Dork, October 2022 (Easy Life cover)

THE NEW ALBUM OUT 7TH OCT

INDEX.

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Issue 70 | October 2022 | readdork.com | Down With Boring

SOMETIMES, YOU KNOW A MUSICIAN IS ‘A BIG DEAL’, but you don’t understand just how big of a deal until you’re brought into their immediate orbit.

This month, we’re continuing last issue’s mad pop experiment, and blessing you with not one, but four glorious cover artists. One of them might be reasonably famous.

While you could frame Louis Tomlinson by his musical past, his new album ‘Faith in the Future’ insists we look forwards instead. So that’s what we’re doing. Not just a musician, but a festival boss, indie acolyte, fashion brand designer and more, he’s a household name and then some.

But there’s no flashy celebrity nonsense going on here.

We sorted out Louis’ Dork cover in a little over 48 hectic hours, forcing him to sit in an East London gutter for part of it. The glamour of photo shoots - he’s one of the real ones, as we’re sure you’ll find out.

Our Louis isn’t the only person blessing Dork’s cover this month, though. Far from it. Our beloved bop merchants Easy Life are back, with an album that takes their brilliant debut and betters it. Frontman Murray is in to tell us all about it. Chloe Moriondo is The Best, so we’re delighted to welcome her back for her second Dork cover as she drops a new album that fizzes with fun. Black Eyed Peas meets Katy Perry, gone hyperpop? Yeah, sounds a bit of us. Fletcher, meanwhile, is here to score her first Dork cover - but with her ability to make the chaotic and messy into stone-cold bangers, she’s exactly the kind of act we’re here to champion. A total champ.

We’ve also got Sorry, Courting, Djo (yes, actual Joe Keery), Alvvays, Whitney, all the action from Reading & Leeds, the best new artists, all the essential reviews and loads more. It’ll be enough to keep you busy until 14th October and our next issue. Apparently there are a few decent albums out then?

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Associate Editor Ali Shutler Contributing Editors Jamie Muir, Martyn Young Scribblers Abigail Firth, Connor Fenton, Dan Harrison, Finlay Holden, Jake Hawkes, Jessica Goodman, Josh Williams, Melissa Darragh, Neive McCarthy, Phoebe De Anglis, Rob Mair, Sam Taylor Snappers Ami Ford, Eleanor Petry, Em Marcovecchio, Frances Beach, Jamie MacMillan, Jack Bridgland, Kenneth Cappello, Patrick Gunning, Sarah Louise Bennett, Tonje Thilesen PUBLISHED FROM

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‘Editor’ @stephenackroyd

Editor Stephen Ackroyd Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden

#70. OCTOBER 2022.

SORRY WHITNEY A DAY IN THE LIFE OF... WALLICE BANGERS

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READING 2022 NEIGHBOURHOOD LIVE AT LEEDS Y NOT?

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ANY OTHER QUESTIONS... THE SNUTS

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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.

There are four covers to collect for this month’s issue of Dork, featuring Easy Life, Fletcher, Chloe Moriondo and Louis Tomlinson. Fancy picking up another variant? Order it direct from readdork.com now!

READDORK.COM 3.

INTRO. THE BEATING HEART OF POP NONSENSE.

ANYWHERE BUT HERE With their second album, London band SORRY examine their ever-evolving relationship with the city they call home.

Words: Neive McCarthy. Photos: Patrick Gunning.

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INTRO

→ “IT’S WIDE OUT THERE,” Asha Lorenz remarks dazedly. She speaks of those weird plains of America, somewhere she and her Sorry bandmates recently became reacquainted with. Vampirish venues, a support slot with Sleaford Mods and a sense of prophetic happenings greeted them after their last venture to the States was abruptly interrupted by that pesky pandemic. An image of a deserted New York as it shut down stuck with the band. Returning back to that expansive world seems distinctly full circle.

With their first full-length ‘925’ arriving in late March 2020, that image of the excavated city had already taken root far too close to home. Two years on, the band return with ‘Anywhere But Here’. An inescapably moving time capsule of the period between records for the group, it’s a dark, brooding addition to the Sorry world - a more developed and assured sibling to their debut, for sure.

“Because we didn’t get to play our first album, we only read stuff about it on the internet,” Louis O’Bryen, the other half of Sorry’s core songwriting duo, recalls.

“It’s hard to gauge how much people liked it, but I think that took a bit of the pressure off. The first album, you’re just judging it on what you think is best, but with the second album, it’s super easy for what people expect of you to creep in.” Despite the secondguessing and unasked-for opinions of others, ‘Anywhere But Here’ creates a world populated solely by Sorry – boldly expansive, gritty and intrinsically them.

“We wanted to do it backwards,” explains Asha.

“We produced the songs already, then all the bits that came from the production, we recorded those in the studio with another producer.

We put all those glitchy sounds within the live take rather than overlaying it.

With the last album, when we started playing it live, the songs became way bigger.

We didn’t want to be annoyed if it sounded cooler after we recorded it smaller.”

Going in with that mindset almost seems like, subconsciously, the band knew that what they were creating would spiral out of control and become its own entity once out in the world – the scope of what they could create was immense. But, in the context of the album,

READDORK.COM 5.

INTRO

those broad, spacious moments are all important. ‘Anywhere But Here’ is a cavernous expanse where those fears of it becoming cooler once unleashed on the world are quickly dismissed.

“We wanted it to feel bigger and wider but for it to be quite slow as well,” says Asha. “We wanted the sounds to feel deeper.

By recording it in the studio, trying to be cohesive and thinking about guitar sounds, it was stuff we had never thought about before.” Working with Adrian Utley (of Portishead fame, no less) and Ali Chant, the band captured that stretching, voidlike space with every track. The relationship between the group allowed them to craft something that, production-wise, leant into modernity but remained distinctly classic elsewhere.

“When we were writing the songs, we wanted it to be more classic with more 70s songwriting where it’s really thought out,” Louis notes. “We were listening to a lot of Carly Simon,” they both agree. Lyrically, it becomes deeply reflective of that time frame everyone experiences – bewildered by the second comingof-age your twenties brings, met by heartbreak, infatuation, spiralling emotions and that intense mental fog that lingers persistently at the moment. Gone are the satire-laden, sullen remarks of ‘925’, and in their place is a far more intricate, sensitive version of the band. There’s a richness to that newfound depth that is completely transformative for their sound.

In a lot of ways, it seems like a new state of being for Sorry – and so is the nature of a new album cycle. It’s an opportunity for reinvention, revitalisation, and reimagining what may come next. It’s more complex than that, though. These ideas of endings and resurrection are crucial to the album. The closing track, ‘Again’, hums with unease and repetition, yet Asha’s voice cuts in during the last moments to remark, “I don’t know how long it goes on for”. The sentiment feels prescient on an album which revisits these notions of change and inescapable cycles.

Things draw to a close, but they bounce back into a disguised yet similar shape.

“One of the songs was about someone I loved before, and I remember feeling really sad about that song,” Asha reflects. “Then, I had another breakup, and I felt those same emotions in the other song. I realised it was not about that person. It’s about that feeling I was missing. It’s funny how the song changes, but it still has the same feeling.”

In making the album, though, the band seemed to find a way to close those chapters and free themselves from repeating cycles.

Something you need to internalise and learn from will be delivered to you in different ways until you

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WE’VE BEEN IN THIS CITY OUR WHOLE LIFE; IT CAN BE INSPIRING, AND IT CAN BE LONELY” AS H A LO R E N Z take it in – ‘Anywhere But Here’ acts as a means to deal with those lessons and move on from them.

“It’s just like a rebirth. You have to go through these things. They can’t not happen once they’ve happened, and you have to deal with it. The album was like a shedding of skin – there are lots of things I can put in the past, and hopefully, people can connect to something,” Asha affirms.

Louis echoes a similar idea: “Time goes by when you’re in between albums, and you change.

We all change as people. It naturally feels like you’re seeing the world or the city you’re in differently. I think that builds a rebirth or reimagining of the world and how you see yourself.”

Seeing the city they were in in a different way was, of course, inevitable given how desolate it became. The North Londoners have long found that the culture of the pace they know best has seeped into their sound, but on ‘Anywhere But Here’, that atmosphere soaks the album to the bone, lending an added layer of grit. ‘Key To The City’ roars through, hexing an ex as it situates itself within the stretching walls – “I know that you’re somewhere out there”, they repeat throughout, the knowledge of that proximity forcing a spiralling sense of loss in a place they call home. It comes in gasping breaths and shaking loss, an omniscient-like countdown dialling that palpable anxiety to the absolute max. “When your mind goes around like that, and there’s nothing you can do, I wanted to be a bit spiteful,” Asha laughs. “I feel like the only thing you can do is be spiteful. It doesn’t make a difference, but you have to do it for yourself.”

London is tied into these stories – it’s at the root of every interaction, each overheard whisper and reeling tale. ‘Anywhere But Here’ becomes a sonic embodiment of a dark, mistedover city; that brain fog another instrument in their arsenal. Those feelings of desolation and eeriness are more feverish than ever.

‘Screaming In The Rain’ is a more subdued, crawling moment, but the feelings it sits on shout through

that void. Louis’ vocals are wrought with distress, swallowed up by the weight of those crushing emotions.

Asha’s join with equal forlornness, making each note hit with growing vehemence even despite the despondent guitar lines.

“We were doing it really simply, and that’s when the two vocals played best off each other,” Louis shares. “It came together naturally.

We tried loads of different things with that song, but we kept going back to this version of it. The lyrics and vocals are super intense, and we wanted everything else to mirror that intensity but still be quite simple.”

That ferocity at the album’s core is perhaps, again, a reflection of the band’s environment.

Had they created it on a nice countryside retreat, would it have had the same impact? It’s unlikely.

“We’ve been in this city our whole life, and there’s always lots of different personalities very close to you,” Asha resolves. “It can be inspiring, and it can be lonely when your emotions naturally go so high or low just from being around so many people all the time. The landscapes, as well. Because it’s busy, there’s lots of emotion. You can do what you want in a city and follow what you want.”

She touches on a key point of ‘Anywhere But Here’, one that hits you even from the first listen.

It’s ultimately incredibly reactive – to those environments, that murk that looms over them, to every waning feeling. Anything could become a song for Sorry.

“Usually, people will say something flippantly, and it’s like when you’re reading a book and one line unlocks loads of things that you’ve been thinking,” muses Asha. “I think I’ll be thinking about an idea, and someone will say something that unlocks the whole song. It can be really stupid, but it’s funny how your mind connects stuff.”

“We’ve done that a lot,” adds Louis. “If you’re having a conversation with a loved one and they say something that really resonates, maybe we’d make a note of it on our phone or just remember. It’s another way to start a song. When someone says something that sticks with you and especially if it affects you in a personal way - it’s good to put that into a song. It helps you figure out that emotion you have more.”

Despite talking to both separately, Louis and Asha are deeply in sync with their thoughts on the album. They often mirror each other’s musings, and having worked together since being in school, it’s no surprise. It’s that bond which elevates the album, too – that synchronicity and the effortless way in which their vocals adapt to the song, wrapping

around one another in an array of different ways. They can be unnerving and jolting, but at times they meld into one another soothingly. The guitars can be discordant and tremulous, but their vocals are often hushed and unstrained.

“Sometimes me and Louis can picture things,” Asha says. “If he puts on a voice, I can picture his character as a person that I see in my head, and he can as well.

Sometimes we can just click on a song, and both know exactly what the other is talking about and what we want to evoke.”

‘Anywhere But Here’ proves Sorry are a band deeply in tune with themselves, each other and the world around them. If it falls apart, their sound disintegrates with it. On their second album, Sorry capture what it’s like to experience such an unpredictable period of life – as though you can feel their hearts beating with the stress and anticipation throughout every track. As they step up from their first record, their capacity for encapsulating a moment in time grows. “You learn a lot when you get into your twenties,” Louis ponders. “But maybe you don’t.

Maybe I’ll look back at this and think, I was just a twenty-five-yearold. What do I know?” Only time will tell. ■ Sorry’s album ‘Anywhere But Here’ is out 7th October.

THERE’S A SPARK INTRO

Chicago duo WHITNEY are embracing classic pop and a brand new sound for their new album, ‘SPARK’.

Words: Connor Fenton. Photos: Tonje Thilesen.

→ IT’S A DAY THEY DESCRIBE AS “DECEPTIVELY HOT”, and Chicago natives Julien Ehrich and Max Kakacek are phoning in to ask us which Premier League team they should support - and to tell us about ‘SPARK’, their dazzling third album, obviously.

“It basically started right before the pandemic,” drummer and vocalist Julien Erhlich explains, setting the scene for the inception of ‘SPARK’. “I went through a breakup. Max [Kakacek] was also on shaky ground with his partner at the time.” In an effort to give space to the end of his relationship, Julien decamped from the band’s base in Chicago to a rented bungalow in Portland.

When best friend, co-writer and guitarist Max flew out to join him, it wasn’t long before Covid lockdowns trapped them in place.

Despite the countless tribulations of the pandemic, their semi-exile is partly to thank for the new life found on ‘SPARK’. “It was honestly a blessing because we were able to have a lot more space, like an entire house set up with a bigger studio,” Julien says as Max nods.

‘SPARK’ as a title is nothing if not fitting. Whitney have injected a newfound vitality into their music.

Where their previous releases were packed with emotion that wormed its way deep into a vulnerable part of your ear, this record sees them develop a sound with energy that implores you to move.

“I think everyone felt it during the pandemic; days where it was hard to feel motivated to do much because there wasn’t much of an optimistic outlook,” Max reflects.

“The times that we felt happiest, even when we were making a song about that lack of optimism, were when we were writing. April was when we wrote the first song, and after that, I think we were just on a natural high, kind of chasing it.”

‘NOTHING REMAINS’, the first track written for the album, acted almost like a bridge between ‘SPARK’ and their previous release ‘Forever Turned Around’, a record that left the band certain that they needed a change in direction.

“Even though we love it and are really proud of it, I think we just knew that we had a lot of room to explore,” Julien remembers of the difficult time finishing the last album. “In order to write our best songs and do our best work, we were gonna have to switch up the sound.”

“Just spiritually, we knew that we weren’t necessarily inspired by the dusty old, forgotten, ‘Light In The Attic’ type singles anymore,” Julien states. “It just wasn’t doing it for us.”

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“It ended up being a benefit to us not to play shows constantly.

Of course, we want to be playing shows but creatively, you kind of get into habits, playing the same songs every night,” Max reveals, explaining how the album found its way to new uncharted waters, far from Whitney’s neo-folk roots and into the alt-pop domain. “Like midway through the album, it was kind of, not a rule, but an idea to stay away from acoustic guitars for as long as we can in each song and then, at the end, maybe find a way to bring them in.”

“It was totally an expansion on the way we’ve worked in the past. We were back and forth around the studio on different instruments,” Julien throws his arms around, pretending to play a million synths. “Egoless too. If it didn’t work, it would just be like, ‘Nah.’” With all of the creative freedom their Covid isolation would bring, Whitney had the time to create music solely on their instincts, with no specific stylising to aim towards. “Let’s bring more tools in and just explore it as we write. Not forcing it to be like, ‘Okay, we need to write a song that starts with a JUNO,” Julien says mockingly.

“We don’t make decisions that feel forced; we will still write in an organic way.”

When asked if this album was more fun to make than their others, there’s no doubt when Max and Julien respond in unison, “I mean… yeah!” The record itself is imbued with an innate glee, even in its lower moments. “[In ‘Forever Turned Around’] the studio sessions were very focused, and there were points where no-one was smiling, everyone was just in their zone, trying to perfect this idea,” Max recounts with a big grin. “In the studio at Sonic Ranch with Brad and John [for ‘SPARK’], I feel like we spent 60% of the time laughing to the point of not being able to breathe.” He laughs with Julien for a moment. “We were just having fun every day, and it felt like making the record was a celebration of that happiness.”

Happiness is abundant in the hazy pop rhythms and colourfully scattered riffs that fill out the sonic space of ‘SPARK’. Thanks to the metamorphosis of Whitney’s sound, deeply introspective tracks still inspire all the movement of Top 40 mainstays.

Even ‘MEMORY’, which sees the band lament the scary habit of obsessing over the past and fearing the future, plays out as an irresistibly gleeful banger.

This charming confidence in their own neurosis is thanks to Max and Julien’s stalwart

friendship, which is apparent in how they enjoy each other’s jokes.

Julien reveals that even producer John Congleton remarked on their relationship in the studio.

“We didn’t go into the studio with an album title, and Congleton was like, ‘I keep seeing all these tandem moments between you two’,” he says in his best Congleton impression. That title never entirely stuck. As the pair of them laugh, Max adds that co-producer Brad Cook dubbed them the Harmony Bros.

Julien explains, “We were basically like playing something and being like, ‘I got this, let me do the pitch bend’,” as he mimes the act of altering Max’s guitar

mid-song. “I guess some non-toxic masculine love or something.”

“We were kinda just hitting our stride,” Julien sums it up, which even one listen of ‘SPARK’ would confirm. We’re now hearing truly unfiltered Whitney, exactly as they want us to hear them and with all the exciting synths they can muster.

Whether delving into the loss of their long-time mentor in the sentimental, softly sang ‘TERMINAL’ or celebrating the end of a relationship and starting new beginnings in ‘REAL LOVE’, the band has honed into their subject matter meticulously, translating it effortlessly into characterful bops.

“In the past, everyone would enjoy going to a late-night dark

club, vibing out and releasing some energy that way,” Max ponders on the stark poppiness of ‘SPARK’ compared to their previous work.

“Not having any way to do that or really experience music in that way, in a communal sense, I think the way we related to it was to try to make something ourselves that made us feel that way.”

As a result of their isolation, Whitney have presented a polished set of intricate tracks that discuss change of the self and illustrate the development in their vibe. It’s almost impossible to guess what direction the Harmony Bros will head next, but we’re sure we’ll want to hear it.. ■ Whitney’s album ‘SPARK’ is out 16th September.

WE WERE JUST HAVING FUN EVERY DAY, AND IT FELT LIKE MAKING THE RECORD WAS A CELEBRATION OF THAT HAPPINESS” M AX K AK ACE K

K

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF

WALLICE.

You know what’s easier than following around your fave pop stars, day in, day out, to see what they’re up to right that minute? Asking them.

Following the release of latest single 'I’ve Never Been To LA', WALLICE lets us in on what she's up to.

‘FYI’ THE 1975

The 1975 have announced details of an upcoming UK and Ireland tour, set to take place next January. Kicking off in Brighton on 8th January, the band will call off in Bournemouth, Exeter, London, Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Manchester, Nottingham, Leeds, Newcastle, Liverpool, Dublin and Belfast. You can find all the dates on readdork.com now.

GORILLAZ

Gorillaz have announced their new album, ‘Cracker Island’. Set for release on 24th February 2023, it’ll feature to previously shared titletrack, and a new song – ‘New Gold’ – recorded in collaboration with Tame Impala and Bootie Brown.

SELF ESTEEM

Self Esteem has added six additional dates to her brilliantly named ‘I Tour This All The Time’ 2023 UK and Ireland Tour. Fresh off the back of her Mercury Prize nomination for her second studio album, ‘Prioritise Pleasure’, several slots on the run had already been sold out. Extra dates have now been added in Edinburgh, Oxford, London, Glasgow, Sheffield and Manchester.

GIRLPOOL

Girlpool have announced they’re going to “take a break” after their forthcoming tour dates. “After 9 years, we have decided to take a break from Girlpool and go our separate ways as songwriters,” the band explain in a statement.

“This upcoming tour will be our last one — it will be an ode to the past, a celebration for the future, and something we will pour both of our hearts into completely. We are each other’s biggest fans and always encourage each other to stretch and evolve, whether that means it’s alongside one another or not.”

ARCTIC MONKEYS

8:30AM → I wake up 20 min after I should have and get dressed to go to a Pilates class that I booked a couple days prior. It’s hard for me to muster up the willpower to go to the gym, so if I have a nonrefundable class on the line, I’ll actually get up and go. Sometimes I end up waking up at 9-10 and then going to the gym at like 11 for an hour, but ideally, I wake up closer to 8.

9:00AM → Pilates for 50 min.

10:00AM → I get home and make a matcha. I have perfected the perfect iced oat milk matcha latte at home. I usually don’t eat breakfast.

11:00AM → I’ll ideally shower and get ready. I’m not too sweaty of a person, so sometimes I don’t after class cause I usually like to shower at night. I do prefer to shower at my gym, though, because the water

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pressure at my house is really bad, and every shower randomly gets cold for 5 min before it gets hot again, and it’s really irritating.

12:00PM → I’ll make lunch. I’ve recently been trying to save money and eat at home more. I’ve been liking the Trader Joe’s chicken soup dumplings, which sounds sketchy, and I was sceptical, but they ended up very tasty. I’ll pair a pack of those with some rice that is always warm in my rice cooker and some Korean-style cold sesame broccoli that I like to keep in my fridge for easy meals.

1:00PM → I usually like to have my sessions start around 1.

Sometimes I don’t do anything the entire morning, but other times I have a productive morning, and then I make music, and I feel really good about the day. I usually go to my friend Marinelli’s house, and we twiddle around on

some instruments, or we take an instrumental we already wrote and write some lyrics over it.

7:00PM → I don’t necessarily love to work too long, so around 7-8, we will call it a day and ideally, I’ll have some dinner plans around here but also, like I said, I’ve been trying to cook at home, so I should go home and cook some dinner for me and my boyfriend. A recipe I’ve been liking recently cause it’s very fast and easy is miso glazed salmon with rice and either more of my sesame broccoli or some spinach.

9:00PM → Watch some shows.

Recently we have been watching UK Love Island because there’s so much to watch!

11:00PM → Get ready for bed and lay down watching TikToks for 1-2 hours.

12:00-1:00AM → I fall asleep

somewhere in between these hours. I think one of my greatest strengths is that I can go to sleep really easily and sleep wherever so when I feel sleepy, I just put my phone downs and go to bed.

Wallice and Oscar Lang’s single ‘I’ve Never Been To LA’ is out now.

Arctic Monkeys have announced the details of their seventh studio album, ‘The Car’. The album – featuring ten new tracks – will be released on 21st October 2022. “I think we’ve got closer to a better version of a more dynamic overall sound with this record,” Turner told The Big Issue. “The strings on this record come in and out of focus and that was a deliberate move and hopefully everything has its own space. There’s time the band comes to the front and then the strings come to the front.”

SAM FENDER

Sam Fender is going to release a new live album, ‘Live From Finsbury Park’. The album was recorded during his sell-out performance earlier this summer.

It will be released as a standalone double coloured vinyl on 9th December via Polydor Records, and will also feature as part of a new Live Deluxe Edition of ‘Seventeen Going Under’ on double CD.

THE NEW ALBUM FROM

OUT 16TH SEPTEMBER

BANGERS. THE BEST NEW TRACKS YOU NEED TO HEAR THIS MONTH.

↓↓↓ THE BIG TRACK ↓↓↓

ARCTIC MONKEYS THERE’D BETTER BE A MIRRORBALL

→ Arctic Monkeys have boarded their shuttle and returned from the moon, ready to...soundtrack a James Bond film? Violins and crooning lyrics about heartbreak are the order of the day on new single ‘There Better Be a Mirrorball’.

We’re slightly sad to see the back of the complete nonsense that was Alex Turner pretending to be a hotel concierge if we’re honest, but its still a welcome evolution from the last album.

Arctic Monkeys have stayed this big for this long by always moving forwards with their music, and this track is no exception.

A skeleton of the ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’ DNA remains, but it’s fleshed out with Bowie-esque 1970s grooves and a string section that elevates the music without sounding cheesy. Also making a welcome return is Alex Turner in full break-up mode, with poetic metaphors about heavy hearts and yesterday leaking through the roof.

They might not be in space any more, but they’re still lightyears ahead of anyone else. JAKE HAWKES

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INTRO

CIRCA WAVES ↓↓↓ BIG BOP Q+A ↓↓↓

“WE FEEL LIKE WE’VE HIT OUR STRIDE” THE 1975

I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU

→ Whenever The 1975 release a new song, it’s at the very minimum ‘very good’. Obviously.

‘I’m In Love With You’, though, is a whole different kettle of pop fish. Think those really special multi-coloured goldfish you see in the aquarium. Anyway, enough about fish.The point is, is nextlevel good. The boppiest and poppiest ‘75 song maybe ever, it bounces along on a carefree and innocent breeze. Hand claps, sing-along chorus, a million earworms, it’s all in there.

It sparkles in a different way to their previous hits, but with the same shiny DNA instilled within it. The sound of The 1975 at their most organic and immediate, there is no better song to get you super excited for what’s to come. MARTYN YOUNG

LOUIS TOMLINSON BIGGER THAN ME

→ The Sassmaster from Doncaster is back! With the first single from his upcoming second album, Louis Tomlinson is at the top of his game. Despite what the title might suggest, ‘Bigger Than Me’ is not a song about accepting his status as the sassy short king we all know and love (give him a break, he’s big). Instead, it’s an ode to his fans and to everything they have created and continue to create together. Boasting a stratospheric chorus and frankly sublime vocals, ‘Bigger Than Me’ is a delightfully earnest expression of love and gratitude scaled to anthemic proportions.

If this is what the future sounds like, he’s not the only one who has faith in it. JESSICA GOODMAN

CRAWLERS I DON’T WANT IT

→ Fresh from a festival season that’s felt more like a victory lap, Crawlers have dropped ‘I Don’t Want It’ as the lead into their next era and their debut mixtape ‘Loud Without Noise’.

A twitching, urgent anthem about self-deprecation, crippling mental health and generational anxieties, ‘I Don’t Want It’ is 135 seconds of solidarity through self-awareness. There’s a nod to Wet Leg in the frantic verse while the blistering chorus is a thrashing, garage-punk riot. It’s a change of pace from the indieemo bangers of old but fearless, ambitious and painfully relatable, ‘I Don’t Want It’ sees Crawlers continue to blaze a trail as the most exciting new band in the UK. ALI SHUTLER

BONNIE KEMPLAY

IS IT OBVIOUS?

→ Bonnie Kemplay is a bit special. The rising Dirty Hit signed star from Edinburgh has been making waves with

her delicate and introspective songs for a while now, and ‘Is It Obvious?’ is yet another heartstopper. Chronicling the dying days of a failing friendship, it’s a deeply relatable and goosebump-inducing gentle requiem that highlights her songwriting in stunning vivid clarity. The very best artists are capable of wringing the most intense heightened emotional responses, and Bonnie certainly puts us through the emotional ringer here, but that’s fine; who doesn’t love a good cry every once in a while? Come on, let it all out. MARTYN YOUNG

FIDLAR FSU

→ Their first single drop in something like three years, and an early teaser for a new EP coming early next year, FIDLAR have crashed back onto the scene with a song that smacks you right in the face: ‘FSU’. With the trio’s new music self-described as “leaning into the extremes” and (as always, tbf) “catchy and obnoxious”, it’s a welcome return for a band incapable of boring. SAM TAYLOR

DODIE

HOT MESS

→ Anyone claiming to not feel like a hot mess right now is either doing Very Well Indeed, or lying. Putting a positive spin on a tumultuous time, dodie’s new track is a super playful cinematic masterpiece of epic proportions.

It’s huge, it’s relatable, and it’s a whole lot of fun inspired by “the messiest, most intense, painful and exhilarating start to the year”. Who couldn’t relate? SAM TAYLOR

SWIM DEEP LITTLE BLUE

→ Following on from their collab-packed EP from earlier in the year, Swim Deep are taking that same lightness and those irresistible dancey sounds even further with their new bop, ‘Little Blue’. A song that invokes sunnier times (bit grey today, no?), it’s a much-needed blast of posi-vibes. “’Here now we’re going to make it’ is a reassurance that I’ve always needed,” affirms Austin Williams. SAM TAYLOR

CONNIE CONSTANCE MOOD HOOVER

→ If we had a monthly award for Favourite Lyric, there’s a moderate-to-good chance Connie Constance would take home this issue’s gong for “You’re just a mood hoover / Sucking the life out of my soul again”. The very first lines of her new tune ‘Mood Hoover’ are just chef’s kiss, 100 emoji, 10/10, setting out Connie’s stall for not only a great new bop, but a top new album due later this year.

Can’t wait. SAM TAYLOR

CIRCA WAVES HELL ON EARTH

→ Finally returning from their longest break in releases to date, Circa Waves quickly earn forgiveness on new surprise drop ‘Hell On Earth’, a scorching tune that brings a four-track EP with it and ushers in a new sonic era for the band. As per 2020’s ‘Sad Happy’, the Scouse four-piece apply an indie (and ever more pop) leaning sound to the anxieties of modern existence, this time specifically criticizing the repeated failings of those in Parliament. The tune thrashes against the painful restraints of the fast-moving and closecutting life we all endure in 2022, with frontman and lead singer Kieran Shudall belting out: “I think I’ve died and gone to hell/ And I don’t care/ I don’t care cos it was hell on earth.” How much his heating bills have increased by, we can only wonder. FINLAY HOLDEN

Not content with new track ‘Hell On Earth’, Circa Waves have also shock dropped a new EP of the same name.

To find out a bit more, we dropped frontman Kieran Shudall a few questions.

we are better than ever.

We feel like we’ve hit our stride with this EP. But generally, yeah the EP is a bit moody.

Hey Kieran. What are you up to today?

Running around doing last-minute things to launch ‘Hell on Earth’.

Also making beans and sausage for my son. Good day all round.

You’ve had a bit of a break since the last album – for obvious reasons – how did you spend the enforced time off?

I raised a child to the best of my ability, wrote tons of music, acquired tinnitus and found a new love for electronic music.

Life is more chaotic but more fun.

So, your new EP is called ‘Hell On Earth’, which sounds a bit dark – are you guys doing ok?

Is anyone okay at the moment? It’s all a bit mad, isn’t it? As a band,

If someone were to design a hell specifically for you, what would be in it?

Living in a house where Boris Johnson is the chef and he puts cinnamon in everything.

Where did all these new songs come from?

Was there a specific inspiration?

Most of these new songs were all written in a newfound state of sleep deprivation, courtesy of my child. But honestly, it’s helped me write in a more free way, I let the songs fall naturally out of me instead of chasing an idea of what Circa Waves should be.

The EP is a surprise for us. When was the last time you were surprised?

I woke up with the neighbour’s cat’s arse in my face this morning.

So does this EP suggest there’s more to come?

What’s next?

It may suggest that, and if it does suggest that to you, then maybe you’re on to something. Or maybe you’re just very suggestible.

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FESTIVALS. R EVERYTHING YOU NEED FOR THE SUMMER SEASON.

↓↓↓ THE GREATEST HITS, AT THEIR VERY BEST ↓↓↓

THE 1975 MAIN STAGE EAST

SUNDAY, 21:50 → THIS IS HOW IT STARTS. Whenever The 1975 kick off a new era, it’s not just a case of plugging in a familiar ride and watching the results spin off in every direction. They’re a force who’ve come to define the past decade of British music. Simply trying to name another who’ve come close to having the same influence and presence is a futile exercise.

When it comes to The 1975 at Reading, there’s something even more special in the air. The fact that, less than a month ago, their headline set wasn’t in the diary makes it feel even more The 1975 than usual.

Whereas in 2019, their crowning appearance as a Reading bill-topper felt like the culmination of a journey, 2022 proves a night where one of the best to do it ride their white chargers into frame to not only save the day – but light the fireworks on their next chapter. It’s like it was written in the stars.

While we’ve been teased with forthcoming fifth album ‘Being Funny In A Foreign Language’ for a while now, tonight at Reading is The 1975 At Their Very Best. Like there’s ever been anything different. Taking on the feat of closing one of the biggest festivals on the planet is something that would daunt most, but for The 1975 it’s destiny.

“It’s just fucking bangers,” declares Matty Healy two songs in – and he’s not wrong. Declared as a 1975 “greatest hits” by the man himself, what follows is a run through a discography unrivalled in its current cultural resonance. ‘If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)’ rolls into ‘Love Me’. Then into ‘Chocolate’ and ‘Me & You Together Song’. Then ‘TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME’, and from there, the night is theirs.

Nodding to their black-and-white, self-titled era throughout, if there’s a celebration of the road travelled so far, then it comes tonight. “This is one of our favourite places in the world,” shouts Matty, leading a band who, at this point, play by their own rules and watch as the world follows.

Any issues with the stage volume are thrown to one side as Matty states, “Let’s pay the fine and play it really loud”. Recent postpandemic setlist addition ‘Tonight

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(I Wish I Was Your Boy)’ grooves, while ‘Robbers’ sees the voices of a Sunday night at Reading reach top-tier levels. ‘A Change Of Heart’ and ‘Paris’ (introduced by Matty as “arguably the best 1975 song”) are but indicators of the sheer scale of the band they’ve become. Whereas Reading 2019 felt like their step into the top division, tonight feels like a jaw-dropping spectacle of The 1975 firmly cemented at the top of their game.

Although the greatest hits light a fuse, the pair of tasters into ‘Being Funny In A Foreign Language’ we’re presented with tonight hint at a newfound understanding of what The 1975 are, and, most importantly, what they can be. ‘Happiness’ is met with just as wild a reaction as the hits, while ‘I’m In Love With You’ already screams out as the sort of anthem that’ll get tattooed on countless people from the moment it drops.

It’s a set that, last up on a Sunday, sweeps away any sense of anything we’ve seen before. What should be the closing curtain on one of the biggest festivals on the circuit becomes The 1975 Show.

From the mascara-soaked tears of ‘I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)’ to the ripped-raw drive of ‘Love It If We Made It’ and the desperate, feral clawing of ‘People’ – it truly is the most incredible spectacle. ‘The Sound’ definitively shuts down any last questions as pogoing masses ripple through Reading’s fields before ‘Sex’ and ‘Give Yourself A Try’ crown out the night. There’s no doubt that not only are The 1975 back, but they’re more focused and hungry than ever before.

At this point, four albums in, it feels silly to suggest that The 1975 get better and better, but tonight at Reading is your favourite band cast through a different lens. It’s one we may have thought we were looking through already, but only when laid out in such stark focus is it apparent just how important and vital they’ve become. It’s not about them slotting into a festival bill at the last minute, but defining the entire weekend – no matter the scale and lustre of any other headliners that adorn the bill.

This is a band where special doesn’t feel enough. It’s The 1975, At Their Very Best. It’s how it starts. It couldn’t be any other way. Now, let the show begin… JAMIE MUIR

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READING ↓↓↓ FESTIVAL REPORT ↓↓↓

Words: Abigail Firth, Ali Shutler, Finlay Holden, Jake Hawkes, Jamie Muir. Photos: Frances Beach, Patrick Gunning.

The ultimate review.

2022

Reading Festival is a lot of things. A punctuation mark on the biggest events of the summer season. A temperature check on both popular and alternative culture. A place where legends begin, end or enhance their standing. It’s a right of passage; one bigger than just music, but one fueled by the ebb and flow of trends and timeless tradition. 2022’s version is no different. The second edition since the festival switched to a duel Main Stage set up, it’s packed with global stars and exciting newcomers. We sent our top team of scribblers and snappers down to St John’s Farm to capture the action. the band’s evolution towards progressively braver decisionmaking is affirming to observe, their momentum inevitably barrels towards their biggest viral moment and obvious set closer ‘Are You Bored Yet?’ FH

BLACK HONEY

MAIN STAGE EAST FRIDAY, 13:50 → If you want proof that Reading isn’t just any other festival for bands, look no further than Black Honey. The sort of moment they’ve been aiming for since they started is finally realised today with a glorious sense of fizzing wonder. That cinematic flair and assortment box of bangers go down a storm, with ‘I Like The Way You Die’, ‘Corinne’ and a scorching ‘Run For Cover’ serving up one box office moment after the other.

New material like the razor-sharp ‘Out Of My Mind’ and latest single ‘Charlie Bronson’ makes things even more thrilling – pointing to a band not just revelling in the moment, but using it as a springboard for what looks like their brightest era to date.

Now that’s what Reading is all about. JM

WALLOWS

MAIN STAGE WEST FRIDAY, 14:30 → LA charmers Wallows bring their luxuriously lo-fi indie pop vibes across the pond, shifting their show from the likes of Lollapalooza and Coachella to the slightly soggy fields of England. Fortunately, their laidback energy isn’t lost on the crowd, who turn near feral as soon as the Indiana Jones theme backs the trio’s entrance.

Opening with ‘I Don’t Want To Talk’, a cut from March’s ‘Tell Me That It’s Over’, Dylan Minnette’s

JOY CROOKES

GRIFF

MAIN STAGE EAST FRIDAY, 15:20 → While most people’s first time at Reading involves loads of fizzy pop and questionable decisions, Griff’s is more focused on the sort of commanding pop takeover that already feels destined for the big slots.

Immediate and infectious, it’s a slick show full of warmth and bangers galore that never relents in pace. A party atmosphere bounces when turning smash ‘One Night’ into a run through Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’, ‘Head On Fire’ cues up sing-a-longs, and by the time ‘Black Hole’ rounds out proceedings, the Reading crowd are feverish and calling for more. Accomplished, smileinducing and captivating – it’s a statement of intent. JM

lead vocals start off rough but quickly shake off the jet leg – a delightful turn on the harmonica seems to help. When Braeden Lemasters joins him with harmonic backing, their charm is irresistible.

Their first-ever UK festival performance is a clear home run, as the gang affirm that they have missed the British crowds and their fans back home should take note. Bringing listeners in with the accessibility of their early offerings and then ambushing them with the ambitious scope of more recent releases, Wallows serve up luscious soundscapes no matter where you look. A quick cover of 1D’s ‘What Makes You Beautiful’ also riles up the audience, although it isn’t needed; a total of six moshpits collide just before ‘Scrawny’. Although

MAIN STAGE WEST FRIDAY, 16:00 → Over on Main Stage West, the teatime slot is filled by Joy Crookes’ gorgeous smoky vocals.

Amidst the chaos of Scene Queen and PinkPantheress, and the pop bops of Griff, she’s a breezy break as the last of Friday sun peaks out from behind the stage.

Despite having a Mercury nominated record to play, she still squeezes in time for a cover of Kendrick Lamar’s ‘ELEMENT’, and asks who hates the government before the sharp Brexit-slag-off ‘Kingdom’. Ending on the South London love letter ‘When You Were Mine’, Joy’s set brings the same heritage appreciation of her debut ‘Skin’ to the huge stage it belongs on. AF

CIRCA WAVES

MAIN STAGE EAST FRIDAY, 16:45 → Reading as a festival has expanded in recent years to include every genre under the sun, but its heart remains with the bucket-hat wearing indie masses. Luckily, Circa Waves are here to get them throwing pints and making mosh pits like nobody’s business. Several albums in, they’ve built up an

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SCRABBLE MUSIC Scrabble – the perfect game for a rainy caravan holiday. Is ‘Dork’ a real world? Do acronyms count? Why am I still playing this when the internet exists? All valid questions which will arise during an afternoon of letter-placing fun.

Liverpudlian nonsense-peddlers and professional Scrabbleaficionados Courting were kind enough to spare eight minutes of their time for a game at Reading Festival this year. “One time I got really drunk and started making up words, and Sean [Thomas] was very angry, just screaming ‘That’s not a fucking word!’ in the middle of a pub.” reminisces singer Sean Murphy O’Neill with a misty-eyed smile. It’s truly heart-warming stuff, and the band soon prove their experience by outplaying us with the masterful use of words like ‘stink’. Because that anecdote alone doesn’t make for much of a feature, we also asked them for their thoughts on each word they played, which were as follows:

MEGAN THEE STALLION MAIN STAGE WEST

FRIDAY, 20:55 → EMBARKING ON HER THIRD CONSECUTIVE HOT GIRL SUMMER, Megan Thee Stallion takes the stage as Friday’s first headliner. A deserved slot following the last few years, where she’s steadily risen to mainstream dominance, and she’s got the hits to prove it. Following an intimate show at London’s O2 Academy Brixton – calling Brixton intimate is surely testament to Megan’s success – two days prior, it feels right that she’s back on a huge stage. Undeniable star power and a performance that’s equal parts pop concert and rap show mean Megan’s built for arenas.

She steps out to a DJ announcing her as “the one and only, Megan Thee motherfucking Stallion”, opening with early hit ‘Realer’ and blasting through tracks from each of her projects since ‘Tina Snow’, she’s unstoppable.

After a scorching day, Megan’s

COURTING: STINK (14 POINTS, DOUBLE LETTER SCORE FOR K) Sean Murphy O’Neill: “Stink makes me think of Dork Magazine. Hey, I didn’t say this was a friendly Scrabble tournament – do you not talk shit in a normal game?”

DORK: FART (8 POINTS, DOUBLE LETTER SCORE FOR R) COURTING: FARTS (8 POINTS) Sean M: “Farts make me think of… Dork Magazine! Okay, I’ll stop now, I promise. That’s a lovely two word start though.”

DORK: FACT (18 POINTS, DOUBLE WORD SCORE) COURTING: SEAT (8 POINTS, DOUBLE WORD SCORE) Sean Thomas: “The seat in our car is broken, did you know that? (We did not know that – Ed). It’s meant to go up and down, but the elastic has broken so now it just goes down. I’d try to put it up again, but what if it breaks a bit more? You can’t trust car seats.”

DORK: SEA (6 POINTS, DOUBLE WORD SCORE) COURTING: KEY (10 POINTS) Sean M: “My favourite key is a classic house key, but the one with two prongs.”

Sean T: “I like the car key you press and it flicks out.”

Sean M: “Nah, the car key that goes *eeoo* when you press it.”

Josh Cope: “My favourite is a huge overcompensating medieval key, all encrusted with jewels.”

DORK: STINKS (10 POINTS) COURTING: YALL (9 POINTS, TRIPLE LETTER SCORE FOR L) Sean M: “I think that’s a word? Cowboys say it – I love cowboys. Not all of them, but some of them.”

DORK: LOO (4 POINTS, DOUBLE LETTER SCORE FOR O) COURTING: GLOOP (8 POINTS) Sean M: “My favourite gloopy liquid is honey. I’ve never had that special expensive honey though.”

Sean T: “As long as the bees are treated well, then I’m happy. How do you know is a bee is happy? It bumbles. I’ve seen The Bee Movie, so I am all too aware of the lore that surrounds bees.”

FINAL AND ILLEGAL WORD FROM COURTING: FARTSQUIRE (23 POINTS, DOUBLE LETTER SCORE FOR R, BUT DISQUALIFIED FOR BEING NOT A WORD AND NOT BEING THEIR TURN) Sean T: “If you’re a king, you have a fartsquire to fart for you.”

Sean M: “He has to run behind you with a jar of farts, ready at all times.”

FINAL SCORES: Dork: 46 points Courting: 80 points, or 57 with ‘Fartsquire’ disqualified.

WINNER: COURTING

16. DORK

set only gets things hotter.

Speaking of, she keeps asking the audience if there’s any ‘hotties’ here – “OG Hotties” for ‘Tina Snow’ tracks, “2019 Hotties” for ‘Fever’ tracks, “real hot girls” for everything else – and calls out a fan hoisting up a “BRING ME ON STAGE FOR CAPTAIN HOOK” banner. Unfortunately, security stops it happening in time, but eight fans make it on stage for ‘Cash Shit’, all twerking as expertly as they can in Megan’s honour.

Megan’s body posi attitude permeates the set, encouraging self-love and appreciation before playing monster hit ‘WAP’ and debut album single ‘Body’, and asks the camera operator for extra booty shots.

Her relentless ability to create smashes has kept her at the top of her game since 2020, cutting through during the pandemic and hitting the ground running when it came to festival season last year.

With the surprise release of ‘Traumazine’ little over a week ago, the tracks she performs have already gone big enough for her to play ‘NDA’ second and end on latest single ‘Her’.

ABIGAIL FIRTH

impressive back catalogue of festival hits, with the absolutely massive crowd treating newer cuts like 2020’s ‘Sad Happy’ with as much energy as old classics. Of course, it’s ‘T-Shirt Weather’ that gets the biggest reaction though, blasting out while the evening sun lights up the stage.

It’s hands in the air and people on shoulders as the band close out their set with a grin. Dave and Megan Thee Stallion might be headlining, but Reading’s still got space in its heart for some good old-fashioned indie. JH

GUS DAPPERTON

BBC RADIO 1 DANCE STAGE SATURDAY, 12:50 → An ominous, ethereal haze clouds the dance tent as Gus Dapperton prepares to walk onstage on the second day of Reading 2022, and his music only bolsters this absorbing, dreamlike state of mind. Curating a charmingly alternative space, he embraces the opportunity to dance in his own unique way, letting his physicality do most of the talking.

Taking the time to introduce his five-

piece live outfit, Gus’ band effortless ooze suave vibes; relaxed positivity channelled through every note as the gang are led through an escapist show by silky lead vocals. ‘My Favourite Fish’ tones things down and proves Dapperton’s groove unavoidable, while ‘Ditch’ blasts synths across the muggy tent before rich guitar solos drive the set towards his hits like ‘First Aid’. FH

DAYGLOW

MAIN STAGE EAST SATURDAY, 13:25 → “What’s up, Reading?” Sloan Struble

LITTLE SMIZ

MAIN STAGE EAST FRIDAY, 18:20 → As Little Simz comes on stage, flanked by a full band, it feels like a shift in tone for the festival. She may have a guitarist, bassist and drummer, but what follows is 45 minutes of pure UK rap energy. Opening with ‘Introvert’, it’s not long before she has everyone on-side, with thousands screaming the lyrics back at her. It doesn’t hurt that Little Simz has been doing this for a while now, honing her stage presence to a point where she’s in full control throughout. With Polo G, Megan Thee Stallion, and Dave set to follow her, she’s pushing at an open door, and it’s clear that the critically acclaimed ‘GREY Area’ and ‘Sometimes I might Be Introvert’ have finally taken her over the top into well-deserved mainstream success. Finishing on a flawless run of ‘Point and Kill’, ‘Woman’ and ‘Venom’, today’s set leaves a mark that the festival is unlikely to forget. JH

FESTIVALS

↓↓↓ BACK IN THE UK ↓↓↓

ARCTIC MONKEYS

a stage they command. It’s why on a Saturday night in 2022, as their anticipated new chapter begins, their set is the talk of the weekend. To put it bluntly, THIS is MAIN STAGE EAST what Reading is all about.

SATURDAY, 21:50 Keeping their cards close → WHEN SOMETHING IS to their chest after a run of HISTORIC, YOU JUST KNOW. shows in Europe, tonight is Reading is synonymous with their grandstand return to UK those sorts of moments.

Scattered throughout its history stages. They remain a band whose shape-shifting sense of are the biggest artists of their mystery blends perfectly with time putting on the defining their soaring tales and anthems shows of their era. The list is that not only capture modern life endless – Nirvana, My Chemical but define it. There are few, if any, Romance, Paramore, The 1975. bands that can come close – and We can go on for days. as the lights fall and the moment Yet Arctic Monkeys feel like arrives, Arctic Monkeys silence a band intrinsically linked with the rest of the musical world for these fields. From that early a night that will rank high in the set in the smallest tent (that history books of defining Reading everyone will say they were at, moments. but definitely weren’t) to massive From the opening kick drum Main Stage moments, headline of ‘Do I Wanna Know?’, lights turns and more – their very filling the Reading field and flares DNA can be traced through this billowing – it feels every bit as festival’s lineups across the years. momentous as their famed turn There’s a reason why it’s their at Glastonbury in 2013. Fizzing name that’s so often the first to with purpose, a scorching early pop up every year when lineups run of ‘Brianstorm’, ‘Snap Out are teased. This is home turf, and Of It’, ‘Crying Lightning’, ‘Teddy

Picker’… actually, it doesn’t stop.

Hit after hit follows, a greatest hits that, when levelled up against almost any other band, would make said band feel mellow.

A crooning ‘Cornerstone’, an electric ‘The View From The Afternoon’, a rare outing for scene-stealing ‘Suck It And See’ closer ‘That’s Where You’re Wrong’, the grooving ‘Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High’ and a spellbinding ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’ may jump between styles, but all fit effortlessly together.

There’s a reason why Arctic Monkeys have remained at the forefront of alternative culture without falling into traps of obscurity or nostalgia. It’s because they beat firmly to the sound of their own drum, blocking out the opinions and suggestions from a world that revels in being kept firmly on its toes. You can hear that in the only taste of upcoming new album ‘The Car’, ‘I Ain’t Quite Where I Think I Am’.

Dressed in 70s style, it leaves Reading wanting more as another move that rails against boring and

the expected.

It’s all carried by this undefinable aura that Arctic Monkeys have conjured since the very beginning. With Alex Turner prowling the stage, a frankly ridiculous ‘From The Ritz To The Rubble’ leads the way to a powerhouse ending.

Mosh pits clatter all over the shop to ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor’, riffs punch and bounce for ‘Knee Socks’, and the sheer release of ‘505’ threatens to quake the ground everyone is standing on. ‘One Point Perspective, ‘Arabella’ and ‘R U Mine?’ close out a night that doesn’t trade in ifs, buts or maybes – just absolutes. It’s all in a night’s work when you’re Arctic Monkeys.

Tonight isn’t really about a new era. It’s wiping the board clean and setting the record clear.

It’s them reminding us that, when it comes to the biggest bands, there are few who can compare.

Remember us, they ask? Reading says yes. Arctic Monkeys are setting the agenda once again.

JAMIE MUIR

calmly asks after briefly covering ‘Funkytown’ as his opening statement, all while working a pink pinstripe shirt.

With his first UK festival performance, Dayglow has firmly set the tone. The 23-year-old has come a long way from his bedroom studio, but, a million miles from his home in Texas, his optimistic attitude fits right into the Saturday afternoon sunshine. Not only is Sloan a top-tier producer, he’s now making his mark as an excellent live presence.

Bringing a wealth of tunes with him, he’s developed the confidence to back his gleeful discography. The human personification of a warm hug, joy seeps out of every pore as Dayglow bounces from his debut record – the addictive and lo-fi ‘Can I Call You Tonight?’ and the euphoria of ‘False Direction’ are two highlights here – to last year’s ‘Harmony House’, and even a few moments from his upcoming third record for good measure. Having already accomplished a lot in his few active years, it’s yet to be seen what heights Dayglow will achieve off the back of his unbridled passion for spreading smiles. FH

DE’WAYNE

MAIN STAGE WEST SATURDAY, 14:05 → Up against a hungover, barely awake 2pm crowd, De’Wayne does a grand job of working them. Small but mighty, there’s already crowdsurfing and a sign asking if he enjoyed his cake in London, presumably from a fan who’d attended his headline show there earlier this week. Making his proper UK festival debut (on Main Stage West, no less), he effortlessly proves why he’s there. Looking iconic in a black leather corset with an Adam Ant-inspired streak of gold makeup from his eye to his hairline, he gyrates around the stage while covering “I Wanna Be Your Dog”, and he’s every bit the superstar. AF

MADISON BEER

BBC RADIO 1 DANCE STAGE SATURDAY, 14:35 → Reading sometimes underestimates its pop bookings. It’s 3pm on Saturday, and Madison Beer is packing out a particularly sweaty Radio 1 Dance Stage. Bringing her ‘Life Support’ tour to the festival circuit, she’s barely visible behind a veil of smoke (and all the phones trying to document it against the lack of signal), but her voice cuts through as she belts her way through ‘Baby’.

The sad girl wave is prominent on ‘Selfish’, which prompts a stan chorus Olivia Rodrigo would be proud of, as does latest single ‘Reckless’. The album doesn’t call for much dancing, so she brings out Jax Jones and Martin Solveig collaboration ‘All Day and Night’ to up the energy.

Much like PinkPantheress yesterday, Madison can’t believe she’s pulled such a crowd and thanks them repeatedly, but for a social media superstar (and a bloody talented vocalist) who can call the Biebs a fan, she shouldn’t have expected less. exercise. AF

LOYLE CARNER

BBC INTRODUCING STAGE SATURDAY, 15:10 → The ‘Reading Secret Set’ has become a bit of a tradition, with that knowing sense that anyone could roll through at any given moment.

Following in the wake of the likes of Green Day, Bring Me The Horizon, Jamie T and more, it’s Loyle Carner’s

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FESTIVALS

and ‘Wait A Minute!, plus new single ‘<maybe> it’s my fault’, it’s hard to believe the voice comes out of her tiny frame. AF

GLASS ANIMALS

MAIN STAGE WEST FRIDAY, 19:10 → Perfect time. Perfect festival.

Perfect band. It’s a rarity when all three come together, but as the sun sets over the Main Stage at Reading – Glass Animals tick all those boxes and more. With grandstand production, tonight feels like a dress rehearsal for their increasingly inevitable headline era and a curtain call for an album that catapulted them into the stratosphere.

A big screen celebration that doesn’t just rest on the hits, but celebrates the in-betweens – it’s pure, unfiltered joy. ‘Life Itself’, ‘Tangerine’ and ‘I Don’t Wanna Talk (I Just Wanna Dance)’ spin Reading into a disco ball of genresmashing delights – ‘Tokyo Drifting’ a prime example of a band flourishing in their moment.

As Dave Bayley tells the story of how he and drummer Joe were brought together by a spare ticket to Reading years back, their set is filled with emotion as they flex their muscles like never before. As the inevitable closing blast of ‘Heat Waves’ rings out, Glass Animals bid farewell to ‘Dreamland’ by claiming Reading as their own star-studded playground. They’ll be back for that next perfect festival moment in no time. JM turn to stop Reading in its tracks.

“It was supposed to be a secret”, he cracks, as the BBC Introducing stage sees a crowd stretching far and wide to catch a glimpse at a voice who’s become a bit of a National treasure across two beloved studio albums.

Screaming fans, people on shoulders and hit after hit follow – ‘You Don’t Know’ and ‘Ain’t Nothing Changed’ just a sip of the perfect summer Saturday vibe, showcasing why he’s become a very big deal indeed. With new music fitting nicely across a set that feels like an ‘I was there’ moment, if Loyle was nervous about how people would react to his return, Reading proves he’s nestled amongst the very best right now. JM

AJ TRACEY

MAIN STAGE EAST SATURDAY, 16:15 → Fresh from coming on stage with Dave last night, AJ Tracey is determined to get a very hot and sweaty crowd jumping. He needn’t have worried, with a sea of gun fingers and mosh pits greeting him as he reels out a collection of party bangers which are the perfect pick-me-up for people that may have gone a little too hard last night. ‘Fashion Week’ has everybody singing along, with AJ using the pre-recorded guest verses as an opportunity to hype up the crowd. The opening bars of ‘rain’, his turbobanger with Aitch, cause screams so loud they temporarily drown him out. He basks momentarily in the adulation, before heading straight into ‘West Ten’. It’s hard not to keep the energy high when you’ve got this many smash hits to draw on. JH

WILLOW

MAIN STAGE EAST SUNDAY, 13:20 → Bringing a much needed lease of positivity to a Sunday Main Stage East crowd is Willow. One of the more unlikely breakout rock stars of the

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ABBY ROBERTS

FESTIVAL REPUBLIC STAGE SUNDAY, 13:35 → Lockdown breakout starlet Abby Roberts has steered her enthusiasm for “creating things” from TikTok makeup tutorials to genuinely impactful tunes. With June’s seventrack release ‘Ashes’ already making waves online, Abby steps up to the plate and doesn’t disappoint with her live renditions. Although the remaining dust from Leeds supposedly makes her voice raspy, her impeccable vocal drives hits like ‘Pink Champagne’, which she dedicates to “a boy that broke my heart”. Sharing that she wrote ‘bandaid’ for a friend suffering from mental health issues, today it is instead used to shake off the inevitable hangovers and embrace the highs and lows of maturing in the internet age. FH

LYNKS

new pop punk wave, she opens with the reintroduction single ‘Transparent Soul’, a bunny-eared beanie covering her usually shaved head to flip around in lieu of hair.

After wrapping up a tour, she notes that it’s nice to be playing outside instead of in closed venues, and says

this is how music should be. With a refreshing rock star attitude, she calls for positive affirmations from the crowd rather than mosh pits between tracks from last year’s emotionally honest ‘How I’m Feeling Now’.

Wrapping up with a double bill of TikTok hits, ‘Meet Me At Our Spot’

BBC INTRODUCING STAGE SUNDAY, 14:45 → Lynks pops up at the BBC Introducing stage for a secret set, one self-labelled as “the legends slot.” After a bizarre start with HERE COMES THE BRIDE, they jump on stage alongside their ‘shower gel girls’ and right into a heavily choreographed show that demands listeners supply dance moves of their own. The level of physicality is impressive, particularly as the masked singer jumps into the pit during ‘Straight Acting’, and that’s only song number two. An extremely explicit undertaking spices up even the already-too-hot Sunday glare, and Lynks admits, “I shouldn’t have worn a gimp mask today.” Revealing unreleased material (‘Use It Or Lose

BRING ME THE HORIZON MAIN STAGE WEST

SATURDAY, 20:25 → WITH A VERY FANCY STAGE SHOW AND AN A-LIST GUEST STAR (Ed Sheeran, for a snarling ‘Bad Habits’), Bring Me The Horizon are stepping up to headline Reading Festival in fine form. Yup, after threatening to make the leap for close to a decade, the once-scrappy MySpace emos finally take their place amongst the legends and heroes of the festival’s longstanding rock history. But it’s not to appease the old-school moshers.

Tonight is a very big deal. Not only for the Sheffield mob, who’ve been writing arena-sized metal bangers for yonks now, but rock in general. Guitar music is going through a resurgence, and this show is proof that the genre can be successful. If you think vocalist Oli Sykes is going to be in his best, BBC-friendly behaviour, though, think again.

An introductory video sees an AI encouraging mosh pits, it takes him less than two songs to demand the crowd “push it the fuck back”, and before the punishing breakdown of ‘Dear Diary’, he tells them they can “shove it up their arses”. Moments before “big tune” ‘Kingslayer’, he exclaims that “even if you haven’t dropped a Gary (a moment’s pause while we allow some readers to check urban dictionary), you’ll be gurning your tits off for this one.” The hyperpoppy-hardcore track does go, as well.

Bring Me The Horizon know they’re a larger-than-life group and their neon stage show leans into that bold, colourful world. Musically as well, tonight is more than heavy metal. Sure, ‘Shadow Moses’ and ‘Mantra’ are exactly what we’ve come to expect from Bring Me, but ‘Strangers’ is a huge, brooding emo anthem “written with this show in mind” while the glitching ‘Die 4 U’ is a polished, alt-pop banger.

Elsewhere a stripped down ‘Follow You’ provides possibly the quietest moment in a headline set since Paramore blew the power back in 2014.

For all their chaotic carnival antics, there are plenty of moments of genuine sincerity from Sykes though. “You guys have saved my life so many times, you don’t even know,” he declares. Minutes later, he’s down on the barrier, hugging fans and sharing the microphone for a soaring ‘Drown’. It’s spinetingling stuff.

Through ‘Bad Habits’ (not a single bottle is thrown at Sheeran), a Yungblud-less ‘Obey’ and the closing ‘Throne’, Bring Me The Horizon prove exactly why they’re the most exciting, most progressive heavy band to come out of Britain in a long, long while. Their ethos the same as the number one rule at their show: “If you stand still, you’re a knobhead”.

ALI SHUTLER

WOLF ALICE

MAIN STAGE EAST SATURDAY, 19:30 → Last time Arctic Monkeys headlined Reading, Wolf Alice were on the Festival Republic stage. This time around they’re playing right before them, staking their claim as the next in line.

Playing off their Glastonbury arrival chaos (where they almost didn’t make their Pyramid Stage performance thanks to cancelled flights), they open with a skit about waking up late for their show but making it in time by arriving on choppers.

But make no mistake, they’re not fucking around. They’ve spent this album cycle warming up to a moment like this, with Theo referring to the Saturday sub-headline slot as sacred ground. Throwing themselves straight in with ‘Smile’, the pacing is fantastic, and slower tracks like ‘How Can I Make It Ok?’ are received just as well as the roaring ‘Greatest Hits’.

It’s fair to say no band deserves this reception more than Wolf Alice. They’re (hopefully) a shoe-in for a headline slot in the near future and have spent the last few years making themselves unmissable on any bill. As ‘Don’t Delete The Kisses’ swells as the final track, it’s an emotional and euphoric ending for a band at the best they’ve ever been. AF It’), they encourage fans to grasp their prime years while they can, and this audience quickly obeys. Revelling the chaos of this notorious festival, Lynks, as usual, offers horny queer bangers galore. FH

100 GECS

BBC READIO 1 DANCE STAGE SUNDAY, 15:20 → How much ridiculousness do you reckon you could stomach on a Sunday afternoon? How about Dylan Brady wearing a bright yellow magician’s hat and smashing up a xylophone three songs into 100 gecs’ debut Reading performance?

The hyperpop pioneers took to the Radio 1 Dance Stage with a set more suited to 4am afterparties, playing to a crowd who were either completely feral or completely confused.

Tracks from debut album ‘1000 gecs’ are interjected with bonkers attempts at stand up, including bits where they ask the audience if it’s their first concert and telling a story of Laura Les having her tooth removed.

Between the video game visuals, rock-leaning live renditions, and semi-stand-up you can barely hear through the autotune, it’s a relatively jarring afternoon affair, but for the kids on pills at the front, it’s definitely changed their lives. AF

PALE WAVES

MAIN STAGE EAST SUNDAY, 16:05 → Riding the high of their recent third album ‘Unwanted’, Heather Baron-Gracie continues to lead Pale Waves through a wellearned high point of their career.

With ‘She’s My Religion’, ‘Falling

To Pieces’ and ‘Easy’, they deliver back-to-back bangers with a live prominence that has to be seen to be believed.

“Saving the best ’til last,” the Mancunians close with ‘Jealousy’ and it is a set to be envied. This is a band in their stride, well equipped to take further paces forward. FH

ASHNIKKO

BBC RADIO 1 DANCE STAGE SUNDAY, 16:20 → Following up 100 gecs is hard to beat on the bonkers scale, but Ashnikko gives it a good go.

Dressed in little other than ropes wrapped around her body and humping the stage in front of two hot pink teddies with huge vulvas printed on them, her stage show is just as provocative as her lyrics.

Their fans know it too. Girls in the front row are holding up “sign my tits” banners (including one fan who’d apparently flown from Canada on the off chance they would), and going absolutely feral when Ashnikko instructs them to have a therapeutic scream.

There’s empowerment in hearing a crowd of mostly women scream lyrics about hating fuck boys and not letting them dim your light, peaking early at ‘Stupid Boy’ and keeping the energy high until closing with ‘Daisy’. AF

DMA’S

MAIN STAGE WEST SUNDAY, 16:50 → Aussie indie trio DMA’S have evolved since their stunning, reminiscent, Britpop-esque debut record in 2016. Today’s set opener ‘The Glow’ feels a

world away from those innocent tones, trading sickly sweet guitar lines for throbbing production through tracks from their third LP of the same name.

Bouncing between the two styles, frontman Tommy O’Dell’s piercing vocal shimmers through an array of bucket hat-touting favourites. Despite a new single, ‘I Don’t Need To Hide’, seemingly providing a teasing glimpse of new projects in the works, the band stick to the safe favourites for their biggest UK performance of the summer. Whipping out the silky ‘Delete’, ‘Lay Down’ and a high-reaching cover of Cher’s ‘Believe’, the crowd certainly aren’t complaining. FH

RUN THE JEWELS

MAIN STAGE EAST SUNDAY, 17:40 → After Rage Against the Machine pulled out due to injury, their tour support and hip hop heavyweights Run The Jewels became the odd one out on the Sunday main stage lineup. If they’re daunted by the prospect of playing to an audience of Charli XCX and The 1975 fans, they don’t show it. Bounding on stage demanding the crowd put their hands up, El-P and Killer Mike are masters of hyping up an audience. Bangers from across their back catalogue soon win the crowd over, with Mike grinning from ear to ear as he dad-dances across the stage.

RTJ have always been a socially conscious duo as well as an incredible live act, and today is no exception. Mike stops between songs to say to the crowd: “We just wanna say, if you didn’t come with her, don’t put your fucking hands on her,

5 OF THE BEST NEW ACTS WE SAW AT READING 2022

PIRI & TOMMY

BBC RADIO 1 DANCE STAGE FRIDAY, 12:55 → piri & tommy prove the perfect act to open up Reading’s Dance stage – the crowd is bouncing before the duo even walk on, and soon enough, all that can be felt is an intense humidity as their loose and fluid set opens with ‘beachin’. It’s a liberating style that can be enjoyed in different ways, relaxed or involved, but the young crowd leans right into the hype, the packed-out tent infected by piri’s palpable enthusiasm. While she works the crowd, tommy’s cowbell adds to the live drums and beats that later back some slick guitar riffing.

Latest single ‘on and on’ dispels any pretence of the two stars benefiting solely from 15 minutes of TikTok fame. Their talents effortlessly gel into something fresh and exciting, a fusion resulting in rapid momentum. piri & tommy are here for a good time and, if the hits continue like this, presumably a long time too. FH

PINKPANTHERESS

BBC RADIO 1 DANCE STAGE FRIDAY, 15:45 → Those jokes about missing a whole PinkPantheress show if you go to the toilet might just be true. In fact, today you’d be lucky to see her at all. For her first festival season, the Radio 1 Dance Stage already feels like a severe underplay, and the crowd, who’ve presumably arrived at the festival after picking up their GCSE results (PinkPantheress asks them what they got), are both spilling out into the field and desperately pushing their way in. With a showing so big, her ASMR vocals barely reach the edge of it.

Thankfully there’s plenty there to fill in on Tiktok favourites ‘Just For Me’ and ‘Pain’, the latter of which she leads into with a cover of Sweet Female Attitude’s garage classic ‘Flowers’, bringing her signature sampling to the stage. She repeatedly mentions how surprised she is that so many people are there to see her, and how she can’t believe they want to listen to her music, a stark representation of how those TikTok numbers translate to IRL listeners. AF

DYLAN

BBC RADIO 1 DANCE STAGE SUNDAY, 13:25 → Reading thrives off those special moments when thousands upon thousands discover their next favourite artist. This weekend, that accolade could well fall to Dylan, whose early set on the Dance Stage is fizzing with pure unstoppable ambition, knee slides and an audio caffeine boost that serves as a Sunday wake-up call. Already armed with a summer of bloomin’ huge shows, today’s set is a world of electric licks and neon-sharp bangers that has the stage moving and following her every move. ‘Girl Of Your Dreams’ is a key example, born to be blasted out of speakers on warm summer days just like this – and in the time she has on stage, Dylan makes sure to leave a lasting impact. For those gathered, it’s a special brag to say they were there first because it’s not a matter of if Dylan becomes a Main Stage superstar, but when. Missing out simply isn’t an option, guys. FH

COURTING

FESTIVAL REPUBLIC STAGE SUNDAY, 16:05 → “We’ve been told we can’t hit tennis balls into the crowd, so we’ve got 200 tennis balls going spare if you want one.” – the words of Sean Murphy O’Neill, singer of Courting, about 20 minutes before the start of their show. Sport-related issues aside, it’s a confident set from the band, rattling through cuts from the new album to a massive reaction. ‘Tennis’ continues to be a massive hit, but ‘Jumper’, an experimental banger which borrows more from 100 gecs than the indie sphere, hits just as hard. A mid-afternoon slot at the Festival Republic stage can be a tough sell, but Courting have never been a band to shy away from a challenge. JH

CRAWLERS

FESTIVAL REPUBLIC STAGE SUNDAY, 16:55 → There have been many standout breakthrough bands who’ve claimed festival season as their own, but Crawlers may just steal the crown.

At Reading today, it’s nothing short of emphatic. A Festival Republic tent crammed to the rafters with fans new and old follows every command. Latest blazer ‘I Don’t Wanna’ sets pogoing masses alight, ‘I Can’t Drive’ opens pits, and when ‘Fuck Me (I Didn’t Know How To Say)’ and ‘Come Over (Again)’ drop, it’s not just pure release but emotion that rings through the crowd. The mixtape they announce on-stage is but a glorious tease of what’s next (‘Loud Without Noise’, out in October, btw). To be a buzz band is one thing, but to cut through and turn trauma into triumph is another. That’s Crawlers, and they’re just getting started. JM READDORK.COM 19.

FESTIVALS

MEET DEXTER, FONTAINES D.C.’S LEGENDARY SIXTEENYEAR-OLD GUITARIST AT READING 2022 We tracked down Reading’s latest legend to find out just how he managed to get on stage with Fonatines D.C. One of the best things about Reading Festival is its ability to create moments. Points where the script goes out the window, mayhem takes over and legends are made. This year is no different. When young Dexter, 16, came to St John’s Farm with his sign requesting Fontaines DC invite him on stage for their bombastic turbobanger ‘Boys In The Better Land’, he must have known it was a long shot. A tight, propulsive band in one of the biggest moments of their career to date – they’re not Green Day. And yet, that wish was granted.

Dexter found himself, guitar in hand, leading the band into one of their set highlights. More than that – he was brilliant. A genuine legend. As fans of ‘this sort of nonsense’, we know we had to track him down ‘ASAP’.

After posting a TikTok of his performance, we quickly were blessed with a comment from the man himself. A short round of high powered negotiations later,

we met up the morning after to debrief on his big moment.

FONTAINES D.C

We’re here with Dexter, the legend of the festival at this point. Dexter, how are we doing, sir?

Oh, it’s been incredible. It’s been the most surreal moment of my life.

You’re only 16. Did you come straight from getting your GCSE results?

Yeah, I did. Actually.

Did you come with the intention of being on stage with Fontaines? Or was this, like, something that you came up with on the day?

I thought about it, especially with Fontaines, because I really love Fontaines. So, I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll get some cardboard and give it a try’. Yeah, so I went to Poundland in Reading and asked for some cardboard and bought pens.

Were you were you nervous?

I wasn’t nearly as nervous as I thought I would be. There was a moment, like, maybe half an hour before, I thought ‘this isn’t a good idea, what if I mess it up’. But everyone was very friendly. If they were sort of cold, I would have been quite nervous.

Do you think that you’d win a fight against Alex from Glasto?

Alex Turner?

No, Alex from Glasto who did Thiago Silva with Dave.

Oh, absolutely no. No chance.

What have been some of your

20. DORK

other highlights of the festival?

Little Simz was great. Circa Waves were great. Obviously Arctic Monkeys were.

Do you have any tips for anyone who wants to go on stage with their favourite band?

Well, you’ve got to be relatively near the front, obviously. I tried to get close at the side, couldn’t quite get to the front, because if I was close to the barrier I could hop over. They’re not going to ask someone if they’re in the middle of the crowd. Then make sure that the sign is seen and get the cameras on you, then everyone cheers. ■

MAIN STAGE EAST SATURDAY, 17:40 → Walk-on music by The Doors blasts out of the main stage speakers as Fontaines D.C. stride out for their set, blasting straight into a punishing wall of sound which causes mosh pits to erupt within seconds. By the time the opening notes of ‘Sha Sha Sha’ ring out, a sea of people are screaming along. It’s been a meteoric rise for the band, who were playing pub rooms and support slots just a few years ago, but they’ve evolved as a live act with remarkable ease. Grian paces the stage, slamming his mic stand on the ground as he belts out cuts from across their three albums.

Debut ‘Dogrel’ gets surprisingly little attention, with the set leaning heavily on new album ‘Skinty Fia’. It proves that they’re a band only just hitting their stride, with ‘Jackie Down The Line’ greeted with the hysteria normally reserved for a big breakthrough single. One first album cut that does get an airing is ‘Boys in the Better Land’. Pulling a crowd member up to play guitar is a risky decision that plays off handsomely. As the grinning new addition, Dexter, walks off stage at the end of the song, Grian turns to the crowd and says, “he’s only 16!” with complete disbelief.

Final track ‘I Love You’ prompts a mass singalong, with a sea of people on each other’s shoulders as the band wave goodbye. An early evening slot when everyone is waiting for Arctic Monkeys could easily fall flat, but Fontaines turn it into a triumph. JH

FESTIVALS

we’ll stomp your fucking face in.” It’s a heartening message to hear blasting out of the main stage speakers and the cherry on top of an already stellar performance. JH

BASTILLE

MAIN STAGE WEST SUNDAY, 18:30 → From sombre indie to bombastic pop, Bastille are an enduring fourpiece who always offers a moment to please each and every member of the crowd. It’s recent fourth album ‘Give Me The Future’ that steals the spotlight today, as the thrashing, warbling chorus of ‘Distorted Light Beam’ kicks off their multifaceted set, following a prelude that flexes the group’s ability to traverse sophisticated and snappy narratives.

Dan Smith’s shy fronting is, as ever, full of subdued charm, with a stage full of friends and skilled musicians bolstering his confidence as he jumps around to smash hits like ‘Happier’ and their ever-entertaining cover of ‘Of The Night’, before the iconic echoes of ‘Pompeii’ boom across the southern fields. For a band almost a decade into their careers, Bastille’s ability to continually reinvent their own output is astonishing – with their recent ‘Dreams Of The Past’ drop, it’s clear this stream of creativity isn’t going to end anytime soon. FH

CHARLI XCX

MAIN STAGE EAST SUNDAY, 19:30 → Stepping in at the very last minute to replace Maneskin, knocking Run The Jewels down the bill and filling in as The 1975’s warm-up, all while playing to a mixed bag of Rage Against The Machine fans reluctantly clinging onto their day tickets, 1975 stans waiting at the barrier and angels who’d shown up just to see her, it’s fair to say Charli XCX was up against it.

Thankfully, Charli is a Reading festival veteran, climbing the ranks over the years and always hitting the sweet spot between cult classic and bestseller. Sunday’s Main Stage performance is a combination of the curated ‘Crash’ tour set she’s been playing since the album’s release, and the greatest hits she usually brings out to remind the masses she’s always had smashes in her back pocket.

Catering to the diehards and the general public, she opens with ‘Lightning’ and immediately swerves into 2013 Icona Pop feature ‘I Love It’, flipping that method later on when she performs the rabid fan favourite ‘Vroom Vroom’ immediately after recent Tiesto collaboration ‘Hot In It’.

Charli’s been saying she’s in her main pop girl era since the very start of the ‘Crash’ campaign, so subbing Reading’s Main Stage on its final day feels like a fitting bow out after a summer of smashing stages across the globe, even if it only happened by chance. AF

CHLOE MORIONDO

FESTIVAL REPUBLIC STAGE SUNDAY, 19:35 → The one word you may not expect to hear at Reading is wholesome. Yet that’s precisely what Chloe Moriondo’s Sunday evening set on the Festival Republic stage is – full of joyous fun and earnest excitement. It’s a genuinely overwhelming moment for Chloe, recognising the countless smiles and adoration that comes from start to finish whilst also expressing the joy seeing so many gathered brings. ‘I Wanna Be With You’, ‘I Eat Boys’ and ‘Take Your Time’ jump

DAVE

MAIN STAGE EAST FRIDAY, 22:00 → AS THE YOUNGEST SOLO HEADLINER READING’S EVER HAD, you could forgive Dave for being a bit nervous. If he’s feeling the pressure, though, he doesn’t show it. Walking on to little fanfare, it’s straight into ‘We’re All Alone’, standing in front of a giant framework heart as the crowd screams every word back at him.

Fireworks are peppered throughout the set, underscoring lines on ‘Professor X’ and smash-hit ‘Funky Friday’, but nothing on display feels like a set from a man with something to prove.

Instead, it all has a sense of inevitability to it, and he even manages to pull off a section where he plays electric guitar without it seeming corny.

It’s a testament to UK rap’s mainstream success that booking someone like Dave no longer feels like a risk, and he isn’t forced to bring out a stream of guests to amp up the crowd. Of course, there’s a huge response when AJ Tracey comes bouncing out to rap his verse on ‘Thiago Silva’, and Stormzy’s entrance is greeted with near-hysterics. But there’s just as big a response to ‘Twenty To One’, and the crowd silence while he raps a large portion of ‘Heart Attack’ backed only by violins is genuinely moving.

It’s hard to bring nuance to a set without the slower songs becoming opportunities for fans to go to the bar / toilet / burger stand, especially at a festival where everyone’s been drinking for 12 hours. Not only does Dave manage to hold people’s attention, he does it without gimmicks and with only a little bit of pyro (well, it isn’t a headline set without some fire, is it?)

We’d say he’s confirmed his status as a megastar, but was anyone really expecting any different? JH between crunchy riffs, singalongs and sheer bliss, whilst ‘Hell Hounds’ bounces with future-pop flourishes and latest number ‘Fruity’ thrives like the greatest house party you’ve always wanted to go to. From start to finish, it’s an uplifting jukebox of fun that’s impossible not to enjoy – where everyone gathered – Chloe included – may have just had the most fun of the weekend. JM

HALSEY

MAIN STAGE WEST SUNDAY, 20:25 → When the internet talks about a 2014 Tumblr revival, it’s right on the money when you look at Reading’s Sunday evening lineup. Charli XCX into Halsey into The 1975 would’ve sent the platform into a meltdown in the early 2010s, but the thing is, these artists are all in very different places now.

Halsey couldn’t be further from the artist she started out as, which is

why her closing out Main Stage West, something that would’ve once seemed bonkers, now makes complete sense.

Their set, much like that of Miss XCX’s, consistently reminds you they’ve got hits for days, but aren’t afraid of pushing pop’s boundaries.

“It’s probably not gonna be what you expect it to be”, she says of the set she’s got planned, as if anything they’ve done since 2015 has been

predictable. The tour they’re currently on is for 2021’s surprise album ‘If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power’, a bold, theatrical rock record that explodes live, particularly on central track ‘I am Not a Woman I’m a God’.

When integrated with her latest material, older tracks like ‘Gasoline’ and ‘Nightmare’ shine even brighter, proving it’s Halsey’s attitude that’s always been centre stage. AF ■

BEABADOOBEE

FESTIVAL REPUBLIC STAGE SUNDAY, 18:25 → Following a switch around so she didn’t clash with her label mates, beabadoobee takes a slight demotion from headliner to tea time slot on the Festival Republic stage, but it doesn’t stop her bringing her A game.

Running through bangers from debut ‘Fake It Flowers’, the Crown Princess of Dirty Hit is charismatic with and without the guitar. Calling out her bassist in (of course) ‘She Plays Bass’ before dropping the last chorus again for a second helping, the reaction to her set (all shoulder rides and shouting lyrics) proves she’s writing future indie classics, and closing this tent on Sunday would’ve gone down a treat.

Sending in TikTok hit (she’ll hate that we’ve called it that) ‘Coffee’ early keeps the energy high, but it’s recent single ‘10:36’ that goes the hardest. Bea’s only getting bigger, and it’ll be back to the Main Stage for her in no time. AF

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↓↓↓ READING INTERVIEW ↓↓↓

Poppy’s got a new EP. Words: Ali Shutler. Photo: Frances Beach,

→ DURING HER MAIN STAGE WEST SET AT READING 2022, Poppy debuted a new song, ‘FYB’ – an explosive, 105 seconds of fury and frenzied riffs.

Speaking to Dork just before her set, Poppy revealed that ‘FYB’ stands for “Fuck You Back” and is about “somebody getting what they deserve, without you yourself having to lift a finger.” It’s a revenge anthem, but “you don’t do anything about it. You just let it happen.”

Live, “we’re all on the edge of our seats. I have a lot of fun performing it.”

That karmically charged burst of energy is the first from a new four-track EP called ‘Stagger’ that’s pencilled in for release this October. People can apparently expect “a couple of fun songs, and one slower song”, with Poppy confident about the new songs. “They’re very enjoyable.”

She refused to give away what direction she’s taking with this new record but did promise more guitars after the industrial might of ‘I Disagree’ and the alt-rock of ‘Flux’. “At this moment in time, guitars are important to me. Maybe I’ll rebel against the guitar one day, though,” she teased.

“I have just been going where the wind takes me,” she says of her genre-switching. “I always create music based off of how I’m feeling in the moment. The songs that are on ‘Stagger’ were written in December, so they’ve been in existence for quite a long time now,” she added.

Poppy “absolutely” knows what’s next as well, telling us it’ll be “a new chapter.”

Over the past few years, Poppy has gone from social media oddity to celebrated musician, at the forefront of rock’s rapid charge back into the mainstream.

“Rock’s relationship with pop music? I feel like that’s a loaded question,” she starts. “It will take me a lot longer than a minute to answer.

I just try not to pay attention to whatever is

happening and just do what I love the most, and what most represents Poppy, and who I am at that moment. I always view the music that I make as chapters. So any body of work that I release is encapsulating one specific point in my life, and then making something else that encapsulates the next.” She goes on to say she doesn’t feel part of the current wave of exciting guitar artists breathing new life into the genre.

“I don’t consider myself a part of anything. I’m just Poppy.”

But does she think people’s perception of her has changed? “I don’t really pay attention to their perception,” she explained. “Because I think if I did, it would really do a disservice to me as an artist.” Talking about her seemingly newfound confidence, she said with a grin, “Well, I have been doing this for a moment now.”

Following the release of ‘Stagger’, Poppy is set to tour alongside legendary bands The Smashing Pumpkins and Jane’s Addiction.

Despite the generation gap, Poppy has no fear about the run of shows “because I’m just Poppy all the time. And if people like it, that’s wonderful. And if they don’t, that’s also wonderful. At least you feel something.”

She hopes her music “makes people feel empowered, and inspired to create art in whatever mediums that they choose. And start a conversation.”

Ambition-wise, Poppy “knows where I want to go, but I don’t really believe in speaking the ambition out loud. That can sometimes be limiting.”

Talking about her constantly evolving musical style, Poppy explains how “it’s the artist’s responsibility to change things and reinvent. And if you don’t, then why are you doing it? I think every artist should want to push past what their previous works have done,” she adds. “Don’t aim for the floor.” ■

↓↓↓ FESTIVAL PREVIEW ↓↓↓

LIVE AT LEEDS: IN THE CITY Date: Saturday 15th October Location: Various venues, Leeds Line up: Pale Waves, Sundara Karma, White Lies, Palace, Thomas Headon. Los Bitchos, Will Joseph Cook, Connie Constance, Crawlers, Baby Queen and more.

Tickets: liveatleeds.com

→ AFTER A STORMING DEBUT earlier this summer for their ‘In The Park’ iteration, artists will shortly be taking to stages dotted the northern city centre for the massive, more traditional ‘Live at Leeds: In The City’. On one day, and for one ticket, you get access to see in the region of 150 musicians perform at venues across Leeds.

The 2021 outing for Live At Leeds marked the return to live music last year for many bands and punters and what Dork considered to be a “euphoric close” to that year’s festival season.

Other artists on the 2022 line up include deep breath - Warmduscher, Joesef, Swim Deep, Gruff Rhys, Lottery Winners, Baby Dave, Jelani Blackman, Casey Lowry, Molly Payton, King No-One, Kid Brunswick, Far Caspian, The Pale White, Lovejoy, Melin Melyn, Joe & The Shitboys, Ciel, Banji, Wings Of Desire, The Hara, Seraphina Simone, Cvc, Rats, The Clause, Splint, The Shakes, and Youth Sector.

Told you it was massive. With that number of artists knocking around, there’s sure to be something for everyone.

And of course, the festival takes place with the ‘valuable’ support of Dork - details to follow about what we have up our sleeves very soon. Keep an eye on readdork.com for more.

↓↓↓ FESTIVAL PREVIEW ↓↓↓

NEIGHBOURHOOD Date: Saturday 1st October 2022 Location: Various venues, Manchester Line-up: The Snuts, Everything Everything, Sundara Karma, Alfie Templeman, Baby Queen, Gracey, Lauren Hibberd, Courting, Lovejoy Get tickets: neighbourhoodfestival. com → CONTINUING WITH THE NORTHERN CITY CENTRE THEME, the first Saturday of October sees the arrival of Neighbourhood. Running on and off since 2016 (hiya, pandemic), the one-day festival will take place at various venues including The Deaf Institute, Albert Hall, Gorilla, O2 Ritz and ‘more’.

Other artists on the 2022 line up include Nell Mescal, Egyptian Blue, L’Objectif, Priestgate, The Goa Express, Gracey and LOADS more.

Like, loads. That clashfinder is going to get very competitive.

Separately, there’ll be a launch party on 30th September to kick off the festivities at New Century Hall, headlined by Hard Fi. (Insert living for the weekend joke here. If you don’t know what we’re on about, ask your parents - Ed) One ticket grants access to all venues and all shows with set times released in the days before the festival.

For our younger readers, please check out the age restrictions for your choice of venue as some are 18+ only.

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↓↓↓ FESTIVAL REPORT ↓↓↓

Y NOT?

FESTIVALS

Derbyshire’s indie stalwart turns 15 by doing what it does best.

Photos: Ami Ford.

→ INDIE’S MUDDIEST GETTOGETHER, Y Not‘s 15th iteration is returning to the vast fields of Pikehall, Derbyshire for the first time since 2019. Originating back in 2005 as an alternative to a back-garden gathering, the Peak District’s notoriously chaotic party has only grown in ambition.

The Kooks kick things off and make early entry worth its admission fee with a set that harkens back to the youthful innocence that Y Not seeks to embody. It’s a fun coincidence that their debut breakthrough ‘Inside In / Inside Out’ has also recently boasted its 15th anniversary and, based on the reaction down at the Big Gin stage, hasn’t lost any potency. It’s juxtaposed against the fresh taste of the band’s recent sixth studio album ’10 Tracks to Echo in the Dark’, a euphoric exercise in imagination that captures the crowd’s hearts before ‘Naïve’ is whipped out.

It’s not all about the (relative) old timers, though. Pale Waves top the Friday bill in the blaring Quarry tent, where Heather BaronGracie’s vocal flexes a gratifying urgency that compliments her substantial showmanship.

Elsewhere, while Courteeners’ flare-fuelled anthems paint the town red, Mae Muller brings empowering pop beats just off the beaten path. Turning the pain of intolerable and misinformed men into cathartic gains for women, mostly significantly herself, Mae encourages Y Not to take control

↑ The Vaccines

of their own joy with ‘Better Days’, claiming the hot summer buzz that it has more than earned.

All the current indie staples are littered across the weekend too.

Sports Team enthral an energetic Friday night tent with their trademark raucousness, leaving fans far happier than the festival security team as they mosh their way from breakout ‘Kutcher’ to LP2 tease ‘R Entertainment’.

Marching on in a cape and crown, Alex Rice leads the gang through a dripping performance, only getting a break from relentless sweat when Rob takes over for ‘Long Hot Summer’.

Easy Life don’t waste any time bringing their consistent vibrancy to life as frontman Murray jumps straight onto a speaker and into ‘Pockets’. Shedding a few of the old garms (and hairstyles) for a clean, slick image, they eagerly head into their own second fulllength record. Despite ‘peanut butter’ claiming, “I put some serious thought into my outfit”, the five-piece must have been sweltering in those embodied leather jackets. Beach balls fly in all directions, and when the audience is asked to get up on some shoulders for ‘daydreaming’, they don’t disappoint.

Five years after their cancelled headline slot, The Vaccines return and bring national-scale glory with them; “Is it now officially home?”

Justin Young asks as chanting dominates the field following the Lionesses’ mid-set 2-1 victory.

↑ Blossoms

Each band member fights to drive their joyful contribution to the forefront, collectively pushing the limits of how fun an English indierock group can become.

Under these bigger names lies an array of new soon-tobe-favourites. In the rock arena, Liverpool’s STONE warm up early attendees with an unfiltered live approach only recently uncaged from sweaty basements. The Pale White’s fresh four-piece crew cause carnage with the filthy guitar lines of ‘Medicine’. Daytime TV look the part, and their glistening heft sounds it too – penultimate tune, ‘Little Victories’, seems aptly titled.

Dream Wife counter a peaceful Sunday afternoon with socially conscious punk and contrast riotous rock with neon costumes – their money cannon may suffer technical difficulties, but the ‘bad

bitches’ watching don’t need to be bought.

Master Peace suffers a similar fate as he tackles his own sound system just two songs in, but manages to pull the crowd back in with the invigorating pop combo of ‘PDA’ and ‘PNE’. NOISY bring their magic to the daytime; when Cody Matthews sings, “this feels like a moment,” he is not mistaken.

Following a support tour alongside Olivia Rodrigo, Baby Queen is able to dominate the main stage with ease. Her pulsating pop choruses get the festival jumping, and ‘Nobody Really Cares’ verifies the thematically poignant intent of her new guitar-led direction.

Standard Y Not nonsense provides future talent with a backdrop full of merry shenanigans – Mr Motivator somewhat cures those hangovers with bizarre aerobics, The Lancanshire Hotpots’ folk-comedy pleases fans of ‘Chippy Tea’, and ex-Teletubbies’ stars King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys jazz up the Big Gin stage. The Nighthawk Cinema runs all night, Club Malibu inspires endless queues, and the brutal collision of a fancy dress competition with a paint party leaves marks that will be tough to remove.

There is time to relax if you so desire, as Billie Marten’s delicate

third album ‘Flora Fauna’ lulls listeners into a shared trance.

The buzzy, endlessly-original Pixey delivers dreamlike, textured soundscapes that hold onto every inch of space in the room before Matilda Mann’s whispering optimism narrates her friend’s love lives – ‘Bloom’ is a mesmerising highlight here Concluding all festivities, Blossoms’ well-deserved finale sees frontman Tom Ogden effortlessly delivering a relaxed masterclass in satisfying listeners of any type. Bucket-hat wearers join their own mothers in singing defining tracks like ‘I Can’t Stand It’ and ‘The Keeper’, with latest LP’ Ribbon Around The Bomb’ revealing a more vulnerable layer to the group. Finally, the sparkling tones of ‘Charlemagne’ are a fitting way to round off the weekend.

Y Not always plays out with an element of familiarity, and the soggy-to-say-the-least Saturday night is one element of that, but a sense of promise miraculously banishes the bad vibes long before the jubilation comes to a close. The Midlands indie party remains an essential gateway for both youngsters who haven’t yet solidified their own tastes and older generations looking to find hidden highlights. FINLAY HOLDEN READDORK.COM 23.

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“I’M JUST A MASSIVE WANNABE ROCK STAR WHO CAN ONLY WRITE POP SONGS” DY L AN

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DYLAN Rock star, pop star and her own biggest fan: Dylan is impossible not to get on board with.

“I

t’s been a hell of a few months,” says Dylan. It’s perhaps the biggest understatement of the year. Today we’re sat backstage at Latitude, ahead of a main stage performance that’s cool, comfortable and full of snarling ambition. Last night, she was performing in Brussels, supporting Ed Sheeran on a stadium run, and after one day at home, she’ll be flying off to America for shows in New York, Chicago and LA. Then it’s back to Europe for more shows supporting Ed and a pair of blistering performances at Reading & Leeds. There’s a UK headline run planned for November that’s so sold out, Dylan has already announced a gig at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire for February 2023. That, too, is already sold out. “I feel like a proper rock star. I love it,” she grins.

“I mean, I’m very tired, but I can survive on no sleep.”

“I feel like my show suits big stages,” the 22-year-old continues.

Her music is a bold blend of classic rock and the sort of relatable storytelling that’s made stars of Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers and Holly Humberstone. “It just feels better in front of more people.”

Still, today she’s feeling terrified.

Latitude is “the only festival I’ve ever been to. My dad’s been bringing me here since I was nine, and this is where I discovered all the music I’m obsessed with.” In 2017, she resorted to the ol’ Shewee and cup trick to ensure a good spot for The 1975, and she’s also had a relationship end in front of the main stage. “I can’t wait to talk about it onstage,” she grins. “I’m hoping he turns up, because I know he lives close by.”

Catching up with Dork backstage at Reading, Dylan still doesn’t know if her ex caught her main stage ‘fuck you’, but at the rate her star is rising, he can’t stay ignorant for long.

Dylan says she’s enjoying how fast things seem to be happening.

“I’ve been really good at taking it day-by-day, rather than trying to chase things.” Latitude is the third festival of the season for Dylan, and all of them have been on the biggest stage possible. She did ask her team “surely there’s meant to be a stepping stone”, but she’s learnt to trust the process. “All I can do is just go and be a rock star.”

She says touring with Tate McRae, Yungblud and Thomas Headon was “quite easy because that’s very much my audience”. It was harder supporting the likes of Bastille and Ed because “they speak to such a range of people. I’ve had to work out how to connect to people, even if they don’t know my songs.”

And what songs they are. The title track to her ‘No Romeo’ EP is a shimmering hunk of pop rock, the viral ‘You’re Not Harry Styles’ is frantic, polished punk, while ‘Nineteen’ is an expansive, nostalgic track that rebels against comingof-age. Then there’s the recent single ‘Girl Of Your Dreams’, which feels like the start of a new era. “It’s getting rockier, but in a nice pop way,” explains Dylan.

Musically, ‘Girl Of Your Dreams’ takes influence from Yungblud “because watching his show, there’s something so spectacular about it. He’s everywhere all at once, and I wanted something with that energy,” while the track tells the real-life story of a first date that didn’t go quite to plan.

“Well, I thought it was a date until all his mates turned up. Thank God I didn’t say anything. That experience really threw me in the dirt, though. I was asking myself, ‘why does he have zero interest in me?’ so the next day, I went into the studio to write a song that would convince him otherwise,” Dylan explains before laughing. “It didn’t work, but I got a song out of it, so it’s okay.”

Nowadays, Dylan blends AC/ DC’s rock swagger with Taylor Swift’s pop sensibilities, but her earlier material tackles everything from atmospheric synth-pop (‘Bad Bitches Beat Heartbreak’) to haunting electronica (‘Good Enough). “I was just in denial for a really long time, trying to be someone completely different,” she admits. “My first two EPs (2019’s ‘Purple’ and 2020’s ‘Red’) bless them, but I was not myself. I was too busy trying to be everyone else. I thought I knew it all, but it was horrific, which is why none of it works.”

Lockdown proved “I knew nothing” and she got to a point where she couldn’t carry on. “I can’t exhaust myself trying to be everyone,” she realised. “I’m just going to have to write like I would if I was 16 again. That helped me find my sound, which is marrying big pop storytelling with rock and roll.

It was actually pretty easy. I’m just a massive wannabe rock star who can only write pop songs.”

Still, those early EPs are still on Spotify. “It’s nice for people to see the journey. I’m not ashamed of them, even if I don’t necessarily enjoy the songs as much as I do the ones I’m writing now. I’ve accepted them as part of my story, though,” she says before looking to the future. “Seriously, the songs I’m writing now, I listen to them every day, and I just don’t get bored of them. It’s hilarious; I’m my own biggest fan.”

“I want to have the relatability of someone like Taylor, with the coolness of someone like Billie Eilish but with the live show of AC/DC,” Dylan says of what sort of artist she wants to be. “I want to bring all of the things that I love so much about all of my favourite artists into one project. But everyone inspires me, really. My playlists are bonkers, but I’m trying to not put too many restrictions on my music, because I want it to be natural. I want it to be me; I don’t want to fall into the same trap I did when I was 18 and started writing what I thought other people wanted from me.”

Dylan’s coming through at a time where rock and pop has never been more entwined, thanks to artists like Olivia Rodrigo and Billie. “It’s so nice to see because it’s the music that I absolutely love. I think they’re both brilliant. Also, seeing women doing it is really great. It kind of makes it okay for the rest of us. All I’ve ever wanted to do is play guitar onstage,

Words: Ali Shutler. Photos: Frances Beach.

busting out knee slides and doing all of my sexy guitar stuff.”

Dylan is also currently sitting on a new project that is “a bit longer than an EP” and will hopefully be unveiled later this year.

“It’s got more texture to it than what’s come before,” she explains.

“Because an EP like ‘No Romeo’ is just six songs, it’s got to be in your face. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.” She says the music coming is still “massive, but there are some more heartfelt songs, some more personal songs and more rocking songs. There’s so much more freedom when you have a bigger body of work. I get to say so much more about myself rather than just trying to catch people’s eye. The live show is going to be ridiculous, though,” she adds with a grin.

When Dylan was a kid, her dad used to stand her on the kitchen table and get her to practise screaming “Hello Wembley” before she sang ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’

“THE SONGS I’M WRITING NOW, I LISTEN TO THEM EVERY DAY, AND I JUST DON’T GET BORED OF THEM. IT’S HILARIOUS; I’M MY OWN BIGGEST FAN”

DY L AN

by Rainbow. Earlier this year, she got to scream “Hello Wembley” for real, supporting Ed. “Once you’ve had a taste of it, you can’t not want it,” she admits, saying playing Wembley has always been the dream. “That is where I want to get to. Obviously, there are lots of little goals in between, but yeah, I think the music that I make belongs in stadiums, so that’s what I’m going to aim for.

Does that lofty goal feel achievable, though? “You know what, it really does. I believe I can do it.”

Still, there’s one downside to success that Dylan hasn’t considered just yet. See, her breakout track ‘You’re Not Harry Styles’ isn’t exactly subtle in how she feels about the pop megastar.

What happens when they cross paths?

“Well, the song isn’t about him.

It’s just saying the person it is about, isn’t as good as Harry Styles. It’s a massive compliment, really,” Dylan starts, getting her defence in order before revealing that one of his childhood friends actually shared the song via Instagram Stories recently, meaning there’s a very good chance Harry is already aware of the track. “I don’t know how to feel about that,” admits Dylan.

“Before I wrote that song, I used to think that if me and Harry ever met, I’d play it really cool, really serious, we’d talk about music and then maybe he’d fall in love with me,” she continues, very much an open book.

“That’s fucked now, isn’t it?” ■

READDORK.COM 25.

CHILLI JESSON You may know him from indie darlings Palma Violets or perhaps more recently Crewel Intentions, but now long-time fave Chilli Jesson is stamping his own name on things.

C

hilli Jesson is no newcomer to live performance, but there is something about this newest wave of selfreinvention that feels invigorated.

With just a handful of shows under his own name, he’s already feeling the love.

“It always goes down amazingly – well, ‘always’,” he laughs. “Latitude was particularly… loose, everyone feels loose. You could be a banker or an account or whatever, but once you enter a festival show like ours, you leave that at the door. You just buddy up with anybody and everybody.”

With past projects succinctly marked out by specific, defining characteristics – the youthful innocence of Palma Violets and the sprawling sonic outcasts of Crewel Intentions certainly made a lasting impression – his latest creative venture is grasping towards something new.

“Born-again pop. That’s how I classify us,” Chilli says, gesturing towards the collaborative trio around him. “There are songs that definitely revolve around a higher energy, and people who know me from those adolescent years will be surprised.”

This eye-opening reclaiming of his act reaches beyond the music but can be heard from the first play of debut EP, ‘St Vitamin’. The titular opening

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track thrashes and squirms under its distorted guitar lines, and while this enrapturing energy also radiates on-stage, it is just one facet of this initial offering.

“Basically, we had written a heap of diverse songs which all felt really good together,” Chilli explains. “We can show off an energetic side with ‘St Vitamin’, and then with songs like ‘White Room’, we lean into electronic stuff, which will be amped up even more later. We even offer a more tender side on ‘WDTYCWDWTHY’.”

Though an audibly varied release, he has honed in on a topic that has only become more important as the years wear on – mental fragility.

“When I was in Palma Violets, even as a band, we would never talk about our mental states with each other,” he recalls vividly. “We were all struggling big time while doing 300 shows a year for multiple years. We were inevitably pretty fucked. Now we all discuss these things. It’s one of my favourite changes in life recently; it’s helped me a lot to just open up, and I hope this massive topic isn’t even near reaching its peak.”

It was over a pint that Chilli finally noticed the open door of vulnerable conversation. “I remember being sat in a pub and someone admitting, ‘I feel really terrible and sad’. Before I knew what was happening, we suddenly turned into three weeping

“YOU’VE GOT ME FOREVER NOW, WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT”

Words: Finlay Holden. Photo: Patrick Gunning.

admitting “that line, ‘love is a serious mental illness’, is actually a Plato quote that I’ve had written down for years, just waiting on my wall. It was so fucking long that it took until now to make its way into a tune.”

New standalone single ‘Circles’ taps into that same vein, lyrically dancing around the idea of evolving past your own friendship groups.

“Lockdown was a significant period because we didn’t socially hang out with anyone, so when we came back to our groups of friends, I thought: hang on, these people have changed.

C H IL L I JE S S O N We’d moved on, developed different interests, got into sewing or baking dudes at a pub. It was quite a or whatever. It’s about being in beautiful thing.” certain crews and then suddenly not It’s something he was immediately having that again.” It is clear from keen to explore in song, but no matter the resonance of his genuine tone how serious a topic might be, for him, that this is something Chilli has been “it’s always painted using humour through more than once. because that’s my way of dealing with Fortunately, songwriting has been things.” his lifelong saving grace. Although it It’s most evident on track two hasn’t always been a stable journey, of the EP, ‘Love Is A Serious Mental he confirms that a new level of Illness’, which also pulls toxicity within comfort has been attained. “Starting relationships of any form into the so young, I was really just learning my conversation. It’s something Chilli stuff on the go,” he confessed. “I had has been waiting to bring up, but that two-year period during lockdown it finally felt right. “Culturally, after where I was like, okay, there’s going having these weeping conversations, to be no live shows for 6-8 months, now felt like the time to do it. It’s so let’s really focus now. I learned about friendships and the capability to enjoy it, and it really became a of people to grow and move on,” massively freeing thing.”

That liberation comes from he explains before that gleefully

practice, yes, but it also comes from the feeling of high-level fulfilment and achievement. “It’s a confidence thing, to be honest with you,” he carefully clarifies. “I feel like I’m getting really good at it. I’m not being arrogant, but everyone hits that moment when they invest a lot of time into something, and you finally realise – ‘wow, I’m getting shit-hot at this’. You put the work in before, and it pays off.”

“That’s why we’re all here,” he continues, acknowledging the daily grind and bustle of life as an artist.

“It’s why we load the van every day, rehearse in terrible places, and stick together as a band. There’s a real madness to it. I reckon if anyone doing a normal job watches us from the outside, their first reaction would be: ‘what the hell are you doing?’ We are all mad. It’s almost a requirement.”

Some might say you’d be mad to even try to recreate the cult success of an iconic indie act. Chilli concedes that starting anew “is a fucking ballache,” but he also knows that this new incarnation of his artistic expression is shaping up to be something special. “This is my brainchild, but it’s now become a collaborative project, and that’s been great. This is it. This is everything I wanted to do and everything I wanted to say. You’ve got me forever now, whether you like it or not. This project is the end game.” ■

FIRST ON.↓

BEEN STELLAR Words: Finlay Holden. Photo: Frances Beach.

“WE LIKE MUSIC THAT CAN ONLY EXIST IN ONE PLACE”

BONNIE KEMPLAY

→ Freshly inked with The 1975’s label Dirty Hit, Bonnie Kemplay is a name you’re gonna be hearing a whole lot about over the next few months. Last year, she beat over 10,000 entries to perform in the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge as an emerging artist, and has already supported Adele in Hyde Park.

Recent singles like ‘Was It Obvious?’ mark her out as a legitimate one to watch. The potential is, frankly, obvious.

SK Y L E R ST. MARX

SPLINT

→ The latest act to come from one of new music’s best incubators Nice Swan Records, Manchester band splint join a line of bands including English Teacher, Courting, Sprints and more as a recommendation it would be, quite frankly, foolish to ignore. Their first public recording, ‘Military Procedures’, shows just why tastemaker whispers have already marked them out as a band of significant potential.

DOG RACE

→ Bedford’s Dog Race pretty much encapsulate everything you’d expect from a band starting to make a buzz around the new music haunts of London. With a rep for last-minute DIY shows, their debut single ‘Terror’ was produced by Jessica Winter (Pregoblin, Jazmin Bean) and mixed

by Jon McMullen (Wet Leg, The Comet Is Coming). So far, so good. One of the first songs written by the band, and recorded pre-pandemic, the fact it’s great and also a marker set before a whole load of development to follow only makes it more exciting.

Been Stellar’s music may be impacted by the time and place they reside in, but they’re already making great progress in exporting their direction over the pond.

F

ar from being defined by their surroundings in New York’s overwhelming capital, five-piece rock outfit Been Stellar carefully consider how they can appreciate the subtleties of their surroundings and use them to create art that speaks of its lineage, all while adopting drawling characteristics that only those looking outward could hope to pull from.

Having recently explored London for the first time, they immediately notice a more relaxed vibe in the English capital compared to their hometown – not something most artists can claim. “Just doing laundry is a huge chore in New York,” bassist Nico Brunstein admits. “No one has a machine; you have to carry your stuff down the streets even in summer.”

Although the Big Apple might bring with it a heap of stresses, the weirdly addictive routine of

the hustle and grit is something this five-piece have unwittingly become absorbed into. While they met at a mix of high school, college and city gigs, three of the five now reside within very close quarters. “The Britanys gave us our spot, and it’s a really rare find,” guitarist Skyler St. Marx explains.

“We live in a room each and have a rehearsal space downstairs. It’s a really cool space and makes it way more affordable than renting out a separate studio.” It’s fortunate that they’re able to maintain a delicate relationship with their “super”, then.

Moving out for college was always going to be the catalyst for finding their identity in music; the band members were in various states of play in regard to formalising their creative ambitions, with Skyler and frontman Sam Slocum coming in hot with the intention of forming a bad, but it wasn’t as deliberate for the whole group. Drummer Laila Wayans shares her background: “I went to NYU for music production, so I definitely had the intention of pursuing music but didn’t know how just yet; I played drums in high school but never in a band, just by myself in my house. My school was really conservative, and nobody did art, so I was itching to play. When I stumbled across these four, they just made

sense to me.”

As the five then continued to stumble together, they began embodying a city that, although appealing with a more subtle sense of charm, defaces the image of glamour that is presumed across the globe. “People see it that way, but they’re pretty misguided,” state St. Marx. “Way before all the cool stuff, there is a very delicate ecosystem of ethnic groups surviving alongside each other. People do themselves a disservice by only seeing it as a place where The Ramones and Lou Reed came from – it’s also a really vibrant, fascinating place even when entirely separated from art and music.”

That natural, enduring fibre is something Been Stellar embody within the recordings, something they learnt while recording in their downstairs basement-slashstudio. “We always base our onstage sound on the specific walls of that room; the guitars cover up the entire space,” guitarist Nando Dale says. “It’s very gritty, but we fell in love with it. We’re trying to balance that sound against what feels good on a record.”

Considering their signing to UK indie label So Young, it makes sense that the band also appreciate many current artists: “Lime Garden, VLURE, Humour,

Gently Tender… they really are tastemakers,” Laila nods. Artists like these all embody something that Been Stellar try to take on board; using your current surroundings to define your path forward.

“We like music that can only exist in one place,” Skyler clarifies.

“If you’re not fully letting your environment influence your songwriting, you’re going to be making compromises. There’s a lot of artifice and dishonesty in that behaviour.” He continues: “It’s one thing to see a band and think, ‘they sound like x or y’, but it’s another thing to realise they’re saying something pertinent to the present day; that’s what is pushing music forward.”

Enabling this progression within their notorious neck of the woods has been a consideration always on his mind, too. “There’s a lot of give and take while doing that in New York – you get to have the New York identity, which is interesting in its own way, but you need to keep contributing to that identity if you’re also going to be taking from it. That’s something we take really seriously; we want to add to the lineage.”

Aside from all this talk, the band have been able to form a solid release to tee up their ambitions – the ‘Been Stellar’ EP reveals their first steps towards defining their post-pandemic goals. “It’s a really good mission statement for what we are going to become,” St. Marx summarises.

“It’s a very diverse EP. There are a lot of different sounds and directions, but each song contains an element that we want to blend into one on the album. The directness of ‘Manhattan Youth’ combined with the boldness of closing track ‘Ohm’ is what we envision us reaching for next.”

Speaking of, the aforementioned album is in the works as we speak.

“We have a load of shades of blue, and a load of shades of red; but we want the album to be purple.

A big bunch of purple,” he grins.

“That sounded better in my head.”

■ Been Stellar’s self-titled EP is out now.

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COVER STORY

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EASY LIFE

It’s time to say hello again to Easy Life, back with a quite frankly luxurious second album one that frontman Murray Matravers says enables the band to learn from their past shortcomings, make new friends and explore reflections of their past selves.

And move to Japan, maybe.

WORDS: FINLAY HOLDEN. PHOTOS: JACK BRIDGLAND.

READDORK.COM 29.

COVER STORY

M

AKING CAREER STRIDES DURING AN UNSTABLE FEW YEARS, the buffer period between album drops has been a time of growing pains for Easy Life. In creating a surprisingly introspective and existential second full-length, the fivepiece have been grasping at the fruits of inspiration in countries around the globe. As we speak, the band are busy making a rapid recovery from tour-induced jet lag after bouncing from Japan to Australia in the last week; two locations they had long been dying to explore.

Frontman Murray Matravers can’t help but gush on the former. “Honestly, mate, I’m obsessed,” he enthuses. “I even have dreams in Japanese. When I sleep, I’m in Tokyo walking around – it’s such

"THE OLDER YOU GET, UNFORTUNATELY, IN MY EXPERIENCE, THE MORE ANXIOUS AND TERRIFIED YOU GET – IT’S NOT VERY FUCKING HOPEFUL, IS IT?" - MURRAY MATRAVERS an intense place, it’s burnt a hole in my brain. It’s exactly as you’d imagine it to be, that’s the thing. There are many places in the world where you imagine it in a certain way, and then you arrive there, and you’re… maybe not disappointed, but you’re surprised. Japan is just like you’d think, especially Tokyo, which is just fucking hectic. It’s so foreign, and it’s great.”

It is refreshing to see the singer revelling in his recent discoveries. The last time Dork caught up with Easy Life, they were in the midst of a debut album release which, in hindsight, was jarring, unstable and a little confusing for the group.

Nonetheless, they carry momentous energy into every project they tackle. The joy the songs enabled and the lessons the process gave have proved invaluable in what has followed.

“The first time you do anything is daunting, so in releasing our first album, we were quite nervous and weren’t exactly sure what to expect. It’s funny because you put so much anticipation and expectation on it to go a certain way or be a certain thing, and then suddenly, for us at least, we felt a little bit… almost

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underwhelmed,” he admits carefully.

“I’ve enjoyed this second album process so much more. It’s still all very new and exciting, but I’ve made an album before now, so making the new one felt like there was a blueprint to follow. I knew the shortcomings of the first one in terms of the songwriting, production, artwork or campaign – whatever it might be, wherever I’ve made mistakes, I’ve made them already. This time, I’m feeling good.”

He confesses that album three is already under development in secret the new effort, titled ‘Maybe In Another Life...’, started much the same way. While fans were pestering the group for details on ‘life’s a beach’, they’d already begun to move on to more expansive ventures.

“That was constantly the question on everyone’s lips for a long time: ‘when’s the album happening?’ For this one, no one was asking when it was coming, so when I delivered it, everyone was like, ‘oh fuck, you’ve done it already?’” Murray grins.

“I’d always made music as a hobby myself, so I just crack on with it. I felt so free, just completely at ease with what I was creating and in the way I was creating it. It was enjoyable. There was no pressure.”

EASY LIFE

READDORK.COM 31.

COVER STORY

Despite the absence of external stresses, undeniable mental turmoil meant everything else became more complicated.

While ‘life’s a beach’ represented a seaside holiday that failed to escape the woes of the everyday, ‘Maybe In Another Life...’ was becoming even more focused on those ever-present thoughts: ‘did I make the right decision?’

“I think the older you get, unfortunately, in my experience, the more anxious and terrified you get – it’s not very fucking hopeful, is it?” Murray contemplates. “I was told the older you get, the less you give a shit, but I’m just now dealing with a lot of stuff that I’d always left alone. When you’re young, you’re just trying to push forward and not let the past define you or hold you back. With this second album, I’ve really gone into all the decisions I’ve made - some of them were good decisions, some of them were mistakes - and that’s how this whole record came about.”

While there are some fun, “party time, hands in the air” songs within the tracklist (‘Basement’, ‘Silver Linings’), the undeniable core stems from an air of melancholy and its highlights lean into sombre territory. One shining and snarling example of this is ‘Memory Loss’. While Murray admits to frequently bathing himself in nostalgia, it is not without struggle – whether that’s down to smoking too much weed or a symptom of trauma, who can say? Either way, takes this existing curiosity for the past and scrutinises it under a lyrical microscope.

“We have been working away at this for five years, but things always seem to happen so fast,” he explains. “I got stuck looking back and wondering how we got here; whether this is what I wanted for the band, what I wanted for my life, and all those deep questions that I think people are asking all the time. It’s not just personal to me; this is something that our generation will be stuck thinking about for the majority of our twenties. You literally have no idea if what you’re doing is what you want to do, and that’s a really terrifying thing.”

Coming to terms with the fact that nobody ever has a real clue what they’re doing was an existential moment, and one made more difficult at a time when all five members of Easy Life were split up across the

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country.

“It goes quite melancholic in places because there were genuinely times when I felt really alone, overwhelmed and perhaps even unhappy, and then I might write a happy song to get out of it – that’s what I’ve always done, really. I think a classic example of that is ‘Nightmares’, just to reference our massive smash hit,” he jests. Using music to remedy a situation and inspire hope in times of turmoil is an ethos embedded throughout ‘Maybe In Another Life...’, with the opening track immediately setting that tone. “’Memory Loss’ deals with the

‘maybe’ of everything; maybe I should’ve done everything differently. ‘Growing Pains’ is; should we be together, should we do this, should we still be questioning the path we’re on,” Murray reflects. “I was thinking about my place in the world and whether I belong here. Am I developing in a good way? Is life going well? It’s so fucking miserable when I say it out loud, but I don’t think it feels miserable; when we play these songs live, I want people to smile and have a sense of togetherness. It shouldn’t be isolating and lonely because that’s what I was escaping when

writing them.”

It was with escapism that initial sketches of the record began with ‘Dear Miss Holloway’, a character Murray emphasises is fictional. He began sketching out these ideas of ‘what if’. Typical of Easy Life, their first question was, ‘what if I ran away with the teacher I fancied?’ So far, so very Busted. This introduction to the concept soon developed some serious weight, though. It got the ball rolling, even if a firm direction wasn’t yet apparent.

“This song began the album process - its chorus gave me the title too,” he recalls. “It also

birthed this concept of what could’ve been, decisions and consequences, so I had this overarching theme throughout the writing, and it led to a cohesive idea; exploring the idea of maybe. Because of that, I think it was bound to be a bit melancholy because rarely do I look back and think, ‘ah yeah, I’ve smashed that’. Normally it’s more like, ‘oh god, what have I done?

Why did I say that?’ There’s the pure anxiety of questioning what you were even thinking. I’m always so embarrassed at my younger self or even what I just did yesterday, especially waking up

EASY LIFE

"I FELT SO FREE, JUST COMPLETELY AT EASE WITH WHAT I WAS CREATING"

after drinking. The hangxiety is very real. There are a lot of those moments on this album.”

Drinking is explored explicitly in the third preview from the album, ‘OTT’ - a collaboration with BENEE full of obvious chemistry between the two artist’s vocals. There are three standout tracks that feature voices external to the band - a distinct departure in attitude for Easy Life. Other than 2019’s ‘sangria’, the band have previously kept their worlds very much to their own.

“We wanted it to be all about us and not have anybody steal

the limelight; we very much wanted to do things ourselves for the first album. No one could take the microphone out of my hand,” Murray explains. “I’m trying to make more friends in life in general, and through that process, I’ve made more artistic friends and collaborated with them. I think that’s really important. I couldn’t collaborate with a complete stranger because it feels so synthetic. I’ve been lucky enough to rub shoulders with these great artists like Kevin Abstract, BENEE and Gus Dapperton on my journey, and now they’re only a text away to

- MURRAY MATRAVERS

READDORK.COM 33.

COVER STORY

"IF WE WERE ROCK STARS, EASY LIFE WOULD CEASE TO WORK. THE WHOLE POINT IS THAT WE’RE NOT. THAT’S OUR UNIQUE SELLING POINT: WE’RE COMPLETELY LAME" - MURRAY MATRAVERS

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write a song. That feels more organic.”

Dapperton is an early friend of the band, taking them along on their firstever UK tour, and BENEE is a Kiwi gem that should be familiar to any regular Dork reader (“your stomach will always be aching after chatting to her”). It remains Kevin Abstract who has made the biggest impression on the group before and during their blazing career, though. Easy Life may be one of the most original groups to transform their indie tones on this side of the pond, but BROCKHAMPTON led the way.

“There are a lot of people in our lane doing interesting, alternative types of music, and Kevin is definitely a trailblazer in that field,” Murray describes. “I’m in awe of everything he’s done with BROCKHAMPTON. They established a new blueprint for what a modern band can be, which was really exciting. All the moves they’ve made have been really thought-provoking, so working with him has been amazing. Some fans do say the same things about Easy Life, which is funny to us. I am being humble there. I do think we’ve done things differently from other British guitar bands that have come before.

People always catch on to our style, and that’s one reason why we’re constantly switching it up; that’s exactly what BROCKHAMPTON were doing too.”

It has become increasingly clear that Easy Life are now generating the same influence for British up-andcomers. BROCKHAMPTON may have caused a storm and become hip-hop icons, but for indie teens here in the UK, the five grounded and somewhat goofy lads from the midlands are far more accessible as role models.

“To have any youngsters look up to us, I’m humbled by that,” Murray expresses with evident gratitude.

“I remember looking at artists and thinking they were so unattainable, but I think Easy Life still feels close to home. We resonate with our fans because they’re just like our mates down the road. Music in England is funny, man. I don’t wanna talk about money, but people be tripping thinking we’re rock stars. If we were rock stars, Easy Life would cease to work.

The whole point is that we’re not.

That’s our unique selling point: we’re completely lame, and we will continue to be.”

Lame is not what comes to mind when watching Easy Life on stage with their newfound style – greasy hair, moody attitudes and matching, embroidered leather jackets. Their

live performances have taken on a more theatrical approach, and the same can very much be said about their music. For all their past worldbuilding ventures, ‘Maybe In Another Life...’ is the first that seemed to arrive with its visual identity already clearly established.

“Something that often happens is you finish all the music, and then you realise shit, now I need some artwork and videos. That process can be stressful because you have to compromise,” Murray reveals. “This whole visual campaign, though, I’d thought about alongside the music, so the two feel married together rather than being an afterthought, which they certainly weren’t. I wish I’d done this earlier in our career because it does help. It gives it an obvious sense of identity. We’ve always tried to build these worlds, but retrospectively. It’s actually really fun as well, just watching a bunch of films for inspiration. It’s nice to have fun, isn’t it?”

Fully with you on that one, Murray.

With their latest record, it is clear that the band are finding complete joy in all aspects of the process, mentally distanced from the behemoth task that awaited them. Artists often look back at their own releases as time capsules for a period of their life, and this singer-songwriter only has fond thoughts in mind when he says: “I’m always gonna be really proud of this one.”

“When you asked about the ‘life’s a beach’ period, straight away, I acknowledged that it was really confusing and overwhelming. Looking back at this one, I will just remember that I was really happy while doing it and enjoyed every minute,” he beams.

“I gained so much from making this album – I’ve come so far personally in such a short space of time, and that will always be special to me. I genuinely had the best time making it and learnt so much about music and production, dealt with a lot of personal shit, sorted out things I’ve been putting off for ages… I’ve grown five years in the space of a year, and now I feel much happier and at ease with the world, and with myself. Isn’t that just great? When I listen back, I’ll think: you tried your best to work things out, and that’s commendable.”

So what’s next? “My mind will change a lot, but I’m thinking about going to Japan and writing album three there,” he answers, recent experiences dominating his mind. “I’m deadly serious too, I’ve reached out to our label out there, and they said let’s do it. I want to do some travelling, man.

I’ve written a lot of music in England, in London, and I think it’s time to see what it would be like if Easy Life went abroad. Also, like, come on – a free holiday? Let’s go. I’ll be working hard, though, I swear.” ■ Easy Life’s album ‘Maybe In Another Life’ is out 7th October.

EASY LIFE

READDORK.COM 35.

FEATURE

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CHLOE MORIONDO

Chloe Moriondo is already a bit of a sensation, but with new album ‘Suckerpunch’ and its hyperactive new sound, what comes next could be something else entirely.

WORDS: MARTYN YOUNG. PHOTOS: KENNETH CAPPELLO.

READDORK.COM 37.

COVER STORY

‘PROPER’ POP STAR defines each new project as an era, reinventing themselves on the move in a way that has defined legends young and old for generations.

For Chloe Moriondo, their third album ‘Suckerpunch’ represents a seismic shift that smashes all pre-conceptions, firmly establishing them as a star bursting with ambition, unafraid to shake things up.

Chloe Moriondo’s main pop era has begun, whether we’re ready for it or not.

We always knew that Chloe was super talented, going right back to their earliest homespun lo-fi recordings through to 2021’s acclaimed album ‘Blood Bunny’, but this time everything is different. Each sound, lyric, pop hook and intense emotion is ramped up to maximum. It’s a staggering breakthrough.

“It feels like everything has led up to this,” begins Chloe, dialling in from her hotel room while on tour in Amsterdam.

“It’s a new era for me, and I’m very excited because a lot of work has gone into it.

I’ve gotten to make a lot of really exciting experimental sounds and put the work in

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behind the scenes without people realising how different things are going to sound. I’m excited to slap people in the face with it.”

It’s hard to overstate just how exciting a statement ‘Suckerpunch’ is.

It’s overwhelming, super energised and emotionally all-encompassing - all part of Chloe’s desire to try something new and shake things up. “I’ve grown a lot as a person,” they explain. “As ‘Blood Bunny’ came out, I felt like I was already growing and changing and turning into a different person. You can never quite catch up to where you were when you made your newest release. I feel like I’ve grown to love the experience of making new music so much more since being able to work with more people and make music in different styles, as well as with the same people I worked with on ‘Blood Bunny’. It really helped me explore my sound more, to feel more familiar in my own skin and do what I wanted to do, but also make new and crazy things.”

Those crazy things ended up being their most pop-focused record, but it’s pop in a mangled, distorted, crunchy way.

Hyperpop adjacent but imbued with a strong spirit of anything goes invention, this is the sound of Chloe going all in - no half-measures and no turning back. “I don’t think I would have expected myself to make music like this when I was making ‘Blood Bunny’,” they admit. “That’s a great thing, and I’m really excited about it.

Younger me would be really excited, and that’s what matters to me.”

The vision for the album was both a reaction against what had come before and a desire to firmly embrace the formative pop of Chloe’s youth. “As soon as I released

"IT’S A NEW ERA FOR ME; I’M EXCITED TO SLAP PEOPLE IN THE FACE WITH IT" - CHLOE MORIONDO ‘Blood Bunny’, I started itching to make some new stuff - something different,” they explain. “About a year ago, I flew out to LA and started making different stuff with the same producers. I wanted to make a pop album that sounded like the baby of all the fantastic radio pop stars I grew up listening to. I wanted an amalgamation of what I was raised on, 2010 Katy Perry and Black Eyed Peas.”

The cyborg future-pop of Black Eyed Peas in this era was a catalyst to go all in on a no-fucks-given sound. “The radio was insane back then!” they exclaim. “Black Eyed Peas’ ‘Rock That Body’ era was nuts, and I referenced it all the time.”

Even more explicit on the album is Chloe’s hat tip to two of the era’s major pop stars, both groundbreaking in their own way and lyrically referenced in the album’s opening track and defining statement ‘Popstar’. “There’s something so nostalgic and intoxicating about the early-to-late 2000s pop, from 2005 to about 2013,” they reflect. “I listen to so many radio hits from that era of music.

I’ve admired Britney and Kesha and these pop girls for so much of my life. I grew up listening to these people, especially people like Lady Gaga. Oh my god, I was obsessed with her back then. I don’t think I would be able to make anything else after ‘Blood Bunny’ that wasn’t inspired by the electronic pop that I grew up listening to. Between the ages of 5 and 9 were really crucial for listening to music for me.

Being in the back of the car, listening to the pop station, and really loving it was a core moment for making this album.”

In many ways, ‘Suckerpunch’ is Chloe’s attempt to fit into this iconic pop lineage, but they’re also looking to do it in new creative and outlandish ways. Everything is exaggerated - sometimes to grotesque levels - but then the record hits with a soft, subtle and deeply beautiful side that tempers the chaos into blissful melancholic reflection. In short, nothing does what it’s expected to, and that’s entirely the point. “I really love doing different things, trying experimental sounds and being my full self even if that doesn’t necessarily meet what that

means for other people,” says Chloe. Doing something so drastically different does bring its own distinct fears, though. “I have so many worries,” they admit. “I’m an anxious girl. I’ve been an anxious girl my whole life. I try to be as transparent as I can with my life and music. I feel like people can expect me to be worried. I am worried that some people who have been fans of my music for a very long time will not like the new direction I’m going in, but I’m trying to be ok with that. I don’t think I would be nearly as happy as I am right now if I was just releasing stuff for other people to like.

I’m really proud of this new album, and I’m really excited to see people’s excited reactions, and honestly, I’m really excited to see people’s weirded-out reactions too. I want to see all of it.”

Making the album was a liberating process for Chloe as they established a new way of creating and telling stories.

“I’ve never felt more free to make and write what I wanted,” they say excitedly.

“I had all of the tools - and the people who had the tools to help me - in front of me. It was really exciting for me to make things that I wanted to listen to and things that I wanted to dance to. It was incredibly groundbreaking to realise that I could make pop music. It was a beautiful experience, and I want to keep making it for as long as I can.”

There was undoubtedly an element of risk to making an album so sonically striking, though, which Chloe acknowledges. “It’s definitely a bit of a plunge,” they laugh. “I could have definitely made something more in the groove of ‘Blood Bunny’ and still enjoyed it, but I don’t think I would have loved it or been as excited about it as I am about this record.

That was what was most important to me. I tried my best to be brave about it because, at the end of the day, I don’t want to make anything that I’m not 100% on fire to show people.”

Despite the wildly different sounds used on the album, it tells a coherent and dynamic story of the conflicting emotions and character traits around the notion of stardom. “There are plenty of running themes, some subconscious

CHLOE MORIONDO

and some very intentional,” says Chloe. “A lot of ‘Suckerpunch’ is about growing up into girlhood and being a girl in the public eye. I think a lot of ‘Suckerpunch’ is also about growing into the music industry as a young person. There’s a first half that’s very superficial and focused on being a star, wanting to be in the spotlight, being crazy, or an enigma or character that everyone is afraid of or excited about. Then there’s the downfall where it shows what’s behind the mask.”

The melodies and distorted hooks on the album are overtly pop, but for Chloe, it’s unclear exactly what that represents in the modern era. “I don’t think I fully know what being a pop star is in 2022,” they admit. “I’d love to be one, but I don’t consider myself one. I like to call myself a pop star in a sort of joking way, especially because I made the song the opening track on ‘Suckerpunch’, but I think I’m definitely using it in a facetious way because pop stardom is huge. It’s a phenomenon that not many people get to experience, and it’s something that so many people want to experience. It’s glamorous and extravagant and unreachable for basically everyone.

That’s something that I really wanted to hone in on and try to take on as a word that you can use for yourself.”

Throughout ‘Suckerpunch’, there is a theatricality at work, revelling in the absurdity of some of the frequently surreal and often hilarious images Chloe conjures up. It’s an example of the added complexity in their songwriting developed over the past couple of years. “I started story writing a lot more with my music once I realised I could make different sounds and break through the genre barrier of whatever I was in with ‘Blood Bunny’,” they explain. “I started making more concept songs and coming up with lyrics that I thought were fun or silly or exciting or scary. It was new for me. I’m going to go through any door I can at this point. I love making music and experimenting with different sounds. The sounds that I’ve just been scraping with ‘Suckerpunch’, I’m already so excited to really dig into for future projects - new stuff and collaborations. I don’t think I’m ever going to want to stop experimenting and making new and exciting things.”

Maybe the most exciting thing they created this time around was the album’s lead single ‘Fruity’. Every new era needs a defining moment, and we get that with Chloe’s biggest song yet. “It was definitely an ah-ha moment,” they say excitedly.

“We went into the studio and didn’t have a pre-written concept. I knew I wanted to make a baby of Katy Perry, Kesha and the Black Eyed Peas. David Pramik - who I work with all the time and I love - he laid down this ‘do do do do’ thing, and I was so obsessed. I started laying down all these fruit-related lyrics that were so funny and cheesy and super sugary, but it was everything I wanted for this song. I just wanted to make a beach party anthem about love, excitement, partying, and having a good time.” ‘Fruity’ could quite possibly be the song of this summer and, indeed, every summer for the rest of time. Stick it next to ‘California Gurls’ by Katy Perry, and you’re set for life.

Away from the bangers, though, there is a sad and reflective side to ‘Suckerpucnch’ that subtly links it to their previous much-

loved album. “There are some songs off ‘Suckerpunch’ that tie back into ‘Blood Bunny’ really nicely. I feel very vulnerable in the way that ‘Blood Bunny’ was for me but in a very different way,” says Chloe.

“A song like ‘Cry’ is super vulnerable and totally could have been on ‘Blood Bunny’ if it weren’t a completely different world.

The entire last half of ‘Suckerpunch’ has ‘Blood Bunny’’s heart. ‘Diet Heartbreak’ and ‘Hearteyes’ are both very soft songs for me and remind me a lot of that older era of songwriting. They were both very natural to write and focused on me writing what I wanted to say mostly by myself, which reminded me a lot of ‘Blood Bunny’ because I was able to write a lot of the most sensitive parts of this album alone in my room.”

Another thematic call back to one of ‘Blood Bunny’’s most loved songs, ‘I Eat Boys’, can be found in album highlight ‘Plastic Purse’ - a typical Chloe tale created from a childhood memory. “The dynamics of it really encapsulate the energy of the record,” they say. “’Plastic Purse’ fell together so beautifully in exactly the way I needed it to. It was inspired by a kids’ book my mum used to read me called ‘Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse’. Not many people have heard of it, but sometimes I’ll see a little post about it, and it will really make my day. I wanted to make a song concept inspired by a plastic purse that I can carry around, shrink really mean and annoying but sometimes cute boys, and then put them in there.” From eating boys to zapping them into a tiny purse - the more things change, the more some things remain the same.

One important aspect of Chloe’s new era of reinvention is the album’s whole visual aesthetic, which is more direct and striking than ever before. “It’s been so fun creating the visuals and the outfits and what I want people to see when they hear this album,” enthuses Chloe. “Me and my girlfriend Samantha collaborated really heavily on the visuals. This time she was the creative director for the album cover. I’m really proud of her and the work we do together.

We were really inspired by the Y2K retroyet-future cyber era of fashion that’s kind of around right now. Retro electronics turned into future electronics, crazy visuals that we pinned together and made into something glittery and exciting. It was a really fun process to fully accept this new style that I’m into and show people what I see when I see the songs.”

There’s a real brashness and boldness that defines ‘Suckerpunch’. You can imagine a comic book being created from its overblown, otherworldly characters and ridiculous scenarios. It can be gaudy, ugly and overwhelming, but it can be heart-stoppingly beautiful too.

It’s everything future-facing pop music should be. “It’s a dream,” says Chloe. “I always wanted to be able to write like this, sing like this and perform in the way that I can perform these new songs. So many pop stars and musicians I admired when I was younger did this exact same thing. Slapping people in the face with a new concept or attitude in a way that people might not necessarily like or consider as good as your older stuff, but it’s you. It’s what you love. I wanted to run with that as far as I could.” ■ Chloe Moriondo’s album ‘Suckerpunch” is out 7th October.

“I DON’T THINK I FULLY KNOW WHAT BEING A POP STAR IS IN 2022” - CHLOE MORIONDO READDORK.COM 39.

FEATURES

T

R After five years away, indie’s beloved darlings Alvvays have returned with quite possibly their biggest album to date.

WORDS: NEIVE MCCARTHY. PHOTOS: ELEANOR PETRY.

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ALVVAYS

IVE YEARS IS A LONG TIME between albums by any stretch, but especially the last five. Alvvays released their now beloved ‘Antisocialites’ back in 2017, and just about everything since then has been transformed. And yet, there’s never been a better time to return to the world of Alvvays. Thankfully, they’re on hand to deliver – this time, it’s the all too aptly titled sugar rush, adrenaline-heavy ‘Blue Rev’. Much like the drink it’s named after, ‘Blue Rev’ immediately boosts; rushing into action with ‘Pharmacist’, Alvvays prove there’s no time to lose. Their new era has begun.

“We do take a lot of time between records,” vocalist and guitarist Molly Rankin laughs. “Alec [O’Hanley] and I are both really hard on each other and ourselves with just making everything the way we want it. We take a bit longer to sit with things and go back and forth. In that way, everything is a bit more daunting – we’re very scrutinising, and sometimes we need people around us to tell us to let things go.”

Dissecting the minutiae of the record and its every beat can be a consuming experience, but the result is resoundingly worthwhile. On ‘Blue Rev’, Alvvays are tighter than ever. It’s a fresh start and a chance to unlock years’ worth of development and build an album that transcends its predecessors. “We never intended on making anything sound bigger, but we’re definitely trying to make everything hit in a way that felt very satisfying,” Molly explains.

Though unintentional, it does sound bigger – it’s more aggressive at times, less restrained. It’s frequently in a somewhat deceptive way, too. ‘Many Mirrors’ seems

"SOMETIMES WE NEED PEOPLE AROUND US TO TELL US TO LET THINGS GO" - M OLLY R A N K I N

soft to begin with, but it soon unleashes the full force of their creativity as the track drives home. It’s on a completely different scale.

“It took a long time to make every song feel like it was really resonating,” continues Molly. “It’s also probably our growing knowledge of the sonic spectrum. I think our first album sounds really cloudy, to me at least. There’s a whole layer of frequency that simply doesn’t exist on that album.

We’ve learnt how to make things fuller over the years. I can be pretty greedy with choruses – I like big choruses. I don’t really care what genre the song is. If it has a big chorus, I’m usually into it if there’s an emotional lift melodically.”

If their seminal self-titled debut was cloudy, ‘Blue Rev’ is nothing but crisp blue sky and beaming sun. One look at the album’s high saturation cover shows that.

It’s as though the album places a pair of sunglasses on that brightens the world immensely. Those big choruses Molly adores are mammoth on here: ‘Pomeranian Spinster’ is a relentless ride, leading to a gargantuan release. Everything is felt to full capacity and never dulled down, that intensely saturated quality extending far beyond the vivid primary colours of the album artwork.

The flitting, never-shy emotions of ‘Blue Rev’ are crucial and, in many ways, reflective of their career’s longevity.

They’re always progressing and learning, something that applies to their emotional selves, too. “People go through so many different phases in their lives,” Molly acknowledges. “I feel like I have so many different personalities, and I’m changing all the time. It’s reflective of that – maybe one day you feel a certain way about a situation you’re in, and the next day it’s completely blown away by some revelation you have no control over. It’s crazy how things warp over time. I’m not someone who writes about their own life. I collage together different stories and imagine different worlds, and I think that has been a theme throughout our music.”

It’d be easy to take those experiences Molly and the band sing of as profoundly intimate, personal confessions. Yet, as Molly notes, there has always been something fantastical and dripping in imagination about the band.

‘Antisocialities’ imagined a world where a break-up changed the trajectory of their lives. It’s a fine-tuned skill they possess – those feelings are palpable and resonant, yet there is a layer of detachment. To craft such a rich, intricately characterised world full of specific tales and anecdotes is impressive. As ‘Blue Rev’ grapples with the person we become, there is great comfort in that stretch of the imagination.

“It’s a really nice outlet for me to have, to create different universes and different situations,” Molly elaborates. “As long as I believe what I’m singing and I can channel my feelings into something; it doesn’t necessarily have to be exact scenarios that I’m going through in life. It’s a healthy, productive way for me to draw from experiences without putting myself through a lot of pain. I think it’s important to have an enamel coating between myself and everything that gets thrown into public

discourse.”

It’s a wisely protective approach, especially considering how fans demand access in a more online age. Even though the way songs manifest instead may be miles from Molly’s experiences, they still ask questions and demand answers to things we have all felt. It doesn’t have to be cut from the core of your being to be deeply evocative and personal.

Alvvays show that having that intricacy to an album is achievable beyond the expected – a fresh approach to the recording of ‘Blue Rev’ allowed them to steep it in ornate details. While usually they would take a more traditional approach, on their third album, the band chose to abandon the fastidious planning and just embrace and play the music as it was. The next challenge lay in returning to that energy and adding layer upon layer of extra gems to be uncovered in between every line.

“We’ve generally done the traditional recording approach where we work up everything, learn it, learn how to play it, go into a studio for two weeks and just churn it out,” Molly recalls. “That process seemed to maybe not the best approach, and we were hoping to expand on that. It ultimately worked out by sending things back and forth to Shawn [Everett]. But Alec has become really good at producing and recording and mixing, so things obviously fall into his hands more in that realm. As time goes on, his involvement becomes more evident, and his fingerprints are on this album a lot. Shawn wanted to finish the record with us as much as he could, and we appreciated that he didn’t have a time limit. He’s like this mad scientist who is fine to stay up all night tweaking things. It’s the first time we’ve worked with someone as annoying about that stuff as we are.”

It’s the kind of album you can repeatedly revisit without fear of getting bored; each time, a new detail presents itself. They play with dynamic, swirling around one another.

Part of the process involved playing live from the floor of the studio as opposed to being in a booth, resulting in an album that sparks with real-time, potent live energy despite the level of consideration poured into it. ‘After The Earthquake’ is quickpaced, yet overlapping vocals offer at least a little calm amidst the chaos. “We’re trying to blend the right amount of heaviness and beauty – it touches on the right lyrical elements of the record where there’s this looking back on a different era of your life and reflecting on that in a healthier way.”

They dance along that line with ease – perhaps due to the combination of frenetic live recordings and precise afterthoughts.

Somewhere in that intersection, they unlock this capacity for forward-glancing nostalgia. Those sometimes fictional memories allow the band to sort through their own individual stories so far and decide who they want to be when they emerge, reborn, into this new era. It imagines different paths and fizzes with uncertainty but finds comfort in that too.

Hinging on that gate between two chapters might perhaps force something to be lost, but Alvvays never lose sight of that.

Instead, in trying to forge new ground, they turn back to the things they know best.

“We have a lot of overlapping references,” Molly shares. “We’re fans of a lot of things that were done in the past. Trying to create that with a modern narrative might help blend those two worlds. Whenever we try to reference something, I feel like it ends up just sounding like us anyway. Deciding how modern you want your music to sound… we’ve never been a fan of expensivesounding, spacious music where it sounds like it cost a lot of money to make – really glossy synths and digital sounding reverbs.

I think we degrade things in a way that flatters our taste, and there are some lyrical elements that nod to modernity, too.”

The band recently retweeted someone proclaiming, “This new Alvvays song is happily very Alvvays-y.” It seems to epitomise what the band have done with this record. They’re meandering further afield, that’s for sure, and there’s a much wider spread of mood throughout, but there’s no escaping those Alvvays touches. Nor would they want to. Even now, when they have a much wider arsenal and undeniably bigger songs, there’s no unnecessary sheen, no people-pleasing attempts to make the album more lustrous than needs be. It’s Alvvays, as they are and always have been, just continually creating stronger and stronger records.

‘Tile By Tile’ is one of the album’s more significant offerings, with a chorus that kicks the wind out of you. It reaches newfound heights for the band but is also one of those tracks closest to the sound by which Alvvays have come to define themselves. “It’s reminiscent of some of the headspaces I’ve inhabited for previous records where it has that solitary, reeling energy,” Molly suggests. “The original demo was just a full thought. We took it down several roads, tried to make it something that it wasn’t and then reverted back to this woozy, moody verse. I think maybe the more recent element of the song is the way it explodes at the end. The lyrical approach is maybe pulled from older Alvvays, perspective-wise.”

Some things you can’t help but be pulled back to – for Alvvays, there will always be that charm about their music, something in the way they share these thoughts so dreamily with those typical jangles and joyous lifts. On ‘Blue Rev’, they enter heavier territory, but they will always have that gaiety to their sound. But most important for the band is ensuring their listeners join them on that journey – that each beat hits home for everyone.

“Making sure every part of the song and the arc is felt and punctuating all of those moments that need to feel moving - that’s my indicator with songs in general. If the recording isn’t reflecting that, it needs to change until that’s felt,” Molly concludes.

Thankfully, those moments do move you. You feel every aspect of the tracks alongside the band, and the adventure it takes you on - one of discovery and remembrance and clarity - is as immersive as Molly hopes. ‘Blue Rev’ is a step up for the band. To relish in that with them makes every minute of that five-year wait worth it. ■ Alvvays’ album ‘Blue Rev’ is out 7th October

READDORK.COM 41.

COVER STORY

Fletcher may not create chaos, but when it finds her she’s sure as hell not going to put it to waste, with a debut album that fizzes with alt-pop energy.

WORDS: MARTYN YOUNG.

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FLETCHER

CAN’T PUT OUT ANYTHING IF IT’S NOT A CHAOTIC ROLLERCOASTER”.

That’s what Fletcher told us when we last spoke to her back at the end of last year when we talked to her for our annual rundown of the hottest new acts for the year ahead, the Hype List. Fast forward to late summer 2022, and that rollercoaster has now reached the summit, poised to take off on a breathlessly exhilarating ride as she prepares to release her muchanticipated debut album ‘Girl Of My Dreams’. Embracing the chaos and delivering on all her potential, Fletcher is a pop icon for our mixed-up times.

Fletcher is a pop star who encompasses a whole whirlwind of emotions and feelings. There’s no element of mystery. No boundaries and no filters. “My artistry is so closely tied with my personal life and my humanity,” she tells us from a hotel room in Australia. In case you hadn’t realised, Fletcher is global now. “It’s such a crazy moment, and I’m about to go on my fourth headline tour of this year,” she adds. See? Major. “My art becomes my personal lived experiences in such an in-depth, open your diary and read a page from it kind of way. The beautiful thing about my trajectory so far is that I’ve grown up with my fans.

We have grown up together. Any feedback I get from them is like, oh, you’ve narrated my heartbreak or my first time falling in love or going through a really serious breakup.”

Those fans have followed Fletcher as she has detailed her ups and downs, culminating in a wide-ranging and emotionally fulfilling debut album. “My artistry has evolved,” she explains.

“Lyrically or sonically, it has evolved as I have evolved and I have new experiences. Rolling out this album,

I’m picking up where I left off two years ago. I’ve told things in a pretty chronological order of where I am in my life. It lands us at the girl of my dreams.”

The album is very much a continuation of the story that Fletcher has been telling right back to her debut single ‘War Paint’ in 2015. “I’m just bringing songs back around and changing the narrative and the story to how it fits in my current moment,” she says about some of the intriguing little easter eggs dotted around the record for fans to discover. Don’t worry, we won’t spoil the surprise. “Getting to share that with people who have become so keen on the personal details of my life and are privy to that information feels like a fun journey we get to go on together.

You guys know all the tea, you know all the gossip, and it feels good to share it,” she exclaims.

In many ways, Cari Elise Fletcher was born to be a pop star, but she knew that she had to be a different kind of pop star. “I started with classical vocal training when I was five,” she explains. “Music was always a part of my life. I grew up singing in church, which was a journey I had growing up in a small conservative town, knowing that I was queer from a young age. I was a Disney Princess impersonator for kids’ parties, as well as Taylor Swift and Hannah Montana. That was my job in high school. I went on to attend the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU’s School of Performing Arts, and it was there that I was taking classes in recording and marketing and business and all these different routes within the music industry.”

Naturally chafing against this very regimented old-school approach, Fletcher began to imagine a different way forward.

“I realised that all the examples of people in pop music that I grew up with were this very picture-perfect, polished version of what it looks like to be an artist,” she reflects.

“I thought I’m never going to be an artist if this is what it is. I love

READDORK.COM 43.

FEATURE

"FLETCHER ALLOWS ME TO BECOME A CHARACTER. SHE’S A BAD BITCH WHO DOESN’T GIVE A FUCK WHAT ANYBODY THINKS ABOUT HER" - FLETCHER this, and I love pop music, but I don’t relate. I really wanted to see someone expressing the depths of their soul and their humanity. Their mess ups and confusion, pain and suffering, joy and liberation - the whole range of emotions in an unfiltered way. From such a young age, I was like I need to be the artist that I needed when I was little. I want to be that for somebody else. Everything that I do is with that little version of me in mind. If I needed that, then odds are somebody needs that too.”

After resolving to do things differently, Fletcher began to crystallise what her pop career would look like and the values she would represent in her music. “The vision for Fletcher from day one has always been to never shy away from any bit of the human experience,” she says confidently. “I’ve always been so interested in the difficult, let’s hide the feelings in the closet, conversations.

I’ve always been the one to say let’s shed light on this, and let’s talk about it. Let’s talk about the things that make people uncomfortable. People are like, are you sure you want to say that? I’m like, I think it might get me in trouble, but why not? Life’s too short. I want to uncover those things.”

The album carries on these explicit raw themes, but there’s one crucial difference. “’Girl Of My Dreams’ has been an ode to my process of coming into myself,” explains Fletcher as she explores the themes behind her debut.

“How it differs from my past projects is that my last two bodies of work have been about very specific relationships and people, and while this does still have moments of that, it really lands in a place that’s way more of an exploration of the relationship with myself versus the one with other people. It leads you on the whole journey of how the pain evolves. Where we start lyrically and conceptually with ‘Becky’s So Hot’ to the last song on the album being called ‘For Cari’.”

Oh yes, ‘Becky’s So Hot’. This song is the big one. Already notorious among serious fans and pop culture obsessives, it represents everything brilliant and uncompromising about Fletcher, the pop

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star. A massive turbo banger, it’s also throwing an emotional hand grenade into the mix and enjoying the chaos as it explodes. “It’s not so much that I revel in the chaos more that I revel in the complexity,” clarifies Fletcher laughing.

“There’s this idea that two things can be true at the same time. The idea of ‘Becky’s So Hot’ is a very specific complex emotion of realising that the person my ex is dating is hot and beautiful, and that stings a little bit, but also that I understand that relationships end and people move on. There are reasons why they move on and things don’t work out. It’s this weird thing where I know this is better for you and I’m happy for you, but this part of me still hurts. I’m so fascinated by multiple truths existing at the same time. I revel in the grey zone. The not binary and not super-defined. It can come across as chaos,” she laughs.

The practical story of making ‘Becky’s So Hot’ is an example of pop magic coming from social chaos. “Well, it literally all happened in real-time in the studio,” she explains. “I was in the studio writing a different song at the time, and I was creeping on my ex’s Instagram, as you do. She had posted a picture wearing an old vintage t-shirt of my ex’s, and it was one that I had worn before as well, and I accidentally liked the picture.

I was like fuck, I’ve just liked that picture, but I was like, you know what? I’m going to own it. I’m going to lean into it, and I can’t even be mad because she looks hotter than I ever did in the t-shirt. At that moment, I was like we have to write this song.”

The desire to put everything out there into the world is where the passion and feeling that drives Fletcher’s music comes from. “I’ve never been one to shy away from the visceral rollercoaster of it all,” she says. “I want to take people on that journey. I want to mirror that back to them, go on that deep dive of yourself. Romanticise your life. Make it dramatic. If you’re the screenwriter of your own fucking movie, then be the main character! It’s art. Let’s play. Life’s too short. Who gives a fuck.”

There’s no doubt that it can be exhausting and debilitating for an artist who lives so much of their life in the social pop cultural gaze. That’s certainly true for Fletcher, but equally, it provided inspiration for one of the album’s defining moments. “There was a point when I hit a wall, and I just wanted to quit,” she admits. “I didn’t want to do music anymore. I wanted to give up being an artist. I remember going to the studio one day and was like, if I had to have one more conversation about anything that felt forced or inauthentic, I would lose my mind. I was about to cancel the session, and I was like, no, what would happen if I didn’t write a song that was for my label, or my management, or the fans, or anyone?

What would happen if I just wrote a song that was for Cari, and that was the song that came out of that day.”

The song itself is a celebratory anthem to close the album, something that Fletcher wasn’t quite sure would

FLETCHER

land but had to put out. “I remember always thinking, who’s going to listen if I don’t have a heartbreak to sing about? Does anyone really want to hear from me if I’m not heartbroken?

What do I even have to say? What’s my perspective? I had to go through this deep spiritual awakening and self-journey to even be able to land in a place where I was like, how can I talk about myself if I don’t even know myself? There was this shift in the album on the writing, and that’s where I got ‘Holiday’, ‘I Love You Bitch’, and ‘For Cari’. These are moments where it’s like, let’s flip the lens. Why don’t your relationships work out? What is it about you? I just wanted to know myself and empower myself on a level I’ve never been able to before. The whole process was just so much learning.”

‘For Cari’ feels like a potent cathartic release and a special song in the context of the album. “It’s symbolic that I’m not doing this for anyone but myself,” she says. “Second to that are the people that have supported me for so long, and sharing with them gives me so much purpose, but it’s really for me. This album is for me. It’s so important to celebrate yourself. As we get older, we forget about the importance of play and about what it means to experience joy. There are all these societal expectations that you need to get this sort of job, make this amount of money, and be in this kind of relationship by all these certain ages.

It’s a bunch of bullshit. Remember to celebrate yourself and liberate yourself. To radically love yourself is truly the most revolutionary thing you can do in a world that capitalises on our self-hatred.”

As she has grown up and explored ever deeper and more painful emotions in her music, it comes accompanied by more scrutiny and a wealth of people combing her songs and lyrics for different references and insights into her life. It’s something that Fletcher recognises can sometimes have its own challenges but is ultimately all part of the thrill. “It’s an interesting dance,” she offers. “Sometimes you piss people off. I want to honour my feelings and experiences - the things that I went through and my thoughts - but when it’s so closely tied to my personal life, there are obviously real humans involved.

There’s a certain level of freedom that I experience, but there’s a fine line I walk where it becomes public.”

Despite the notoriety of some of her songs, there’s nothing confected or artificial about Fletcher’s music. “I never go into the studio and think what shit can I start up today,” she says. “Even when I write songs, I’m never thinking I’m going to put this out, and it’s going to do xyz. I’m just showing up in the studio and saying this is what’s going on in my brain right now. So much of it is liberating because it’s art. Fletcher allows me to become a character.

She’s a bad bitch who doesn’t give a fuck what anybody thinks about her. She goes there, versus Cari, on the other hand, who’s a bit more second guessing, a bit more insecure.

Fletcher is my superhero, and I aspire to be her.” Big Fletcher energy promises to be the superhero blockbuster of the pop summer.

Despite the album containing plenty of the heartbreak anthems that have made Fletcher so beloved, it’s also a record with a lot of positivity and celebration. There’s a joy to go alongside the sadness. “There’s hope in it,” she says.” There are sad, reflective moments, but it’s through that reflection that you find some clarity and salvation. That is the silver lining of the most emotional songs like ‘Better Version’

or ‘Birthday Girl’. Those songs really pulled on my heartstrings to write, but it was all worth it because it then led me to write something like the title track ‘Girl Of My Dreams’.

Even if it’s not explicitly said, all of these pieces are essential. It’s all for the character development.”

As her storytelling developed, so did the actual music itself. ‘Girl Of My Dreams’ sounds huge on multiple levels. Again working with her long-time producer Malay, Fletcher has created a dynamic pop album full of nuance and subtlety when needed but with a super thrilling turbo-charged energy when it cuts loose. “There’s a lot more intensity. There are more peaks and valleys emotionally. I really wanted the sound to match that,” she says. “There are some really dreamy ambient pop synth sounds that are more light feeling paired with really gritty feeling guitar and bass. There’s a lot more rage. It’s a lot more guitar driven. I’m always trying to match the instrumentation with what the song energetically feels like.”

The album arrives in a moment characterised by a number of singular artists who do things on their own terms, unencumbered by prevailing expectations or the principles of what you should do as a pop star. It’s a lineage where Fletcher fits right in. “I do think we’re in a time now that conceptually people are less afraid to take risks in terms of the things that they’re talking about,” she explains. “I’m super inspired by Miley Cyrus, Harry Styles, Halsey and Billie Eilish. They are all artists that are so unapologetically themselves. They don’t really give a fuck about what other people are making, and that’s something that I admire so much.”

Ultimately, Fletcher’s journey over the past seven years has been one of progression but also reflection. It’s taken a lot of time and a lot of healing, but she knows exactly who she is and is ready to be the pop icon she always wanted to be on her own terms. “The title track sums up everything,” she concludes.

“I’ve had all these lovers, and I’ve thought they were all going to be the one, but I’ve had my heart broken a million times, and why does tequila not hit anymore? Why does none of these things feel like they used to? What is it I’m missing, and It’s like, oh duh, it’s you. “Now I lay me down to sleep because I’m the only bitch I need, I’m all hers, and she’s all mine, and I’ll love her until the day I die”. If I’ve got that at the core, I can do anything.” ■ Fletcher’s album ‘Girl Of My Dreams’ is out 16th September.

“IT’S NOT SO MUCH THAT I REVEL IN THE CHAOS MORE THAT I REVEL IN THE COMPLEXITY” - FLETCHER READDORK.COM 45.

FEATURES

Embracing fun and good humour, Joe Keery’s new album under his Djo moniker is something special.

WORDS: JESSICA GOODMAN.

t’s not lost on me that it’s kind of crazy.” Four days after a stellar performance in the sunshine at Lollapalooza (and a festival aftershow that saw him reunite with some of his Post Animal bandmates on stage), Joe Keery is brimming with enthusiasm for live music. The musician-slash-actor might be most easily recognisable from his portrayal of mom-ofthe-year Steve Harrington in Netflix’s smash hit series Stranger Things, but when he steps out under the stage lights, he’s Djo: frontman, musician, and, uh, life coach guru?

“I was driving around, and I saw a billboard for a personal injury lawyer,” he recalls of finding inspiration for the character he poses as on stage and in his latest album promo. Decked out in a suit, shades, and scruffy wig, this alter-ego has been stirring up hype for the new record online through adverts for a hotline that offers callers “the enlightenment you need to make the decisions you deserve.” In actuality, it gives 8-bit previews of songs from his brand-new record. “I just thought that was an interesting way to tie this whole thing together,” Joe explains.

This on-stage/online character, he admits, started out as a diversion, a way to make his music unrecognisable from the characters he plays on TV and in films. “It was trying to avoid, like, ‘yo, that’s Steve

"I CAN’T THINK OF ANY OTHER SONG WHERE ONE OF THE LYRICS IS ABOUT YOUR GIRLFRIEND HAVING BAD BREATH..."

- J O E KE E RY 46. DORK

Harrington!’” he laughs. Now, it’s another way he can be creative, adapting and evolving the way he presents himself and his music online and on stage. Simply put, a way to have fun. “I now realise that if people are coming from the TV show, and that’s the reason that they’re finding out about the music? Hell yeah, that’s really cool.”

It’s something his fans connect with, too, whether by relishing in other people’s confusion when they question the wig and realise who’s wearing it or by dressing up as Djo themselves. “We played in Alabama earlier this year, and some kids showed up all dressed as the character,” Joe exclaims.

“It was one of the coolest things that I’ve ever seen! It’s kind of freeing for me, in a way,” he states. “There is something sort of odd and peculiar about it. If that connects with people? That’s amazing.”

In conversation, Joe’s admiration for his fans is a near-tangible thing. Recalling his awe of the crowd during his performance at Lollapalooza, his appreciation for his audience is boundless. “It has far surpassed anything that I would have expected,” he comments on the reaction to his musical output so far. “I feel like you hear a lot of musicians saying things like, ‘yeah, the song kind of stopped belonging to me after I released it’,” he details. “I didn’t really understand, honestly, maybe until recently.”

“Playing some of these larger festivals and hearing people who know the words to these songs you wrote in your bedroom...

It does give you the sense that they have really taken on their own life, and they really mean something to people other than yourself. And that’s just…” He trails off, searching for words that can sum up how it makes him feel. “That’s unbelievable.”

As he releases his second record, ‘Decide’, his only hope is that his music and his songs continue to connect – and that he can continue to create new music that does more of that. “I really enjoyed the first record that I made, but I’m the type of person who’s never fully satisfied with what they’ve done,” he describes. “My goal was just to make something that was way better.”

Sure, that goal might be subjective, but we don’t think anyone will argue with us when we say that with ‘Decide’, we’re treated to the sound of Joe Keery in his musical element. “My big takeaway from playing shows with the old stuff in 2019 [was that] I wrote and recorded that stuff in my bedroom, and it sounded like that live,” he conveys. “I wanted to scale up the whole thing and go for a larger sound.”

That’s precisely what he’s done. From the rapid synth ripples of ‘Runner’, through the cinematic chorus cries of ‘End Of Beginning’, and beyond, this is Djo at his biggest, boldest, and brightest yet. It’s an album about growing up and getting on, and while its topics might not look like the most toe-tapping and/or hip-shaking on

GO

paper, it’s an album purpose-built to cut loose and dance to. “Making something that people could move to – that was important to me,” Joe states.

Cue ‘Gloom’, a two-minute stuttering synth ode to feeling over it and moving on that’s every bit as chaotic as it is cathartic.

“I can’t think of any other song where one of the lyrics is about your girlfriend having bad breath…” Joe contemplates, laughing.

“If that means it hasn’t been done before, that’s cool.” The song presents itself with a playful energy that’s become somewhat synonymous with Djo’s music. “I realised halfway through recording that maybe humour is part of my identity, in a lot of things that I do,” he states. “Why shy away from that? Why not embrace that?”

When he cites Paul McCartney (“he takes you on these journeys but he’s always able to bring you back home”) and Charli XCX (“she’s serving up this candy pop music, but lyrically and productionwise she’s making it her own in a way that’s really unique”) as major influences, it should come as no surprise that ‘Decide’ is as eclectic as it is electric. Driven by a desire to create “better” after debut ‘Twenty Twenty’, this record was shaped just as much by lessons he learned before his debut, during his time in Post Animal.

“They opened my eyes to [the idea] that songwriting doesn’t have to just be ‘verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, close the song’, y’know?” Joe asserts. This isn’t to say he’s against that approach (album centrepiece ‘End Of Beginning’ has perhaps the most simple structure on the record and feels all the more epic for it). It’s simply that this is the music that excites him the most. “When I find myself enjoying art, I generally find that’s because it’s surprising,” he details. “Sometimes deviating from a traditional form can do that.”

Taking this approach to his songwriting, each song on ‘Decide’ became its own adventure. ‘On And On’ meanders from swaggering through monotony to stratospheric enlightenment and back again. ‘Go For It’ travels from gnarly synths through aching romance into a deliciously frenzied dance party. ‘Half Life’ could be six songs in one. Yet somehow, it’s all cohesive and all characteristically Djo. “It’s being able to straddle that blend of being avant-garde or being artistic, and blending that with the commercial,” he says.

The process for writing this record was largely the same as writing his debut – collaborating again with musician/ engineer Adam Thein – but one thing that did change was the decision to put more conscious focus into his lyrics. “I’m the sort of person who mostly listens for melody and drums and rhythm,” Joe states.

“Coming from a production background, that’s what I like. But my girlfriend is always listening to the lyrics, and she got me a little bit more invested in that.”

Taking an open approach to his

songwriting, ‘Decide’ is a document of the past few years of Joe’s life. Being honest in his lyrics and putting his own experiences into his songs might sound intimidating, but for him, it comes naturally. “I actually love that part about music,” he enthuses.

“I feel like that’s one of the reasons why acting and music really feed off of each other, for me personally.”

“In acting, I can just be one part of this larger thing,” he continues. “It’s through my own experiences, but the words that you’re saying and your performance is edited and crafted by the directors and editors and showrunners. Whereas in music, you can really take control and see a project through from beginning to end.” It seems like something of a contrast in approach, given that he takes to the live stage in disguise, but all of it is a part of not just being creative with his own experiences and influences, but having fun with them too.

“It’s cathartic for me to be able to write about things that are going on in my life,” he conveys. “I think I’m a lot more cryptic to myself day to day than I realise. Only with perspective can I look back with any sort of opinion and realise what I was going through.” It’s now, through releasing this music into the world, through performing these songs live and sharing them with others, that his understanding of what he’s created takes full shape.

“It was a pretty depressing time to be a citizen of the world,” he reflects of the near-three-years spent writing this record.

“I feel like there isn’t a lot to be hopeful for sometimes.” It’s a mood felt a lot over the past few years, a mood still felt now.

Consequently, it’s a mood he feels running through a lot of these new songs. “In some ways, it’s really pessimistic, this record,” he sums up. That said, it’s not all doom and gloom, far from it. The record presents itself with brightness and hopefulness too.

These aren’t contrasting emotions, but two sides of the same coin.

“Maybe the same thing could be said of any piece of art,” he contemplates. “You can look at it in a glass half-full or glass half-empty sort of way. And it changes day to day. That’s not something that’s going to stay consistent.” Right now, however, with the album release imminent, the feeling surrounding these songs is easy to pin down: excitement.

“It’s unbelievable,” Joe enthuses, “to feel like people are invested in it and excited for it and looking forward to it? That’s the only thing that I really wanted at all.” Much like his enthusiasm, his gratitude toward his fans knows no bounds. “I owe them everything,” he states. “They’re the people who are listening to it and finding some sort of thing they connect to within it.”

As for him? He’s happy taking the time to appreciate the moment. “It’s like a dream come true for me.” ■ Djo’s album ‘Decide’ is out 16th September.

O FOR IT DJO

READDORK.COM 47.

FEATURE

FAITH

48. DORK

IN

LOUIS TOMLINSON

THE

Superstar idol, indie acolyte, festival boss - Louis Tomlinson has been a lot of things over the course of his time in the spotlight, but as he prepares to release his second solo album ‘Faith In The Future’ this November, he’s set to surprise the world all over again.

WORDS: ABIGAIL FIRTH. PHOTOS: SARAH LOUISE BENNETT. PHOTO ASSISTANT: NATALIE LLOYD-SHAW. STYLING: HELEN SEAMONS. STYLING ASSISTANT: WILL MOORE. GROOMING: KRYSTLE G.

FUTURE. READDORK.COM 49.

FEATURE

IKTOK IS PROBABLY TELLING THE KIDS WHAT TO DRINK THESE DAYS. I just still drink me vodka Red Bull, you know what I mean?” For an artist who found fame as part of one of the biggest boy bands of all time, Louis Tomlinson is remarkably down to earth.

Sipping on a Stella, he sits down with Dork on one of RMT’s August strike days – which he’s 100% here for, btw. We’re pulling a lot of strings for this.

Frantically organising our shoot and interview in the space of about 48 hours, Louis takes it all in his stride, plopping down in the evening for a supremely relaxed chat after a cig and a beer.

He’s about four shows off finishing his first solo world tour (another sell-out under his belt), which actually began in 2020.

Managing to squeeze in a couple of dates before the pandemic hit, it was the energy of those initial gigs that sparked the inspiration for his forthcoming second album ‘Faith In The Future’, arriving in November.

For the first five years of his career, the cycle of touring and recording and touring and recording was all Louis knew. Then being the last of his ex-bandmates to release a solo album, taking his time creating music

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to actually hit the road with, meant he was a decade into being a musician before he toured alone.

“It was a long, long time for me to wonder what it might be like,” he says. “And also, there was a fear in the back of my mind that, because I’ve experienced touring at such a high level with the band, in amazing, massive fucking venues, I didn’t really know what my tour was going to look like or feel like or even sound like in terms of energy in the room and fans singing back.”

He needn’t have worried. Never disappointing, his Louies showed up in their droves. “It’s blown all my expectations.

I’ve felt fucking blessed this whole tour, like every place I’ve gone, and I’m not just being dramatic; it’s been fucking amazing everywhere.” A proper World Tour, he’s played to more than 500,000 people across 80 shows over the last year. Getting back on the horse and smashing arenas quickly became his life again.

“That obviously gives me a lot of pride, especially going places like Australia. It’s a long fucking way from Donny, you know?” he laughs. “So to play sold-out shows over there, it’s fucking mind-blowing, really. Every single night, it doesn’t really matter how my day’s going; after the first song, I just get slapped in the face with the energy of the crowd and the adrenaline that then feeds me.”

It’s a tale as old as time at this point, provided your calendar only starts in early 2020. Artist plans a tour, pandemic hits, doesn’t happen. Except Louis found himself in limbo. Caught between feeling the highs of his first solo shows at the start of the year, then crashing into the isolation of what followed, he wrote ‘Faith In The Future’ imagining what the tour would be like when it went ahead. The process saw him moving away from the intimacy and emotional weight of ‘Walls’ and creating something more uplifting.

“Originally, in my master plan that I had in my head, I was going to go on a year’s worth of touring,” he explains. “That was going to feed me full of experience that I could then go on to write about. It didn’t. I almost

ended up in kind of a middle ground where I was lucky enough to get a taste of what the shows would feel like, so that was part experience and part imagination going into this next record.”

When reflecting on his debut, he found that there weren’t enough uptempo numbers for a live show. ‘Walls’ was Louis telling his story so far - effectively twelve ballads detailing the love and loss that was recent memory at the time. That’s not to say he isn’t proud of his debut. It was a necessary step in his career that cemented the vision he had for his own sound after spending years finding his feet in the public eye post-OneDirection.

But with the heavy stuff out of the way (“I don’t like people feeling sorry for me. That’s not the way I carry myself in life in general,” he says of his first album), Louis landed on the phrase ‘Faith In The Future’ in early 2021, setting about making a record based on hope, and more importantly, bangers.

“I had the title for the album before I’d written any songs for this record. I was 99% sure I wanted to call the album ‘Faith In The Future’, then COVID happened, and that was, like, weirdly appropriate. I feel like people needed that kind of hopeful sentiment.”

He tweeted out the phrase and found legions of fans naturally gravitating towards it, which sealed the deal. Fast forward to September 2022, and he was putting it out online again. This time, it was in tandem with an album announcement and introductory single ‘Bigger Than Me’, which takes the balladry of ‘Walls’, puts a positive spin on it, and blows it up big enough to match the arenas he’s filling.

“That was definitely the first moment where I had a song that I felt represented the ambition and the statement of intent,” he says of the track. “It’s got one of those big choruses, and I think my vocal shines off it.

Out of everything on the album, it was pretty clear what the first thing was going to be. I think I would have struggled to pick another first track. It just felt so appropriate.”

He notes that writing ‘Bigger Than Me’ gave him more confidence in writing the rest of the record, and doing it in a way that

LOUIS TOMLINSON

finally felt like he was making something that aligned with his personal tastes. At the very beginning of his solo venture, he’d played with dance-pop on collaborations with Steve Aoki (‘Just Hold On’), and Bebe Rexha and Digital Farm Animals (‘Back To You’). Then he’d sacked it off and run in the other direction on ‘Walls’, choosing a sound indebted to the early 2000s indie rock he grew up on. ‘Faith In The Future’ is where he finds a happy medium, spurred on by an interest in Stuart Price’s work on Australian trio DMA’S last record, ‘The Glow’.

“With the first album, I was so particular about every specific sound, especially what I didn’t like.

So, for example, because I’d done the song with Steve Aoki - which, again, was a great launch to my career, but musically never felt that true to me - I was like, well, I’m just going to kind of deviate from those sounds and go all-in on the guitars with as much authenticity, musically, as possible. It wasn’t until I heard the latest DMA’S album where they managed to use all these really interesting dance sounds, but in a very authentic, unique way. I think it gave me food for thought going into this album.”

Remaining authentic has clearly been a huge part of this process for Louis. Tracks like opener ‘The Greatest’ and ‘Bigger Than Me’ are expansive and wide open, while ‘Written All Over Your Face’ melodically pulls from indie floor fillers akin to early Arctic Monkeys singles. Then he dials it right back to the conversational intimacy of ‘That’s The Way Love Goes’ on the closer.

Seeming slightly disgruntled with previous writing sessions, he set out to work with more artists who aligned with his current philosophy on songwriting. Those being Hurts’ frontman Theo Hutchcraft, Courteeners’ bassist Joe Cross, indie-pop songwriter Nico Rebscher (who gets a special shoutout for being a “good boozer”), and The 1975 and Wolf Alice producer Mike Crossey.

He wanted to keep the writing team smaller this time around because he’d worked with “about a hundred different fucking people” on ‘Walls’, making it harder to maintain the sonic continuity he’s achieved on ‘Faith In The Future’.

“What’s been slightly different about the writing process this time is that I tried to work with less professional songwriters and more artists, because there’s a different level of care and love for the music you’re doing. And that’s not undermining any other session I’ve been in. It’s just sometimes when you go into these sessions with certain professional songwriters, they’re looking for singles, you know? And sometimes that comes across in the writing as well. If you want to have authenticity, and you want the music to have a soul to it, you can’t really be going in with that kind of intention because it kind of dumbs down the reason that you’re writing, and it becomes something else.

Do you know what I mean?”

At heart, Louis has and will probably always be A Normal Bloke. Despite the dizzying heights of fame he’s reached over the years, his feet have always been on solid, Northern ground. What Sam Fender is to Newcastle, what Adele is to Tottenham, that’s what Louis Tomlinson is to Doncaster. He rarely discusses his fame in song, if at all. In fact, he hasn’t really addressed it since ‘Perfect’ in his One Direction days. Instead - and especially on ‘Faith In The Future’ - he favours songwriting that resembles pub chatter and inherently human topics. From one of the tracks borrowing its title from Pulp (yep, that’d be ‘Common People’) to the fact that he consistently pronounces another track as “art a’ me system” (that’s ‘Out Of My System’ for any non-Yorkshiredwellers), he’s remained proud of his roots and is finally, properly, getting the chance to shout about it.

“Even conceptually, and with the topics that we speak about, I think it’s a better representation of who I am as a person, this

record. And those things are important to me. It’s also, as a songwriter, where I feel most comfortable - writing about these kinds of really normal things. It’s something that I’m definitely conscious of. It was a deliberate choice.”

It’s refreshing to see a star of his scale consistently in touch with his working-class beginnings and conscious of the changing landscape across the industry. Of course, Louis is an anomaly in that he’s probably set for life off the back of selling millions of records in his early 20s, but he’s always got those in mind who don’t have that luxury. In 2021, he put on his first Away From Home festival, for which tickets were completely free, at Crystal Palace Bowl when the live music circuit was getting back up and running post-pandemic.

“This is not me pointing fingers, but I don’t see enough of that in the industry to be fair,” he says of the decision to make it free. “That’s something that I think is important to me, definitely, everyone being represented. It’s something that I’m very conscious of across everything I do - prices for merch, ticket prices, etc. etc. It’s something that is very, very important to me because I know myself, if I hadn’t got into this, I don’t know, some people are charging like 400 quid a ticket or summat daft. I wouldn’t be able to afford that. So it’s important that that is representative. And also, when you put your tickets at that price, you create a certain type of audience. It’s good to have everyone in the room, I think.”

Nowadays, Louis is redefining what success means to him. While he admits he felt the pressure when venturing out solo, he knows he wasn’t alone in that. These days, he’s less focused on scoring a Number 1 record (although it’s pretty certain his fans could get him that), and more invested in creating moments with the fans that are exclusive to them, hence why his first world tour has been such a turning point.

“I’m sure other people can relate to, you know, your previous experiences. They’re relevant when you’re speculating what the next stage of your career might look like. I think we all [the One Direction boys] will have had a similar feeling going into that first record. But for me, it was an especially long time. It’s been seven years now since the band, and I think I’ve just got a different understanding of what the word successful means to me. This tour definitely has taught me that. It’s only really me and the fans that have got me to where I am here in my solo career.”

He describes touring as black and white, with none of the nuances he has to deal with in the rest of the music industry. It’s the one thing that’s barely changed over his career, the simple exchange of getting a ticket and seeing your favourite artist. It means the world to his fans and, in turn, means the world to him.

“My biggest aim since I started my solo career, because it was my favourite shit in the band, was can I create something where it gives me the ability to tour for the next 10 years? So I’ve got one year down. If I could do another nine, I’ll be happy.”

We ask, rather cheekily, if the general public - because we all know what they’re like, don’t we, Dear Reader? - might be surprised to see that Louis is still selling out venues as big as Wembley Arena on his solo tour. Testament to his personality, he actually agrees that it’s a good point, but he’s used to people underestimating him by now.

“I think that’s a frustration I’ve found across my career to date. But you know, there’s a little thing that me and the fans say together, and it’s that they never see us coming. It doesn’t matter how many times we fucking do what we do, they never see us coming. But you know what, I like it that way. I like catching people by surprise.” ■ Louis Tomlinson’s album ‘Faith In The Future’ is out 11th November.

"IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW MANY TIMES WE FUCKING DO WHAT WE DO, THEY NEVER SEE US COMING" - LOUIS TOMLINSON READDORK.COM 51.

FEATURES

It’s debut album time for Dork faves and Scrabble champs Courting, and, it turns out, ‘Guitar Music’ isn’t quite what it says on the tin...

WORDS: MARTYN YOUNG. PHOTOS: EM MARCOVECCHIO.

52. DORK

COURTING

OURTING KNOW PRECISELY what it means to revel in the inherent ridiculousness of pop. They’re a mass of contradictions, conflictions, hot takes and questionable views on pastry (“It feels wrong sometimes that pies are savoury”). They are also rock climbing enthusiasts, lovers of classic sitcoms (especially Friends) and, most importantly, they’re a bit bonkers, a lot brilliant and undoubtedly one of the best new bands in the country. Their debut album ‘Guitar Music’ offers a thrilling insight into their own singular world.

We’ve long known the Liverpool quartet are something a bit special.

They’ve always had a fun edge that sets them apart from their contemporaries, but that focus on playful disruption belies the deep thinking and passion that goes into making their music. As singer and chief songwriter Sean Murphy-O’Neill explains, “It’s so important to be really careful with your own music and know what it all means before SEAN M U R P H Yyou put it out into O ’NE ILL the world.”

Before putting this album out, the band had a few years to build their own universe from a patchwork of influences, big ideas and inspirations.

‘Guitar Music’ is very much three years in the making. “We very quickly realised what we wanted to do and were given the benefit of a long period of time to write it properly, rather than being in the unfortunate position that some bands

"I THOUGHT IT WAS SUCH A STUPID TITLE. I KNEW IT WOULD PISS PEOPLE OFF" -

find themselves in where they have to essentially record a greatest hits album in record time,” says Sean.

They’ve certainly put the work in to hone their craft. “I’d always say the only way to get good at writing songs is just to write an obnoxious amount of songs,” laughs Sean. “Every single one of them will be really bad until one day you write a good song. We must have written a thousand songs before we started making stuff that I think is good. I always think that the best way to measure how good your music is is how long it takes you to hate it. I don’t think I’m going to get bored or disappointed in this album for a long time.”

‘Guitar Music’ embodies all the dichotomies at the heart of Courting. They have the attitude of prime pop stars, yet they are also an incredibly hard-hitting and powerful indie band. It’s a winning combination, but it makes describing the music on the record almost impossible.

An overwhelming insane rush of genres and mashed-up sounds, it’s something only the most creative minds could cook up. “We wanted something that was weird but maybe a bit more timeless than what we were doing,” says Sean. “Something that sat less in the circles of what we were making. We wanted to make a statement.”

From the harsh, industrial, Sophieinfluenced, future pop clanging of the opening track ‘Cosplay/Twin Cities’, it’s clear that that statement involved no boundaries or filters. “Please don’t get too scared after the first song,” laughs Sean.

“The whole intention when we wrote ‘Twin Cities’ was shock factor. We wanted to make something that when people put it on, it would be jarring and maybe throw them off from what they were expecting.”

There’s a sense from Courting’s creative process of both finding order in chaos and trying to find the chaos in the order. A fluid push and pull that drives the album and everything they do. “One way that we approached it differently was instead of us just writing songs and picking the best, we were really clinical about the process,” explains Sean. “We did a lot of research, me and Sean [Thomas], the drummer. We listened to three new albums every day because we wanted to really widen the music that we listened to. What that did for us is it allowed us to see not just in terms of a song but structurally what makes an album flow really well and is seen as timeless apart from just the songwriting.”

One thing they hit upon from this exercise was their desire to make the album a short, sharp and intense jolt. “We wanted to purposely build an album that was shorter. It didn’t matter if it was 55 minutes or 27 minutes. If it’s that tight and concise, then people will want to listen to

it again and again. No matter how good an album is, if it’s really long and overbearing, it loses out on constant replay value.”

‘Guitar Music’ might be short, but it’s certainly not an easy listen. That’s precisely the point. It’s an album that keeps you on edge and supremely engaged, never knowing what might hit next. “It can often get to a place where on the second half of an album it picks a vibe and settles into it,” says Sean. “We never wanted to settle into a vibe on the album. We wanted it to feel like whiplash. You’d finish one song and be like, oh, I can see where this is going, and then at the last minute, it’ll flip back to something else. We wanted to keep people on their toes. Every song has its purpose within the album to either showcase a different element or bring something back.”

Then, of course, there’s that intentionally provocative album title.

Courting have always been disruptors.

Never afraid to poke fun at themselves or the scenes around them, the album title reflects their propensity for directness and silliness in equal measure. “I thought it was such a stupid title. I knew it would piss people off because it’s so simple,” laughs Sean. “The inspiration came from getting interviewed or reviewed by some magazines, and you’d release a song that you’d think was quite clever, and they’d be like, oh, they’re a guitar band, and it’s a guitar song. From my experience, I find that phrase not reductive but offensive. More often than not, if you’re calling someone a guitar band, there’s not much weirdness or artistic integrity in it.”

Weirdness is a theme they arrive back at. It’s a defining concept that drives the band. Others might be more commercially successful, but few will combine a wellworn classic aesthetic with a challenging experimental side in a way that’s so compelling. “We were trying to make something a bit weird. I didn’t want to be lumped in that box,” says Sean of his desire to break out of an established wheelhouse.

The brightest bands know it takes more than just the music to make an impression. Courting have personality and charisma by the bucket full and have cultivated a character that allows them to do whatever they want. They ramp up the pop nonsense, delivered through an album littered with jokes, celebrity references and an irreverent, idiosyncratic way of viewing life. “We tended to pull notebooks together from just stream of conscious thoughts, YouTube comments, that sort of thing,” says Sean of their lyrical process.

“There’s a really interesting poetry book I read where someone has made poems out of Amazon reviews. That’s a similar style of writing to how we like to write about

things.” “I approached this album with a sense of world-building,” he continues.

“That’s why we had the album cover be the picture of the city. We wanted to create a small world these songs could inhabit as if they were different characters with different perspectives.”

Rather than attach deep meaning to their lyrics, Sean prefers to keep the process natural and off the cuff. “I really like the chorus on ‘Loaded’. It was more of an attempt at just chatting shit,” he laughs.

“I think there are two really good types of lyricism. One is where someone knows exactly what it is they want to say and says it perfectly. The other is where you’re so good at chatting utter shit in a song that it is so up for interpretation that people can write paragraphs about it. There’s a very awkward middle spot between that where you write something that kind of makes sense and is kind of vague. I don’t really enjoy that school of lyricism. I either enjoy directness or being really out there.”

There’s a burning ambition at the heart of Courting. But it’s tempered with a realism that they may not quite yet take over the world. Regardless, they will stick to their principles and follow their own path. “What we want to do really is make something that’s interesting,” concludes Sean. “We don’t expect many people to follow or keep us in the scene.

But we just want to make something that challenges people a little bit and opens people’s boundaries up to what a rock band can be without being incredibly technically proficient or writing stuff that is impenetrable. We’re trying to make pop songs that are interesting and an album that is very weird but fun enough that it doesn’t make people not want to listen to it.”

So, how can you possibly top an album as insanely creative and bonkers as this one? Well, you push things even further.

“We just want to keep steaming ahead,” says Sean excitedly as he describes how they’re already deep into album two. “We’re not leaving this path, but maybe we’re going to alter it slightly. We’re going to make a record that’s tonally different but might reign in some of the things we do on this one and maybe bring in some other elements, bringing in more instruments.”

Who knows where that will lead?

But with the brilliant creative minds in Courting, the possibilities are endless.

“We’re just writing things that feel good to us, listening to as much good music as we can ingest and trying to make a really good product. We want to keep doing that until we no longer know what’s good or bad, and we produce the weirdest album ever.” ■ Courting’s album ‘Guitar Music’ is out 23rd September.

READDORK.COM 53.

INCOMIN ALL THE NEW RELEASES YOU NEED TO KNOW

WHAT DO THE SCORES MEAN? ★ Rubbish ★★ Not Great ★★★ Fair ★★★★ Good ★★★★★ Amazing

RINA SAWAYAMA

HOLD THE GIRL ★★★★★

Released 16th September. → Since her conception, Rina Sawayama has pushed pop to its limits. Her 2020 debut ‘SAWAYAMA’ saw her redefine what pop could sound like, it didn’t follow any obvious trends and instead opted for a Britney-meets-Korn-via-Kylieversus-Queen (or something like that) sound. In the two years that followed, she’d been lauded by Elton John, featured on Lady Gaga’s ‘Chromatica’ remix album and embarked on 10s-across-the-board tour that solidified her place as pop’s great new hope. So how on earth do you follow that?

If you’re Rina, you kick off your new era with camp as tits queer liberation banger ‘This Hell’. But behind the bells and whistles and rhinestoned cowboy hats and “that’s hot” ad-libs, it’s got a heart akin to ‘Born This Way’. It’s not the only track to explore religion as an oppressive tool. Dark club banger ‘Holy’ looks into internalised shame, while ‘Your Age’, a snarling banjo banger that explodes into a Linkin Park style chorus, unpacks the feeling of being ostracised.

Where ‘SAWAYAMA’ explored Rina’s relationship with her identity and her heritage, ‘Hold The Girl’ goes deeper, often picking apart her complicated relationship with her mother and trying to understand her perspective. It’s done beautifully on ‘Catch Me In The Air’, a soaring ballad that opens like ‘My Heart Will Go On’ and plays out like the early-00s pop-rock of Liz Phair and Michelle Branch.

‘Hold The Girl’ might actually top ‘SAWAYAMA’, remaining just as experimental while being more cohesive thematically and turning the dial up to 11 on every track.

Sometimes it feels like a rock opera, sometimes it feels like Gaga at her most theatrical, sometimes it’s so sincere it’ll break your heart but the euphoria of it all will put it back together. ABIGAIL FIRTH

54. DORK

DJO

DECIDE ★★★★★

Released 16th September. → Joe Keery (AKA King Steve “The Hair” Harrington) operates under the smartly ambiguous pseudonym of Djo for his musical pursuits. Whatever you call him, the multi-faceted artist has displayed some real growth since his last musical outing in 2019, and, following busy years of relentless success, the key theme that grounds his new album ‘Decide’ is one of change.

He twists this conceptually simplistic idea into 13 textured, bold and completely addictive tracks. One of the most irresistible alt-pop records of the year, ‘Decide’ is wholly cohesive with an inflamed flair for dreamlike world-building through ambitious production, with too many individual highlights to list. It’s thrillingly artistic while maintaining an accessibility that makes it hard to stop listening.

FINLAY HOLDEN

FLETCHER

GIRL OF MY DREAMS ★★★★ Released 16th September.

→ Fletcher’s long-anticipated ‘Girl Of My Dreams’ more than lives up to the hype with an emotionally intense rollercoaster of supercharged pop that sees her exploring every raw emotion on a fluid, dynamic and supremely satisfying odyssey through all the joy and pain of relationships and the human condition. Building off her previous acclaimed EPs but with everything now amped to the extreme, bangers like ‘Becky’s So Hot’ and ‘Her Body Is Bible’ are obvious highlights but the real heart-stoppers are when the bold, super confident facade of Fletcher the unstoppable pop icon gives way to a more vulnerable and tender side on the heartfelt ‘Better Version’, and the album’s rousing crescendo of ‘For Cari’. This is a debut that proves that Fletcher can do it all.

MARTYN YOUNG

NG.

ARTIST’S GUIDE

MILOE GAPS EP

INCOMING

Miloe runs us through his latest EP, 'gaps’.

GUITAR MUSIC ★★★★

Released 23rd September. → The first few notes of Courting’s debut twinkle into life: glazed-over sounds, romantic strings, cinematic soundscapes.

It’s still, a quiet moment to take a deep breath. Doesn’t sound like Courting, does it? Of course, there’s no use falling into that trap. It barely lasts a minute before Courting return to doing what they do best – throwing everything you thought you knew and expected out of the window. Dark, glitchy drumbeats set ‘Twin Cities’ into motion, but in doing so they embark upon an album so rife with twists and turns you never can quite settle. It’s hard not to listen to ‘Guitar Music’ on the edge of your seat; God only knows what might come next. It’s the kind of thrill that many set out to capture, but few do successfully.

Courting, however, have mastered it. NEIVE MCCARTHY

SUCKERPUNCH ★★★★★

Released 7th October. → If Chloe Moriondo’s two previous albums introduced them as a supremely talented songwriter, then ‘Suckerpunch’ establishes Chloe as a full-on alt-pop superstar. Bold and extravagant with a refreshing dose of silliness, it’s the beginning of a new era for Chloe. Taking inspiration from peak noughties visionaries like Britney and Kesha, Chloe has concocted a thrilling collection of party bangers and dramatic theatrical vignettes. In amongst the madness though there is a sensitive climax that amplifies the high energy peaks, and the sadness of the devastatingly tender closing section culminating in the cathartic release of final track ‘Cry’. Chloe Moriondo’s reinvention has begun, and it’s going to be one hell of a ride. MARTYN YOUNG

SORRY

Out now.

Released 7th October.

→ ‘I Love You Jennifer B’ is perhaps Jockstrap’s most boundary-pushing work yet.

Best described as a sonic piece of abstract art, every song forms a feature of an intricately surrealist whole, giving the feeling of being lost falling into the vortex of their mind, never truly finding your feet but being glad for the journey nevertheless. One step ahead of their peers, and, quite possibly, technology as we know it, Jockstrap have a timeless quality, capturing the chaos, joy, uncertainty, intrigue, pain and romance of 2022, but also 1982 and maybe even 2032 like no one else ever has or will.

PHOEBE DE ANGELIS

→ Where debut ‘925’ saw Sorry producing on-rails alternative bangers, ‘Anywhere But Here’ takes a more exploratory approach, with tracks expanding and developing as they progress. The result is a set of songs that initiate with small kernels of a theme that bloom before our ears, as if we’re witnessing each track’s inception and completion. It makes for 13 phenomenally honest tracks that hum with the same dark liveliness that cemented their place in our playlists. ‘Anywhere But Here’ is a perfect addition to their discography and a perfect analysis of modern attitudes and anxieties. CONNOR FENTON

YUNGBLUD

KID KAPICHI

I LOVE YOU JENNIFER B ANYWHERE BUT HERE ★★★★ ★★★★

COURTING

CHLOE MORIONDO

JOCKSTRAP

YUNGBLUD* ★★★★

WHERE U ARE I’ve envisioned starting a project with acapella group vocals and clapping for a long time. I remember dancing and pacing in my backyard to writing to the beat. It was the first thing to lift me up in sometime during lockdown.

ELASTIC I started writing elastic at around 10 pm and it kept me up for 12hours. I got lost in the flow, the synth and acoustic textures felt really good to me and that started to inform the visuals I wanted to go for with the ‘gaps’ EP. I was so emo while writing this one but that energy gave me this pretty song!

REWIND rewind was a joy to figure out and is my favorite song to play live. there are so many different versions. I got overwhelmed with the different places I could take it - that was until pawpawrod came to town to visit paisley

Out now.

HERE’S WHAT YOU COULD HAVE WON ★★★★

→ Neither shy nor retiring are words one would use to describe YUNGBLUD, but on his third album Doncaster’s devilish delinquent is coming out of the gates faster than ever before. From the bombast of ‘The Funeral’ into the The Cure sampling ‘Tissues’, as vibe checks go it’s pretty damn conclusive. Big-gone-bigger moments are the order of the day. There are introspective moments, too. ‘I Cry 2’ is Dom channelling The 1975’s train of thought bop factory, while ‘Die For A Night’ dials down so closer ‘The Boy In The Black Dress’ can soar even higher. It’s a self-titled statement of intent. STEPHEN ACKROYD

→ Kid Kapichi have never been shy, retiring or especially polished about things, but on their new album ‘Here’s What You Could Have Won’, they’re happy getting messy. Biting back against the bastards, from opener ‘New England” - a team up with the vital Bob Vylan - it’s a state of the nation address that suffers no fools. From ‘Party At No. 10’ to the frantic ‘Smash The Gaff’, what it lacks in subtlety, it makes up for in raw, fuck off energy. A cathartic release, sometimes the best tool for the job, is a well-aimed half-brick and a strong arm. Kid Kapichi might just take your head off. STEPHEN ACKROYD

Released 23rd September.

park. I’d been a fan since his first release. We linked up to jam, I played him this and he liked it! We made so much music that daym, it’s crazy to watch him flow.

GAPS gaps gave me the feeling I was looking for while writing this EP. I’m prolly most proud of the lyrics on this one, the words just came out in a stream.

FLOATING It came together pretty fast, in about an hour or two I had all the lyrics and sections. I love the bass line so much, I just wanna make the African kids dance.

MAKE UR WAY It felt more like a dancehall EDM instrumental for a long time and it also had many versions and alternate endings. 80purppp brings it together in such a fire way, the vocal arrangement he did is gorgeous. ■

MILOE

ALVVAYS

THE SNUTS

GAPS EP ★★★★

BLUE REV ★★★★

BURN THE EMPIRE ★★★

→ Super talented bedroom pop whizzkid Miloe’s latest EP ‘Gaps’ is a lovely kaleidoscopic insight into his vivid musical world.

Taking influences from a whole load of styles like a typical Gen z musical voyager the 21 year old also Imbues his sweet lilting pop with sounds inspired by his African heritage and traditional Congolese music that gives his work a wonderfully textured depth. Making a little go a very long way with his GarageBand production, songs like the dreamy blissed-out ‘Rewind’ and the funky bubbling bounce of the title track feel like the perfect postscript to a long and memorable summer. Martyn Young

→ It’s mad to think that Alvvays’ glorious single ‘Archie, Marry Me’ is nearly a decade old. It’s equally ridiculous that second album ‘Antisocialites’ is itself clocking on for a half-decade.

‘Blue Rev’, though, is more than worth the protracted wait. Few do blissed-out indie-pop better, and at 14 songs long, ‘Blue Rev’ is swimming in fuzzy, woozy bangers. Molly Rankin also remains a peerless songwriter, equal parts reflective raconteur and plimsoll punk poet. This is especially true on the trippy ‘Velveteen’; throw in some perfectly crafted characters and ‘Blue Rev’ is every bit as good as its predecessors. ROB MAIR

→ ‘Burn The Empire’ follows The Snuts’ Number 1 debut, ‘W.L.’, and it doesn’t fall short.

A no-holds-barred protest against corrupt corporations and politicians, the band also delve into the deepest and darkest depths of fears about social media in ‘Zuckerpunch’ and ‘13’ - but it’s not all doom and gloom; ‘The Rodeo’, for example, is a carefree, singalong indie anthem about knowing that your life is often out of your own control.

Thoughtful in their lyricism, The Snuts remain euphoric in their riffs, proving themselves to be a band living in the moment but with an eye to the future. PHOEBE DE ANGELIS

Released 16th September.

Released 7th October.

Released 7th October.

READDORK.COM 55.

INCOMING

FLOHIO

MAYA HAWKE

EASY LIFE

OUT OF HEART ★★★★

MOSS ★★★★

MAYBE IN ANOTHER LIFE… ★★★★

→ In a UK rap scene of numerous new stars Flohio’s engaging presence, charisma and supremely gifted flow sees her shine bright. There’s real depth and illuminating clarity at work on ‘Out Of Heart’; see for example the rousing ‘Peace Of Mind’ and the stunning atmospheric odyssey of ‘Speed Of Light’. With deft mastery of texture and blending different sounds together the record is a journey through all aspects of Flohio’s artistry. Mixing intensely personal lyrics with dynamic electronic sounds this is an example of an artist who knows exactly who they are and is thriving firmly at the top of their game. MARTYN YOUNG

→ Maya Hawke’s world is a vivid one. On her new album, ‘Moss’, she brings poetry in motion to life. Inspired by nature – by light and dark and love and loss in equal measure – this is Maya at her most real. Forging beauty out of chaos, and verse and rhyme out of (sometimes complicated, sometimes not) emotion, the record finds its strength in its delicacy. Vocals soar and swirl like dust motes caught in moonbeams, while babbling brook melodies carry listeners into a world that’s every bit as relatable as it is hopeful. It’s a gentle reminder of how much beauty there is to be found if we can open our eyes to it. JESSICA GOODMAN

→ They’ve been through the feverish a-sound-a-minute stage, and they’ve cemented a steadily-growing career with the hazy tones of debut album ‘life’s a beach’. Easy Life are now more than capable of diving deep into a production style and returning to the surface with something new. As such, their next steps take shape across the sprawling ‘Maybe In Another Life’. There are still party songs present but that glee is only one aspect of a muddier project - if the last full-length was horizontal, consistently flowing but easy to see through, this one is less flat or transparent. Ditching an overreliance of synths for the warm embrace of natural instrumentation, ‘Maybe In Another Life’ gradually reveals a luxurious and uplifting listen that will be more than sufficient to keep Easy Life on the radar. FINLAY HOLDEN

GILLA BAND

DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE

Released 7th October.

MOST NORMAL ★★★

Released 7th October.

Released 23rd September.

ASPHALT MEADOWS ★★★

→ Back with a fuzzy, angstinfused bang, Gilla Band (FKA Girl Band) bring their first album under their new guise.

Produced by their own Daniel Fox, ‘Most Normal’ is not for the faint-hearted, seeing the band experiment with their style with a ferocious edge. As chaotic as ever, it’s a high-octane listen, which at times is nothing short of an attack on the senses. A journey through the shocking, the noisy, and the downright unexpected, from the opening track ‘The Gum’, a striking intensity smacks you in the face. An anarchic soundscape, ‘Most Normal’ lands somewhere between genius and utterly bonkers. MELISSA DARRAGH

Released 16th September.

MURA MASA

DAYGLOW

→ Ten albums in from any band and you know roughly what to expect; Death Cab for Cutie’s ‘Asphalt Meadows’ is proof of that. Ben Gibbard’s lyricism and songwriting is as strong as ever with the imagery in his words ever evident on single ‘Roman Candles’, the title-track, and the wonderfully-titled ‘Fragments From The Decade’.

A serviceable record unlikely to win them any new fans, but enjoyable nonetheless, it’s not quite as good as their last album ‘Thank You For Today’ but let’s face it, it’s still just about worth a listen especially if you like the worlds Gibbard weaves with his words. JOSH WILLIAMS

DEMON TIME ★★★★

PEOPLE IN MOTION ★★★★

→ Mura Masa is blessed with that rather handy knack of being reliably brilliant with very few misses and a whole lot of hits. On his third album ‘Demon Time’, he hits the mark once again on a typically varied highenergy collection steeped in the kaleidoscopic image he has created. The vibes are positive and fresh as the producer expertly harnesses the diverse talents of a whole host of different pop legends. Whether it’s on the dreamy ‘Slomo’ ft Tohji and Midas The Jagaban or the fevered bounce of ‘Hollaback Bitch’ ft Channel Tres and Shy Girl, the whole album ripples with a thrilling future pop exuberance. MARTYN YOUNG

→ Still working as a one-man unit, with ‘People In Motion’ Dayglow achieves a sound that might otherwise take an entire studio. The virality of ‘Can I Call You Tonight?’ imposed some pressure on second record ‘Harmony House’, but now, with his doubts settled, he moves on with a bold but universal new sound. Key singles ‘Then It Goes Away’ and ‘Deep End’ detail a broader commentary on his own position and discomfort, the songs discussing learning to endure conflict. Wholesome stuff, as always. As an uplifting product of his solo labour, ’People In Motion’ asks listeners to trust that things will work out.

FINLAY HOLDEN

Released 16th September.

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Released 7th October.

Released 7th October.

ALEX G

GOD SAVE THE ANIMALS ★★★★

Released 23rd September. → Back with an impressive ninth album ‘God Save The Animals’, Alex G elevates his sound to provide an underlying sense of ease, maintaining a sense of coherence with smooth production and thoughtful songwriting throughout. From the ominous motifs in ‘Cross The Sea’ to the uplifting whispers of ‘Blessing’, it’s a lesson in composition. Like a soothing soundbath for the soul, ‘God Save The Animals’ brings a stunning display of vulnerability that will have you hooked from the offset. Alex G may be nine albums in, but his work remains every bit as captivating.

MELISSA DARRAGH

WHITNEY

SPARK ★★★★

Released 16th September. → With a pair of softly sung and deeply emotive neo-folk albums on their CV, Chicago multi-instrumentalist duo Whitney have come completely out of left field with their poppy, shimmering album ‘SPARK’.

Laced with all the charisma of their previous work and zapped by new synthy tones, this record masterfully probes at the most obscure of your emotions while goading you to dance along.

Whitney have defined what it is to change their tune, showing that there truly is reward in playing with your spirit. With them switching things up, there’s no doubt that there’s countless more exciting things on the way. CONNOR FENTON

SPORTS TEAM

GULP! ★★★★

Released 16th September. → Oh, big whoop. You don’t like Sports Team? They wind you up by being big, brash and bombastic? They challenge your carefully considered acceptance only of things that show so little fizz or frazzle someone might believe you cool through a lack of personality alone? Forgotten how to have fun, have we?

Sucks to be you, you absolute fucking bore.

The battle lines were long ago drawn on indie’s Marmite marauders, but here’s the thing (sorry - Ed), ‘Gulp!’ is absolute proof that, for those not so tired of life they’ve given up, Sports Team are a band built without a brake pedal. Is it a perfect album? No. Should it be? Also, absolutely not. That would totally defeat the point.

Rattling through at pace, never making perfect the enemy of the good, their second full-length is proof of a band perpetually in motion.

The development from debut album ‘Deep Down Happy’ is obvious. Opener ‘The Game’ shows perma-baiting frontman Alex Rice at his ramshackle, Grating-est Showman best.

Crackling up against the spitting gobs and smoking ears of the mob, you can almost hear him furiously gyrating like any pause for thought would result in instant death. ‘Dig!’ is a weird, wandering groove - the kind of earworm that comes out of nowhere - while ‘Cool It Kid’, featuring Sorry’s Asha Lorenz, hits with a lilting, treacle-thick gloop.

‘Gulp!’ isn’t as immediate a record as ‘Deep Down Happy’. There’s a nagging feeling it could have used one more big Sports Team moment - between-albums single ‘Happy (God’s Own Country)’ might actually have done the job - but with time invested, it’s a full-length that shows the depth the six-piece have always possessed. The razzle-dazzle of ‘The Drop’; the potential lost 80s sitcom theme of ‘Getting Better’; ‘Finger’ and its ramshackle parade - they all drip with sass and swagger unlike any of their peers.

It’s closer ‘Light Industry’ that adds the pleasing salt to ‘Gulp!’’s sticky caramel. With Rice taking a back seat and Rob Knaggs shuffling into the limelight, it’s the crystallisation of the pair’s nascent Albarn/ Coxon style duopoly. While not quite up there with previous job-swap ‘Long Hot Summer’ from their debut, it’s a perfect closer for an album that refuses to cater to critics and cynics. Fuck ‘em. None of them are having the slightest bit of fun, anyway. Sports Team are still dancing like everyone is watching. That’s the way they like it. STEPHEN ACKROYD

INCOMING

OCTOBER 2022 SUN 02 BRISTOL TUE 04 BRIGHTON FRI 07 BIRMINGHAM SAT 08 SHEFFIELD SUN 09 LIVERPOOL FRI 14 MIDDLESBOROUGH SAT 15 EDINBURGH MON 17 NORWICH WED 19 SOUTHAMPTON FRI 21 NOTTINGHAM SAT 22 LEEDS MON 24 LONDON TUE 25 GLASGOW FRI 28 INVERNESS NOVEMBER 2022 TUE 15 BELFAST WED 16 DUBLIN

O2 ACADEMY CHALK O2 ACADEMY O2 ACADEMY CAMP & FURNACE TOWN HALL USHER HALL UEA ENGINE ROOMS ROCK CITY O2 ACADEMY KOKO O2 ACADEMY IRONWORKS MANDELA WAY BUTTON FACTORY

STELLA DONNELLY FLOOD

NEW ALBUM BURN THE EMPIRE OUT OCTOBER 7

THESNUTS.CO.UK MYTICKET.CO.UK SEETICKETS.COM A KILIMANJARO, LIVE NATION, DF CONCERTS, SJM & FRIENDS PRESENTATION IN ASSOCIATION WITH WASSERMAN & TOUCHDOWN MANAGEMENT

OUT NOW

GET OUT. LIVE MUSIC, FROM THE FRONT.

PHOEBE BRIDGERS O2 ACADEMY BRIXTON, LONDON 28th July 2022

58. DORK

Photo: Patrick Gunning.

GET OUT

→ “WHO WAS HERE LAST NIGHT?” Phoebe Bridgers asks Brixton. “Sorry it’s the same set, it’s all I know.” She’s on night three of four at the Academy, and she’s familiar enough with her fans to know they’ll be at every one.

‘Punisher’ took its time coming to UK shores, with Phoebe rising from indie darling to nearA-list status over the course of the pandemic, but crikey has it been worth the wait. This tour’s production value could easily outgrow the theatres she’s playing it to, as could the audience, who dutifully line up outside all day, if only to get a closer glimpse of Phoebe as strolls past the front row during ‘Scott Street’.

Early hit ‘Motion Sickness’ serves as a prelude before delving into some of ‘Punisher’s sadder cuts – ‘Garden Song’, ‘Halloween’ and the title track all arrive early on, each accompanied by a pop up picture book visual, pages turning after every track.

Much like Harry Styles’ stans scream “LEAVE AMERICA” a little louder than the other lines in ‘As It Was’, certain Phoebe lyrics get the same treatment. “Fuck the cops” in ‘Smoke Signals’, “I hate your mom” in ‘ICU’, “a room full of people” in ‘Sidelines’. Phoebe’s voice is wonderfully delicate but when amplified by the thousands of young people screaming back at her, it brings home how much these songs mean to them.

At this point in the tour, her fans (or Pharbs) have come to expect a guest or two, Phoebe having recently recruited Matty Healy at Brixton night two, and Rina Sawayama and Maggie Rogers at Latitude for ‘I Know The End’ screaming duties. Tonight support act and Saddest Factory signee Charlie Hickey joins her on stage for ‘Chinese Satellite’, and Nell Mescal (yes that’s Paul’s sister) comes up for an unlikely encore of ‘Georgia’.

Towards the end of her set, she plays recent single ‘Sidelines’, and just as the room starts wiping their tears, she asks, “Who. Here. Is. Gay.” to which half of the room screams, and she dives straight back into ‘Graceland Too’. Nothing quite encapsulates Phoebe’s entire brand like a quip about her LGBT audience uttered between two tearjerkers.

By the time ‘This Is The End’ rolls around, Phoebe’s made a convincing argument that she’s the best rock star in the world today – she walks on stage to her name up in flames while Disturbed’s ‘Down With The Sickness’ plays – but seals the deal on ‘Punisher’s enormous final track, its already iconic screaming outro followed by slinging her guitar off the stage and jumping into the crowd.

One of the best things about Phoebe Bridgers is that she’s consistently unpredictable. It’s rare that a folksy, emotional, horn and string backed album warrants head banging and crowd surfing but Phoebe just makes it work. From the wink and the nudge of the metal band logo shirts and the ‘Reunion Tour’ title, to the Swiftie-like dedication of her fanbase, she makes for an unlikely superstar, but that doesn’t mean she’ll be any less of one. ABIGAIL FIRTH

READDORK.COM 59.

GET OUT

↑ Mollie Coddled

↑ Pip Blom

SIGNATURE BREW, LONDON 6th August 2022

Photo: Patrick Gunning.

↑ STONE

→ THE FIRST-EVER DORK’S DAY OUT is nestled nicely in the Signature Brew Blackhorse Road brewery, which means we are quite literally throwing a piss-up in a brewery. We good? Got that joke out of the system? Sweet – because for our inaugural all-dayer, some of our favourite artists mark their territory with a jukebox of unmissable bangers.

As the sun beams down on Signature Brew, Mollie Coddled kicks off proceedings with a shimmering blend of dream-pop and indie-dreaming focused on sweeping everyone gathered off their feet. With a touch of new music dropped into the set, cuts like ‘Guilt Trip’ and ‘Lonely Bitch’ are a proven marker in the ground that Mollie is a very special future pop star indeed. You heard it here first.

For Chilli Jesson, there’s a refreshed sense of purpose and drive to everything he does on the Signature Brew stage – latest EP ‘St Vitamin’ providing the sort of heart-on-yoursleeve anthems that he’s fully embraced for his emphatic new direction. A commanding presence, it’s the sound of a true indie great showcasing a new side – with a rapturously received version of Palma Violets’ ‘Best Of Friends’ thrown in for good measure. A crowdpleaser from start to finish, it feels like Chilli Jesson is making the music he was born for – and the results are showstopping.

With Jessica Winter’s DJ set dropping a buffet of the biggest pop bangers, Pip Blom follow with an all-encompassing party atmosphere that comes with playing two shows on the same day (you’re welcome, Wilderness). Dialled up to 11, it’s a fire trip across their two studio albums. A band full of vigour and energy, they leave the stage with a crowd eager for more, and if their set today is anything to go by, they’ll be filling far bigger stages than this in the years to come.

Following such a show would be tricky, but L’Objectif’s set today already feels leaps from their already stellar turn at our Dork’s Night Out x The Great Escape warm-up show.

Brimming with indie credentials, the Leeds favourites jump between crunching riffs and punchy pop licks in a manner that leaves no doubt to all bearing witness: they’re one of

60. DORK

the most exciting new bands going.

Looking for another nod at ‘best live bands going’? STONE have been carving the sort of name for themselves over the past few months that gets you excited about their every move. Their performance is nothing short of a revolution, distilled into 30 minutes of visceral punk energy. Led by frontman Fin Power, the likes of ‘Leave It Out’ and ‘Waste’ are incendiary, mixed with powerful messages of love and understanding even in the darkest of times. Leaving the stage in a ring of feedback, STONE aren’t here to mess about.

As Austin from Swim Deep drops a wild mix of hits outside on the patio – particular highlights being the Swim Deep songs and ‘Streets Of Philadelphia’, we reckon – there’s a party-spinning mood that carries through.

Coach Party’s year can only be described as game-changing, from headline tours and standout festival sets to the small matter of playing the Stade De France, there’s a feeling in the air that Dork’s Day Out is getting a real treat witnessing them tear up the Signature Brew stage on their way to superstardom.

With raw and vital indie-rock flooding through every note, it’s clear just how unstoppable they’ve become – ‘Everybody Hates Me’ and ‘FLAG (Feel Like A Girl)’ are just two highlights from a set that confirms why their star continues to soar.

After a stacked day, it’s no small task to close out proceedings, but FEET have a winking charm and knack for providing the most fun of times. It’s a celebratory vibe that refuses to let up from the very beginning.

Opener ‘Petty Thieving’ sets out their stall, and the party erupts with every note from there. ‘Busy Waiting’, ‘Ad Blue’, a perfectly apt ‘English Weather’ (minus the umbrella), and ‘Chalet 47’ are nothing but essential – and prove just what sets them apart from the rest.

FEET are not only packing the bangers but the personality to back it up.

As bands convene, requests are made to the late-night DJs, and more orders are swiftly made at the bar – Dork’s Day Out proves itself to be the perfect summer day out for those looking for a new music fix with a dash of pop nonsense. Come on now, did you expect anything else? JAMIE MUIR

GET OUT

↑ Chilli Jesson

↑ L’objectif

↑ Coach Party

READDORK.COM 61.

WITH... THE

SNUTS Yes, Dear Reader. We enjoy those ‘in depth’ interviews as much as anyone else. But - BUT - we also enjoy the lighter side of music, too. We simply cannot go on any longer without knowing that Jack Cochrane from The Snuts wants five haggis for breakfast, and nothing else.

HOW MANY HATS DO YOU OWN? 7.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN A MEMBER OF A CLUB? I don’t think so, actually.

YOU’RE PICKING A 5-ITEM BREAKFAST. WHAT’S IN IT? Haggis x5!

WHAT’S ONE THING YOU CAN DEFINITELY BEAT THE OTHER MEMBERS OF THE SNUTS AT? Triple backflips.

WHICH SUPERMARKET DO YOU SHOP AT? Aldi. I’m loyal for life.

WHAT STRENGTH NANDOS SAUCE DO YOU ORDER? Medium.

IF YOU HAD TO LIVE AS AN ANIMAL FOR ONE YEAR, WHICH ANIMAL WOULD YOU PICK? A Koala Bear.

HOW LONG CAN YOU HOLD A GRUDGE? Multiple lifetimes.

WHAT IS THE STRANGEST FOOD COMBINATION YOU ENJOY? Dipping toast crusts in a cup of tea.

IF YOU COULD PICK YOURSELF A NEW NAME, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Henrik.

WHAT’S THE MOST EMBARRASSING THING THAT’S EVER HAPPENED TO YOU?

I fully believed and passed on the story that Lewis Hamilton had a can of Red Bull fitted inside his helmet.

WHAT’S THE SILLIEST THING YOU OWN? 8 Donny Osmond mugs.

IF YOU HAD TO BE ON A TV GAMESHOW, WHICH WOULD YOU CHOOSE? Takeshi’s Castle.

HOW FAR COULD YOU RUN, IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDED ON IT? 8k maybe.

IF WE GAVE YOU £10, WHAT WOULD YOU SPEND IT ON? Socks.

WHAT’S YOUR LUCKY NUMBER? 11.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN MISTAKEN FOR SOMEONE ELSE? Barbara Streisand.

WHAT IS THE MOST IRRATIONAL SUPERSTITION YOU HAVE? Opening crisp packets upside down is the worst luck.

WHAT’S THE UGLIEST LIVING CREATURE YOU’VE EVER ENCOUNTERED? Prince William.

WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO COOK A POTATO? Roast.

HOW PUNK ARE YOU OUT OF TEN? 0.

IF YOU HAD TO HAVE ONE WORD TATTOOED ON YOUR FACE, WHAT WORD WOULD YOU HAVE? G-Unit.

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR DYING WORDS TO BE? Thank god that’s over.

IF YOU COULD BE BEST

FRIENDS WITH A CELEBRITY YOU DO NOT KNOW, WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE? John Cena.

WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS? I’m trying to be better!

WHAT’S THE LAZIEST THING YOU’VE EVER DONE? These answers?!

HAVE YOU EVER HAD A CRUSH ON A FICTIONAL CHARACTER? I don’t think so.

IF A GENIE GRANTED YOU THREE WISHES, WHAT WOULD YOU ASK FOR? A big orange head.

The Snuts’ album ‘Burn The Empire’ is out 7th October.

PALACE THOMAS HEADON

WORKING MEN’S CLUB SEA POWER GRUFF RHYS

BABY QUEEN CRAWLERS DINOSAUR PILE-UP WARMDUSCHER JOESEF LOS BITCHOS SWIM DEEP CASEY LOWRY CONNIE CONSTANCE W. H. LUNG WILL JOSEPH COOK BEARS IN TREES KING NO-ONE LOTTERY WINNERS THE SKINNER BROTHERS BABY DAVE CHAPPAQUA WRESTLING THE CLAUSE FAR CASPIAN THE HARA JELANI BLACKMAN KID BRUNSWICK LOVEJOY OPUS KINK THE PALE WHITE ANORAK PATCH . ARTEMAS . BANJI . BEAUTY SCHOOL . BEETLEBUG . BEFORE BREAKFAST . BEREN OLIVIA . BERT BLAIR DAVIE . BOY BLEACH . CALUM BOWIE . CATE . CHEAP TEETH . CIEL . CVC . DAVID KEENAN . DILETTANTE DIM IMAGERY . EDIE BENS . ELANOR MOSS . ELLIE DIXON . ELLUR . FAKE TURINS . FALSE HEADS . FLOWVERS . FYA FOX GABBY MARTIN . GEORGE BLOOMFIELD . GEORGE O'HANLON . GIGI MOSS . GRETA ISAAC . GUS ENGLEHORN HANNAH GRAE . HARVEY JAY DODGSON . HIGHSCHOOL . HOUSE ON FIRE . IMOGEN HART . IZZI DE-ROSA . JAXN JEMIMA COULTER . JERUB . JOE & THE SHITBOYS . JOE UNKNOWN . JOSH VINE . KAY GREYSON . KIDS . LAUNDROMAT LITTLE QUIRKS . LIZZIE ESAU . LOW LYING SUN . LUXURY GOODS . MANU GRACE . MELIN MELYN . MICA SEFIA . MINT MOLLY PAYTON . MOREISH IDOLS . MURDO MITCHELL . NIALL SUMMERTON . OHEM . OLIVER KEANE . OLIVER PINDER OVERPASS . PET SNAKE . PHENICIA . PLEASURE CENTRE . POP VULTURE . PRIMA QUEEN . PYRA . RATS . REDOLET ROYEL OTIS . SAINT JOSHUA . SAM AIREY . SERAPHINA SIMONE . SHE'S IN PARTIES . SLANT . SOMOH . SOPHIA ALEXA SOPHIE MAY . SOUP! . SPLINT . SPRINTS . THALA . TEAH LEWIS . THE DINNER PARTY . THE FLINTS . THE GULPS THE NATIVE . THE OOZES . THE QUEEN'S HEAD . THE ROLY MO . THE SHAKES . THE WILD THINGS TOM A SMITH . TOM JENKINS . TOMMY ASHBY . TRUNKY JUNO . UNINVITED . USNA . VENBEE WINGS OF DESIRE . WYNONA . YOUTH SECTOR . ZELA 150+ ARTISTS OVER VENUES ACROSS THE CITY

1 DAY

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