Dork, September 2016

DORK readdork.com

Editor: Stephen Ackroyd stephen@readdork.com Deputy Editor: Victoria Sinden viki@readdork.com Assistant Editor: Ali Shutler ali@readdork.com

Contributors: Amie Kingswell, Ben Jolley, Danny Randon, Heather McDaid, Jamie Muir, Jasleen Dhindsa, Jessica Goodman, Josh Williams, Kathryn Black, Martyn Young, Rob Mesure, Ryan Johnston, Sam Taylor, Sammy Maine, Sarah Louise Bennett, Steven Loftin 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.

P U B L I S H E D F RO M

THE BUNKER W E LCO M E TOT H E B U N K E R.CO M

THIS MONTH...

U P D AT E 0 4 . R AT B O Y 06. BA N KS 0 7. T H E W Y T C H E S 08. AGA I N ST M E !

10. H OW TO D RESS W E L L 12. BANG ERS 13. CITY GUIDES... TWIN AT L A N T I C 14. P U B L I C AC C ESS T V 1 5 . A D AY I N T H E L I F E O F. . . S H U R A 1 6 . D E AT H S P E L L S 1 7. B E A C H B A B Y 18. THE GUIDE HYPE 20.

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THE LEMON TWIGS WILL JOSEPH COOK HANA DAG N Y

24. BA BY ST R A N G E 2 5 . S T E V I E PA R K E R 25. LEWIS DEL MAR F E AT U R E S 28.

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FRANK OCEAN BASTILLE S L AV E S DOE THE CRIBS B E AC H S L A N G

20 QUESTIONS WITH...

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THIS MONTH, WE’VE BEEN M O S T LY LISTENING TO...

The Big Moon Beautiful Stranger Our cover stars’ original stuff is brilliant, but their cover of the Madonna classic is next level awesome.

KLOE - Liability Pretty sure our KLOE can’t do anything less than brilliant.

The Magic Gang All The Way Yet more magic from Brighton’s musical wizards in residence.

UPDATE e “I lov t.” ar g n i mak

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The

YeaOfrThe

“I’M N OT A R AT , I’M A BLOO DY G ERBI L M8.”

T his is

HAPPENING

y o B t a R b it io s ive ly a m and mas , e g a s. t s b ig p la n t a b le o n rd y h a s a U n p re d ic C n a J o rd

Y

ou’d think Rat Boy would be pretty happy after bursting onto the scene with his blend of rabble rousing indie punk and garnering a rabid fan base of loyal devotees in just a couple of years, selling out venues across the UK that some bands might take years to fill. Jordan Cardy isn’t happy just doing that though: he wants to spread his wings and grow the Rat Boy empire.

“I create my own art and videos,” he begins. “We just do what we want. We make our own music and we don’t want to be put in a box.” The early Rat Boy songs that first got attention have been superseded by a newly confident and creative multi-genre artist. “We don’t care about genres,” agrees Jordan. “We want to make what we want at the time.

It’s about experimenting, having fun and getting our message across.”

Rat Boy’s message is very simple: the ethos is all about expressionism and individualism. Perhaps the excitement buzzing around Rat Boy can be put down to how relatable he is. In short, everyone knows a Rat Boy. “We don’t take ourselves too seriously,” admits Jordan, referencing his band. “We’re just normal people, so maybe we’re just like everybody else. We don’t want to be stereotypical rock stars. We’re just normal people having fun.”

Despite the whirlwind he finds himself in, Jordan remains grounded about how important his loyal fans are. “I really appreciate people being interested in what we want to do,” he says. “I don’t want to take that for granted.”

Things are progressing creatively at a fast pace; Jordan talks enthusiastically about a number of projects and ideas he has on the go. “All the time I’m

being inspired by new things,” he says.

With the music embracing a more experimental and creative sound, as heard on this summer’s ‘Get Over It’ single, influences like the Beastie Boys and Beck are coming to the fore.

When the debut Rat Boy album arrives next year it’ll be hard to predict just what it will sound like. “There’ll be a few indie guitar tracks on the record but the production behind them will be more inspired by big beat and will be heavier like Rage Against The Machine.

Our influences are all over the place so it’s difficult to say what we want to do,” Jordan admits. “I’ll probably change my mind in a week’s time,” he laughs.

What is certain though is that it’s not just about the music for Rat Boy. He wants to become a cultural phenomenon. “The album has got concepts to it that I’ve been working on with characters based on the last music video,” he says. “That was introducing and referencing loads of different things. It’s going to be twentysomething tracks.”

At the heart of what Rat Boy does is a restless creative spirit. “We just want to make sure that we put as much effort into everything as we do with music,” says Jordan. “It’s just as much about the visuals as it is about the music for me. I love making art.”

The art he’s making now involves stage props, video storyboards, clothes and all sorts of different concepts. The autumn tour promises to be a landmark moment in the rise of Rat Boy. “I’m designing the visuals of the set at the moment that will reference the music video for where we’re going in the future,” he says.

He does concede though that the chaotic nature of Rat Boy’s gigs might lead to a hefty prop replacement bill.

“It’s going to be mad,” he laughs. “I think all our stuff is going to get destroyed pretty quickly.”

The onstage experience is where Rat Boy really comes alive. “It’s a wicked feeling,” says Jordan excitedly. “We’re all

y : Ra t B o u s o ff it

Wor d s: M a rt y n Yo u

ng .

making a moment. It feels really special.

I never thought I’d be on the other side playing to people instead of being in the crowd.”

Ray Boy has already achieved a lot in a short period, but as he approaches his biggest tour yet and prepares to embark on new creative challenges, he’s ready to lift off. “We’re trying to do something that not a lot of bands do. We’re trying to make a world.” P Rat Boy’s headline tour will kick off on 16th September in Sheffield.

See you think musicians are All About The Music, and many of them are; but not Rat Boy - he does all sorts: writes the theme tune, sings the theme tune… and designs the hats too.

He’s made a ‘zine for his ‘Get Over It’ EP, featuring a handdrawn storyboard for the accompanying video which also introduces two characters of his own creation: Neptune and Scum.

That same video saw him take on directing duties, editing duties, production duties, and even prop design for the car, cereal boxes, books, food and clothing.

And he has two clothing lines too: SCUM and Skating Kills.

More than merely merch, he has fans queuing in their droves to get their hands on limited edition designs. Phew.

LCD Soundsystem pull shows to record album LCD Soundsystem are reported to have cancelled their 2016 Australian and Asian tour before it was even announced; Hong Kong festival Clockenflap claims they backed out due to “studio scheduling conflicts related to their new album.”

Blossoms add even more shows Blossoms are doing alright at the moment, aren’t they? A Number 1 album, a legion of adoring fans, and a sold out headline tour. There’s more joy to come, too – with more dates to round off the year in style.

Find the full list on readdork.com.

Taming Gaga It’s been revealed that Lady Gaga’s new song has been produced by none other than Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker.

The psychedelic groover has had a hand in ‘Perfect Illusion’, the lead single from Gaga’s new record.

Be a Jarman Ever wanted to be a Jarman?

Well, now you can, and without having to move to Wakefield and change your name. The Cribs have their own range of signature guitars. The limited edition Fender Squires are available now from “all good music stores”.

5

UPDATE

“I wan t aliens in outer s pace to gro ove to it.”

Take t I To The Banks

ent owe r m p m e , n. t io n r e li g io forma a n ks ’ Tr a n s B is s ic hy m u and w

B

anks’ second album is about finding her strength.

Two years on from debut ‘Goddess’, the LA-based artist is ‘shedding old skin’ and presenting a new-found sense of control and power.

It’s a theme that’s evident when watching the striking visuals for lead singles ‘Fuck With Myself’ and ‘Gemini Feed’. In the first, Banks is seen taunting and smearing lipstick over a cast model of her own face before setting fire to it; in the other she is tied up in rope, trying to free herself.

Describing herself as ‘sombre but upbeat’, Banks says her debut record

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was like reading her private diary aloud, whereas album number two is ‘me without any hesitation’.

What’s happened in your life in the two years since ‘Goddess’?

When I finished touring for ‘Goddess’ I was so ready to start my next album.

I have grown so much since it was released. I’ve found new powerful parts of myself and I was ready to explore these, set them free like when you feel new muscles after you’ve climbed a mountain.

Wor d s: B en J ol ley.

and what I learned about my strengths as an artist, as a business woman and as a human. My songs tell my story; they’re how I process the world around me and the people I love or those I’ve lost.

How has this inspired ‘The Altar’?

My new album reflects all of these parts of me, and shows the process of shedding old skin and coming into a newness.

Is there a story behind ‘The Altar’ as the album title?

I was driving in LA, my hometown, and I passed a run down altar. I don’t remember if it was to the Virgin Mary or anything specific but it was beautiful and decrepit at the same time. It made me think about what we worship, where we sacrifice, where we say and do our holiest acts. My music is my religion. It’s where I sacrifice, where I pray, where I ask for help and find answers.

What has been the driving force behind the new album?

Transformation. Paths taken and those left behind. But mostly transformation

What are you trying to convey in the ‘Fuck With Myself’ and ‘Gemini Feed’ videos?

I wanted to tell the stories in ways

people could take away multiple meanings. ‘Fuck With Myself’ is about what we do to ourselves, how we can be our own worst enemy or our own best friend - or all of that at the same time.

‘Gemini Feed’ is about duplicity, power in relationships and the lightness and darkness. I wanted to show heaven, hell and purgatory.

‘Gemini Feed’ is sombre but still comes across upbeat. How did you make that work?

That’s pretty much me in a nutshell.

I followed my instincts and it came naturally.

How would you say your sound has developed since ‘Goddess’?

I took more risks, felt more empowered. ‘Goddess’ was me reading my private diary; ‘The Altar’ is me without any hesitation.

How did you feel whilst creating the new album – was there a sense of pressure?

Deadlines feel like the death of creation to me. I tried not to focus on it. I am really proud of this album and how organically I made it.

Who and what has been inspiring you?

I’m inspired by life; by the people around me. I didn’t really listen to music while making it but I love the Jadu Heart album.

Where have you been recording and who have you worked on it with?

I recorded it in LA, mostly with Tim Anderson, Sohn and DJ Dahi.

Is there an overall theme or message to ‘The Altar’?

I hope people connect to it. I felt so empowered and vulnerable and in love and heartbroken all at once while making it. I feel such a range of emotions listening to the music I love so I can only hope my music touches people and moves them... Deep down, I want aliens in outer space to groove to it. P Banks’ album ‘The Altar’ is out 30th September.

Wytch

T his is

HAPPENING

Craft

Apple Music Festival is back Apple’s annual jamboree of free shows is returning to London this September.

Bastille, The 1975, Calvin Harris and Britney Spears will all perform.

You Me At Six are ‘Night People’

er “All we’ve ev g known is doin it ourselves.” g t h e f la f ly in g e r a s in g s y tc h e in g t h The W nd do a , k r r d wo y. for ha w n wa yo u r o

“

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think that pop is getting tired for people who are into that, there’s just so much of it, it’s everywhere. I can’t stand it, it’s all the same.

You can just tell it’s being made in a lab or something,” starts The Wytches’ bassist Daniel Rumsey. “There’s a load of good bands coming out and because there’s no money anymore, maybe that’s the reason, they’re trying harder to be heard.”

The Wytches are certainly living by this idea. From low-key parties around London, touring the US and now recording with Bad Seed Jim Sclavunos - who Daniel describes as “kind of a headmaster”, and “really funny and quite scary” - their second album ‘All Your Happy Life’ sees the band honing their DIY ethos, and capitalising on their fondness for hard work.

“We were on the last song ‘Home’ ’til 3 am,” he continues. “We worked on it all day because Jim wouldn’t let us go to bed until it was done, but we’re really proud of that one now.” Their producer certainly kept the band on a tight leash. “He was really cool, but he put us in all our place, especially Gianni [Honey], our drummer. Because he’s a drummer as well, some of the things he came out with were quite funny.

“Once, Gianni was drumming in his socks and Jim said, ‘I don’t want to see that’. Gianni responded, ‘What is this, London Fashion Week or something?’”

Jim, after all, is a man never far away from a tailored suit. “They were both going at the each other, it was really funny. Jim was just like, ‘London Fashion Week definitely aren’t coming to this session.’”

Split between Lincolnshire-based Chapel Studios and London-based Toe Rag Studios, where they also recorded their debut, the sessions gave birth to differing sounds which the band were aware may not have carried into the coherency that’s so easily heard on the final record. “We were worried if it would flow right and we had a guy called Mikey Young mix it for us, and he did a great job of making it sound similar. It’s not too jarring to hear one song, and then another one recorded in another studio.”

The band were wary however about involving more minds than just their own. “We had a producer come and do pre-production with us and he really helped. We were all quite nervous about it, knowing he might come and change the songs but what he did was really good. The single [‘C-List’], really wasn’t a single before he helped us arrange it, he made it into a proper song. Before it was just a couple of sections, different parts.”

Not some really rather incorrect name your Da comes out with, but the name of You Me At Six’s new album, set for release in January next year. They’re streaming the title track now, with a tour in October.

American Football

Wor d s: S te ve n Lo ft in .

The band have been lucky with their chosen collaborators, that supportive environment something they also often experience while on tour. Daniel tells of a particularly memorable gig they played in Vancouver, Canada: “One of the shows we did in an abandoned building, it was the final night they were going to do. It was really a good atmosphere, it had this sort of family feeling to it, like a real DIY party.”

And then there were those Fluffer Records pit parties in the UK, too, which saw the band completely surrounded by their crowd. “The Fluffer things were really cool. It kind of reminded me of when I used to put on gigs when I was living in Bournemouth. That whole no pressure thing. Just hire a venue, put a gig on, flyer it a bit and see what happens. It just all felt DIY, it was really nice and it was packed out. It was great.”

“All we’ve ever known is doing it ourselves,” he ponders. “We’ve had managers and stuff, and a label, but ultimately everything we put out we want to come from us. If anything we put out wasn’t from us then we wouldn’t feel comfortable with that, and I think everyone we work with really respects that.” P The Wytches’ album ‘All Your Happy Life’ is out 30th September.

have a new album Seventeen years is Quite A Long Time to wait for a new album, but that’s exactly how long it’s been for American Football. Their new self-titled effort follows up on their self-titled debut, just to make things nice and easy for everyone, and will arrive on 21st October. They’ll be back over in the UK next year, too.

Generation Bonito Hypercolour troupe Kero Kero Bonito have announced they’re dropping their debut album this October. Titled ‘Generation Bonito’, the London three piece (vocalist Sarah Midori Perry, producer Gus Lobban and producer Jamie Bulled), will embark on a full North American tour beginning mid-October in support of the release.

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L AU R A’S A M S TA AS S R SO IV E M U C WA R S FA N H SO PET , IT A IO L AS NO NW N T YE AS L L AR A U N IN E IN O CHE N E O TO G E T D WO H F TH RK? E F IL E R A PA “NO MS. RT THE D ID Y ’L L ,” S H E IT S AY WA R B S. “ S F IL E M A K B U IN T MS G S SO TA R W E ’L U N T IL WE L SE D IE , EW HAP H AT PEN S .”

hits hard. It’s immediate, instant and forwardfacing. The past is over and it’s time to start living. “That really came along with the feeling of closure with writing a book. Doing a book and a record at the same time, they help and play off of each other even if I was trying to keep them very separate. It’s not like one is the soundtrack to another but with the book looking back, thinking and writing about the past the record had to be ‘I’m going to think about and write about exactly how I feel right now, in this moment on tour. Finishing them both at the end definitely feeling like I’m done thinking about the past. I’m just so done thinking about the past, I need something different now.”

y f.” l n l o e s n y a c m “I be

L

aura Jane Grace is one of the most important, enduring and vital voices in music and has been for close to twenty years now. Not that she spends any time thinking about it. “I’d be such an arsehole if I said ‘Yes, I’m aware.

I sit around for a couple of hours every day thinking about how powerful my voice is.’ If I could really pontificate and have opinions on that, I’d be such a dick.”

Legacy isn’t a concern, either. “I really believe you’re only as good as the last song you wrote. You’re only as good as the last show you played, so it’s really only that far back for me. I want to do another. I want a chance to do it better than that last one.” And as for feeling the burden of expectations: “I can only be myself. I can’t live to be good for other people’s expectations or facilitate other people’s expectations or what they should think I should be like, because they’d just truly be disappointed.”

After all, Laura Jane Grace has better things to worry about. She’s too busy to keep looking back, and her book ‘Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock’s Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout’ does the job for her. Instead she’s focused on the new Against Me! album, ‘Shape Shift With Me’, and for good reason. It’s brilliant.

There’s excitement for both but there’s more terror for the book, which is essentially her journal, shared with the world. “People asked me about being

8

st k ’s m o of ro c e n o is e ! ’s G rac e in s t M Jane s . Ag a d a re. e h L a u ra u re ce mo e d f ig a ll o n v g lo in r ll ba we es her um se lb a h u tl er. w ne Wor d s: A li S

comfortable being that open with True Trans, the documentary series I did, but from my perspective I’ve already been getting up on stage and singing my deepest, darkest emotions in song lyrics for however many years which always felt the most terrifying thing, it’s just a matter of perspective.

“That period of time between when you finish a record and when you release a record, I think any single band person can attest to is the worst period of time. It’s where bad things happen. You go a little crazy. You’re just waiting to live, waiting to start running again.

You doubt yourself. One second you never want to listen to it again, then you do listen to it.” It’s a record she has replayed so she can approve the vinyl test pressings, but there was a twomonth gap where she wouldn’t go near it. “I was like, whatever, it’s done.”

Chasing the feeling of “This feels good, let’s write” as they toured the world, when Against Me! got home, “We realised that there was already the record and it was important to go ahead and record it as opposed to then waiting a period of time, to capture that feeling of momentum that we had.” Capturing lightning in a bottle, the record cracks with energy and forks with an absolute joy.

“I need the immediate, I need the impulsive, I need for it to feel right, and then to own that and go with it. Not for it to feel right and then stop, question it and think about it. I don’t want to second-guess it. That’s obviously a feeling you want in your everyday life, but when it comes to creativity, that’s what you need to protect. If you can get to that place where you can act on impulse and be quick with your

emotions and instincts and trust it like that, then you’re making good art.

You’re not making self-conscious art, you’re following your gut. People can fuck with you and you can fuck with that place and it ruins that. It’s really something you need to protect.”

“I have a happy memory attached to each song,” she continues. “I think ‘Delicate, Petite and Other Things I’ll Never Be’ was one of my favourite experiences with the record, if I had to pick any. I remember that feeling of waking up, having the idea for the song and we just tracked it then and there.” Pairing a tiny little Rickenbacker amp with a brand new Fender guitar, it was a sound that Laura fell in love with. “It’s so great. It’s weird and floats around with being in time with where it should be, but I found the sound I wanted from that amp that I’ve been carrying around for however many years. We started playing and there was the song. Standing there in the studio, playing the song and looking out of the window at the snow, I’ll never forget that.”

None of the tracks were difficult with only ‘Dead Rats’’ many parts and directions causing any real headache in making them all work together, but the band did struggle when it came to figuring out which of the sixteenodd songs to put on the record. “If we add in this song, we have to make it a three LP album and what’s that going to cost people. I hate to think in those terms but it is realistic too when you think how much it will physically cost people.” Against Me! aren’t a band who compromise, but ensuring they’re accessible is rule number one.

‘Shape Shift With Me’ is a record that

It’s not that Laura finds it difficult to let things go, but “it takes me a while to process things. People get frustrated with me all the time if something monumental happens or is said, I can’t immediately fully understand or fully realise all the ways I understand it or there is to understand it or what it is. I need time on my own, alone, to sort through things. It depends what else is going on. Touring I find helps me process, if it’s a personal matter happening at home. Going on tour you either get the distance you need from something to give it a rest or you get the distance you need from it to look at it in a different way.”

A different outlook can be found throughout ‘Shape Shift With Me’.

There’s a new-found joy to the way the band carry themselves and even the references to death and decay are less all-consuming. “That was part of recovering, I guess, from having a suicidal nervous breakdown. Feeling and realising where that edge is.

Once you see that edge, being able to happily dance on it because it’s always there, you can always just lean over one way if you want to. But while you’re not on that edge, go ahead and enjoy it.”

Seven albums in and people still care about Against Me! While Laura isn’t spending time picking about the whys, she is “thankful people give a shit, if they give a shit. I give a shit, I put all of myself into this. I can’t answer why people care though. I’m thankful, I do honestly love what we do, every aspect of it. Travelling, playing and being in the studio writing, being part of a band, I’m driven to it. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be able to do it. It still makes me happy and it gives me all the reason I need.

I’m very thankful to just be able to keep playing. For me personally, one of those achievements is longevity, being able to grow and change and develop.

There are so many places we haven’t played to. I like going to new places, and feeling like there are places we haven’t gone.”

Against Me!’s album ‘Shape Shift With Me’ is out 16th September.

Are these the twelve best British albums of 2016, or what?

I

If they aren’t, it’s tough. These are the nominees for this year’s Mercury Prize.

t’s that time of year again. With the Mercury Prize shifted forwards a bit in the calendar, we’re already trying to work out the best British album of 2016, even though loads of records that will be released in 2016 aren’t eligible. Because, y’know, reasons. A collection of ‘experts’ have come up with a list of twelve albums which will fight it out for the final prize, before losing out to David Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ [we’re only saying what everyone is thinking - Ed].

Fighting for the runner up prize are The 1975’s ‘I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It’, Radiohead’s ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’, Bat For Lashes’

‘The Bride’ and Savages’ ‘Adore Life’, among others.

The system has become more complicated for 2016. A public poll will nominate one of the twelve albums for a further short list, where it will join five others selected by the judging panel for a final round. They’ll then pick from that list on the night.

It’s like democracy, but allowing you absolutely no say in the final outcome unless it’s something the gatekeepers want to happen. Or ‘life’, as it’s otherwise known. Fight the system, readers.

This year’s panel will include Jarvis Cocker, Wolf Alice’s Ellie Rowsell, Kate Tempest, Naughty Boy and Jamie Cullum. The final winner will be announced on 15th September.

Little Mix, obviously, were robbed.

ANOHNI - HOPELESSNESS The debut album from a former Mercury winner, ‘Hopelessness’ received rave reviews.

DAVID BOWIE BLACKSTAR Bowie’s epilogue to a 50 year career and his goodbye to his fans.

An amazing album.

BAT FOR LASHES - THE BRIDE A concept album about a bride jilted at the altar, Natasha Kahn most hope it doesn’t prove true.

JAMIE WOON - MAKING TIME Yep, Jamie Woon is back, and it turns out he’s doing pretty well too.

Black Honey’s Future Playlist DEPENDING ON WHEN YOU READ THIS, BLACK HONEY WILL EITHER BE ABOUT TO PLAY BESTIVAL, OR WILL HAVE JUST DONE SO. THE THEME THIS YEAR IS THE FUTURE, AND HEY WHAT A COINCIDENCE, IT IS FOR THE PLAYLIST WE BADGERED THEM INTO CURATING FOR US TOO. D RE A M W I F E - H EY H E A RT B RE A K E R

An amazing new band who are going to be huge.

We can’t wait to have them on tour with us in October!

K R A F T W E RK - TO U R D E F R A N C E

KANO - MADE IN THE MANORS One of two albums showing grime’s increasing importance, Kano is the elder statesman now.

MICHAEL KIWANUKA LOVE & HATE After a long wait for a second album, Kiwanuka’s latest garnered praise from all corners.

SAVAGES - ADORE LIFE

LAURA MVULA - THE DREAMING ROOM Mvula’s second album sounds like nobody else.

RADIOHEAD - A MOON SHAPED POOL It’s the Mercury Prize. Radiohead had an album out. You do the maths.

SKEPTA - KONNICHIWA

Angular and unrelenting, it’s doubtful Savages will ever be a truly mainstream concern, but they’re well suited to the Mercury.

Few albums feel like they genuinely could have a shot at taking this year’s Prize away from Bowie. Skepta certainly does.

THE 1975 - I LIKE IT WHEN YOU SLEEP...

THE COMET IS COMING CHANNEL THE SPIRITS

The 1975 took risks with album two and ended up crafting a majestic modern pop masterpiece.

To call The Comet Is Coming the token unheard of act would be a bit harsh, but, y’know... relatively.

Because it still sounds like the future, or what the future should sound like anyway.

BA BY ST R A N G E - F RI E N D

One of the best new live bands around, festivals will sound like Baby Strange for years to come.

F I C K L E F RI E N DS - C RY BA BY

Brighton bros playing at Bestival with us and are going to be massive.

I N H E AV E N - BA BY ’S A L RI G H T

Great song, great band, beautiful people.

DAV I D BOW I E - Z I G GY STA RD U ST

He was sent from the future to save us but left too soon and we all fell apart.

JAQUES DUTRONC - ET MOI, ET MOI, ET MOI

The future is a cherry picked collage of the past and this always needs to be in there somewhere.

T H E D O O RS - T H E E N D

Given the state of the world, this seems pretty fitting. Especially if Trump wins…

9

UPDATE

DRESSED TO

ESS R P M I

H

ow To Dress Well’s Tom Krell is fed up of being labelled a dark miserabilist.

His fourth album ‘Care’ is a glorious rejection of all that is bleak and torturous. “I knew that I wanted to make a record that was a little bit more triumphant with big drums and joyous sounds,” he explains.

“I really wanted to be happier. Freer in life and not defensive.”

Tom provided the impetus for How To Dress Well’s life-affirming comeback by firstly pondering how he could begin to take care of himself. “I thought a lot about raising myself and what it would be like to be a mother to myself,” he reveals. “To treat myself the way I would treat a child. I knew that I wanted to write a song to help this child.”

The result is an album that is big, openhearted and honest in a way that Tom’s previous records have only hinted at.

“There are still dark moments on the record, but they’re dark in a different way. They’re not depressed, maybe they’re just illusions or maybe they’re paranoid. Even when it’s bleak, it’s big sounding. It’s got a three-dimensionality and a robustness that I never had the confidence to do before.”

The past six years of writing and recording have been something of a creative and spiritual awakening for Tom, culminating in a new album that

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sees him looking at himself in the world in more simple terms with a newfound purity. “It’s been a period of intense opening,” he says. “I realised there’s so much more to love in the world. So much more to invest in than I had given the world credit for.”

“Part of growing up in the 90s, there was still a lot of nihilism to shed and I think that’s happening globally now,” he continues. “People are shedding off the last layers of nihilism that we’ve been stuck in and trapped under for the last 25 years. One simple thing is that I don’t need to write another song about how I don’t feel good; I can write a song about sex. Really wet, physical sex.”

Tom’s desire to lose all inhibitions is a clear theme running throughout ‘Care’’s ecstasy and celebration. “I’ve been really moved by more direct and normative art than ever before. I lost a bit of patience for a more impressionistic approach,” he says. “I’m just more interested in pleasure than before,” he explains.

“I was really wanting to give myself and the world pleasure in a different way. We like our artists to be more masturbatory and narcissistic and I wanted to please the partner more than I wanted to get myself off.”

How To Dress Well has always been associated with preconceptions and labels that have never sat well with Tom. ‘Care’ is about rejecting those labels. “Characterising my music as R&B has always been an upsetting thing,” he says. Honesty was a key thing. “With this record I was like, look I’m going to go more towards a type of Kiss FM template because that’s literally what

I listen to. I listen to a lot more Shania Twain than Bobby Brown. I let myself foreground certain things over other things. The process is particularly playful.”

Tom is now blissfully comfortable with himself as a person and an artist and that allows him to do different things with his music and challenge himself in different ways. “I work so much fucking harder now recording,” he says. “I did five times as much recording making this record than for all my previous records combined. I’ve never worked like this on anything in my life.”

Entirely comfortable with his beautiful voice and the dazzling things it can do, he gave himself up the music and writing the most joyous hook-filled pop that he could. The songs and the sounds came easily. “If I’m gonna climb up a melody I now know where the good footholds and handgrips are. It gives me options and capacity. At a certain point you stop thinking about how you’re holding the racket.”

This time though, Tom reached out to work with some of his favourite artists and producers. “It never previously occurred to me that I could just pick all my favourite people and see if they wanted to try something,” he laughs.

Working with Dre Skull, Jack Antonoff and CFCF among others, he made the brightest and boldest pop album of his career.

The concept of ‘Care’ extends beyond the album itself into visual films, and the performance of the tour. For Tom, the whole package is essential.

n Yo u ng

“There ’s so much more to love in the wo rld.”

“The label’s gonna spend a hundred thousand dollars on this shit, so you might as well do some fucking work before you die and make something beautiful and with conviction,” he proclaims. “I feel like I owe it to the people who supported me to do something really well.”

‘Care’ is an album about moments of joy and transcendence. Perhaps for the first time, Tom is completely at peace with himself as an artist and has no time for darkly wallowing in self-pity. “You do it because it’s joyful and you love doing it,” he says. “For the last eighteen months I haven’t been disabled, violently ill, poor, assaulted, and broken. I’ve been privileged and able to pursue this pleasure of making this record. It’s totally insidious to go, ‘Oh, it was the hardest time of my life’. Bro, it’s such a fucking blessing to be an artist and to be able to do this.” P How To Dress Well’s album ‘Care’ is out 23rd September.

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Cheeky Monkeys You may have seen an image circulating on Twitter last month suggesting the Arctic Monkeys were heading into the studio in September. They aren’t. It was a fake. “We’ve got no news about the band being in the studio at this point at all,” a spokesperson said.

You Me At Six are

They’ve never released a bad album, they’ve just headlined Latitude, but The Maccabees are calling it a day while they’re at the top.

I

f anyone says they saw this one coming, they’re a big dirty fibber. After releasing four brilliant albums - including last year’s Number 1 ‘Marks To Prove It’, The Maccabees have revealed they’re to split. The band posted a message to fans, explaining that “after 14 years as a band we have decided to call it a day.”

“The decision has obviously been an incredibly difficult one,” they continue, “given that The Maccabees has been such a huge part of our lives until now.

After 14 years as a band we have decided to call it a day. The decision has obviously been an incredibly difficult one, given that The Maccabees has been such a huge part of our lives until now.

We are very proud to be able to go out on our own terms, at our creative peak and off the back of the best and biggest shows we have ever done. There have not been fallings out and we are grateful to say that we are not leaving the group behind as a divided force. It has been a rare and absolutely incredible time that we all feel very lucky to have shared.

Love to anyone who has ever stood by our band, bought our records, come and seen us play, or cared and contributed in whatever capacity it may have been. We have always valued it immeasurably, tried to honour it as best we could and can only say

We are very proud to be able to go out on our own terms, at our creative peak and off the back of the best and biggest shows we have ever done. There have not been fallings out and we are grateful to say that we are not leaving the group behind as a divided force.”

“There are no concrete plans at this stage,” they continue, confirming they plan to continue making music. There will also be farewell shows announced in the near future.

The Maccabees only last month made the step up to festival headliner status, topping the bill at this year’s Latitude festival. P

thank you to you all very deeply and sincerely.

Though there are no concrete plans at this stage, we are all planning to continue making music. We are excited about the future and intend to move on, with some sadness, but with appreciation, affection and huge pride at the music we have made and all that we have achieved together.

There will be some farewell celebration shows announced in the near future.

Once again, especially to fans of The Maccabees, thank you for the countless good times that we will never forget. Take care and we will be in touch soon.

With love,

T he Maccabees

F I V E AC E SO N G S BY

T H E M AC CA B E ES L ATC H M E RE

A nice spot of rampaging indie that burst out in 2005, a song about a leisure centre probably never sounded so good.

TO OT H PAST E K I SS ES Quaint and playful, ‘Toothpaste Kisses’ epitomises The Maccabees’ sound with an acoustic ode to love. A ridiculously melodic piece of darling indie, with added whistling.

being teases If you follow You Me At Six, you may have seen them twirping on about #NIGHTPEOPLE - almost certainly something to do with their new album. That’s due in in January, by the way.

They’ll get by with a little ape from their friends Snoop Dog and De La Soul are set to appear on next year’s new Gorillaz album. “We actually sat down with Damon two weeks ago and he played us some of the new Gorillaz album, and it sounds amazing,” De La Soul’s Pos revealed.

F I RST LOV E Twinned entwining guitars, simplistic lyrics and furious drums, ‘First Love’ plays on the innocence of the generation that found it with style.

P E L I CA N The evolution toward modern day Maccabees, richer and showing the band growing with the times. Building to a chaotic climax where all sounds meet.

SPIT IT OUT The Maccabees final form sees all the previous elements meld into one. Confidently baring their teeth with a soft build into attack, ‘Spit It Out’ remains unrelenting until its abrupt end.

Formation are on ‘Drugs’ Formation have dropped a brand new banger, titled ‘Drugs’ - presumably because it’s really addictive, and not because it’s bad for you and should be declined or else bad things will happen. Formation will play their biggest headline show to date at London’s Village Underground on 25th October.

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! s r e g n Ba

s Th e be st new tra ck h. nt mo fro m th e pa st

INHEAVEN

Fickle Friends

Blaenavon

Danny L Harle

When INHEAVEN describe themselves as both “classic rock’s mutant son” and “a band of now”, they’ve got a point.

‘All There Is’, the four piece’s latest fuzzsoaked slice of awesome, isn’t some left-field jackknife. There’s no attempt to smash the boundaries of what’s been before, but it’s all the stronger for it.

Confident, fresh, bright-eyed and bushytailed – it’s of the moment. A further calling card for a band packed with potential.

The South Londoners are part of a pack.

New, exciting, vibrant bands making their own noise. Apart they’re ace, together they’re something more. The charge is on. Join in, or get trampled.

It’s felt like Fickle Friends have been on the cusp of something for a while now.

Each glacial release has been another demonstration of not only how effortlessly cool they are, but how they’ve mastered that neon-soaked pop sound. While tracks such as ‘Swim’ and ‘Say No More’ have sent us into summertime euphoria, ‘Cry Baby’ represents something completely different. Rather than heading outside to roll around in the grass with a mojito, it’s an invitation into the salty underworld that inhabits every city, a peek around the curtains at the sights and sounds that never get advertised in the travel brochure. Fickle Friends aren’t fucking around.

Being accomplished at something rarely gets the praise that it truly deserves. It means that you’ve mastered your craft, and can now naturally turn your hand to that particular something with unwavering confidence and consistency. And for that, Blaenavon can well and truly take the crown, delivering time and time again with a level of fullness and richness that leaves you thinking that this time, maybe they’ve found their zone. Then comes ‘Let’s Pray’, a potent and packed banger if we’ve ever heard one, and a track that from start to finish holds your eardrums in a hypnotic fix – as a mesmerising new canon in their already formidable arsenal.

‘Super Natural’ is pop perfection: PC Music’s super producer Danny L Harle teaming up with pop royalty Carly Rae Jepsen for an undisputed banger.

It’s been floating around for a good few months, with fans sharing videos of the future anthem being dropped at XOYO in London and Pop City in Los Angeles, creating a mass online hysteria – and rightfully so. Danny’s euphoric synthfueled build up and twinkling, dreamy keys meet Carly’s irresistible vocals for a match made in music heaven (cheesy, but so, so true). It seems like the pair were born to work with each other.

Topping ‘Super Natural will not be easy.

All There Is

Cry Baby

B a n g e r o f th e M on th

Let’s Pray

I

f there’s a band who look set to bring the fun back to sweet guitar licks, it’s Get Inuit. The Kent foursome have created a scene over the past year, releasing track after track of uncompromising riff-pop joy, with a raucous live show to boot which has found them touring all over the shop and becoming best buds with our pals Spring King. We caught up with frontman Jamie Glass to see what’s going down.

New single ‘Teriyaki’ is a bloody great banger, how did it all come about?

Get Inuit Teriyaki

We’ve known that Get Inuit have had something special for a while now, whether it’s the destructive live shows or their ability to make hooks like they’re baking muffins in an oven. In ‘Teriyaki’ though, they’ve got the undeniable call to arms that’ll smash through venues, speakers and brainwaves for years and years to come.

This scuzz-filled cocktail may be just over two minutes long, but

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It’s one of those songs that, for lack of a better term, squirted out of us. Like a sneeze, or a sweaty high five. We kept it short and simple, and stuffed as much as we could into it. Like a pillow, or a sausage.

Surely some sort of relation to ‘Teriyaki’ sauce right? If not, are there any specific Japanese cooking sauces that well and truly float your boat?

Super Natural feat.

Carly Rae Jepsen

songs that showcase a complex vocal.

But sometimes the melody is crying to be in a human’s register (sorry my canine friends) and I think it creates more an innate, earthy connection with the listener.

You seem to be hitting out banger after banger - what’s the secret recipe behind it all?

If a mysterious man in a trench coat offers you the power to create two minute pop songs whenever you desire... Ignore him! He may well be the devil.

Stay in school. Hard work and perseverance. Eat your five a day. That will do it!

You’re back on the road with Spring King later in the year, what’s it like touring with them and how do you plan to make those dates the ultimate winter warmers?

that’s all that’s needed. It soars and bounces in all the right places, managing to blend Californian sun-soaked buzz and the effortless sensibilities of the Pixies into one streamlined and focused burst that leaves little doubt as to just how massive they could become.

When I was a teen, I drank a full polystyrene cup of Sweet n’ Sour sauce. I’m not sure I could do that with Teriyaki, but that’s okay, we’re not all perfect. I also had a habit of eating lemon curd straight from the jar as an evening treat, but that’s a story for another time!

They are the sweetest gentlemen in the industry! They deserve the world and hopefully one day it will be theirs and they’ll share it with us.

We’re playing some huge venues and we’ve been using festival season to practice some prancing about. We’re going to have a lot of leg room and we need to make sure our turkey drum thighs cover every inch of the stage!

‘Teriyaki’ is the moment where Get Inuit look set for the big leagues, and boy does it sound fucking great.

How do you think you’ve progressed since your last few singles?

What have you got planned for the rest of the day?

As a singer, I decided to relax a bit more. Sure it’s great to sometimes have

You know what, I might hit the hay actually. Night Dork. Sweet dreams!

City

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Guides:

HAPPENING

Crystal Fighters go ‘All Night’ Crystal Fighters have dropped a brand new track. Titled ‘All Night’, their latest cut comes ahead of a new album, set to drop in October. They’ll be over to the UK for dates in November too.

Matt Healy

c i t n a l t A n i on Tw Glasgow TWIN ATLANTIC - FROM GLASGOW, SCOTLAND - ARE BIG FANS OF THEIR HOMETOWN. SO MUCH SO, THEY’VE NAMED THEIR NEW ALBUM ‘GLA’ AFTER THE LOCAL AIRPORT CODE. SAM MCTRUSTY HIGHLIGHTS SOME OF HIS FAVOURITE HAUNTS.

G

lasgow is a huge part of who we are as a band, it’s crafted the sound and aesthetic of our music and I don’t actually know if we would be together if we weren’t from here. We all grew up around the city, so it’s hard to imagine our lives without it - it’s one of those places that you’re really proud to come from.

From travelling around over the years, a lot of the people we’ve met seem to be embarrassed of where they come from which was always quite sad to hear - but it did also make us realise that we were lucky to get to come home to somewhere where it never felt like a drag. We’ve been very fortunate in getting to see a lot of the world because of our band, but there’s always something that pulls us back to Glasgow and it’s hard to imagine us being this band in another city.

It’s a geographically small city but so big in terms of character and culture. It rains constantly, so the urge to create things is probably enhanced as the opportunity to go outdoors is limited.

It’s not a stereotypically beautiful city, but it’s rugged and there’s something in the architecture that’s reflected in the people which then influences the music, film and arts from the city so it all has this recognisable feel to it.

Perhaps the thing I love most about the city is it doesn’t really matter what kind of band you’re in, be it a shiny pop band or a bizarre jazz metal outfit - you can kind of all relate to each other and feel like you’re part of one big musical community because you’re tied together by the fact that you are a Glaswegian band.

BAR BLOC The scene of our first gig together as a band and a great place to see new and touring bands for free. Also does great food and it’s open late most nights.

This was also the place where we had our first ever crowd surfer - the guy got squished against the ceiling.

KING TUTS Tuts is one of those places that pretty much any band you could name in the last 20 years will have played on their way up the musical ladder. We released our first single on their record label and also had our first ever sold out show here.

BARROWLANDS Not that we’re biased, but I do reckon this is the best venue in the world.

I’ve had some of the best nights of my life watching bands in this venue - the atmosphere the room generates is something you need to experience to fully understand. We’ve been lucky enough to get to play here quite a few times and there definitely is something

magic about the place which leaves you with something that goes beyond a normal gig.

LOVE MUSIC This a record shop near Queen Street train station that’s been there as long as I can remember. There aren’t a lot of music shops left in Glasgow these days, but this one is still going strong.

I don’t know many people that buy CDs anymore which is sad - it would be strange not have places like this which are a haven for music.

NICE N SLEAZYS This is still the place to go if you’re in Glasgow late and don’t want the night to end. It’s on Sauchiehall Street where there’s quite a few venues - so it’s the natural place for bands to head to afterwards. I’ve had quite a few regrettable nights involving White Russians here - they always seem like a great idea at the time...

DRYGATE This is a new brewery that’s opened up really close to our studio. It’s got an intimidating amount of beers on offer and also has a beer garden for the two weeks of sun Glasgow gets in May. This is where we’ll go on the pretence of ‘band meetings’ but really it’s just an excuse to drink beers with nice labels outside of our studio which is a sauna most of the year. P

is a sexually confused Edward Scissorhands His words. Not ours. Our Mattie has done himself proud with the description of his ‘look’ in a recent GQ interview.

Just be careful with the flies, mate.

Life is like a box of chocolates...

Hooton Tennis Club have announced their new album ‘Big Box Of Chocolates’. The full-length will drop on 21st October and was recorded with living legend Edwyn Collins.

They’ll be touring in support through to the end of the year.

Camden Assemble(y)!

One of London’s most famous live venues is set to undergo a bit of rebranding. Camden’s Barfly, for many years the place most new bands would pass through on their way to superstardom, is set to become the Camden Assembley.

There’ll be some special shows to celebrate, including one from Spector.

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UPDATE

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HAPPENING

Lower Than Atlantis are putting the work in Lower Than Atlantis have dropped a brand new track, ‘Work For It’. The first taster of a new album set to follow in 2017, the band are apparently working to a “write three, record three” rule. Like when we eat three biscuits, then eat another three, we guess.

Game on Grimes is among three artists announced as curators for the new NBA 2K17 game. “Stoked to be involved w curating playlist for #NBA2K17,” she said on Twitter. “Got some v good and incessantly listenable stuff on here.” It’s good to aim for listenable, Claire. Good move.

The Shins’ new album due in 2017

Telly s t c i Add

J

ohn Eatherly is a man born and raised in late-night jams, a revolving door of projects and ideas, and above all else, a pure love for the classic rock’n’roll sounds that filled his youth. Moving to New York on a whim and longing for the fantasy lifestyle of living in shit and getting by on cheap food all to play raucous late-night shows - he has become a true indie veteran already, jumping between bands including The Virgins, Turbo Fruits and those latenaughties favourites Be Your Own PET.

But in Public Access TV, he’s now taken the reigns and is putting across his very own manifesto for guitar music. “The initial idea of starting the band was being antsy to play my own songs,” he explains, back in New York after a year that has seen Public Access TV play

ccess b li c A u P , n t ow set ou urnt d f la t b : t h ey it k r f o o Y t ew bes t h e ir N e the Aft e r o mak t y a w ro ad . und a on the TV fo Wor d s: J a m ie M u ir.

manic sold out shows and release track after track of buzzed indie goodness. “It was cool to play in those bands, but I really wanted to do my own thing.”

Alongside childhood friend Max Peebles, guitarist Xan Aird and drummer Pete Star (no relation to Ringo…), Public Access TV have managed to capture the sort of youthful longing and New York style that blends The Strokes with the US new wave hooks of Tom Petty, The Cars and on a more British front, The Clash.

“We’re all on the same page,” says John.

“Everyone’s down to do whatever it takes for the band, nobody wants to go and work in a coffee shop or anything.”

So Costa’s loss is definitely our gain.

With early shows stocked full of A-listers and industry insiders, the band appeared set to solidify their status as the next great US indie gang.

Then on 27th March 2015, the band

They’ve been dropping hints, for a while, but The Shins’ James Mercer has revealed their new album will come early next year. “I think my songwriting is stronger than it ever was,” he claims.

awoke to missed calls, worried texts and the news that their apartment in Brooklyn was in flames. They watched that apartment block crumble down live in front of them just moments later.

It forced John and his bandmates to make a drastic decision to keep out on the road.

Looking back, John sees it as a dark time, but one that brought the band closer together. “We just thought, well if we’re heading out on some dates already, then let’s just get away and take advantage of that. We didn’t have our shit together as to how we were going to live in New York so it was everyone fucked together.

“It was scattered and insane. We just had to make use of being somewhere else. Being fucked.”

With the road as their only home and a long stint in London where they set up shop and offered themselves out to play any and every show possible, Public Access TV’s experiences come together to form their debut full-length, ‘Never Enough’; a thrilling and punchy collection of 70s inspired grooves that finds John fully flexing the songwriting muscles he’s been teasing for years.

Now back in New York, it seems the momentous events of that evening over a year and a half ago has laid the groundwork for the band they are today.

A tighter bond than ever, who’ve been fucked and got back up again, and are now writing their very own chapter in New York music folklore - with a distinctly British flavour.

Bon Iver can’t count, but has a new album out Bon Iver is set to release a new album ‘22, A Million’ on 30th September. “‘22, A Million’ is part love letter, part final resting place of two decades of searching for selfunderstanding like a religion.” a press release says. Ok mate.

If you say so.

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d to a h t s “We ju being f o e s u make else. e r e h somew ed.” k c u f Being

As John Eatherly looks out on a latesummer morning in the city where it all began, he can’t help but realise the role New York has played in shaping Public Access TV, the band he’s been waiting to for his entire life. “We still have that same idea - of living in a shitty apartment, being there and doing it, and regardless of how we want to be perceived, this is the city where it all started and it seeps into you no matter what.

“It does something to you, living here.”

P Public Access TV’s debut album ‘Never Enough’ is out 30th September.

s d r a c Post From The

Frontline

Those

bands . T h ey t o u r, t g o o ff h ey n e on ve r r in g . We wo r r ie ’r e d abo ut the put ou m . To r m in d s a t re in s is t s t , we’r e in g t h ey c h e c ke e p u k in a nd s upda te d f r ro ad . o m the T h is m onth: Fe a r o f Men .

A Day In he Life T Of

Shura

Spoiler: it’s mostly hanging out with kittens.

9A M ( SO M ET I M ES AS L AT E AS 1 1 A M - W H O O PS ) If the kittens haven’t woken me up at 6am trying to get me to feed them with Antonio Banderas in the style of Puss in Boots in Shrek eyes then I will mainly wake up around 9. The first thing I do before anything is OBVIOUSLY pee and brush my teeth - anyone who doesn’t do this as soon as they wake up isn’t doing it right. A lot of the time I’ve come back super late from a gig the night before so I will try and stretch that out as far as is humanly possible. When I was writing for my first album it was a little different because I would normally start writing at 11, but touring is a very different lifestyle.

10A M I actually can’t have breakfast immediately BUT I can have several cups of tea. When I used to smoke I used to have a cigarette and a coffee (x2) which is basically the worst way to start the day ever. Now I like to alternate between Earl Grey and Yorkshire just to keep things fresh. Once I’ve down a few of those I normally try to include avocado somehow into my breakfast. This is mainly by smashing it with lime and chilli and having it on toast which is basically the best freakin’ breakfast in the world.

11AM I normally like to start jamming around this time. It means it’s not long till lunch so if you’re stuck on something

you can have some time away from the laptop to have a think about different ways of approaching something. That’s especially true if I’m remixing. If I’m writing songs I tend not to get too worried about getting stuck and just move onto the next idea. I guess I just have faith that if an idea is good that the solution to the problem will come... it just might not be immediate.

2PM Because I get up a bit later than I used to when I had a normal job I tend to do everything a bit later - including eating! Lunch is sometimes at 2 but can be as late as 4 and sometimes I even forget to have it which is obviously LAME but I have this weird thing where I don’t really get hungry and I don’t really get full. It’s a blessing and a curse. I’ve recently tried to incorporate a vegetarian/vegan diet as much as possible so now I’m really into stir frying vegetables for lunch or going for pho. I live in Shepherd’s Bush so there’s literally 5 million options near me for places to eat.

5PM This is the part in the day I start to go a bit crazy and I either decide to pull a late one or cut the day short there.

Sometimes it’s really obvious whether or not you can still get anything productive done. If it looks like I can’t I usually make a decision to finish around there and try to switch my brain onto

something else. Sometimes it’ll be making a nice dinner and settling down to a TV series with my twin. Or playing with the cats or video games.

7PM This is the hour of food... Sometimes I end up eating later but basically this is the time I ideally want to stuff my face as it gives me time to have digest, have a bath and listen to a Generation Why? podcast.

T his is

HAPPENING

8PM - MIDNIGHT From here on in it’s basically me watching TV series or true crime or documentaries. I like to have baths so if I can combine the two this is ideal. I try not to go to bed too late but sometimes Twitter gets in the way. I basically like to curl up in bed (I live with my twin and we don’t have a living room) with Stitch and listen to whale song when it’s time to sleep.

ALL OF THE ABOVE IS CLEARLY THE LIFE OF A HERMIT. I do occasionally leave - maybe to buy a coffee someone else has made rather than make one myself. I also sometimes play board games with friends. If I’m feeling really rowdy I may even go for a drink or two... But I basically live a pretty chill life with music and my twin and my kittens in Shepherd’s Bush being a bit of a nerd. P Shura’s album ‘Nothing’s Real’ is out now.

Green Day plan a revolution Green Day are to release their next album in October. Titled ‘Revolution Radio’, the fulllength is led by a new single ‘Bang Bang’, which definitely isn’t a Jessie J cover. “It’s about the culture of mass shootings that happen in America, mixed with narcissistic social media,” Billie Joe told Rolling Stone.

“There’s this rage happening, but it’s also now being filmed, and we all have ourselves under surveillance. To me, that’s so twisted.”

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UPDATE turn e e s re s D ew e a m a dJ a k in g y ’r e m ero a n I e h k t n a d Fr an p e ll s , et. eath S D h it a rac k w h e ll u v

c i t s a t n Fa Bastards

. th er M cD a id Wor d s: H ea

(And where to find them)

D

eath Spells is alive. It’s loud and dirty and known to shock. The duo’s debut subverts all expectations.

The music crunches and pounds over muffled vocals, the crispness to the pair’s work is thrown in a blender with an added distortion for good effect. It’s creepy at times, but then it’s also got dark dance anthems woven through its fabric. Sounds great, huh?

It’s this ball of electronic fury that brings Frank Iero and James Dewees to UK shores for their first proper tour with music out there, where after years of being the tricksters, they’re about to find the tables turned. “People had no idea what to expect,” recalls Frank, on their support slots years ago. “It was a lot of puzzlement and bewilderment, which was awesome. This is actually the first show where people are coming to see us and they know what to expect.

Before it was like, ‘Aw, this’ll be this huge trick that we play on people!’ and now it’s like I feel like the trick’s on me.”

Luckily, there was no trick. Death Spells took to the stage at Broadcast in Glasgow that evening, a cacophony of shadows and glitches, and seized their new era by its throat. ‘Nothing Above, Nothing Below’ had a few weeks out there before the tour, and the uptake has been startling for the pair. “I didn’t

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expect as many people to connect with it,” admits Frank. “It’s weird. I thought it would take a lot longer to find the weirdos that understood what we were doing. We’ve been lucky. I don’t know, they could just be fucking with me!”

“There’s kids with tomatoes outside,” jokes James. “They’ll start chucking fruit.”

“Fruit wizards,” laughs Frank. “That would be amazing. This is all just a ruse to get us out of hiding so they can knock us out? My favourite thing about people is when they don’t understand something so hard that they get angry.

That’s my favourite reaction.”

It’s a reaction they revelled in when Death Spells first greeted the world.

“We had it a couple of years ago when we started. People got really angry about it,” says Frank, though James acknowledges: “They just don’t know what it is. If you think about kids that are coming from all of our previous music that we do, coming to this is probably like ‘What the fuck? Like what? No. NO.’” Death Spells are combative in their nature. It’s where they began. “Initially it was our form of assault on what was going on around us, you know?” explains Frank. “Slowly but surely that turned into something different. It was originally to combat – that was our ammunition against everything.”

James lived in an apartment by the studio where they were working on

the new My Chemical Romance album that never was, with the costs of flying back to the other coast at weekends becoming too much. So he started to create. “I’d be at the apartment hanging out and I started making crazy music.

And then Frank moved in. I was playing this crazy music and I was like, ‘You should fucking scream on this’. He did, and seriously it was great, thinking, ‘Aw, this is just brutal, people aren’t going to know what the hell to think’, and then we just kept going.”

They got back to their own coast and decided, ‘Let’s do this.’ “We had a Twitter page and an Instagram,” laughs James, “so that made it real.” And so, their project became a band.

Between them now they have enough projects for a solid festival purely of them, at least. It’s almost addictive launching something new. “What appeals to me about the new band thing is this new beginning where you get to name it and figure out what the aesthetic is,” muses Frank. “The world is wide open. You can sound like anything.

You can be anything. There are no rules at that point, and that’s fucking great.”

“It’s the freedom of creativity,” continues James. “You don’t have to be cornered into: Oh, we’re a pop band. Okay, but what I want to have a little more distortion on this song? Nah, you can’t, because we’re a pop band and we write pop music. It’s fun to do things that challenge you creatively.”

Death Spells aren’t just learning, they’re

P ho to s: Rya n J oh n st on .

“It’s pretty brutal.” saying a lot. From the literal approach to death (‘end of life’), to the lengths people will go to for their fix (‘pills’) and a song about coming from an abusive household and taking the power away from the abuser in the end (‘fantastic bastards’), they’re giving voice to plenty in their own unique way.

This is a project that was in one sense never meant to be. It started with snatches of intensity around other bands, it was laid to rest for a few years, but now Death Spells is indeed very much alive in its infectious and unruly glory. But what is the spirit of the duo?

“I think it’s anti-preconceived notions,” says Frank. “How we’re told to live. How we’re told to interpret.

“Sometimes we run so fast at this ‘other’ that we destroy what’s in our path and I think, for me, listening back to these songs, it’s the direct opposite of that. If there was no next, if the path is what you’re here to enjoy and what you have to live with, how would you do that? Why stamp out the ugliness of what’s here? Let’s work on making this something that’s beautiful and just enjoy that dirtiness.” P Death Spells’ album ‘Nothing Above, Nothing Below’ is out now.

I

t’s a sunny afternoon in London and Beach Baby are deep in thought. It’s been a whirlwind year where a string of single releases such as ‘Lost Soul’, ‘Sleeperhead’ and a hefty new version of ‘U R’ have cemented their reputation as the summertime kings of 2016. Finally, there’s an album to their name, ‘No Mind No Money’, and with it a collection of grooving bangers that take from decades of alternative guitar music and turn it all into a distinctly modern recipe. It’s a meal they can’t wait to share with the world.

“We’re just really excited,” enthuses co-frontman Lawrence Pumfrey. “We got the test pressing of the LP the other day and that was a pretty great moment. My turntable actually broke when listening to it - obviously because it was so good, just couldn’t cope with it. And with it comes a lot of signing record sleeves, that’s when you know it’s real.”

“I love signing record sleeves,” interjects the other half of Beach Baby’s vocal punch, Ollie Pash. It’s in the frontmen’s harmonic ease that sees Beach Baby well and truly rise above the rest, a partnership that formed when they met at a Halloween party down in Bristol, with Ollie’s decision to gatecrash the shindig now a pretty important one.

Relocating to London and recruiting bassist Iraklis Theocharopoulos and drummer Josh ‘Shep’ Hodgson, Beach

Baby were born - a coming together of an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the defining records of the past thirty years.

With such a knowledge comes the understanding as to how important a debut album can be, just looking back at defining records can highlight that.

“I can think of a couple of records that are pretty outstanding,” ponders Ollie. “‘Definitely Maybe’ - that’s a good debut.

Oasis nailed that, didn’t they? I mean it actually got worse from there - ‘What’s The Story…’ was bigger but not better’ “Linkin Park’s debut was a good one too.

All the big ones are on there,” comments Lawrence. “But then again it went downhill from there.”

“Maybe it’s best not to make a great debut?!”

Unfortunately for Beach Baby, ‘No Mind No Money’ is a banger of a record. It’s a result of many late nights, re-dubs and tireless work to ensure that they capture the very essence of an album that manages to reflect the dark lows lurking behind the ultra-high modern twenty-something lifestyles we see today.

There’s a real tangible sense of confidence that runs through them when talking about it, with Beach Baby not only nailing a great record but managing to capture everything that makes up the band they are today. “I think we’ve judged it pretty bloody well and done a good job in representing ourselves,” comments Ollie.

If expectations were meant to be defied,

then expectations don’t come much higher than being signed to one of the world’s most influential labels, and for Beach Baby that comes in the shape of Island Records. The home of Florence + The Machine, The Killers and Disclosure among others, that sense of pressure was banished a long time ago, after sleepless nights of worry started to creep in.

“I did worry about the pressure for a bit, and now I don’t anymore,” ponders Ollie.

“Nothing good is going to come from feeling like that. I’ll make a comparison: it’s like when you’re doing a Grade 8 in a musical instrument, a lot of people think ‘well I’ve done the Grade 8, that’s it - I’ve got the golden ticket and it’s over’, when actually it’s just the beginning - it’s the first step, if you will.”

They’ve formulated one of the defining releases of the year, yet for Beach Baby that sense of reaction is one they hope will last far longer. “I want people to keep coming back to it, y’know?” says Shep. “It’s not a throwaway record.”

For Ollie, the dreams are far bigger: “In 50 years I want to do one of those big gigs where we just play that album in full and MOJO have done seven issues on the making of this album - they’ve dug up all the possible archive footage.”

For Beach Baby, ‘No Mind No Money’ is the perfect encapsulation of a band dreaming bigger than most at the moment. And it’s going to stay that way right up until 2066. P Beach Baby’s debut album ‘No Mind No Money’ is out now.

n r u B Baby

B a by each use B c c a e can it io n …

No on g amb in k c la

of

B E AC H WAT C H W I T H B E AC H BA BY The band choose their hot picks for one last end of summer paddle

Arromanches, France Ollie: I like all the World War 2 Normandy Beaches. I’m very interested in all the D-Day stuff and the Second World War. I’ve done all the tours around them with all the code names, you know Gold, Juno, Sword. There’s some great beaches in Northumberland that I’d love to visit, when we were driving down we saw a few that looked like amazing beaches too..

Bantham Bay, Devon Lawrence: I love that one, it’s in Devon.

The Gower Peninsula, Wales Shep: I’ve been there, that’s amazing actually. It’s like crystal clear all around.

Wor d s: J a m ie M u ir.

n r u B 17

g

UPDATE

THE

UIDE EVERYTHING HAPPENING THIS MONTH

Little r e d Won Wor d s: A li S h u tl er.

Alt-pop duo Oh Wonder top off a summer of festivals with a massive homecoming show at the Roundhouse, London.

“W

e only ever booked four shows. That’s all we were ever going to do,” laughs Oh Wonder’s Josephine Vander Gucht. But here we are, countless shows later, and ten months into a world tour. The duo, Anthony West and Josephine, built their debut album one single at a time and only played live once the seventeen tracks were done. It’s been a hell of a journey.

Josephine: I just want to write songs we can jump around to. Playing festivals makes you want to dance.

HOW HAS PLAYING LIVE CHANGED THE SONGS MEANING? Anthony: They give me different memories now.

Josephine: I listened back to the album the other day, just out of interest and it’s so different. It’s go so much more energy live. The record just feels so contained, in an intimate way and you get used to the songs in a different setting. They’ve evolved into this whole new thing over a year.

YOUR DEBUT WAS MADE UP OF SONGS THAT WERE WRITTEN AND RELEASED, ONE MONTH AT A TIME, ARE YOU GOING TO BE DOING THAT AGAIN? Anthony: We’re definitely going to write and record it as a record this time which is a really exciting process for us, because we haven’t done that yet.

Josephine: Yeah, I’ve never written an album, I’ve just written a series of songs.

It would be good to get perspective and see that we’ve got all these slow jams, now we need a couple of upbeat ones, a ballad and a rap track.

Anthony: We want to be creative with how we release it though. We don’t want to be traditional in that sense because I think the music world is changing. People consume music differently.

DO YOU THINK PLAYING LIVE WILL IMPACT WHAT YOU DO NEXT? Anthony: Production wise, it’ll definitely have an impact on how we approach the recording process. There’ll definitely be a more human element to it. The two musicians we’ve had on stage with us have inspired us to have live drums and bass. It’s just got a bit more groove and feeling when someone’s playing the beats

18

HAVE YOU STARTED THINKING ABOUT ALBUM TWO YET? Josephine: We’ve started writing tentatively. We’ve got a bunch of songs.

We have a few weeks off at the end of August, so we’ll going to try and finish it then, back home in London.

Anthony: I feel like we’ve written all the slow songs, we need to write some more upbeat ones.

BEFORE THAT, YOU’VE STILL GOT SOME TOURING TO DO. WHAT DO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO TAKE FROM AN OH WONDER LIVE

SHOW? Anthony: We see a lot of smiles, which is nice. People don’t know what to expect when they come to our show, I guess. They hear the record and it’s electronic but we’re both musicians and we wanted to have that musical element on the stage. I hope people feel energised by that.

Josephine: And also know that I can’t dance but I’m just moving because I’m loving it. I can’t dance but I hope that people take away that it’s okay to be yourself, be a bit weird and not be cool.

We’re actually pretty uncool. If you’re open and warm, people don’t feel vulnerable and get involved as well.

That’s the beauty of live music so I hope we can curate a space for that.

YOU’VE BEEN AROUND THE WORLD PLAYING LIVE AND SEEING PEOPLE’S REACTION TO YOUR MUSIC, HAS THAT CHANGED HOW YOU VIEW THE BAND? Josephine: This band is an entity. It is big. It’s a being, it’s a live living human that we’re part of and it does feel bigger than us in a nice way. The fact we’ve been very international from the bat is remarkable and does feel like there’s this little community of people around the world who listen to our music. It’s just very human. We’re getting a sense of the overall power of music and its potential to really change people’s lives.

Art is one of the few things that brings everyone, regardless of background, together. We’re having a conversation with those people and it’s just so

“I’ve never written an album, I’ve n just writte a series of songs.” unifying and freeing. Art and culture for that reason should be the force that changes the world. I think it has the power to move people in the right direction and make a change, more than anything. Literature, theatre, music all of that stuff is imperative and we’re very fortunate to be a part of it.

AND WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE BAND? Josephine: 3rd November, we get home from tour. I’ve got it in my head.

I’m going to go home, make some scrambled eggs on toast with avocado, chili flakes and lime, and then we’re going to write an album.

Anthony: Well, we’re going to make an album. Hopefully it’ll be written by then or we’re behind. P Oh Wonder play the Roundhouse in London on 13th September.

Sundara Karma might just leak their album tbh

They’re off on tour this month, but 2017 is a long time to wait for that debut.

“It’s a collection of all the material that we’ve had since we were fourteen and we first started the band,” Oscar details. “It changes whenever you write things,” he ponders, “but I genuinely think the main influence has been loneliness.”

Striving to offer “a comfort and unity and a sense of not being alienated,” the outfit are racing full steam ahead, and making every moment count.

“We were literally just trying to have as much fun as possible making the record,” Oscar explains. “Hopefully that comes out in it.”

On Tour

I

n just over four months, Sundara Karma are releasing their debut album. “It’s all done. Which is kind of weird to say,” frontman Oscar Pollock states. “We’ve never done anything like it before.”

Promising to share more new music “soon-ish”, all systems are go for

the Reading four-piece, and their enthusiasm is catching on faster than wildfire. “It’s average at best,” drummer Haydn Evans states, deadpan. “Bland,” Oscar agrees. “We’re gonna leak it tomorrow,” the drummer announces.

Titled ‘Youth Is Only Ever Fun In Retrospect’, the group describe the release as “an ode to growing up together.”

SEPTEMBER 16 London Heaven 18 Oxford O2 Academy2 19 Bristol Bristol Trinity 20 Birmingham O2 Institute2 21 Liverpool Arts Club 22 Manchester O2 Ritz 23 Edinburgh Liquid Room 24 Newcastle Riverside 26 Leeds Brudenell Social Club 27 Nottingham Rescue Rooms 28 Norwich Waterfront 29 Brighton Haunt

On tour Some dates for your diary.

Catholic Action UK Tour 3rd September - 1st October

The Tuts UK Tour 9th - 30th September

Nothing UK Tour 11th - 17th September

Rat Boy UK Tour 16th - 28th September

Doe UK Tour 16th - 25th September

Dilly Dally UK Tour 17th - 22nd September

Benjamin Francis Leftwich UK Tour 21st September - 1st October

Oscar

B

lossoms’ self-titled debut album may have gone straight in at Number One, but it hasn’t gone to their heads. “Do you want a drink? Some crisps?

Fruit?” they offer as they go through their rider. “You can’t have the fan, we need that. We’ll probably need the mirror as well, sorry.”

Since the band formed three years ago “it’s been non-stop touring,” explains Tom Ogden. “The more shows you play, the more you come into your own.” And Blossoms have played a lot of shows with a lot more still to come, notably with Declan McKenna and Cabbage throughout September and October. “We’re more confident. Going to places like Romania, where no one knows who you are, teaches you to not give a fuck, put on more of a show and shake your hips a bit more.” “[Since the album release] more people know who we are but we haven’t changed as people. We’ve still got the same work ethic when we were rehearsing four nights a week for one show at the weekend.

We’ve always had the work drive, you just get more people around you to make things easier and to get you to bigger levels. That’s what it is. We just want to get our music to massive

crowds so they can sing back to us.

That’s basically the dream and it’s on its way to happening.”

One of the band has spent £100 on a toothbrush and Charlie Salt has “developed a habit of picking up souvenirs to go on my amp.”

“I was going to say shit souvenirs, but that’s a bit tight, isn’t it,” questions Tom. “Nah, they are shit but they’ve got a charm to them.

I’ve got a kangaroo from Australia, a lucky cat from Japan and… that’s it.” For the time being anyway. America calls where Charlie wants to add a Donald Trump bobble-head to his collection. “I’ll sharpie something derogatory across his head though, of course.”

On Tour SEPTEMBER 23 Birmingham O2 Institute 24 Bristol Bierkeller 26 Cambridge Junction 27 Norwich Waterfront 29 London Kentish Town Forum 30 Manchester Academy OCTOBER 01 Glasgow O2 ABC 03 Newcastle Riverside 04 Sheffield Leadmill 05 Leeds Beckett Student Union 07 Nottingham Rock City

UK Tour 22nd September - 4th October

The Magic Gang UK Tour 24th September - 2nd October

Beth Orton UK Tour 24th September - 6th October

The Kills UK Tour 29th September - 7th October

“We just want to get our music to massive crowds so they can sing it back to us.”

Blossoms have a Number 1 album. Now they’re looking to take over the world.

19

HYPE ESSENTIAL NEW BANDS

“A N D K YL IE Y D ID N ’T G EN U IN EL G BO RR O W IN M IN D YO U TH EM ?”

“I LIKE THINGS T H AT B L U R LINES.” 20

THE LEMON TWIGS I S T H I S T H E BU Z Z I EST BA N D I N T H E WO RL D RI G H T N OW ? ( Y ES - E D)

H AVI N G J UST TORN UP THE CAPITAL WITH THEI R FIRST EVE R U K SH OWS, AN D WITH A DE BUT A L BUM ON THE WAY, THERE’S NO STOPPIN G TH E LE MON TWIGS.

C

WORDS: STEVEN LO FTIN.

urrently creating an inordinate amount of buzz, Long Islanders The Lemon Twigs are the newest hype train about town. Brothers Michael and Brian D’Addario take elements of what made 60s pop memorable and 70s fashion unforgettable, mixing baroque with glam and everything in between. “What you really want to do is something new, something different. The best way to do that is, you have to listen to the stuff that started it all,” Brian, the older half of the duo - still at just 19, compared to Michael’s 17 - enthuses.

music; each of the brothers brings something slightly different to the creative table, a point he’s keen to note.

“Nobody’s going to be like, ‘Michael does like this, but Brian doesn’t like that’,” he continues. “They’re going to be like, ‘The Lemon Twigs are going to be influenced by that’.”

When it comes to the inevitable frenzy that surrounds such promise, the brothers are finding it can be a full on task - but it’s one they’re ready for. “If you’re not used to doing it,” Brian muses, “and not used to articulating, and not used to consciously thinking about what you’ve been unconsciously doing for a long time, that puts you in a different space. If you then went to record a record and you’re only now consciously thinking about it, that’s fucked - you’re not going to be able to do it. I guess it can be a little intimidating; I can see where it could be.”

Known for their raucous stage antics, the pair have just played their first UK gigs with a couple of nights in London - where their bass player got notably pissed off when Michael was kicking a bit too close to her face. “I kicked right next to her face and then she got angry,” he says apologetically. “I kicked quite close to her and she got angrier, so I kicked right here… but I would never hit a girl!”

Brian is the more reserved of the two, with Michael carrying what he describes as “responsibility” for the duo’s look and general aesthetic. That’s not to say they don’t have equal share within the band, he explains: “If you listen to the record [upcoming debut album, ‘Do Hollywood’], it’s half my songs, half Brian’s songs. It’s like the split with the music is 50/50, while I do the visual thing, and he does the all of the knowing what’s going on.”

Touching on their influences, Michael teases Brian for being “pretentious”, owing to his fondness for classical

Name-dropping everyone from Ariel Pink and MGMT, to The Beatles, The Beach Boys and even Big Star, the brothers are a hive of culture that goes far deeper than you may at first think. “It’s not like we’re dressing in suits like The Beatles, or striped shirts like The Beach Boys,” says Brian. “We’re dressing a little out of the time of what we’re most influenced by. I like things that blur the lines a bit.”

It’s their shows where they like to make sure you experience the best of both their worlds: “My half of the show is a little more controlled,” says Brian, unsurprisingly. “It starts off more how you would expect it to be, there’s like a little bit more power to when we’re playing it live, a little more energy to the recordings. But Michael’s show lets loose a lot.”

in their early days, because although they didn’t have as much stuff going on, what they were doing was very tight.

Their harmonies were very good, so even though it was very bare bones, they were performing well. We try to take that in to account because there’s so much stuff on our record that we can’t really replicate live, so we try to just perform our parts as tightly as we can.”

The Lemon Twigs may just be two brothers from Long Island who have only been writing music for two years but you’ll be seeing a lot more of them, that’s for sure. P The Lemon Twigs’ debut album ‘Do Hollywood’ is out 14th October.

ON THE G R A P EV I N E D UA L I PA’S A L BU M I S O U T I N F E B RUA RY Aside from taking over the charts, storming headline sets and popping up on US TV, Dua Lipa is well on course for global superstardom – especially now her debut album has been announced. We still don’t have a name for it, but it’s set to drop in February 2017.

K LO E ’S A ‘ L I A B I L I T Y ’ W I T H H E R L AT EST BA N G E R Scottish superstar-in-waiting KLOE isn’t scared of a banger.

Her ‘Teenage Craze’ EP proved that, with debut single ‘UDSM’ sealing the deal. Now she’s dropped her next cut, ‘Liability’, and it’s just as brilliant. Listen on… well, you know by now.

PETITE ME LLE R’S NE W V I D EO I S BO N K E RS If you’ve seen much of Petite Meller, you’ll know she’s… y’know… individual.

Unsurprisingly, the new video for ‘The Flute’ is no different, with her dressed up like some kind of wizard in a field full of reindeer. Watch on readdork. com.

CATH OLIC ACTION’S N E W TR ACK ‘RITA OR A’ DO ES N OT FE AT. RITA OR A Rita Ora, right. It’s not that we specifically have a problem with Rita Ora, but when she showed up on Charli XCX’s ‘Doing It’ last year it made a solid gold banger at least 33% less banger-y than the US solo version. Sorry, Rita.

Those things matter.

Still, maybe redemption is afoot

thanks to our faves Glasgow four piece Catholic Action, who are back with a new single. One half of the double a-side is ‘Breakfast’, the other goes by the name of… yeah, you got it, ‘Rita Ora’.

Set for release on 23rd September, you can check it out on readdork.com now.

“It’s definitely more of a feeling,” he says of their live heroes. “The Who, The Beach Boys - they put on great shows even

21

HYPE

WILL JOSEPH COOK

“A C TU A LLY,

I TH IN K

, TA K E-AWAY I’L L O RD ER N ’T M IN D ?”

IF YO U D O

TH I S TE E N HAS THE BEST MOVES I N TU N BRI DG E W E L LS. PROBABLY.

L

WO RDS: B E N JOL L EY. ike a lot of music hungry teenagers, Will Joseph Cook got his first taste for live shows by going to gigs with his dad. “I went from being a really avid consumer of it to becoming frustrated that I wasn’t the one getting to play the shows,” he recalls. “There were even times when I’d start to almost not enjoy the experience because I was annoyed that I wasn’t doing something as good as that.” Seeing the likes of Vampire Weekend, Phoenix and Everything Everything (the latter, eight times) made him feel such a way.

“Literally, we were going every other weekend. It was definitely an important education and it gave me a lot of context when making music by seeing bands that are already massive perform.”

Having started playing songs aged 14 and writing tracks shortly after, his passion for a career in music came “as soon as I started buying records and idolising people. But it took me a long time to translate what I was listening to and what I loved into my own music,” he recalls. In terms of his sound, Will describes it as “songcentric, emo indie-pop. I only say emo because with all the tracks I try to put a bit of melodrama into it; I like it when songs are slightly overemotional. If I’m feeling miserable I could end up writing the complete opposite sounding track - I use the emotion as a balance to change how I’m feeling. So if I’m feeling miserable and then write something and feel better by the end of it, I’ve probably created some weird love child of emotions in the process.”

Will was signed by Atlantic Records while in his first year of sixth form, and a few days after completing his school studies found himself playing Glastonbury.

“I did three regional dates along the way and then played a BBC

22

“ YO U S H O U L D A L WAY S A I M FOR SOMETHING U N RE A L I STI C.” Introducing set,” he says. But it wasn’t the celebration he might have liked, having been dumped a few days before.

“It was definitely an emotionallycharged performance,” he remembers. “I was a little bit miserable but it probably made the performance better. My one regret is that I didn’t hang about; I played the set and then thought ‘that was great, but now I just need to get the fuck away from pounding bass and the noise of the festival to work things out’.”

he says. “I think sometimes it’s good for things to bubble away in a small town for a while because you can test things out and build a buzz. Because, if you grew up in London, I think you’d just get swallowed up in the sheer amount of music people are making.” Since moving to London, Will says his music is becoming increasingly inspired by current affairs and “just looking at the world – without sounding too much like a musician bullshitter.”

Describing himself as academicallyinterested, Will “never neglected school. I could have left if I wanted to but I don’t think it would have been justified at all,” he ponders. “I like seeing things through anyway and it was where all my friends were so I think it would have been a really lame decision to make if I’d have left.” Though he’s certainly not taking his current position – performing festival shows and putting the finishing touches to his debut album – for granted. “I feel glad that I’m doing what I’m doing and not having to fill out a UCAS application,” he jokes, “anything to escape the average run, I guess.”

Despite millions of streams online, Will thinks his career only started to materialise recently. “As much as being signed to Atlantic was obviously a massive thing, and then dropping an EP and seeing it spread, I think the last London show was the most ‘real’ thing I’ve done.” The show he’s referring to, at the Boston Music Rooms, was a real turning point. “It wasn’t until that London show that it started to become a tangible thing - seeing people in front of me. It didn’t feel like a new music gig.

It was very surreal. When you’re starting out there are lots of people who come to the shows on a whim, but this time we had 400 people who knew all the tracks.”

Needless to say, Will was pretty “gassed” after that.

Growing up in Tunbridge Wells, Will says his hometown has a “pretty decent” music scene. “The fact that I could put on music shows for free in my town and just pile in 80 of my mates was great,”

Having caused a stir at new music festivals in the spring like Dot To Dot,

The Great Escape and SXSW, Will’s just announced his debut UK tour. “This will be my first headline run of dates,” he says enthusiastically, “so, yeah, it’s quite the milestone.” And when can the world expect to hear his first album?

“We’re just adding bits to it and trying to condense it. I’m distilling it into the best tracks it can be and doing the artwork.

I probably have the album’s worth of songs, I guess, without saying too much, but if I write a better song I’d willingly dump another off to make it more of a condensed, sugary hit of an album,” adding that he’s not a fan of lengthy records. “I don’t really like long albums – I think when it goes into the teens in number of tracks, for me as a listener I always lose interest. There’s definitely a sweet spot.”

In terms of the future, Will’s aiming high.

“I don’t want to pin a realistic idea onto it, because I think you should always aim for something unrealistic,” he ponders philosophically. “I want to get the music to more and more people, put an album out that I’m really fucking pleased with and play an American tour; even if its just tiny venues and stuff, I just want to use the music as an excuse to travel…” P Will Joseph Cook tours the UK this October and November.

“J

ust yesterday I was looking at our touring schedule.

We’ve been going so hard since January and a lot of the days, I’ve been doing two shows a day. It’s just been such a blur,” admits HANA. After fifteen years of playing under her full name and at every opportunity with nothing but her acoustic guitar, she took a step back in 2013 to take stock. Delving into production and learning how use it in a creative way, she reappeared last summer with ‘Clay’.

HANA TI PPE D BY SOM E OF THE BU ZZI EST N A M ES I N M USI C, EVERYO N E’S E XC ITE D TO SEE WH AT TH E F UTU RE HOL DS FO R H ANA. WORDS: A L I SHUTL E R.

DAG N Y NO RWAY-BORN A N D LO N D O N-BASE D DAG N Y HAS TAKEN OVER TH E I NTE RN ET W ITH HER END L ESSLY RE PE ATA B L E “ALT-P OP” SI NG L E ‘BAC KBE AT’ - A N D SHE’S NOT D O N E Y ET.

One year on and she’s sat on a beanbag, backstage at Positivus.

She’s already performed her own set and there’s just time for food before playing alongside Grimes.

In the past twelve months HANA has also toured with Lana Del Rey, been bigged up by Lorde and released a self-titled EP. There hasn’t been much room to adjust, but that’s just fine.

“This definitely feels like me, 100%. Previously, I had a hard time getting the recorded music sounding exactly like I wanted it.

Now, the whole music world has exploded for me. It feels free, purely fun and I finally feel artistically fulfilled.”

With her debut EP, HANA put herself out there.

Musically and lyrically, she bared all. The reaction has

been just as full on. “I’ve got a lot of emails and letters from a lot of young girls who say that it helped them either get out of a bad relationship or become a more assertive person and really, that’s the top of my hope for these songs because they have a pretty specific meaning behind them. It’s really cool that my music is affecting people in that way and it makes me want to make more.”

In working with Blood Diamonds and touring with Grimes, HANA has quickly established a creative network who get what she’s about.

Those relationships have pushed her forward to where she is now and supported her every step of the way. “It inspired me to keep working, keeping writing and keep digging.

I’m always learning things from all of them because, even though I have been doing this for a very long time, it was always a very DIY setup, me, my car and my guitar, which is pretty simple. Now my setup and sound is a totally different, but they’ve been really helpful in guiding me.”

Despite the gruelling tour schedule, the double duty and all this new discovery, HANA is still hugely excited. “By the end of the day, I’m spent but it’s the best kind of tired.

I’m playing my music, seeing the world and I get to play a show with my best friend at the end of night and that’s so much fun. At the end of the night, I’m exhausted but so fulfilled. I’m so tired but so full of good energy.” P

Hello Dagny. How are you today?

Hey! I’m pumped up with adrenalin having just finished my set at Øya Festival in Oslo. Right now we’re on route to Gothenburg in Sweden to play a late night show at Way Out West. So all in all, it’s a very exciting day.

between people and just generally human relationships. Nothing inspires me more than having a great connection with someone.

I draw a lot of inspiration from the people around me and things that I observe and so not all of my songs are my personal experiences.

What first drew you to creating music and performing?

I grew up in a family with two musician parents so it’s always been a big part of me and my life. Then, starting to perform and write, I just got hooked. It’s my passion and favourite hobby really.

And where do you tend to write?

Does all the magic happen in the studio?

You pick up little words and sentences when you travel around but actually working out songs mainly happens in the studio often with a few other people that you can bounce ideas off of and vibe out with. I just love it!

Your single ‘Backbeat’ has been massive online - at what point did you know it was a special song?

For me it was a special song from the day it was written. In saying that, I think you can never predict whether it’s going to be a big song or not - and it might be special for some and not special for others.

You have to just trust your gut feeling and hope that people love what you do (as much as you do).

Where is your favourite place from which to draw inspiration?

I get inspired by the chemistry

Would you ever write for other musicians, do you think?

Absolutely! For me, it’s a very different state of mind writing something that someone else will be performing. Lyrically, I actually find it easier. Starting out, my original dream was to become a song writer. I hope that when my album is done, I can write more for other people, as well as focus on my own music of course.

You’ve a debut EP on the way:

ON THE G R A P EV I N E B L A E N AVO N A N D TO OT H L ESS T E A M U P FO R SCA L A S H OW Blaenavon are on a hot streak of late, following up on 2015’s ‘Miss World’ EP with ‘I Will Be The World’ and brand new track ‘Let’s Play’. They’re teaming up with the brilliant Toothless for a show at London’s Scala on 14th October. Before that, they’re hitting the road with The Hunna and The Sherlocks.

BOSSY LOV E O N T H E ROA D Scottish duo Bossy Love that’s Amandah Wilkinson (formerly of Aussie indiepoppers Operator Please) and John Baillie Jnr (previously in Dananananaykroyd) - have announced a trio of October shows. You can catch them at The Nines in Peckham on 27th October, The Mash House in Edinburgh on the 28th, and Glasgow’s The Poetry club on the 29th. There’s a new track, too. Check out ‘Call Me Up’ on readdork.com now.

what can you tell us about it?

It’s energetic band driven pop music. I was conscious that even with ‘Backbeat’ having been received so well, I didn’t want to recreate the same song over and over again so they are five quite different tracks that I hope will take people on a little musical journey - like I’d want my album to do someday.

What’s the most exciting thing about making music right now?

That feeling of seeing someone really getting into your songs is amazing. Now, with the big Internet and all, music is very easily accessible and you can have close communication with your listeners and fans. I’m also getting the chance to travel the world with my band (who are also my closest friends) so I think it’s all pretty exciting.

What does the rest of the year look like for you?

We’re playing lots of festivals in Europe over the next month.

The EP is also coming which is incredibly exciting! I can’t wait for people to hear new music, but who knows how it will be received? P

23

F

HYPE

our years to the day since the first live show they played together Baby Strange are in high spirits. It’s not surprising, really.

With their debut album being released to the world, a national tour scheduled, and a huge hometown co-headline concert with fellow Glaswegians White set for December, the future is looking as busy as it is bright.

Make it to any of the trio’s live dates and it’s instantly obvious how much they’ve achieved in their time together – though it’s a fervour that’s been brewing right from the very start. “It was in our friend’s flat. It was a really, really small room, and there was maybe about forty or fifty people there,” frontman Johnny Madden recalls of the group’s debut performance.

“It was the first time anyone had ever heard what the band sounded like. We didn’t have any songs online. I think we’d just made a Facebook page that week,” he smirks. “But we’d been writing and rehearsing and speaking about it for months.” Spraying their band name onto a bed sheet to decorate the longanticipated occasion, the group set up to a room quickly engulfed in still-wet paint fumes. “Pretty much everyone at the show was gassed,” Johnny laughs.

“Which made it even more fun, I think.”

The four years since might have fine-tuned the trio’s DIY ethos, but their raw energy and rough around the edges charm is every bit as fierce as it always has been. “I’ve noticed a lot of people that come to our shows end up completely drenched in sweat and water and beer, and they’ve got a big smile on their face,” the frontman depicts. “I think because of us.”

Their explosive energy an easy crowdwinner, it’s not just the fans that are having a good time. “The more mad it

is, the more fun it gets for us to play,” Johnny enthuses. “That’s what’s been happening the past few tours. It’s just getting crazier and crazier.” Gearing up to headline the O2 ABC in Glasgow with previous tour buddies White, things only seem set to get crazier.

“Bored with what was happening with music, and especially music in Scotland,” the trio decided the logical response would be “getting together and writing songs and trying to vent some anger.”

Four years on their opinion of the current scene may have changed, but their motives have not. Now, embedded in what they term as “probably the most exciting place,” Baby Strange are making a mark on the wider world with the release of their debut album ‘Want It Need It’.

Recorded over a year and a half across Glasgow, London, and Brighton, the album is a definitive look at everything the band have been and have become during the past almost-half-decade.

“Having a full body of work out is a bit different to having a few singles out,” Johnny illustrates. Approaching the concept of a debut album with “around twenty songs,” the trio sat down and “picked the favourites.” “It just happened that the favourites were some of the singles that had been out before.”

Remixed on some numbers, rerecorded on others, and with some brand new songs thrown in to boot, Baby Strange’s debut is an anthology of their capabilities. “It was a no brainer, really,” Johnny continues. “It’s songs that we really enjoy playing live. It’s songs that we’d really like more people to hear.

Hopefully when the record comes out it’ll expose us to more people.”

With hopes now set on bigger and brighter things on the horizon, there’s no shirking that it’s taken them a lot of hard effort to get here. Working on their artwork and videos themselves, the trio are big believers in the ‘do it yourself’

ON THE G R A P EV I N E

mentality. “Even if you don’t know how to, try,” they advise. “Get hold of an old camera and just try it yourself. You will get better.” Having established their own visual artistic skill set in a similar fashion, the proof is in the pudding.

SG L E W I S AT KO KO I S

Baby Strange are already realising their dreams. “I think just putting out a record that we feel really, really happy with, that no one’s tampered with, and that fans like,” Johnny states, indicating towards their debut full-length. With their ten-track venture through garage, punk, and rock’n’roll now out in the world, leading up to their biggest shows to date, that’s already something they can cross off their hypothetical bucket list.

And their plans don’t stop there. “We’re thinking about doing an EP next year,” Johnny divulges. “We’re just going to get straight back into it.” Indeed, there seems to be no end to the group’s ambition. “We’re actually going to put out a second record next year as well,” he adds. “Just keep things moving and don’t stop, really.” Evidently not ones to sit back and drink it all in, Baby Strange are riding the roller coaster right to the top. Fasten your seatbelt and hold on tight: it’s going to be one heck of a ride. P

‘ M E A N T TO B E ’ ( AS I S H I S N E W SO N G , F Y I ) SG Lewis has unveiled a fresh new number in the shape of ‘Meant To Be’ along with details of his biggest headline show to date at KOKO. You can check out the track on readdork.com, and head pick up tickets for the live show on 17th November now.

BA B E H E AV E N A RE ‘ M OV I N G O N ’ Babeheaven have shared their second single, ‘Moving On’.

The sparkly pop track will be released on 7th October via Handsome Dad / B3SCI, on limited edition vinyl. It’s about how “just when you’ve got a grasp on everything, it comes back and smacks you in the face,” say the band.

Baby Strange’s debut album ‘Want It Need It’ is out now.

“THE MORE MAD IT IS, THE MORE FUN IT GETS.”

BA BY STRANGE G L ASG OW TRI O BA BY STRANG E HAVE J UST RE L E ASE D TH EI R D EBUT ALBUM, AND THEY’RE HAVI N G A WHALE OF A TIM E. WO RDS: J ESSI CA GOOD MAN.

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tevie Parker’s earliest musical memory is singing to her toys as a little girl. “I was a crazy kid,” the 24-year-old admits. She’s come a long way: her fusion of ambient pop and electronic textures combine to create soulful compositions in the vein of Lapsley and Jessie Ware. “There’s a lot hanging on the words,” she says, from her hometown, Bristol. “I only started writing songs for myself by accident,” she reveals, having sung backing vocals, written for other people and been in bands as a teenager. “I just tried it one day thinking nothing of it and got a good reaction so I decided to study it at university.”

Choosing further education was “a shot in the dark,” Stevie continues. “I didn’t know where to start. I just threw myself into a situation where there was lots of other musicians and hoped for the best...” Her time at university was “definitely not wild,” she reveals.

“I went from being a carefree person to becoming quite a serious person in a short space of time.” Reality had hit that rather than achieving overnight success, she was in it for the long haul. “I realised it was a process that was going to take me years and not months – it felt like the death of childhood. I remember thinking, ‘I’ve got a lot of work, growing up and selfdiscovery to do…’”

Growing up on a mixed musical diet, Motown and Fleetwood Mac were big influences, as well as Amy Winehouse

- “her rawness really appealed to me.”

As Stevie got a little older, she found herself drawn to the darker electronic style of Massive Attack. Empowering female voices like Eva Cassidy, Stevie Nicks and Nerina Pallot have also inspired her. But in terms of style and attitude, Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O is a pivotal influence. “I think my music is a fusion of all of that really, and pop – I’ve always just loved pop.” For Stevie, songwriting is a form of cathartic expression. “I don’t really write when I’m happy. I find it really difficult,” she says. “I try to channel what I’m feeling.”

Debut single ‘The Cure’ - all icy electronic production and an immediately arresting vocal - is far from a romantic love song like people assume. Instead, it was born from “a bit of hell in a relationship.

It’s inspired from being in a position where I was struggling to resist falling back into it.” Stevie sees the track as darker than how some listeners interpret it. “I wrote it from a place of love, but also from confusion, indecision and fear,” she recalls. “It’s a mixed bag of emotions.”

Stevie’s album, which is already finished, carries a similar theme.

“It’s not a light-hearted record, it’s quite dark,” she confirms. Written over a number of years, she calls it a “growing up record. It spans a long period of my life. Some of the songs were written when I was 16 and others when I turned 24. It’s surreal having all of this stuff that’s been sitting around for years and now only just revealing snippets to people. It’s quite strange... It still doesn’t feel real.” P

LEWIS DEL MAR A NE W YORK DUO W I NNI NG OVER NEW FA N S W HE REVE R THEY GO… WO RDS: B E N JOL L EY.

A 24-YE AR-OLD FROM BRISTOL MAKIN G SOME OF 2016’S MOST ATMOSPH E RIC POP - AN D TH AT’S JUST H E R DE BUT SIN G LE… WORDS: BE N JOLLEY.

STEVIE PA R K E R

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ife-long friends Danny Miller and Max Harwood have got into a lot of trouble (and broken lots of bones) together. Having known each other since the age of nine, even as teenagers they were fulfilling the rock’n’roll lifestyle. “We were skateboarding and Max broke his arm on his fourteenth birthday.

We went home to his house and smoked weed and played music for like a day-and-a-half before going to hospital. He was playing the drums with a broken arm until then,” Danny laughs.

Fast forward twelve years and the brotherly pair live, record and tour together, based out of their home studio in Rockaway Beach, Queens, New York. “In some ways it’s insane,” says guitarist and singer Danny. “So much of the groundwork of writing and recording this album has been just the two of us. It’s a very intense relationship.” But it’s a set up that works well, continues drummer and producer Max. “Although we have different creative opinions sometimes, on the whole there’s a larger frequency that we’re both on.”

Since releasing their bedroomrecorded single ‘Loud(y)’ in 2015 - a commentary on coming of age in an over-saturated society - they’ve toured with Glass Animals, Miike Snow and Foals. “There’s a really cool art to their show,” they say of supporting the latter Oxford rockers in Chicago. “It was really good for us to experience that, because we’re still figuring out how to translate our recordings into a proper show.”

Another milestone for the duo was performing on The Late Late Show with James Corden. “It was great,” says Danny, “he’s a fan and the nicest guy in the world. To call Corden a ‘fan’ would be an understatement, having tipped the duo for greatness. Introducing them on his show, he said: “These guys are incredible, they are going to be the biggest band in the world.”

Although the performance was a huge success, they didn’t know what to expect of it beforehand. “I just don’t think anything can really prepare you for playing on national television,” says Max. “You just have to jump off the cliff!”

And their next landmark is just around the corner, with a self-titled debut album released this month.

Written in Rockaway Beach and Columbia, “It’s really just a narrative of Max and I’s marriage,” Danny jokes, “the ups and downs, the good and bad, the sweet and sour.”

Duality plays a major part in their music, as well. “We try to combine sounds and textures that don’t necessarily go together,” Max explains. Looking at their Spotify playlist ‘planes. trains. automobiles.’ it’s clear their musical pallet is wide-ranging, with tracks by Tom Misch, Caribou, Liss, The Velvet Underground, Wolf Alice and James Blake all featured. “It’s early 2000s Shakira meets early 2000s Nelly,” Max jokes, describing their sound.

Danny eggs him on, enthusing: “More like early 2000s Ludacris and a little bit of Nelly Furtado.”

As for their impact in the UK, Lewis Del Mar have sold out every show so far. “We fucking love it in the UK,” they agree. “I think the culture is very nuanced in a beautiful way,” says Danny; “whereas everything in America feels very brash.” Their London gig, at The Lexington, was insane. “People went nuts,” recalls Max; “that show was super crazy.”

Manchester’s Soup Kitchen also made a lasting impression. “We played there for Dot To Dot and that was really fun. Those are our favourite places to play - dirty basements. I just love being so close to the fans, it creates a mutual energy,” Danny says excitedly.

“There’s no other feeling like that in the world.” Max sums it up best, though: “If they’re feeling it, you know right away.” P Lewis Del Mar’s self-titled debut album is out 30th September.

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“A stunning debut with real heart and soul” Up se t 4/5 U K

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2 2 . 0 9 Fa c t o r y , M a n c h e s t e r 23.09 Corporation, Sheffield 24 . 0 9 Old B lu e L a s t , L o n do n 25.09 Anvil, Bournemouth 2 7 . 0 9 1 1e r , Fr a n k f u r t 2 8.0 9 Nau ma n n s, Leipz ig

CA S E Y T H E BA N D . COM

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BA N DS OV E R HUNDREDS OF E N A M U LT I T U D T H R E E D AY S O E S TA G E S . A S T H OF DIFFERENT T S TO FA L L O N C U R TA I N S TA R L O N 2016, W E’L F E S T I VA L S E A S T OUGH THE BES TA K E Y O U T H R N G 2016.

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S GOODMAN, E R M C DA I D, J E S H U T L E R , H E AT H WO RDS:: A L I S .

D Y O R K ST E P H E N AC NNETT RAH LOUISE BE KI N G SW E L L , SA P H OTOS : : A M I E

Friday

PE RF ECT P R A C T I C A L LY CHVRCHES

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SET IS E N I L D A E H ’ S L FOA YO N E R E V E H P M U I R THE T I O U S LY V B O , D E T C E P EX

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t’s been a long time coming for Foals.

No flash in the pan wonder, shoved blinking into the Main Stage lights as they’re catapulted up the bill, they’ve worked for this.

The beauty of the Oxford five piece’s coronation is there’s absolutely zero doubt they’ve got what it takes to pull it off.

Still, that doesn’t mean they’re taking their step up lightly. Foals have brought the fire, quite literally.

Flames hit the sky from huge on-stage pyros as the bangers roll out. And what bangers they are.

‘My Number’, ‘What Went Down’ and ‘Inhaler’ – the track which first suggested Foals weren’t just a smart sounding math rock band – all land perfectly.

“We grew up down the road,” Yannis muses before ‘Spanish Sahara’. “This was the first festival to give

2

us a chance. We played in 2007, I think, on the Carling stage. It’s pretty overwhelming to see all of you out there. Let’s make it magic.”

Magic they make it, too.

‘Cassius’ is a track that belongs on the highest plinths of the Foals trophy cabinet, and yet live it rarely if ever gets a look in anymore. The last time was, literally, years ago.

Tonight it refuses to sit it out. Deployed with a frenzy, it’s the echo back that proves this was always on the cards for Foals – the most likely from their mid 00s yearbook proved champions after all.

As ‘Two Steps Twice’ rings out – Disclosure’s Guy Lawrence joining Jack Bevan on drums and confetti littering the air – the transformation is complete. Foals play exclusively in the big leagues now.

DY CL IMB FO R IT’ S BE EN A ST EA ’RE FIN AL LY FO AL S, BU T TH EY ER S. RE AD ING HE AD LIN

F ICKLE FRIE N DS ARE ALL KIN DS OF D RE AMY Getting things off to a spirited start, Fickle Friends arrive in a flurry of unabashed excitement. Bounding about the stage to their bubbling pop riffs, their charm is effortless.

Diving straight into the breezy melodies of ‘Say No More’, the band relish in the moment they’re in.

here’s no such thing as the perfect band, apparently. 10/10 is folly, full marks a sham. get to be flawless, that ’t don You . silly be ld wou ES. And then there’s CHVRCH in, and Two (and a bit) albums of hot they’re running the kind ire a streak that should insp lyric, Zlatan-esque ego. Every ly, both every beat placed perfect ir morals live and on record. The r. And pure, their intentions clea tion ges sug no re’s the , still yet eve their the Glaswegian trio beli almost an own hype. Perfection is ll. underse There’s no doubt, while sit Disclosure and Foals may e and above them, give it tim CHVRCHES will be topping eat’ bills like this. ‘Empty Thr vital is anything but, ‘Gun’ a The gauntlet dropped. ‘Under e, a pac of nge cha a is e’ Tid something dropped shoulder into gun terscat a It’ y ‘Bur deeper, this of sheer joy. Bands like ding shouldn’t work on the Rea own it Main Stage. CHVRCHES t. completely. Follow tha

And it’s an exciting moment to be in: with a debut album in the works, the group are powering forwards to pastures new, a taste of which they offer here. “We’ve never played this before,” Natti Shiner introduces of a new track. “Let’s try and enjoy it without freaking out.”

Apologising to the broadcasters for the profanity it contains (“We’re bad asses, right?”)

Fickle Friends demonstrate just how much they’re capable of. Inciting just as much energy as with favoured numbers like ‘Cry Baby’, the path they’re on seems only set to skyrocket.

But all that could be a million miles away, for the only thing that matters is what’s

happening right now. “Who just finished their GCSEs?” Natti questions the crowd. “This is the weekend away from the parents, this is the dream.”

Escaping into a sunlight field, real life is almost on hold – and there’s nowhere else anyone would rather be.

FR AN K CARTE R’S WORST IDE A G IVES RE ADIN G 2016 ITS FIRST G RE AT MOME NT By his own admission, Frank Carter had a while to wait to make his Main Stage debut. “It’s fucking Friday,” he spits, as the crowd hold him up to demand a “historical” pit. “You’ve not done any work yet.”

After seventeen years and three bands, it’s no wonder Carter wants to make an impact.

He’s definitely going for it. As

RE DISCLOSURE A E L ECTRI C

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pening with ‘White Noise’ the split second AlunaGeorge finish performing it on the BBC Radio 1 Dance Stage, Disclosure bring the festival experience full circle. “This is the first festival me and Howard ever went to,” Guy Lawrence declares.

“That’s why I think this crowd is going to be the best crowd we ever play ed to, am I right?” Getting their audience involved is something Disclosure excel at. Transitioning effortlessly from one son g to the next, the duo take the Main Stage for their very own.

much master of proceedings as performer, by a few songs in he’s already deep in the crowd showing them how it’s done.

Running round the back of the sound desk with hundreds chasing behind, he wasn’t joking about the historic bit.

Not that off stage antics are what makes Frank Carter great.

Smirking as he returns to where we belongs, decrying the “worst idea he’s ever had”, he’s straight back at it. Intense, in your face and brilliant – there may be names on Reading’s big stage who have been afforded more experience, but none will grasp it quite as hard.

MU R A M ASA G ETS PEO PLE M OVI N G Beginning a song with a crowdsurf, Mura Masa’s performance is purpose built to get people moving. Alex Crossan takes to the stage, arsenal of hits in tow, destined to impress the crowd already clamouring for more.

Together with guest vocalist Bonzai, the pair kick-start a smooth groove led dance riot with an irresistible pull – evident quite literally in the seemingly endless streams of people barraging their way closer to the front.

Armed with a laptop, keys, and drums, the electronic pop

They might be champions of the moment, but the y maintain their victory with no shortage of humility .

“What a pleasure it is to share the stage with one of our favourite bands in the UK: Foals!” The duo ’s electric energy ignites the darkening field with a natural ease. It seems like this moment was always meant to be. Fro m the darkened refrains of ‘Driving On’, through the soulful introductio n of Brendan Reilly for ‘Moving Mountains’, to the elated rendition of ‘Lat ch’, Disclosure usher in the night with an unparallele d excitement – and the weekend is only just beginning.

producer brings his vision to astounding glory. Barely a word is spoken between songs.

Instead, the only conversation is Bonzai’s rallying cries of “Reading, are you with me?”

The answer is there before the question’s even asked, in the deafening claps, arms flailing, and hips shaking along to the beat. Mura Masa are here to live life to its largest, and there’s not better way to do it.

C REEPER MAKE A PLAY FOR VI CTORY There’s devotion, and then there are Creeper’s fans. Anyone turning up to The Pit on a Friday afternoon without prior warning is likely to be left both baffled and awe inspired, such is the magnitude of the six piece’s thrall over their gathered masses.

No band third on a smaller stage should be able to pull the Freddy Mercury “hold the mic out” trick, but for Will Gould it’s a miracle if he can get through even a verse without the crowd doing the job for him. It’s easy to see why, too.

While many may

try and tag through ‘Prague’ and ‘I Will Lethal Bizzle stepping into the Creeper with Be The World’, the trio almost fray for a riotous rendition of other bands, lull you at times, and once ‘Pow’, and the resulting energy none of those they’ve got you a little bit verges on an explosion. comparisons too comfortable, they throw “BOY BETTER KNOW cut it. They everything in the tank at you, FOREVER!” the collective stand alone, a wall of noise and Ben’s declare as they leave the prime movers powerhouse voice filling the stage, and indeed, this is a in a cache tent. They flit between the two memory that will stay with of British sides so effortlessly it’s kind those present for a long time underground of surprising there isn’t more to come. P rock bands all pushing for a better way.

They’ve got the songs.

‘Black Mass’ especially is the kind of cut you’d fully expect to find echoing back from CA R T E R higher reaches of bigger FRANK stages in years to come, but G TO UP GOIN it’s not all about a catchy W E R G “I chorus or fancy solo. It’s deeper than that. Look into T I VA L .” am wasted,” says Frank their eyes and you’ll see it; HIS FES T Carter, not long off his Creeper are special. first set on the Main Stage. He’s suited and people being drawn in by HIN DS R AMSH ACKLE booted in monochrome the racket as they walk by. floral, more than dressed They say they’re three boys B RILLIAN CE WIN S for the occasion. “I think with a story to tell; well, it’s I’ve got sunstroke and I’m OVE R RE ADIN G a story that you quite simply wasted. I’m having the want to listen to. It’s loud and The beauty of Hinds comes in perfect Reading!” interesting and, frankly, feels what other bands would see as Snagging a Main Stage bigger than the stage they imperfections. While their peers spot has been a long time were playing. So how did their may consider months on the coming. From Gallows set fare through the lens of road to be an excuse to become through Pure Love, Frank that dodgy tent measurement tighter, more regimented and has become a stalwart analogy?

We’ll let you guess. slick, this lot know better. of the festival circuit, What’s magical about Hinds frequently throwing the is the fact that they genuinely BOY BETTE R KN OW rules out of the tent – like are having the most fun. Each having pits so big they go element, lyric, hook or guitar FOREVE R outside of his venues. But part is flung into the mix like With clear blues skies Main Stage is a Moment teaching a group of hyperactive and scorching sunlight, with a capital M, and he children to bake. It’s roughly anyone would think the knows it. “I have no idea in the right direction, sort of day couldn’t get any hotter, how it went,” he admits. in the right way, but with such right? Ricocheting up the “It was massive and force and sheer joy that it’s temperature, Boy Better overwhelming, it was a absolutely, 100% better that Know prove all of that wrong, really special moment. way. That ramshackle brilliance bringing the fire to Reading This year is my ninth time gives their live show an – quite literally. With flames playing this festival, so to energy that no stage managed shooting up in front of the get on the Main Stage… performance could ever match. stage, and coloured smoke “I grew up going to this Just try not to have fun, we grenades flying over the festival. In the year 2000 dare you. audience, the performance is a I was watching Slipknot, venture into lawlessness.

Rage Against the Machine, It’s the kind of pandemonium Deftones all play this stage.

B LAE N AVON H AVE that almost can’t be believed So for me, it feels like, SOMETH IN G TO SAY unless you witness it – from not that I’m on the same ridiculous fancy dress costumes level as them – fuck, I’m Just like glasses, tents can be losing their minds to the beats not – but it just feels like a either half full or half empty, or the guy elevated by his momentous occasion.” depending on your view. friends who drops his pants Though he’s spent years Though Blaenavon’s audience before jumping face forwards hoping to play the stage, it seem to perfectly tread the line into the crowd, absolutely didn’t take him long to hop of tent measurement, it’s the anything goes. straight off and stand atop band who take it in their hands The sentiment is echoed the crowd in the scorching to decide the fate of their set. through everything BBK do. sun, never relinquishing From oldie ‘Into the Night’ Declarations of “this his grasp on the show is your time” emanate mentality he’s always held. from the stage front “I’m not a big fan of the as ‘Man (Gang)’ rallies stage-crowd divide,” he the crowd. From says. “I like to go down and start to finish the set be among the people that is nothing short of are there sweating. I want dynamite. ‘Shutdown’ to be with them. For me, delights in the energy that’s always important but it creates, while ‘Feed I also like witnessing from ‘Em To The Lions’ the stage because that’s cements itself as a the best fucking view in the bonafide anthem. Add house.”

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usic moves in waves. A bit of this, a bit of that, a bit of nally the other again. Occasio ugh something smashes thro and changes the order. get Sometimes you’ll even t’s a scene breaking out. Tha t when things really star EN to get exciting. INHEAV t are proof it’s time to star pers buying in the party pop again. ts From the opening blas of ‘All There Is’, it’s obvious gs.

INHEAVEN have the son l With a dynamic that’s wel h, fres ly sing plea yet n wor t they’ve got that spark tha ght’ so many lack. ‘Baby’s Alri sounds like the golden and bullet – bass led, snotty all proud, it’s the calling card good bands need. play “It’s a fucking honour to es here today,” frontman Jam Taylor proclaims, before ripping into a ferocious may ‘Meat Somebody’. They y still be taking their bab all steps, but by next year good children will go to INHEAVEN.

SUNDARA KARMA STEP UP Performing on the Main Stage at a festival is a step up for any band. First of the day at Reading, Sundara Karma bring that sense of occasion to life.

Blistering indie pop with a streetwise swagger, the band perform as if it’s what they were born for. With a history stretching back into their early teens, they’ve come a long way in recent years, and the crowd revel in it as much as the group do.

Frontman Oscar Lulu embodies the rock star persona, pulling shapes and leaning into the crowd from centre stage, and the field lap up every second.

Pausing to express how “overwhelming” the moment is, the group promise to “give something back” in an expression of gratitude.

Performing ‘Happy Family’ – a new song from their forthcoming album – this might be a coming-of-age moment, but Sundara

E THE I N H E AV E N R I D WAV E 4

wo Door Cinema Club are a deceptive beast. There’s no doubt at all the y have the stature to he adline Reading’s second stage tonight. Two album s behind them, anoth er (after a bit of tim e off ) ahead. Their last, ‘Beacon’ hit Number 1 in the UK Album Charts. Th eir debut sold over 25 0,000 copies to date. An d yet, sometimes, when we think of indie’s pa th over the past half decad e or so, it’s easy to dim inish just what Two Do or have accomplished.

At least until the y put it all together on stage, anyway. When the y bring out their A-g ame – specifically the ‘Tourist History’ trio of ‘Un dercover Martyn’, ‘Somethi ng Good

not that everyone else is a rotter – that’s not the point at all – it’s just that Milk Teeth are brilliant inside and out.

Karma are showing they’ve still got so much more to offer.

M ILK TE ETH DO IT B ETTE R Sometimes, the important bands aren’t the most showy.

They’re not the ones with the bravado – the look at me attention seeking or extravagant image to maintain.

Sometimes, they’re just brilliant in their own way, pushing their talent as far as they can, bringing whoever cares to join along on the ride.

That’s the Milk Teeth tactic, and in its own way it’s pretty damn spectacular. It’s not just the fact they’ve got banger after banger in their back pocket – though they’ve got a pile of them to drop today, able to pick a relative greatest hits set only one album in. It’s the fact they stand for something.

And not just something. Pretty much everything decent. Before ‘Kabuki’ Becky Blomfield makes a plea to “normalise mental health and make it less of taboo”. An important plea as others try to promote their forthcoming live dates, new releases and general gubbins. It’s

WH ITN EY ARE TWIN KLY AN D COLOU RFU L Whitney are twinkly and woozy.

They take to the stage with its clammy heat and muted brightness and fill it with their own colour. There’s lots of it.

‘Dave’s Song’ lures you in, ‘No Matter Where We Go’ is big and there’s even a snazzy brass solo where things get a bit steamy on the floor. They all look like they’re having jolly good fun, and they probably win the title of the breeziest dancers in the audience, free-flowing and airy as they go.

Their cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Tonight I’ll be staying here with you’ is injected with their own twangy soul, but it’s just very easygoing for the afternoon. They’re not going to rattle the tent, but when you’re sitting around in the shade, it’ll do nicely. Upbeat and with groove, a bit rambunctious, but low key. It’s an odd combination, but it seems to work.

Can Work’ and ‘W hat You Know’ – it’s obvio us that actually, Alex Trimb le and co. built a foundati on for a generation of fans, and remain still in touch enough to add to that legacy. ‘Are We Re ady?

(Wreck)’ sounds the most likely to do the job , with it’s naggingly cat chy hook sticking firm.

As with every band , though, Two Door have to evolve, and it’s no t just the staggeringly high falsetto of ‘Bad Decisions’ that’s changed. Trimble has gone full Turner, adoptin ga quite staggering US style drawl between son gs.

With plentiful ‘y’a ll’s, it’s as if he’s been inf ected with the spirit of Kings of Leon. With a new album imminent, there are worse, less successful thi ngs that could happen to a band.

VANT TAKE IT TO AN OTH E R LEVE L They are Vant and they’re from planet earth. They are loud and rattly rock music that shakes the rafters of the venue you stand in. They take on Reading, yet again. And they take it to another level this year. ‘The Answer’ is a lyrical tumble, where ‘Welcome to the Wonderful World of Berners Lee’ is just straight up great. The thing about Vant is that even when their songs last around a minute, they pack it with the intensity of a full live show.

Each is a charged assault on the audience, even when they offer a lighter reprieve – it’s all just a ruse until it kicks off again. When they yell “Let’s do this” before launching into a punk onslaught, you bet you will be doing it. Whatever it is.

They’re just bloody brilliant live.

Simple as.

KIN G G IZZA RD A ND TH E LIZARD W IZ A RD OFFE R AN ESCA PE Following the release of an endless album earlier this year, King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard put on a show that no one wants to end.

Releasing eight records (and two EPs) in four years, the band boast a prolific intensity that makes them truly unique.

The psych rock outfit have garnered no shortage of acclaim over their time together, and from the moment they start to work their intricately woven magic on the crowd it’s instantly evident

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love you more when you’re angry with me,” bellows Isaac Holman.

“You’re so boring when you’re nice.” It’d be easy to spend time skirting round the obvious elephant in Slaves’ room, but one thing’s for sure, they’re not. Royal Tunbridge Wells’ foremost proto punk provocateurs are hitting Reading like an unrelenting whirlwind, and it’s going down a storm.

A couple of years ago Isaac and Laurie were playing tiny stages. Now they’re on the biggest of the lot.

‘Sockets’ rattles the bones, ‘Do Something’ stomps with heav y soled shoes.

For a band who, on the surface, might seem almost two dimensional, there’s a special kind of depth to Slaves too. As polarised and brash as their music, subtlety would miss the point. The blunt instrument is often the most effective, and with new tracks like ‘Rich Man’ (“I’m not your bitch, man”), their weapon of choice is a roughly lobbed half brick. “Fuck Brexit,” shouts Laurie. He’s got a point.

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e’re not sitting on this thing and thinking we’ve made it. We don’t feel like we’ve made it even though we’ve got a Number 1 album. It’s just the start. Longevity, that’s where we want to strive to be.

Come back in ten years. I’m writing for what will be the second album but that’ll be a long way away. We’re going to keep building.”

our first album, we had someone in the studio we were trying to impress. I think that really helped us.

You weren’t star struck?

S L AV E S R E M A I N B L U N T A N D TO TH E P O I NT why. Twisted psych refrains reach out and grasp the audience by the hand, guiding down a rabbit hole of darkened fantasy.

Classic nuances light the way into the universe the band have created, a layered tapestry giving way to deeply contagious hooks. Curdling screams and shiver-inducing croons meld together with a bitter allure, while lurching breakdowns spiral to explosion point, a twist and turn at every corner.If festivals are about escapism, you’d be hard pushed to find a band more suited. Fuelled by reverie and ignited by a raucous energy, King Gizzard whisk the gathered away to the furthest corners of imagination.

THE JAPANESE HOUSE SOOTHES ALL I LLS We get it. It’s Saturday afternoon, but it may as well be the crack of dawn. Last night’s fun is taking

- TOM OGDEN, BLOSSOMS

OV E BLOSSOMS PR IS THE AUDIENCE A L W AY S R I G H T

its toll. Bleary eyes, croaky voices, sore heads – The Japanese House is going to fix them all.

Even Amber Bain herself acknowledges she’s probably the perfect hangover cure on a day like this. As other stages spew forth riffs, she’s dealing in something more textured. ‘Sugar Pill’ becomes a woozy, reassuring embrace, ‘Teeth’ a pulsing, binaural joy.

An example of how Reading has moved to draw in more music to properly represent what’s going on each year, there’s a sizeable audience for a lunchtime slot on the middle day of a heavy weekend too. As the scenes change, and the audience follows, the event evolves with it. Tired dinosaurs should take note, The Japanese House is the future, the past is irrelevant, and that headache from the night before is well and truly gone. P

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f we wanted to take notes, there’s a lesson for us all in Blossoms.

On the surface, they’re a straight-down-theline northern indie band. The latest in a template run, a blast from the past and supposedly an irrelevance in 2016.

And yet they’ve achieved a Number 1 album and packed out Reading’s second stage.

Breaking ‘My Favourite Room’ for a sing-along to Oasis’ ‘Half The World Away’, they genuinely are speaking a language much of the music world has cast aside.

Every cliche in the book is drawn out, and the crowd lap it up.

Laurie: We’re the biggest Beastie Boys fans, but we’re almost the generation that grew up on Eminem, the people he influenced. I remember turning on channels and Run DMC and Beastie Boys seemed a lot older, so I think I’ve accessed them a lot later in life. I didn’t fully understand the Beastie Boys’ influence on everything, until you go and work with one and you realise, pretty much every rapper’s been influenced by them, all rock bands…

You’re on the Main Stage later, how you feeling?

So, ‘Take Control’. What inspired it?

Laurie Vincent: Excited.

Isaac Holman: We’ve come a long way. I’m very proud of Laurie and proud of myself, I think my feelings are in the post to be honest.

Laurie: Don’t congratulate yourself too much, that’s what they say innit.

Hopefully we can just watch the YouTube video in twenty years and go yeah, that was good.

Laurie: We were sat on a plane about a year ago, we’d just released the first record and I said, I’ve got this idea. When we’re writing songs, we have these words, ideas or phrases that start them off. He kept saying ‘Take Control’ would be a good song. I figured it would be a sick album title, and that was it. We hadn’t even written anything, but we had an album title and track idea. It follows on from the first album, but we wanted to be a bit more direct with it. The first album, we just wrote songs and hoped it would work, this album we had expectations of ourselves.

But this is just the start, your new album is out soon.

Laurie: I just saw a big poster out the front and I got well excited. We’re still the kind of band that - if we get in a magazine, it blows our mind.

Isaac: Sitting back stage, still feeling like we don’t belong there. It’s good to feel like that.

Laurie: You play the Introducing Stage, and you feel like you don’t belong. You think when you get to Main Stage, you’ll feel comfortable but you still don’t. It feels like we’ve snuck in.

This is the first thing you’ve written where people are expecting things from you?

Laurie: Yeah, and I think working with Mike D from the Beastie Boys, he expected something from us so we didn’t get away with hiding from it.

I think some producers might try and shelter you, but he was like, ‘I don’t know. We’ve got some good songs but we’ll see’. He pushed us very hard. ‘cause he’s a fan of

Do you try and second guess what people could take from what you’re saying?

Laurie: I think Isaac’s lyrics in the second album were very direct, but with this album there’s more wordplay and the upfrontness of our first ever EP. I feel like there was a new-found confidence in the vocals. Last album, we both really love it but we were still finding our feet with where we worked in the world. I guess this album, lyrically, there are more hidden messages and people can definitely find stuff from it.

What do you want people to take from this record?

Isaac: Just to fucking enjoy it. Or hate it. I just hope people don’t call it average.

Laurie: That would be the worst.

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rawing Reading and ‘Sex’, the love that to a close on floods the tent is nothing the NME / short of outright devotion.

BBC Radio 1 “I don’t know wh Stage, The 1975 at the are not fut ure holds, but I can only making memo ries promise you two to last a lifetime, things,” but He aly announces to careering into the future the festival site as the with no uncer tain y amount approach their las of possibility. Str t song. utting “One: we’re going their stuff and sm to go oking away and make an on stage, the gro other ups record. Two: we’re effortless rock sta going r to come back and personas and rid we’re iculously going to fucking addictive pop ho headline oks are Re ad ing , I fucking promise a sure-fire recipe for you.” success.

Wh eth er that’s a Two years, a secon d album, declaration of int and a step up the ent bill or a bona fide actua from the last tim lity e they remains to be see were here, the ou n, but tfit bring judging by their res the festival to an ponse all-new here tonight, the elated high. From re’s the every sense that explosive introduct this is a ion of challenge the ou ‘Love Me’ through tfit can to the ea sily ris dynamite set-close e to. Same time rs of next year, gents?

‘Chocolate’, ‘The So We’ll see und’, you down the fro nt.

T H E 1975 A RE TO C O M I N G BAC K MISE HEADLINE, PRO

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ou couldn’t make it up. As Spring King take the stage, the heavens open, sending the masses sprinting for the safety of their tent. They don’t just have a slice of luck on their side, they’ve brought their trademark Mancunian weather with them to lend a hand too.

It’s not that they especially need it, though. The fourpiece are the proverbial festival pocket rocket; packed with explosives and aiming high. ‘Detroit’ rattles the sockets, ‘City’ could dislocate limbs. Still, a bit of help never hurt anyone.

If any band perfectly encapsulates the sweet spot of Reading, it’s Spring King.

Too loud to be twee indie, too fun to be serious rock, they’re able to play to all comers. With a closing triple threat of ‘The Summer’, ‘Who Are You?’ and ‘Rectifier’ they’ve the fuel to light fires too. Throw a match and no stormy weather will stop them burning bright.

EZR A FU RM A N IS FAN CY FRE E

THE WOMBATS “SMASH IT” Mention The Wombats and chances are thoughts instantly hark back to the mid 2000s. On the NME / BBC Radio 1 stage, the band showcase why they’re so much more than a throwback. Packing the festival’s largest tent to its limits, the outfit are on top form. Fuelled by a new electricity, the classics sound fresher than ever, but it’s the group’s more recent material that really get things in motion.

“This is the end of your festival – let’s fucking smash it!” frontman Matthew Murphy

E AT SPRING KING B TH E STO RM S 10

proclaims as the group reach the end of their set a few moments early. Riffing off against each other to chants of “smash it!”, not a single second is left to waste.

RAT BOY KE E PS RE ADIN G JU MPIN G Try to pin Rat Boy down, and you’ll probably find it easier to nail jelly to the wall. In the space of eighteen months or so he’s skipped all over the place musically, like a hyperactive child let loose in Santa’s workshop. He’s got a thread

running through his output, but it’s made of elastic.

Elastic and sheer, untempered energy. The kind which sends the front rows jumping for ‘Move’ and moving for ‘Get Over It’. There’s no doubt Rat Boy speaks to the less cynical, less jaded crowd.

“Do you know this one?” he offers, before ‘Left 4 Dead’ to a chorus of screams. There’s no doubt Jordan Cardy has the bangers to make a real breakthrough.

An artist unlike any other, Ezra Furman brings his jazzed up rock’n’roll swagger to the masses with a winning grin. “I could just say whatever I want,” he laughs between songs.

Beaming from ear to ear through a rousing rendition of ‘Little Piece Of Trash,’ the whole band are in their element – and their delight is nothing

O L LY P A I D T “ W E ACTUA T HOW JUS P L AY T H E S O F Y O U ” that. A lot of the bigger stuff we can’t TO G ET RI D control, but we can control how good a James Green: I went to Leeds in 2010 or 2011 and on the stage we played today I saw LCD Soundsystem, who are one of my favourite band ever, and The Streets.

To go out on that stage, it’s just crazy.

When I was 15/16, I knew this is what I wanted to do forever. Now I’ve achieved it, I might just quit.

Tarek Musa: We actually paid to play this show just to get rid of you.

James: Everything else from here on in is a bonus.

Pete Darlington: When you play a show like today, you feel like you want to do it again. I want to do this all the time, and it’s about trying to realise that.

It’s about the music, ultimately. If the music’s good enough and it reaches people, it’ll happen. It just means we have to get better at writing, we have to get better at playing, but that’s okay.

That’s within our grasp. We can control

song is because that’s what we’ve been training to do.

James: We played with Wolf Alice at The Forum in March. It was an amazing show, it was busy and people were great. That was the one where it felt like, we can do this. It’s fine. I’ve only aspired to play at 100 cap rooms where it’s relatively busy - and then we watched Wolf Alice. They’re just the most amazing band. They’re the most down to earth people, they’re great and they deserve everything they get. I came off stage, watched them and realised yeah, this is something we should aspire to. It really inspired me.

Tarek: It’s aiming to move an audience more and get more emotion out from both sides of the fence. Get it higher and higher, that’d be sick.

James: It’s really cool that indie bands are making it happen.

short of contagious. Through songs about alienation and dedications to “unpopular people and people who get hurt,” Ezra Furman is a rallying voice for anyone who’s ever felt out of place. Leave your worries by the wayside, this is a performance for being let loose and fancy free.

WI L L JOSE PH C OOK H AS I N STA NT APPE A L Presenting bubbling indie for the blissful of heart, Will Joseph Cook offers a shelter from the rain that’s laced with brilliance.

More realised on stage with a full band behind him, his

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his isn’t Biffy Clyro’s first time at headlining Reading. They made that jump up a few e years back. Then, they wer the surprise package; the way band that worked their n up to a deserved slot the of blew the expectations out nd, the water. This time rou to do, they know exactly what and it shows.

“I don’t know why you’d s go see anyone else,” joke Simon Neil. It’s disarming 5 humour, and with The 197 not in direct competition it’s w in like they’re the only sho of the town, but it is a marker a confidence Biffy have as festival headliner.

Then again, if you can - an deliver ‘Many of Horror’ - in anthem beyond its genre cut the same set as classic ‘57’, you’ve got an unfair l advantage. New materia is written for precicely this setting too, as ‘Howl’ and Biffy ‘Animal Style’ both show. e. mor any s tart ups the ’t aren This is the new order.

songs scale to a new lease of life that does more than justify the hype.

Laughing and joking, the performance embodies feel good vibes of the highest order. “We’re doing a bit of a competition to see which is a better crowd,” he tells his audience. “Bit more of a mosh at Leeds. I encourage that.”

Whether it’s the bop along refrains of ‘Take Me Dancing’ or the delectably smooth echoes of ‘Message,’ Will Joseph Cook demonstrates a capability at whatever direction he turns his hand to.

THE MAG I C GANG C OME TO THE BOI L Sing alongs. The Magic Gang have sing alongs now. If any festival moment shows a band moving from promising upstarts to genuine threats, this could well be it.

It’s not that ‘Jasmine’, ‘No Fun’ or ’Alright’ are new additions to the roster. Far from it. More that, at a festival like Reading, more than one band’s calling card moments have fallen flat.

Perfecting

B I F F Y C LY R O RULE THE BIG L E AG U ES N OW

their sound, finding they’re groove, they’re finally sounding ready. Those sing alongs will be everywhere soon.

S E A L LY F E E L “ I T O N LY R OR H AT H O U R REAL FOR T O N S TA G E ” S O YO U ’ R E

E AGU LLS LET TH E IR MUSIC DO TH E TA LKIN G The crowd assembled might be one of the smaller of the weekend, but Eagulls’ performance offers no shortage of sensation.

Frontman George Mitchell gives himself up to the moment, swaying into the microphone with intense focus. The audience are equally lost in the music.

The more ardent fans at the stage front barely seem to stop moving. Resounding with a deep fervency, the group are certainly more suited to darkened venues than open fields. The few words they speak between songs are barely discernible, but the music they play speaks volumes. P

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OUNG, - JUSTIN Y NES T H E VA C C I

t’s as much of a rite of passage for bands as it is for kids going,” Justin Young describes of the festival he’s getting ready to perform at. “We haven’t been for four years. It’s so nice to be back.” Playing on the Main Stage under Fall Out Boy and Biffy Clyro, The Vaccines have come a long way in the near-half-decade sing they last performed in these fields.

“It only feels real for that hour or so you’re on stage,” Justin illustrates of the experience stepping out into such a lauded arena. “Then you’re like ‘oh, shit, there’s a Vaccines t-shirt!’ or ‘that person’s singing along!” Enthusing about the Stormzy and Red Hot Chili Peppers sets they caught the night before, the group are in high spirits.

And so are their fans. A year has passed since latest album ‘English Graffiti’ was released, and the songs have cemented their place among fan favourites. “Those songs are kind of engrained in people’s hearts and minds, so when they come and watch us now they get the same response as singles from the first two records,” Justin enthuses. “It’s really gratifying.”

Considering that the band had “never ever played these songs live before [they] recorded them” (“we didn’t even know how to play them before”), the heights to which they’ve risen with them is a testament to just how good The Vaccines are at what they do. “These songs feel so different now to when we first started recording them – almost three years ago, which is pretty crazy.”

It’s not just the songs that have changed. Now a three-piece after drummer Pete Robertson left the

outfit back in June, the band has crossed into a definite new chapter of their lives. “It was quite shocking,” the frontman recalls. “I remember we were supposed to be in the studio the day he told us. We all just went out for a pint and just thought ‘…fuck.’”

Joining the group on site today, the group dynamic is still unquestionably tight. “I think it’s a testament to how close we all still are and how much we love each other. It’s sad, but it was definitely the right decision for him, and it’s a good thing for the band too, in a lot of ways.” With their future wide open, The Vaccines are raring to go.

“For the next record I think we will probably play songs out live before we record them,” Justin contemplates. “Obviously songs are constantly evolving, but I think it’d be nice if perhaps there’s a bit more life in the songs on the next record.”

That new record might be set to arrive sooner than you think. “We’ve got about twenty songs,” the frontman reveals. “I think there are some really good ones actually. I’m quite excited.”

Inspired by “love and loss and the ageing process” (“intensely self-involved things”), the record promises to showcase The Vaccines at their open-hearted best. “I like things that make me sad and angry and insecure. I think all those things are really good to draw on,” Justin describes. “Whether or not you relate to what I’m saying or how I’m trying to say it, it’s always from quite a real place.”

Starting recording as early as January, the group might be reaching new heights right now, but every thought is geared towards the future.

g n i h t r e h t o n ...and a

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ho’s the best famous person you’ve met?

I actually borrowed a cigarette lighter off Laura Marling yesterday,” Ollie Pash brags. “I served Paul Weller a latte,” Josh Hodgson one ups.

“I’ve had a pee next to Noel Gallagher, and a pee next to Chris Martin,” Lawrence Pumfrey shrugs. There’s a moment of silence. “Who had the bigger cock?”

BEACH BABY, ON FAMOUS PEOPLE

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t was wild! We were pretty nervous before hand, but we weren’t as overwhelmed as we thought we would be, which is a really good thing. We were able to keep it together. No one pooed their pants – at least that I know of.”

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oming back to the UK, coming back to London, coming back to a festival like this… This is one of the first big festivals I ever did about three years ago - having them invite me back, which is fucking amazing, but then coming back and doing it - you really do get to gauge how it’s going. All the record sales in the world mean nothing to me, it’s all about the people who are at the show and what they want from me in that moment, it’s the most immediate way you can engage with people who are just interested in the music you make. It’s a good one.”

JACK GARRATT, ON RETURNING YEAR TO YEAR

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ack U, that was so epic. It’s hard for people to have the perspecti ve of a year before: there’s no way you’d say Diplo and Skrillex should do a thing with Justin Bieber. No one said that at all, apart from Diplo and Skrillex, but they did it - and did it in such a classy, tongue in cheek, interestin g and most importan tly, authentic way. Everyone likes that song. My eight year old likes that song, I like that song. I thought that was so clever and so interestin g.”

PETE WENTZ, FALL OUT BOY, ON JACK U

with gigs all across the world, the outfit certainly NI C E TO H AVE know how to keep things exciting. “That’s the main DI F F ERENT reason that we keep enjoying it,” the guitarist enthuses.

EXPERI ENC ES” “It’s nice to go back to places where you’ve got friends, “It must’ve been about but the prospect of going to twenty feet from the barrier India in December... None of to the stage!” guitarist Liam us have ever been before. It’s Matthews exclaims of the group’s performance at Leeds. not the sort of holiday we “You feel really disconnected could afford to go on. The from the crowd.” Sure, it might fact our music can take us there and facilitate us seeing be a challenge, but it’s one the world, it’s great.” the outfit prove themselves “Two minutes ago we just more than capable or got told we might be going rising to. “It’s nice to have to China!” Tom announces. a different experience, see “You have no expectation a band out of your comfort of it as well,” Liam excitedly zone.” continues. “We’ve never Following the release of played there. We don’t second album ‘Ullages’ a know how our music will mere three months ago, the be received there. And that group are already well into makes it quite exciting.” to the next chapter of their Visiting brand new places, existence. “A lot of people and starting to record brand have taken it as having new music as early as next shifted quite drastically in year, Eagulls are spreading terms of style and genre,” bassist Tom Kelly describes of their wings and getting their second full-length. “We’d ready to soar. written most of the songs two years previous to when it came out,” Liam explains.

“We’re already starting to write the next one now.”

It’s early days for the new material, but if there’s one thing you can expect from Eagulls it’s that whatever they do won’t be what you expect.

“I think it’s pretty boring to do the same thing over and over,” Liam mulls. “For us it needs to be a little bit different, just to keep it interesting.”

Booked up until Christmas

EAG UL LS: “IT’S

TWO DOOR CIN EMA CLUB

S

ix years ago, Two Door Cinema club were in exactly the same place as they are today. Sat backstage at Reading, the outfit are readying for a performance on the NME / BBC Radio 1 Stage. The difference now is that instead of the middle of the day, the group are making their mark as headliners.

“We played when LCD Soundsystem were headlining,” Sam Halliday recalls. “We were big fans then. To see yourself in that position now is a bit mad.” “I was looking at the line up and we were so far down the bill,” Kevin Baird laughs. They might’ve been early on, but the trio make no bones about how much that moment impacted them. “It was a real game changer,” Alex Trimble enthuses.

“Our lives were never the same after we played that show.”

With a third album imminent, there seems no doubt that Two Door Cinema Club are ready to take this next step in their evolution. The follow up to 2012’s ‘Beacon’, ‘Gameshow’ looks set to mark a return to the

Get more Reading 2016 reports, photos, interviews and other stuff on readdork.com, obv.

irresistible form that the group have always proved themselves capable of.

Four years on from their last release, the record is the sound of a band renewed.

“We went too hard, too fast, for too long,” Alex explains of the group’s radio silence through the majority of last year.

“Mentally and physically we were just ruined.”

When the frontman ended up in hospital for two weeks at the start of 2014, the group were forced to face the harsh reality that their constant time together was taking its toll. “We needed not only time to ourselves, but we needed time apart from each other.” A new record was never planned, but the trio’s chemistry and creativity was too much of a pull for them to ignore for too long. “It just felt natural. It felt right,” Alex describes.

When asked what to expect from the upcoming release, all three are quick to state how “different” and “varied” the album is.

“The most exciting thing for me is that it doesn’t sound like anything I’ve ever heard before,” Alex illustrates. “It’s something that is definitely our own.”

Citing the likes of Bowie and Prince as particular inspiration, the group are reinvigorating their sound with a “classic pop” sheer – and they couldn’t be more enthusiastic about the results if they tried. “I feel like since we’ve come back we’ve had a new lease on life,” Alex marvels. “I’ve made a record that I’m really proud of, and I’m playing shows that are really fulfilling me in a lot of different ways. Every single one of us just loves being on stage now.

There’s a real new energy out there.”

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Ho ld yo ur co ns pi ra cy th eo rie s. W it h Th e Bi g M oo n in th e st ud io at wor k on th ei r de bu t al bu m , th is is on e la nd in g th at no bo dy ca n do ub t.

Wo r d s : A li S h u t le r P h o to . s: Sar ah Lo u is e B ennet t

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T

he Big Moon don’t do sad songs. Which is just as well ‘cause since the release of ‘Eureka Moment’ in early 2015, every point of contact with the band has been a moment of sheer joy.

“Does anyone want a piggy back?” asks vocalist/guitarist Juliette Jackson from out of the blue. Within seconds bassist Celia Archer is on her back with guitarist Soph Nathan repeating the same move with drummer Fern Ford. “I feel so safe up here,” laughs Celia.

Despite a friendship as old as the band itself (which isn’t very long at all, FYI) they’ve quickly become an inseparable unit. They’re the sort of gang who would not only let you sit with them, they’d bunch up so there was room at their table. One of them, probably Soph, would then explain the inside jokes that were rattling about, not only to make you feel involved but because they’re

“IT’S STA RT I N G TO FEEL

great stories. If being in most bands looks like a laugh, The Big Moon is hysterical.

is a light, and it’s never going out.

The four-piece finish each others sentences, listen to what each other are saying and are quick to remind one another of stories they feel need to be told. “Didn’t that ruin your bucket list, Soph?” asks Fern with a knowing grin. “If you’re lucky you might meet Robbie Williams,” teases Celia. “If you’re really lucky you’ll see Jules meet Robbie Williams.” But more on those later. See, The Big Moon aren’t just good for a laugh.

Their music, sharp, bubbly and perfectly capturing those fast paced exchanges, is very much about having a good time. Finding that excitement was the spark that started The Big Moon and has been a constant ever since. There

Jules was working as a waitress in a cocktail bar, harbouring dreams of starting a band. She wasn’t going to wait for a human league to pick her out, shake her up and turn her around though.

She was going to go out and do it herself. “I won’t tell you the name of it but it

LIKE

A

THING.” was really fancy, gourmet cocktails that were made out of soil and my job was filling up the glasses of water on people’s tables. I didn’t even get to make the cocktails. I think I made one Martini the entire time I was there.”

After looking, and failing, to find a band to join, she sent out feelers to start her own. “I was really impatient.

I tried playing with a couple of friends but I’ve deleted that from my mind,” starts Jules. “We’ve pushed

“ E XC US

E ME”

WHEN JULES MET ROBBIE WILLIAMS. TWICE.

“Sometimes Robbie Williams is here, if you’re lucky you might get to see him,” teases Celia. “If you’re really lucky, you’ll get to see Jules see Robbie Williams” “Which is brilliant,” promises Fern.

Jules: I’ve met him twice. Oh my god, the first time I completely lost my balls. Fern was there and she was really cool, I don’t know what happened because I completely blanked out and just stood there dribbling, I couldn’t hear and everything just turned into fuzz.

Fern: This guy walked out of this room who looked a bit like Robbie Williams. I didn’t process it so I just nodded, and he nodded. Then I turned to Jules and she was wide-eyed and terrified.

Jules: It’s never happened to me before. I got really starstruck. And then something weird happened and we ended up singing Happy Birthday to someone while we were hiding under table, and he was there and he was also singing Happy Birthday.

Fern: He wasn’t under the table, that was just us but he was in the room.

Celia: It was someone in the office’s birthday and they were like, let’s all hide under the table and come out and sing Happy Birthday. No one hid under the table, just us and then the cake was brought over to the corner of the table and Jules was half under it. She couldn’t fit under the table but wasn’t standing up either and the cake and the woman, who we’d never met before, were right there and so was Robbie Williams.

Jules: I ran after Robbie after the cake and the door to the studio closed in my face. That was like a month ago, and then a couple of nights ago he just appeared. I was on my laptop, playing the organ, so I didn’t see him at all and was completely ignoring whoever was over there going, “Excuse me, excuse me”, ‘cause I was totally in organ zone. I looked up, realised it was Robbie Williams, told myself to be cool and ended up being really aloof. He asked how you got out and I was all, “I don’t know”.

Too far. I’m really hoping he’ll turn up again and I can be like, ‘I’ve seen you three times, I love you. Is that okay?’

30

bthem all out of her brain,” Celia smirks. A few people came but quickly went, either disappearing or too busy to commit, but Fern was the first piece of the puzzle to fall into place. Then came Soph who “wanted to be in a cool rock band” and juggled her many bands and studying in Brighton with the fledgling project, and lastly Celia joined the fray.

“I’d been in a band with my friends at uni,” she says. They were called The Portobello Moment and they wrote post-punk songs about suburban Britain and crisps. “Then we stopped doing that and I missed being in a band. I didn’t have much time and I can’t really play the bass so I can’t go up to anyone and say ‘do you want to start a band?’ because I have literally nothing to offer other than I kinda do it. Then I got a message from a friend, ‘Hey, there’s this band that my friend’s stating and they need a bassist, can you play the bass?’ Yeah, kinda.”

After the first time playing together, the rest of the gang invited Celia back the next day to do it again. “I showed my dad the text and he said, ‘I don’t think that’s a definite yes yet’, then I got off the train on my way to meet them and my bass strap snapped and smacked this child on the head. That’s it, that’s such a bad omen.” “But it was a good omen,” sings Soph. “I specifically said ‘Let’s play with her again, then ask her.

Let’s not rush into anything.’ But as soon as she got there, Jules was like, ‘Do you want to be in our band?’.”

“Sorry, I blew it,” shrugs Jules. “We obviously all knew it, I was just being too cautious,” adds Soph.

“I said yes and then they played me ‘Sucker’, and oh my god, this song is sick,” reflects Celia. “It was the perfect way of doing it because Jules wrote the songs so I didn’t have to stand there in a room with people I didn’t know and jam. The idea of that totally terrified me at that point, because I didn’t know how to do that. Now, call me up for a jam and we’ll wig out,” she smiles, before quickly adding: “No. I still hate it. So, the bass lines were already written and the songs were already there, and so were the rest of the people who were really lovely. I walked into this fully formed project like, how the fuck did this happen? It was the dream scenario. Then we were working with Lou, who’s our manager and the fifth member of the band and she was talking about record deals and blah, blah, blah, sure.

Whatever. This is just fun and I’m enjoying it and then all of a sudden, ‘Oh, you were serious?’ This is a real thing.”

The rest of the band signed up for similar reasons. “I just liked playing guitar and they were good songs,” explains Soph. “It was fun and a really nice thing to join.” “I was bored,

I wanted to play some music and I liked the songs,” echoes Fern.

Once the four points had aligned, things fell into place “ridiculously quickly”. The bristling chemistry of ‘Eureka Moment’? That was recorded one week after Celia joined, “and even as the four of us together, I felt like we were instantly really, really close. We got on and it made a lot of sense very quickly,” she offers, as Soph explains: “It was over summer and we rehearsed most days then hung out in the park. It was a really nice but really weird way of making friends. It’s so different to any other relationship I’ve been in.”

The band had their first group embrace on the floor of the boat they recorded on. “I’m a hugger. I forced it,” grins Celia, and they’ve been thick as thieves ever since. “Obviously there were hard bits and we had to figure things out,” says Soph, before Celia takes over: “But they don’t sound as cool. Also they’re minor. That’s just learning how to play with people.”

“Yeah, I don’t remember them now.”

I

t’s been a hectic ride for The Big Moon from the get go. It’s no wonder they don’t spend much time thinking about early teething problems when there are so many good things to focus on. They’ve played Brixton Academy five times alongside The Vaccines and The Maccabees, and there

have been triumphant-come-teary shows at Glastonbury. “We all came offstage on top of the world and all our friends were standing in a line crying,” starts Jules. “We had a lot of little cries,” adds Celia. “It was a mixture of an emotional moment and everyone was really hungover. I like to think it was our sweet, sweet melodious sounds that brought everyone to their knees though.”

As good as things have got, you can comfortably put your money on things getting better. There’s a big ol’ headline tour in November (or ‘Tourtoise’, for some brilliant reason) that sees the band headline Scala - much to Soph’s annoyance, who’s disappointed she hasn’t got the chance to tick off ‘support a band at the Scala’ from her bucket list - as well as a debut album very much in the works. “I don’t daydream very far into the future,” explains Soph, “but I hope that it goes far.”

“It’s really hard to imagine,” adds Celia. “Everything that happens feels sorta surprising. Our manager says this might happen or this will happen and then you think maybe, if stuff keeps going well but it can’t keep going well all the time. And then it just does.” It’s been constant, unburdened fun for the duration, and while they realise that as the band grows and gets more in demand, the fun might suffer, there’s the belief “I don’t think it could ever get that bad.”

“‘SILEN T MOVIE SUSIE’ IS ABO UT MY

NIPPLE.”

A N YO N E F O R A GAME OF SLAPPYBALL?

When they’re not making their debut album, The Big Moon like to unwind with a quick game of Slappyball. What’s that, we hear you ask. We’ll let it’s creators explain.

Soph: We’ve invented a new game in our recording breaks called Slappyball.

Jules: I’m Pretty sure its going to be in the Olympics, if not in four years then eight years because it’s really good. You just slap the ball.

Soph: It’s like throw and catch but slap and slap.

Celia: And if it goes in the pot, you go waaaay. Even though that’s not the aim of the game.

But it’s just to make someone feel better if they hit it and it goes really far away. And sometimes it goes on the roof and Jules has to get it down because she’s the tallest.

Soph: It’s more fun than it sounds.

Seeing a reaction from that first ‘Eureka Moment’ hasn’t left the band expecting one. “Even now, we put our new video up yesterday and we’ve got this whole thing behind us which is our label, our team and connections with other things, you know all of that’s going to happen, but it still feels like you’re sending this thing out into the ether. The idea that anyone’s going to see it is so mental,” explains Soph, wide-eyed. “It’s amazing how it doesn’t get completely camouflaged by everything else that’s on the internet,” furthers Jules, with Celia adding: “I cant process it, it’s like when your mum gives you a compliment.”

“But it’s encouraging,” they all agree, apart from Fern who has gone from writing everyone’s name on a piece of paper to starting a limerick.

“There once was a man from blank,” starts Jules, reading the work in progress before the band start chipping in with ideas. “Where are you from?” “Why have you written ponies?” “There once was a man from Ponies…” “That’s not a real place.” “Who interviewed the Big Moon girlies.” “Wheeeeey!” “Though I don’t like the word girlies.” “Yeah, me neither.” And that’s as far as it gets.

Onto the next thing.

“It doesn’t feel the same, it feels closer and stronger,” continues

Jules, somehow picking up where she left off. “I feel like us four are glued together, in a good way.” That tightly-knit group dynamic allows The Big Moon to run havoc on record. Tumbling over one another yet allowing each and every part to shine, across the band’s handful of releases The Big Moon have refused to do the expected. Playful and twirling, each glimpse into their world has been brief but affecting.

“I still always feel when I’m writing songs that I don’t really know how to do it, even though I do,” starts Jules. “I must do but there’s no system. Whatever happens, just happens and you have to be okay with it. All the songs come together in different ways. Some of them I’ll write every part and be really specific with it. ‘You’ve got to do it like this, please’,” she begs as the others start cracking up at the accuracy of her own caricature. “And sometimes they’re more simple, it’s just chords and singing and we’ll work it out together. ‘Sucker’ was like that. And ‘Cupid’. And ‘Silent Movie Susie’. And ‘Nothing Without You’. As time goes on, I write less and less fussily. I wrote a little pile of songs before I found the band, because I didn’t want to start a band, I wanted to do what Celia did which is just walk into one but I couldn’t find one, so I just pretended I had a band on my computer and made up all the bits.

And now we are a band, I don’t need

to make up all the bits, because you guys can make up all the bits, which is really good. Phew.”

“But you’re so good at it. I love it when you make up all the bits,” begins Celia. “You’ve got great bits.”

Taking the fractured shards of reality and piecing them together to create a kaleidoscopic view of the everyday, The Big Moon will have you twisting this way and that, lost in the beauty and amazement that they see in everything. “It’s mostly stuff from real life,” continues Jules. “Some older stuff is a bit more nonsensey because I’m really into Pixes and I remember seeing this documentary where someone asked Frank Black what his lyrics mean, and he was like, ‘Nah, it’s just meant to be random words. I don’t want my lyrics to mean anything’, and I was like, ‘Cool, I don’t have to bother’. But some of them are a lot more specific, some of them are about other people, some of them are stories. There are all kinds of things, but it’s mostly real life and stuff that’s happened to me.”

From ‘Cupid’’s nod to the ‘benefits’ of injesting pineapple juice and Tropical Rubicon, through ‘Nothing Without You’’s shrugging off of the myth that dogs can’t look up, to ‘Silent Movie Susie’ (“That song is about my nipple. It’s about the time I lost sensitivity in one of my nipples and I really needed it to come back.

That’s actually what it’s about. I told you all the songs were about real things”), The Big Moon take the unseen everyday and make it shine, as only they could. With so many amazing things out there, there’s no time for sad songs. Not even with a full-length to play with.

“I was talking about his with Catherine, our producer, yesterday,” starts Jules. “She asked are there any sad songs on the album and I was like, yeah. Obviously. Then we all thought about it and actually, no.

There’s one very sexy one, but there aren’t any sad ones,” she continues, as Fern leans over to ask which one is the sexy one. “I’m not going to tell you, you’ll work it out.”

“You were saying it’s because you think sad songs are easy to write,” pokes Celia. “Yeah, so I deliberately avoid it, without meaning to,” explains Jules before pausing. “Wait, that’s not possible.”

“You see the good in things,” offers Soph, as Celia adds: “You’re a positive person. Double thumbs up.”

“I think it is much easier to write sad songs. Anyone can sit at the piano, play a b minor and cry,” says Jules, complete with demonstration. “And then a long guitar solo that’s really sad. Boring,” she yawns.

“She’s just making it really difficult for herself,” says Soph.

“I do think we sometimes go cheese though, but that’s fine. We’re all into Magic FM, so cheese it is,” Jules continues before shouting Fern’s name as she screws up a piece of paper and throws it in the bin. “What was that,” she demands. “You just destroyed memories, where’s the limerick?”

“There,” replies Fern, banging the desk next to her.

“I thought you scrunched up my heart then,” sighs Soph.

A

cross the courtyard is the studio where The Big Moon are currently recording their debut album.

The room is littered with Hawaiian leis, bags of treat size Mars Bars, Milky Buttons and Maltesers and roll on deodorant. Fairy lights adorn every room the band occupy and there’s both an inflatable monkey and palm tree hanging from the roof, while more blow-up foliage lies in the middle of the room. On his way into work, one of the studio’s team pops into the post office and is asked where he’s going on holiday, such is the tropical garishness of his shirt.

He was wearing a similarly colourful number yesterday. It’s all for the atmosphere. At the mention of their debut album, the whole room makes a noise that’s too excited for mere letters to be able to replicate it.

“It’s going so well,” beams Jules. “I’m really excited about it now. I was excited about it before but now we’re actually doing it and I’m having a nice time while we’re doing it. It’s really cool. It’s starting to feel like a thing.” Returning to Catherine J. Marks who did the band’s previous two singles as well as Wolf Alice’s ‘Creature Smiles’ and Foals’ ‘Holy Fire’, the band feel comfortable about this next step. The variety that’s skated through their releases so far is still present, “but with something threading it through, which is us.”

been waiting for what feels like ages and ages, we’ve just been sitting on these songs so it’ll be nice to have a snapshot of all the things we do now. Plus, it doesn’t feel like it’s quick at all ‘cause we started so quickly after we formed. It feels like ages. We’ve been playing these songs for such a long time now, it really felt like if we waited any longer, the songs might go a bit stale or something. I’m just impatient. It doesn’t feel immature though.

We’ve done enough, we’ve recorded enough stuff, we’ve demoed enough stuff and played together that we know what we want to sound like.

We’ve got all of the things that we want. It feels obvious what it’s meant to be like. It’s like a child drawing a picture of their mummy. They know

they have a face and a body and legs and feet and giant hands and a triangle dress, lipstick and loads of eyelashes… I can’t remember what my point was.”

“I feel confident in the songs and confident in the way that we’re doing it,” summaries Celia. “It’s a really good time to do it.”

“I want to make some songs that make people really happy,” offers Jules, stepping back. “A lot of time when we’re in the van, we listen to The Blue Album by Weezer and it always makes me feel really, really good. I want other people to listen to our album and feel like that about it.”

“It’s the same with our live show.

I want people to enjoy it,” finishes Soph. “It’s just the best feeling when you’re at a gig and you just love it.”

If there’s one thing this band know how to do, it’s make you love them to the moon and back. P The Big Moon’s single ‘Silent Movie Susie’ is out 23rd September.

UR O F ED U S L G “U ARE ...

R E H T TOG E D IN A GOO WAY ! ”

“We’ve had loads of songs for so long and now we’ve got a very short window of time to get it all done,” starts Soph. “It feels weirdly like it’s been forever in the lead up to it but also that we have no time, which is quite good because we’re having to make decisions. Otherwise it could go on forever. To be in with a producer we like and think is great eliminates any extra worries, because she’s going to make us sound how we want. That’s a big thing to worry about, but she’s cool.”

“I don’t find it daunting because I’m so eager to do it,” offers Jules. “We’ve

33

“C RI T I CS CA N BRING OUT THE WORST IN PEOPLE” O N E O F B L U E S R O C K ’ S M O S T F O R M I D A B L E D U O S , D E A P VA L LY A R E B A C K - A N D T H E Y B R I N G W I T H T H E M A S EC O N D A L BU M C O - P RO D U C E D BY A N I N D I E- P U N K H E RO : Y E A H Y E A H Y E A H S ’ NICK ZINNER.

L

ess than 24 hours ago, Deap Vally played their first ever festival headline slot at Y Not in Derbyshire.

“It was great,” vocalist and guitarist Lindsey Troy muses. “It felt like a classic UK festival, people were super rowdy and having a great time.

The crowd was packed in there, it was pretty chilly but as soon as you start playing you don’t notice that.”

The Los Angeles duo have a lot of love for the UK, and in their years since forming in 2011, they’ve done a lot to keep themselves busy over here - from live sets at Maida Vale, to playing Glastonbury. They even bagged a slot at Reading & Leeds just a year after they started the band. “It wasn’t even a conscious thing,” she says. “We just have a really great fanbase over here, and we’re super fortunate to have that, so it’s fun for us to come over.”

It’s apt then that Lindsey and her bandmate, drummer Julie Edwards, have decided to coincide the release of their new record ‘Femejism’ - the follow up to 2013 debut ‘Sistrionix’ - with a UK tour. “‘Sistrionix’ is blues rock throughout, but with ‘Femejism’, we still have guitar, drums and vocals, so it’s true to what we are but I think we’re a bit more experimental now,” she says of the record. “We didn’t feel like we had to adhere as much to one genre, I guess because with ‘Sistrionix’, it was our first record and we really wanted to define our sound as band. But with ‘Femejism’, we really wanted to play around with different sounds and experiment and have fun.

“There’s a lot of different flavours on there, some of it’s a little bit surfy,

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WORDS: JASLEEN DHINDSA.

psych, blues rock, and with some of it there’s a world vibe too. There was some influence from Kurt Vile, Father John Misty, Beach House, Tinariwen, Savages, a lot of LA bands. There’s maybe a bit more of an LA aesthetic to it in a sense that we were surrounded by a lot of friends doing psych rock or surf rock, so I think that they had a little bit of influence on the record: local bands and LA bands that we toured with like The Mystic Braves.”

“It was amazing,” Lindsey’s voice brightens as she recalls the recording process. “We actually recorded at loads of places. We started at Sonic Ranch, and that place is so magical. It’s on the largest pecan orchard in North America, and it’s a mile from Juarez in Mexico which is one of the most dangerous cities in the world. It’s just super, super vibey and secluded, and you sleep there and work there, and you just get totally emerged in the process, without any distractions.

“The first few songs that we did on the record, and that we did with Nick [Zinner, of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and their producer], were a really intense and magical experience, it was very emotionally charged. It was really inspiring working with Nick. I’ve been a Yeah Yeah Yeahs fan for years, and they’re one of my favourite bands. It was really cool for me to get to work with him, it was a dream come true. He also just gets us, ‘cause he’s in a band that’s along the same lines as what we do; they were a three-piece when they started, a guitar, drums and vocals band.”

“The record was a long process,” she continues, “because it was made over the course of two years, and we [went back and forth between] going on tour and then being back at the studio. We were also between labels which was really cool, because we didn’t have anyone giving us opinions on anything or anyone breathing down our necks, we had all this amazing freedom to

explore and do whatever we wanted and just there was no pressure.

“We don’t need to be on a label to write singles, ‘cause I feel like we have a tendency to write catchy stuff anyways, so I don’t feel like we need that at all. It was a really good process.

We did a handful of the songs on our own, cause Nick was away - he was back and forth bicoastal - so there were times were we got to produce tracks by ourselves, and that was really cool and empowering.”

In contrast to how optimistic the recording process felt, the basis of the lyrical matter of some of ‘Femejism’’s tracks differ. Lindsey sings about some of life’s negatives on ‘Critic’: “It was my frustration with the music business, and just being in the public eye, and all the politics within that. I was just having a moment of bitterness that I really had to get out of myself.

“I feel like sometimes critics can just bring out the worst in people, and that’s not just music critics, it’s everyone in the age of the internet.

The record is a rainbow and the songs are each a colour within it. But ‘Critic’ is a really special song to me, it’s a departure. It’s very stripped back, very raw and that makes us vulnerable or something. That song’s super dear to me.”

The second single released from ‘Femejism’ is the irresistibly bluesy and also lyrically punchy and cathartic ‘Smile More’, that retains a real Courtney Barnett / Sheryl Crow vibe with spoken style vocals. On the track’s influence, Lindsey says: “There was someone at a bar, you know [it was a] classic thing, and also there was someone in my personal life I was frustrated with as well, I was kind of venting about it.

“There’s a handful of songs where I sing more relaxed, and part of that is because when we were touring so

much. I was at times struggling with losing my voice, so I wanted to have some songs on the new record where I could chill out and rest my voice a little, and it was fun to explore that.”

Garbage frontwoman Shirley Manson is one of many to have praised ‘Smile More’, saying that she wished she had written it herself. It’s clear to see why, as self-aware and blithe lyrics are second nature to the 90s gods. “I was definitely inspired by loads of rad ladies,” Lindsey states. “The majority of stuff I was inspired by were badass chicks like Hole, I love Hole, and when I was a youngster, when ‘Jagged Little Pill’ came out, I was super stoked on that. I thought it was so cool. Also Karen O, Garbage… I was super into No Doubt during the ’Tragic Kingdom’ era, it’s a great record. So loads of stuff like that, those role models mean everything to me - it’s very important.”

“I come from a pretty musical family who really value it.” she continues.

“My dad was at Woodstock, and he wrote some books about The Grateful Dead. My siblings write music, my brother and sister are both in bands.

My brother’s in a band called Safety Orange in San Diego, and my sister’s a solo artist called Anna Troy. We all grew up playing the same piano, which was this really beautiful upright piano from the 1880s or 1890s, and then we picked up random instruments later.

“I was basically, simply put, in a family band growing up, so that was something that there was a lot of pressure on us to do as adolescents.

I’ve been doing [music] from a young age; I had a lot of awkward moments of playing to many empty rooms as a young person, so it’s really empowering to be in Deap Vally. I finally feel like I’m doing the type of music I always wanted to do; coming into my musical self.” P Deap Vally’s album ‘Femejism’ is out 16th September.

HEADS

!

P U Wa r p a i n t ’s t h i rd a l bu ‘H e a d s m, U p’ f i n d s its ma gic in spon t a n e i ty a nd the b a n d ’s trust in themse l ve s .

hu tl er.

Wor d s: A li S

36

C

“

ool, let’s try it,” says the vocal sample at the very start of ‘The Stall’, capturing a moment in the studio and the spirit of Warpaint’s third album, ‘Heads Up’. After the dark, delicate beauty of 2014’s selftitled album, the band has come back with a rainbow confidence.

“There’s always more to explore,” says vocalist and guitarist Emily Kokal. “We are all learning individually all the time, so that’s exciting when we come to a new album cycle. We’ve grown and we get to feed off of each other. We get to bounce off of each other’s growth.

There’s always more that we can do and everyone’s so incredible to play with. I feel like in so many ways, we’re always just scratching the surface of the potential of the band.”

Sitting on the finished record since May, Emily is getting impatient for people to hear it. “At this point I’m ready to make another album,” she says, and despite the surprising direction the band have taken, there are no worries - only excitement. “I’ve been in this band since 2004 so to be able to still have so much room to try new things, for the band to have new places to go and to not be retreading the same ground, is what makes it exciting.

“There was something to this process that was really unknown, it was more spontaneous and we didn’t really fall into old patterns or old roles. It almost made it feel like a different band. It was a different approach and it ended up being a lot faster for us. It was a lot of fun to make and I know a lot of albums that I love, they weren’t fun to make for the artists necessarily, so I don’t think that’s a pre-requisite. There was this spirit of making the album that really come through in the final product.”

The plan was to hit the studio immediately after the intense touring for ‘Warpaint’ finished but at the last minute the band decided they needed a proper break. Out of that came solo albums, collaborations with the likes

of Kurt Ville, SBTRKT and Jamie xx, as well as a space to let individual ideas grow. “Everyone had gotten a lot of their own music out of their system.

When we came into the studio to start working, we had ‘So Good’ and a couple of demos that we had made together and then this list of songs, ideas and things that people had been doing in the break. That was a really new process for us.”

Taking fully formed ideas and then encouraging the rest of the band to write something over the top immediately after hearing it led to a playfulness that dances across ‘Heads Up’. “You’re not fine-combing the song with four heads, picking it apart for months and months at a time, instead it’s ‘what’s your first instinct?’ That was really liberating for us because we do have a tendency to really work things out. To be able to spontaneously trust whatever comes out of you and for everyone else to trust you and not overthink it, it’s just so healthy and it ended up having a really good spirit.

No one was getting on their own or anyone else’s case. Do it and let it be what it is.”

The only thing Warpaint wanted from this record was to get out of 98bpm, which was their sonic comfort zone.

There were no rules about being able to recreate songs onstage or how the songs should be sped up, they just wanted to be faster. “Instead of trying to recreate how we sound live, we were just able to bring the energy and feeling of what its like to see us live.”

Pushing everything forward means ‘Heads Up’ “is like a different room to where you’re used to experiencing Warpaint.”

“At first it was like, ‘what are these?’ Are all these songs going to go together and it is all over the place? You have ‘New Song’ then you have ‘Today Dear’ and they couldn’t be further from each other but it started to feel really well-rounded and that’s when we started to feel like we had an album.”

The confidence and desire for new discoveries is reflected in the lyrics.

For the first time the vocals weren’t competing with a big band sound

during the recording so they’re more rhythmic, more hypnotic and more direct.

“It’s capturing what you’re feeling in that moment which is a really pure experience, especially if you don’t know what you’re going to say and you just riff it out. It’s a really personal moment writing lyrics, especially alone in your room. Even around the band, you’re not always letting it rip. You can get self-conscious. You can not try certain things because you might fail, especially freestyling vocals.”

Away from everything else though, “You just let it come out and I like to try and capture those moments because they’re not processed, they’re not filtered. To take a pure moment and keep it there for eternity, that’s my favourite way to do it.

“I always just want to say things that feel good to sing and feel like, if anyone can get anything out of it or it helps them through anything, than that’s a really great by product even if it’s just a good feeling. More and more, I just focus on just being a more conscious, aware, open individual and to share that journey with others. The songs ‘The Stall’ and ‘Don’t Wanna’ are personal ass-kickings. For me to say things like ‘Letting go isn’t giving in’, and knowing I’m going to tour and keep saying it like a mantra, I feel like it’ll click. It’ll click for me, and if it clicks for other people than that’s just the best possible thing I’d like to share.

It’s inspiration to really move through your self with grace and try to find your strength.”

Knowing people are listening isn’t something Warpaint had much time to think about with ‘Heads Up’. They were too lost in the moments but, “The one thing I do keep in mind is that I feel like I hold myself accountable to bring something positive to the experience.

To bring something real so it feels like I’m really sharing something, otherwise it’s hard to feel like you have anything worth saying that anyone needs to listen to in the first place. The more true, honest and real experience I can

“Just keep your head up, stay positive and keep it light.” have when I’m writing alone in my room, that’s the best I can do. The best I can do for other people is to have a real honest experience with myself.”

Normally Warpaint have an easy time naming things. ‘Elephants’ sounded like elephants marching, ‘Bees’ sounds like bees but with ‘Heads Up’, there was a struggle. They thought about calling it ‘By Your Side’, but there’s a The Black Crows album of the same name - and they already have an album called ‘Warpaint’, so the band let them have that. Both ‘Heads Up’ and ‘By Your Side’ capture the feeling and sentiment that Warpaint cherished with this record though.

“We’ve been a band for a long time and the last tour was so intense, there was so much traveling and you go through so much with each other and this album was a lot about support, supporting and have a light tough.

‘Heads Up’ is the spirit of where we’re coming from and where we’re looking.

Even the album artwork cover, we’re looking out the window into the light.

We were all feeling really renewed and just keep your head up, stay positive and keep it light. That doesn’t mean an absence of depth though We’ve let ourselves swim in the mire and get really into the melancholy, dark stuff.

But this was just a good feeling. It’s just a good idea to keep your head up.”

Warpaint’s album ‘Heads Up’ is out 23rd September.

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S AY H O W I T I S . YEAH, L I F E I S S H I T S O M E T I M E S .”

“ Y O U H AV E T O

AS EV E R , M E RC H A N D I S E ’S CA RSO N C OX I S N ’ T O N E TO M I N C E H I S WO RDS : T H E BA N D’S N E W A L B U M S E E S H I M H O N I N G H I S CY N I C I S M .

I

“

’ve come to understand that I’ve got a big mouth,” laughs Merchandise’s Carson Cox. In the tradition of all great indie rock bands, the singer has a lot to say and a lot to get of his chest as his band Merchandise prepare to work their dark-hearted evocative charms on fifth album ‘A Corpse Wired For Sound’.

It’s an album that arrives after a period of dislocation for the trio who have seen a fair bit of change ever since they emerged from the Tampa, Florida hardcore scene in 2008. The desire to constantly grow and evolve is one that comes naturally to Carson. “Making records for me, it’s not that it’s easy, it’s just that I always feel like I want to say something,” he begins. “I’ve always been like that since I was young.”

‘A Corpse Wired For Sound’ is the sound of a band dismantling their previous incarnations and reassembling as something even more striking, powerful and unique. “This record is post-closure,” says Carson. “I think we had a lot of closure on a lot of what was going on in our lives on [2014 album] ‘After The End’. That record was about looking back, and this one is looking at after all the pre-conceived notions of what we could be, or what we are sonically or musically.”

As Merchandise were faced with an endless vista of possibilities, in which they could explore sonically, Carson Cox turned himself inwards with the lyrics to look at his innermost feelings on the cusp of turning 30.

The lyrics throughout are a source of pride for the singer. “I think the lyrics are the best,” he confidently states.

“It’s interesting to be an adult and still feel like a child. I felt that the world was greatly wrong about so many things and I was told that you’re young and naïve and you’ll understand when you’re older that there’s a responsibility and a reality.

“Now I’m an adult I still feel the same way. Other people like my mother try to tell me that it’s okay, and I’m like, no it’s really not okay. Everything

WO R D S : M A RT Y N YO U N G . that I felt as a child that I was told to suppress is only worse now. In this country, you’re taught to think that everything is good and you should only talk about positive things. If you address reality and the negative shit that’s there then you’re going to be depressed,” he says, gently mocking the super positive adult figures in his life.

“I’ve always been a cynic and a realist but I feel like it’s really come out now.”

It’s not that Merchandise are happy to revel in misery though, more that they have become more skilled at merging reality and fantasy. “Merchandise is a band that embraced this personal romantic or emotional thing and now it’s come full circle,” says Carson. “It’s still there and part of the music but it’s become surreal and real at the same time. When we were young, we had no idea what we were doing. We had no expectation. It was just passion.”

Blind optimism and upbeat empowerment anthems are a pop music bugbear for the Merchandise singer: “I’m not here to judge what’s good or bad. I’d say though that most pop or independent music I hear is really disappointing because it embraces that mentality that’s destroying people. It’s just to create an illusion that everything is fine.

It’s a psychological counterpoint.

It’s making people dumber. Being blatantly positive for no reason is not healthy for you.” There’s a refreshing quality to his straightforward attitude.

“Building a wall around yourself with disingenuous positivity doesn’t work,” he carries on. “You have to face facts in art, music and your personal life. You have to say how it is. Yeah, life is shit sometimes.”

While the songs on Merchandise’s new album comes from a stranger, darker place, the music itself is the most vivid and stylish of the band’s career.

It comes from a desire to do things differently and rewrite Merchandise’s rulebook of writing and recording. “We kind of run out of steam,” says Carson of the band’s long-established home recording anti-studio process. “We’re always going to be self-produced but we wanted to find a new dynamic in the sound of what we were doing.”

The change in process was not without its difficulties though. “There was a learning curve with recording in a studio,” he says. “Especially if you’re used to being by yourself and used to things sounding really muddy and weird. Singing is really difficult when you have a clean and sterile environment. When you have a wellrecorded record, there’s nothing to hide behind. When you’re playing pop music there’s even less to hide behind.

I wanted to do something new.”

There was a newfound creative simplicity to Merchandise’s work, as opposed to the ragged punk ferocity of the early days. “Some of the new songs do new things in subtle ways.

Everything we do, even if it’s overt noise, has a subtle element to it. I feel like this record has more of that than ever. Even though it’s really well recorded there’s subtle things happening that maybe people won’t see until ten years from now.”

The key moment in the album’s genesis came with the introduction of synthesisers and electronics, something that Carson was eager to make more prominent within the band’s sound. “We did a lot with electronics. We didn’t do any on the last record. I missed all the electronic stuff,” he explains. I’ve always been into industrial music. I think the electronic stuff makes it more vivid.

You have an infinite dynamic if you want it. You can put infinite colour into a sound. That’s the aspect of the band that I always pushed. The colour of the sound and trying to make something different.”

The new album is probably the band’s most ambitious record. “I’m always trying to build Noah’s Ark and I always fall short,” laughs Carson. “It’s okay to aim high and miss.” There’s an acceptance though that this is perhaps an album that might either bring Merchandise an entire new audience or alienate their long-time following. The band are at peace with that danger though. “We’ve played a lot of games on the audience over the past few years. It’s fun, and ultimately I think there’s an audience that wants that,” he continues. “An audience that wants to be completely challenged by

a band and have all their expectations and things they like about the band destroyed.”

Merchandise’s scorched earth attitude to their music is both dangerous and thrilling. The album flits between moments of dark 80s pop splendour to wonderfully weirded out electronic experimentation. It’s vivid, glamorous and mysterious. Hidden away at the end though is a song that means more to the band than perhaps any other and encapsulates their feelings as they hurtle towards deconstructing their entire process. “‘I Will Not Sleep Here’ is a song that’s been with us forever,” says Carson of the epic penultimate track written by guitarist Dave Vassalotti. “I think the song is like nothing that we’ve ever really attempted. It has a symphonic element to it. It has a weight with the lyrics that are really difficult to understand. The abstract sense is what is inspiring to me now at 30. The idea that in the abstract you can come to new conclusions about art, music and personal philosophy.”

We’ve always embraced the abstract but that song is powerful in a way that you can’t condense into a pop single,” explains Carson passionately. “It is an artistic achievement that none of us expected to get. It was pulled out of the abstract”. “It’s an anti concept record,” he continues summing up the album. “It’s really just about colours and materials. It’s a big wash just like reality. There’s still people falling in love in the vortex. There’s still love, loneliness, depression, politics and genocide. All those things exist in that realm. It’s a cold look at it.”

Despite Merchandise evolving into something quite different, at heart the band’s ethos remain the same and they have faith in the fans to join them in a thrilling future. “The whole point is just to share an idea that we have and communicate with other people in a really weird way,” says Carson. “I hope there is a bridge between the old and the new fans. They’re all a part of our story.” P Merchandise’s album ‘A Corpse Wired For Sound’ is out 23rd September.

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“

I

t’s interesting,” ponders Aluna Francis. “You come to the music industry and think of it as an entity in itself and that it has a very fixed end point. The story goes that you go in it and this is going to happen and success means X, Y and Z. But you start to realise that any point where you can exercise influence - this music industry will respond.”

a friend doesn’t eventually come to me with a very personal or very complicated issue that they think that I would understand, and I thought, ‘Well, I can get perspective on stories that may not even necessarily be my own’.

Influence and control are certainly the main ingredients for chapter two of the AlunaGeorge story, one that sees their nuanced electro-beats and potent pop harmonies morph into a denser and more immediate record, drawing in the underground vibes of late-night city life. It’s a record that’s true origins can be traced back to 2013, and the hypnotic opening foray of their debut ‘Body Music’.

That time since ‘Body Music’ has clearly been momentous, not only allowing Aluna to delve deeper within herself but also to expand the duo’s horizons when it comes to collaborations - a move that can be traced again right back to that era, and the chartsmashing partnership involved in Disclosure’s ‘White Noise’. Since then, there’s been hit after hit with the likes of Kaytranada, Baauer and Jack U, as dance music royalty have tipped their hats to the soothing vocals and dark beats that the duo have called their own. Everything that these entailed helped to feed into that ‘I Remember’ process, showing Aluna a different approach to sounds and songwriting that previously she thought twice about.

“I think I look back in a way that anyone does who has a fabric of their history and their journey. You can see where you’ve retained something that is true to what you want to do, and other areas that have developed,” explains Aluna. Sitting in a top floor apartment in Shoreditch after a globetrotting run around the US and Europe, there’s a palpable sense of excitement that the duo - Aluna alongside producer George Reid - are on the brink of global recognition.

‘I Remember’ is a full-throttle collection of undeniable dance floor bangers, charting the darkest recesses of 2am memories and late night wanders through smudged neon streets. Unlike ‘Body Music’, it’s a daring glimpse into the personal world of Aluna Francis, made up of intimate experiences and turning points that make this record a much beefier and bolder animal.

Learning how to write and turn those tales into invigorating sounds in her music was at the forefront of Aluna’s mind, and one that pressed heavy. “If I didn’t know how to do it, I didn’t really attempt it so there aren’t a scattering of failed attempts at being personal on that first record. There was really only one track on ‘Body Music’ that was from my perspective,” she explains.

That struggle and expansion in songwriting ability found Aluna exploring her own role within society, within the lives of those around her and what sort of responsibilities those friends and family place within her.

Often seen as a welcoming ear, it’s those tales which helped to open up and dismiss the nerves and feelings of self-doubt that previously held her back from writing - resulting in a record that lives and breathes in the intimate moments of the human world.

“I thought about what I’m good at, and that’s definitely listening,” Aluna expands. “There’s rarely a time when

40

“It’s been nice to see or take the opportunity to use the studio as a real cathartic space for myself. There are songs on the record that if I hadn’t of written them, I would never have dealt with the issues that they talk about.

They would of been situations and emotions that I would never of got over and would of just swept under the carpet.”

“Ahead of working with [Disclosure], I was moaning to George about doing it - I didn’t know the guys and was worried about not producing or delivering anything good, and it was George who really encouraged me to go for it,” remembers Aluna. “It’s a very different attitude you have between a collaboration when working on someone else’s track and your own - it’s completely different, even with ‘White Noise’. As it wasn’t on the record it doesn’t feel like our song - but it was from my own experiences.

“If I’m going to do a feature for somebody, I see myself as an instrument in some sense, but if it’s for my own songs then you have the final say on everything. Most of the time people try not to get involved so much when we’re working, as they see that me and George bring so much to the table already. We didn’t realise that we had got to that level, which was really great fun because we didn’t need to worry about other people’s input affecting how we sounded.”

With the likes of Flume and ZHU contributing on production, and a range of guest appearances from US underground MCs such as Pell, Dreezy and Leikeli47 alongside the iconic Jamaican superstar Popcaan, ‘I Remember’ may find AlunaGeorge collaborating more than ever, but ultimately it all comes back to Aluna and George, bouncing ideas off of each other. And despite George’s decision to move slowly into the background when it comes to the live shows, it’s a bond that means no matter who gets involved on a track, the signature AlunaGeorge sound remains.

“I thought I’d wake up one day

addicted

to prescription pills and not knowing who I was.”

“We have such a working relationship and as a singer that’s very comforting, because solo artists can definitely be affected by the whims of every producer they work with and you end up with all this completely different music which is really hard to follow. I don’t think we suffer from that, or fall into that category - everything we do has our stamp on it.”

That spirit of individuality is an underrated characteristic of AlunaGeorge, truly stepping out into a realm of their own, and with that comes an added sense of confidence.

Throughout ‘I Remember’, this new found level of songwriting, while highlighting the deeply felt personal situations that run through all of us, continues to touch on the idea of empowerment, urging listeners to take control, stand apart from the crowd and take a sense of power onto yourself. For Aluna, this again was a simple mirror of the sort of emotions and discussions she’s been having for a while now.

“I think as a musician, I found it difficult to reconcile the idea of having something very strongly to say that can get involved in political debate with the role of the entertainer, so in the end it just has to come from a genuine place. It just so happens that, in my own time, I talk about social issues and have opinions and amongst my nearest and dearest I’m very strongly opinionated and discuss and think about things very deeply. Once I’d created that space within the writing process to get nearer to myself, then those things automatically came out.”

Giving some form of resolution is vital for Aluna, the idea of putting out a track that seems ambiguous or empty would be a waste of time in her eyes, and the desire to see a journey right through to the end is a key reason why ‘I Remember’ is such a vital release. “I talk about problems that I have, but I know that other people have the same problems,” notes Aluna. “There ’s a motivation there that if I do share my honest experiences with a certain situation and how I feel after getting through it, that it could really do some good!

“If someone comes to me with a problem, I’m never going to leave that

person with no solution - it’s just an instinctive need to help somebody and so the same thing comes out in my lyrics.”

For Aluna Francis, ‘I Remember’ is much more than a second album. It’s the moment where she takes a step onto the global stage, the moment where AlunaGeorge becomes a player at the top end of festival bills and in the beating hearts of thousands.

Above it all, it’s come from discovering and talking about the concerns, fears and beliefs that live within her - and forming it around a delectable cocktail of some of the most infectious and throbbing dance sounds of the year. It’s a defiant two fingers to a commercialised pop world longing for beige personalities and easy fix choruses, where “pop stars” feel that they need to erase parts of their history and culture. For Aluna, she’s aimed squarely at doing the opposite.

“I wanted to embrace my culture more as a black female in the music industry just at the point where normally you’d find that people go the other way,” explains Aluna. “The more pop and the more commercial and successful people get, I’ve seen that if they’re from an ethnic background, they start to erase the visual elements of that and I thought, ‘Well, I’m already appropriated from my teenage years - so I’ll do the complete opposite and see what happens’.

“I’m not trying to be better than anyone else don’t get me wrong, but I’ve seen that it’s not completely benefited me. Yes I’ve slipped through the gaps and boundaries that may have held me back but I still need to be myself. So I’m doing it in the reverse way if you will, becoming more me and people aren’t kicking me out of the industry, and people are interested in it and they like it so I think that’s surprising for me.

“I thought I’d wake up one day, addicted to prescription pills and not knowing who I was - but I’m becoming more myself as I go forward, which I didn’t expect to happen.”

Aluna Francis is well and truly in control, and it’s all on her terms. P AlunaGeorge’s album ‘I Remember’ is out 16th September.

l o r t n o C In

ALUN

A FR ANC N OT IS IS TO G DETE ET E POP RMI AT E N M AC ALUN HINE

BY T N E D : ON AG EO HE TH RGE MOR ALBU E NEW E HE RSEL M, SH F BEFO THAN EV E’S ER R E .

WOR DS: J AMIE MUIR .

REVIEWS

Frank Ocean Blonde eeeee

londe’ is the centrepiece of Frank Ocean’s multi-media high concept album release spanning 3 years of speculation and anticipation. As a main event though it’s understated and intimate.

Less of a triumphant grand statement it’s more of an intimate portrait of Frank Ocean the artist and Frank Ocean the man himself.

been carefully chosen and beautifully worded. The confessional nature of the words and the melodies suits the sparseness and dreaminess of the music. Many of the songs here are draped in a hazy, gauzy splendour. There are no beats, little rhythms and a complete absence of posturing or aggression. It’s a soft and tender whisper rather than a celebratory roar. The tone is set on ‘Ivy’. Here, Frank’s voice is pure and unadorned set against a lone phased electric guitar. It’s hugely simple and wonderfully effective. “I thought that I was dreaming when you said you loved me,” sings Frank and that sort of heartfelt exploration of relationships and desires is key to ‘Blonde’s themes.

It’s clear that Frank has poured his heart and his soul into the album.

Every lyric, sample and sound bite has

While the words are important there’s much to savour in the low-key yet bewitching music. A song like ‘Pink

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White’s’ jazzy, summer breeze lilt gains something with each listen. It takes a supreme talent to make a little go a long way.

There’s nothing overtly hit focused or radio friendly here. What you have instead is immaculate song writing and some deeply exquisite slow jams that are hugely affecting. It’s an album that invites you to immerse yourself in it. Highlights like the organ backed, gospel tinged lament ‘Solo’ or the guitar led ‘Self Control’ are quietly stunning pieces of music.

Much is made of the collaborators who feature on the album but in truth, they are merely there as subtle adornments to Frank’s creative vision.

Perhaps it’s more of the spirit of Beyonce and Kendrick and Bowie and Kanye and the artistry that they

possess which Frank is taking to another level with his own classily simple yet unique approach. Yes, the album is self-indulgent but it has to be that way. Artists like Frank Ocean only succeed when they are allowed to indulge all their passions and impulses. On ’Blonde’ Frank is taking those passions to a darker, more personal place. In turn, it reveals more about the man than we have ever known.

‘Blonde’ is a brave record. Not in the sense that it’s drastically inventive or dazzlingly revelatory. More in the sense that it’s one of the most acclaimed musicians on the planet laying himself and his artistic process bare. No gimmicks, no massive production. Just beautiful songs with depth, feeling and passion. Martyn Young

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t wouldn’t be fair to call Bastille’s debut album rise completely unexpected anyone who had seen the increasingly rabid reactions to their live shows in the run up saw something was afoot - but the scale was something else. Now genuine worldwide names, they’ve got previously absent expectation to deal with. ‘Wild World’ has something riding on it.

“I’ve heard lots of bands talking about making their ‘difficult’ second album,” Dan Smith explained in a pre-album video voiceover. “This new album has been written and recorded on tour buses, in backstage rooms and hotels all over the place. The process of writing and making the songs hasn’t changed much, it’s just that this time around, we’re doing way less of it in my bedroom.”

If the gestation period was different, much of the end product has remained the same. Much was made of the lack of guitars on ‘Bad Blood’, and more has been said about their introduction here, but in truth the change isn’t radical. The occasional film dialogue still litter the record, nicely epic remains the order of the day.

There’s no denying Smith’s talent -

Bastille Wild World eeeee

both as a songwriter and pop magpie.

His note perfect vocal still adds a respectable sheen to songs that perhaps prevents some from sounding as inventive as they otherwise would - the bassy drops and stabs of ‘The Currents’ clashing with its own rising,

Against Me!

not to say it’s a difficult album - far from it - it’s simply drawing from a deeper well of influences with greater maturity. As stand-out ‘Fake It’ proves, Bastille are a band who can deliver any line in their own unique voice.

Stephen Ackroyd

Public Access TV Phantogram Never Enough

Three

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“They say the kids don’t like rock’n’roll anymore,” soothes Public Access TV frontman John Eatherly, but that’s certainly not holding these New Yorkers back.

Surrounded by legends such as The Strokes, Interpol and Yeah Yeah Yeahs - there’s a lot for them to live up to.

Across ‘Never Enough’, they more than deliver - capturing the essence of youthful abandon, taking the best parts of the great rock’n’roll songbook and adapting it into an urgent record for 2016. Jamie Muir

Phantogram appear to be on the up and up with their third album… well, ‘Three’.

Except they’re not.

Opening track ‘Funeral Pyre’ takes itself a bit too seriously with Sarah Barthel’s vocals drifting across a mismatch of sounds that don’t gel well together.

Indeed, this continues throughout with ‘Same Old Blues’ and ‘You Don’t Get Me High Anymore’ leaving a distinct taste of too many cooks. Perhaps stripping back the influences and coming up with a coherent sound might have helped.

Josh Williams

Every Time I Die

LVL UP

Grouplove

Epitaph

Sub Pop

Shape Shift With Me eeee

A

gainst Me! are a very important band. It’s not simply Laura Jane Grace’s status as a legitimate icon, but what they have to say. With ‘Shape Shift With Me’, they’ve delivered an album that is every inch as vital as it is great.

Opening with a blast at invasive airport security scanners, ‘Provision L-3’, it’s an album that sounds both vine fresh and timeless. Even when hints of other peers appear, they become part of Against Me!’s identity, as stand out ‘Boyfriends’’ assimilation of Weezer’s perfect guitar pop proves.

For all the attention Grace rightfully receives, Against Me! are far from a one woman band. Guitarist James Bowman shows his chops brilliantly on ‘12:03’ while bassist Inge Johannson and drummer Atom Willard take it to the disco on the brilliant ‘Delicate, Petite & Other Things I’ll Never Be’.

Still, it would be folly to suggest that LJG’s lyrical barbs aren’t the steel holding ‘Shape Shift With Me’ tall. In a world of all you can eat, track by track, easily disposable sound-bites, Against Me! aren’t simply another good band with another good album, they’re the voice we need. Stephen Ackroyd

more standard, slightly ill fitting chorus. Opener and lead single ‘Good Grief’ is a mightily effective first play, but nothing on ‘Wild World’ has the near football-chant effectiveness of breakout hit ‘Pompeii’. Instead, there’s a greater variation of texture. That’s

Low Teens

Cinematic

Return To Love

Fiction

Big Mess

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Canvasback Music / Atlantic Records

Albums can often be launched into the world with hyperbole.

But in the case of Every Time I Die, there doesn’t seem to be such a thing any more. So few bands reach eight albums, and even fewer reach the landmark with such a choke-hold on quality. Charged by some truly personal matters after Keith Buckley’s wife was taken to hospital with life threatening pregnancy complications, ‘Low Teens’ is impassioned, aggressive, and what you’d hope for from an ETID album down to the last drop. Heather McDaid

New Yorkers LVL UP live up to their name on third album ‘Return To Love’. Their boldest and most definitive statement yet, the band’s traditional indie rock is rooted in jagged melodies and ragged, crunching guitars. Opener ‘Hidden Driver’ is yearning and fevered, while ‘Blur’s’ heady rush is aptly titled as it sounds like it could come from the Britpop icons’ debut album ‘Leisure’.

Melodies slowly reveal themselves and the album offers up something different with each listen; it’s a step up managed with ease. Martyn Young

Grouplove’s anthemready Californian sound catapulted them onto soundtracks, adverts and everything in-between, with debut ‘Never Trust A Happy Song’ and follow-up ‘Spreading Rumours’ offering up daring excursions into hip-hop, grunge and electronic pop with mixed success. For their third album, they opt for a more straight-forward approach, going after universal anthems with a rough and ready edge that makes ‘Big Mess’ another enjoyable detour in alternative pop glory. Jamie Muir

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I

t’s questionable that any band can provoke opinion quite as effectively as Slaves. There are no niceties to ‘Take Control’, the band’s second-strokethird-stroke-latest full-length.

If anything, over its opening salvo they’ve dialled up the noise since 2015’s ‘Are You Satisfied’.

That’s no bad thing, either. If their plan is to blast straight through the massed lines, then doing so at full-pelt seems a solid strategy. As does enlisting legendary Beastie Boy Mike D - who both produces and appears on the snotty ‘Consume or Be Consumed’. That Isaac even dares to sort-of-rap in his presence proves further that Slaves have no time for self doubt. There’s still variation to the volume, though.

‘Play Dead’ is a battering ram, swinging between raucous groove and blasting assault, but its companion ‘Lies’ is possibly as close to restrained as Slaves have come, straying perilously near words like ‘angular’ and ‘cool’.

‘Steer Clear’ - featuring Baxter Dury no less - takes that line even further, polishing a quirky, indie rock gem that seems the exact opposite of what the world expects from the Tunbridge Wells duo. Brash on the outside, there’s more going on with Slaves than meets the eye. Stephen Ackroyd

Slaves

Take Control eee

centre-stage and dark (“recollections of a nightmare/so cryptic and incomprehensible”), but a high synth refrain scythes through the post-punk smog like a break in the clouds. Time away and renewed focus seem to have suited Preoccupations. Whatever their name, they always were too good to be marred by controversy, and in places this is a stunning return. Get ready to give it your full attention. Rob Mesure

Local Natives

Sunlit Youth

Infectious Music / Loma Vista Recordings

eeee No strangers to composing the kind of songs that are both infectious and relaxing, Los Angeles-based Local Natives have composed a wonderful collection of tracks that can transport you from even the greyest skies to a Californian dreamscape. Starting off subdued, it’s not until the fourth track, and lead single, ‘Fountain of Youth’ kicks in that you’re truly grabbed by this record. Throughout it wanes and gains but overall it’s a solid creation that proves Local Natives are really very good at what they do. Steven Loftin

Keaton Henson Kindly Now

Touche Amore

Anteros

Epitaph

Kissability

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Music is an escape, a friend in dark times who just gets you - it’s there when no one else is.

Touché Amoré have been there for years, that friend on hand to let you tear your throat in loud, visceral relief. They’ve never shied away from putting themselves in the music for others to find it, and when the worst realities of life hit the family of singer Jeremy Bohm, he laid it bare. ‘Stage Four’ is family, love, loss, cancer and personal hell. It’s emotive, powerful, and Touché at their charged finest.

Heather McDaid

The band might be named after the Greek God of requited love, but Anteros wear their independence with pride.

Turning a streetwise attitude into the dance along of dreams, the outfit make no compromise on their perspectives, and the result is as contagious as it is captivating. With each of the EP’s five tracks clocking in at a little over three minutes, Anteros have already perfected their polished pop formula.

Jess Goodman

EZTV

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Stage Four

High In Place Captured Tracks

eee EZTV’s second album ‘High In Place’ arrives with no uncertain amount of glitz. From Jenny Lewis’ cameo on ‘High Flying Faith’, through appearances by Real Estate’s Martin Courtney and Matt Kallman, Quilt’s John Andrews, label mates Nic Hessler and Chris Cohen, and Mega Bog, the glamour just keeps on coming. But far from the brash affair the company could suggest, ‘High In Place’ is a meandering venture through a dusklit dreamland. Smash hit success may be out of sight, but for a charming and weightless taste of nostalgia, EZTV are certainly scoring high. Jessica Goodman

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Breakfast EP

Norma Jean Polar Similar Solid State Records

Metalcore’s finest, Norma Jean return with a sound as savage as ever. With more melodic undertones than before, as well as stylings from other genres, ‘Polar Similar’ is complex in design, delivery and subject matter, themed heavily on abuse. This band have the ability to be around for a very long time. Steven Loftin

Ultimate Painting

(Veronica Falls) and Jack Cooper (Mazes) return with ‘Dusk’. Appropriately, it’s a darker, grander record: rich, heady but melodic; as ‘Portrait of Jason’ says, there’s always “a light on, filament buzzing in the glass.” Looking back, those first two albums could be sketches; ‘Dusk’ suggests James and Jack may yet paint their masterpiece. Rob Mesure

Cymbals Eat Guitars Pretty Years Sinderlyn

eeee Ripe with melodies and a hard-to-beat rawness, ‘Pretty Years’ is exactly what Cymbals Eat Guitars need to continue their ascension. Both euphoric and enticing, opener ‘Finally’ paves the way for ten tracks of personal discovery.

The chorus of following track ‘Have A Heart’ roots itself in your head, which ‘Wish’ brings a dose of saxophone that borders offensive. There are periods of explosive grandeur reminiscent of both Springsteen (‘Shrine’) and punk’s fastpaced style (‘Beam’). It’s savage, emotive but most of all it’s weirdly brilliant.

Steven Loftin

Preoccupations Preoccupations

Dusk

Jagjaguwar

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Preoccupations - FKA Viet Cong - want to wipe the slate clean. ‘Anxiety’ heralds their rebirth, a clarifying wash of sound followed by thunderous grind of fuzzy bass and drums. Previously buried in the mix, Matt Flegel’s gruff vocals are

Trouble In Mind Records If their debut was a defiantly analogue set, 2015’s ‘Green Lanes’ expanded Ultimate Painting’s horizons a little.

One year on, the duo of James Hoare

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PIAS

eeee Keaton Henson has a way to make pain seem beautiful. He’s a man that can go inside your head and make poetry out of your innermost thoughts, creating a haunting soundscape to the kind of anxieties and heartbreak we all experience at one point or another.

‘Kindly Now’ is his third full-length and although he has discussed his dislike for the limelight, there’s an undeniable new confidence at play here. He’s still very much the king of heartbreak, but by producing something this beautiful, he makes it seem like everything is going to be okay, somehow. Sammy Maine

James Vincent McMorrow We Move

Believe Recordings / Caroline

eeee James Vincent McMorrow’s transformation from folk troubadour into a neo-soul suave groover has been a stunning one, with previous record ‘Post Tropical’ introducing a kaleidoscopic level of colour to a painting that previously stood as another cut from a TV ad.

It’s that path that he continues down on ‘We Move’, a more daring and R&B infused record that finds him collaborating with those with a finger on the pulse of smooth soul (lead by Drake collaborators Nineteen85 and Frank Dukes) and finally finds the Irishman truly hitting his stride. Jamie Muir

Something To Tell You

“We want th is record to ge t some kid, somewhere, excited.”

-g rr rl ” ed w it h ri ot “Wee ze r m ix a m s. st u ff of d re D oe a re th e Wor d s: S a m my M a in

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here was a point when Doe didn’t think they could be a band anymore. Meeting through an ad back in 2013, founding members Nicola Leel and Jake Popyura have been through some tough times – and a few guitarists – but thanks to latest addition Dean Smithers, Doe’s future has never looked so bright. Proof is in their debut album ‘Some Things Last Longer Than You’; a punch-in-the-gut record packed full of raw energy and indie-pop-punk bangers, poking holes in the kind of people we all love to hate.

Warpaint Heads Up Rough Trade

eeee Warpaint have made their trade in increasingly dark and enchanting records. Well, they did until ‘Heads Up’. Energetic, intense and ohso-colourful, the band’s third record is a burst of rainbow-soaked exploration.

The opening heartbeat of ‘Whiteout’ quickly blossoms into a full-bodied physicality, all fast steps and faster changes, and that movement dances throughout ‘Heads Up’. The band sing of new discoveries and that wide-eyed excitement can be felt behind every breath, every look and every wonderful collision. From the honeymoon electricity of ‘New Song’ through the pendulum swing of ‘So Good’ and out the other side via a joyous wig out towards the swaying threat of ‘Don’t Wanna’, Warpaint are in love with new.

Every touch feels special and every turn, daring. There’s an eternal beauty to that horizon and Warpaint have their sights set firmly upon it. Ali Shutler

Doe

Some Things Last Longer Than You Specialist Subject

eeeee Turning the scathing into something sensational, Doe are making an art form out of pent up anger.

Rooted firmly in their convictions of the way they see the world, the trio’s debut album is an outwards demonstration of their very essence. Burning through the thoughts that weigh on their minds with a fiery magnetism, be it angry, confused, audacious, or assured, ‘Some Things Last Longer Than You’ is thirty-six minutes of bona fide liberation. Jess Goodman

“I think we came to a realisation of just how much work we’d put in,” says Jake, speaking of the decision to keep Doe going. “When everything was up in the air, we decided to carry on writing and we got really excited about what we were coming up with. Then when Dean joined, it was clear that an album was the next step.” Recording the whole thing in five days with Hookworms’ MJ, they describe how they had to work together, not only as a band but also as friends. “All three of us are really intense people and are quite similar in certain ways. If we didn’t have someone like Dean who’s also intense and passionate, the way we play together and write together wouldn’t be the same,” says Nicola, with Dean adding: “It can get a bit intense but I think that’s a good thing; it definitely contributes to what we’re doing.”

all,” she laughs. The change of course happened once Nicola had written ‘Let Me In’ – a building, brashy pop punk anthem that is a regular highlight during live shows. “We knew then that was the kind of sound that we really want to do,” Jake remembers. “Since I was about ten, I’ve been wanting to form a band that sounds more like Weezer than punk. Weezer mixed with riot-grrrl bands like Sleater-Kinney.

When Nicola and I met, it just seemed like a very obvious path to go down because we were both really keen on that same stuff.”

Doe weren’t always the shit-kicking trio we’ve come to know and love. As Nicola details, they were almost an “accidental lame rock band”. “We had these three songs and I sang in a really American accent. It was really not very good at

Although their sound has developed throughout the past few years, they agree that it’s only since Dean arrived that the band feel settled, with a chemistry neither of them have felt with previous members or projects.

“There’s still the fundamentals going on but I think our sound has changed since I’ve joined,” Dean explains.

“My parts are very different to other people’s parts. I think this is what it’s meant to be.”

The artwork was something the band pondered over, working through their initial ideas to land on the perfect visual. Created by Jake, Dean explains that he and Nicola came up with an “ambiguous” concept. “I had this whole thing that the house represented the darkness that inhabits the world,” he says, with Nicola adding, “We’re huge horror film fans so we wanted that aspect of it – a kind of horror-esque homage. It started off as someone coming up to a house and the house is this big bad thing that they’ve got to battle through.” Jake is quick to interrupt, “It was just a big rouse for me to get a Sylvanian Families house,” he laughs. “And now I’ve got one and I couldn’t be happier.”

Discussing stand-out moments, Nicola remembers the band’s first weekender tour, playing with Plaids in a basement in Manchester. “We then stayed up all night drinking and listening to shit pop punk videos on YouTube and it was my teenage dream come true,” she says.

“Doe could’ve just stopped there to be honest and I would’ve been fine.”

It seems that teenagehood still plays a prominent part in Doe’s output, as Dean explains the intention behind the upcoming album. “All the stuff that meant anything to me growing up was the records that made me feel like doing something,” he says. “We want this record to get some kid, somewhere, excited… about something.” P

W H I C H H O RRO R F I L M S WO U L D D O E SO U N DT R AC K ? A N D W H O WO U L D D I E F I RST ?

Dean: We’d soundtrack the Shining. Jake is Jack Nicholson, Nicola is Wendy and I’m Danny.

Jake ends up trying to kill us both.

Nicola and I escape and have a chill life afterwards.

Nicola: I think Dean would die first because he has the most ailments in real life.

Dean: Now I have asthma so I’d be running away from the monsters and I would definitely die.

Nicola: We’d soundtrack Nightmare on Elm Street. They’d be having one of their cool pool parties and maybe I could come in as Freddie and Dean is hot Johnny Depp and Jake is Nancy, running around trying to bring order to the world.

Jake: American Werewolf in London, I think we could do justice to that film. Nicola would be the wolf and then me and Dean would be the middle-class yuppy couple that are arriving at a friend’s house for a dinner party that get killed by Nicola, the wolf.

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Photo: Danny Payne

Teenage Fanclub Here PeMa

eee Teenage Fanclub have been around a very long time. 27 years, in fact. It would be very easy for them to stay in their comfort zone of jangly indie pop, but the best moments on ‘Here’ are where they stretch out into slightly more experimental pastures, for example the dreamy lilt of ‘With You’ or the pastoral folk of ‘Connected To Life’. Providing a nice counterpoint to these understated moments is a song like ‘The First Sight’ featuring a guitar crunch that warms your heart in a way that only Teenage Fanclub can. Martyn Young

Yellowcard Yellowcard

The Cribs

Hopeless Records

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Millenium Square, Leeds eeeee

One of the line-ups of the year, nothing is stopping this one going off.

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he word “momentous” is thrown around a lot tonight, but there isn’t a person present who’d dispute its relevance. Headlining a show at Millennium Square in their home city of Leeds, with a lineup completed by close friends and longtime inspirations, The Cribs invite us all to seize and celebrate every moment.

Ending on a new song from their next album (“which you can hear in about two years,” they introduce with a smirk) Menace Beach’s set is as packed with attitude as it is with hits. Pulled Apart

By Horses ignite the punk rock spirit on characteristically free-wheeling top form, Guinness cans and guitars flung high through the air as they play.

Banks

The Altar Virgin EMI

eee The success, or otherwise, of Banks’ first album is hard to judge. For all the blog posts and column inches, she should have been a pop star in waiting. It didn’t turn out that way and, in truth, it’s unlikely ‘The Altar’ will change that any time soon.

Filled with woozy undertones and prime R&B tinged low key pop, it’s about darker, deeper moods than the higher reaches of superstardom care to deal in.

‘Mind Games’, with its refrain of “Do you see me now?” isn’t a cry for attention. It’s an assertion that Banks is becoming an artist on her own terms. It suits her well.

Stephen Ackroyd

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Bringing the night full circle before it even properly begins, Thurston Moore’s iconic sound inspires a reverence of its own kind. Airing cuts from his solo work alongside Sonic Youth numbers, there’s no shortage of awe to be found - though considering the excitement for what follows, it can be a little easy to miss.

It’s never been possible to avoid the devotion The Cribs inspire in their fans, but tonight that adoration hits fever pitch. Some have travelled from across the world to be here, others have seen more Cribs shows than anyone would care to count, and for some it’s an experience they’ve long been waiting for. No matter what got them here, with hands on their hearts, smiles on their faces, for an hour and a half the gathered masses give themselves up to the moment they’re in.

highlights. Whether it’s the youthful energy of ‘Another Number’, the anarchic spirit of ‘Hey Scenesters’, the enduring emotion of ‘Be Safe’, the polished cries of ‘We Share The Same Skies’, the rallying vigour of ‘Come On, Be A No-One’, or the anthemic intensity of ‘Burning For No One’, there’s something from every era of the band’s progression - because that’s really what the night is all about.

Twelve years since the Jarmans first sang of being “just another number”, the favoured fraternal trio stand at the very top of the game - and there’s not one who can challenge them. The set is a succession of career-spanning

There’s no shirking how far The Cribs have come though their decade and a half as a band. Tonight they celebrate that along with everyone who helped them get here. When the sun sets, a mirror ball reflects light onto the surrounding Civic Hall and City Museum buildings, while chants of “YORKSHIRE!” and “WAKEFIELD!” ripple through the audience between songs, rooting the occasion in its pivotal setting. It’s a fervour too intense to be anything other than what it is - a band committed to their craft, sharing what they do best with the people to whom it matters.

That’s what live music is all about, isn’t it? Jessica Goodman

Beach Baby

The Wytches

Island Records

Heavenly Records

No Mind No Money

All Your Happy Life

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We’ve had rain, more rain and then a dash of a heatwave - so the climate that’s bathed over these isles really can’t claim any sphere of influence when it comes to Beach Baby. Taking things step by step, ‘No Mind, No Money’ finally stands as their opening gambit, and boy does it leave a mark. The early singles sound refreshed and energised, and act as the record’s true hookworthy spine. Exciting and dynamic, ‘No Mind No Money’ should be jammed in that stereo for years to come. Jamie Muir

‘All Your Happy Life’ is a wonderfully fully-formed second effort from The Wytches: from start to finish the sound doesn’t compromise its jagged raw edge, while still finding room to develop. ‘C Side’ is an instant attention grabber, and they don’t relent. ‘Ghost House’ builds itself to a crescendo of chaos; ‘A Dead Night Again’ and ‘Dumb-fill’ are haunting. Closer ‘Home’ brings this exciting step forward to an end: polished-but-not-really suits The Wytches perfectly. Steven Loftin

Knowing the album you’re about to release is your last must add considerable pressure; Yellowcard are using this moment to tie-up any loose ends they have after their twenty-plus year career. Across the ten tracks we find the band not straying too far from the Yellowcard formula: it’s straightforward pop punk, with their violin twist, powerfully utilising emotive lyrics and large choruses to emphasise their point. It’s basically a run through of what got Yellowcard this far. Steven Loftin

Taking Back Sunday Tidal Wave Hopeless Records

eeee ‘Tidal Wave’’s titular punk rager makes a mischievous splash with its chaotic choruses and feeling of much-needed vitality. In just 2 and a half minutes, Taking Back Sunday confirm that this is the best album they’ve made in 10 years. It’d be naive to think that the remainder would pack as much of a punch; as mature and mellow as it gets, the record still lashes out that sense of urgency which reminds you just how much you still need a band like Taking Back Sunday. Danny Randon

Young Guns Echoes

Wind-Up Records

eee Young Guns’ new album ‘Echoes’ tries to grab you in through opener ‘Bulletproof’ and at first, it seems decent with a relatively decent hook and frontman Gustav Wood’s vocals shining but on repeated listens the track falls a little flat; a recurring theme throughout the album. Thankfully stand outs come in the form of the title-track, with its slightly pop punk influenced chorus and fist in the air chorus, and closer ‘Afterglow’ which builds into somewhat of a banger. Josh Williams

Q+A

Beach Slang Hello James from Beach Slang, how are things going?

It’s exciting - you make this thing, then you have to sit on it for a little while. It’s getting kind of cool now it’s close to where we can finally be, ‘Here, we made this thing and now we can share it’.

I have to get talked down from the ledge a lot by our manager because I’m real bad at sitting idle - I’m a pretty excitable guy.

This is your second album in as many years, what are your thoughts on the standard twoto-three year turn around for the majority of artists?

Stuff like that two year thing sounds abysmal. You sign up to be a musician and there are two major components to that: you make songs and you play shows. It’s the thing I love to do, so an album a year, for me that’s just kind of the rule - I couldn’t imagine going longer than that, I feel like I’d be bouncing off the walls.

Were there pressures?

I think one of the things we did really right with this record, is that we didn’t succumb to the pressure of following up the first record right. That ‘sophomore slump’ thing they lay on bands, we were sort of able to forget about it and it really was like just how we went in on the first EP or second EP or the first record.

How is the JP situation?

It was a very complicated situation and I’ve been talking to my publicist and my manager, we talk about this and nobody wants any drama or anything - we all wish the guy well. You know, I’m assuming he wishes us well.

When he posted the thing about leaving it was a bit misconstrued.

This was in the works for a while, it was a wonky cog in terms of chemistry. It just wasn’t working out. We didn’t have much of a recovery period because we were trying to figure it out, so you know, I feel bad saying this, but it feels pretty fantastic right now.

Any news on a replacement?

Right now we’re going to sit tight with the three of us. We do have someone we believe could be permanent, but he’s touring with another band through the fall so we have our friend in on this tour. But the person we believe is going to be our permanent, at the beginning of 2017 he’ll be coming on board. P

Beach Slang A Loud Bash Of Teenage Feelings Big Scary Monsters

eeee “Play it loud, play it fast,” sings Beach Slang frontman James Alex on ‘A Loud Bash...’ opener ‘Future Mixtape For The Art Kids’, and it’s a mission statement for the rest of the album. For a band just three years old they have a chequered history, but this hasn’t affected the music at all with a surprisingly coherent second album. ‘Atom Bomb’ rips into life with the ferocity of a lion’s roar, while ‘Spin The Dial’ has the perfect sound to visualise driving through the desert in a convertible, wind blowing through your hair with no one to stop you. An excellent listen. Josh Williams

Twin Atlantic GLA

Red Bull Records

eeee They said they wanted to change things, and change things they have; Twin Atlantic sound grittier than ever before. Loosening the reins a little has given the guys some songwriting freedom and wow, it sounds good. With musical freedom has come an unexpected diversion in lyrics, the strangest opening line prize going to “suck this lemon” on ‘Valhalla’; just go with it. Massive arena moments come from the monster choruses of the loudest songs: ‘Overthinking’ and ‘No Sleep’. You might not believe it was them if it wasn’t for Sam McTrusty’s unmistakeable Scottish twang: the hits are still there. Kathryn Black

Jamie T Trick eeee

D

on’t shout it too loud, but Jamie T is emerging from his post-hiatus cocoon as something of a butterfly. 2014’s ‘Carry on the Grudge’ took a little getting used to - a more mature version of the emphatically energetic tyke of his first two albums. ‘Trick’, though, sees the transformation really take hold. On occasion it’s both fun and fantastical in the same beat - ‘Tescoland’, ‘Joan Of Arc’ and ‘Robin Hood’ all pleasingly hook-laden and fancy free.

‘Drone Strike’ is enough to give Muse’s Matt Bellamy nightmares, while ‘Dragon Bones’ packs its own swagger just in case. It’s ‘Power Over Men’ that really shows the new, more grown up Jamie T is the definitive take, though. Just look at him fly. Stephen Ackroyd

NOTS

Cosmetic Heavenly

eee It’s a dark, cold place that ‘Cosmetic’ occupies, scraping away what little veneer the avowedly lo-fi debut ’We Are Nots’ had. “I look out my window at night,” Natalie Hoffman sneers through a curtain of fuzz, drawing us in to the album’s world. “There’s nothing but cold, cold steel.”

At its best - the lean thrash of ‘No Novelty’, or the excellent closer ‘Entertain Me’, which doesn’t waste a second of its comparatively epic seven minutes - ‘Cosmetic’ is another impressive racket. The odd splash of colour couldn’t hurt, though. Rob Mesure

47

Stuff We Like...

Happyness HEY HAPPYNESS, RECOMMEND US SOME STUFF.

Last good record you heard ‘Poema On Guitar’ by Baden Powell De Aquino. This is an instrumental guitar record by Baden Powell De Aquino from 1967, a massively influential Brazilian guitar player.

Favourite ever book Weegee [Photo Poche # 21]

by Photo Poche. This is a collection of photos by Weegee, a photojournalist based in New York City throughout the 30s and 40s (and beyond).

He was allegedly given his pseudonym (from the word ‘Ouija’) because of the speed at which he would appear at crime scenes. We found it in the book shop below our studio, and it’s been around for the whole album session.

TV show you

Happyness

AlunaGeorge

Tunnel Vision On Your Part

I Remember Island Records

Merchandise A Corpse Wired For Sound

Moshi Moshi Records

eeee

eee

AlunaGeorge’s 2013 debut ‘Body Music’, while containing a bucket load of bangers and generating the buzz of a lorry load of bees, didn’t quite catch on in the way that the multi-talented duo of singer and lyricist Aluna Francis and producer George Reid deserved. Since then there have been prominent hook ups, remixes and feature slots but AlunaGeorge have slightly faded. Fortunately, second album ‘I Remember’ is full of dazzling future pop to propel them back into the limelight. The formula here is very simple but beautifully executed: AlunaGeorge have cut back on all fat and excess producing an album full of clever, lucid and insidious pop hooks. It all adds up to the duo’s most definitive work so far. Martyn Young

4AD

How To Dress Well

God Damn

Weird World / Domino

One Little Indian

Throwing back to the 90s with particular grace and fashion comes the new helping from London’s Happyness.

‘Tunnel Vision…’ exhumes relaxed and at times, shoegaze influences. ‘Anna, Lisa Calls’ is a good start, though it takes a while to build; ‘Friend of The Revolution’ is a cover of the Club Gaga original, that sticks true itself.

Later, ‘Surfer Girl’ slows the pace, its rawness accentuating a longing.

It concludes with the title-track, a beautifully winding song that brings proceedings to a close. It’s a solid EP that doesn’t exactly show development, but it does show Happyness doing what they do best Steven Loftin

Deap Vally Femejism Cooking Vinyl

eeee Deap Vally’s ‘Sistrionix’ is a debut that’s seemingly impossible to beat, but somehow ‘Femejism’ has managed it with its experimental wonder. It’s a success because it doesn’t feel like it’s conforming to any expectations. From the tribal vibes of ‘Post Funk’ and the doo-wop of ‘Two Seat Bike’, despite this second effort being a musical cocktail, the main ingredient is that classic Deap Vally garage rock, it doesn’t leave you bored, and it doesn’t leave you thinking Lindsey Troy (vocals/ guitar) and Julie Edwards (drums) are attempting to win over new fans, or consciously try to keep anyone interested. ‘Femejism’ will open new doors into their effortlessly cool world.

Jasleen Dhindsa

eeee Merchandise have come a long way since they emerged raging from the Tampa, Florida hardcore scene in 2008. Ever evolving across their five previous albums the band have returned with their most ambitious and glorious record yet. ‘A Corpse Wired For Sound’ finds them revelling in an alluring dark-hearted 80s pop sound that combines being melodic and accessible with just the right touch of gloom, dread and mystery. Sometimes it takes a while for a band to truly blossom but in embracing the darkness and the widest textures of their electro rock palette Merchandise have shown that they’re now in full bloom. Martyn Young

Care

Everything Ever

eeee

eeee

Tom Krell’s time as How To Dress Well has seen him move from dark and oblique soundscapes on ‘Love Remains’ to the gleaming progressive pop of 2013’s ‘What Is This Heart?’ It’s been quite a journey from experimental enigma to alt pop icon that has culminated in ‘Care’, the definitive How To Dress Well album and one that is chock full of stone cold pop hits. This is the album that sees Tom completely giving himself up to the music and making something transcendent and celebratory. It scotches any sort of pre-conceived notion that he is a bleak miserabilist, and instead sees him revelling in joy and elation. Martyn Young

When God Damn released their ‘Heavy Money’ EP in 2013, the world was introduced to a band capable of setting the world on fire. Three years on and a lot has certainly changed, but the Wolverhampton outfit’s ability to pack an explosive punch remains their crowning glory. More polished than their early releases, their second full-length album is the sound of a band perfected. Building on from debut album ‘Vultures’, ‘Everything Ever’ takes catchy pop structures and drags them through a thorn bush kicking and screaming. Rough around the edges with a roguish charm, it’s an anthemic ode to the unhinged, and a rallying cry against composure. Jessica Goodman

couldn’t live without Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected. Each episode is based on a different short story

by Roald Dahl and a lot of them are introduced by him. There’s a soap opera-ish tension to a lot the acting and the pacing of each story and they all end in a slightly over the top and often brilliantly anticlimactic plot twist. It featured a lot of exceptionally good actors over the years.

Best purchase of this year Jim Dunlop Cry Baby Wah Wah pedal - we didn’t have one and now we do!

48

What do you get when you mix Vampire Weekend and The Walkmen?

W

hen Rostam Batmanglij stepped away from Vampire Weekend, there was a real sense that he was set to produce something special, but teaming up with Hamilton Leithauser of The Walkmen for ‘I Had A Dream That You Were Mine’ may be his greatest move yet.

Delving deep into the record collections of late 70s/early 80s Americana and sprinkling it with post-

punk idealism, the result is one of the most heartfelt and warming records of the year. Lead single ‘A 1000 Times’ is the type of track that will be sung again and again on late-night crawls home, and that sense of collective highs and lows permeate the record. Whether it’s ‘Sick As A Dog’ and its ruptured swoon of love lost, ‘Rough Going (I Won’t Let Up)’ and its doo-wop refrains or the long-lost Motown tear-soaked pull of ‘When The Truth Is…’, Leithauser + Rostam manage to capture something effortlessly pure about everyday life. They’ve produced something special - that’s for sure. Jamie Muir

Hamilton Leithauser + Rostam

I Had A Dream That You Were Mine eeee

Yes. We know this isn’t how 20 questions really works, but STFU, OK? This month, Dilly Dally’s Katie Monks runs the gauntlet of our random, stupid queries.

Smoke weed, cook food.

1. HELLO. HOW ARE YOU? Awesome.

7. YOU HAVE TO SUPPORT EITHER U2 OR RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS ON TOUR. WHO DO YOU PICK? U fuckin’ 2. I love U2. Plus I want to stare at Bono’s man-rings.

6. WHAT DID YOU LAST DREAM ABOUT? Drake kissed me. I’m hot shit in my dreams, FYI.

2. WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO TODAY? Today was a chill day. Tried to relax, and hung with friends outside.

3. TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOURSELF. It’s 4:30am and I’m watching The Simpsons while answering these questions.

4. WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE THING ABOUT BEING A MUSICIAN? Getting to make noise.

5. HOW DO YOU RELAX?

Q 20

62

LIFE, WHAT WOULD YOU CHOOSE? The dinosaurs... in general (obvi).

11. HOW MUCH SLEEP DO YOU NEED? Not much, but I indulge heavily regardless.

12. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU BROKE? A string... a lot of strings (stupid Mustang that I love).

8. WHAT IS YOUR MOST TREASURED POSSESSION? My blue guitar (love/hate).

13. HOW ‘PUNK’ ARE YOU OUT OF TEN? Full 10.

9. WHAT’S THE BEST SONG YOU’VE WRITTEN OR PLAYED ON? Ughhh... I don’t believe in “best songs.”

They’re all my children and I love them equally.

14. WHAT’S YOUR BIGGEST FEAR? Death... and madness. Death and madness.

10. IF YOU COULD BRING SOMETHING EXTINCT BACK TO

15. WHAT COMPLIMENT WOULD YOU MOST LIKE TO RECEIVE? If it’s sincere and emo I’m pretty much down. If it’s from someone I love, even

S N O I T l ly a D U ES y l ... Dil . with

As k a

quest stupid

ion..

better.

16. WHAT’S YOUR BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT? Life and sanity!

17. WHO’S YOUR FAVOURITE NEW BAND? Future lol.

18. AND ANOTHER ONE? THAT’S ACTUALLY A NEW BAND THIS TIME? Vallens.

19. HAVE YOU EVER WON ANYTHING? Yes. 20. WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU WERE GROWING UP? A ballerina or a palaeontologist.

Don’t look dumb.

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