts of 2015. It had actual radio hits, and introduced the masses to a genuine pop star in the form of frontman Olly Alexander. And yet, when compared to follow up ‘Palo Santo’, they may as well have been playing obscure Bavarian parlour jazz. Here, Dear Readers, be bangers. In truth, it’s hard to remember an album that’s so packed, front to back, with potential singles. Not just standalone, cynical strikes, either. Each track is joined by a thematic thread, and yet every single one sounds bigger than the last. First taster and opener ‘Sanctify’ has teeth, jerking like the undead as it marches forth, eyes glinting with genuine soul, but that’s quickly blown out of the water by ‘Hallelujah’ - a track which takes one glance at the metaphorical
roof then blows it straight into the upper atmosphere. Think that’s the high point? Then you’ve not accounted for ‘All For You’, all snap backs and euphoria, or ‘Karma’, with it’s dripping, syrupy sugar mixed with bitter lemon zing. By the time the accelerator is lifted for ‘Hypnotised’, we’re as bewitched as we are exhausted. In a good way. So much, so ‘we don’t need a track by track run through, mate’, but it’s that dizzying rush that best encapsulates the majesty of ‘Palo Santo’. There’s no accusing Years & Years of being too cool for school, and yet they’ve remained true to themselves in their crowning glory. There’s no skipping to the beats of another’s trend, or painfully pulling apart what’s reacting from an avalanche of numbers and streaming statistics. This is the same trio, with the same ideals, but supercharged. In a time when we’re still being told the album as a format is dead, ‘Palo Santo’ presents the perfect solution. A stunning, complete work, it’s also packed with playlist ready moments - each of triple A-list status. From the tropical bounce of ‘If You’re Over Me’ to the intriguing alt-pop burn of
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Everyone else is boring, Dear Reader. They claim that if your scoring scale is out of five, then five is the most you can award. Some even say you can’t really give that, because nothing is perfect. They’re usually the type of eejits who think half stars are things too. Us Dorksters know better. We know there’s no point in five stars if you don’t give it out. Scores are about excitement - not scientific assessment. We include them because this is supposed to be fun. But what do you do when there’s a record that’s better than a five? The once in a blue moon Pop Emergency that stands out above the crowd? Reserved for the most exciting, banger-iffic records - we’ve got the answer. Six out of five. Yes, we’re doing it. Shut up. Don’t be boring.
Chromeo
Head Over Heels
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Chromeo exist in a completely different realm to everyone else. One submerged in autotuned grooves and unashamed club favourites that don’t so much hook you in, but pull you right through the front door and onto the dancefloor. It’s a formula that has held them solid across four albums, and their fifth continues that form with an unfaltering commitment to going as big as possible. ‘Head Over Heels’ is so neon that someone should probably go down to Sunset Boulevard to check Chromeo haven’t taken the famous lights, for a glow that shines throughout. P Jamie Muir
Gruff Rhys Babelsberg
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Sometime Super Furry Animal, sometime author, filmmaker, soundtrack composer and psychedelic troubadour Gruff Rhys recently put together a playlist subtitled ‘Depressing songwriters sing piano driven vaguely orchestral pop’, and it gives a pretty good idea as to the kind of territory he’s traversing on his fifth album, ‘Babelsberg’. Featuring the 72-piece BBC National Orchestra of Wales (the Doctor Who orchestra; a suitably cosmic pedigree), the mood is grandiose, sweeping and country-tinged. It’s a crazy world, but who better to guide you through it? P Rob
Mesure
Yuno
Moodie
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eeeee+e **POP EMERGENCY! SIX OUT OF FIVE!** LABEL: POLYDOR RELEASED: 6TH JULY 2018 LISTEN TO: HALLELUJAH, ALL FOR YOU, KARMA, IF YOU’RE OVER ME, PREACHER (BASICALLY THE WHOLE ALBUM. HTH.) ‘Lucky Escape’, it’s a one-take greatest hits in waiting. By the old ways of doing things, it would be enough to keep them in full on ubiquitous promo mode for a good two years. As it is, it’s an almost unheard of motherlode that sets a new high bar. These kings are under nobody’s control now. P Stephen Ackroyd
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Coming from Jacksonville, Florida, Carlton Joseph Moodie (formerly aka Unouomedude, now just aka Yuno) found his path to music through skateboarding and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games. It might not be apparent at first listen, but those hours spent collecting, grabbing, grinding and flipping to a solid soundtrack of punk, metal and hip-hop have paid off. His music is packed with special sonic moves and a refreshingly wilful disregard for genre, and what’s resulted is a mini-album which succeeds in whetting the appetite. P Rob Mesure
Boy Azooga
Gang Gang Dance
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The story of Boy Azooga feels like it has played out very quickly. Since January, they’ve been everywhere jumping and darting into frame and brimming with all the excitement that the hype train brings. It’s understandable, ‘Face Behind Her Cigarette’ and ‘Loner Boogie’ are certified heavy hitters. It’s a fair wonder then, what exactly a debut album can bring to the table? Led not by the voice of frontman Davey Newington but by his mind instead, ‘1,2, Kung Fu!’ delivers on the hype and more - a stunning album that manages to sound distinctively fresh yet undeniably classic at the same time. P Jamie Muir
For a band like breathlessly experimental New Yorkers Gang Gang Dance, seven years is a long time to let their warped creative minds run riot. So, here we are with ‘Kazushita’, and things are as mind-bending as ever. Despite the outwardly impenetrable image, at the heart of Gang Gang Dance is an accessibility and beauty. Where the album truly excels is when it drifts off into the epic. Closing track ‘Salve On The Sorrow’ is a disorienting sonic journey that culminates in a hypnotic chanted reverie; an apt summation of the entire album. It’s nice to welcome these sonic explorers back. P Martyn
Young
Jack River
Jorja Smith
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There’s something special littered all across Holly Rankin, aka Jack River’s, debut full-length. ‘Sugar Mountain’ feels like a pop masterpiece written by the mind of a true songwriter. Crafted around the singles ‘Fools Gold’, ‘Ballroom’ and ‘Fault Line’, the album is undying in its ability to keep you guessing and surprised. Intricate opener ‘Her Smile’ brings a poptastic ravaging; ‘Stardust & Rust’ is a piano-led number that glimmers with a gritty beauty. The record’s heart is most certainly worn on its sleeve, and nothing is off limits. Perfectly, and meticulously crafted, ‘Sugar Mountain’ is a classic waiting to happen. P Steven Loftin
Since releasing the devastatingly pointed ‘Blue Lights’ at the start of 2016, Jorja Smith has captured the spirit of teenage life in Britain. It’s the soundtrack to sitting on the swings of your local park, setting the world to rights one cigarette and pack of tinnies at a time. ‘Lost & Found’ is very much like what came before. Honest and critical yet still fuelled by optimism that things will get better, even the cliche pitfalls that she sometimes falls into are somewhat thrown by the wayside because it’s all delivered by these affecting vocals. Here, there’s honesty and naivety, tender emotions and youthful optimism. P Chris Taylor
1, 2, Kung Fu
Sugar Mountain
Matt Maltese
Bad Contestant
Kazuashita
Ears & ears
Lost & Found
Melody’s Echo Chamber
Bon Voyage
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‘You said you use chocolate / When you and him take off all your clothes / Why the fuck you’d tell me that?’ Welcome to the world of Matt Maltese. South London’s premier crooner’s debut has finally arrived, and it’s hitting its mark. While comparisons to the likes of Father John Misty are easy to understand and even harder to avoid, Maltese is far from a budget hotel lobby tribute act to planet indie’s king of the beardyweirdies. Wry, self-depreciating and disarming, ‘Bad Contestant’ is a hyper aware parade of seemingly offhand, cutting wordplay matched to super smart instrumentation. Pass the Dairy Milk. P Stephen Ackroyd
On ‘Bon Voyage’, Melody’s Echo Chamber offers seven tracks of prismatic, palatial pop. Dripping in pensivity and personality, it’s imperative to dig deep, but ‘Bon Voyage’ makes it easy. Opener ‘Cross My Heart’ is proud, kaleidoscopic pop; with lyrics in both English and French, it’s enchanting. As the record continues, the eclecticism becomes clearer. No two tracks remotely resemble one another, with sections inspired by music from all reaches of the world. A wait well worth it, ‘Bon Voyage’ builds upon the creative chaos of Melody’s 2012 debut, like a mythical monster with an unforgiving bite. P Eala McAlister
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Let’s Eat Grandma I’m All Ears eeeee Second albums are supposed to be difficult. If that’s the case, why does Let’s Eat Grandma’s new record sound like the future?
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he future is supposed to be unknown, right?
If the joy is in the journey, then knowing the final destination should spoil the fun. If that’s the case, someone explain why ‘I’m All Ears’ is such a riotous blast. Because, make no bones about it, Let’s Eat Grandma have shown us what’s coming. In a three-track blast at the front end of their second full-length, they showcase a world of youthful exuberance, glorious, carefree fun and pop brilliance that sets their peers back on their heels. From the audacious, warping brilliance of ‘Hot Pink’ through the glimmering ‘It’s Not Just Me’ and the confident, empowered battle cry of ‘you got this’ in ‘Falling Into Me’, it’s a tour de force which becomes almost transcendental. Be clear. This is all Let’s Eat Grandma. Though Rosa and Jenny have convened a council of some of pop’s brightest minds - including chief pop futurist SOPHIE and the Horrors’ master of reinvention Faris Badwan - it’s their raw attitude that ties the threads together. While, ‘I’m All Ears’ may be a sonic leap from debut ‘I, Gemini’, it’s that spirit
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that pulls a world of different, sparkling ideas together and makes them stick. It’s not just that run of standout singles that makes ‘I’m All Ears’ special, though. Throughout there’s a spirit of invention that refuses to be tied to any single idea. Instead of an uneven listen, it makes for a visceral breath of fresh air, sweeping through with every new offering. ‘Snakes & Ladders’ cracks like a whipped tail over smouldering embers, while ‘I Will Be Waiting’ shimmers and pounds in equal measure. In their hands, even a nineminute plus slowburning epic grabs the attention and holds it for keeps, as ‘Cool & Collected’, evolving and twisting throughout. In a word packed with old, boring men pushing old, boring ideas, it’s hard not to frame Let’s Eat Grandma as an antidote. In truth, forcing them into a comparison with such mundane drudgery does them a disservice. ‘I’m All Ears’ isn’t an answer to a broken system - it’s a new set of no-rules to replace all establishment norms. Fuck expectation. Be yourself. Do what you want. It’s the future. P
Stephen Ackroyd
Coming up... Here’s what to expect in the very near future! 6TH JULY Yungblud - 21st Century Liability Tom Grennan - Lighting Matches
Panic! At The Disco
Pray For The Wicked
eeeee You’re following up your most successful album in a decade. What do you do? Embrace the weight of expectation, or take the chance to have some fun? If you’re Panic! at the Disco, of course, you do both. Now a bona fide arena act and Broadway star, Brendon Urie has thrown all rock pretence to the wind in favour of an album of dazzling show tunes. ‘(Fuck a) Silver Lining)’ is a shook-up soda can of sickly sweet hooks and pure glee exploding out of the speakers, and it rarely lets up from there. It’s hard to think of a more exuberant and capable showman in rock. P Dillon Eastoe
Petal
Magic Gone 13TH JULY Dirty Projectors - Lamp Lit Prose Mikaela Davis – Delivery Deafheaven - Ordinary Corrupt Human Love Bury Tomorrow - Black Flame Real Friends - Composure
Lykke Li So Sad So Sexy eeeee Do we really Lykke it? Is it, is it wicked?
W
hile before, Lykke Li would reach for tribal heights, ‘so sad so sexy’ trades in subtle but engulfing soundscapes. While it may not truly shine on first listen, it eventually builds into an intoxicating world.
The knack for soaring melodies rings loudest on the likes of ‘deep end’ and ‘hard rain’, while ‘sex money feelings die’ may be the liquor-soaked latenight anthem of the summer. Throughout, there’s a committed move into menacing, darkness-drenched pop,
Corrections Actually, in hindsight...
something that, to a Lykke Li fan, may take a while to come around to. In establishing herself as a new force in modern pop, though, it makes her undeniably exciting. When artists move blatantly into new terrains, it can sometimes be quite a brave move. For Lykke Li, it’s one that comes out roses - an album that blossoms with every listen. ‘so sad so sexy’, when lived with, could become the record that captures someone’s year - a stunning calling card for a new era Lykke Li has effortlessly breathed into life. P Jamie Muir
We’re not perfect, Dear Reader. Actually, the fact we don’t pretend to be is sort of our thing. Dork by name and all that. So, with that in mind, we’ve decided to be more willing to ‘rethink’
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Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever
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Recommended
Favourite ever book: JD Salinger - Catcher in the Rye TV show you couldn’t live without: Garth Mahrenghi’s the Dark Place Best purchase of this year: Green knit jumper Anything else you’d recommend? A film called Closely Watched Trains
DORK
Following a run of tours with the likes of Kevin Devine and Julien Baker, Petal returns with ‘Magic Gone’, ten tracks of assured songwriting and emotional depth. On her second album, having come out the other side of treatment for mental health issues, Petal’s Kiley Lotz is finding catharsis and clarity in her music. From the punky fuzz of ‘Better than You’ that opens to the closing strains of the ambitious ‘Stardust’, ‘Magic Gone’ builds strength and resolve from the most vulnerable moments. There’s something special captured across these ten tracks. P Dillon Eastoe
Hope Downs
Last good record you heard: The Crepes Channel 4
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27TH JULY Kyle Falconer - No Thank You
Hey, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, recommend us some stuff...
some stuff with the benefit of consideration. That means occasionally, we may come back to you with updates on previously published ‘opinions’. Which is what we’re doing now. After another month holed up in the ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’ we’re happy to announce we’ve given in to the repeated requests of the proprietor to award it four stars out of five ( ), an increase from our original fence-sitting three star rating. After watching countless interviews with Alex Turner, it’s become even more obvious that they’re a band who know exactly what they’re doing and why. With a glint in their eye and a swagger in their hips, it’s a record transformed. Congrats, Arctic Monkeys. e
2OTH JULY The Internet - Hive Mind Ty Segall and White Fence - Joy
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Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever’s debut album proper, ‘Hope Downs’, is a sundrenched time capsule of tight guitars and melodies that provide the perfect soundtrack for summer. Everything is sophisticated and sharp, tight to the button yet delivered in a manner that makes it sound like the band are gathered around at a poolside BBQ. Delightfully assured and beautifully executed, ‘Hope Downs’ is everything the band have promised. P Jamie Muir
Snail Mail Lush
eeeee The ‘coming-of-age’ debut is a trope tried and tested through indie history, but it takes a special sort of soul to get it exactly right. Whether upbeat or downtrodden, the guitar work throughout ‘Lush’ is nothing short of magnificent, knowing when to pare back and when to go for gold. At just 18, Jordan has already amassed 13 years of experience in her instrument, and ‘Lush’ is an undisputed love letter to her six-stringer, a reassuring constant in the resulting stories of adolescent love, house-party heartbreak and selfesteem wobbles. P Janessa Williams
Shameless
Lily Allen No Shame
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Lily Allen has lived her life in the spotlight.
From the sunshine success of ‘Smile’ through the skipping uncertainty of ‘The Fear’ and the brash, take-no-prisoners of ‘Hard Out Here’, she’s used her music as a mirror. Part reflection, part idealistic hope for change, part brave face, the one thing that’s tied her journey together is her own outspoken honesty. Thing is, while Lily has been telling tales of bad boyfriends, the streets of London and numbing the pain, the tabloid media has been telling tales of Lily. Her every move scrutinized, her every tweet picked apart, argued and dismissed and her every truth seen as a stunt, her life in front of the camera comes with its own set of crosshairs. ‘No Shame’ sees her taking back control. “I try to keep an open mind, I feel like I’m under attack all of the time” starts ‘Come On Then’. “My head can’t always hold itself so high,” it admits but rather that welling in misery, putting on a fake smile or turning it all into a joke, she takes a breath and digs deeps. “Come on
then, if you know so much about me, put your money where your mouth is,” she invites. ‘No Shame’ is her refusing to feel guilty about other people’s expectations. ‘No Shame’ is her side of the story. What follows is a scrapbook of the past few years. The bruises in high definition, Lily doesn’t hold back. Songs of addiction, betrayal, loneliness and tears find a home next to new resolve. Skipping between big, silver-lined ballads (‘Family Man’) glitching dance snarls (‘Trigger Bang’) and quiet heartbreak (‘Apples’), ‘No Shame’ cherry picks the best, brightest and boldest of Lily’s interests and brings them together. Wickedly smart, there are echoes of everything that has come before, but it’s less brash, less in your face. Across ‘No Shame’, there’s a tentative peace. A hard-fought comfort in this moment. After trying to be the loud, proud, social commentator people said they wanted on ‘Sheezus’, ‘No Shame’ is Lily being herself, for herself. And there’s nothing more powerful. “Don’t let anyone tell you who you are, or who you can or can’t become,” sings the closing track. “I can’t see any reason why you can’t have your cake and eat it,” Lily grins celebrating small victories, vulnerability, resistance and no shame. P Ali Shutler
ARTIFICIAL PLEASURE
The Bitter End Debut album out now "Unabashed swagger is the name of the game, and it’s delivered in bucket loads from start to finish" Dork
"A joyous blend of art and style. A deviously inventive exercise in fun, flair and ambition" NME
artificialpleasure.com
Get Out. IF IT’S ON STAGE, IT’S IN HERE.
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Chvrches have never looked more alive Dork’s former cover stars, Chvrches shine bright for a smashing album launch show. Words: Ali Shutler. Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett.
C
hvrches’ ‘Love Is Dead’ sees the band embrace every corner of their jagged sound.
The latest gig news.
Get more as it happens, every day at readdork.com
Live + amplified.
From the breaking-down-thedoor reflection of ‘Graffiti’ to the out-the-window escape of ‘Wonderland’, the gang are braver, bolder and full of fiery purpose. There’s no time for apologies. Not anymore. Their album launch show at House of Vans London sees them take that energy to the stage. As the curtain drops to the clapping urgency of ‘Get Out’, Chvrches become the band they’ve always flirted with. There’s weight behind every
Machine head
Florence + The Machine are back in style
move forward thanks to the addition of live drummer Jonny Scott. Now, Lauren, Iain and Martin have space to fully lean into every twist and turn. They have time to play. ‘Graffiti’ snaps and grins while the looming ‘God’s Plan’ quickly shifts into an electric storm of promise through menace. The drive forward also breathes new life into the classics. There’s no more rougharound-the-edges rattling as the ‘We Sink’ dances under layers of noise, ‘Under The Tide’ bursts into colour and ‘Never Ending Circles’ marches on, the crunch of gravel underfoot and its horizon glistening. As heavy as this era of Chvrches kicks, the band have also spent time polishing the edges. ‘Miracle’ swirls and sprays, turbulent pop that’s always in control while ‘Never Say Die’ and ‘Forever’ skip, spin and slay with floating agility, despite the fact both are made from solid gold. Pop has never swung so hard. By the time the show comes to a head with the closing onetwo of ‘The Mother We Share’ (still carrying a wide-eyed wonder) and ‘Clearest Blue’ (still beating and blood-soaked) the band have nothing left to prove. This is the best they’ve sounded, attacking the stage but letting the songs lead the charge, there’s a comfort in how the pieces have fallen into place. There’s a resistance in how they’ve done it their way. There’s a pride in how they’re not only still standing, but they’re stronger than they’ve ever been. Love might be dead, but Chvrches have never looked more alive. P
Merry Xmas, everyone! MGMT have announced a few dates for December
Florence and Co. tease what’s to come with an intimate show at London’s Royal Festival Hall. Words: Steven Loftin. Photos: Dimitris Legakis.
R
oaring back to life with the promise of a new album, releasing a couple of tracks, and a few intimate - by their standards - shows, it would appear as if Florence + The Machine are getting ready to conquer the world. Again.
And London is the last of three lucky venues to be given a sneaky insight into what they’re bringing into 2018. The Royal Festival Hall stage, decorated head to toe in flowers and greenery, screams of woodland fantasy and transports you into Florence and co’s world. Spirits inside are already high given the scorcher of a day, and the moment Florence Welch steps barefoot upon the stage, the transcendence for all begins. Immediately orchestrating each pounding beat of ‘Between Two Lungs’, Florence demands the crowd’s attention. Every movement is graceful and otherworldly, a presence that you feel
Florence + the Machine are going on a massive tour
Florence + the Machine have confirmed a load of massive arena shows in the UK this winter, supporting new album ‘High As Hope’, which arrives on 29th June. The shows start in Leeds on 15th November and include a night at the O2 in London. The announcement comes just after their slot supporting The Rolling Stones at London Stadium.
MGMT are on their way back to the UK this winter to play a few dates in support of their most recent – and really very good – album ‘Little Dark Age’, with shows at London’s Eventim Apollo (13th December), Glasgow’s SWG3 (15th), Leeds’ O2 Academy (16th) and Manchester’s Albert Hall (17th).
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honoured to witness as she pirouettes left and right. Though the venue is entirely seated, at Florence’s command, the audience rises, fervent for whatever she’ll bestow upon them - which is immediately fuelled by the thunderous sound of ‘Queen of Peace’. ‘Dog Days’ brings out a rapture amongst the audience - a crowning moment in a night that was intended to re-deliver Florence back into the full swing of public consciousness. The new tracks, ‘Hunger’ and ‘Sky Full Of Song’, are received incredibly well, especially the former. Dedicated to the fans that got her from the “swampy home of South London” to this stage, it sounds ever more euphoric with the full might of the live Machine behind it. P
Lizzo is coming back to the UK this August for a date in London Lizzo has announced a new show in the UK; she’ll be heading to our shores for a night at the Omeara in London on 24th August. She hasn’t confirmed any other plans just yet, but it’s the same time as this year’s Reading & Leeds, so perhaps we’ll get a festival set or two too? Lizzo dropped her new single, ‘Fitness’ earlier this year – check it out on readdork.com.
Leeds! Leeds! Leeds!
Live At Leeds
Leeds, Various venues. The first weekend of May always signals the real start of festival season. Taking place on one sunny Saturday weekend, Live At Leeds is packed with some of the very best new and established talent. Dusting the cobwebs off our survival kits, we headed to the north of England to pick out the highlights of another winning year. Words: Ali Shutler, Chris Taylor, Jenessa Williams. Photos: Patrick Gunning, Sarah Louise Bennett.
I
t’s 12.50pm and as far as we’re concerned, the day is already a winner. At The Wardrobe, Idles are everything we need
in a live band – smart, political, funny, dangerous and heartfelt; their impeccable set includes crowd surfing boys in Sainsbury’s uniforms, a round of applause for the contributions of the UK’s immigrants and more sweat than a hungover park run. It may be 20 degrees outside, but our goosebumps are visible – this is easily one of best shows of the year. If Idles were pure energy and exuberance, then Phoebe Green is something of a bump back to earth. Seemingly unimpressed by both the heat and the diminutive size of the crowd, her performance is somewhat sullen and selfconscious, never quite relaxing into itself. It’s a shame, because ‘Song For Alex’ is a great little swooner, a slice of 60s girl group shimmer that
displays her songwriting prowess. Dream Nails’ DIY, riot grrrl spirit infuses every aspect of their set in Hyde Park Book Club’s equally DIY basement. The sparse space is filled with the unapologetic anger and tongue in cheek humour of the punk four-piece. Encouraging girls to the front and declaring all profits from their zine will go to Abortion Support Network, they’re fearless in their beliefs throughout. Not only that, they’ve got tunes to
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boot. Comparisons to Bikini Kill seem too easy, even though lead vocalist Janey Starling has a voice like Kathleen Hanna, but they’re not stuck in the past. Tackling the whole gamut of modern issues from female reproductive rights to wondering whether to double text, it’s an impressively fiery start to the day. With a wide window out onto Call Lane, a favourite of Bank Holiday revellers, Oporto’s BBC
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Introducing Stage catches the eye of many passers-by. Gaffa Tape Sandy provide the perfect spectacle, with faces pressed against the window to catch a glimpse of Kim Jarvis leaping all over the place. Spiky, ferocious and a whole load of fun, the Bury St. Edmunds trio fill their half-hour with tunes so intensely catch, we find ourselves humming the prechorus to the superb ‘Beehive’ all the way to the next venue. For anyone who still has a Wild Beasts-shaped hole in their hearts, Stereo Honey try their best to patch up the wound with a set that pays significant homage to the recently departed band. Throwing in shades of Everything Everything and Radiohead for good measure, they are clearly the product of a very good record collection, remixed into something that ticks a lot of intelli-pop boxes. Winning
over a few new fans in the process, ‘What Makes A Man’ is a particular treat, filling Church with a definite serenity. After letting our eyes adjust to the darkness of The Key Club after racing through the bright sunshine outside, it’s time for King Nun. The London foursome are a band that love to surprise. One minute they’re barraging us with ferocious riffs, the next we’re bouncing along to an indie pop singalong. The noodling math-rock guitars of previous single ‘Sponge’ and headbanging treat ‘Hung Around’ sound fantastic in the sweaty basement club, but the crowd never seem to fully embrace the potential for a mid-afternoon mosh pit until right at the very end. The tiny stage at Oporto is so packed that BLOXX’s vocalist Ophelia finds herself politely asking the crowd if she can “get
to the front. I’m actually with the band”. A handful of songs at the ready, including a live debut for ‘Monday’, the band are tight and infectious. Tracks like ‘Coke’ and ‘Sea Blue’ are packed with addictive hooks that shake that tiny space. Two girls, who had been itching to get into the room to see BLOXX, finally fight their way in for set closer ‘Ur Boyfriend’ and proceed to go absolutely wild. That’s the power of BLOXX, and it’s only going to get stronger.
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If the bulging queues that form a ring around the side of the O2 Academy are anything to go by, Peace must be up there with today’s most popular sets. Six years on from their first LAL appearance, the stages may be bigger, but the spirit remains the same. The familiar strains of Wraith and Money provide the feelgood crowd-pleasers, while the row of dedicated barrier clingers provide fine voice for newer material such as the live debut of ‘Silverlined’, a track that displays their softer side. It segues nicely into the vulnerability of ‘Perfect Skin’ and the delicious sway of ‘California Daze’, as youthful as the day it was written. Moving over to Leeds Beckett, we stumble into something of a welcome back party for Spring King. Circle pits greet every single song to the obvious gratitude of
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While Alex Turner has been busy grooming his new beard, Justin Young of The Vaccines has been waiting in the wings to become the UK’s newest 50s debonair, paying homage to ‘that old rock and roll’ with every finger point, hip wiggle and flash of white sock. Resplendent in a gold bowling skirt, he leads his troupe a speedy romp through ‘Wreckin’ Bar’ and ‘Teenage Icon’ to get something of a greatest hits set started. The singalong to ‘Wetsuit’ takes us right back to the giddy summer of 2011, while ‘Your Love Is my Favourite Band’ proves their longevity – something you might expect from the rose-tinted spectacles of Mystery Jets or Little Comets. But there’s no harm in keeping a crowd guessing – despite plenty of competition across the cities venues, they hang on to a packed crowd until the very end, a testament to their enduring vitality. the band, with new single ‘Animal’ going in particularly hard, closetextured and urgent. With the likes of ‘This City’ and ‘Who Are You?’ in their back pocket, they’ve been sorely missed, reminding us why they’re becoming such a staple of the British festival circuit. Superorganism don’t seem real a lot of the time. Their music fizzes with electricity as they try and make sense of the world around them. When they don’t
Bad Sounds are all about
have answers, they have jokes. They’ve made their home between a chipped black mirror and a firework of sparking excitement, but there’s always one eye looking for an escape. And so a festival, unpredictable and out of control, seems like the worst place for Superorganism to thrive. Yet here we are. With projections, costume changes, so much dancing and a reckless sense of joy, the band bloom in a kaleidoscopic whirlwind. Every movement is precise; every song polished until it gleams, but there’s nothing artificial about this rabble. Behind the choreography, the glistening pop bangers and their united march are the grins of eight people who’ve found common ground and are happy to share this space. It’s gleeful and infectious, as the band radiate warmth. As the neons flicker and the strobes burst and decay, Superorganism come to life. Pretty soon, all talk of Ten Tonnes AKA Ethan Barnett being the little brother of George Ezra will be just a footnote. Here in The Church, it’s quickly swept away by his energetic indie pop. While the cavernous Church seems almost too big at first glance, the giant stained glass window dwarfing Barnett, tracks like ‘Cracks Between’ and the fantastic ‘Lay It On Me’ feel huge. Even when his live band leave for a bit of “one on one time”, his earnest tunes have the crowd enraptured. Ten Tonnes isn’t about the show; he simply lets his songs speak for him. Last year The Magic Gang caused chaos in The Church and one year later, that performance still gives us goosebumps. This
time around, the band are on the biggest of stages and are (finally) backed by their debut album. Some things never change though as The Magic Gang blend beauty and the beast. The jostling ‘How Can I Compete’ flickers with urgency as it lays itself back, ‘Getting Along’ fizzes and sparks like an unstoppable lit fuse while ‘Your
The Horrors have had one of
the biggest musical glow-ups in recent music history; like high school goths that went to university, read a bit of Sartre and listened to some Cocteau Twins. It’s never more obvious than on our very own stage at Church. The varied setlist spans everything from Primary Colours right through to V. With no Strange House in sight; it’s clear they’ve thrown that first album to the wayside like a used bottle of hairspray. While Faris Badwin still likes to hide in the darkness (wearing a leather jacket and gloves in that heat, it’s no surprise he wants the shade), Tom Furse and Rhys Webb have truly come out of their shell. Furse, surrounded by synths and other machines, looks like Winslow Leach from Phantom of the Paradise, while Webb swings about the stage with his rather unusual bass crab dance. For The Horrors, this former hallowed space feels like the perfect venue for them; their textured and larger than life sounds filling every rafter.
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the show. And with plenty of bangers for us to worship in The Church of Dork, it’s the best of both worlds. Ewan and Callum Merrett bounce around the stage like two brothers hopped up on E-numbers. It’s colourful, addictive and full of sunny vibes. Trying to outdo each other, put their other bandmates off and just generally looking like they’re having the time of their lives, it’s a feeling that’s infectious. ‘Are You High?’, ‘Zacharia’ and ‘Avalanche’ whip the crowd up into such a frenzy that, by the time set closer ‘Wages’ ends, the crowd is as knackered as the two brothers look. The words of a middleaged mum, there with her daughter, as they make to leave say it all: “That’s the best thing I’ve seen all day, by far.” Love’ sees the band standing at the edge, shouting at the sky. Their bloodletting echoed by the churning room. Voices start to fray, but The Magic Gang push on, making every moment count and enjoying the view from their ascent. It doesn’t matter how many times we’ve seen this band; it always feels special. Forever Cult are virtually unrecognisable from the band we
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watched here a year ago. Not only has their number expanded, but their sound has too – new track ‘Usurper’ demonstrates a new, melodic layer to their grungy songwriting approach that is very exciting indeed. There’s still space for an old favourite though – ‘Winters Glow’ sees a deadpan Keiran clamber down to the crowd, flinging friends into good spirited headlocks and raising a smile from even the most weary-footed sceptics in the room. No longer hidden behind her piano, Rae Morris takes to Belgrave Music Hall with a completely new attitude. Breaking into the explosive ‘Reborn’ after the beautiful opener ‘Push Me To My Limit’, it feels like we are witnessing an awakening of a new Rae Morris; one that dances around the stage in a technicolour fever. Even older tracks like ‘Under The Shadows’ see a serious boost in tempo. There’s still an awkward timidness to Morris, especially in some of movements and crowd interactions, but it only helps heighten her down-to-earth demeanour. Despite a constant buzzing that plagues the set, it’s an impressive sight to see someone return with such a bang. For those of us with any energy left, the Liverpudlian charm of Circa Waves is enough to hit Stylus capacity one last time, leaving several hundred teens threatening mutiny outside. They throw all the right shapes, but it is clear the crowd are weary (or much too drunk), and any remaining screams are reserved strictly for singles, or a hearty chant of ‘Yorkshire!’ when Keiran dares to say that ‘today is all about the scousers’. No matter how tired a Leeds crowd are, never question their pride. P
Here’s all the best stuff we saw at The Great Escape Brighton, Various venues. One of the buzziest weekenders in all of festival season, the hottest new bands made their way to Brighton for The Great Escape. Words: Ali Shutler, Jamie Muir. Photos: Patrick Gunning, Sarah Louise Bennett.
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un scorching, queues snaking around the block and more than enough energy - Boy Azooga are the perfect band to kick things into the front row. Shimmering and effortless, it’s impossible to not fall in love with everything they do, the grin of frontman Davey Newington a calling card for the atmosphere they create. Tracks like ‘Face Behind Her Cigarette’ and ‘Jerry’ are a go-to sign of that infectious and unpredictable sound, for a band bringing joyous times back in abundance with a melting pot of style. Downstairs at Komedia, Hatchie is equally delving into something important - with a set of wholesome and sun-kissed tales that hit that sweet spot between Tom Petty and Haim. Live, it’s a fully formed wonder, with the sort of enticing magic that’d win you over no matter what time of day it is. Festivals are always the right time for big-time indie moments, and one of the bands leading that down on the seafront this year is Sea Girls. Their slot in the The Arch is written with a force that comes from a band knowing exactly what they do. With a kick-pedal rush, ‘What For’, ‘Eat Me Whole’ and ‘Too Much Fun’ pack a heady punch that never relents, with frontman Henry ending up deep in the crowd for
a celebration that points to much bigger stages. The new Beach venue at TGE this year is not only perfectly named (the pebbles are literally all around you) but also crammed with special sets from acts ready to embrace what comes next. Soccer Mommy is one of them, with an expertly crafted early evening set that sees her pour through cuts from ‘Clean’ and more for a must-see moment full of style and experience far beyond her years. Slick neon-emblazoned pop doesn’t come much bigger than joan. It’s amazing to think that Arkansas could serve up such an unstoppable mixture. It’s super stylish, infectious from the first note and has you calling back to the unabashed pop majesty of The 1975 and Fickle Friends. That’s pretty good company, and tonight’s spot at The Great Escape is an eye into a lot of people’s next favourite band. Whenyoung exist in that gap between awake and dreams. Their name already up in lights and coming onstage to Patti Smith repeating their name, they’ve come to meet the excitement around them head-on. ‘Actor’ sees them looking in the mirror, mirror on the wall, unsure of where it all fits. ‘Pretty Pure’ dwells on vulnerability, while ‘The Collector’ hangs in the air, twinkling in search of joy. A pair of new songs show that the best is yet to come. ‘Heaven on Earth’ fizzes and pops, while ‘The Others’ comes with reality’s bite. Dedicated to “everyone who died in the Grenfell Tower and has been forgotten and disregarded”, it points fingers and warns of an echoed future. Dream Wife know how to make their mark. In recent years they’ve been tearing apart the rulebook and seizing attention with ease,
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on board.
but their set this year finds them in a different realm. With a debut album out, it’s a celebration and affirmation of how important they are, and that confidence can be seen at every move tonight - ‘Hey Heartbreaker’ particularly setting the scene for a band owning their moment. In equal standing, Goat Girl have continued to grow and morph since their last TGE appearance, and a packed out moment in The Arch is a perfect mirror of their confidence and power. It’s a beguiling set, blending ramshackle power and exciting cuts from their recently released debut album. With strings on stage, it’s one of the most enthralling moments of the weekend. Pale Waves write songs about falling in and out of love. It doesn’t matter if it’s fit to burst, or aching, empty and devastated, everything comes from the heart. The group have always been good live, with a ripe and ready arsenal of bangers, but over the past few months, they’ve been busy on the road. Getting used to the spotlight, they’ve quickly become rock stars and entertainers. Heather brings the songs to life, sharing jagged loneliness, electric chemistry and glittering joy. While ‘Kiss’ finds eternity in the small moments, ‘Television Romance’ wants something bigger. As ‘There’s A Honey’ glistens in the gloom, Pale Waves race forward, eager to stay ahead of their own breakneck momentum but enjoying the thrill of the chase. You can hear IDLES all the way down the seafront. Firing on all cylinders, they have a message that refuses to go unheard in a blistering display of power. There’s no let-up, and it’s why they continue to grow and grow into one of the most important bands of recent times, leaving thousands in awe - and tonight is no different when ‘Well Done’, ‘Divide & Conquer’ and ‘Mother’ rings out. Now that’s how you take Great Escape and grab it by the throat. You know it’s The Great Escape when you find yourself piling into
a garage forecourt to watch a band play with cans of Red Stripe strewn around in buckets. Drahla have that honour, and their Shipwright’s Yard slot first thing on Friday throws any cobwebs away. The trio thrive on intense and sizzling scratches that take punk roots to a fresh new level, and they bounce off each other today in an uncompromising fashion. Screaming against the world, it’s an unstoppable display. Luscious hooks and ready-made lines abound from Pip Blom. Spending the afternoon down in the Komedia underbelly, she leads her band through a set wrapped in melody but always ready to rile against the world. It’s a package perfect for bigger stages, and while her name was already on the lips of tastemakers, this weekend is undeniably the moment the world catches on. Climbing up narrow stairs to a packed upstairs in a pub, Sports Team deliver one of the defining shows of the festival. Hilarious, self-deprecating yet swaggering with confidence, it’s a sensational coming together of pop showbiz and gritty back-alley worlds. With frontman Alex Rice already laying his claim to be one of the most talked about figures in new music, cuts from their debut EP ‘Winter Nets’ are joyous. A band staring straight at the brightest lights and laughing with glee, it’s time to jump
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Ten Tonnes has had his eyes set on big anthems from the moment he started writing. Down on Brighton’s seafront, he’s now got the ammunition to truly take down giants, geared with the ready-made hits that’ll have thousands screaming along in no time. ‘Lay It On Me’ rips now with a beefier bite than ever before, melding bluesy charm with indie vibrancy for a set that points to The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys and Tom Petty in equal measure. Drenched in darkness, Hotel Lux is an intoxicating and spellbinding detour. Vaudeville depths ring throughout, spitting at the world around them with a knowing class that feeds off the eyes gazing at them. ‘The Last Hangman’ is a muscle-flexing exercise and shows that their glazing world is one that can only grow. Feet aren’t like any other indie band going at the moment. They may be flowing with jolting punk energy, but underneath there’s a playful indie spark for melody and a good ‘ol time that shines through their set at Patterns. Already with big-time game changers like ‘Petty Thieving’ and ‘Backseat Driver’, Coventry may be about to see a lot less of their favourite sons. In a good way, y’know? Let’s Eat Grandma just want to hear something interesting, and they’ll do it themselves if they have to. On debut album ‘I, Gemini’, the pair pulled apart their own warped pop bangers, trying to hide the sheer size of it all but there’s no running this time around. Kicking off into ‘Hot Pink’, the pair burn bright. Fuelled by fury, broken promises and sitting at the end of their tender with boredom, the
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track fuses and spits. Rolling eyes and death stares, its jagged edges sparkle in the evening light. ‘It’s Not Just Me’ fingers through the Scrapbook of youthful excitement, anything goes freedom and having the best time as Let’s Eat Grandma change direction. Again. They don’t just colour outside the lines; they use voice, body and heart to build a picture that’s always shifting. At one point the pair hop off the stage, skip through the crowd chasing their own wonderland before returning in a flurry of handclaps and rolling about the place. Unpredictable and never bothering with the line, ‘Falling Into Me’ is a soaring promise. “You got this,” it smirks. Tonight feels like the moment Sorry groove into the potential they’ve sparkled with since the very beginning. Tracks blend and swoon with sharpness and vigour, a packed room engrossed in everything they do. As the night blends into the morning, it’s a different prospect to anything seen before and all the more sensational because of it. Sorry, on tonight’s evidence, are ready to shake things up. One of the most talked about new names at the festival, Stella Donnelly’s set is a captivating masterclass of a songwriter in her element. Cracking jokes and with the sort of soothing voice that you can listen to over and over again, her confessional tales are in full flight with ‘Boys Will Be Boys’ - a devastating track taking aim at assault and misogyny. When Stella rounds off her set, it’s almost bittersweet - leaving a packed crowd standing on the beach pebbles ready for more. Surprises are always great, right?! Like Indoor Pets announcing a special appearance on the morning of the festival. They
don’t disappoint at The Western, playing what has to be one of their smallest shows in a while. Trading in bangers and bangers only, it sounds massive - ‘Barbiturates’, ‘So Soon’, ‘Teriyaki’ all bouncing off the walls. Blissed vibers and serenading tight whips of infectious jazz moves, Easy Life are another band bringing something undeniably fresh. Cuts from their debut mixtape are smooth, a charming flick of organ keys, horns and scatty kicks that sound like they’ve come straight from a late night jazz bar. Ripping apart the term genre and dancing in its confetti-strewn
remains, Easy Life are an injection of something new - and by the time they end on the joyous ‘Pockets’, that message is one that rings loudly from everyone heading out into the Brighton night air. Overcoming obstacles galore, Her’s’ set at St Mary’s Church finds the loveable duo up against it. Sound issues galore, they triumph for the exact reasons that have made them so insatiable. A carefree, almost jubilant spirit, laid out from the jumping moves on stage and the shimmering pop heights that reach from what comes out of it. “Play a good one,” shouts a super hilarious dude. “We don’t have any,” Alicia fires back, without breaking her stride. Bully don’t do good songs, only great ones. From the flurry of feedback to the scorched earth fury of ‘I Remember’, they are as powerfully bold as ever. The band burn hot for thirty minutes and then disappear into the night, leaving behind one of the most memorable, exhilarating and pure sets of the entire festival. Bonafide hometown heroes, The Magic Gang have the party firmly in their grasp as things begin to
wind down. Having their debut album out, their sets are now at a stage where they’re even more devoted - a coming together of thousands born to scream along to every word. The energy never dips, from opener ‘Oh Saki’ through the singalong heights of ‘Jasmine’, ‘Alright’ and ‘Getting Along’, it’s a packed-in occasion that could only happen at The Great Escape. Another special moment comes with Pixx, playing upstairs at The Western. Last year’s ‘The Age Of Anxiety’ was crammed with shimmering pop flourishes, with her set at The Great Escape firmly welcoming in what comes next. Feeling like a one-off moment, it’s a relaxed and shape-shifting show, airing new tracks and pointing to a beefier and uncompromising new direction. After all of that, closing out The Great Escape can be quite the challenge. Thankfully, The Ninth Wave take challenges and turn them into melted ice cream on the floor. People line from front to back, as their propulsive Interpolesque hits fly from start to finish. Latest EP ‘Never Crave Attention’ was the sound of them stepping into their own, refined and hungry with the tracks ready to match their ambition. It fizzes and runs rings live, pouring intensity from the bare-chested torso of frontman Hayden, primed to see a cult following grow quickly around them. They may have spent three days in Brighton, but The Ninth Wave were born for this moment. That’s how to close a festival in style. P
A Quick Q&A with...
Sports Team After knocking seven shades of showbiz out of their afternoon set at The Western, it was only right to have a chinwag with a band set for the big leagues. Or if not that, at least the surrounding towns of the M25. Frontman Alex and drummer Al have the scoop.
Sports Team, how on earth are you? That was pretty ace just then, right? Alex: The reaction’s been good, ‘Stanton’ as a closer is one we’ve been doing for a while, and that feels great, so was a good one! It feels like things are starting to happen for you guys? Alex: I don’t think we want to be a band who just feeds the hype, we want to crack on - we like playing music together, and we live together in Harlesden, write songs and play live as much as possible. Playing live is what we love doing. Al: That’s really why we formed the band. Alex: We asked our manager and booker to book us a Commuter Belt Tour, and we didn’t think it through… we did Bishop’s Stortford last week to a pub of five people; it was brilliant. We’ve got Milton Keynes soon; it’s getting increasingly less funny as it goes on. All about those train lines, right? Alex: We’re going to become more about the trains than the music after a while. Our autobiography - ‘The Train To Nowhere: How We Blew A Deal’. You’re a band who thrive on having a laugh with a crowd - is that important to you? Al: We’re aiming for laughs, really! Alex: We used to have a guitarist in the band who said it wasn’t a good gig if we didn’t have four classic gags in there; could have done your ten minutes at the Comedy Store. I still feel that pressure now even though it’s not a necessary one. Must mean that the summer ahead is exciting? Alex: Definitely. We want to play in front of a lot of people. That’s what feels real and visceral for us. And starting to get it recently, the Moth Club show where 100 people got turned away, and you have a real seething crowd, that feels different. This is the only band we could be in. We’re not musicians who could fall in and out of other bands. We’re learning together. P
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Festivals. 1st July
Community Indie giants Two Door Cinema Club are headlining Community this year - and working on new material... Words: Jamie Muir.
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hen Alex Trimble leads Two Door Cinema Club onto that headline stage in Finsbury Park for Community Festival this summer, there’s no denying its importance and timing. One that comes out of a
5 TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB BANGERS THAT ARE GOING TO BUST THE DOOR DOWN AT COMMUNITY
period that started with self-doubt and has ended in a triumph that’s reaffirmed their status as one of the truly great British bands carving
infectious indie hooks for packed out crowds. Finsbury Park is the sort of moment of which most bands can only dream - when you get to that big outdoor headliner, you know you’re tied into something special. For Two Door, it’s the next step for a band in the sweet spot of discovering new ground, continuing to experiment and push at the walls that once surrounded them. In a literal sense too, it’s pretty grand for Alex. “I moved to North London last year, so it’s kinda on my doorstep,” he laughs. “Which is a very strange feeling to know that I’m going to be playing to over 30,000 people ten minutes down the road. It’s a very exciting opportunity but also a daunting one, y’know?”
What You Know
If you aren’t singing along to this one well, you shouldn’t be there. Or you’ve lost your voice from screaming along already, which… in that case… is okay.
I Can Talk
Expect pandemonium when this ripper, well, rips.
Two Door Cinema Club in 2018 are a band reborn. Reborn by a record like ‘Gameshow’, coming out of a time full of challenges, and coming to terms with the rapid rise that followed their first two albums. Sizzling indie adulation came, but for them as people - it was a drastic shift which had its implications. Alex doesn’t hide where they found themselves, explaining how the long break was “because we weren’t sure whether we were going to continue”. ‘Gameshow’, and the 18 months since, have been a revelation. “That record was such a big moment for us,” he recalls, looking back with a fondness on the time since then. “We went from not knowing what we were doing to taking a bit of a leap, taking things
Sun
A growing live favourite, as Alex recalls it “five years after the release of the record, all of a sudden it became one of the biggest moments in our set”. Expect it to be big.
Bad Decisions
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“We’ve been putting together the new record” further and experimenting more. Putting it out and not having everyone run away. It’s nice to put so much of yourself into something and have it received well. If anything it’s spurred us on a little bit more to try and go further on this next one.” Last summer was full of highs for the Bangor trio, “probably the best summer we’ve had,” confirms Alex, setting the stage for the future. Headlining Finsbury Park provides the perfect moment to look back at where they’ve come, and the journey they’ve gone through since playing around each other’s houses every day, to festival-filling giants. Debut album ‘Tourist History’ still zips with a classic urgency, a snapshot of guitar music rising out of the crash of the later 00s, while follow-up ‘Beacon’ - albeit a period that the band “don’t look back on fondly, I don’t think we were in the best place” - showed their vision. Over 10 years later, they’ve not just grown as a band, but as people too. “A little bit of time and experience shows what you want and what you don’t want out of it. We’re really in a place that now, instead of dreading going back on the road it’s actually an exciting prospect.” Written across every move is this idea that Two Door now exist in a world entirely of their own. No longer competing or caught up in a rat-race - they’ve glided into place as a band operating on exactly what they want to do. “We’ve never really run with the crowd,” contemplates Alex, “and being out there and doing things our own is kinda how we like it. It is sometimes hard to not find it defeating when, especially in today’s climate, where things can just get lost, and music is so fast and disposable in a way, people move on so quickly with streaming and everything. It’s a very exciting time
comes alive on stage, full of shuffling swagger and confident nods. Like a lion showing off its mane - we’ll be bowing down at this point.
classic is a building cannon of a banger that unleashes into hands in the air jubilation. A crowning moment of the set *places bet on confetti now*
Eat That Up, It’s Good For You
Other bands playing: The Vaccines, Circa Waves, Rat Boy, Sundara Karma, Pale Waves, Bad Sounds, King Nun, Ten Tonnes and ‘more’.
Not one of their bonafide singles, this ‘Tourist History’
to be doing this because nobody knows the answer, and that’s exceptionally exciting.” After the heights and new ground claimed with ‘Gameshow’, Community is set to be a line in the sand, a band embracing their position from the past, present and future. “How to explain it,” mulls Alex, “I guess it’s a stop-gap between records - it’s the end of ‘Gameshow’ and the beginning of what comes next. We’re still thinking about how we’re going to put the show together. We are starting to get some new songs on the table and thinking about this new show but whatever it’s going to be - it’s not going to be quite what ‘Gameshow’ was, and it’s not going to be quite what the next thing is.” What comes next is a line on everyone’s lips. Two Door’s reinvention that came from ‘Gameshow’ lays the door wide open for what they do next. In wiping the slate clean, painting and sculpting their next move is an exciting one - with Alex flying in between London and LA to work on album number four. They’ve even managed to spend the year looking back on one of their first releases, ‘Four Words To Stand On’ - an early EP packing soon-to-be classic bangers like ‘Undercover Martyn’ and ‘Cigarettes In The Theatre’. “I hadn’t even thought about it for years; the most inspiring thing was realising how far we’ve come since then. There aren’t a lot of artists out there who are given the opportunity to develop in that way. “I mean, whether we were afforded it or we just took it without asking, we’re not sure. It was probably a combination of both!” cracks Alex. It’s a jubilant spirit for a frontman looking ahead with renewed energy and figure, emerging from a time where the fate of the band was up in the air and now stronger than ever. “We’ve been putting together the new record since the beginning of the year, so it’s getting to the point that we’re dipping into the studio, getting stuff down and it’s getting to a really exciting stage. “I feel like it always takes a long time for us to realise what the record is going to be and going to become, and it’s got to that stage where the record is beginning to form in front of us now. We’re getting an idea of where we’re going, which is great.” Landmark moments? Why, that’s just another day for Two Door Cinema Club. A new era is about to begin, roll the film.
P Community takes place
at Finsbury Park, London on 1st July.
15th July
Citadel
Festival shorts
Dork vs 2Q Festival
Dork has teamed up with the excellent 2Q Festival in Lincoln this year, and it’s going to be loads of fun. The first batch of bands has just been announced for the 3rd November event, and it features some of our fave up-and-comers, including Easy Life and The Orielles. Visit 2qfestival.co.uk for more.
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hey’re back! With a brilliant just-released third album, Chvrches are ready to hit the festival circuit again. At Citadel, they’ll
appear on a bill that also includes the mighty Tame Impala, quite probably Britain’s most incendiary new band Shame, the always brilliant Horrors and loads, loads more. We caught up with Iain from the band to find out what we should expect. “Getting to share the new songs that we have been brewing up is my favourite part of what we do,” he says. “The songs really take on a life
of their own on stage.” This time around, the band have also added a live drummer into the mix. “On stage, we have always felt like a rock band at heart, and now we are taking steps towards that,” Iain adds. “It’s going to be a pretty different experience. It’s been just the three of us since the beginning, and I knew it was inevitable that we would get a drummer at some stage now that time has come. I can’t wait for people to hear how much energy the new songs have.” P Citadel
takes place at Gunnersbury Park, London on 15th July.
Justice are the fourth headliner for Wilderness Justice are last bill-topper confirmed for this year’s Wilderness. They join a line-up that already features headliners Chic Ft. Nile Rogers, Bastille and Jon Hopkins, plus !!!, Confidence Man, Palace, IAMDDB and more. The Oxfordshire festival is set to return from 2nd-5th August.
Coming up...
More festivals to check out in the very near future. TRNSMT
Lovebox
Location: Glasgow, UK Date: 29th June - 8th July 2018 Line-up: Stereophonics, Liam Gallagher, Arctic Monkeys, Queen, The Killers, Chvrches, Blossoms, Interpol, Wolf Alice, Declan McKenna Wireless
Location: London, UK Date: 13th - 14th July 2018 Line-up: Skepta, Sza, Diplo, Wu-Tang Clan, Childish Gambino, Mura Masa, The Internet, Diplo, Wu-Tang Clan, Bonobo, Grace Carter, Belly, Annie Mac Deer Shed
Location: London, UK Date: 6th - 8th July 2018 Line-up: J Cole, Stormzy, DJ Khaled, Cardi B, Giggs, French Montana, Mabel, J Hus, Raye, Ms Banks, Rae Sremmurd, Rick Ross, Lil Pump BST Hyde Park
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The first line-up announcement for 6th October’s Neighbourhood Festival is here. Heading up the Manchester bill are Everything Everything and Sundara Karma. They’ll be joined by Swim Deep, Temples, Blaenavon and Spector.
Location: North Yorkshire, UK Date: 20th - 22nd July 2018 Line-up: Drenge, Goldfrapp, Field Music, Blaenavon, Dream Wife, Goat Girl, Public Service Broadcasting, Joan as Police Woman, Boy Azooga Tramlines
Location: London, UK Date: 6th - 15th July 2018 Line-up: Roger Waters, The Cure, Michael Buble, Bruno Mars, Paul Simon, Khalid, The Feeling, Pale Waves, Johnny Flynn, Ride, Slowdive, Tom Walker
Neighbourhood Festival confirms Everything Everything and more
Location: South Yorkshire, UK Date: 20th - 22nd July 2018 Line-up: Stereophonics, Noel Gallagher, Craig David, Pale Waves, Blossoms, Clean Bandit, Everything Everything, Rat Boy, Mystery Jets, The Big Moon
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Visions signs up Marika Hackman and Sorry New to the Visions bill, are Marika Hackman, Yak, No Age, Sorry, Sons Of Raphael, and more. They join HMLTD, IDLES, Chastity Belt, Sports Team and Nilüfer Yanya. The 4th August event runs across various venues in London Fields.
12th - 15th July
Latitude
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atitude is one of the few festivals where your average music fan is probably just as likely to be found at the Comedy, Film or Literature stages as they are in front of y’know, bands n stuff.
In addition to headliners Solange, The Killers and alt-J, you can also find extra-curricular activities like QI (Live), Ed Miliband and Geoff Lloyd’s Reasons to be Cheerful podcast, and Adam Buxton’s Bug X. “Latitude is a great chance to bring positive, optimistic ideas about making the country better to an
20th - 22nd July
Truck
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n addition to former Dork cover stars George Ezra, Pale Waves, Blaeners, Fickle Friends, and Marika Hackman - and the cover stars of Dork’s 2018 Festival Guide, Peace - there are so many of our fave bands heading to Oxfordshire for Truck this year. Black Honey, Dream Wife,
engaged audience,” says r’Ed. “And Geoff said we had to do it so he didn’t have to pay for his ticket.” Of course there are more than three musical attractions - also playing this year’s festival are Belle and Sebastian, Wolf Alice, Jessie Ware, Parquet Courts, Fickle Friends, Sleeper, Black Honey, Gang of Youths, Tune-Yards, Alvvays, Bloxx, Boy Azooga, Sorry and Confidence Man. The burgers courtesy of Chuck Burger also look amaze-o. Guys, if you want to send some over… P
whenyoung, Sorry, The Orielles, Bloxx, Jaws, Bad Sounds, Goat Girl, Girli, Anteros – it’s just ridiculous. Want to get in on the fun? Join us in Oxfordshire this July for fun, frolics and loads of top tunes. P
Truck takes place at Hill Farm, Oxfordshire from 20th - 22nd July.
Latitude takes place at Henham Park, Suffolk from 12th - 15th July.
Booking Now. STATE CHAMPS
Dublin Academy (22nd October); Glasgow O2 Abc (23rd); Newcastle Upon Tyne Northumbria Institute (24th); Manchester Academy (26th); London Roundhouse (27th); Norwich UEA (29th); Leeds O2 Academy Leeds (30th); Birmingham O2 Institute (31st); Bristol O2 Academy Bristol (1st November)
ALBERT HAMMOND JR
Leeds Brudenell Social Club (10th September); Manchester Gorilla (11th); Glasgow Swg3 (12th); London Electric Ballroom (14th); Bristol Thekla (15th); Brighton Concorde 2 (16th)
MAGGIE ROGERS
London KOKO (29th August)
REX ORANGE COUNTY London Eventim Apollo (5th October)
CAR SEAT HEADREST
Cardiff Tramshed (5th November); Nottingham Rock City (6th); Manchester Albert Hall (7th); London O2 Academy Brixton (8th)
FLORENCE + THE MACHINE 5th - 8th July
Barn on the Farm
12th - 14th July
2000trees
Leeds First Direct Arena (15th November); Birmingham Genting Arena (16th); Glasgow Sse Arena (17th); Dublin 3Arena (19th); London O2 Arena (21st); Manchester Arena (23rd); Brighton Centre (25th); Cardiff Motorpoint Arena (26th)
MGMT
London Eventim Apollo (13th December); Glasgow Swg3 (15th); Leeds O2 Academy Leeds (16th); Manchester Albert Hall (17th)
YOUNG FATHERS
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ou’ll never guess where Barn on the Farm takes place. Yes
okay, it’s a real life actual working farm. The clue’s in the name, huh? While you probably won’t find some pigs down the front raving to headliners Tom Grennan and Tom Misch, the setting offers the festival a charming, intimate vibe that’s hard to replicate. The two Toms are playing after sets from Fickle Friends, Pale Waves, Anteros, Ten Tonnes - all sorts. P Barn on the
Farm takes place at Over Farm, Gloucester from 5th - 8th July.
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ithout a doubt one of the UK’s most fondly thought of festivals, 2000trees has a regular batch of fans and bands who rave about it every summer.
“[It’s] our favourite independent festival,” confirm Blood Red Shoes; “[It’s] always been very special to our band,” say Black Peaks; “We hold the festival very dear to our hearts,” add The Xcerts. See, told you. It’s easy to see why they’re heaping on the praise, too. 2000trees cherry-pick the very tippity-top in
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alternative, rock-leaning groups who all feel like they’re probs the best of mates even when they aren’t doing this music lark. With a capacity of just 10,000, it’s also one of the more intimate summer events. Head over this year for sets from headliners At the Drive In, Twin Atlantic and Enter Shikari, as well as Arcane Roots, Black Honey, Creeper, Basement, Dream Wife, Black Foxxes, Bloody Knees, Dream State, Gender Roles, PINS, Brutus, Jamie Lenman and more. P
2000trees takes place at Upcote Farm from 12th - 14th July.
D OWN WI T H BO RI N G
Glasgow O2 Academy Glasgow (30th November); Leeds Stylus (1st December); Manchester Albert Hall (2nd); Newcastle Upon Tyne Boiler Shop (4th); Bristol O2 Academy Bristol (5th); London O2 Academy Brixton (11th)
AS IT IS
Bristol Thekla (25th November); Edinburgh Liquid Rooms (26th); Manchester O2 Ritz (28th); Birmingham O2 Institute (29th); London O2 Forum (1st December)
STEREO HONEY
Brighton Green Door Store (2nd October); London Borderline (3rd); Bristol Rough Trade (4th); Birmingham Sunflower Lounge (5th); Leeds Oporto (7th)
The Guide.
A L L T H E S H OW S YO U N E E D TO S E E T H I S M O N T H , A N D S O M E YO U P R O BA B LY D O N ’ T Gallagher’s High Flying Birds Glasgow, Idle Frets, Audio Manchester, FIDLAR, O2 Ritz
Sunday 1st July London, Flight Of The
Conchords, Eventim Apollo London, Lewis Watson, Tooting Tram & Social Rugeley, George Ezra, Cannock Chase Forest Sheffield, Deap Vally, The Plug
Friday 20th July Bristol, Future Islands, St
Birmingham London, CRX, Moth Club London, Culture Abuse, Rough Trade East London, Eels, O2 Academy brixton London, Flight Of The Conchords, Eventim Apollo
Tuesday 3rd July Edinburgh, Rufus
Wainwright, Royal Lyceum Theatre London, Flight Of The Conchords, Eventim Apollo Manchester, Eels, Manchester Academy Nottingham, Culture Abuse, Rough Trade Pontypridd, Deap Vally, Muni Arts Centre
Wednesday 4th July
Dunfermline, Neon
Waltz, PJ Molloys Edinburgh, Idle Frets, The Mash House Leeds, Plan B, Millennium Square Liverpool, Average Sex, District
.Sigrid plays London’s Somerset House on 11th July. S.
Lytham St Annes, London, Orchards, Paper Dress
Friday 6th July July Dublin, Eels, Iveagh Gardens
London, Chic feat. Nile
Rodgers, Old Royal Naval College Scarborough, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Open Air Theatre
Saturday 7th July Brighton, The RPMs, The Hope & Ruin Cardiff, Bodega, Club For Bach London, Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Old Royal Naval College
Bristol, Bodega, The Fleece
Bristol, Culture Abuse,
Rough Trade Glasgow, Eels, O2 Academy Liverpool, Miles Kane, Hangar 34 London, Flight Of The Conchords, Eventim Apollo Manchester, Rag’N’Bone Man, Castlefield Bowl
Sunday 8th July
Library
Monday 9th July London, Justin
Timberlake, The O2 London, MGMT, Somerset House
Tuesday 10th July Brighton, Bodega, The Moon Club London, Metronomy, Somerset House
Wednesday 11th July Birmingham, Bodega,
Sunflower Lounge Birmingham, The Breeders, O2 Institute Leeds, Oh Sees, O2 Academy London, Justin Timberlake, The O2 London, Sigrid, Somerset House Tunbridge Wells, Arcane Roots, The Forum
Thursday 12th July
Boston Arms Newcastle, Oh Sees, Boiler Shop
Birkenhead, Bodega,
Thursday 5 July
Cardiff, The RPMs, The
Camden Assembly London, Years & Years, Roundhouse Manchester, Bodega, Soup Kitchen
London, Bodega, The
th
Haunt
Manchester, The Gaslight Anthem, O2 Apollo London, Pet Shop Boys, Royal Opera House
Thursday 26th July
Philip’s Gate
Monday 2nd July Birmingham, Deap Vally,
Wednesday 25th July
Friday 13th July
The Haunt
Nottingham, Bodega, Bodega
Saturday 21st July Sunday 15 July th
London, The Gaslight Bristol, The Naked &
Famous, Trinity Taunton, Kaiser Chiefs, Vivary Park
Monday 16th July Birmingham,
Preoccupations, Hare & Hounds London, The Naked & Famous, Union Chapel
Tuesday 17th July Bristol, Preoccupations,
The Fleece London, Connie Constance, Omeara London, The Howl & The Hum, Camden Assembly Margate, Martha, Tom Thumb Theatre
Wolverhampton, Bolton, The Killers,
Macron Stadium Cambridge, Oh Sees, Junction London, Jorja Smith, Somerset House Manchester, The Breeders, O2 Ritz Reading, Arcane Roots, Sub89
Trembling Bells, Newhampton Arts Centre
Wednesday 18th July London, FIDLAR, O2 Forum
London, Youth Club, The Garage
Brighton, Oh Sees,
Brighton Dome Bristol, The Breeders, O2 Academy London, Cheap Meat,
Saturday 14th July Brighton, Preoccupations, 61
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George Ezra, Lytham Green
Thursday 19th July Edinburgh, Noel RE AD D O RK. CO M
Anthem, Eventim Apollo
Monday 23rd July Cambridge, Flaming Lips, Junction Dublin, The Gaslight Anthem, Vicar Street Southampton, Palm Reader, Joiners
Tuesday 24th July Cardiff, The Flaming
Lips, Tramshed Glasgow, The Gaslight Anthem, Barrowland London, Portugal. The Man, O2 Forum
DORK
London, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, O2 Forum London, White Lies, Subterania Manchester, Night Flowers, Gulivers Plymouth, Bastille, Plymouth Hoe
Friday 27th July London, Kelis, The Jazz Cafe
London, MØ, Troxy Preston, British Sea Power, Guild Hall & Charter Theatre
Saturday 28th July Glasgow, Vistas, King
Tut’s Wah Wah Hut Scarborough, Bastille, Open Air Theatre Sheffield, Palm Reader, Corporation
Sunday 29th July Birmingham, Palm
Reader, Sylum Leeds, T.S.O.L., Brudenell Social Club
LIVE! FORTHCOMING SHOWS
JULY 05 London, Etc.
Festival, Old Blue Last 12 London, Etc. Festival, Old Blue Last 19 London, Etc. Festival, Old Blue Last
20-22 Oxfordshire,
Darling’s Farm 09 Reading, Lucia, Purple Turtle
SEPTEMBER 26 Leeds, Indoor Pets, Key Club
Truck Festival, Hill Farm 26 London, Etc. Festival, Old Blue Last
OCTOBER 05 Reading, Her’s,
AUGUST 02-05 Hever,
NOVEMBER 03 Lincoln, 2Q
Neverworld, John
South Street Arts Centre
Festival
Any other questions?
Her’s Asking about the usual stuff is so boring. Why would you want to do that, when you could ask about leek pie and toilet plungers?
Tell us a secret about yourselves? We used to throw little bits of trash at people off our fourth-floor balcony in the centre of Liverpool! Seeing if we could get away with it. Got caught once, though.
When’s your birthday?
What’s your biggest fear?
Probably that feeling when you’re on stage riffing with your hands tied to the guitar and you suddenly start questioning whether your flies just chilling massively open, but you can’t do anything about it until the end of the song.
What’s the most impressive thing you can cook?
Audy makes leek pies from scratch from time to time, Ste once made a vegan pizza out of sweet potato he gives it a 6/10 though.
Have you ever won anything?
21.03 - Aries, and 23.10 - the night between Libra and Scorpio. Our anniversary is Oct 28.
Ste won a Thomas the Tank Engine Easter egg in school and Audy was prom king!
What was the first record you bought?
What is your most treasured possession?
Audy’s was Melody AM, banging album but he quickly realised that his music taste had sent him to a desolate island separate from all his metal friends. Ste reckons his was probably something bad like Good Charlotte’s ‘The Young and the Hopeless’, probably got some wetlook hair gel with it.
Our damned fine friendship.
Who’s your favourite pop star?
No, we’re both nature boys, but we’ve got some sneaky ideas brewing.
Drake. Ste’s got a big soft spot for the Biebs. But Drake get us through tour!
If you could win a lifetime supply of anything, what would you choose? Probably rent, toilet roll or toothpaste.
Do you believe in aliens?
We get together with Tom DeLonge from time to time to discuss such matters, altogether it seems pretty probable, when you consider all the strange Pokemon running around on earth already.
Have you got any secret tattoos?
If you won the lottery, what would you spend the cash on? Meal deals and rent!
Have you ever fallen over onstage?
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None of us have yet somehow, Audy’s on the precipice most of the time he gets on stage though, bound to be coming soon.
If you could have a super power of your choosing, what would it be?
Ste wants to be able to freeze himself to be able to get out of any awkward situation - ‘Ste, what have you done to that movie I lent you??!’ SNAP! *Ste’s frozen solid in ice* Audy wants really good, healthy teeth.
What’s your favourite smell?
Audy’s gonna her to go for that first sneaking smell of flowers on that early spring air, a promise of what is to come. Ste says he likes the smell of his dad’s bass case; it smells of old pubs and polish.
Were you a rebel at school?
DORK
D OWN WI T H BO RI N G
No, we were both dead nice.
What strength Nandos sauce do you order? Unpopular opinion, rather have Gregg’s.
What have you got in your pockets right now?
Audy doesn’t have any pockets on his pants, Ste’s got a bent passport and unbent bankcard.
If you were on Mastermind, what would your specialist subject be? Audy would go for Dark Souls lore and Ste’s well versed in the world of toilet plungers.
How punk are you out of ten?
Average punk? 5/10ish, we’re polite, but we’ve got no shits to give. P
Her’s debut album ‘Invitation to Her’s’ is out 24th August.
etc. DORK
& THE OLD BLUE LAST PROUDLY PRESENT...
ANOTHER NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL
5th, 12th, 19th & 26th July The Old Blue Last. London. 4 weeks. 4 shows. 100% free. R EAD D O R K.C OM/E TC 2 01 8 #E TC E TC 2 01 8