Dork, October 2019 by Dork

Down with boring

Issue 37 October 2019 readdork.com

Once more, with feeling: Lauvâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s time is now.

INDEX

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October 2019 | readdork.com | Down With Boring

Ø4 Intro 26 Hype Ø4

ED’S LETTER LAUV

He’s the don on the streaming services, but with a debut album on the horizon, Lauv is a pop sensation in waiting.

SWIM DEEP

Back with a new line-up and a really rather great third album, Swim Deep have no intention of sitting still for long.

MYSTERY JETS

With their protest inspired new record, Mystery Jets have something important to say.

It’s easy to be a bit of a crushing bore when it comes to magazine covers. Not to get too far ‘behind the curtain’ about it, Dearest Reader, but we get asked about putting loads of artists on the front of our fair magazine. Some, indeed, demand it in return for a few hours of their time, the big divas. It’s so easy to find yourself turning to the established names - artists with a decade of vintage behind them, but that aren’t saying too much about today. They may be great - don’t get us wrong - but we’re not sure that’s what we’re really always about. But our current cover star Lauv couldn’t be more ‘now’. Clocking up the numbers in a world of streaming, his Spotify stats are really quite ridic. At the time of scribbling, he has twenty seven and a half MILLION monthly listeners. That’s almost as much as Beyoncé. I KNOW! With an album due in 2020, we’ve bundled him through ‘the doors’ to get a dialogue started. Can you smell a pop sensation cooking?

S tephen

30 Features 48 Incoming

SPORTS TEAM We’re all off to Margate with indie pop’s hottest upstarts.

Ø8

READING 2019

DECLAN MCKENNA

The boy wonder is back, and he’s brought bops.

PHOEBE GREEN

With two brilliant singles under her belt, Phoebe Green is making waves.

SAMPA THE GREAT

Sampa the Great examines self-identity and belonging on her arresting debut album.

LIFE

Hull’s premier punks are back, and they’ve got big ambitions.

‘EDITOR’ @STEPHENACKROYD

Aaron Smith

28 Mabel

AJ Tracey

12 Maisie Peters

Anna of the North

23 Metronomy

Bastille

16 Miss June

Billie Eilish

11 Mystery Jets

28 42, 52

Blink-182

51 No Rome

Blossoms

15 One True Pairing 6, 51

Bloxx

10 Pale Waves

Bombay Bicycle Club

What do you mean ‘why are we crying at The 1975 smashing Reading?

** BAND INDEX ** BAND INDEX **

Paramore 20

Charli XCX

10, 48

CHVRCHES

Circa Waves

10, 23

Clairo

Dave

Declan McKenna

Fall Out Boy

Feet

Phoebe Green

Pixies

Planet 1999

Porridge Radio

Post Malone

PVRIS

Royal Blood

Sam Fender

FIDLAR

Sampa The 16 Great

FKA Twigs

25 SCARLXRD

Foals

20 Shura

Gia Ford

28 Slowthai

Girl Band

52 Sports Team

36, 49

12 4, 20

Green Day

25 Stefflon Don

Grimes

20 Sundara Karma

HalfNoise

53 Swim Deep

Hayley Kiyoko

10 SWMRS

iDKHOW

10 Tegan and Sara

Jack Penate

20 Temples

Jerkcurb

49 The 1975

JPEGMAFIA

24 The Amazons

15 The Big Moon

Kim Petras

38, 53

King Nun

24, 53 The Chats

King Princess

20 The Japanese House 11, 12 30 The Menzingers 53 51 The Sherlocks 53 46, 51 Twenty One Pilots 14 28 Twin Peaks 49

Lauv Liam Gallagher LIFE Lily Moore Love Fame Tragedy

15, 52 Weezer

ON THE DORK STEREO THIS MONTH... MUNA

WOLF ALICE

Winterbreak

The Wonderwhy

We already told you that MUNA’s latest album ‘Saves The World’ is a five star triumph in last month’s issue, but this - taken from their debut ‘About U’ - is equally bloody brilliant. With new dates for December announced, they’re great.

They played Glastonbury Festival’s Pilton Party earlier this month, and with thoughts turning to album three, it’s lovely to head back to one of the ‘My Love Is Cool’ era’s most special moments. What a band, eh?

THE JAPANESE HOUSE

faraway

A great song, but also included as an apology to Amber’s awesome dog Calvin, who we so callously snubbed from his first magazine cover earlier this year. We are very sorry, Calvin. You’re a good boy.

NEW MUSIC. NO ALGORITHMS.

DORK radio TUNE IN 24/7/365 readdork.com/radio

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INTRO IF IT’S NOT IN HERE, IT’S NOT HAPPENING. OR WE FORGOT. ONE OR THE OTHER.

COACH TRIP (well, more of a double decker bus, actually...)

OCTOBER 2019

DORK

CH-CH-CHECK OUT

ONE TRUE PAIRING

Previously of Wild Beasts, Tom Fleming tackles society’s ills on his first outing. p6

READING 2019

DECLAN MCKENNA

Everything that happened at the summer’s last huge festival blow out. p8

The boy wonder is back! p22

“THE BUS WILL DEPART LIVERPOOL ST AT

Sun, sand and gold-plated indie bangers: it’s all aboard the good bus Sports Team to Margate. Words: Liam Konemann, Jake Hawkes. Photos: Jamie MacMillan.

midday on Friday, so get there a bit before.” So said the very professional email which heralded the arrival of Sports Team’s second annual Margate road trip spectacular. Now, Dear Reader, you may not believe it but over at Dork we’re a very punctual bunch, always arriving bright and early with a twinkle in our eye and journalism in our hearts. So with this in mind, we arrived at Liverpool St station at 11:45 and went straight to the waiting bus (double-decker this year!) On we stepped and realised it was... completely empty. A few minutes of standing around wondering where everyone was and Ben, Sports Team’s keyboardist, wanders up to the bus clutching a gym bag. “Where is everyone?” he asks, sending messages to some of the rest of the band. “Ah, they’re at Wetherspoons.” It isn’t exactly a flying start to the day, but it’s pretty on-brand. Half an hour later and after a frankly ludicrous amount of beer has been loaded on board, the road trip finally gets moving... and instantly hits traffic. The combination of free beer, no onboard toilet and a slow start means the first stop is about a mile from Liverpool St, but after that things finally get moving. The wind is flowing through the open windows, Heart Radio is blasting from the speakers, and everybody is excited for a day of sun, sand and gold-plated indie bangers. Two hours later (including a stop at the services for Greggs, toilets and WH Smiths own brand Bucks Fizz) the bus pulls in and Sports Team faithful pour out onto the sleepy Margate streets. “Aim for the flag!” shouts frontman Alex Rice, pointing towards a beach cafe with a “Sports Team Margate ‘19” banner flying from a nearby pole, the same design as the free t-shirts everyone was handed on the bus. Oh, we didn’t mention the t-shirts? Designed by Ben and with the full line up written on the back (yep, including the ‘secret’ headliners – good one lads) they lend the trip the air of a bizarre stag party and garner more than a few sideways looks from the locals. At the flagpole, there’s even more free beer, as well as burgers and hot dogs, all on the house (“if labels want to pour money into us doing stupid things, we’re happy to share the love” explains Alex, eating a portion of chips.) A game of beach football soon starts up, with Swim Deep on the attack and The Rhythm Method in goal. It isn’t entirely clear who’s winning, or even where the pitch ends, but the watching seagulls seem impressed with the athleticism on offer. The gig approaches and people start slowly trickling away from the beach, especially as it begins to rain and the seagulls move in to eat any stray food – there’s nothing like an angry bird the size of a housecat to make the indie kids scarper. A short walk into town to Elsewhere, the venue/ record shop where four bands who have been drinking all day take to the stage to entertain the masses and try not to fall over while they do it..

Q+A

Alex Rice Sports Team Alex! Why did you decide to do the bus tour again? Alex: It just seems like the right kind of place, just on the cusp of gentrification, but I think we’ve got a bit of an affinity with it anyway. Because we’ve got the song about Margate, I think there’s still a sort of vague aura around us here too, which is quite nice. You see a few t-shirts around. We’ve also done a little bit of writing down here and recording, and it’s a nice place to swim. How do you feel about the overcast and rainy weather? I think it’s pretty good, to be honest, I was hoping it’d be a bit more disastrous. Last year was really, really hot, couldn’t have asked for a better day. So this year I had visions of fans lost at sea, real horizontal rain, all that. It’s not been that bad. A few people are definitely going to get left here by the bus, I wouldn’t want to spend the night on the beach, put it that way. How did you sort it all? I don’t really like to get involved with the logistics, I sort of swoop in and take the credit near the end *laughs*. I think people in bands especially don’t think you can do stuff like this, but it’s not that hard to hire a bus and book a venue somewhere... I mean, I don’t see the bills, the label does, but still! The whole pitch is basically “we’re idiots taking a bus down to Margate and filling Elsewhere with bands”. The only restriction was not to get too drunk... Are you annoyed Chas and Dave got there first? Yeah, but they’re old men aren’t they, well one of them’s dead, so they’re really old men in that case. These tired old rockers don’t know what’s what, we’re the changing of the guard, this is our town. We are Margate. P

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INTRO

TRUTH OR DARE Previously of Wild Beasts, Tom Fleming tackles society’s ills on his first outing as One True Pairing. Words: Jenessa Williams.

Photo: Jenna Foxton.

"I want this to be a protest vote against society at large" Tom Fleming

OCTOBER 2019

DORK

HAYLEY WILLIAMS AND HAIR

dye. Matty Healy and a megaphone. Tom Fleming and a… tirade against toxic masculinity? Some marriages just work, and if your perfect musical union is state-of-the-nation rock sung a northern English accent, then you must fall in love with One True Pairing. Wild Beasts fans will be familiar with his formidable baritone, but in his newly solo-guise, Tom is in noticeably fighting spirit. Harbouring no long-term desire to go it alone, he found himself forced in selfpresentation simply through the recognition that despite the end of his band, there was still plenty more he wanted to say. “I had these songs but knew I didn’t want this to be an acoustic singer-songwriter record” he explains. “Hence the name, the way everything looks - I didn’t want it to be earnest. You just have to look at the mainstream singer-songwriters to know that that stuff will never go away. I wanted this to be a threat to that, the way Wild Beasts were to macho, landfill indie. I want this to be a protest vote against society at large.” It’s a bold undertaking, but certainly not one that Fleming is a stranger to. Brought up in the working-class region of Kendal, Cumbria, his experience of class tensions and community unrest is mirrored in currentday Britain, fuelling the political themes of the record. “The only way to talk about politics in an honest way is to implicate yourself. We grow up marinaded in violence. I went to a comprehensive school, and it’s everywhere, literally going to a friend’s house, and he’s got eight or nine combat knives,” he recalls. “It’s a signifier of manhood, of how tough and badass you are. There’s a fascination with it, and a society that doesn’t really give a shit. ‘Fight among yourselves, and we’ll see who emerges the victor’; that’s what the whole of British society is predicated upon, that’s working-class advancement. ‘Weapons’ isn’t a mournful song; it’s just calling out the bullshit.” Building upon the acousticAmericana skeletons of his demos (“in some places it’s a proper love song to Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty”), the musical landscape that Fleming crafts with producer Ben Hillier (Smashing Pumpkins, Blur, Nadine Shah) is as dystopian as its themes suggest, studded with

industrial shrapnel and bleak electronics that add a strange, menacing-yet-danceable style. ‘Elite Companion’ is a notable example, detailing the class war that still thrives in our society. “The scorn poured on working-class people from smaller towns is pretty revolting, and the powers that be, especially in art, will occasionally pick a working-class artist and hold them up to show how woke they are, and then forget about them,” he explains. “Things like giving Skepta the Mercury Prize when he’s been doing it for 15 years, being like ‘oh now you may have this because we have decided you’re good enough’. You’re invited into those spaces and then told to leave via the backdoor. That’s how it always was, but it’s felt a lot more keenly when there’s less money around. Everyone grasping, and kicking each other in the shins – you ever heard that metaphor ‘a box of crabs’? That’s what it feels like.” Speaking of the Mercury Prize, Fleming feels that this year’s list is lacking one serious contender in the form of his former bandmate. “I’m absolutely rooting for Hayden, I think his record is so beautiful,” he says. “He probably should have been in with a shout there, but it’s one of those things. We’re always going to draw comparisons I think, at least for the next few years, so it’s good that our records have such clear water between them. Otherwise, it could have gotten messy.” Let’s leave the mess then, to the future of an artist that isn’t afraid to make one. From the internet-aping fonts of the record (“I love how it sort of looks like a black metal font, but also kind of cute”), to the 80s hair-metal influence that “uses a kind of campness to say something more serious”, everything about One True Pairing is intentionally confrontational, and provides a serious shot in the arm because of it. “This isn’t some kind of metropolitan style exercise; this is art about things that are happening, real stuff,” he explains. “Essentially, I want One True Pairing to sound like a new thing. Obviously, it’s going to have a relationship to what came before, but I’m proceeding like it never happened because I have to. You have to assume that nobody is going to care.” Here’s hoping they do. P One True

Pairing’s self-titled album is out 20th September.

INTRO

READING + LEEDS

(Sorry, we only went to Reading!)

Hundreds of bands, one big field, and a temperature so high we might be delirious.

Over the next few pages weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll bring you everything you need to know from the mighty Reading 2019. Words: Abigail Firth, Ali Shutler, Jake Hawkes, Stephen Ackroyd, Steven Loftin. Photos: Frances Beach, Jamie MacMillan, Patrick Gunning.

OCTOBER 2019

DORK

The 1975’s headline set is one for the ages

WTF?!

INTRO

The day before

Reading & Leeds, The 1975 dropped a new track, ‘People’,

EVERY BAND HAS A

and it’s totally nuts!

It’s not every song that can guarantee a reaction. It’s not every band who can stop you dead in your tracks. On their third album, ‘A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships’, The 1975 shifted between sub-genre and mood at will, creating one of the most essential, thought-provoking, playlistlike mainstream records of recent years. From the call-to-arms of ‘Love It If We Made It’ to the pure vibes of ‘Sincerity Is Scary’ and the flat out top bop of ‘It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)’, even its preceding singles zigged and zagged between interesting, vital new missions of intent. But even with that mood music one of a band freed from their own expectation and boundaries - their latest track ‘People’ is something else. After the grand statement of the Greta Thunberg backed opener ‘The 1975’ - a song to instigate change marked by its closing statement, “it is time to rebel” - the first single proper from ‘Notes On A Conditional Form’ is nothing short of a fully-fledged riot. The easy route isn’t enough - it’s time to get radical. With an opening salvo of “Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!”, ‘People’ is scrawled in a completely new colour palette, gaudy and brattish in the best possible way. Audibly straining, screaming and yelping, Matty Healy is going all-in on his teen punk daydreams with a level of authenticity and abandon which could disarm even the harshest cynic. It’s positively visceral. Sure, ‘People’ is also a track with the ability to divide - it’s harsh, rough and totally unfiltered - but it’s that stabbing urgency which makes it the most exciting, life-affirming hard left turn in recent memory. The fact it might sit on a jagged, uncomfortable edge is the point. Though those early descriptions of ‘Notes...’ suggested a night-time record - one of car stereos, urban landscapes and the yellow glow of dirty streetlights - ‘People’ is wideeyed, fully awake and spitting blood. For even a solid set rock band, it would be a point of significant order. For one of the biggest groups on the planet and one not known for quite this kind of incendiary firebomb - it’s positively revolutionary. A moment to force a heart-stopping pause for effect, it really is time to rebel. P

READDORK.COM

story. Each artist to top the bill at the legendary Reading Festival has been on a journey to reach this point. Every British act that’s found their name at the zenith of that poster will have taken a moment. And yet, for tonight’s headliners The 1975, it feels ever so slightly different. That’s the key word when it comes to The 1975. Different. While so many of their peers would strive to hit some career goal, for them, it’s more of a calling. Of course, they’ve always been heading here, but there’s something at their core that still makes the prospect daring. Maybe it’s the juxtaposition that sits at the very heart of their band. More than almost any other, every aspect of their world seems perfectly pitched. Reading hasn’t seen a more impressively staged show than this - there’s no need for lazy fire and brimstone when you look this good yet none of it feels safe or overly pre-prepared. It’s innate; born of instinct, not focus-grouped to follow a trend. Frontman Matty Healy is never less than compelling, a mix of emotions and raw honesty, which never feels truly safe in the best possible way. They’re two things that should rarely be found in the same place, and yet with The 1975, it’s a contrast that sets them apart. From the opening stabs of the ‘A Brief Inquiry...’ version of their self-titled theme, there’s a tangible electricity in the air. A spark that sets light as they launch headfirst into new track ‘People’. Debuted only a day before, it’s daring, confrontational and ever so slightly mad, but perfect for Reading Festival. It’s easy to forget where The 1975 came from - a band of scrappy pop-punk covers that evolved into something altogether different, but with the same addictive personality at their core. From there on out, it’s back to back proof that no band feels quite as in the moment right now as The 1975. Visibly taken back by how “mental” the position find themselves in is, theirs is a repertoire built for this moment. ‘Give Yourself A Try’ still feels like a raw adrenaline shot, while ‘TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME’ is a top pop bop perfect for Reading’s 2019 vintage. ‘Sincerity Is Scary’, ‘It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)’, ‘Love Me’ - the first part of tonight’s set is rammed with crowd-pleasers. In terms of their suitability for the job, there’s nothing left to prove.

Gears shifted, the moments start to clock up. ‘Loving Someone’ feels especially timely when placed alongside Matty’s preceding thoughts. “I kissed a boy in Dubai the other week,” he offers. “To be honest, it was a beautiful moment. When you see that, as a human, your natural inclination is to think, ‘that’s nice’ but sometimes, to simplify it, governments are dickheads and they get involved in those sort of things when really, they should leave you and your lovely genitals alone to do with what you want. I really liked that boy, and I’m pretty sure he liked that kiss, so it’s not me that needs to change. It’s the world that needs to change.” It’s followed by a perfectly delivered ‘A Change Of Heart’, still one of the band’s standout tracks. There are old favourites - ‘Girls’ makes a rapturous appearance while ‘Somebody Else’ remains one of British pop music’s greatest recent triumphs. A main set ended with ‘I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)’ would still deliver the goods, but there are more big guns to be fired. Kicking off their encore with their recent Greta Thunberg backed statement doesn’t actually feel brave. That would be the wrong word. It’s urgent, important, almost impossible to deny. With the words projected big and bold, the intent is clear, the platform deliberate. Less a pause, more a demand for change, it’s followed by another powerful message. It’s a testament to The 1975 that ‘Love It If We Made It’ already feels like a document of a point in history, but its energy remains undimmed. A fist in the air, a challenge to everything around it, it’s the opening gambit to a run of bangers big enough to bring Reading to its knees. ‘Chocolate’ and ‘Sex’ remain two tracks that prove The 1975 had it right all along, but it’s closer ‘The Sound’ that truly feels like the knock out blow. As mayhem descends, it’s proof that this is a band who can find the unifying moments in both the outward and the inward. Reading Festival has seen headliners come and go - and many of them come back again - but this is much more than that. This isn’t just some achievement ticked off a list. This band are about connections. Even in a field as big as the one they’re playing tonight, there’s still the air of something magical. While many bands are as much about the worlds created around them by their fans, they’re a group that feel actively present in those spaces. In some ways, it’s not just four lads headlining Reading tonight; it’s all of us. A shared experience that’s also deeply personal, The 1975 genuinely matter. P

INTRO

READING + LEEDS FRIDAY

WHAT MAKES YOU AN INDIE? IT’S

sort of a generational thing, right? The scuffs on your bucket hat will set the reference point. But 2019’s vintage isn’t about just boring old lads with their North West guitar shuffle and not-so-vintage biker jacket. It’s a wider, more high fidelity church; one at which Bloxx are leading the Friday afternoon service. Opening up the BBC Radio 1 stage, they’ve grown into a welloiled machine. While dressed all in monochrome, musically they’re a veritable rainbow of slightly off-kilter delights. A faded-by-design filter that sits just off the alt-pop highway, CHARLI XCX’S SET SKIPS between songs of heartbreak and party anthems that offer a soundtrack to escape. There’s sugary sweet pop that would have seen her bottled a decade ago, and future-facing bangers that will dictate the shape of things to come. The opening mash of ‘Track Ten’ and ‘Blame It On Your Love’ is surprisingly delicate, showing a bruised heart behind the all-out pop excess before ‘I Love It’ and ‘Fancy’ show just how well Charli can relate en masse. The likes of ‘Gone’ and super new song ‘Cross You Out’ continue to expose and dive deeper, as ‘1999’, ‘Girls Night Out’ and ‘Focus’ remind everyone that Charli’s eternal love is the party. Her drift between cult and celebrity isn’t indecision, it’s simply a case of wanting it all. Yes, today’s set isn’t the most festival friendly, but it’s extreme in its vulnerability, honesty and sense of reckless abandon. It’s impossible to secondguess but it isn’t ever deliberately obtuse. Charli may be most at home playing dark clubs to her diehard fans, but today proves she could take on the world, if only she wanted it. With ‘Charli’ on the horizon, what comes next is anyone’s guess. Catch her if you can. P

OCTOBER 2019

DORK

witnessed a proper pop concert happen at tea time in a circus tent, thanks to

‘Monday’ might be chronologically challenged, but it sounds like a proper Reading anthem in waiting. By the time it descends into full-on riff-riding, any deal is firmly sealed. ‘Coke’ shows an ear for a song that befits a band far higher up the poster, while ‘Novocain’ broods admirably for a day of bright summer sun. “I won’t wait until you figure it out,” it proclaims. Very apt. Starting your set with ‘nobody loves the opening band’, when you aren’t in fact the opening band, is a brave slice of accidental shade. Still, there’s something bulletproof about iDKHOW. Dallon Weekes has brought all his Panic! pedigree with him, as the two-piece funk pop their way across Reading’s biggest arena. There’s star power here aplenty. Reading’s original new band stage, the Festival Republic tent is supposed to be a proving ground for new artists. It doesn’t really feel to be that way for No Rome. But then, that’s pretty obvious, given tonight’s headliners. The secret sauce behind so much of The 1975’s recent flourishes, it’s no shock to anyone to see the brightly coiffured popster pull a mighty crowd. Though there are some early sound issues, that direct link to the hottest band on the planet right now isn’t simply about association. On his own right, Rome possesses a smart brain for the organic, but a talent for delivering it glorious 4K high definition. By the time closer ‘Narcissist’ rings out, there are as many recording phones in the air as there are arms. Every word sung back, there’s something special brewing. Reading isn’t just about Real Music anymore, oh no. We’ve just

ending on a major high with debut ‘There’s A Honey’. Being the big Pale Waves stans us Dorks are, we’ve seen them a few times (just a few, Hayley mind), and can WHEN DAVE EMERGES, HE Kiyoko. Has confirm this is one of immediately leaps into anyone done the best times they’ve ‘Psycho’, the first track off four separate ever done this playing his blistering debut. That’s dance breaks live malarkey. when it all gets a bit lively, in a half an Now, of course, with mosh pits opening up to the edge of the tent and hour set at we hope these four an army of bucket hat clad this festival? go right to the top of teenagers singing along to We need some the main stage, but every word. Dave stands answers, this weekend they’ve there grinning from ear maybe history proved they’ve got to ear. “You lot can sing has been made the chops for it. better than me!” he says, here. What is They’re a charisma before leading the crowd actually quite machine with in a rendition of ‘Voices’ the historical more than that puts shivers down the collective spine. moment enough tunes Not that it’s all though, is to go around. contemplation and the number Another singalongs; there’s flames, of pride flags album and fireworks and smoke and the fact they’ll be throughout, and enough that everyone unstoppable. high energy bangers to in this packed There are keep the crowd leaping out tent is no surprises around for the entirety. screaming the with Royal That’s without even mentioning the obligatory Blood and their lyrics to ‘Girls Chosen One, plucked full-bodied sonic Like Girls’. from the crowd for ‘Thiago assault. That’s not If there’s a Silva’. “I need you to go what they’re about. bridge to a mad every time this guy Direct, propulsive and gayer, poppier opens his mouth,” shouts making an unholy din, Reading Dave, one arm around the there’s no doubt that festival, crowd member. He needn’t they’ve got the ability Hayley Kiyoko have worried, the mystery to connect on a primal is building it. man nails every word. A victory lap of level. Joined on stage All hail the ‘Samantha’, ‘Location’ and by a pair of backing Lesbian Jesus. of course ‘Funky Friday’ singers, it’s still that Guess the rounds off the set before bass-and-drums, band: “This is Dave thanks the crowd rhythm section pretty fucking once more and bounces gone rogue assault emo for us”. off stage. The legions that drives them Obviously, it’s of sweaty, tired fans Pale Waves . forwards. There are reluctantly pour into the The emo-pop new songs in the night, and the chants of ‘Oh Thiago Silva’ continue overlords took set - ‘Boilermaker’ well into the distance. P to the Radio has a strut that 1 stage on feels positively Friday evening confrontational to absolutely - but it’s those smash it, basically. radio monsters that properly They’ve long been compared to do the damage. As they their Dirty Hit big brothers, The finish with a thundering 1975, sometimes out of laziness but ‘Out Of The Black’, there sometimes with good reason. Today might be nothing subtle it’s the latter. With just a few hours about Royal Blood, but they until The Band At Large take to their won’t be forgotten soon. headline slot, it’s easy to see why Pale With Royal Blood on Waves could follow in their footsteps. the main stage and Circa Waves in the Radio 1 Heather Baron-Gracie is on top form. The temptation to stand behind tent, it’s Reading’s very own indie lad jamboree. the mic cradling her guitar is gone, as she bounces around the stage, giving drummer Ciara a cuddle at one point, and flinging her guitar to the side as she gets into the crowd towards the end of the set. There’s only one slow jam in the whole set, ‘My Obsession’, but the rest is bangers dot com, peaking early at ‘Television Romance’ and

INTRO

Billie Eilish pulls a massive crowd THAT MAIN STAGE HAS SEEN SOME

Uh-oh. We’ve pissed off The Japanese House’s dog! After having a bit of a faff actually getting onto the stage, we grabbed Amber ‘The Japanese House’ Bain after her set for a quick chat about it. Then we realised dog content is better than festival content, so we talked about that instead. Hi Amber! We’ve just run back from Billie Eilish and are very sweaty, how’s life? Unfortunately, because we had loads of technical issues, we actually directly clashed with her. The biggest Main Stage crowd ever at Reading and we directly clashed with it. To be fair, it’s a testament to my loyal fans because there were loads of them still in the tent. It’s the smallest crowd we’ve ever had at Reading but, I think if you take into account that Billie Eilish was on at the same time, we did pretty well I think. How’s the album cycle been going? To be honest, I don’t really know. I don’t really engage past the first week or so, I’m not very good at keeping up with the statistics. I’m thinking of the new stuff now. I’ve got a new EP coming out soon, and a new single. So I’m just focusing on that, and the video for that and the artwork for that, and now I’m focusing on writing another album, so that’s inevitably stressful because the second album is difficult to write I guess. Cracking on straight away then, crikey. Before the album came out, I’d already started the EP, and the single’s coming out soon, and the video. Calvin’s in it. He’s the star of the show. He was nearly on your Dork cover, you know. He’s was really pissed off about that guys. I’ve asked him to do more shoots with you guys, and he said “I don’t know. They parred me off, so.” And now he’s seen Ariana Grande’s dog on the cover of Vogue. I’m not gonna lie, it’s not coming from me, but he is a bit annoyed about the whole thing. I think it can be rectified, but I think you need to talk to him.

William Eyelash, Queen of Reading 2019.

Look how big the crowd was!

Where is he today? He’s at my dad’s house. I could’ve brought him to Reading, easily. He could be here with me now. We should do more interviews with dogs. He basically did all of my press. P READDORK.COM

hammer today, hasn’t it? After AJ Tracey took it to Ladbroke Grove, Billie Eilish turned up to smash the remains of it to bits. The heat is stopping NO ONE. There are pits from the front of the stage to way past the sound desk. Sod throwing pints, someone throws their wallet at one point. Talk about giving your fav your coin. Billie Eilish is a force to be reckoned with. She isn’t going to be an icon; she is one. Right. NOW. No one else at 17 years old can step out onto a Reading main stage tea time slot, look out at a packed out crowd and stand there doing absolutely nothing for 30 seconds while the crowd scream. She seems to be in a weird middle ground between knowing she is the absolute shit and not being able to believe it either. She commands the stage like she’s been doing it for a decade, but as soon as the crowd chant her name, she says “Stop it! Shush!” She kicks off with ‘bad guy’, the actual song of the summer, despite coming out in March. Watching the camera pan out and Billie start losing her shit when it drops is THRILLING. A. F. Then we’re straight into the Office-quoting ‘my strange addiction’, no fucking about. She knows it’s hot though, so she does take pity on us poor punters standing in the sun (it’s also a miracle that she’s not turned up in a puffa jacket), and plays a few slowies so we can calm down. During ‘when the party’s over’, she asks the crowd to put their phones down and live in the moment. Some oblige. Some are simply too excited and caught up in the moment and want to savour every minute of it by recording the whole thing. That’s the beauty of this Billie show too. Most of this crowd look like young girls with their parents in tow, attending their first Reading, much like Billie herself. Sometimes it’s easy to forget she’s only a baby in this whole music machine thing, but then, would anyone older than 17 be THIS FUCKING EXCITING. P

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Despite the clash, the latter take to the stage of a very full tent full of very loud fans (buoyed by ‘Mr Brightside’ getting played over the speakers before they come on). They don’t waste any time, either, smashing straight into ‘Wake Up’, complete with on-stage fireworks – it’s enough to rouse anyone from their evening nap. After sprinting through three or four more tracks, they finally pause for breath, lead singer Kieran surveying the crowd before shouting “We’re Circa Waves and we’re from Liverpool, Reading, are you with us?” The response is deafening. As far as crowd interaction goes, that’s about it. There are a couple of predictable calls to “open this pit up”, but other than that the band focus on nailing song after song, hyping up the crowd on the force of bangers alone. Towards the end there’s a call for everyone to get on each other’s shoulders, before Kieran smiles and jokingly says “thanks for coming to see us instead of Royal Blood”. There’s a final massive cheer and the band go out with a bang. The winner of the indie jamboree is still undecided, but there’s no doubt that Circa Waves put on a hell of a show.

SATURDAY Q: What’s 24 years old, not often wearing many clothes and capable

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of leading a few thousand teenagers in a rousing chorus of “you fucking wanker!”? A: Slowthai, and he’s on top form at Reading. Opening with ‘Kodak Moment’, his set is pretty much a non-stop flurry of bangers, with occasional pauses so that he can remove another item of clothing. Two songs in, stripped to his boxers and grinning like a maniac, it’s clear that he’s got the crowd eating out of his hand. “Does anyone here know a drug deaalller?” He asks rhetorically, drawing out the last syllable until it barely sounds like a word any more. Whether or not the crowd do, they scream anyway, knowing that this line of questioning can only lead to one song. He happily obliges, cannonballing into ‘Drug Dealer’ with enough energy to flatten a house. A force of nature throughout, even an exodus to see AJ Tracey starting over on the main stage isn’t enough to make the energy level drop. The remaining three-quarters of the crowd just go even more nuts to make up for it. The theatrics don’t stop, either – a moment of calm between songs leads to two members of his entourage being sent into the crowd to cause chaos, and the biggest circle pit we’ve ever seen opens up, the edges almost touching the side of the tent. By the end of the set, Slowthai’s clearly exhausted. “This next song is about ketamine.” he gasps, throwing every ounce of himself into getting

could do something summery” he shouts as the opening notes of ‘Psych Out’ play. Once again, the crowd know every word. It isn’t just the crowd singing the whole song though, as AJ barely needs a backing track, spitting every bar perfectly and barely pausing for breath. In a genre where a lot of artists are happy to let the pre-record do the heavy lifting, it’s a refreshing change of pace. And speaking of changes of pace, halfway through the set, opera starts playing, and AJ Tracey leaves the stage. Images of lingerie models flash across the screen, and the DJ comes on the mic “AJ’s just taking a little break,” he explains. “In fact, I think he might be cooking something back there, do you know what he’s cooking?” It’s an odd one, but the crowd know what’s going on and chants of “pasta!” are thrown on stage. AJ comes bouncing back out and plays his breakout hit as pyros go off either side of him. Last time he played Reading, he headlined the 1Xtra stage – he was big, but he was still a genre act. This year’s main stage slot shows that he’s broken out of that box and is heading into the mainstream. In fact, judging by today’s performance, he’s already there. Half an hour late due to technical difficulties, The

ANYONE UP FOR A CRY? Anyone? No? Shame because Clairo’s just done her first Reading set and we’re feeling emotional. It’d be easy to call some of the songs on her debut ‘Immunity’ dull when Charli XCX just polished off a bangerrific set on the main stage, but this isn’t dull, not one bit. Firstly, it’s 4pm, it’s scorching hot, we’re ready for a little sway instead of a full bounce. Secondly, oh my god Clairo is just fantastic, isn’t she? She’s a tiny human, but she’s got such a voice in her. Clairo’s reserved on stage, saving her energy for her vocals, but it matches her diary-entry songs wonderfully. She keeps the tearjerkers in the first half of her set, blasting through ‘Closer To You’ early on, and when we’ve all had chance to chill out, she throws some bops our way. Closing with her early singles ’Pretty Girl’ and ‘4ever’ brings us right back to life. It’s rare we praise ballads over bangers, but there’s a lot of love for Clairo in Camp Dork, and this chill set is near enough perfection. P

through the rest of the time slot. The notes of the final track play out, and he leaves the stage, barefoot and covered in sweat. Reading won’t forget that in a hurry. The main stage midafternoon slot is a tough one for any artist to fill. The sun is at its peak and shining directly on the stage, and any hope of ‘an atmosphere’ is dashed by the crowds of disinterested, slightly tipsy festival-goers who are really just hanging around because nobody they really like is on yet. Bearing all that in mind, it takes something special to cut through the noise and make an impact. Enter AJ Tracey, who does just that. Ridiculously flashy chain swinging as he strolls onto the stage, he looks so at home that you halfexpect him to start rearranging the furniture. The confidence is well-placed, as he barely needs to sing opening track ‘Butterflies’, the crowd do it for him at a deafening volume. “The Sun’s out, so I thought we

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clashes directly with one of the biggest sets of the weekend, Billie Eilish. They don’t stop when she finally gets on the stage either. Fair play to both the band and the crowd, though, they pull it together. “Thanks for staying for my set,” she says at the start. Oh,

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INTRO CO-HEADLING A FESTIVAL CAN MAKE ODD

things happen. The quest for something for the special occasion drives bands to take risks; to show their “deep respect” for our “musical culture”. Or at least, that’s what we think the explanation for Twenty One Pilots covering Oasis is. Granted, the Mancunian icons only ever headlined Reading & Leeds once, back at the turn of the millennium. But that’s not the point. Oasis are a band threaded into the very texture of British festival culture. In ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’, TOP have selected a song that’s gained extra reverence and relevance in recent years. As always, they’re making the smart choices. That’s how Tyler and Josh ended up here. Smart choices and some monster smash hits, often both at the same time. Polished into a finely oiled machine, like The 1975 the night before, they’re a band for whom the top of the Reading bill has long felt an inevitability. While Friday’s bill topper was one for the ages for a multitude of reasons - not least the fact that for any British band Reading & Leeds is one of two headline slots to covert above all others - this is, in so many ways, no less of a big deal for Twenty One Pilots. After all, they’re a band who belong in the top tiers now. With one of the most engaged, excited fanbases on the planet, they’re

capable of drawing connections on a grand scale. Never sticking for too long inside one musical box, they’re more than willing to cross-genre and influence too. They’re all traits in full view tonight. Constantly shifting throughout their set, it’s sometimes easy to forget just how many big moments Twenty One Pilots have to call upon. Opener ‘Jumpsuit’ rumbles its way into view, its bass joined by a chorus of voices singing back every word. ‘Heathens’, ‘Lane Boy’, ‘Stressed Out’ - each one manages to cut through impressively. From the raised platforms of ‘Car Radio’ to crowd-based drumming, lit cars and backflips, many of the intricacies of TOP’s live set are well established, but they were also designed to be delivered on this grand scale. Finally graduating to the highest reaches of Reading’s largest platform, Twenty One Pilots feel to have achieved the impossible. There’s still something inherently different about them, sure - they remain a cult band able to play within the mainstream and bend it at their will. But there’s a spark to their performance that suggests that climb isn’t finished yet. As ‘Trees’ pounds out with giant, audience-held drums, that journey feels far from over. A few more smart choices and they’ll be making this a regular occurrence. P

SWMRS are the shape of punk to come

Last year SWMRS opened the BBC Radio 1 Tent. They’d just released the first song from their second album and from the moment you heard the whir of ‘Berkeley’s On Fire’, you knew they meant business. Fast forward a year, and the band got the call to open the main stage after someone dropped out. Like Batman, they answered. We caught them after their set. Hello SWMRS. How’s life been since ‘Berkeley’s On Fire’ was unleashed? Cole: It’s been crazy as fuck. We wanted to make our shows bigger. We wanted to connect with people on a deeper level and we wanted to make music that was cutting edge.

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What’s next for you guys? Max: We took a lot of time off between ‘Drive North’ and ‘Berkeley’s On Fire’ and we’re not doing that again. We’re done taking time off. We’ll sleep when we’re old. We’ve been working a lot, but we’d like to surprise people with what we do next. Cole: One thing we talk about is following movement. We’ve been talking about incorporating dance music, things like reggaeton music - not because we want to be a reggaeton band, but that’s music that is universal. You hear that and you’re like, ‘oh, I can dance to this.’ You’ve heard ‘People’, the new The 1975 song, right? There are similarities between what you’re doing and what they’re doing. Max: That song allows bands like us to stop running away from who we actually are. That band obviously has way more influence than us and if they’re out there playing some punk ass shit then that means we don’t have to be self-conscious about being punk as fuck. And it’s really nice for us. P

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Murph from The Wombats talks new music, Love Fame Tragedy and secret sets Murph is having himself a busy August Bank Holiday weekend, not only taking to the main stage with The Wombats, but also the BBC Introducing Stage to debut his new project, Love Fame Tragedy - with a guest spot from Dan from Bastille, no less. In the shaded confines of the Reading backstage area, Dork checked in to see how things were going before it all kicked off. Hiya, Murph, how are things going in your world? It’s alright, I flew in yesterday, and I feel like shit. I’ve got a busy weekend ahead of me. Is there a fear around doing Love Fame Tragedy live for the first time? We’ve done rehearsals in LA, and that felt good, so I think it’s just more a case of ‘doing it’ really. Just gotta do it now. There is fear and anxiety and all of those naughty words around it, but I’ve just got to get on stage and do it. So how has it settled now the wheels are properly in motion with LFT? It’s good, it’s going better than I thought, but I’m a bit of a pessimistic person. I feel a sense of real excitement, and I’ve got so many more good songs to come. And The Wombats are on the main stage again! Yeah, we did it last year, but a bit earlier on. I’m looking forward to it. Last year was insane, so if it’s even half as good, then it’ll be great. After doing Wembley Arena in that time, has that helped you step up even more to larger stages? Because the album did well and we played venues we got more production, so it’s still the same. I think when you get to a certain level, you’ve got to step up because people expect something. We’re basically still touring the same show as we did then. What’s the future looking like for The Wombats? Great, we’ve got some songs in the bag, and we’re going to do some more writing in November, but my head’s definitely more in Love Fame Tragedy right now. We need to get all this shit done. But yeah, I’m looking forward to album number five. P

READDORK.COM

those pesky pop stars and those festivals running off schedule. Flares. Bucket hats. Sunshhiiiyyynneee. It can only be Blossoms . Stockport’s finest take to the main stage to warm up for the two (two!!) headliners. The obligatory festival band of the weekend do what they do best; be nice and chill and summery on a Saturday evening. They throw a couple of curveballs though. They walk on stage to Kanye West’s ‘Black Skinhead’(??), an appropriate choice for a bunch of blokes from Manchester, and do a cover of David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’. Standard. Going pop. It’s a line you’ll read in a million reviews of a million bands who’ve dared to write a catchy chorus and one that’s been levelled at PVRIS in recent weeks. Dropping two new singles that push that side of the musical divide, it’s disingenuous at best to suggest that’s not always been part of their DNA. Working with shades of colour in which the interesting things happen, genre is such an outdated concept at this point that it’s far easier to qualify PVRIS by their palette. Sure, they’re comfortable in a world of high contrast black and white, but underneath that exterior, a full rainbow of possibilities glow bright. New song ‘Hallucinations’ especially feels to pulse with potential, it’s chorus a reassuring stomp of bright, big ideas. It’s rock music, sure, but more important than that, it’s far from boring. As the first UK artist to get a spot on XXL Magazine’s coveted Freshman list, Stefflon Don hasn’t exactly been short of attentiongrabbing accolades. That, coupled with her verse on Wiley’s summer anthem ‘Boasty’, are enough to boost her profile - and the anticipation for her Reading slot - into the stratosphere. Coming on dressed entirely in silver, she opens with ‘Real Ting’ and is quickly flanked by a team of backing dancers. The crowd surge forwards as she powers through the track, dancing and rapping at breakneck speed. She pauses afterwards and walks to the front of the stage. “You guys are

She rattled lit, lit, lit!” through ‘all of she shouts, the hits’, and before diving even though straight back she was in. The bass guest-less, seems to the crowd be keeping more than time with her made up for dance moves, HEADLINING READING IS the lack of Not3s and fireworks are a big deal for most artists, and Kojo Funds going off every but for Post Malone, used on ‘Fine Line’ 30 seconds. It’s to selling out stadiums and ‘Finders all A Bit Much, across the world, it’s Keepers’. basically – and probably just another day Obviously, the we’re loving it. at work. He wanders the tent is rammed A machinestage delivering hit after (she’s a pop gun volley of hit and telling the crowd star with ONE. tracks follows, how thankful he is for NAME. guys, she’s with the energy them, but the energy levels a big deal), but why levels through rarely come from him. wouldn’t it be? She’s the roof Instead, it’s the absolutely BRINGING IT. throughout. massive crowd that bring More dancers the excitement, legions of come on as people drunkenly screaming SUNDAY she performs along and having the time of their lives. ‘Ding-a-ling’, All in all, the performance and soon the Kim Petras leaves mixed feelings. whole stage is a deserves more than When he gets it right, Post sea of perfectly what Reading is Malone is untouchable, and synchronised giving her right now his fans are some of the limbs, all moving (isn’t that the case most dedicated around. But enough to make for all of the nextit’d be nice if he stuck to you dizzy. She level-but-somehowwhat he’s good at (pop-rap takes a break bangers) rather than just still-underground doing whatever he feels like to point out all pop stars here, (badly playing guitar). the pretty girls though?). Bunged The set is also soured in the crowd, on the Dance Stage somewhat by the context. with an obliging at half two on a Trap, a predominantly scream from the Sunday, she plays black genre from America’s audience as she a tiny set to a halfdeep South, is now so picks each one, empty tent, and firmly entrenched in the but it’s a brief we’re a bit gutted mainstream that it can interlude and the command a headline slot at for her. Reading festival – but only party’s soon in Mostly because if the person delivering it full swing again. every song (all is white and from upstate “I’ve come five of them) is New York. That’s not a all the way from AMAZING and criticism of Post Malone or London town she’s up there his set, but it’d be nice if he to be here!” She giving it her all gave a more explicit nod of proclaims. Now with only a DJ and acknowledgement to the we’ve checked, her name in bold genre that he rode to the and that’s only top. P behind her. Fair about 40 miles, play to the ones at so probably the front singing not enough of a every word, it’s just distance to be bragging about. On the a shame the crowd doesn’t extend other hand, if we were putting on a much further than that. show this good, we’d be pretty proud Closing with her bit of Charli of ourselves too. XCX’s ‘Unlock It’, we find ourselves The pop praying that somehow, somewhere, star to backing there’s an alternative universe where dancer ratio Miss XCX and Miss Petras are the at the Radio biggest pop stars in the world. 1 stage this Reading loves an exclusive, year has been and what could be better than the incredible. We’ve very first public outing of Murph been treated to Wombats’ Love Fame Tragedy? Hayley Kiyoko, A modest crowd which continues Stefflon Don and to grow with each passing minute, now Mabel all Murph and his band of three swiftly bringing us full dance routines every kick into gear with latest single five minutes. ‘Backflip’. Which, FYI, sounds even Sliding into the gap between both more melodically enchanting with a headliners, 45 minutes was just live soul behind it. long enough for Mabel to snatch her Of course, not everything goes off crown as the new queen of UK pop. without a hitch. “Clearly the curse of

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READING + LEEDS the Wombats applies to this band, too. This is what happens at your first gig kids, it all goes to shit,” he says with a smirk as silence rings out due some technical difficulties that plague for a bit longer than anyone really would like. But the crowd are behind Murph, and as soon as things kick into gear, it’s all systems go. Featuring a special appearance from Bastille’s Dan Smith, the pair collab for a song they co-wrote; a pop bop for the indie ages, it’s a loving mix of both bands. In case you missed it during one of our many previous conversations with The Amazons lads - they’re from Reading. This makes today a homecoming of sorts, as made evident by the exclamation from singer and guitarist Matt Thomson: “For the next half hour, this festival is ours!” Given the absolutely sardine-tin packed tent, it’s a fair flex. From the moment the drumroll hitting, riff-heavy monster ‘Mother’ kicks in, it’s pints in the air and pits all around. A battering of the singalong rousing ‘Stay With Me’ and a cheeky appearance from Yonaka’s Theresa Jarvis for ‘In My Mind’; it’s a blowout homecoming that the four lads from Reading deserve. While much of Reading is melting in the sun, it is raining heavily in The Pit. Like a can of the good stuff, shaken up after being left for too long in the sun, FIDLAR’s Sunday afternoon slot explodes within a couple of notes of ‘Alcohol’ with more beer in the air than there is in the bar. “Netflix are doing a documentary about us and mosh pits, so go fucking nuts,” says frontman Zac Carper at one point,

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but seriously, there’s no need. With tracks like ‘40oz On Repeat’ in their deep-lined bag of good-time punk anthems to pull out, this is just one big and very sweaty party from start to finish. Following Lil Baby and Gunna, Reading put ‘The Indies’ back on stage in the form of Sundara Karma . Real music isn’t dead guys; it just wears eyeshadow and no shirt now. Nah, in all fairness, the way these songs come to life on stage is wonderful. Closer ‘One Last Night On This Earth’ sounds lovely when backed with a choir :’). While the debut album stuff, particularly ‘Flame’ and ‘Loveblood’, go down a treat. We’re a big fan of some groovy indie, but we’re a bigger fan of Oscar crooning around the stage, looking sweatier than the crowd, somehow, despite wearing less clothes than everyone else. By the time Bastille come on stage, the Radio 1 tent is rammed. Genuinely rammo. Dork only went for a wee, and now we can’t get back in. About a quarter of

this crowd are happy standing outside the tent and watching it on the big screens. You’d think the Reading crowd have nothing left to give at this point in the festival, but it’s no problem for Daniel. As soon as ‘Quarter Past Midnight’ kicks in, they’re reenergised, ready for one final hurrah. This might be one of the best crowds we’ve seen this weekend too. Not bad for the festival closers. Obviously the ‘bit hits’ get the best reaction. ‘Happier’ has everyone from front to back clapping away, ‘Of The Night’ has everyone bouncing, and closer ‘Pompeii’ is such a frenzy, those outside are having their own party too. ‘Doom Days’ deep cut ‘Million Pieces’ gets played right before the end, with Dan getting the crowd to sing the ‘million pieces’ hook. It’s really lovely. After joining Matthew ‘Murph’ Murphy at his Love Fame Tragedy secret set earlier, Dan fetches him out for ‘Blame’, but honestly we think Craig David should’ve been there for ‘I Know’. Foo Fighters might be the ‘must see’ Reading band, but as we’ve said, Dork know where the bangers are, and this Bastille set is straight euphoria from start to finish. Get them back on the main stage asap, please. P

Bastille talk surprise guests, and new music What do you do when you clash with the Sunday headliners, ‘Real Music’ legends Foo Fighters, at Reading? Put on a way more exciting show with confetti on the first song, balloons, crowdsurfing, karaoke and of course, bangers. We caught up with our mates Bastille before their Sunday’ closing slot. Hey kids, how’s it going? Dan: Very good. Leeds was amazing on Friday. Everyone’s first night, shit loads of energy, yeah we were blown away by how many people came along. Woody: That was genuinely one of my favourite gigs we’ve ever done, I think. Dan: Just piling in, loads of people outside the tent, everyone jumping up and down losing their minds, yeah we loved it. So you’ve done the tour for ‘Doom Days’, and you’ve got the club tour coming up, so this is the album’s first proper outing, right? Dan: Our touring’s been a bit weird, the summer of festivals has been like to celebrate the album. And you’ve been out with Murph from The Wombats this afternoon, is he joining you? Dan: Who knows? You can tell us, we promise. Dan: He might make an appearance. I think he was a bit gutted when he saw how late we were on. Kyle: “Yeah, I’ll do it!” “Ohhhhhh.” Dan: Yeah it was nice to play with him. We wrote that song last year, and I had to have the lyrics written on my hand, and then I sweated them off, which was a fucking nightmare. I was like ‘it’s fine, I’ve got this’, then I looked at my hand, and it was just a big blurry mess. What else is coming up? Woody: We’ve got an eight week US tour starting next week. So we’re doing all of America, and a bit of Canada and a bit of Mexico. Dan: We’ve got some new music coming out. We’ve got some more stuff from our album, more videos, we’re just enjoying having this album out and using it as a way to put out loads of cool stuff. It’s been a really fun summer. P

INTRO IT’S BEEN TWO MONTHS AND A

day since Lauren Mayberry last went home. The other week she had to wash some pants in the shower, too close to the finish line to warrant a trip to a launderette, “so I took them in the shower and kicked them around with my foot for a bit.” The touring schedule for CHVRCHES’ ‘Love Is Dead’ has been as hectic as usual but the end is very much in sight. Their late-night set at Reading is their last UK show of the cycle so we grabbed the band backstage to find out how love is doing. Hello CHVRCHES. So, ‘Love Is Dead’ is almost dead. How was this album cycle for you?

Lauren: This is probably the album campaign where it felt like the record resonated with people more over time. That doesn’t necessarily happen all the time, so that was nice. And I guess thematically I feel like it’s become more on point. *Now* people want to listen to the depressing pop music ‘cause they’re more depressed. We’ve seen you on the internet, teasing stuff. Is there new music on the way?

favourite thing we’ve ever done. [Marshmello’s ‘Here With Me’] And it’s coming soon. It feels like which would have been a strange a progression for the band. It’s note to leave it on, especially given probably the best song lyrically and the baggage, so it’s nice to go out on a melodically we’ve done and it signals higher note. a bit of a change Yeah, you in production SUNDAY MIGHT BE THE distanced yourself for us. It’s an day of rest, but not on from Marshmello exciting direction August Bank Holiday. following his but we were We’re obviously a religious decision to work just following bunch though, because we with Chris Brown, our noses as we find ourselves at church. which was brave always do in the We pray at electro pop’s but it felt like you studio and having altar. Our vicar is Lauren got a kicking for fun. So you didn’t fancy just taking a break?

Lauren: It was one of those ‘can’t say no to this’ things. We would have been sad if we weren’t able to do it. It’s nice to end the campaign on a different note. If we hadn’t done this song, the last release would have been a feature

Lauren: There is new music, but we’re not allowed to say what, when, why or answer any of the important questions, but there is new music.

Martin: It’s my personal

that.

Lauren: Sometimes it’s the friendly fire you don’t expect. This is probably the first time in the band where I feel like I want a fucking break. I’ve never felt like that before. It’s important to listen to that, because you don’t want to feel negative about things when there’s

This new song, does it draw a line under the ‘Love Is Dead’ cycle or is it the start of what comes next?

Mayberry. Church has a ‘v’ in it and yeah let’s get to it, it’s Sunday evening, and CHVRCHES are on. We love our Lauren, and she’s doing a mighty fine job of getting the energy up at the arse end of the most knackering weekend in the festival calendar. How does she not get dizzy? She keeps twirling around this stage. The tent could be fuller, but everyone is well into it. Their disciples (we promise the religious references will stop soon) are going hard at the front, and everyone else seems to be having a nice bop. “Thanks for inviting us back,” says Lauren, as she also notes she can see the Main Stage screens playing Foo Fighters from where she’s standing. Dork: taking bangers over boring oldies any day of the week. P

so much to be positive about. Martin: We’ve been on tour or making albums since 2011. Lauren: Where did my twenties go? There’s a lot of persona involved, which makes it easier to weather the ups and downs. It would be nice to take that hat off for a bit and have no one yelling at me though. Martin: It’s taken a lot of commitment, and dreams have come true, but there comes a time where you need to take a minute and enjoy what you’ve built. We thought going into the second year of the album campaign, everything would just calm down a little bit but suddenly we got out first platinum single, which was a massive fucking peak. Then the house burns down with us inside. Lauren: At the end of the day you have to look back at it and know you were consistent and that you weren’t hypocritical, so maybe we burnt the house down with us inside but I’d rather be honest. Martin: I’d rather be disliked and respected. Lauren: Hated but rated, mate. P

CHVRCHES talk being undeniable, needing a break and staying “scrappy as fuck” backstage at Reading 2019. Words: Ali Shutler.

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PRECISE AND UNPREDICTABLE, LOWLANDS FESTIVAL KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT IT’S DOING Tame Impala, Billie Eilish and a reckless sense of fun dominate the Dutch festival. Words: Ali Shutler. Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett.

WHILE GLASTONBURY AND

Reading & Leeds have spent the summer shuffling things around to accommodate Billie Eilish’s ascent from online sensation to global phenomenon, Lowlands has always known exactly where she needs to be. Storming out to the main stage, there are crowds of people absolutely everywhere, who all start moving as soon as the looming hammer of ‘Bad Guy’ starts swinging. The heavens open, but no one’s going anywhere. There are tears for the tender walk of ‘Wish You Were Gay’ and giddy rage for the promise of ‘You Should See Me In A Crown’. In between, there’s jubilance, excitement and bright colours shone on topics that fester in the dark. It’s precise but unpredictable. Which is perfect for A Campingflight To Lowlands Paradise (or just Lowlands, to its friends). An hour away from Amsterdam, the genre-agnostic festival puts good

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times above everything. There’s a lake, surrounded by hammocks, sit-down restaurants and an actual sauna, while just around the corner there’s the cabaret chaos of Sexyland (which features everything from magicians and poets to things that can never be put into words) and the welcoming sweatfest of Adonis. The whole festival shivers with a carefully curated chaos. The line-up is just as jagged. PUP’s gnarled punk rock inspires physical reactions and purged lungs, with the songs from this year’s ‘Morbid Stuff’ demanding the most extreme reaction while The Chats carefree anthems of getting drunk and doing whatever they feel like sit right at home with a rowdy afternoon crowd. A few hours later, that dirt-under-the-nails party turns Fontaines D.C.’s set into a celebration of all things rough and ready. Not to be outdone, A$AP Rocky’s appearance is met with relief and joy after his recent run-in with the law,

but the energy he conjures quickly takes over. For the next hour, mosh pits dominate the mainstage. There’s a cover of House of Pain’s ‘Jump Around’ and a karaoke rendition of Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, “I’m just going to play songs I love,” he explains. It’s his own songs that hit hardest though, from the warped ‘Wild For The Night’ to the shuddering ‘A$AP Forever’. Anderson Paak are more jump around, then push it back, but the urgency is just as contagious while an epic two hour DJ set from Helena Hauff is a masterclass in tempo, raise and release. The National are a different beast. Careful, deliberate and with pinpoint accuracy, their headline set on the Bravo stage is reflective and heart-led. Elsewhere, Twenty One Pilots bring a condensed version of their Bandito

Tour to the mainstage for a headline performance that’s more playful than you might expect, but is still defiantly them. It’s left to Tame Impala to bring the weekend to a close. Ethereal, moody and heavy on the vibes, it’d be easy for the band to lose a crowd ready for one last blowout, but their pointed set leans into their more incendiary moments and an appearance from A$AP Rocky for ‘L$D’ and Sundress’ gives it a sense of occasion. Dancing under the lasers and with confetti raining down, the rambling strobe of ‘New Person, Same Old Mistakes’ burns bright and underlines Tame Impala’s position at the top of the pack. Turns out at Lowlands, everything is in the right place. P

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BANGERS THE BEST NEW TRACKS

‘FYI’

Cigarettes After Sex will return with their second album later this year. Recorded during night time sessions in a mansion on the Spanish island of Mallorca, ‘Cry’ will be released on 25th October via Partisan Records. The news arrives alongside lead single ‘Heavenly’, which you can check out on readdork.com now, alongside details of a new UK tour which will kick off on 23rd March and include a night at London’s Hammersmith Apollo.

Foals

Jack Peñate

King Princess

We’ll be honest here, when Foals announced they’d be dropping two albums in 2019, we were mildly nervy. See, Yannis and co. are a very identifiable band - any eager listener can spot their math rock charms a mile off. So perhaps, with so much new music around, we’d become used to having them about. Maybe, by the time we got to Part 2 of ‘Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost’, we’d be a bit bored? Evidently not. Total banger.

A decade since his last album, ‘Everything Is New’, the indie prince has returned! Yep, Jack is back, but he’s no longer torn on the platform. 2019’s Peñate is a more soulful beast, all vibe and aesthetic. A slip slide smooth vocal and warm, comforting runs mark out an almost religious comeback. The hint is in the name, right? It’s something spiritual.

With her debut album due really very soon, there’s definitely something about King Princess. A parade of brilliant tracks continues with ‘Ain’t Together’, a gloriously easy to love slow burner that drifts like silk. A properly exciting prospect.

The Runner

Grimes Violence

It’s been quite the few years for Grimes. Away from ‘the music’, there’s been reams of column inches written about ethereal pop’s headline act, but one thing has never changed. On record, c is bloody great. ‘Violence’, which sees her team up with i_o, is the kind of track that shoots right into the veins. Both exhilarating and weirdly calming, it’s Grimes at her very best.

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Prayer

Bombay Bicycle Club Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing But You)

In the comeback stakes, Bombay Bicycle Club might only have been gone a relatively brief five years - and had a couple of notable solo endeavours in that time - but their return is no less welcome. ‘Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing But You)’ could really be no other band. That BBC vibe still sounds as fresh as ever. While time may weary us, some things will always prevail.

Ain’t Together

Get the latest bangers at readdork.com or follow our Brand New Bangers playlist on Spotify. Check out all these tracks and more on Dork Radio now at readdork.com/ radio

The Big Moon Your Light

Dearest Reader. We must report to you a ‘stepping up’ by one of our favourite bands. With their new single ‘Your Light’, The Big Moon are positively luminous. All big pop backing vocals and bike based bops, it’s the second track we’ve heard from their forthcoming album, which is set to drop early next year.

Sports Team Fishing

The new track off a sort-of-new US EP release for the Teamsters, it’s textbook ‘them’. Which means it’s bloody great. Obv.

Dream State have announced their debut album. Titled ‘Primrose Path’, it follows debut EP ‘Recovery’ and is set for release on 18th October via UNFD. “I like to be real. I want people to feel connected. This is why music is not just a band for me or the boys, it’s a way of inspiring. I know how hard life can be,” says vocalist CJ Gilpin. “That’s my thing… being real, open and honest, There’s so much power in that. I can’t be fake, that’s just not in me. I can’t put on a façade.”

Kele has announced his new album ‘2042’, previewed with a new single ‘Jungle Bunny’. “There is a history of black entertainers feeling that after they have achieved a certain level of success that they are above discussions of race but that idea is a delusion,” Kele says. “As a person of colour living in the western world, it does not matter how much wealth one accumulates, race will follow you wherever you go.” His fourth solo record, the full-length is due on 8th November via his own KOLA Records, in association with !K7.

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TOP TEN

"I’m out in Nashville recording. It’s amazing; we’re having the best time" Declan McKenna

IT’S BEEN A WHILE SINCE WE’VE

heard from Declan McKenna, but our Dec hasn’t spent the last few years coasting on the success of his excellent debut album ‘What Do You Think About The Car?’ instead he’s been hard at work cooking up his much anticipated follow up and been thinking about some big issues as heard on his brand new banger ‘British Bombs’. Tackling war and the hidden dubious undercurrent of British arms deals, Declan delivers his fiercest track yet as a tantalising pre-album call to action. We spoke to him down the line from a Nashville recording studio to get the lowdown on his next move.

Hey Declan! How did ‘British Bombs’ come about? It feels like quite a statement.

The song was partially inspired by a conversation I had with my friend. A really smart, well-read guy. He was talking to me and saying, “Our country has been at war the whole time we’ve been alive.” I was like, “Really?” He was like, “There’s not been a time in our lives when England has not been at war. Modern war is different, and we’re not faced with the consequences.” That planted the seed, really.

DEC’S THE BOMB

DECLAN MCKENNA IS BACK! BACK!! ETC!!! WITH HIS NEW SINGLE, ‘BRITISH BOMBS’. WORDS: MARTYN YOUNG

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Do you feel like it’s a good time to release the track right now? With a new, massively dubious prime minister as well as being on the precipice of Brexit disaster?

It’s important to be open to discussion and learn more about how our country is run. Brexit has been going on for so long, and it’s causing ambivalence as it’s super disengaging and I’m super bored with it. It’s just the same shit over and over again. It’s a frustrating time. I don’t even know what we can contribute to that anymore. Did it energise you to be taking on such a big subject, you sound

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I wanted to take a modern approach to quite an old school British thing. The protest song is part of the British tradition, and when we’ve done it, we’ve usually been pretty good at it. I wanted to have a modern pop take on it. It was really fresh for me and was a good fit with what I was making Does the song point the way towards what you’re doing on the album?

The album that I made is actually fairly vague in its definitions and meaning. Releasing ‘British Bombs’ before anything I know is going to be on the album feels like it’s setting a tone so in the future when I start releasing more tunes, that statement is still there.

The people behind BTS, are launching a search for a new girl band

How’s the album recording going? Is there any gossip you can give us?

Should we expect anything this year?

As I’ve learnt from this recording process, anything can happen. It might happen in two months; it might happen in eight months. It’s a bit up in the air, but I think there will definitely be songs from the album before the end of the year for sure. Finally, we always have to ask the important questions at Dork so, do you still have the moustache and is it remaining for album two?

I do have a moustache at the minute! I don’t know what it is about being in southern America, but I love it, and something about it makes me not want to shave. It’s part of who I am. I’m here for all the smoke that comes from having a moustache on your face after not having a moustache on my face for so long. P

SO CIRCA WAVES’ NEW ALBUM IS DONE...

Circa Waves’ third album ‘What’s It Like Over There?’ tickled the Top Ten and saw them play their biggest ever slot at Reading & Leeds this summer. We caught up with Kieran and Joe to talk about how everything was going, and they dropped some unexpected news: album number four is already done... Hi guys, how’s playing the new album live? Kieran: It’s going really well. I thought it’d be an outlandish thing to play the songs live, but everything’s so fucking loud and bombastic that it fits right in. Have you started thinking about the next album yet? Kieran: It’s done... no, really, it’s done. How’s it sounding? Kieran: It’s fucking great, man. I’m so excited about it. I’ve never been more excited about an album in my whole entire life. Joe: It’s a bit worrying, because it sounds really good and it’s done, and I don’t think we expected to be sat here with a good album so soon, and yet here we are. Kieran: It’s a way more positive album than ‘What’s It Like Over There’, too. It’s got this real celebratory nature to it. When are you going to release it? Kieran: We need to play the best hand we can. The music industry has changed so much, even from just when we started in 2013/14. We’re trying to work out the best way, basically. Joe: It was always the plan to get something out quickly, but we decided not to talk about it in case it didn’t happen. Kieran: We’re happy to say it now though, now it’s all on my phone and ready to go. P

Anna Of The North has confirmed her new album ‘Dream Girl’ Due on 25th October via Play It Again Sam, it’s the follow-up to her 2017 debut ‘Lovers’, and arrives alongside the title-track. The release will also feature recent singles, ‘Leaning On Myself’, ‘Used To Be’ and ‘Thank Me Later’. The record will see Anna “exploring what it means to be a woman in the present day,” the blurb explains, “how your romantic relationships don’t have to define who you are and ultimately, that being content standing on your own two feet is the most important thing.”

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There’s probably tons of gossip! The process has been going on for ages, but I pretty much had the album written before the start of this year. There have been one or two tunes that have come about since, but if you asked me at the start of the year if I was ready to record an album, I would’ve said yes. We’ve just been waiting for the right time to do what I want to do. I’m out in Nashville recording. It’s amazing; we’re having the best time. I’ve got the whole band here with me as well. That’s the big difference from the first record that I have the full live band. It’s all about energy. It’s a different record, and I’ve definitely tried to progress. It feels like a natural progression. It’s a little bit away from what I’d define as indie. It’s a little bit insane.

Big Hit Entertainment, the guys behind BTS, are launching a search for a new girl band. The worldwide search will see them hold auditions in Los Angeles, New York City, Perth, Singapore, Melbourne, Busan, Gwangju, Osaka, Sapporo, Taipei, Seoul, Tokyo, Kaohsiung, Hanoi, Bangkok, and Ho Chi Minh throughout October. “Together with Source Music, we are holding the ‘PLUS GLOBAL AUDITION’ in order to select the members of the new girl group aimed to debut in 2021,” they explain.

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I like it when you sheep...

Matty Healy’s brother Louis is joining the cast of Emmerdale. The 18-yearold will make his debut as ‘Danny’ on 16th September, with Hello magazine suggesting his character could be out to cause mischief, asking “is he the wholesome boy he initially appears to be?” Oo-er.

JPEGMAFIA’s album trailer was pretty fun tbh WHO KNEW JAMES BLAKE WAS FUNNY? JPEGMAFIA has just dropped his new album, ‘All My Heroes Are Cornballs’. News of the release arrived alongside a trailer featuring James Blake, DJ Dahi, Flume, Channel Tres, Buzzy Lee, Jeff Tweedy, Injury Reserve, Jeff Ellis and Kenny Beats, that’s well worth a watch. Seriously, get it on now at readdork.com. The album was celebrated with an intimate launch party in Baltimore, with a number of guests and performers from the area. He’s also a US tour planned for October. Exciting stuff.

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King Nun’s debut album is finally here! IT’S CALLED ‘MASS’, ‘FYI’. IT’S BEEN A LONG TIME BREWING, BUT Dork faves King Nun have finally readied their debut album, which - depending on when you read this - could well be out right now. Exciting, huh? Sat on a sunny Brighton beach, Theo tells us more about ‘Mass’. You’ve always been a band that’s had these big visions and tried to cram them into these little EPs. With the last EP, I got so conceptual about it. I’ve always loved that kind of thing, a concept and things beyond what’s going on that you can look into. It’s just something I really like geeking out on, so in my own music, I involve it here. When it came to making this album, I was straight off that concept, and I was completely, absolutely out of ideas. I think we all were, and it became very apparent that we could do nothing else but make an album. We had all these songs, but no lyrics. There’s no context to what the songs are about, and it was all left to me to do it. I was shooting from the hip for months, it was just banging my head against stuff ‘What the hell am I trying to say?’ Because of that it ended up being far more truthful than anything that we’ve ever done, and really revealing, in a really beautiful way. Our EP ‘I Have Love’ is conceptual, it’s based on things, it’s about a particular time in our lives. This album, I’m still finding stuff in it, and I’m like, fucking hell, accidentally let that little part of myself slip, shit! The concept is like, fucking I don’t know - we’re an eclectic band, but this is more true to us than fucking anything that’s come out. There’s no concept; it’s us. It must be hard to tie all the bits of the band into one album. That’s how this band works, we’re like brothers, we fight like a pack of dogs, but we love each other so much. I think that’s what makes our music so eclectic because

"This is more true to us than anything" Theo Polyzoides

that’s how we make music - we’re so passionate about our own little ideas, and it’s constantly ramming our heads against each other. Then somehow it’s beyond us, we come out with this thing, and it’s like, oh my god - not one of us could have done this without all of us. We’ve harnessed it on this album, and it wasn’t our fault - we’ve got some other natural force to thank. It’s called ‘Mass’? It’s such a good name. The name is fantastic. I told our manager, and the excitement on his face made me so excited, and I realised that we’re onto something really good. I’m really proud of it. It references the band name in a really lovely full circle way, and it turns the album into what could be a kind of ‘best of’ of what we have into like, a sermon. And is it all new tracks? It’s all new tracks. We thought really heavily about that, and we were advised from lots of places to put previously releases on there because it makes the most commercial sense to do that kind of thing. But we really sat down, and we talked about it, and we’re like, the way that we have fun writing music is that we get in a room and we just fucking hammer it out. Through hell and high water, we hammer it out; we make this stuff. P

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Hella Mega fun ahoy!

Green Day, Weezer and Fall Out Boy have announced a new joint tour, The Hella Mega Tour. The worldwide live run will see the bands performing shows together in the UK next spring, with tickets going on general sale from 10am on Friday 20th September. Each band has released a new song and is dropping a new (or sort of new, in Fall Out Boy’s case) album to celebrate, too. Green Day’s new record ‘Father of All Motherf**kers’ is due on 7th February, preceded by the track ‘Father of All’; Weezer’s ‘Van Weezer’ is coming on 15th May, previewed by ‘The End of the Game’; and Fall Out Boy’s ‘best of’, ‘Greatest Hits: Believers Never Die Volume Two’ is out on 15th November, led by ‘Dear Future Self (Hands Up) [feat. Wyclef Jean]’.

FKA Twigs’ new album is coming

10 Rose tinted glasses...

Paramore have collaborated with Crap Eyewear on a pair of rosecoloured glasses. A homage to their single ‘Rose-Colored Boy’, the band announced the news in a typed letter posted on Insta.

“Though life isn’t always rosy, we all deserve to pretend a little sometimes. These should help,” they explain. “In light of Paramore’s current absence from the outside world, we thought it’d be fun to remind you that the time we shared with you during After Laughter was one of the happiest in our band’s career, thus far. “Thank you for understanding that we are taking a really nice break after grinding away for nearly 15 years! It’s so good to have a moment to just “be”.“

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FKA twigs has announced her second album, ‘Magdalene’. “I never thought heartbreak could be so allencompassing,” she says of the full-length, the follow-up to 2014’s ‘LP1’. “I never thought that my body could stop working to the point that I couldn’t express myself physically in the ways that I have always loved and found so much solace. “I have always practiced my way into being the best I could be, but I couldn’t do that this time, I was left with no option but to tear every process down. “But the process of making this album has allowed me for the first time, and in the most real way, to find compassion when I have been at my most ungraceful, confused and fractured. I stopped judging myself and at that moment found hope in ‘Magdalene’. To her I am forever grateful” Recorded between London, New York and Los Angeles over the last three years, the record features contributions from a number of collaborators, including Nicolas Jaar, Skrillex and Jack Antonoff. It’s out on 25th October. P

HYPE

FIND MORE FRESH SOUNDS ONLINE NOW AT READDORK.COM/HYPE

ESSENTIAL NEW MUSIC

Phoebe Green IT’S EARLY DAYS FOR THE UP-AND-COMING GREENSTER, BUT OUR PHOEBE IS ALREADY KICKING UP A STORM. WORDS: SAM TAYLOR

AFTER DROPPING HER SELF-

released bedroom project ‘02.00 AM’ way back in 2016, Manchester newcomer Phoebe Green broke through earlier this year with her captivating debut single proper, ‘Dreaming Of’. An immediately arresting and incredibly assured step forward, it was recently followed up by ‘Easy Peeler’, a collab with The Big Moon’s Juliette Jackson that’s both vulnerable and defiant in the best take-that-youinsufferable-sods-on-Facebook way. Signed to Chess Club Records (you may have caught her on tour with label buds Sundara Karma earlier this year), it’s most definitely a sign of ‘big things’ to come. Hey Phoebe, how’s it going? What are you up to at the mo?

Hello! Yeah, I’m dead good thanks, other than getting the single and video release ready I’ve been chilling and taking some time for myself before all the gigs start, it’s been nice.

reckon! Moving to Manchester must’ve helped loads, how have you found your time in the city? Is everyone there supportive?

Yeah, I love it, it’s just about big enough that it isn’t suffocating, but you seem to know the ins and outs of everybody’s successes and failures. Most people have been supportive. It’s a very eclectic scene; the majority of my friends are in really contrasting bands, and a lot of people are open to hearing new stuff, so it’s been a nice period of growing and changing in an environment that isn’t overly competitive but has given me the space to try different things and be inspired. Tell us about your new single, ‘Easy Peeler’? You wrote it with Juliette from The Big Moon?

It started off as a completely different song! I turned up at Juliette’s house, and she’d recorded this really cool bassline and drum part with the twangy guitars, and the opening lyric was How did you get into making “In my town…”. We rolled with music then? Which came first, a it, and I wrote it about Blackpool love of songwriting or a love of where I had many of my first performing? experiences growing up, it was a I think the love of performing cool song but I never came first, but I really did anything can remember with it. A few months always being really THE FACTS later I’d written the expressive as a + From lyrics to ‘Easy Peeler’ child, and I kept Manchester, UK and tried it over a very dramatic, + For fans of the top of mine and detailed diary whenyoung, Juliette’s track. It fit from a really Blaenavon so well, and once I got young age. I was + Check out the band involved it very extroverted ‘Dreaming Of’, just sounded so good. though and ‘Easy Peeler’ Jules loves it too so I’m was constantly + Social dead happy with how it getting up on the @ph0ebegreen ended up! kitchen table and + See them live: putting on some Phoebe’s on tour Are you a fan of sort of spectacle, with Swim Deep right now collaborating? Do so performing, I

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you have any other team-ups in the works?

I love working with people because I enjoy meeting other musicians and getting to know them in that sort of intimate setting, but because most of my songs come from a really personal place I struggle to be that vulnerable in the presence of a stranger. I’m working on it because I really do enjoy collaborating and exploring sonic ideas that I otherwise probably wouldn’t when it comes to the instrumentation and production I find it hard to vocalise my ideas sometimes, so it helps to have someone there that I click with that gets my vision. But yeah, I’m sure like a lot of other musicians writing lyrics is very much an outlet to process my thoughts and feelings, so it feels odd to do that with someone sat next to me!

Is there anywhere or anything you find yourself repeatedly looking to for inspiration?

I think I draw a lot of inspiration musically from seeing my friends playing and going to see new bands as often as I can, but my favourite sounds definitely come from old artists like the Beatles, Shangri Las, Bowie etc. Very cliché, I know, but I like not to be too pastiche about it but rather to take elements from past records and incorporate modern lyrics to create something more current and accessible. Then you have the familiarity and comfort of that retro sound but the relatability of the modern-day commentary.

"I kept a very dramatic, detailed diary from a really young age"

What’s your songwriting process like?

Recently I’ve been writing exclusively on public transport, I feel like a lot of the time it’s because it’s the only time I get where I’m alone with my thoughts. I write lyrics on my notes and hum little voice notes, and then create a demo from there before taking it to my band and building on it. I mostly write about people and experiences, so once I start writing it isn’t as if I have to think long and hard about what I’m trying to say, it just comes. But then I find it dead hard to write when nothing particularly evocative has happened to give me the urge to.

Do you have a bucket list of things you’d like to achieve? What do you reckon’s next to be ticked off?

I’d love to sell out a few venues around the UK this year, but I really wanna do a European tour in the next couple of years, even if it’s a support slot. I’m already over the moon with supporting Swim Deep in October, they’ve honestly been one of those bands I’ve listened to for years, mum and dad were well happy, it’s one of the only CDs we have in the car that they voluntarily listen to. But yeah, more tours and festivals would be nice. And an album, obviously, which I don’t think I’m too far off. Anything else we should know?

I’m playing Neighbourhood in Manchester on 12th October in the middle of the tour with Swim Deep. It’s a busy few months with the release as well, but I’m dead excited! P

27 READDORK.COM

First on CHECK OUT THESE NEW ACTS IMMEDIATELY

LILY MOORE 21-year-old singer-songwriter Lily Moore makes soulful pop songs that have seen her garner pretty spot-on comparisons to Amy Winehouse. Building towards her geniusly titled ‘More Moore’ mixtape, she teamed up with Maverick Sabre for latest track ‘In-Between’ (“We share the same love for old soul records,” she explains), and will play a special one-off headline show at London’s XOYO on 28th November. There’s a lot going on, and plenty more to come.

PLANET 1999 You can probably guess the exact kind of vibe Planet 1999 are going for from their name alone. They’re cool, guys. So cool. And the 90s are cool too, y’know? Remember Fresh Prince and The Spice Girls? They were great, right? Discovered by A. G. Cook, the London-based shoegaze trio hail from France (yet more cool points), and have collaborated with Charli XCX on her new album (omg). Keep an eye out for their debut EP, coming ‘soon’ via PC Music. Lead single ‘Spell’ (because spooky stuff is cool) is out now.

AARON SMITH You may have spotted our Aaron all over Twitter a few weeks back, when the little-known singersongwriter’s track ‘Unspoken’ dominated Spotify’s New Music Friday. “Who tf is Aaron Smith”, everyone chorused. Well, we

LILY MOORE

know who he is guys, because we interviewed him back in May for readdork.com. Check us out. Now the Scottish chap’s back with his new single ‘Better Than You Loved Me’, and he has more tunes imminent. Watch this space, it’s about to go big.

PLANET 1999

GIA FORD

MISS JUNE We don’t miss June tbh, it’s too far away from Christmas, which is honestly all we care about right now. Miss June are bloody great though, a low-key fave who’ve just released their debut album ‘Bad Luck Party’ through Frenchkiss Records. They’ve a riff-fuelled, slacker, cooler-than-you thing going on that’s so much fun, and is coming to the UK (from New Zealand, do you think they know the Queen, Lorde?!) towards the end of September. Can’t wait.

THE CHATS Aussie punk rock with the requisite quota of lyrics about drugs and wanking, The Chats have a pretty

AARON SMITH

terrible name (guuuyyys), but pretty great tunes. It’s a bit Slaves, but not really? More Australian and ramshackle for sure. The trio’s 2017 single ‘SMOKO’ has nearly 8 million views on YouTube, which is practically the whole of their home-country if you’re into making up statistics. They’re back in the UK for a headline tour this December.

The latest act out of the Dirty Hit pop machine, Gia Ford has something rather special going on. August’s ‘Turbo Dreams’, featuring the input of Spector’s indie mastermind Fred Macpherson, was quite the introduction, while follow-up ‘God, Cameras, Everyone’ draws influence from an episode of Oprah-launched TV psychologist Dr. Phil’s show. “He warns a guest before they say anything, that they should have a good think about it because ‘you’ll be telling this to God, cameras, and everyone here,’” explains Ford. “Me and my girlfriend kind of just looked at each other like ‘okay, that’s definitely a lyric’. I had it written in my book for a while, I was saving it for a good day.” Seems about right. There’s a debut mixtape, ‘Poster Boy’, due this October.

PORRIDGE RADIO

THE CHATS

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Here are some things we know about Porridge Radio: they’re from Brighton, their latest video for ‘Give / Take’ was directed by Bella from Dream Wife, they’re very DIY. They’re the kind of band who only dress in things they’ve found in the ‘about to be binned’ section of the charity shop, probably while blindfolded. That’s not a criticism, mind - they’re both eclectic and defined all at once, and it works remarkably well, in a lo-fi kinda way.

GIA FORD

Maisie Peters FAST RISING POPSTER MAISIE PETERS IS ALREADY MAKING WAVES. WORDS: SAM TAYLOR

SELLING OUT GIGS ALL OVER THE

show, our Maisie here makes thoroughly beautiful and heartflet tunes that have seen her tipped by the likes of Sam Smith and man of the moment (and former Dork cover star, no less) Lewis Capaldi. She’s got her biggest dates ever coming up too, at Nottingham’s Rescue Rooms and London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire. It’s all going on. Hey Maisie, how are you doing? Busy summer?

I’m great, thanks! Very busy, I’m in LA right now, writing lots of songs and drinking lots of iced coffee which is making my bank account weep. Congrats on your new Shepherd’s Bush Empire show, that’s huge - is it a venue you’ve spent much time at before?

Ahhhhh thank you, it’s crazy to me that I’m headlining it. I’ve actually only been once. It’s so beautiful, and I can remember so many of my favourite artists playing there, so it’s pretty surreal.

heard ‘Love Story’ by Taylor Swift and saw her playing that white guitar, it sort of subconsciously flipped a switch in my mind and made me want to combine all my favourite things into one big allencompassing thing. How did you transition from making tracks on your own to getting them ‘out there’ for other people to hear, and performing live?

with my cat, get my eyebrows done, go to my local pub with my friends and chat absolute shit for hours. Will you be releasing new music in the lead up to the November shows?

Yes, yes and yes again, and that is all I can say on the matter. But yes. Shhhhh.

What else have you got planned?

Releasing more songs! I filmed a video the other day which I’m really excited to release, and I also want to take more driving lessons so I can pass my test at the end of this year and be a bad bitch on the roads. I’m a terrible driver so me writing it here is willing it into existence. P

I began busking in Brighton and performing at open mic nights and old men’s pubs, then I started a YouTube channel when I was about sixteen and just borrowed my friend’s equipment and filmed a couple of songs as one mic demos in my bedroom, my mum often pressing the on button coz I couldn’t reach! From there I started gaining a small but so lovely and interested and engaged group of people who would listen and comment their fave moments and lines, and I guess it snowballed into me filming more and more videos, which I guess snowballed into me today.

Things seem to be happening really quickly for you now. Was there a particular moment where everything suddenly started to woosh along?

I’ve been consistently writing songs since I was 13 so I like to think I’ve been making pretty steady progress, haha! My song ‘Feels Like This’ played on Love Island this year, so we’ve really got to shout out the half boyfriend half girlfriend Curtis and Amy. When did you first realise you wanted to pursue being a musician? Did you grow up in a musical family?

Not at all, my dad is a geography teacher, and my mum was a journalist, although they do both love music and used to play it all the time when I was growing up. I always wanted a big Osmond family band, but that is a tale for another day. I always loved writing and creating stories, and I think when I

"Downtime, who is she? We don’t know her!"

Was it tough juggling music with school?

Sort of difficult, but I used to bring my textbooks on the train. Do you remember the first song you wrote? What was it about, and how does it compare to your current material?

I found an old notebook the other day, which had a song called ‘Sandcastles’ in it, about sand, written when I was nine. Riveting stuff, it must be said. I would like to think my newer stuff delves slightly deeper into more important topics but then, who knows? Sand is pretty important. Do you get much downtime? What does a typical day look like for you?

Downtime, who is she? We don’t know her! When I do get some days off, I like to sleep, hang out

THE FACTS + From Brighton, UK + For fans of George Ezra, Tom Walker + Check out ‘This Is On You’ + Social @maisiehpeters + See them live: She’ll play Nottingham’s Rescue Rooms on 13th November, and London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire the following day

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LAUV IT IF HE MADE IT Words: Abigail Firth. Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett.

27,633,943. That’s how many people listen to Lauv each month on

Spotify alone at ‘the time

of press’. That makes him one of the Top 50 most listened to artists on the

planet. Full stop. During a brief visit to London, we pinned the current-and-future pop megastar down to work out just why he’s so massive.

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"I DON’T FEEL COMFORTABLE TIL I’VE SPILLED EVERYTHING" WE LOVE A SAD BOY HERE, DEAR

first time. The playlist was like, well I put out my first song in 2015, and that was part of the whole story of ‘I met you when I was 18’, and I was kinda releasing the songs out of order. Eventually, the whole thing came together last year when I fully put it out. “The songs were from so many different times, and it took me a while to kinda realise it was all part of one project, so I didn’t wanna call it my first album, I wanted to save that for something that felt like it was more concise.” So ‘how I’m feeling’ is different in that it’s an actual album, for a start (god there are too many names for albums these days), even though the releasing process has been similar so far. “It’s not finished! Basically, I wanted to release it as I was kind of making the songs. So I keep putting the songs out as I finish them, once [the album] feels done, I’ll put the rest of it out together.” So what’s on it so far? We’ve heard a bunch of songs between these two projects too; collaborations with Julia Michaels, Troye Sivan, and various solo singles, but not all of them are making it onto ‘how I’m feeling’. “Obviously there are songs like ‘drugs and the internet’ and ‘sad forever’, and then I have songs about literally everything in my life, like my parents, my best friends, my dog, my favourite bar, it’s just like a much more full-on scope of me as a person.” With it being called ‘how I’m feeling’, we’re expecting it to be pretty deep, which has been true of the singles released so far, particularly ‘sad forever’, which he finished on the way to his first arena show in the Philippines, and premiered there that night. The track details a particularly rough patch in Ari’s life, that meant READDORK.COM

Reader. That’s why we end up putting Lewis Capaldi on our covers and hosting gigs for Spector. But our real International Man of Misery is Sir Lauv, the 25-yearold songwriting machine, whose sleeper hit ‘I Like Me Better’ catapulted him into the spotlight late last year. With his debut album due ‘soon’, we got on the phone with Ari (no not that one, would Miss Grande really do an interview with a mag called Dork?) to chat about that, and also his dog and BTS, because that’s what the people really want. When Lauv (real name Ari Leff – Lauv means ‘lion’ in Latvian) picks up, he’s just about to go to the studio to work on his album, which despite three songs off it already being out, is nowhere near done, nor is it actually announced at the time of calling. He’s just returned from touring and is currently in his home state of California, but in LA, not San Francisco where he was born, writing for ‘~how I’m feeling~’. “I’m really bad at timelines,” he says when we ask when the album will be out. “Basically, I’m going to keep releasing songs off of it until the whole thing is done, then I’ll drop the rest of it.” Since ‘I Like Me Better’ blew up last year, after being featured in Netflix teen movie ‘To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before’, Lauv released a playlist of songs about a long term relationship that he’d been writing over a number of years, a mixtape of sorts that allowed him to share a compilation of singles up to that point and more, everything in one place. “The last project that I put out was called ‘I met you when I was 18’, and it was all about my life when I was in one relationship, and all the ups and downs of being in love for the

"I SEE EACH SONG AS A LITTLE PIECE OF MY LIFE" he struggled to write the album too. “I wanted to actually do a lot of it last year, but I went through a not good phase mentally, and was dealing with some depression and like was not able to work very much, so a big part of the writing has been this year, and especially the past few months.” Over the past few years, we’ve seen more and more male musicians open up about their mental health struggles – notably Stormzy, James Blake and Kid Cudi, to name a few – and Lauv is no exception. “I see each song as a little journal entry, almost, or as a little piece of my life. My last project was so focused on how I was with somebody else and being with somebody else, and this is way more just like me, like as my own person.” He’s so passionate about destigmatising mental illness that all of the proceeds from ‘sad forever’ will be donated to mental health organisations, and he takes a box on tour with him, called the My Blue Thoughts box, where fans can drop in notes about how they’re feeling on that day. “I guess I just wanted to make – because for me, writing songs was my way of processing whatever’s going on in my life – I wanted to create a space where people could, even if it’s like, something that nobody sees, or that’s just totally anonymous. Just a place for people to let go of something that’s on their mind, you know? Because I think that we all have a lot of stuff going on in our heads that until we acknowledge it in some way, it’s sort of just eats away at you. I wanted to create a little space for that.” One of the notes struck such a chord with Ari that he wrote a whole song about it. Last year’s ‘Superhero’ featured the lyrics ‘I

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songwriting is an obvious outlet for that, but so is letting people in on how he does it. “I’m very much the kind of person where I want to get people like the full scope of like, this is me, this is how I do my thing, this is why, everything. Some songs are more important than others in terms of the process, because some of the songs, honestly, probably would be quite boring to show how they were made, if I’m gonna be real. I like doing it for the songs that I feel like, are just more important in terms of the process. The way ‘I Like Me Better’ was made in such a specific and unique way, so I really wanted to show that. And, you know, ‘I’m so tired’, especially just having dinner with Troye and stuff I wanted to let people in on that.” As a true 21st Century pop star, it’s only right that the album comes with a few ‘collabs’ in tow. First up is Anne Marie on ‘fuck I’m lonely’, which Ari describes as ‘a bop’ – “the funny thing is I said a lot about being introspective, but it’s probably the least deep song I’ll ever release”, he says of the track. There’s a LOT of speculation around who else will appear on ‘how I’m feeling’. Before the release of ‘fuck I’m lonely’, he made a playlist and said the mystery artist would be featured on there. Speculation quickly turned to the biggest band in the world right now, K-pop heavyweights BTS. “That would be fucking crazy, I’m a big fan, so that’d be insane. I saw them at Wembley, it was craaazy they’re so good.” It didn’t turn out to be them, obvs, but the love between Lauv and BTS is mutual. “When I met them, they were showing me on their phones, they had Lauv playlists. I was like, no waaaay.” Considering we still don’t know when the album will surface, maybe there’s time? Spare verse, boys? Of course, speculation doesn’t stop there, with many fans hoping for a LANY collab too. “There’s nothing I can share right now, but definitely there’ll be more collabs on the album, and I’m working on other stuff as well.” He can’t work too hard, though. He is, after all, a new father. “Well, I’m probably gonna be taking care of my dog. I mean, really, honestly, I’m so just in the zone of the album. Working on that, taking some time for myself because I realised all I’ve ever done is make music, and I need to go and do some other shit. I’m trying to take some dance classes. I’m trying to take a surf lesson. I’d love to work on music for some other projects with some other aliases.” And while he’s just hopped off tour, he’s back for some UK shows in November, Billy by his side. “People can expect three cheeseburgers with every ticket. No, I’m kidding. People can expect new music. It’s going to be a totally a new production that I’m working on that I’m really excited about. And I’ll have my dog Billy on tour with me. So maybe people could meet him at the meet and greets.” Now THAT’S how you shift tickets. P Lauv plays London’s O2 Kentish Town Forum on 4th and 5th November.

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met a superhero, I lost her, I want her back’, which were written by a fan and left at a show in Boston. “That was a fun song. I think it just came about ‘cause I’m pretty sappy, to be honest.” He adds, “Yeah, it’s funny, because I literally read that ‘I met a superhero, I lost her, I want her back’, and like, for whatever reason, that really shook me. People write about all sorts of stuff in there; about losing family members, or being in love with their best friend or struggling with their sexuality. People write about a lot of things in the My Blue Thoughts box. But for whatever reason, that note... I can’t help what inspires me in terms of the songs that I make, just whatever happens naturally happens, and that song just ended up working out. “And, you know, it’s funny, because it took us a while to figure out who wrote the note, we had to figure out what show the note was from, and then we had to email everybody who bought tickets to the show. And we had to be like, ‘somebody wrote a note like this, something like this, if you wrote it, contact us’. Anyways, long story short, it was ended up being this guy from Germany, who was at like, the show in Boston, kind of out of nowhere. It’s crazy.” While that track was a standalone single, there are plenty more introspective bops to be expected from ‘how I’m feeling’. We’ve also already heard ‘drugs and the internet’, a song about, well, being obsessed with being online. “It’s basically me making fun of myself. It was a time in my life where I was super obsessed with the way that I was presenting myself on the internet and super obsessed with like, this self-identity that I had. And honestly, my friendships were suffering, because I would spend so much time thinking about like, what was I going to post on Instagram? What kind of moment can I construct that makes people think I’m this way or that way. It was all about getting validation. And what the song was saying that was that’s fucking whack, and not working for me and wasn’t making me happy.” It’s not all doom and gloom, though. The track was accompanied by a Flappy Bird style game, called Billy Meets World, and features his dog. “I wanted to kind of make a game where fans can kind of get little things like free merch or song clips if they, you know, hit a certain score. Also, I recently got a dog, and his name is Billy, obviously. I just thought it would be fun to make a little thing around it. Although the game is quite hard. I think that the highest score I’ve ever gotten was like four, so I suck.” Free merch, huh? Lauv loves sharing things with his fans, that’s why he gives them an insight into his songwriting and producing process with his ‘making of’ videos. He says he’s a bit of an oversharer – “I’m the type of person where I don’t really feel comfortable and relaxed til I’ve spilled everything. Like even when I meet somebody new, I tell them all of my life problems, for better or worse” – so

G R E AT Sampa the Great examines self-identity and belonging on her arresting debut album, ‘The Return’.

E X P E CTAT I O N S Words: Jenessa Williams. Photos: Barun Chatterjee.

ACCORDING TO THE LAST OFFICIAL CENSUS,

you are, you have to come to the conclusion that this just has to be a snapshot of where I am at in life. For the first time, it was more about observations, just looking at people around me and what was happening in my own life. It’s what the album is all about – all these things that I have experienced and how my career is growing is super dope, but there’s still a sense of homesickness. Because of that longing to go home, I felt a bit displaced, and with that came the questions of what home is, how can it be defined and finding a way for me to carry home wherever I go so I don’t end up feeling defined by not being there.” If these lyrical themes sound emotionally taxing, the music is anything but. Lead single ‘Final Form’ is a defiant, horn-led banger with swag to spare (“Greatness in me/ you can’t make me feel less/ Got my Afro like an empress”), while ‘Grass is Greener’ will please fans of Tyler The Creator or NoName, a languid melody tempered by staccato flow. The jewel in the crown, however, is undoubtedly ‘OMG’. The song itself is pretty powerful, but when combined with her colourful video, a celebration of the African diaspora that places her parents front and centre. “My parents are so funny, man,” she laughs. “My dad came early from work and did two takes like cool, I’m done. I was like, Dad, that’s not how it works around here! I wanted to give the narrative of my home, so people know I’m Zambian rather than removing that part of me by being an Australian musician. The beginning of this journey was not the funnest – your parents just want you to do something in life where you can support yourself, and they had a lot of hesitation. I supported Kendrick, and they were like ‘oh cool’ because they didn’t really know what it meant. Then Jada Pinkett Smith

"MY HOME, MY CULTURE, I CAN CARRY THAT WITH ME WHEREVER I GO"

Australia’s population is made up of approximately 22% immigrants. Ranging from political refugees through to nomadic sunseekers, it’s a melting pot as big as any, all looking for a new place to call home. Not every new-found Aussie, however, is Sampa The Great. Having first stepped foot on the country’s shores as a means of pursuing her artistic ambitions, the fusion of genres that fuels her music is souvenir basket, trinkets gathered from her birth country of Zambia through to her childhood in Botswana, years spent studying in San Francisco and LA, and her current settlement in Sydney. With her heavy-hitting, bouncy delivery and inspiring mantras, she leads the ever-increasing charge of Australian hip-hop, fuelled by the desire to challenge the musical stereotype of the country as an exclusively white, guitar-toting enterprise. “If you know the history of Australian music, as dope as it was, it was very white and male, and all this other talent that got swept under the rug because it didn’t fit that story,” she explains, calling in on a rare day off. “Now, because there’s more visibility and people are making more space, we’re popping out of everywhere! The scene of hip-hop there is finally reflecting what Australia is and what it’s afraid to be; a multicultural country.” Something of a restless soul, Sampa brings her experiences of travel to the fore on her debut album, ‘The Return’. Building on her prolificacy of mixtapes, collaborations and support slots (think Kendrick Lamar, Lauryn Hill, Thundercat and Little Simz), the stakes were high as she decided which version of her eclectic self to put out into the world. “It’s so funny because normally I listen to a huge range of music, but this time, I had to just not think, because the pressure of a full album was so scary,” she recalls. “The illusion of this being the only body of work that will describe who

tweeted that she liked my stuff recently and they were like, ‘woooooah, we know her!’ I had this one show in Australia, a festival, and my mum watched the video on YouTube and could see how many people were in the crowd, and I think it clicked, like this isn’t just you playing in a bar, this is a lot of people. And then they got it.” It seems the rest of the world is getting it too. The rest of Sampa’s year is blocked out with live shows across the world, and any free time at her disposal is being channelled into ‘Homecoming’, a short documentary that she says will complement the themes to the record. “I just love that expression can go through different visuals; I don’t want to just be a rapper,” she says. “It’s all about community and finding people who share your experiences. It’s just enough for me to say I will get better, and I will teach myself and try and learn as much as I can.” And what has she learnt so far? “I’ve to the conclusion that home is actually me, and everything that has created me – my home, my culture, I can carry that with me wherever I go. What resonates with me is something my mum told me, and that is that you carry your heritage with you, whether you like it or not; it’s in your DNA. You might not feel fully like your people yet, but you already are.” Her smile is audible, stretching wide across the transatlantic call. “There’s no other option, sis!” P Sampa The Great’s debut album ‘The Return’ is out now.

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TO FEEL GOOD. Words: Jessica Goodman.

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A lot has changed for Swim Deep between albums. With a new line-up firmly in place, they’re back, and they’ve no plans to slow down any time soon.

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“WHEN WE WERE WRITING

‘Honey’, I was sat in my bedroom with a Casio keyboard, and I turned to Cav and I remember saying, ‘’don’t just dream in your sleep, it’s just lazy’ - I’ve just come up with it, but is that too cheesy?’” It’s been nearly seven years since Swim Deep released their quintessential second single, and a lot has changed. “To think that if that were anyone else, or if that were now,” frontman Austin Williams laughs. “It’s crazy how much stuff would’ve been different if Cav had said that line was too cheesy.” From skating down Birmingham’s Smallbrook Queensway in the video for ‘King City’, to recruiting Margate’s Social Singing choir on recent single ‘To Feel Good’, it almost seems like a different band. And in a way, it is. Following the departure of two of the group’s founding members, and the addition of two new faces, ‘Emerald

wings and leaving Birmingham behind for London, the group released two sun-kissed records of escapism and elated sensation. Now, four years on from their last release, it’s all been about looking back and becoming comfortable with where and who they are. “We worked out that it’s been a lot longer than we originally thought it had,” Austin comments on their two-year silence. Finding their feet again in a brand new form took its time, but the end result is the sound of a band with a whole new lease of life. “I think [the album] took about four years to make, but it took two weeks to record,” they laugh. “It felt like the first time that it really means something,” Austin enthuses. “The songs that we were making made sense to us. I think it was a long time coming, but as soon as we got those songs...” “I think we were always going to make this album,” Cavan declares. An ode to where

"SIMPLICITY IN POP MUSIC IS MY FAVOURITE GENRE" Classics’ boasts the sound of a band reincarnated. Reflecting on their roots, to write what they describe as “a love letter to Birmingham,” this is Swim Deep as they always meant to be heard. “That’s what I hear on that song,” bassist Cavan McCarthy comments of ‘To Feel Good’, “that kid that wrote ‘King City’.” A nostalgic day-in-the-life recount of life before the band really started out, that’s exactly what the single is about. “I’ve said I’m into music, and I’ve actually shown him a new song,” Austin drawls across the choral refrains, “and he- he must be one of the good guys, he smiled and laughed along.” “I was just waking up, watching Gilmore Girls on TV, then going to the jobcentre,” the frontman laughs. “I knew there was something more. I was just waiting to see how I was going to get there.” More is exactly what they found. Spreading their

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they came from, a celebration of where they are, ‘Emerald Classics’ is the sound of a band reborn. “Here you are, you’ve arrived, there’s nothing here that you should fear now, you’re alive,” Austin croons on ‘Happy As Larrie. “’Cause you’re adored, and not alone, and everything is gonna be okay.” The sense of positivity that flows through this song is a defining characteristic of the band Swim Deep have become. Named after the classic hits played in a Small Heath pub where Austin and Cavan spent a lot of their formative years, the record is Swim Deep at their most dancefloor-ready. “I was showing one of my best friends, who grew up with me, a demo of a song,” Austin recalls, “and he said ‘oh, it sounds like an Emerald classic.’ Meaning: it sounds like one of the songs we listened to in The Emerald as kids.” From elated gospel refrains, through blissed-out

"IT’S QUITE EASY TO TRY AND SOUND CLEVER AND NOT ACTUALLY GET ANYTHING SAID" sound clever and not actually get anything said,” Austin agrees. “I don’t want to do that.” And they don’t need to. From ‘Happy As Larrie’ with its simple reassurance that “everything is gonna be okay” to the elated cry of “I’m alive” on ‘0121 Desire’, Swim Deep breathe life into the belief that it isn’t complicated to feel good. With songs about “lessons from drag queens in Soho, like ‘it’s okay to be yourself’,” (aptly titled ‘Drag Queens In Soho’) and “the desire of your hometown even though you don’t live there anymore,” ‘Emerald Classics’ is the sound of a band comfortable in their skin. “I feel like we’ve got better than ever,” Austin enthuses. “I’m excited for it,” and his bandmates are quick to agree. “It’s so different now,” Cavan expresses. “There’s no better time. I’ve never felt as happy as I do now.” And it doesn’t stop here: it’s taken a long for years for this record to take shape, but now they’ve found their feet Swim Deep have no intentions of slowing down, even for a moment. “We’re not going to sit back and relax now it’s done,” Austin asserts. “We’re all so prepared for that hard work that we’ve got to put in.” With tour dates ahead of them, and more, no doubt, to follow, ‘Emerald Classics’ is the first of many steps in a brand new direction. “I think we want to record new music to be out in January or February,” Austin reveals, before quickly adding “or March.” Soon, at any rate. “We’ve set ourselves up for a bigger year next year,” he enthuses. “We don’t want to stop.” P Swim Deep’s album ‘Emerald Classics’ is out 4th October.

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synths and contagiously crooned vocals, to all-out dance-pop and back again, ‘Emerald Classics’ is a jukebox-esque collection of songs presented with that characteristic Swim Deep shine. “I wanted to make a song like Justice,” Austin grins, before singing “y’know, ‘D.A.A.N.N.C.E’” (almost: ‘do the D.A.N.C.E’). “You know when they just chant words?” From the dance-a-long nostalgia of the song in question (‘0121 Desire’, for the curious among you), through the rippling melancholy of a fond farewell (‘Sail Away, Say Goodbye’), to endearingly cute promises of adoration (‘Top Of The Pops’), there’s something for every mood as and when it strikes you. “[The songs are] like a bunch of people that meet and realise that you know, on the surface you might look different, but deep down you all really have the same meaning,” Austin portrays. “It’s more of a feeling than a genre.” Whether sentimental or sensational, downcast or dreaming, feeling is what Swim Deep have always been about. “It is, honestly, just what I write down and what I feel,” Austin states. “It’s not sugar-coated. I don’t try to get clever.” “I think simplicity in pop music is my favourite genre,” Cavan affirms, “and also, probably, one of the hardest to nail.” It’s something that’s always seemed to come naturally to Swim Deep: from the twitter-bio-ready lament of “don’t just dream in your sleep, it’s just lazy,” to ‘0121 Desire’ with its rallying refrain of “I’ve got friends that would die for my name,” straightforward sensation is something this group have always excelled at creating. “It is quite easy to try and

HEARTB

BEATS Now veterans of Jets have become somewhat of an indie national treasure - but on their latest album, they’re telling important stories. Words: Dillion Eastoe.

Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting! So… get on your way!” The closing verse from Dr Seuss’ ‘Oh, the Places You’ll Go!’ might’ve been written for children, but its sentiments of optimism and empowerment are ones we can all benefit with being reminded of from time to time. Sentiments like these, of determination, optimism, and strength, are the lifeblood of ‘A Billion Heartbeats’ – a record that found its inspirations not from a mountain, but at the top of a glacier. “I always felt like I needed to get as far away from my home, the city, and external influences as possible in order to access the place that songs come from,” Blaine Harrison contemplates. “I thought Iceland in January felt like about as far removed from London as I could think of,” he laughs. But much like when the narrator of ‘Oh, the Places You’ll Go!’ finds themselves in The Waiting Place, it wasn’t until he escaped – in this case, back to London – that the frontman was able to find what he was searching for (as Seuss describes, “the bright places, where Boom Bands are playing”). Having retreated to an Icelandic fishing village, it was a rare flash of contact from back home (unsurprisingly, phone reception is difficult to come by at the top of a glacier) that served as a lightning bolt of inspiration – the day of the International Women’s March in 2017. “I was struck with this real sense that this is where we need to be right now. We need to be in the thick of it all and in touch with the bigger conversations that are happening at this particular time,” Blaine recalls. “It’s all good and well having this incredible sense of peace, being far away from everything, but actually the stories that I feel that we need to be telling aren’t happening there. They’re not happening in the wilderness, cut off from everything. They’re happening back here. They’re happening on the streets.” Booking a flight back almost the very next week, moving into an abandoned building on the Strand as a property guardian, ‘A Billion Heartbeats’ began to take its shape on the streets and in the squares of London. “Every week I’d hear the sound of a protest coming down to Trafalgar Square,” Blaine describes. “I’d get up, and I’d go outside, and I’d join it – really as a means of education, as a way of connecting with the messages of the different protests.” Citing NHS protests and the Black Lives Matter march, free READDORK.COM

their scene, Mystery

“YOU’RE OFF TO GREAT PLACES!

Tommy Robinson protests and Remain marches, these are the movements and the voices that breathe life into Mystery Jets’ new record. “I found if I went and listened to speakers, surrounded by other people, these messages behind these causes took on an immense power,” Blaine illustrates. Power is something ‘A Billion Heartbeats’ possesses in spades. From the distorted refrains of lead single ‘Screwdriver’ to the boyband-esque backing vocals of ‘Campfire Song’ (a track that comes complete with chant-a-long chorus and heart-soaring key change), this is Mystery Jets at their most real. “I think that as a songwriter, your work is a product of your time and a reflection of the time that you’re living in,” Blaine portrays. “It really felt like the times that we were living in were feeling more polarised than ever.” With Brexit on the rapidly-approaching horizon as just one example, there’s no denying these are tumultuous

engage with the world around you.” Forged from energy and empowerment, ‘A Billion Heartbeats’ might have found its inspiration in political protests, but for Mystery Jets, it was never about telling you what to do, what to think, or what to feel. “I don’t think we’re singing about politics,” Blaine states. “I think we’re singing about people. I think we’re singing about issues that matter to us right now, at a time when the world feels like it’s going through this giant identity crisis and people are feeling more polarised than ever. I think it’s in those times that we need to be reminded of our humanity and we need to be reminded of what we have in common.” It’s a meaning that echoes through art and culture, that remains as important today as it ever has been. “You, the people, have the power,” Charlie Chaplin pronounced at the end of 1940’s ‘The Great Dictator’. “The power to create happiness… to make this

“NOT EVERYONE’S LOOKING TO POP MUSIC TO PROVIDE AN ANSWER, AND I DON’T THINK IT SHOULD” times we live in. “I think, in a funny way, that’s when music can really serve a greater purpose than just be a soundtrack to our lives,” Blaine asserts. “It can actually comfort, and it can provide an escape route from the bleakness of the outside world.” With ‘A Billion Heartbeats’, that’s exactly what Mystery Jets strived to do: not offer answers or solutions, but simply give voice to the concerns that surround them and echo a resounding sense of hope. “There’s definitely a danger that songs can be an ill-informed, or over-earnest, or - even worse – preachy,” Blaine mulls. “Not everyone’s looking to pop music to provide an answer to anything, and I don’t think it should. I think what it can do is it can pose questions, and it can provide comfort, and it can make people feel like they’re being heard and like they’re being seen.” “Ultimately, as a songwriter, your currency is empathy,” he explains. “That’s how you can

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life free and beautiful.” Crying out for unity, for tolerance, for freedom and love, these are the same sentiments that prevail on ‘A Billion Heartbeats’ and will continue to prevail long after the record. “We never give up,” the band croon on ‘Campfire Song’. And really, that’s what it’s all about. “I don’t know if it’s just me being an optimist, but I think we’re living in a time where I really do feel that we do have the power to implement changes,” Blaine enthuses. “I don’t think that the world necessarily needs songs to make people feel empowered. I think people are empowered,” he expresses. “It’s about how they wield that power.” The world might feel like an increasingly polarising place, but from petitions to protests, rallies, marches, and movements, there are increasingly more ways to make voices heard and messages seen. “You look at the climate movement, and it’s being led by teenagers, by school kids not going into school one day a week,”

Blaine explains. “People grouping together to make things happen…” he adds. “That was written off as this kind of hippie ideal in our parents’ age. I think we’re actually living in a time where we can be powerful if we put our voices

together, and group together on a common cause.” This is the belief and forward-driven energy that Mystery Jets carved into their new record, into every chorus hook, resounding refrain, and even into the very title.

A mammal’s average lifespan is made up of a billion heartbeats. “If you’ve got a billion heartbeats, what are you going to do with them?” Blaine challenges. “It sort of shines a whole new light on what you do with your time when you’re

on this planet,” he illustrates of the album name. “It’s this idea of people coming together to create something that’s bigger than the sum of its parts.” Distilling the record into a sentence, the frontman offers “we want to make caring

sexy.” A soundtrack to empathy and empowerment, this is Mystery Jets at their strongest yet. As Dr Seuss wrote in ‘Oh, the Places You’ll Go!’, “you have brains in your head, you have feet in your shoes, you can

steer yourself any direction you choose.” With a billion heartbeats to put to your use, the question that remains is simple: “what are you going to do?” P Mystery Jets’

album ‘A Billion Heartbeats’ is out on 27th September.

45 READDORK.COM

WITH HIS BAND ENJOYING but all taken from the punk scene. critical acclaim for their debut And that’s where we got the kind record, and a prestigious support slot of groove from and built it from with one of the hottest bands around, there. So it’s got a bit more of a dance IDLES, lately everything may have element to it this time around for been looking good on the outside for sure.” LIFE frontman Mez Green. But on Those elements add up to the the inside, things have been far less unmistakable sounds of a band healthy. pushing their boundaries. ‘Bum “The six months leading up to Hour’ is pure groove, all choppy recording this record, there was a guitar and Gang Of Four-esque certain part of my life where it all just bassline as Mez describes the went to shit,” he explains to Dork universal low of being alone while all over the phone, from back home in your mates are out of town. A record Hull. of twists and turns, ‘Excites Me’ With songs that deal with feelings is a fun glam rock stomp while the of isolation after moving out of a opener’ Good Health’ barrels along family home into a small apartment, on a familiar post-punk rhythm. single fatherhood and general mental Admitting to a sense of pressure health, much of his personal life has in the studio, Mez today describes been put on display for the band’s it as an intense but worthwhile second album, ‘A Picture Of Good experience. Health’. “We hadn’t even written a lot of After their scintillating debut the tracks, we had four weeks and ‘Popular Music’ dealt with the big were literally writing them there. But subjects like Brexit and Trump, I think it gave a certain edge, quite this follow-up has turned the focus intense but also quite freeing. It’s definitively inwards, zooming in on probably one of the best experiences the tiny details and moments that the band have ever had, just being define the times we find ourselves in. together in that moment and making As with so many bands, LIFE’s the music.” debut was pieced In their own bubble, together over it was all just about an extended LIFE. “We were just period, forming writing, recording, a thrilling but and didn’t really disjointed interact with anything introduction. else except for the This time music and ourselves. around, however, We’d put in a shift things are very during the day, and different. then go the boozer of “I always an evening and let it describe that all come out.” [first record] That experience as like a collage has built a fascinating of music. A lot clash of ideas, with of the recordings were done over that wider, expansive sound colliding the space of a year, all different, and with some fiercely personal lyrical then stuck together,” explains Mez. context. “This album is still politics, “Whereas this one, it feels like it is but it’s braver. A lot of is about myself a real body of work. Like we found being a single dad, feeling isolated ourselves on this album.” in my own flat and certain aspects of Ignoring any easy temptation to life that people tend not to talk about. follow up with more of the same, But still trying to put a positive spin the music has expanded just as the on it.” lyrical focus has narrowed. “We As a succession of recent artists lived in London for four weeks as have shown, from close friends a gang, a family really. We were IDLES to Sam Fender, this is a working with more creative people, generation that is finding it easier so we just pushed ourselves and to speak about matters of the head tried to be a bit more expansive as much as the heart. It’s a topic that and more experimental. I guess the Mez believes in passionately. subject matters are quite minute “Definitely. I think there are bands and internal, so we wanted to make and artists out there who are very the music a bit broader and bigger in honest at the moment. Like IDLES scale to balance it out.” and Nadine Shah, both are very Produced by Luke Smith (Foals) honest and brave in what they say, and Claudius Mittendorfer (Parquet and I think that’s healthy. No-one’s Courts), as well as the impact from afraid to talk now.” new bassist Lydia, new creative input Showing no sign of nerves has taken the band in exciting new in baring his soul like this, he directions. continues. “For me, music is the way “When we turned up at the studio, I talk. I’ve tried counselling, but it we spent the first day listening to late never seemed to work, but music is seventies New York dance records, an escape and can lift you up and take

you somewhere. And I’m always up for talking, so it’s all good,” he laughs. Heavily involved still with The Warren Youth Project in Hull, an independent charity that provides support to vulnerable children, his willingness to talk openly comes as no surprise. “There’s a lost generation of people who have fallen through the cracks of education and society, who don’t feel like they belong,” Mez explains animatedly. “And young people like this, they’re probably the most important resource the world has! They’re the ones who will be leading the future, not us? It’s definitely shaped our writing and who we are.” Seeing first-hand what the effects of Tory austerity have done to parts of the country, that sense of empathy and community are the fuel that drives LIFE as a band. Proud of their Hull roots, that heritage is another key driving force.

“Does it feel like we’re a dark horse? Yeah, but I mean I think that’s just because we’re from Hull! I think it’s always gonna be the case that it’s harder for non-London bands to break through because that’s where the industry is based. It’s a lot easier to go to a cool spot down there and sign someone than to come to Hull. There’s only one way in and out from the south here!” he laughs. As with so many groups of this generation, there is one band that acts as inspiration and as a source of hope. “IDLES are a great example to us, especially with everything they’ve achieved this year like the Mercury [Prize] nomination. It’s refreshing to see artists take it into their hands, and push it on until something happens.” Having been friends since both bands’ early days, and having toured with the Bristol bunch recently, Mez knows exactly what it takes. “It’s never gonna happen at the click of a

"THERE’S A LOST GENERATION OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE FALLEN THROUGH THE CRACKS"

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A LI LESS

finger, so you just have to believe in yourselves and in the music and just go and do it. It’s not gonna happen overnight.” Just as the album seems to end on a note of optimism, we discuss what gives Mez hope for the future personally. “That’s a good question. I guess it’s just hope? That and the belief in love. Without love, we’re nothing. It’s always about relationships. As long as there is something in your life that means something, there’s always gonna be hope.” Judg ing by the early reaction to their latest singles and the sheer size of their crowds that they have been attracting at festivals this

summer, there is a sense that it is all clicking into place for the band. With signs that it may be true for Mez as well, let’s hope that hope does always win. P LIFE’s album ‘A

Picture of Good Health’ is out 20th September.

Pushing aga

expectation

album may

inst their ow

s, LIFE’s sec

have been b

ond

orn of oil, but as fr ontman Mez Green e xplains, it’s bigger and better too. personal turm

Words: Jam ie

MacMillan.

IFE

ORDINARY READDORK.COM

INCOMING

13TH SEPTEMBER 2019

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO YOUR NEW MUSIC FRIDAYS

Charli XCX eeee

Charli

EVER TRIED TO FIT A SQUARE PEG

through a round hole? Probably not for a very long time, eh, Reader? Why would you - it’s obvious it won’t fit. Now, consider the curious case of Charli XCX. See, our Charli is easily one of the greatest pop provocateurs on the planet - so much is accepted fact. With a string of absolute bangers, both in her own name and alongside others, to her name, that pedigree is assured. And yet, when it comes to the big music industry machine, somehow she’s never seemed to quite fit. Part of that is an industry that doesn’t quite know how to deal with a proper creative genius with commercial potential, but for Charli, that’s a double-edged sword. Her brilliance comes from the fact that she never stands still long enough to build a simple, career-long brand. In the last six years, she’s gone from pulsing alt-pop to pop-punk spirit, through PC Music weird brilliance to a glorious mix of the lot - and that’s without getting into the countless leaked demos and nearly-albums. She’s had two mixtapes, both of which threatened to redefine the rulebook for those schooled in the game, but that - by definition - avoided the mainstream consciousness they’d revolutionise given half the chance. ‘Charli’ might be the record that features her name, big and bold, on its cover, but quite who that actually is feels harder to define. None of that is a criticism, though. Instead, it’s the magic that sparkles throughout. The enigmatic brilliance of Charli XCX means that, on an album packed with features, our hero can shift gears at any point. ‘Blame It On Your Love’ - effectively ‘Pop 2’’s closing ‘Track 10’ polished for an on-point Lizzo guest verse - undeniably punches through the radio static, while ‘Gone’ enlists Christine and the Queens for a meeting of the pop masterminds that

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somehow manages to be more than the sum of its considerable parts. ‘Cross You Out’ is both impressive and yet perhaps slightly less amazing than a Sky Ferreira team-up could maybe have been, while the HAIM-tastic ‘Warm’ is an undeniable bop. Each sees our Chaz slightly alter her filter to match her collaborator - but that in itself is a bittersweet skill. On an individual basis, it makes for impressive moments. As an album as a whole, it struggles to build a cohesive vibe. In fairness, that’s not what Charli XCX is for - as an artist firmly fixed in the now, this is pure playlist culture stuff - but it does leave some tracks feeling rather unappreciated. ‘White Mercedes’ sees an altogether different side to Charli - a laid back, slow-burning pop masterclass, while ‘Official’ is a genuinely personal, more than slightly affecting gem. Both are forced to take a back seat to a parade of big-name mates but deserve far more. The truth is, ‘Charli’ is a very good album. When its creator is left to fulfil her own ideas, it’s packed with invention and a refusal to conform. When following her own muse, XCX is practically peerless. What hampers it are those attempts to make it stick to the expected. All those guest spots might make for some great individual moments, but they also pull focus from the real magic. In so many ways, this is the album where Charli reveals her true self. In so many others, it’s the final wake up call that this is an artist who needs freeing from the shackles of our expectations. Let her run free, and she’ll change planet pop forever. Stephen Ackroyd

Jerkcurb

Air Con Eden

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There’s not many who can draw as much intrigue and adoration as Jacob Read. From big-time sets with Horsey or a storied career of shows and word-of-mouth praise, he’s become a sort-of cult favourite across South London - the artist that your favourite bands will say is their favourite songwriter. It’s fitting then that after the sporadic releases of the past few years, he has a debut album as Jerkcurb that both spotlights and mesmerises in equal measure. Distinctly original, unafraid of boundaries and utterly charming - it’s a record that’ll continue to give in buckets for all who delve deep. Jamie Muir

Q&A

INCOMING

Twin Peaks

Metronomy

Metronomy Forever

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Life seems to be very good for Joe Mount these days, with the creative genius behind Metronomy relocating from the busy streets of Paris to the English countryside. ‘Metronomy Forever’ is a record from someone that chooses to focus on the good things in life. There are ridiculously catchy moments, like the deceptivelysimple-but-actually-a-proper-bop of ‘Lying Low’, or the disco-licious ‘Salted Caramel Ice Cream’. But it is the tracks like ‘Wedding Bells’ and ‘Lately Going Spare’, deep with a simple yearning and romance that give ‘Metronomy Forever’ its heart. Let the good times last forever. Jamie MacMillan

Beneath the Eyrie

It may be hard to believe, but the re-unified Pixies have now been recording music in their second spell for as long as they did in their heyday. From 1988’s ‘Surfer Rosa’ onwards, four albums in as many years changed the alternative rock musical landscape for good before their seemingly-final implosion in 1993. After mixed reviews (at best) to two albums since returning to the studio in 2014, ‘Beneath The Eyrie’ sees the Boston band attempting to regain those former glories. Sadly, it is another hit-and-miss affair, the singles adhering too closely to the tried-and-tested formula, minus that vital spark of inspiration. Jamie MacMillan

Sampa The Great The Return

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”If you’re searching for me / Shit! I’m probably searching for myself.” Nine songs into her debut record, Sampa The Great perfectly articulates the struggle of many a millennial, artist, displaced immigrant or in her case, all three. Lush with collaborations, community spirit and musical influences picked up from her travels, the joy of the music soothes the balm of ‘The Return’’s heavy subject matter. Through relatable sentiment and classic hip-hop flow, she embraces self-care, her confidence growing with every killer bar or clever turn of phrase. Jenessa Williams

to play together live and bring to the studio. I think we each picked our five favourites and saw where we all agreed, then fleshed out from there. The title-track of the record was actually the last one we picked to learn, kind of an afterthought that worked out well.

Hello Cadien! What have you been up to since your last album then, any significant It must’ve been a lot of fun experimenting life changes? with live recording, is that something We took a lot more time off in the past year you’ve done before? then we have since we started touring back We’d done the instrumental live on ‘Flavor’ in 2012. It was really good to hunker down and ‘Stranger World’ on ‘Wild Onion’, but at home, have a chance to feel grounded we’d generally recorded piece by piece. We in Chicago, I’m in a relationship, Colin definitely had never sung the album take taught himself live. We were a pedal steel, we bit intimidated by Twin Peaks have our own the idea, nervous Lookout Low studio, went about our tempo eeee backpacking for and singing and Twin Peaks still hold dear the the first time, all, but it ended distinct charms of classic rock saw Neil Young up making us a and deft songwriting delivered solo two nights way tighter band, with flair, panache and in a row... plenty and boosted commitment. All values that has happened our confidence they showcase on their satisfying but not a lot at listening back fourth album, ‘Lookout Low’. There’s a degree of the same time. and realising, familiarity to everything here and the joyous, “Hey we sound horn-assisted bar room jam of ‘Laid In Gold’ as When did you pretty good!” well as the burnished soul of ‘Under A Smile’ are begin work on redolent of a rock and soul golden age. It all adds ‘Lookout Low’, Do you guys feel up to an accomplished collection from a band who did you have as though this sound like they’re having fun. Martyn Young any specific album is a step goals in mind? up for you? We started I definitely think demoing last summer, maybe June. Our the musicianship and musical conversation main goal was to be able to have a full band happening in the arrangements feels like demo of every song so that we would have leagues of improvement compared to our written at least a draft of all of our own parts past work. It’s the most honest work we’ve before recording the songs proper, whereas made, and I think that makes it easier to in the past we’d be writing as we tracked connect with for me. And if I speak only a lot, and our drummer Connor never had for the other guys in the band, I think the much time to sit with songs and write parts songwriting has continued to grow so much. past his first impressions. It was definitely worth it. How would you like fans to react to the album? How did you go about picking which Well, I hope they like it! Play it loud! Embrace songs would make the cut, it sounds like it for what it is, a band playing their songs in your writing sessions were pretty prolific? a room as honest as they know-how. It’s real, We picked 14 out of some 30 demos to learn if nothing else. P

READDORK.COM

Pixies

TWIN PEAKS ARE BACK WITH THEIR NEW

album, ‘Lookout Low’. Guitarist Cadien Lake James - holed up in a coffee shop “coincidentally inspired by Twin Peaks the show” - fills us in on how it came to be.

INCOMING WITH TALES FROM THE SORT

Sam Fender Hypersonic Missiles

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Also ‘out’ this week... Annabel Allum Gravel Not the Grave EP Belle and Sebastian Days of the Badnold Summer OST Chastity Home Made Satan The Faim State of Mind grandson a modern tragedy vol. 3 EP Gruff Rhys Pang!

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Jenny Hval The Practice of Love JPEGMAFIA All My Heroes Are Cornballs (Sandy) Alex G House of Sugar Sick Joy Them Days EP Surf Curse Heaven Surrounds You

of town that you either escape from early in life or face a lifetime of being permanently trapped in, Sam Fender brings a voice not so much for the underdog, but for the forgotten. Following his BRITs Critics’ Choice award, there could have been an understandable temptation to play it safe on his debut, but ‘Hypersonic Missiles’ does anything but that. Instead, it confirms him as a truly rare talent. Leaning deeply into his beloved heartland rock throughout, this isn’t an album that hides its influences away with a clear love for the likes of Springsteen and Buckley. The title track itself showed that ‘Dead Boys’, as stark and powerful here as ever, was no fluke - swirls of saxophone bringing it to life. But ‘The Borders’ is the sort of track that changes everything forever. Staggering in its raw brutality, the lyrics paint a truly upsetting picture that is all the more disturbing for its matter-of-fact delivery. It is the sort of songwriting that takes the breath away. There is also a distinct lack of fear when he wades into ever-divisive topics like Brexit on ‘White Privilege’. A track sure to set the cat among the pigeons, he takes aim at both sides of the debate with mentions of smug liberal arrogance and dumb bigots. Deliberately sitting on the fence or not quite bold enough to state his true mind? Who knows, but as he says on the title track, he has no answers, only questions. Not every song matter has a granite weight behind it. ‘Saturday’ seeks an escape the mundanity of day-to-day life and yearns to live for the weekend instead, while ‘Call Me Lover’ is a sweet and effective love song. But it’s those hot social matters that he returns to again and again, pulling at threads that are otherwise swept under the carpet. Elements of ‘Hypersonic Missiles’ will ruffle some feathers for sure, but that’s not always a bad thing. Yet at its heart, there is a simplicity and unerring focus that heralds the unmistakable sound of a major new talent emerging. The world that Sam Fender lives in and sings of may not be beautiful or perfect most of the time, but this record sure is close. Jamie MacMillan

INCOMING 20TH SEPTEMBER 2019

blink-182 Nine

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There’s something sort of timeless about blink-182. Even without one of their core members - yep, Tom DeLonge is still off hunting aliens ‘Nine’ is an album of warm familiarity, but also surprisingly youthful reinvention. It’d be quite easy for blink circa 2019 to sound like punk rock dads, but through winning enthusiasm and a desire to stay sparky and fresh, there are more than enough moments of glorious technicolour to see them through. ‘Darkside’ is anything but what it says on the tin, while ‘Generational Divide’ has actual, proper teeth across its 49 seconds of proper, thrashing punk rock. Sometimes the old dogs know the best tricks.

Stephen Ackroyd

LIFE

A Picture of Good Health

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Liam Gallagher e WE’VE ALL BEEN THERE,

r’kid. Life gets hard, but expectations are big. People are relying on us. They think they know what we’re going to do next, but inside, our heart just isn’t really in it. We know we’re going to have to turn that big project in, but really, all we want is a sit-down and have a nice cuppa. But the show must go on! Up we get. That’ll do. It sounds about right. Job done, yeah? We won’t read the replies - just hope the cheque clears. That’s the stench that surrounds Liam Gallagher’s second album ‘Why Me? Why Not.’ - a record that basically reviews itself in the space of its own title. With his first solo effort, the younger half of mid-90s-indie’s warring family

Why Me? Why Not. feud at least managed to turn out a few moments of genuine swagger across a patchy affair. Here, he can’t even stomach that. The name over the door is the pull, and if what’s inside has a nice coat, an occasional tambourine and a bit of a gob on it, that’ll surely do, right? For the firebrand at the head of one of British music’s most iconic, attitude-soaked bands, sounding tired should be virtually impossible, and yet at times Liam sounds positively bored by his own bullshit. ‘One of Us’ remains stuck in the past, rather than snarling at the future, while ‘Now That I’ve Found You’ is so insipid it may as well be lifted from a bad homegrown rom-com. Comparisons with brother

Noel might be lazy, but at least the older Gallagher is trying something with his post-Oasis music. Despite all the hot air, Liam is barely bothering at all. The truth is, Gallagher is at his best when he’s trying to start something. A fight, a revolution, a great big fire assertive action is what gives him his superpowers. On ‘Why Me? Why Not.’, there’s none of that. He’s bored. Going through the motions. Hoping - but never sounding convinced - that he’s going to hit the mark. Those happy with a faded photograph of past glories may find their increasingly desperate appetites barely satisfied, but for anyone looking for fuller-bodied thrills, there’s every reason why this really isn’t it. Stephen Ackroyd

One True Pairing One True Pairing

eeee

The difficult solo album becomes even more so when you never intended to make it. Still, for Wild Beasts’ Tom Fleming, the sock-pulling up exercise that was to become One True Pairing has transformed into something pretty special; 11 tracks that address the state of the nation with none of the faux-sincerity that makes similar concepts seem tired. Invigorated by spiky synths and growling vocals, his rage is channelled through canals of melodies. ‘I’m Not Afraid’’s Springsteen leg-twitch rubs up against ‘Elite Companion’’s skulking instrumentals, culminating in the brooding ‘Only God Can Judge Me’, which embodies the spirit of his previous band’s final record. The sonic influences may be pure rose-tinted Americana, but make no mistake; This Is England. Jenessa Williams

Also ‘out’ this week... Brittany Howard Jaime Chastity Belt Chastity Belt Keane Cause and Effect Lauran Hibberd Everything is Dogs EP M83 DSVII

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LIFE’s second LP sees the Hull quartet take their game to the next level and smash their own previous high score. ‘A Picture Of Good Health’ takes 2017’s ‘Popular Music’ and ramps it up into an unyielding beast of aggravation and battle cries. This 21st century anarchy with stylish outfits is a powerful manifesto crammed with passion, rage and sheer excitement for stepping away from the norm. With the longest track lasting just over three and a half minutes, this feisty rabble have mastered the art of swift, aural justice with Mez Green standing atop a podium where his message is screamed to the masses. This raging, unrelenting dose of sonic chaos is a thunderous reminder of why guitar music is mankind’s greatest creation. LIFE have forced their way into being one of the essential bands of the moment, and it doesn’t sound like they’re planning on going anywhere. Ciaran Steward

Girl Band The Talkies

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Trying to describe Girl Band to someone who has never heard of them is something of a fool’s errand. Where do you begin? For those who were not sold by debut album ‘Holding Hands With Jamie’, or any of the preceding EPs, ‘The Talkies’ isn’t going to change your mind on Girl Band. But for regulars at the altar of Girl Band, it’s as explosive and dynamic as they’ve ever been. A surreal view of the world around us through Kiely’s eyes that’s at once terrifying and exhilarating. ‘The Talkies’ is a rush of a record that actively fights against explanation, and it’s all the more thrilling because of it. Chris Taylor

I Don’t Want To Play The Victim, But I’m Really Good At It EP

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Love Fame Tragedy is the brainchild of that there ‘Murph’ from The Wombats and his debut solo EP, ‘I Don’t Want To Play The Victim, But I’m Really Good At It’, sees him spreading his wings from the day job and into previously uncharted territory. Single ‘My Cheating Heart’ is a haze built around a distorted guitar riff, whilst ‘Pills’ sees Murph delve into a more tender territory. ‘Backflip’ is the highlight of the four track EP, with its refrain of “we’re a poorly timed backflip” wriggling around the ear. Overall, it’s an intriguing first taste. Josh Williams

Mystery Jets

A Billion Heartbeats

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Having mastered giddy indie-pop, dabbled in Americana and blasted into space on recent album ‘Curve of the Earth’, there’s little terrain within the valley of alternative rock that Mystery Jets haven’t traversed. And whatever they’ve tried, it’s always been Very Good. ‘Curve of the Earth’ seemed for all the world a creative zenith, but once again the Jets have raised their game on new LP ‘A Billion Heartbeats’. A clutch of brilliantly composed, socially conscious songs sees Blaine Harrison find his voice, railing against racism, privatisation and hyper-normalisation. A special achievement from a national treasure. Dillon Eastoe

Tegan and Sara

Hey, I’m Just Like You

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So the story goes, Tegan & Sara found the lost cassette tapes for what went on to make up this, their new album ‘Hey, I’m Just Like You’, while working on their forthcoming memoir, High School. Containing songs unheard for 20 years, they reworked and reimagined them for 2019. It should be no shock to anyone that, even as teenagers, the duo had the knack for a tune. Polished up with the experience they’ve learned since, it’s a unique experiment that passes every exam. Stephen Ackroyd

OCTOBER 2019

DORK

Temples

when you’re touring.” SINCE THEY FIRST APPEARED ON THE Looking back briefly at 2017’s ‘Volcano’, he scene in 2012 with the psychedelic pop gets a bit pensive. “’Volcano’ wasn’t received pleasure that was ‘Shelter Song’, Temples as well as I would have liked, but the second have been an intriguing bunch. Their debut record is so cliche. It’s hard because you’re album, 2014’s ‘Sun Structures’ was well defined by your first. We needed to make received but the follow-up, 2017’s ‘Volcano’ something drastically different, to then take not so much. the pressure off anything that we do going Yet, Temples are back a man down and a forward. brand new record up with the scuzzy sound “I think that paved the way for this record. of ‘Hot Motion’ and as frontman James For us to then Bagshaw just go, we need explains, he Temples to just make this believes it’s their Hot Motion for ourselves. “finest work to eee That’s what we date”. It feels cruel to compare Temples did. It’s very, very “[It’s] a to juggernauts Tame Impala, but selfish but the guitar record in them lies the two paths a band first record is very essentially,” influenced by psychedelia can selfish, and it just he explains. take. One is a route of meticulous happened that “We like to recreation, the other is taking people liked it.” treat the guitar that era and using it as a springboard for other In terms of his with a unique ideas. ‘Hot Motion’ is an entertaining, if overly hopes for the perspective. familiar, trip into psychedelia. Played with a keen record, James Maybe it doesn’t ear for melodies and warped soundscapes, they would “love it if sound like capture the era perfectly. There’s just a feeling people just give traditionally that maybe a tour off the beaten path could have it the time to guitar on some rendered more rewarding results. Chris Taylor listen to it. I don’t songs, but it’s mean that they definitely not need to listen sounding like to it 20 times to understand it. I mean, just synthesisers this time.” not be bombarded by other distractions and When the topic of former drummer Sam actually just go, ‘well I’m just gonna listen, Toms comes up, James initially refuses to and I’m not gonna flick on my phone, and I’m be drawn on his mysterious and sudden not gonna clean my shelf while I’m doing it’. departure, saying “he didn’t leave the band”, “If everyone does that, then they’ll enjoy it but he soon opens up. “It’s quite hard to talk way more. And then, you know, next thing about cos you don’t want to offend anybody, we’ll be playing bigger stages because people but when you’re a touring band, you need to will be totally engaged with the music.” P be a gang, and you need to be reliable. And he just kept letting us down. You can’t have that

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The New Pornographers In the Morse Code of Brake Lights Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds This Is the Place EP Of Mice & Men EARTHANDSKY

Words: Josh Williams.

Love Fame Tragedy

Q&A

27TH SEPTEMBER 2019

INCOMING

INCOMING Feet

4TH OCTOBER 2019

What’s Inside Is More Than Just Ham

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There’s something about FEET, and it’s not just the quite worrying name of their debut album ‘What’s Inside Is More Than Just Ham’. Upstarts of genuine promise, their first full-length has more than a few moments that mark them out from the crowd. ‘Petty Thieving’, long a standout, still sounds as sparky as ever, while ‘Ad Blue’ feels like a classic in waiting, all belchy, strutting bass and fierce attitude. With songs that good, nobody’s gonna be giving FEET a shoeing. Stephen Ackroyd

HalfNoise

Natural Disguise

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Swim Deep

Emerald Classics

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THINGS HAVE

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The Darkness Easter is Cancelled Issues Beautiful Oblivion MIKA My Name Is Michael Holbrook

is one that feels focused, spanning across an album that takes that fevered sharpness of their debut and morphs it with the beefed-up wrap of ‘Mothers’. Who else could get away with dropping a doe-eyed romance ode in ‘Top Of The Pops’ at one moment, a fizzing drum’n’bass soundtrack in ‘Happy As Larrie’ next and then veering to a joyous Beatles pub-singalong on ‘Never Stop Pinching Yourself’. Yet that sparkle and shine rings true, even when tackling the difficult moments - an emotional stand to keep going with the good times destined to arrive on the horizon. ‘Emerald Classics’ finds Swim Deep embracing the journey that took them to this point - and by doing so, produces their most direct and essential record to date. Dancing with tears in your eyes has never sounded so good. Jamie Muir

Eastoe

King Nun Mass

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More than 18 months on from their first Dork cover, and King Nun’s first full-length is here. In that time, they’ve played with the recipe, refined the formula. On ‘Mass’, they’re finally done. A more direct guitar band than so many of their peers, some of those sharper edges have been smoothed off. What remains is a juxtaposition of dark undertones and glorious, technicolour explosions. ‘I Saw Blue’ tugs at heart strings, while ‘Low Flying Dandelion’ packs a satisfying bounce. ‘Bug’ is a huge slice of classic indie, while ‘Chinese Medicine’ remains a boozy cocktail spiked with razor blades. At times, it’d be nice to have a bit more of that cutting edge, but when it does push through it’s all the sharper for it. Stephen Ackroyd

SCARLXRD

The Sherlocks

The Menzingers

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IMMXRTALISATIXN Three years and six albums in, you’d think Wolverhamptonbased trap metal artist Scxrlxrd might sit back, take it a bit slower and exercise some creative judgement. Alternatively, he could release a 24 track monster that stays in the same gear throughout. Can you guess which one he’s gone for? Trap beats coupled with screams and guttural growls are a refreshing novelty for the first few minutes, but quickly outstay their welcome when it becomes clear that it’s all Scarlxrd has to offer. Jake Hawkes

Under Your Sky

Two years after the release of their debut, The Sherlocks are back with ‘Under Your Sky’ - 40 minutes of anthemic indie-pop bangers: this album was made for big festival stages. Where their debut was dominated by thrashing guitars, ‘Under Your Sky’ sounds smoother. ‘Give It All Up’ with its more laidback, somewhat synthy vibes is the perfect example of radio-friendly guitar pop, while title-track ‘Under Your Sky’ perfectly encompasses the current The Sherlocks era.

Laura Freyaldenhoven

changed quite a bit since Swim Deep last put out an album. In the four years since ‘Mothers’, Birmingham’s favourite sons have gone through a vital transitional period. The glorious sun-kissed hoops that first introduced them to the world morphed into expansive experimentation - almost two polar opposites of what Swim Deep represented. It’s what

makes ‘Emerald Classics’ such an important record - an answer to who they are. A record grounded in both the optimism/dreaming and anxiety that comes with finding yourself in your mid20s and still feeling lost, it finds Swim Deep harnessing what they do best. The infectious synth-heights of ‘Sail Away, Say Goodbye’ was born purely to be screamed back ten-fold, ‘World I Share’ could easily be a long-lost New Order anthem found in the backrooms of The Hacienda, and ‘0121 Desire’ thumps its way into spinning shapes. Every twist and turn

When not pounding the skins as drummer of pop-rock titans Paramore, Zac Farro leads a double-life as founder, frontman and fulcrum of HalfNoise. Having spent the past few years criss-crossing the globe in his day job, Farro is back to having fun on ‘Natural Disguise’, HalfNoise’s third full-length outing. As ever the emphasis is on surf-rocking, maraca-shaking good-time jams, with Farro aiming for the authenticity of 60s and 70s rock. ‘Natural Disguise’ will only have enhanced Farro’s reputation as a creator while Paramore continue to lay low. Dillon

Hello Exile

‘Hello Exile’ is a Menzingers album through and through. The band have established a distinctive style of poignant, and oftentimes narrativelydriven, lyrics paired with a fast-paced and gritty instrumental backing, and this album only further elevates those qualities, showcasing all of the Philadelphia four-piece’s signature styles in a way that’s fresh and exciting. It’s not so much a return to form for the group as it’s a ‘lets take what we know and do it better than ever before’. From dynamic guitar work to dizzying drum beats, each new song has something different to offer; no easy feat. Beth Casteel READDORK.COM

ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? ASKING THE USUAL STUFF IS SO BORING

because we’re not friends in real life. What was the first record you bought?

I can’t remember the first one, but I used to love Norah Jones, and I still listen to her first record whenever I clean the house. If you could win a lifetime supply of anything, what would you choose?

Hats. All hats. Beanies. Dad caps. Pope hats. Cowboy hats. I love them all. What’s your biggest fear?

Flying. Which defunct band would you most like to reform?

Nirvana. With Kurt, obviously. This month it’s

SHURA What’s your favourite thing about being a musician?

Being in the studio. I love playing around with sounds.

are secret. I have a naked woman on my arm, which you often don’t see because I wear a lot of jackets. I have a Russian fish above my elbow that my mum calls ‘fatty’.

If you weren’t a musician, what would you be doing?

I would probably be playing football. What is your earliest memory?

Maybe when my twin Nick got pneumonia. I was really upset that I didn’t have it also. What is the best present you’ve ever been given?

readdork.com Editor Stephen Ackroyd Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden Associate Editor Ali Shutler Contributing Editors Jamie Muir, Martyn Young Events Liam James Ward Scribblers Abigail Firth, Beth Casteel, Chris Taylor, Ciaran Steward, Dillon Eastoe, Josh Williams, Laura Freyaldenhoven, Liam Konemann, Jake Hawkes, Jenessa Williams, Jessica Goodman, Sam Taylor, Steven Loftin Snappers Barun Chatterjee, Frances Beach, Jamie MacMillan, Jenna Foxton, Patrick Gunning, Sarah Louise Bennett Doodlers Russell Taysom PUBLISHED FROM

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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.

would need a spare room for my twin to visit! What’s the most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you?

I once nearly crashed into St Vincent at an event in London and to avoid a collision I faceplanted into a wall.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

What’s your worst habit?

I literally have no idea. I don’t know if I’ve ever listened to them. Gonna check now. LOL, they have a song called ‘Touch’. Yes. I’ve defs heard this and ‘Shout Out To My Ex’.

How punk are you out of ten?

4.5

What have you got in your pockets right now?

What was the last thing you broke?

House keys, my wallet, my Juul and a wristband from Way Out West.

Nag Champa incense sticks.

What did you last dream about?

Have you got any secret tattoos?

Last night I dreamt I was at a theme park with all my friends. Phoebe Bridgers was there, which is weird

If you won the lottery, what would you spend the cash on?

If you were on Mastermind, what would your specialist subject be?

I would be so bad at this. I love weird facts, which means I retain lots of completely useless information about many different things but am not really an expert at anything. What’s your favourite smell?

I have eight tattoos. None of them

OCTOBER 2019

DORK

Who is your favourite member of Little Mix?

My iPhone.

I’d get a house in upstate New York and an apartment in London. Both

Biting my nails.

Have you ever seen a ghost?

I wish. I would like to meet Casper. P Shura’s album ‘forevher’ is out now.