Dork, September 2017 by Dork

INHEAVEN

THE DEBUT ALBUM OUT 1ST SEPTEMBER “INHEAVEN are set to become indie megastars” Dork UK TOUR ON SALE NOW

30th September – Newcastle – Think Tank? 1st October – Glasgow – King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut 2nd October – Leeds – Brudenell Social Club 4th October – Sheffield – Plug 5th October – Stoke-On-Trent – The Sugarmill 6th October – Liverpool – Buyers Club 7th October – Manchester – Neighbourhood Festival 9th October – Birmingham – Mama Roux’s

10th 11th 13th 14th 15th 17th 18th 19th

October October October October October October October October

– – – – – – – –

Leicester – The Cookie Bristol – The Fleece Nottingham – Bodega Social Club Cardiff – Clwb Ifor Bach Oxford – Bullingdon London – Scala Brighton – The Haunt Southampton – Joiners Arms

THIS MONTH

DORK readdork.com

Editor: Stephen Ackroyd stephen@readdork.com

CONTENTS UPDATE 4 BASTILLE 10 PVRIS 12 SHAME 16 HYUNDAI MERCURY PRIZE 19 CHARLI XCX 20 LCD SOUNDSYSTEM 22 WILLIE J HEALEY 24 SLAVES 26 DUA LIPA 27 BANGERS 28 SPRING KING 29 NEWS FEED 30 CALENDAR 31 MYSTERY JETS 34 CONNECTION

Deputy Editor: Victoria Sinden viki@readdork.com Associate Editor: Ali Shutler ali@readdork.com Contributing Editors: Jamie Muir jamie@readdork.com Martyn Young martyn@readdork.com Events: Liam James Ward liam@readdork.com

HYPE 36 ANNA OF THE NORTH 37 SUZI WU 38 YONAKA 38 SOCCER MOMMY

Writers: Alex Bradley, Alex Thorpe, Ben Jolley, Heather McDaid, Jake Hawkes, Jenessa Williams, Jessica Goodman, Liam Konemann, Rob Mesure, Sam Taylor, Steven Loftin

FEATURES 40 GEORGE EZRA 46 THE CRIBS 50 GRIZZLY BEAR 52 SUPERFOOD 56 RAT BOY 60 ALVVAYS 62 EVERYTHING EVERYTHING 66 THE WAR ON DRUGS

Photographers: Phil Smithies, Poppy Marriott, Sarah Louise Bennett, Steve Gullick, Tim Easton

REVIEWS

“OH C OME

EVER

E QUOT E H OF T H! MONNATSHOVE

YO N E

T H IS

“I WAN R UP MY CA A TOY - WHO? ARSE” UT ON FIND O P.56

ON,

K N OW

IS M E .”

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

long. My, how we’ve grown. We’ve not done that usual magazine thing of stringing out the same content over more pages, we’ve not gone and made our font bigger. We’ve not just stuck in a bunch of pretty pictures and tonnes of white space. Nah we’re still as ram-packed as ever with the most exciting new music on the planet. This month’s cover plays host to George Ezra. He’s back on the road to a second album

that’s got to follow one of the biggest selling records in recent years, but there’s no need to worry. He’s got this. Elsewhere there are more amazing artists than we strictly know what to do with. Rat Boy has finally dropped that debut album, and it’s great. The Cribs are back, and bringing the noise. Superfood return too with a brand new vibe. Alvvays are basically indie royalty now, while Everything Everything

Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett.

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

THE BACK BIT 93 ACTIVITY CENTRE 94 ANY OTHER QUESTIONS WITH... INHEAVEN 95 BAND INDEX

EDITOR’S LETTER ep, we know. It’s huge, isn’t it? This isn’t just the biggest issue of Dork yet, it’s the start of a whole new era for your favourite magazine. After just over a year of fighting on the frontlines of music, we’ve evolved. The issue we put out this time last year was 48 pages long. This one is 96. NINETY SIX. That’s twice as

Cover photo: Phil Smithies

70 RAT BOY 71 EMA 72 EVERYTHING EVERYTHING 72 THUMPERS 73 INHEAVEN 74 QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE 75 FILTHY FRIENDS 75 LANA DEL REY 76 GHOSTPOET 76 THE CRIBS 78 THE NATIONAL 79 GAROROCK 80 LATITUDE 88 CITADEL 89 2000TREES

are as brilliantly odd as ever. Add to that Grizzle Bear, The War On Drugs, Slaves, Dua Lipa, Willie J Healey, LCD Soundsystem, Charli XCX, Spring King, Mystery Jets, The Big Moon and loads more, and it’d be easier to list bands we haven’t included. Mostly because we’re not sure we can think of any. Add to that a huge preview of Reading & Leeds - featuring Bastille, PVRIS, Liam Gallagher, Blaenavon, Shame,

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. Oh Wonder and more - plus an equally massive report from Latitude, and quite frankly we’re not totally sure you’ll be finished reading this issue before the next one hits the streets. We’d love to know what you think - so drop us a line with the details at the top of page 35, if you like. Enjoy! Stephen Ackroyd (@ stephenackroyd) Editor

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

75 BANDS TO YOU NEED SEE AT...

G N I D A E R S D E E L &

AT M EA N S RR IV ED . TH DAY H AS A LI O H K N BA . ! AU G U ST ZI N G BA N DS TI M E AG A IN SE O F A M A IT ’S TH AT ER IV N U A W H O LE . IVA L, A N D N FO R 20 17 LE ED S FE ST LO W-D O W RE A D IN G & TH E FU LL U YO G IN LL BR PA G ES , W E’ N EX T FE W O V ER TH E

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THE BEST OF READING & LEEDS

We’ve picked out the best bands playing R&L this year. Want to listen? Load up Spotify on your mobile, tap search, then the camera icon, scan the code to the left, and it’ll pop right up.

“WE’R DON’

E PLA YING , TC H A K N OW ?”

DOWN WITH BORING

DAN ON... “ T H AT

N IC E

’S A

P OST

E R !”

...CELEBRITY

“There are people who seem to forge a career out of slagging off other people and falling out of clubs and going to premieres and all that stuff, all of which I imagine is really fun, but we are lucky enough to tour so much that when we come home, I’d rather just go to the pub with my mates. We’d rather just see our friends rather than spend all of our time at home going to stuff because it’s public.”

‘Overjoyed’ came out and we didn’t think anyone was going to come.” But they did come, they sang along and that moment changed things. “That was the first big milestone memory at a festival,” explains Kyle Simmons. “It’s always nice to go back and see how things have changed.”

astille are an odd band. Already this summer they’ve found themselves sandwiched between Run The Jewels and Frank Ocean at a festival in Denmark, shared a lineup with the likes of Rammstein and System of a Down in Germany and played before Rod Stewart at the Isle Of Wight Festival. They started off as a DIY bedroom indie band but second album ‘Wild World’ is a little bit of everything; Tarantino films, genre shuffling mixtapes and real world reflection. “We just felt quite liberated on

DA N O N . ..

Words: Ali Shutler. Photos: Poppy Marriott.

...POLITICS

“It affects everybody. It affects everything. I think also people are realising, with this general election we just had, it shows that you’re not just shouting into the dark. Particularly for younger generations, you can make an impact. It’s this bizarre power struggle between the older generations, for whom this isn’t really going to effect as much and have a huge voting sway, and the kids, teenagers and twenty-somethings, for whom this is going to have a profound effect on their lives and the future. It’s so brilliant to see the voter turnout in younger people. And hopefully, it will actually effect some change.”

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“WE NEVER IN OUR WILDEST DREAMS EXPECTED TO PLAY SECOND FROM THE TOP AT READING.” this record to do whatever we wanted. That was the point,” Dan Smith explains. “Whatever people’s perceptions of us are. I feel like, in everything we do, there’s very much a sense of we love doing this. We got to do kind of everything that we wanted to do.” They are, in their own words, rubbish at being rock stars but there’s a devilish grin to everything. Their last headline run saw the band take their fake news company-slashgovernment department to the big screen, with a fictional politician overlooking the whole thing “in this sinister Big Brother way.” In the build-up to the general election, it started to look a lot like Theresa May, and that was no accident. More recently, they stripped things down in a church, only to rebuild it with a gospel choir, a string section and some brass. “[It’s something] we’re going to do a concert hall tour of later in the year,” teases Dan with a smile. “We feel very lucky to be able to go between slightly different worlds and make the most of it. And have fun with it. It’s fun to mix stuff up.” Their subheadline slot at Reading & Leeds is also a cocktail of different, outlandish ideas. It’s exciting, terrifying, a benchmark of just how far they’ve come and “so far

outside of my frame of ambition, it’s very crazy.” It stands to bookend an adventure that started at last year’s Glastonbury and has run parallel to this wild world getting wilder. Bastille are a pretty odd band but right now, isn’t that what we need? “Yeah we’re very fucking weird,” starts Dan, all distracted glances and fierce focus. “We definitely get away with a lot of stuff. The nature of having one or two songs that did really well is that to a lot of people, that’s all we’ve done. “If you scratch beneath the surface though, we’ve got some quite political music on this record, and our tour is visually quite on the nose and knife-twisting. We’re in the lucky position where we can do what we want and get away with it because maybe some people care, but a lot of people don’t. That’s a nice position to be in.” It’s not a position that was given to them either. They’ve earned it, carved out their own space and fought for their right to party as they please. “We never in our wildest dreams expected to play second from the top at Reading,” continues Dan. “I guess we’ve bumbled our way through the whole thing. Growing up I used to go to Reading. Our first show there was in the very smallest tent, just after our first single

“I’m a bit of a pessimist,” laughs Dan. “Set your expectations incredibly low, then you’re almost always pleasantly surprised. We’re definitely the wrong two to speak to, about ambition,” he continues. “Neither of us really thought we’d be in bands so to make music every day is fucking amazing.” The dreams come from Will and Woody. “Woody was the one saying, ‘Yeah, I want to play Wembley one day.’ In our heads, we were thinking ‘Fuck, if we get to play Shepherd’s Bush Empire, that’d be insane.’ I didn’t ever really think that far beyond that. We never had our sights set on playing the Main Stage at Reading, or any of these things.” But that doesn’t mean they’re afraid of embracing the ridiculous, the crazy or the wild. “[Our music] is more narrative and storytelling but it’s filtered through experience,” continues Dan. “In writing the songs for this album, I tended to think of them all as stories or scenes. It’s as much about what they’re saying as how it sounds and the mood it creates. There’s a lot of personal stuff in there, but we’re not a band who diarizes our experiences or our relationships.” Their debut, ‘Bad Blood’ used pop culture, myths and history to help articulate things. ‘Wild World’ didn’t need the help. “It was 2016; you can’t not react to how mad the world seems when you turn on the TV. It became more grounded in reality, but then there are songs on the record about gangsters. We’ll always have an element of fiction and fantasy in our music. That comes from making it in a tiny underground studio in South London, and in a laptop in a bedroom. “There’s always been an element

PHOTO: POPPY MARRIOTT

DORK

BASTILLE

of wanting, and having, to use your imagination and thinking a little bit bigger than our situation.”

the landscape of politics, terrorism and everything that’s happening in the world.

Like everything they do, ‘Wild World’ is a mix of lots of different things. “We wanted to get this sense of modern anxiety, this sense of helplessness and not really knowing what was happening, but we also wanted to get this sense of friendship and positivity that runs through it across.”

“We only ever wanted to do it from a very, very normalised human perspective because we are four complete idiots, and we just wanted it to be reflective of the times we live in.”

There are songs like ‘The Currents’, “essentially a massive fuck you to divisive right-wing politicians,” that have become more relevant to the band as the past eighteen months have played out. “Playing it live is so cathartic. Putting one toe in the waters of vaguely political pop music was potentially a risky enterprise. There was a feeling from us that we didn’t want to be preachy or didactic because that’s not our place, but that song is also about hearing people say stuff that you think is really shocking and abhorrent and wanting to get the fuck away. That could apply to anyone, I think. “The other songs that touch on it are really just about watching the news and feeling slightly aghast, shocked and saddened and ordinary ways of coping with it all. Going and losing yourself in somebody physically, or hanging out with your friends, or talking about it. “There’s obviously no right way to process, or deal with any of that stuff that’s been happening, but it’s been interesting having this record out over the past year we’ve had, against

DAN O N .. . ...STAG E

“Kyle and I, in particular, have always had an issue with getting nervous and stage fright. I don’t feel super comfortable onstage but because we’ve always toured so much, we started playing in toilet venues and pubs and it’s been a real gradual progression, there’s an element of having grown into it a bit. There was a point early on when we were starting out, I was behind the piano for a lot of songs, and there was a conscious decision to, this sounds so cheesy, but to pick up the mic, step forward and become a frontman. Or try and be one. I’m a terrible frontman, I dance horribly, and jump around like there’s something wrong with me. It started as a form of distraction, I used to climb around a lot, get up on the PA, and run through the crowd, and I still do, and I think that came from a sense of denial, how can I distract myself? It’s become part of who we are.”

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“It was about trying to find the contrast between existing in the world and feeling very small and disconnected, but also the importance and potency of one on one human relationships,” he continues. “In our own stupid little way, we just wanted to get across the complexity of being an adult and being freaked out by the world, but also having to get up the next day and go to work.” The scale of it has shifted massively, but the soul of Bastille remains the same bloodied and bruised optimist. Persistent, aware and undeterred. There is, as you’d expect, still a lot to discover in ‘Wild World. “It’s an odd record to talk about,” offers Dan. “There’s a song like ‘Two Evils’, and what it can mean metaphorically but also what it can mean really literally in a bar scenario, alongside a song like ‘Send Them Off!’, which is this ridiculous superhero theme tune slash overly pompous hip-hop record, with me singing about relationship guilt over the top of it. “We tried to have this developing narrative on the record, and it ends with ‘The Anchor’, which is the most positive song we’ve ever done. It’s about how somebody can be that thing you can latch onto, and it seems to make everything okay.” Somebody or some band. Bastille wanted the themes of unity, community, togetherness and all our little similarities to shine. To have that message at the heart of a record, and then to take that record around the world, it’s powerful stuff. “There’s a song called ‘Snakes’ which is about being a bit confused, overwhelmed and bogged down but then, just going out and having a nice time and knowing it’s not really solving anything but knowing that, that’s okay. “Music and culture has a responsibility to reflect the times and to say what you think, but equally, it’s a space for escapism.” Somehow, Bastille offer both. “It’s odd that since releasing it, some of the things we talk about have become more intense and more persistent. I can’t speak for anything grand, but for us alone, getting to play them out, it’s been really cathartic. So much has changed in two years, it’s fucking crazy.”

“There’s a huge history of politics and music, but it felt like until very recently, nobody in our world was talking about anything. It was quite weird and surreal. “When we started this campaign a year ago, I was very cautious. I’m really aware, when I think of people in bands who are political, there’s an eye-rollingly clichéd thing about it. We didn’t want to be those guys, mainly because who the fuck are we to impose our opinions on other people? “But it’s interesting, as time’s rolled on, we’ve relaxed a bit about it. We have these songs saying these things; we may as well not hold back. It’s heartening that people now feel that they can say what they think.” Since the release of ‘Wild World’, things have been hyper-intense and constantly shifting, but there’s also been a sense of relief for Bastille. “It’s nice to have got the second record done. We’re quite short termist. At one point we probably didn’t think we’d make a second record, but then we got to make a second album, and now I’ve realised I really want to make a third one. And maybe a fourth one too. It’s easier to think into the future a bit more now.” What that future holds exactly is a potent question. The answer could be any one of limitless weird and wonderful outcomes. “We’ve just moved into a different studio in South London. It’s got a window, some natural light and some airflow, which is a real luxury,” laughs Dan. “We’ve been holding off until the studio was done because we wanted

to do it there but now we’re about to get properly into finishing new Bastille music. The record that we’re making, the one I want to make, is more concise. I like the idea, moving forward, of being able to have little phases of what is hopefully a career. “Our first album was this slightly odd thing and the second one was this mad, sprawling, opinionated mess. I like the idea of looking back to people I admire, who had certain sounds and certain phases and getting to make a concise nine-track album that feels like its own little world. Then being able to draw a line under that and move onto something else. “I like the idea of being able to release a record every year, year and a half. I think that’s way more exciting. I’m saying this now,” he laughs. “It probably won’t come out for seven years. We’ve never really had a sound other than maybe my voice and our songwriting style. That makes everything we do sound like Bastille, but if you took my vocals away, it’s quite a bizarrely varied body of work. “With the next thing, we want to set ourselves some rules, but really the only thing that matters are the songs. I feel like I want it to be an apocalyptic rave record. That final frame of Fight Club, where they’re holding hands and watching the city collapse, there’s something quite nice about that image. It feels relevant to acknowledge that things are still completely mad, but to lean towards the positivity that can happen within your own life, in the context of a bigger, madder mess.” P Bastille play the Main Stage on Friday 25th August in Reading, and Saturday 26th August in Leeds.

READING & LEEDS

#2 5 SONGS KASABIAN BETTER PLAY AT READING & LEEDS OR ELSE Sure, it’s not Kasabian’s first Reading & Leeds rodeo, but we still figure it’s better to be safe than sorry. So, lads. We want these five tracks in your headline set. It shouldn’t be difficult, they’re all bangers. Cheers.

B L ESS T H I S AC I D H O US E It’s the best track on their new album ‘For Crying Out Loud’, and it’d absolutely set it off on a Friday night in Berkshire.

C LU B FO OT The video of this song refers to the Soviet government’s intervention in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 on a banner showing the text in Hungarian (Szabad Európa Rádió) which translates as “Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty”. Or so Wikipedia says. Thanks, Wikipedia.

S H O OT T H E RU N N E R DUM DE DUM DE DUM DE DUM DE - come on, tell us you’re not feeling this one. We dare you.

#3 IF CIRCA

WAVES WANT TO HEADLINE READING & LEEDS, LET’S FIND OUT IF THEY’RE UP TO IT

here may not be a band more primed for summer than Circa Waves. If you thought you knew exactly what they stood for, what they want to be and who they are - then ‘Different Creatures’ is about to change things up. Throwing off those summer-day restraints, it’s the counter-punch record that’ll catapult them up festival bills, send them back on the road to those live nights of joyous abandon and onto the biggest stages - but more than that, it’s one

that means something. There’s only one destination for Circa Waves.

#4 ALMA

#7 CHARLI XCX

“I’m so ambitious now,” exclaims Kieran, his face lighting up with pure adrenaline and passion when thinking of what’s ahead. “When I started it was very much like, ‘oh, this is really cool’ - but now, once you’ve reached that step, you just want more. “I wanna be headlining Reading & Leeds. I wanna be headlining - why the fuck not! Kings Of Leon and The Killers can’t headline them forever, so

bands like us need to step up - and with this record, I think we’ve got a point to prove that we are that next generation. “And the record does that completely! I’ve got massive confidence in it, and I think people will see that and believe in us.” Just like the rest of the world, Circa Waves are restless, pissed off and ready to fight back. The summer’s here, and the climate’s about to take one hell of a swing. P

U N D E RD O G ‘Underdog’ is, apparently, Colchester United’s ‘run on’ music. There’s something you probably didn’t know - unless you support Colchester United, in which case, we’re very sorry.

E EZ- E H Like, durr. When you’ve more pints than you can count down, there’s nothing better than ‘Eez-eh’.

21-year old Finnish songwriter Alma has already been tipped by one of the biggest pop stars on the planet (that’s Elton John, ‘FYI’). Listen to: Certified banger ‘Chasing Highs’. BBC Radio 1 Dance Stage, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

#5 BABY IN VAIN

The Absolute Queen Of Pop lives for the party so expect this set to be non stop bangers. It’s not like Chaz knows anything else. Listen to: The genius of ‘Boys’. BBC Radio 1 Dance Tent, Sunday (Reading), Friday (Leeds)

#8 DEAP VALLY

Two women. One whole load of “We might be play some of the new glorious rock ‘n’ roll noise. Deap Vally songs from our album ‘More Nothing’ live for the first time.” - Lola, Baby in Vain Listen to: recent track ‘To Heaven And Back’. #9 FREAK The Lock Up, Sunday Connar Ridd – aka FREAK (Reading), Friday (Leeds) – makes the kind of racket that deserves to be played at #6 BLOSSOMS ear-splitting volumes: messy, They’re up for a Mercury, they packed with attitude and heaps ranked high in your 2016 of fun. end of year poll results and Listen to: You know what they they’re on the Main Stage. say - everybody loves a bit of Listen to: ‘Charlemagne’ ‘Cake’ durrr. The Pit, Friday (Reading), Main Stage, Sunday Saturday (Leeds) (Reading), Friday (Leeds)

are glorious. Listen to: ‘Smile More’. Main Stage, Friday (Reading), Saturday (Leeds)

DOWN WITH BORING

PVRIS

E K I L T S N U E J EAV H

RIS V P #10

TED I PA

IC NT T A I T. WA HE T H

S MO

E TH OF T NE OR O L W TH I L E W W RN EN TU BE . RE S ’ S T AID I I R CD N. PV M R ER CK TH RO EA IN : H S RD WO

ne night, Lynn Gunn reached New Orleans, got to her room and lay down. All she heard was silence. After PVRIS’s whirlwind debut ‘White Noise’, the success, the relentless touring, it wasn’t until this moment that she realised she hadn’t heard exactly this – nothing – in years.

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wind. It was really the first moment I breathed in years.”

“It was the first break I had in over two, three years of touring. It was the first time we had more than four or five days off,” remembers Lynn. They were in the garden district, a beautiful area of the city where she was surrounded by scenery to admire at every turn. “I just remember getting to my room, laying down and hearing silence. I didn’t hear the rumbling of a bus; I didn’t hear the sound of a band in the background or any kind of external noise. It was just peace and quiet. I heard crickets; I heard the

Life can’t always be taken at face value. PVRIS’s second album ‘All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell’ is similar. Up front, it can feel almost euphoric at points as you listen, but it wraps more melancholy tales, discovering yourself, admitting things aren’t great in its poppy claws. There is no black and white, but a shade of greys in navigating the human condition. These thoughts began to unwind as Lynn lay there in silence, with crickets chirping close by. “It was a very reflective moment for

me. I hadn’t done that in years. That in itself was kind of heartbreaking. I started really looking back on the past year, how much had changed, how much I had changed, how I had no clue where I was anymore, how I was really lost. “In New Orleans, I felt happy, restful. It was a peaceful time, but it was also sad. Really, it was the perfect blend of melancholy with relief, and the songs we wrote there really capture that. It was one of the most beautiful emotions that I felt in the past few years.” The ‘AWKOHAWNOH’ era is still fresh, but it’s already been pivotal for the band. ‘What’s Wrong?’ wastes no time in owning the realisation that things hadn’t been quite right as Lynn declares, “Don’t need a metaphor for you to know I’m miserable.”

READING & LEEDS

“DON’T BE AFRAID TO BE FRANK AND STRAIGHT UP ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS” “Initially, [that frankness] was pretty subconscious,” explains Lynn. “But it turned out to be a really big lesson that I learned in the process of making the record. That was one of the first songs we wrote lyrically; I was searching for so many different angles and perspectives on how to say what I wanted to say. In the end, I couldn’t say anything other than ‘Aw, fuck it, I’m miserable’. “That was the epic turning point and once that chorus was written. I was like, ‘Oh wow. That felt really good to come right out and say.’ After that, it wasn’t necessarily an effort, but it was definitely something to keep in mind to let go and not have to paint a picture with everything all of the time. It was very freeing.” Freeing as it was musically, it also earmarked some important revelations for Lynn. The album was coming to life at the same time that she started really taking care of her mental health. “I was just learning to be present with my emotions and not bottle them up, ignore them or sweep them under the rug. It was really about being vulnerable and feeling them, acknowledging them and not being ashamed of them. It’s important to honour [the harder] emotions as equally as any positive or happy one. Sometimes they’re the more important ones to sit in and absorb. That was such a big thing I’ve learned in the last year and went hand in hand with a lot of the record. Don’t be afraid to be frank and straight up about your feelings.” With their debut album, PVRIS were guided by what they were fans of. They didn’t force anything. Following ‘White Noise’, it would have been understandable to try fit a certain box or bend certain ways, with

READING & LEEDS MEANS...

READING & LEEDS ARE ‘TRADITIONALLY’ ROCK FESTIVALS, RIGHT? EVEN THOUGH THE MUSICAL HORIZONS HAVE EXPANDED, THERE’S STILL LOADS OF 14/10 ROCK BANDS.

today but all you need to know is that At The Drive In are back. Listen to: ‘One Arm Scissor’. Obviously. Main Stage, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

expectations high. Instead, they pressed pause, inhaled, and looked around for inspiration before picking back up. Revitalising on a personal level, powerful on a musical one, the freedom and openness has led to ‘All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell’ feeling almost serendipitous for them. It all felt right. Even the name came from taking a step back. “I had been searching quotes and poems all day, and I couldn’t find anything, and I gave up,” she recalls. “It was probably two in the morning, and I was watching a TED talk about love and loss and everything that comes with that, what the human mind goes through, and the woman quoted this Emily Dickinson poem. She quoted the last line, and I was really grabbed by it. I looked it up and read the whole poem and found it was really beautiful.” Since crossing paths with Emily Dickinson’s work that first time with Parting, she kept appearing in conversations; other people were suddenly sending Lynn other poems from her repertoire by coincidence. “It was like the universe was telling us to go for it,” she laughs. “It fits with the record. There’s a lot of subtle duality to them; there’s a natural thing that came together. When you step back and listen, take a moment and look around, there’s so much that subconsciously weaves together that you’d never pick up on otherwise. We were stepping back and letting the universe do some work.” ‘All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell’ came into their life by chance, but it also came into their lives at the right time, now happier, healthier, and with time to breathe. P PVRIS’ album ‘All We Know of Heaven, All We Need of Hell’ is out 25th August.

#15 BOSTON MANOR

#11 AGAINST THE CURRENT

Sugar-doused alt-pop with lashing of fierce and more than a sprinkle of superstardom. Listen to: banger-laden debut album ‘In Our Bones’. Main Stage, Sunday (Reading), Friday (Leeds)

#12 ARCANE ROOTS

They used to come in two sizes (big riffs or bigger riffs) but now they’re playing with much more. Listen to: The doom-party anthem of ‘Curtains’. The Pit, Friday (Reading), Saturday (Leeds)

There’s countless bands doing what Boston Manor does, but no one does it better. It’s a little bit emo but a whole lot of fun. Listen to: Very good debut ‘Be Nothing’. The Pit, Friday (Reading), Saturday (Leeds)

#16 CASEY

Beautiful hardcore that pits frustration, poetry and anger against one another. Listen to: The impossible to ignore ‘Little Bird’ . The Pit, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

#13 ARCHITECTS

The best thing in metal now. The best thing in metal ever. Listen to: The gargantuan crush of ‘Gone With The Wind’. Main Stage, Sunday (Reading), Friday (Leeds)

#14 AT THE DRIVE IN

It’s been a turbulent journey from ‘Relationship of Command’ to

#17 COUNTERFEIT

Reckless rock and roll with a grand message of community. Together we are stronger. “Like always we’re gonna go in there and tear it up, but we do have a few special things planned in terms of show elements that we’re adding because it’s Reading & Leeds!” - Jamie, Counterfeit Listen to: groovy anger-banger ‘Enough’. The Pit, Friday (Reading), Saturday (Leeds)

DOWN WITH BORING

READING + LEEDS

Frank Iero, Billie Joe Armstrong and Gerard Way love ‘em. It might be ‘cos they take a little bit of everything and make it sing. Listen to: The end of the world romance of ‘So Busted’ The Lock Up, Sunday (Reading), Friday (Leeds)

#19 DEFEATER

“Defeater don’t write songs so much as write histories,” says the Reading & Leeds website. Couldn’t put it better ourselves. So we haven’t. “I haven’t been to Reading before, but I’ve dreamed of attending or playing Reading since I heard about it in 1992.” - Derek, Defeater Listen to: 2015’s full-length ‘Abandoned’ The Pit, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

Marmozets’, which is still a kick in the face. NME / BBC Radio 1 Stage, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

#23 MUNCIE GIRLS

Big smiles, big hearts and bigger souls, the band have important stories to share and you’re going to want to hear ‘em. Listen to: The powerhouse swing of ‘Respect’. The Lock Up, Sunday (Reading), Friday (Leeds)

#24 PUPPY

Equal parts bark and bite, the band will take you on a trip of technical prowess, big riffs and pure imagination. Listen to: The warped brilliance of their ‘Vol. II’ EP. The Pit, Friday (Reading), Saturday (Leeds)

#25 TIGERCUB

Proof that the UK underground is producing new heroes by the month, Tigercub’s ascent is only just getting started. Listen to: New single ‘The Divided States of Us’. The Pit, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

#20 FRANK CARTER & THE RATTLESNAKES

The most entertaining band around. It’s dangerous, daring, revolutionary and it’s impossible not to get caught up in the chaos. Listen to: The smirking wonder of ‘Lullaby’. NME / BBC Radio 1 Stage, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

#26 TIGERS JAW

Seriously, rock bands seem to love tigers. This Scranton, PA duo work in different sonic sphere’s though Listen to: Their latest full-length ‘spin’, produced by scene-king Will Yip, is out this month in the UK. The Pit, Friday (Reading), Saturday (Leeds)

#21 GNARWOLVES

They started life as misfits and despite going via the Main Stage, not much has changed. It’s okay though, that’s exactly how they like it. Listen to: The open arm flourish of ‘Straitjacket’. The Lock Up, Sunday (Reading), Friday (Leeds)

#27 WHILE SHE SLEEPS

This year, While She Sleeps decided to shun the machine and do things their own way. Obviously, they smashed it. Listen to: Latest album ‘You Are We’ brings the noise. The Pit, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

#28 ZEAL & ARDOR #22 MARMOZETS

They’ve been gone for a hot second so the weird and wonderful gang will be out to remind you just what you’ve been missing. “Marmozets are awesome and I’m excited to see what they’ve been working on as they haven’t played in a while.” - Jamie, Counterfeit Listen to: Stunning debut album ‘The Weird and Wonderful 12

READDORK.COM

Black metal meets a little bit of everything. The band may have been born in a bedroom but they’re already a force of nature. Listen to: The madness of ‘Come On Down’. The Pit, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds) Find more bands like this in Upset every month. Grab a copy now from upsetmagazine.com

Words: Jamie Muir. Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett.

#18 CULTURE ABUSE

#29 SHAME ARE

ONE OF THE BEST LIVE BANDS IN THE COUNTRY RIGHT NOW. CATCH THEM WHILE YOU CAN... ”CAN WE JUST NOTE THAT OUR MANAGER IS STANDING TWO FEET AWAY RIGHT NOW, SO THERE’S GOING TO BE A LACK OF COMPLAINTS AND A LACK OF TRUTH,” JOKES SHAME FRONTMAN, CHARLIE STEEN. The band erupt into laughter, as they gather in a nearby pub for another night in another city that makes up their unstoppable 2017 so far. “I mean, we’ve been banned from a few countries, and haven’t been turning up for shows actually!” continues Steen, providing an insight into the humour, spills and fun that the South Londoners are currently rolling through, as arguably one of the must-see attractions of this year’s festival season. Charlie sees the summer as a starting point for the journey that comes ahead, one where their ambitions aren’t restrained, whether that’s a huge crowd in a field or a tiny gathering in a back room, Shame will make it their own. “In the last year it was necessary to do certain specific festivals, and now this year is our proper first run on the festival circuit. At our core, we’re a live band, and we want to play as much as possible.” “I don’t think we’ve ever approached a gig differently, whether we were playing to two people or two hundred people or two thousand people,” continues Steen. “We played for so long to seven people each night that when we played Pitchfork to seven

thousand, it wasn’t a case of it being different, but just embracing it. We always want to create some form of intimacy, and being able to communicate that to a large crowd is something we want to achieve.” Playing as much as possible is an understatement for what Shame have in store. By the end of the summer, they’ll have clocked in over 40 stops across Europe, festivals of all shapes and sizes. It comes with a change that they’ve noticed in their shows, growing and expanding as each one goes by, yet still holding close that visceral intensity that only they could deliver with such potent force. It’s a long way from those early shows making their way across a variety of South London establishments and comes with a realisation that people are longing to see them. “Before,” begins drummer Charlie Forbes, “when we were doing our first European shows or even our first out of London nights, we’d always be on the way and thinking, ‘Shit, will anyone be there?’ whereas this year the shows have consistently been great.” “And that’s it,” notes Steen. “We don’t want to target one audience in South London, we want to be able to do the whole of London, and the whole of the UK, and the whole of Europe and then the whole of America. Which is going to take years of touring and playing and getting better, but it’s just allowing ourselves not to stop.” P

READING & LEEDS

#30 OH WONDER

#31 DECLAN MCKENNA

How many ways can we tell you that DECLAN MCKENNA IS BLOODY BRILLIANT AND YOU MUST SEE HIM OR ELSE. That do it? Good. Listen to: ‘What Do You Think About The Car?’ is one of the best debut albums in years, tbqh. NME / BBC Radio 1 Stage, Friday (Reading), Saturday (Leeds)

#32 EMINEM

OH WONDER’S ANTHONY CURATES HIS PERFECT ‘IN THE CAR ON THE WAY TO READING & LEEDS’ PLAYLIST. TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB - SOMETHING GOOD CAN WORK They are the perfect example of a band who has always made fresh music, and never dropped their game. MURA MASA AND A$AP ROCKY - LOVE$ICK I can imagine we’ll be heading to the Radio 1 tent to listen to this on the Sunday, and letting our hips do the talking. It’s a massive tune. EVERYTHING EVERYTHING - SPRING / SUMMER / WINTER / DREAD We remember when this song came out; the feeling that it leaves you with lasts forever. The chorus quite literally screams summer. GLASS ANIMALS - SEASON 2 EPISODE 3 This is one of our favourite records to jump around to. FLUME - NEVER BE LIKE YOU (FEAT. KAI) We’ll most likely be pulling up in the bus, with the windows wide, blaring this festival tune. Flume’s live show is impossible not to go crazy to. JIMMY EAT WORLD SWEETNESS For years, I used to make my yearly pilgrimage to Reading, and I remember in my teens catching Jimmy Eat World’s show when they were touring the ‘Bleed American’ album LOYLE CARNER - AIN’T NOTHING CHANGED We’re really excited to hear some of Loyle Carner’s debut album live. We’ve been listening to it a lot while we’ve been on the road. EMINEM - LOSE YOURSELF Josephine was crazy about Eminem when she was a kid. By the time she was 13, she could rap his songs word for word. P

It’s the return of the self-professed rap god. You might have heard of him. “I’ve always had a soft spot for old Marshall, his early albums had such a massive impact on my childhood and teenage years. He’s not playing the same day as us but he’s playing Leeds the day after, and I’m really hoping to be able to stay on and see him. He’s definitely one of those bucket list artists in my eyes.” - Ash, God Damn Listen to: The spilt spaghetti of ‘Lose Yourself’ Main Stage, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

#33 EVERYTHING EVERYTHING

Oddball pop you just can’t stop. Listen to: New album ‘A Fever Dream’ isn’t out until the day before they hit the festival - so blast out a bit of ‘Photoshop Handsome’. NME / BBC Radio 1 Stage, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

#34 FICKLE FRIENDS

How many new bands do bangers better than Fickle Friends. None. Zero. Literally nobody. Listen to: ‘Cry Baby’ still “slaps” seriously, we’re doing slaps now? NME / BBC Radio 1 Stage, Sunday (Reading), Friday (Leeds)

#35 FLUME

Aussie production royalty, Flume isn’t full of smoke. Listen to: Last year’s really very good album ‘Skin’. NME / BBC Radio 1 Stage, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

#36 GET INUIT

For some reason they’re playing the dance stage but it doesn’t matter. Wherever Get Inuit go, we will follow. Listen to: The life-affirming dance of ‘Pro-Procrastinator’. BBC Radio 1 Dance Stage, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

#37 GLASS ANIMALS

Glass Animals are bringing ‘How To Be A Human Being’ to R&L with the intention of starting a pineapple party for the ages. Listen to: ‘Pork Soda’ is tastier than you’d think. NME / BBC Radio 1 Stage, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

#47 HAIM

Haim were supposed to play Reading & Leeds last year then they pulled out to finish their second album. It’s done and out now, packed with the kind of festival ready, arms aloft anthems that send the clouds away and the sun out to play. Listen to: ‘Little Of Your Love’ is going to go off. NME / BBC Radio 1 Stage, Sunday (Reading), Friday (Leeds)

new songs nobody knows. We are recording right now and everything is feeling very good.” - Hannah, Grouplove Listen to: ‘Ways To Go’ from 2013’s ‘Spreading Rumours’ still sounds awesome. Festival Republic Stage, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

#39 HALSEY

Her voice has been all over the radio but it still belongs to a generation who are trying to find their own. Powerful, important pop. Listen to: Monster jam ‘Strangers’. NME / BBC Radio 1 Stage, Sunday (Reading), Friday (Leeds)

#40 HONEYBLOOD

Ready for the magic? Thought so. Listen to: Erm, ‘Ready For The Magic’, durrrrrrrrrr. Main Stage, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

#41 IDLES

“Do I have any onstage festival tricks? I spit in Bowen’s face. They like that.” Joe, IDLES Listen to: ‘Brutalism’ is one of the best albums we’ve heard this year. Festival Republic Stage, Friday (Reading), Saturday (Leeds)

#42 INHEAVEN

Reading is the festival INHEAVEN were born to play. Last year they smashed the Festival Republic stage, now they’re going one bigger. Expect

fireworks. Listen to: ‘Drift’ is a perfect summer sizzler. NME / BBC Radio 1 Stage, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

#43 JAGWAR MA

Last year’s full-length ‘Every Now & Then’ proved Jagwar Ma were in it for the long haul. When it comes to those August weekends, there are few better. Listen to: ‘Give Me A Reason’ and its woozy grooves. Festival Republic Stage, Friday (Reading), Saturday (Leeds)

#44 JAPANDROIDS

Loud, melodic rock with pop sensibilities and catchy choruses. The Canadian duo have no problem in getting a riot started. Listen to: This year’s bangerific album ‘Near To The Wild Heart Of Life’. Festival Republic Stage, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

#45 KING NUN

If there was a trophy for the best new band in the country, you’d get short odds on King Nun making the final. They’re that good. Listen to: Opening gambit ‘Tulip’ rips. Festival Republic Stage, Sunday (Reading), Friday (Leeds)

#46 LANY

Slick grooves. Slick moves. Listen to: Their self-titled debut album. BBC Radio 1 Dance Stage, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

#48 SIGRID

Here is a list of new artists with more pop megastar potential than Sigrid: ... ... ... ... (Yes. It’s empty.) Listen to: ‘Plot Twist’ is solid gold, but then it all is. BBC Radio 1 Dance Stage, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

#38 GROUPLOVE

“We’re probably gonna play some

DOWN WITH BORING

“THEY

G BRIN THE ERS, BANG D R’KI

BA N G FOOK

’R E A LL E RS Y OU

IN ’ P O TAT O !”

#49 Here’s what our Liam’s setlist should be at Reading & Leeds

#50 SUNDARA KARMA

We don’t want another Glastonbury situation, do we r’kid? t’s not that Liam Gallagher’s set at Glastonbury 2017 was bad. It wasn’t. Really. But it did sort of struggle in places. See, none of us have heard his debut album ‘As You Were’ yet. We still won’t have by the time we get to Reading & Leeds either. We know its lead single, ‘Wall Of Glass’, as well as that other, slightly less good track that followed [‘Chinatown’ - Ed], but that’s it. And anyway, festivals aren’t a place to bring out solo material from ‘the new album’ - they’re for bangers. And Liam - Liam has the key to some of the biggest, baddest bangers of the last 30 years. So here’s our plea, r’kid. For one night (well, two), put the promo campaign aside and give us what we want. No, not your brother. An hour or so of Oasis classics. It’ll be legendary. Promise. We’ve even

helped by sticking you together a suggested setlist. Please? Banger-dome rules apply. Album tracks need a licence, B-sides need a court ruling. 80% of the set must be SOLID GOLD. With that in mind, Liam should play... 1. Fuckin’ In The Bushes 2. Rock ‘n’ Roll Star 3. Wall of Glass (we’re not unreasonable... - Ed) 4. Some Might Say 5. Slide Away 6. Cigarettes & Alcohol 7. Be Here Now (you’ll only play it anyway... -Ed) 8. Supersonic 9. Shakermaker 10. Roll With It 11. D’You Know What I Mean? 12. Live Forever

LISTEN ON SPOTIFY

Want to listen to the set list we’ve suggested above? Of course you do. Load up Spotify on your mobile, tap search, then the camera icon, scan the code to the left, and it’ll pop right up. Think you can do better? Knock something together and tweet it to us @readdork.

#51 LIFE

We could go on about LIFE’s ‘ouvre’, but really, we want to stand in a field and shout ROLLOVER! ROLLOVER! really, really loud. Listen to: ‘Euromillions’. ROLLOVER! ROLLOVER! The Pit, Friday (Reading), Saturday (Leeds)

#52 LOYLE CARNER

If praise for a debut record was measured in hot meals, that would explain why our Loyle is so good at the whole cooking lark. Obviously this metaphor worked better in our heads. Listen to: First full-length ‘Yesterday’s Gone’. NME / BBC Radio 1 Stage, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

#53 MAJOR LAZER

You want chart friendly bops on a weekend? Major Lazer’s got ‘em. Listen to: Grab a ‘Cold Water’. Main Stage, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

#54 MARIKA HACKMAN

With her second album ‘I’m Not Your Man’, Marika has set herself perfectly as a festival powerhouse. She’ll smash it here. Listen to: The brilliant ‘Boyfriend’. NME / BBC Radio 1 Stage, Friday (Reading), Saturday (Leeds)

#59 THE AMAZONS

In the first half of 2017, The Amazons set themselves up as one of the hottest bands in the country, smashing radio airwaves right, left and centre. At Reading, they’ll prove just how far they’ve come. Listen to: The second best song called ‘Black Magic’. Sorry lads, but t’Mix always win. Festival Republic Stage, Friday (Reading), Saturday (Leeds)

READDORK.COM

Sorry, Leeds, but when Reading’s Sundara Karma play Reading Festival, the stars align and magic happens. Like their fellow hometown heroes The Amazons, they’ve dropped an album and taken flight in the last twelve months. Listen to: ‘Flame’ is still lit. NME / BBC Radio 1 Stage, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

#55 MURA MASA

UK music’s enigmatic prodigy, Mura Masa and a cast of all star mates have already delivered a debut record that perfectly pitches for festival fun. Listen to: ‘1 Night’, cos we all know our Charli will be on hand. NME / BBC Radio 1 Stage, Sunday (Reading), Friday (Leeds)

#56 MUSE

They don’t trust The Man but they love flashy lights and wild guitar solos. What more do you really want? Listen to: The giddy-up anthem of ‘Knights of Cydonia’. Main Stage, Sunday (Reading), Friday (Leeds)

#57 OFF BLOOM

If we’re looking to lay it down, we’ll be after Off Bloom and their pop perfection. Proof that Reading & Leeds has evolved into something diverse and exciting in recent years. Listen to: ‘Falcon Eye’ is a 14/10 banger. Festival Republic Stage, Friday (Reading), Saturday (Leeds)

#58 POND

Everywhere they go, they always take ‘The Weather’ with them. Listen to: Seriously. ‘The Weather’. It’s the title of their most recent fulllength. NME / BBC Radio 1 Stage, Sunday (Reading), Friday (Leeds)

READING & LEEDS

#60 PUMAROSA

One of the most exiting new talents on the planet, ‘FYI’, Dear Reader. Listen to: 5-star debut ‘The Witch’. Festival Republic Stage, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

#61 RAT BOY

Last time Rat Boy played Reading & Leeds, he nearly took the tent off its moorings. This time round, prepare for take off. Listen to: New album ‘Scum’, out now. Main Stage, Friday (Reading), Saturday (Leeds)

#62 SLØTFACE

Your New Favourite Band. No question. Listen to: The very, very, very great ‘Magazine’. The Lock Up, Sunday (Reading), Friday (Leeds)

#63 SUPERFOOD

Reinvented and reinvigorated, Superfood are perfectly pitched for festival fun. Listen to: Comeback track, ‘Double Dutch’. Festival Republic Stage, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

#64 TEN TONNES

With a smashing new EP and a slew of festival slots this summer, everything’s coming up Ten Tonnes. Listen to: The Hugo White-produced

‘Silver Heat’. Festival Republic Stage, Sunday (Reading), Friday (Leeds)

#65 THE BIG MOON

The band took a stand against boring long ago and it’s been nothing but excitement ever since. Listen to: The absolute party jam of ‘Bonfire’. Festival Republic Stage, Friday (Reading), Saturday (Leeds)

#66 THE JAPANESE HOUSE Blissed out vibes ahoy - our Amber will sooth those weekend hangovers. Listen to: Her new ‘Saw You In A Dream’ EP. Festival Republic Stage, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

#67 THE MAGIC GANG

The Magic Gang will be back to top stages at festivals like this one day. They may well do it from the middle of the bill this year. Listen to: ‘Your Love’. NME / BBC Radio 1 Stage, Friday (Reading), Saturday (Leeds)

#68 TOOTHLESS

In Bombay Bicycle Club, Ed Nash played festivals the world over. As Toothless, he’s got it down all by himself. Listen to: Debut album, ‘The Pace of the Passing’. Festival Republic Stage, Friday

#74 BLACK HONEY

Cinematic superheroes Black Honey are a band with a fire burning bright. It’s gonna set the world alight before too long. Reading & Leeds beware. Listen to: ‘Hello Today’ Festival Republic Stage, Saturday (Reading), Sunday (Leeds)

(Reading), Saturday (Leeds)

#69 TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB

Indie bangers need no introduction. Listen to: Last year’s ‘Gameshow’. Main Stage, Friday (Reading), Saturday (Leeds)

#70 VANT

Mattie VANT has something to say. Reading likes a good gob off, too. Listen to: ‘Fly-By Alien’. Main Stage, Sunday (Reading), Friday (Leeds)

#71 WHITE ROOM

“We may have a few things up our sleeves. We’re planning on playing our next release ‘Eight’ in its entirety, which is currently being drip fed into your ears one double A side at a time online.” Jake, White Room

Listen to: ‘Stole The I.V.’ It premiered on readdork.com, no less. Jack Rocks Stage (Reading)

#72 WILL JOSEPH COOK

Big Willy’s spent 2017 proving he’s got the indie pop smarts to dominate any arena. Expect the sun to come out for his sweet dreams. Listen to: ‘Take Me Dancing’ seems apt. Festival Republic Stage, Sunday (Reading), Friday (Leeds)

#73 YONAKA

Brighton firebrands Yonaka love to make a good din. Reading & Leeds seems a perfect fit. Listen to: The brilliantly snotty ‘Wouldn’t Wanna Be Ya’. Festival Republic Stage, Friday (Reading), Saturday (Leeds)

#75 BLAENAVON Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett.

“The excitable guy isn’t in the rhythm section” Frank and Harris may not be taking this entirely seriously... HELLO HARRIS AND FRANK. HOW HAS YOUR SUMMER BEEN SO FAR? Summer so far has been cool, it’s always good in festival season to have the weekdays off.

GO DOWN WELL WITH A FESTIVAL CROWD? Yes of course, we are all trick and no stick. Frank and Ben each have a set of impromptu dance routines that always get peoples noses wet.

DO YOU HAVE ANY ONSTAGE TRICKS THAT ALWAYS

IS THERE ANYONE YOU’RE PARTICULARLY LOOKING

FORWARD TO SEEING PLAY, OR CATCHING UP WITH? Honestly, no. Not that we’ve seen the line up. WHICH IS YOUR FAVOURITE OF THE HEADLINERS: MUSE, KASABIAN OR EMINEM? If you’ve been reading up on us you might find that we formed when we were 14 to play Muse covers. So yeah, Kasabian should be fun! WHO’S THE BEST BAND

YOU’VE SEEN THERE? Leeds 2014: Harris disappeared for a few hours and we found him naked crawling back to the tent after seeing System Of A Down. He’s never been the same since. WHAT’S THE BEST THING ABOUT READING & LEEDS? Warm Fosters can sculptures. WHAT ELSE ARE YOU EXCITED ABOUT RIGHT NOW? Nothing at all. The excitable guy isn’t in the rhythm section. P

H Y U N DA I M E RC U RY P R I Z E

MERCURY THE SH ORTLIST FOR TH IS YE AR’S H YU N DAI MERCURY PRI Z E HAS BEEN AN N OU N CE D,

AND THE RE A RE A F E W FAMI LI AR FAC ES.

he nominees for this year’s Hyundai Mercury Prize have been revealed, and there’s Quite A Few Dork faves in the mix for this year’s gong. Chief amongst them are three previous cover stars. The Big Moon get a nod for their Really Bloody Brilliant debut album ‘Love in the 4th

Dimension’, while Glass Animals are nominated for their second album, the equally fantastic ‘How to Be a Human Being’ that came out last year.

Oh, and Ed Sheeran. Well, he probably did pay for everything. Suppose it’s only fair he gets a night out. This year’s awards show will be held at the ‘Eventim’ Apollo in Hammersmith on Thursday, 14th September.

Completing the trio are Alt-J, who make the list with their recent third album ‘Relaxer’, but the fun doesn’t stop there. There’s also nods for Blossoms, Loyle Carner, Sampha, Stormzy and The xx, amongst others.

Last year’s winner was Skepta, preceded by Benjamin Clementine (2015), Young Fathers (2014), James Blake (2013) and Alt-J (2012).

The Shortlist... GLASS ANIMALS

ALT-J

RELAXER

Released: 2 June 2017 Peak chart position: 6 nd

BLOSSOMS

J HUS

COMMON SENSE

4/1 Stormzy ‘Gang Signs & Prayer’ 4/1 Sampha ‘Process’ 6/1 The xx ‘I See You’ 6/1 Alt-J ‘Relaxer’ 6/1 Ed Sheeran ‘÷’ 6/1 Blossoms ‘Blossoms’ 8/1 Loyle Carner ‘Yesterday’s Gone’ 8/1 Kate Tempest ‘Let Them Eat Chaos’ 8/1 J Hus ‘Common Sense’ 10/1 Glass Animals ‘How to be a Human Being’ 10/1 Dinosaur ‘Together, As One’ 10/1 The Big Moon ‘Love in the 4th Dimension’

SAMPHA

PROCESS

Released: 3rd February 2017 Peak chart position: 7

STORMZY

GANG SIGNS & PRAYER

Released: 12th May 2017 Peak chart position: 6

Released: 24th February 2017 Peak chart position: 1

DINOSAUR

KATE TEMPEST

LOVE IN THE 4TH DIMENSION

TOGETHER, AS ONE

ED SHEERAN

Released: 3 March 2017 Peak chart position: 1

READDORK.COM

Released: 26th August 2016 Peak chart position: 23

The first batch of odds has been revealed for this year’s Mercury Prize, courtesy of William Hill. In news that will surprise no one, Stormzy is currently the favourite to win, coming in at 4/1, along with Sampha at the same odds. The odds are:

Released: 5th August 2016 Peak chart position: 1

Released:16th September 2016 Peak chart position: n/a

HOW TO BE A HUMAN BEING

THE ODDS

LET THEM EAT CHAOS

Released: 7th October 2016 Peak chart position: 28

LOYLE CARNER

YESTERDAY’S GONE

Released: 20 January 2017 Peak chart position: 14 th

THE BIG MOON

Released: 7th April 2017 Peak chart position: 66

THE XX

I SEE YOU

Released: 13th January 2017 Peak chart position: 1

IT’S ANIMAL MAGIC

FIX THE MERCURY PRIZE

We’ve been on Twitter. We know people like to complain about the Mercury Prize shortlist. So here’s our challenge to you - DO BETTER.

Glass Animals are on tour in the US, but frontman Dave Bayley still wants to say thanks for the shortlist slot: “Every year the four of us get swept up listening to all of the albums shortlisted for a Mercury award,” he says, “guessing who’s going to win, burying ourselves in the best and most cohesive records to come out of the UK. It’s an amazing award, not only as a celebration of British music, but also because of the way the award can transform the careers of the artists involved. We never thought this would happen…but here we are on the shortlist… our minds are blown. Thank you to everyone who has ever supported us in any way. You got us here. And congrats to all the other artists.”

Fill in this form, cut it out, and send us what you’d have as your twelve shortlisted albums. THE RULES: “Albums by British and Irish artists with a UK digital release date between 30 July 2016 and 21 July 2017 (inclusive) are eligible for the ‘2017 Albums of the Year’ competition. Albums need to be available, as a minimum, to buy as a digital download from at least one selected major UK digital retailer.” So there you go. You can tweet a photo to @readdork, or mail it direct to Dork, PO Box 390, Hastings, TN34 9JP.

“It’s been quite difficult to sleep...”

he Big Moon have been shortlisted for the Mercury Prize for their debut album ‘Love In The 4th Dimension’. If you’re here, it means you probably know we think it’s brilliant. And we’re right. After taking a bunch of photos, doing important Mercury Nomination type things and having a pub lunch (“I bloody love a Caesar salad. I love that dressing. It’s also Fern’s birthday today, so we had some birthday cake as well.”) we caught up with Jules Jackson to see how she’s finding it all. Hi Jules, you’re a Mercury Nominee. How’s that feel? It’s madness. I’m just completely bamboozled, to be honest. It feels like I’m not awake and I’m actually asleep, and someone is going to wake me up in a minute and say ‘do you want a cup of tea?’ Yeah, but what about the Mercury Prize? It’s totally surreal. Were you expecting it? No. Not at all. We found out a week ago, and it was completely out of the blue. When you make an album, you just make your music, you make it how you want it to sound, and you don’t think anything really. You hope that

people will like it. This is a big deal for us. Even being shortlisted, we still feel like we’ve won, to be honest. You even get a trophy if you don’t win. I checked on the website. Where are you going to keep the trophy? I guess we’re going to have to work out a schedule and divide the time between the band. I could put it on top of the fridge. I could put it in the fridge, keep it fresh. And then you’ll be reminded every time you open it. ‘Remember that time we were nominees?’ We’ve been calling ourselves MN’s all week. Every time something shit’s happened, it doesn’t matter ‘cos MN. If you discover you’ve got loads of fruit flies in your soy sauce that you’ve been using for the last year, and you’ve just eaten, it doesn’t matter ‘cos MN. It’s been quite difficult to sleep. And quite difficult not to tell everyone ‘cos we had to keep it a secret. Who didn’t you keep it a secret from? I told my mum and dad and my boyfriend. My parents were like, ‘Wonderful, what is that?’ They had to go and Google it and then ‘We’re so proud.’ It’s funny how sometimes something that is so big in your world is so insignificant in someone else’s. It

brings you back down to earth. How are you finding the nomination? Because this album is songs you wrote in your bedroom, then recorded with some mates. It’s really weird. I did think about that today. We all went for a pub lunch after the thingy was announced. I was thinking, if I hadn’t decided to try and work out how to write songs in my bedroom, none of us would even be sitting here. It’s mental how it’s all escalated and grown. The whole MN thing feels like the icing on a cake. A really big delicious cake. Are you going to win it? Uhm, no. I think Kate Tempest is going to win. Or Loyle Carner, I like him. Or Stormzy could win, he’s also great. For us, just being nominated, it’s like being nominated for the Turner Prize. It’s better than The Brits or The Grammys because it’s voted for by people we respect. It means so much. We needed something to happen. The album came out four months ago, we love it, and we’re really proud of it but nothing crazy happened, it kept bubbling, and building and you just keep going, but at some point, we started to wonder where does this lead. We all started scratching our heads, what do we do now? Hopefully lots more people will get to hear our album now, which is really cool. P

10.

11.

12.

DOWN WITH BORING

Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett See more on readdork.com now.

LATITUDE FESTIVAL

TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB

BASICALLY EVERY BOY EVER IS IN CHARLI XCX’S NEW VID, ‘FYI’

HRH QUEEN OF ALL POP CHARLI XCX HAS DROPPED HER SELF-DIRECTED VIDEO FOR NEW SINGLE ‘BOYS’, AND IT SUCCESSFULLY OBJECTIFIES PRETTY MUCH EVERY MALE IN THE GAME. WHICH IS OBVIOUSLY BRILLIANT. HERE ARE JUST A FEW OF THE BEEFCAKES WHO FEATURE... YOU CAN WATCH THE FULL THING ON READDORK.COM. ONE OF THE BELOW MAY NOT ACTUALLY BE IN THE VIDEO, BUT SHHH. THEY’LL NEVER GUESS.

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O VIDE HE OF T TH! MON

HERE’S A COMPLETE LIST OF EVERYONE IN THE VID. AMINÉ AG COOK BARNS COURTNEY BASTILLE (DAN) BRENDAN URIE BRING ME THE HORIZON (OLI) BUDDY CAMERON DALLAS CHARLIE PUTH CHROMEO COBRA SNAKE CONNOR FRANTA COURTEENERS (LIAM) DENZEL CURRY DI CASP DIPLO FAI KHADRA

FLUME FRANK CARTER G EAZY HURTS (THEO) JACK ANTONOFF JACK GUINNESS JAY PARK JAY PRINCE JOE JONAS JOEY BADASS KAYTRANADA KHALID MAC DEMARCO MARK RONSON MS MR (MAX) MIC LOWRY MNEK ONE OK ROCK

POET PORTUGAL, THE MAN PRINCE & JACOB RIZ AHMED & THE SWET SHOP BOYS SAGE THE GEMINI SHAMARI MAURICE SHOKICHI SHAUN ROSS SLAVES (LAURIE) SPECTOR (FRED) STORMZY THEY THE FAT JEW THE LIBERTINES (CARL) THE VAMPS (TRISTAN AND JAMES) TINIE TEMPAH TOM DALEY TOM GRENNAN TOMMY CASH TY DOLLA SIGN VANCE JOY VAMPIRE WEEKEND (EZRA AND ROSTAM) WILL.I.AM WIZ KHALIFA WSTRN BING WINNERS

TIGERCUB HAVE A NEW EP TH E BRIG HTON BU NCH A RE BACK WITH SOMETH IN G N E W, A ND THEY’VE GOT A SPECIAL WAY TO G ET H OLD OF IT, TO O.

Tigercub are set to drop a new EP this September. Following on from debut album ‘Abstract Figures In The Dark’, they’ll release the ‘Evolve or Die’ EP on 29th September as a “pay what you want” vinyl. The EP is preceded by a new single ‘The Divided States Of Us’, streaming now on readdork.com. Frontman Jamie Hall explains: “There are two sides to ‘The Divided States of Us’ – the literal meaning and the

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metaphorical. Politically I feel like things are almost 50/50 split at the moment, there’s no longer a centre ground, but it’s also about having a divided mental state internally. “A lot of people are frustrated right now and that’s definitely how I feel. The song has no answers to our problems, but it’s about empathy. We’re together in that cathartic creation with other people who have been through that shared experience.” U P C O M I N G S H OWS

Live

AU G UST 10T H -12 T H

H U S K Y LO O PS

U K TO U R G RE E N D O O R STO RE , B RI G H TO N (10), ACT RESS & B I S H O P, B I RM I N G H A M (11), ESQ U I RES , B E D FO RD (12) AU G UST 10T H -12 T H

L E E F EST

W I L D B E ASTS , F I C K L E F RI E N DS , BA D SO U N DS , F I S H , S H A M E + M O RE N E A R T U N B RI D G E W E L LS

S E P T E M B E R 13T H

S U P E RG LU + BA D P O P

T H E FAC E BA R , RE A D I N G O CTO B E R 16 T H

D RE A M W I F E

T H E BU L L I N G D O N , OX FO RD O CTO B E R 21 ST

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P U RP L E T U RT L E , RE A D I N G FO R M O RE I N FO : RE A D D O RK .C O M DOWN WITH BORING

LC D SO U N DSYST E M

E N O E SOM GREAT

CK ! RE TU RN IN YS TE M AR E BA LC D SO UN DS IC K HE RE ’S A QU TH Y HI AT US , AF TE R A LE NG T BA ND . E TH E PE RF EC W HY TH EY ’R CATC H UP ON D. HE N AC KR OY W OR DS : ST EP

are unique. They CD Soundsystem bands they may re su , ers have pe influences they ls, ua eq see as their others that exist ess draw, and countl rship at their purely to try to wo end of the day, the at t Bu er. sonic alt like them act er oth an there’s not And there’s w. no ht on the planet rig are, for em yst t too. LCD Sounds good reason for tha . nd ba ct rfe pe rd, the want of a better wo e of music’s t they’re led by on It’s not just the fac y, though that rph Mu es Jam in ses few de-facto geniu not even that It’s r. he eit ing ir stand doesn’t harm the top of their the at s ian er music he’s matched by oth ang and Wh y nc th-master Na game - not least syn It’s not even that y. ne ho Ma t Pa human metronome re perfect. So us full-lengths we e their three previo call it a day befor to ed t they decid ed ers rev perfect, in fact, tha ly on ion stale - a decis they could become od it demanded material was so go w ne ir the se cau be day. to see the light of reason. Because part, but it’s not the e, All of that plays a fin de e. See LCD liv ost impossible to the reason is alm y’re a sight that the it, cu cir ct rfe e pe and you’ll get it. Th equal, each part still. Talent hard to could stand time stermind - each ma nic ough their ico ctly. And yet flows perfectly thr rfe pe sound triggered note directed, each tead there’s a ins e lik ine ch or ma it’s never clinical loud. ic heart that beats warmth, an organ onic act on the greatest electr They could well be the best punk for y pla a ke ma uld the planet. They co They’re LCD . ng thi e on they’re no band too. In truth, ening all over pp ha is re back. This Soundsystem. They’ again.

Every LCD album is a 5 star classic

Well, the first three are. We’re not allowed to tell you about the new one until next issue.

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM

The album that started it all, LCD Soundsystem’s self-titled debut was the announcement of a band who could live in the gaps between the cool kids and the mainstream. Arriving over two discs, it matched two cuts of the lengthy, intoxicating ‘Yeah’ - coming in at over 20 minutes together - with the immediate explosion of ‘Daft Punk Is Playing At My House’ and ‘Movement’. It’s brilliant, obviously. 20

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SOUND OF SILVER

If the debut was a calling card, ‘Sound Of Silver’ was the masterpiece that kicked down all the doors. Nine tracks in lengths, it packs much of the band’s most storied material. From one of the greatest songs of the last 20 years in ‘All My Friends’ to the sardonic blast of ‘North American Scum’ and the rat pack crooning of ‘New York, I Love You...’, it was quite possibly the best album of the 00s.

THIS IS HAPPENING

‘This Is Happening’ was the shock. Not musically - LCD kept up their high standards with their third album. Rather, it was supposed to be their final release. A band going out at their top of the game felt like an ideal that only existed in fantasy bar conversations until James Murphy and co. actually did it. And while ‘This Is Happening’ may lack the iconic moments of its predecessor, it’s exactly what they did...

AMERICAN DREAM

... for a while, anyway. ‘American Dream’ is an album so good that it needed to be recorded. That’s what Murphy reckons, anyway. We can’t tell you much about it (yes, we’ve heard it) - we’re under a vow of secrecy until after this issue hits the streets - but if we’re feeling cheeky we’ll point out we wouldn’t be writing this piece if it was rubbish, now would we? Excited yet? Thought so.

TBC

They’ve got basically the best back catalogue in modern music, ‘FYI’ Show us a song better than ‘All My Friends’ and we’ll get you the help you so urgently need.

DAFT PUNK IS PLAYING AT MY HOUSE

From its opening explosion, the first track on LCD Soundsystem’s debut album is a line drawn in the sand. It wasn’t the first music we’d heard from James Murphy’s New York troupe, but it felt like a statement all the same. Announcing themselves into a world where Murphy’s DFA had already set the agenda, it felt like a defining moment for a generation.

SOMEONE GREAT

One half of the centre-piece of second album ‘Sound of Silver’ (more on the other one later), ‘Someone Great’ is a pulsing masterpiece. Beeping and bopping its way through an elongated intro, it took some of the ideas from ‘45:33’ (more on that later, too), and turned them into something truly special.

NORTH AMERICAN SCUM

While much of LCD Soundsystem’s output may have felt achingly cool, ‘North American Scum’ was the counterpoint that proved they were a band working on a whole other level. Immediate, sarcastic, selfaware; it’s a track that was perfect in the Bush-era crucible it arrived in that still feels just as apt today.

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ere are different voke devotion. Th Some musicians pro than others. When ay aw more throw Not reasons why - some ly down to talent. Murphy it’s entire rt pa in o wh n ma it comes to James , the r boy for anything ongst his peers am especially a poste t ou s nd sta s of the 00 the defined the sound captain’s chair on al. Like helming the nius of a ge c rbi as something speci ace t ye em, it’s the quiet Starship Soundsyst peers that sells it. his nd yo be ian music

Their (not actually) final show was awesome, and you can still watch it now The long goodbye was more ‘sort of long’ in the end..

CALL THE POLICE

Yep. A new one. ‘Call The Police’ was the first track we heard from LCD’s new album ‘American Dream’. That meant a lot was riding on it. Would it be good enough to carry their big return? What if it was - y’know - average? Thankfully, any doubts were quickly cast aside. A driving, epic seven minutes, it’s a song that sits perfectly amongst the band’s very best.

45:33

Commissioned by Nike, ‘45:33’ was described on release “to reward and push at good intervals of a run.” James Murphy even claimed he’d refined it by jogging on a treadmill to test it out. Later, he admitted he’d made that up. He doesn’t jog. He’s too busy making amazing music, 24/7/365. Durr. Top pop fact - though the track is titled ‘45:33’, it’s actually a good 20-odd seconds longer than it’s supposed run time.

NEW YORK, I LOVE YOU BUT YOU’RE BRINGING ME DOWN

On 8th February 2011, LCD Soundsystem announced their ‘final’ show. Taking place in April at the iconic New York’s Madison Square Garden, they went on to announce four warm up gigs at Terminal 5 too. Titled ‘The Long Goodbye’ - a title that turned out to be sorry of ironic in the end - that last date went down in legend. A near religious experience, it felt like an important moment to full stop an important band.

The mastery of LCD Soundsystem lies in more than one carefully packaged little box. Capable of sublime electronica and ferocious punk, there’s always been another string to their considerable bow. A woozy, crooning master piece, ‘New York, I Love You...’ isn’t just ‘Sound of Silver’’s closing track. It’s a song that defines a city.

While, as it turns out, it wasn’t quite the final punctuation mark that we expected (and really, did we ever truly think that was the end), it doesn’t reduce its emotional impact one iota. Which is why it’s so great we can live it back time and time again.

Of all LCD Soundsystem’s arsenal, it’s ‘All My Friends’ that stands out the furthest. Just over seven and a half minutes in length, it sits at the very heart of ‘Sound Of Silver’. In truth, it could be the pivot point of a whole decade, such is its mastery. The greatest song of its generation? Possibly, yeah.

Because, let’s be honest - most of us couldn’t be in

ALL MY FRIENDS

New York to see it live. What we could do, though, is pick up the live recording, released in 2014, and watch 2012 doc ‘Shut Up And Play The Hits’, which featured James Murphy during the 48 hours before that final show. It’s a music film every fan should watch.

DOWN WITH BORING

WILLIE J HEALEY

A DOG’S LIFE WI L L I E J HE A L EY HAS C REATED AN H O N EST A N D VA RI E D D EBUT THAT EX PLORES HI S LOVE OF SOME OF MUSIC’S G RE ATS. WO RDS: STEVE N LOF TI N

or someone who’s still in the grips of youth, Willie J Healey comes across with the ideals of an older age. He’s well aware of what he likes and doesn’t like and isn’t afraid to stick to his guns. Littered throughout his debut album, ‘People and Their Dogs’, are vintage influences that retain that youthful vigour that can only come from doing something you love. Willie has always been an artist who does what he wants. Be it an oddball music video that features him making out with an alien (‘Greys’), or turning up to his first gigs in a battered old limo he purchased because it was cheaper than a van - you can always guarantee Willie is true to himself. “I feel like that’s the only way it can be for me,” he says earnestly. “I just wanted to make things honest.” Honesty is certainly a striking policy when it comes to ‘People and Their Dogs’: every track feels like a fresh turn down a street you may have grown up near. Opener ‘Subterranean’ has implicit Bob Dylan vibes, even down to the way Willie enunciates certain characters, while one of his own personal standout tracks is ‘Love Her’; a furious rampage that leaves the uncertain flow of everything before it behind and careers into a sprint. Its origins were far from planned though, which he explains excitedly. “It was spontaneous to record, and not that much thought went into it, which is nice. It just came to together really quick.”

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Trying to nail this album down into just one category is a fruitless task, any moment you feel you’ve got it pegged it changes direction. He’s aware this may be a slight danger to his approachability by the average Spotify-digester. “If you dipped in for just one song, you might get me totally wrong,” he says with a mildly worried laughter. “It doesn’t feel that novel to me, but I can see how someone could find it strange that there’s that much going on in the album, but I really commit to all of these songs.” As a somewhat joking plan for the future he muses, “Maybe I could do an album with heavy songs and an album of acoustic songs? Be a bit more organised!” While getting to this point has no doubt taken a level of dedication and planning, from his basic beginnings to finding his world getting bigger and bigger, the appeal of Willie lies in the unexpected. In the same way that life can throw you a curve ball or three, never staying complacent even if it can start to feel like it is, the charm of Willie is the excitement and understanding he can impart. He’s self-aware and loving every moment. Breaking down where his album’s fluid progression stems from, he offers: “I think a lot of albums I like are like that - bands like Wilco and The Beatles, and all the obvious stuff, they have that all over the place [feeling]. I’m not really referencing anything too heavy; it’s just a combination of things that I like listening to and playing. It’s kinda cool, it’s influenced by lots of things, and when you chuck all that

stuff together, you get something a bit weird and new. But it’s hard to pin it down, isn’t it?” With his debut coming to the world very soon, a project which has in fact been completed since the very start of 2017, Willie hasn’t been sat around not doing anything. “I’ve been working on new songs and stuff like that, so I’ve not been too stagnant,” he reveals. “But you do feel like; I don’t know, you just want to show people you’ve got this new thing. It’s like not being able to give someone a Christmas present for ages!”

“IT’S HARD TO PIN DOWN, ISN’T IT?” Once unwrapped, his debut is certain to gain him hoards of new fans. It’s impossible not to get captured by his work; every moment feels like the start of something new. “Some people put two EPs together for their first album which makes sense, but I think it’s lame.” Freshness is what Willie is all about. “I think it’s good for everyone, if you’re a fan of bands like Modest Mouse and you’re someone who likes lots of different types of music, you know (Sandy) Alex G or someone like that, I feel like there’s lots in that.”

He’s hoping this ethos of productivity pays off. “The person who’s writing is really happy because they’re writing songs they like, and the people who are listening to it, hopefully - if they like the music the person writes - it’s like a gold mine [for them] because there’ll be lots of it. “You can also see, and tap into, the way they’re trying new things and not just doing what works or trying to write a hit. It all just depends on what you’re into. Some stuff lasts, and some stuff doesn’t. I think as someone who writes songs; you listen to the stuff that stands the test of time and [try to] do that justice and then hopefully your songs don’t date badly.” On whether or not his new tunes hold any evolution, he offers: “Yeah [they do], and I don’t feel so aware of the change, but I’ve been told that some of the demos are quite different to the past bunch of songs we recorded together. It sounds like my new ideas are moving on, which is good. I’ve got a collection of new stuff, so I’m keen to get going on that and yeah, just do another one.” “I mean, ideally, I’d love to have finished the second one before the first one was released,” he laughs. “I think that would be a great story, but I just haven’t pushed it because I want to write as much as I can this time, because who knows when my ideas will go?” P Willie J Healey’s album ‘People And Their Dogs’ is out 18th August.

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PHOTO: POPPY MARRIOTT

RE... S L AV E S A

’ ER TR U TH AT ED BI TT ‘S U G A R C O N O TI EC O LL R D EB U T C RO YA L W IT H TH EI TO TH EI R D ED BA C K EA H ES O LD , SL AV V E YE A RS BE R. TU RN IN G FI Y TO RE M EM W A PA RT RO TH TO O TS E W EL LS RO TU N BR ID G ST O N . TO S: TI M EA FT IN . PH O LO EN EV W O RD S: ST

ds arkness descen Wells ge rid nb Tu on up hts lig e th As . Forum the stage flicker across r cuts and each lette ack, bl e th h ug ro th ing rm fo ly al tu even crowd one word, the ent, the kind lpable excitem erupts. It’s a pa etown show. m ho a come from that can only Isaac Holman – ge ke to the sta Two figures ta And these are . ent; aka Slaves and Laurie Vinc their people. nd for them. It’s hallowed grou s This venue is their first show ayed some of where they pl EP, ‘Sugar t bu de r ei th rded and even reco the cause of Truth’, which is Coated Bitter anniversary. th fif ation – its tonight’s celebr entirety, ay the EP in its Returning to pl ed by a lucky in jo ’re ey th l, d al to snag bonus tracks an ed ag an m o fans wh ment ce hundred or so un no an last minute This ry. tickets to this na tio gle body is sta – and not a sin gs proves to be in nn gi be ’ es Slav celebration of s. ds’ history book one for the la up ‘Sugar cks that make The eleven tra ght back to ou br s lve se them Coated…’ find fore, with be r ve ne e city lik g seen the life with a fero vin ha rth since its bi ought th the five years er ev ore than they duo achieve m fabled at this el fe s rie sto e th t possible. Even duction almos t’ has an intro ime, nt ru point; ‘Girl Figh nd co se brief fifteen quadruple its Where’s Your corker ‘Debbie, while absolute scares and late ot Fo g Bi of le as Car?’ sees its ta more striking gs feel all the ced by are en night wanderin flu in re we e songs the places thes e venue door. right outside th e ey also treat th ugh the EP, th ck The ‘Fu Barrelling thro ts; cu r we to a few ne thirsty crowd staple in their ly becoming a Hi Hat’ is quick of ‘Spit It Out’ final one-two sy set, while the nue from a bu ve e th rn er’ tu ic affair. As ch and ‘The Hunt ar an ht rig a down s sweat box into e ‘Slaves’ light gs out, and th ls el W ge rid the last note rin nb Tu ople of Royal mortalised turn off, the pe to their now im on t ou ck ba with their pour g in en ev e spent th streets, having roes. P hometown he

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S L AV E S

“Some of our guestlists are bigger than this venue”

laves’ ascension is remarkable. Two lads with just a guitar and barely a drum kit have made serious waves with songs that talk about the lacklustre ways of dealing with life (‘Spit It Out’) and the emptiness of big city living (‘Cheer Up London’). Their beginnings can be put down to being unable to find a drummer because no one around wanted to play punk like they did; an unsurprising revelation for Royal Tunbridge Wells. Finding themselves as a duo, they’ve not looked back since. Returning to celebrate the fifth anniversary of ‘Sugar Coated...’, it’s not quite a hometown show; Isaac hails from here whereas Laurie comes from just up the road in Maidstone. “ We have to keep a clear distinction, just because that’s the way it is,” he explains. Before they take to the stage at Tunbridge Wells Forum, Laurie talks about listening back to their debut EP, 2012’s ‘Sugar Coated Bitter Truth’. “It’s better now listening to it than it was when it came out. You get that, oh how did I write that song? feeling. I wanna do that again!” With an ever increasing number of fans and a relentless tour schedule, they’ve made a lot of new friends during their time as Slaves. “Without sounding like a dick, some of our guest lists are bigger than this venue now. When we played Brixton [Academy], I think there was 200?” “It feels good,” Isaac continues, “but there’s always a bit of pressure with hometown shows. All of a sudden people come out of the wood work and ask you for guest list.” All of this success has stemmed from their early singles and said EP, which in turn led to a debut album that filled an apparent void. “It only cost four hundred quid to record, took about four evenings of six-hour sessions each time, so it’s like a proper budget album,” says Laurie. “Four hundred quid for an album’s nothing!” They also attribute Slaves to the most obvious thing of all: “I think the reason

it stays so strong is that it’s just the two of us.” Onstage and off, the duo have a unique chemistry. “We’ve gone all over. I think if you don’t listen to our band and you put any of the songs on you can generalise them, but if you’re into our music and you like what it is, I think all of the albums go on a real journey. [2016’s] ‘Take Control’ doesn’t sound anything like ‘Sugar Coated...’.” “We were sound checking these old songs today, and I was like, ‘Fuck, these sound good! Why did we stop playing this?’ You have to remind yourself that back then it didn’t sound that good,” Laurie begins. “You didn’t have this equipment, you didn’t have this crew, sound guy, confidence, and it probably sounded quite weak. Now, revisiting them with all our high-tech gear and new ability to play the songs - five years of playing every single day is going to make you a better player, so it’s interesting revisiting this now.” “There might have been forces like label influence, but we’ve always been quite true to ourselves,” Isaac adds. Sometimes with music, you have to roll with the punches; but accepting that you’re barrelling towards your future so fast there’s little time to look back isn’t a bad thing. “Rather than feeling sad that you’re not in that time anymore, [it’s about] enjoying playing it again and going ‘I wrote this!’” says Laurie. “There’s this weird thing with music where it’s of a time and a moment. You almost feel you’re covering someone else’s songs when you look back at it; it’s not you anymore, you’ve moved on.” “Playing these songs, and just being proud rather than being jealous of your old self, if that makes sense, is quite interesting,” he continues. “What inspired it [was] seeing The Cribs doing their ten year anniversary [of ‘Men’s Needs...’], and that made me think how long it’s been since we did ‘Sugar...’. They’ve done loads of shows where they come out and do strippedback stuff, it felt like we needed a good reason to do it and I think this is the perfect reason.” Noting their change in styles, Laurie breaks it down. “It’s because we made a conscious effort on ‘Are You Satisfied?’ and ‘Take Control’ to get heavier; to be faster and more aggressive. When we released ‘Sugar’

“There’s always a bit of pressure with hometown shows” we thought it was more garage-poppy, it has a swing to some of the songs, and they’re quite slow.” Referring to Isaac, he continues: “I think you have to not move because if you move they’d speed up. They’re actually quite steady tracks, which is interesting because looking back everyone says this is our heaviest piece of work and when we were doing it I remember thinking we weren’t heavy enough. Do you remember? It all felt a bit too garage rock, and I wanted it to be punk. “We definitely write songs thinking about how they’re gonna be played

live. Like, with ‘Sockets’ I was just like, I wanna play something really fast and the song comes out. The problem with that is sometimes with fast songs you just don’t enjoy them; you’re just holding onto the tune trying to get through it. Pretty much whatever you’re doing you want something else, you’re never happy.” It’s impossible not to see why they’re making such waves; they know they’re a rarity, a force to be reckoned with, one that does what it needs to survive. Isaac ties it all together with a statement that’s hard to argue with: “There’s no one else that does what we do. We’re the masters of our craft.” P

DOWN WITH BORING

D U A L I PA

NEW RULES

“Look! No white patches!”

DUA LI PA I S A VERY GOOD P OP STAR. BACK STAG E AT G LASTON BU RY,

THEY SAY IT IS A LEGEND.

SHE RE F L ECTS O N HER RI SE. WORDS: ALI SHUTLE R.

lot can happen in twelve months. Last year when Dua Lipa played Glastonbury, she was riding a wave of hype, expectation and excitement. There’d been a handful of behemoth singles but nothing to fully get lost in. This time around, the wave has broken shore under a self-titled debut and turned all that buzz into something unbreakable. Those shimmering moments have become a superstar. “Last time I did Glastonbury, a lot of it was word of mouth. The tent was full, and I didn’t think it could get any better.” This year, everyone returned, and they brought their mates. “The tent was overflowing. It was such a crazy outcome. It’s been a massive step-up since the album’s come out. It’s insane.” Sitting backstage a few hours later, Dua finds a lot of what’s happening nuts. The show was crazy; the audience was insane, the reaction to the record has been mental. Rather than dazed though, she’s excited. She’s taking all the unexpected and turning it into something powerful. “I get really nervous before I get onstage,” she admits. “I love being onstage, but sometimes I’m also very vulnerable.” The nerves didn’t last for long today. “I just had the best time. I was so confident on stage today, just because the audience made me feel so at home. It was my favourite performance I’ve ever done, I think. It’s moments like this that I’m so pumped for. I’m ready. I felt invincible. I went out

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into the audience, and I stood on the barrier, and they were holding my hand, and we were singing together, and I was like, ‘This is a moment I’ll never forget for the rest of my life’. It was just my favourite thing ever; I loved it.” Dua first starting releasing music in 2015, (“time’s flown by so fast”) and she’s used the time since to find her voice. The debut album may seem her team up with a bunch of writers but that voice, her personality is consistent throughout. There’s no echoes or whispers; it’s proudly Dua. “One of the reasons it took so long for the album to come out was because I was taking time to really figure out who I was and what my sound was, what my genre was. I realised that I didn’t really have a genre and my sound was just a mixture of lots of different things. Somehow I managed to put them all into one thing that I identified with.” And that identity she’s discovered is ready to meet the world. “A lot of it is very personal and honest. I put a lot of myself out there, and it’s quite exposing. I was very

ULTIMATE BANGERS

nervous to get it out, but I was also really ready for people to hear it.” There’s real life across the record. “If people knew the songs that I’ve written are about them, I was okay with that. You know what, now is the right time to get it out there. I was just really open to it. There is a lot of strength in vulnerability, and being able to open up about your emotions. As daunting as it may be, there is a lot of strength behind it.” Dua has spent two years hustling. And hustling hard. The next thing was always on her mind but now, “I’m learning to be a lot more present.” For a while, “it felt like I didn’t really get to experience a lot of the places I was visiting. Now I’m learning to take a step back and really enjoy the moment.” That’s not to say she’s hitting pause. “I’m already writing for my second album. When I was coming towards the end of this album, I was like, okay, one final push. Now all of a sudden that the album’s out, all these new things are happening that I feel like I’m ready to write again. I feel in a really positive place. I’m just going to keep going; I have no intention of stopping.” P

“I WAS VERY NERVOUS TO GET IT OUT, BUT I WAS ALSO REALLY READY FOR PEOPLE TO HEAR IT”

THIS MONTH...

YEAH YEAH YEAHS

DATE WITH THE NIGHT The Yeah Yeah Yeahs have not long announced they’re returning from their hiatus. At the time of writing, they’ve only confirmed one show on the other side of the pond, but when you’re dealing with this lot, that’s enough to get Really Very Excited. If you’re in need of a refresher, debut album ‘Fever To Tell’ is the place to go. While ‘Maps’ may be the all-time classic, it’s ‘Date With The Night’ that takes the banger crown. A close quarters bruiser, it flails its way through two and a half minutes of New Rock Revolution brilliance that carried enough explosives to light up an entire planet. Thank fuck they’re back.

THE KILL NEW ERS’ A ‘WON LBUM DERF WON UL DERF UL OUT ON 2 ’ IS 2N SEPT EMBE D R, ‘FYI’

FIND MORE ON OUR CONSTANTLY UPDATED BRAND NEW BANGERS SPOTIFY PLAYLIST AT READDORK.COM

BANGERS HYPE

BLOXX CURTAIN

The headlines may speak of other things, but 2017’s dark undercurrent of brooding, primal indie rock continues to run strong. From the defiant revolution of INHEAVEN to the airwave-hogging rise of The Amazons, it’s a throwback that still feels fresh with the scent of youthful rebellion. That’s the world BLOXX thrive in. ‘Curtains’ pulses with the deep red blood of a band that live in the shadows but shine their own light all the same. Like the sound of a dying alarm call, its power fluctuating, there’s an effortless urgency running through its veins. A steel fist in a velvet glove, it knows what it is. Everything that bubbles beneath the surface must rise eventually. When it does, expect BLOXX to be ready to make their move.

SLØTFACE

PITTED

We’re getting really damn close to the release of Sløtface’s debut album ‘Try Not To Freak Out’ now, and they’ve yet to drop a single track which isn’t a straight up, solid hold, gem encrusted mega-banger. They’re not about to let that run stop now, either. ‘Pitted’ has all the hallmarks of a Sløtface classic - fast, frantic, carrying a message and spitting in the face of boring. A tale of praying for Bowie or Queen B on a night out, but faking it to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’,

there’s the undertone of the modern condition - a desire to actually stay home and do your own thing. Sløtface don’t have to lock themselves away to do that, though. Forever pushing an agenda to believe in, they’re a band more than capable of drawing their own devoted crowd.

WOLF ALICE

DON’T DELETE THE KISSES

It’s hard to imagine many other bands who could pull off a song like ‘Don’t Delete The Kisses’, the second track to be lifted from Wolf Alice’s second album ‘Visions Of A Life’. It’s harder still to think of one that would use it to follow up a dirty, grunge covered stormer like lead track ‘Yuk Foo’ – but then being their own band is what makes them so special in the first place. There’s a crystal clarity to ‘Don’t Delete The Kisses’ that cuts through the noise. With the playful invention of Grimes coupled with a running, winding spoken word verse, it’s its own tactile, organic universe, expanding out before exploding into euphoria for the chorus. With its own set of rules and its own sense of style, its effortlessly the coolest kid in school. A band who unite those around them, making music that only they could. They could be the most important band in a generation, but then why limit them by the measuring stick of their peers? There’s a reason why Wolf Alice sit at the head of the charge.

THE KILLERS

RUN FOR COVER

Name a band better at indie bangers than The Killers. Try it. Bet you can’t - because let’s be perfectly clear here, there isn’t one. From day one Brandon Flowers has delivered the class A cut of shimmering, crystal clear diamond nights - and though he and his troupe of Las Vegas desperadoes may have misstepped slighting on their previous full length, they’re showing no signs of making the same mistake on their latest full length ‘Wonderful Wonderful’. While ‘Run For Cover’ may be more like the good old reliable line we expect The Killers to tow - sweeping, cinematic, Springsteen-esque vistas delivered

at 100mph like they’re flying past the windscreen of an American muscle car in the dead of night when coupled with their first new album cut ‘The Man’, they paint an intriguing picture. The Killers’ strengths are undoubtable, but when matched with playfulness - some attitude, a bit of danger and desperation there’s the promise of something all together more interesting at play. If the band’s Glastonbury secret set showed us anything, it’s that - no matter what they may quip - this isn’t a band on the way down. It isn’t one happy to rest on the considerable laurels of ‘Mr Brightside’, either. “He’s got a big smile, it’s fake news, just run for cover, you’ve got nothing left to lose,” Brandon cries. You get his point. You’d do well to listen, too.

BANGERS ON DEMAND

Want to keep up to date with the latest bangers as they drop? You’ll be wanting our Brand New Bangers playlist, then. Load up Spotify on your mobile, tap search, then the camera icon, scan the code to the left, and it’ll pop right up. Follow to make sure you never miss out again

DOWN WITH BORING

IN THE STUDIO: SPRING KING

ast year Spring King released their debut album ‘Tell Me If You Like To’. The record may have looked at identity, feelings of loss, uncertainty and wondered where they fit in but the band quickly found their place as leaders of a new wave. Now they’re looking at where we go next. “I feel like I lost my mind on the last album,” grins Tarek. “The whole Beats1 thing happened, there were loads of labels coming up from above the water, we’d already done the album but I was mixing it, and we’d just been signed. They hadn’t heard it, and they weren’t going to hear it until it was fully mixed. It was such chaos. We’d just come off tour, then two days after we were in the studio scrambling for gear. We didn’t have any proper equipment.” “It was a crazy time,” agrees Pete. “But I’m so proud of what we did.” Sat backstage at 2000trees, it’s an hour after their main stage slot - one of only a handful of live appearances the band are making this summer as they focus on the new. They’re currently deep in the middle of album two, and everything has changed. “My house that I wrote the last album in got demolished [by developers, not gargantuan riffs - though you

ARE IN THE STUDIO wouldn’t put it past them] so now we’re in a new space in London, which is weird because I’m used to writing in the countryside outside Manchester. We’re pitching up there for the next four months. With the debut, because we were young, we wanted to get something out and just get the ball rolling. We’re going to take our time on this one.” The idea was, “Let’s focus in and see what we can do if we gave ourselves some more time. Also, we’re trying to write more as a group now.” Before, they were Tarek’s songs with a little flavour from everyone else. Now everyone’s cooking. “We wanted to at least give it a try and see how the four of us could work together. It’s been a learning curve, so we wanted a bit more time to explore it,” explains Pete, before letting his guard down. “I feel quietly confident about what we have. I was listening through the other day and thought, ‘Wow, this is really good’, so… It’s still early days, but we are progressing with it quite quickly.”

“It was important for us to take a step back,” continues Tarek. “We didn’t want to make the same record again. We wanted to magnify some of the stuff we love about the first album.

W ITH THE C I RCUS A ROUND THEI R D EBUT

AT WO RK ON THE FOL LOW-UP. WO RDS: A L I SHUTL E R. PH OTO: SA R A H LOU I SE BENNETT.

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“At first we were scared to commit,” explains Pete. “‘Let’s just get everything down. Let’s not be too critical. If it’s a cheesy riff, let’s go with it. If it’s something left-field, let’s go with it’. We still write very, very quickly but for us now, it’s about asking what’s the overall vision for the record. What do we want it to be? These are the things we talk about, and we haven’t decided yet. A lot of it is conversations and asking questions.”

“WE WANT TO GET THE ALBUM OUT EARLY NEXT YEAR”

QUI ETE N I N G DOW N, SPRI NG KI NG ARE HARD

When you play songs again and again, you realise some things weren’t quite right, or some things work really well, and you want to enjoy them again.”

There are conversations about where music is at and where it’s going, but as much as they intellectualise it, excitement comes first. “A lot of it is feeling,” Tarek says. “How do we feel? Do we feel excited by that song or that riff? We can write so much material, but you have to sit back and ask, well, what does this represent? What does this do? As long as the song feels good, it gets put in a pile. Humans are never going to completely buy into something if it’s thrown down their throats. They know when something is bullshit. Whether it’s a new idea or a rehash of something else, people are going to

listen to good music.” Lyrically album two is being influenced by the world at large. “I feel like everything is fucked,” starts Tarek. “The situation is fucked, but there is hope underneath. Take the recent elections, yeah Labour didn’t win, but there’s such a strong swing that next time around, that’s it. Someone on our Instagram was like, ‘Stay out of politics and stick to music’. Fuck off; music has always been politics. Music is politics. In every single way. I don’t think the two are separate. Whatever you sing about is what you represent, you have your heart on your sleeve no matter what you’re talking about. There’s definitely such a strong scene for what we’re doing, and we love that. We want to build on that and stay with those people.” The band want new music out this year alongside a tour. As for the album, “We want to get it out early next year, so whatever it takes. We’ve got the studio for another few months, so it’s up to us how long we continue to write for because we’ve already got two-to-three albums’ worth of songs. Some of them are definitely going to make the record but then but then it’s a choice about what you want the story of the record to be. We have a lot to think about, but it sounds really good. We’re feeling very confident with it. We’ll see in a few months though. I’m sure we’ll lose our minds at some point with it.” P

N E WS F E E D

DORK

NEWS FEED

THE

A RCA D E F I RE

D RE N G E It’s important that our favourite bands celebrate the important anniversaries. When an album reaches a certain age, it’s a good thing that they honour it with a tour, reissue or even just a tweet. But the thing about *our* favourite bands is that they’re always a bit extra. Able to find the real meaning in history and mark the important moments on an artist’s way to the top. Take Drenge, for example. They know what really matters - pop stars and portaloos.

T H E 19 75

Vroooooom! M US I C FO R CA RS I S C O M I N G

PA R A M O RE Sad that Paramore’s UK dates are done with? Well, you can rejoice, Dear Reader, because they’re coming back. There’s no official news on exactly where and when yet, but speaking to Nick Grimshaw on his BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show, Hayley and Zac confirmed they’re returning to our shores in “early 2018”.

T H E JA PA N ES E H O U S E

HAIM To be honest, this should have happened before now. Haim have covered Shania Twain’s classic banger (Yes, it is. No, shut up, you’re wrong Ed) ‘That Don’t Impress Me Much’. They recorded their take for Triple J’s Like A Version, and you can find it ‘online’ now. We’re way too classy to use the song’s title as the lead in on giving a verdict, obviously.

Our Amber is in a rich run of form right now. Not only do we get The Japanese House’s brilliant ‘Saw You In A Dream’ EP, released earlier this summer, but now we’ve got another treat. Recorded as part of Spotify’s ‘Singles’ series, she’s dropped a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Landslide’. It’s obviously great, and streaming now.

T H E ST RO K ES Albert Hammond Jr.’s dad, Albert Hammond Sr. sent The Strokes’ fans into a frenzy when he revealed the band are in the studio. “They’re making a new album now with a great producer called Rick Rubin,” he told

The West Australian. “I speak to my son every day and he says that they’re so happy.” Sadly, it’s not true - his son waded in soon after to clear up the rumours. “Sorry everyone we are not in the studio recording,” he wrote. “Forgive Albert Sr he got prematurely excited.” Dammit.

VA N T It’s only a few months since VANT released their debut album ‘Dumb Blood’, and yet they’re already a good deal in to their second, by the sounds of it. Taking to Twitter last month, they revealed there are “22 tracks already in the mix for album 2”. It came shortly after the missive “I often lie here naked, in the dark, late at night, wondering if I’d be more famous posting a dick pic online or writing a 2nd album.” Mattie, mate, you’ve made the right choice. Promise.

WO L F A L I C E A RE C O M I N G T H RO U G H .

STO R

HRRRNK! Sound the alarms, The 1975 have started work on their next album, ‘Music For Cars’. “We’ll start making a new album on the 1st of August,” their manager Jamie Oborne said last month, in an interview with Music Week. “I mean, they don’t know how to hang about in truth. Matty and George, they just don’t know how to stop creating.” As if that wasn’t enough, Matty also announced from the Latitude stage during their headline set that they’d be back on the road in the UK next October. Squee, etc.

Y E A RS & Y E A RS Absolute bloody superstar Olly Alexander of Years & Years has made a documentary for the BBC titled ‘Growing Up Gay’, as part of their 50th anniversary ‘Gay Britannia’ series. In it, he says “we can feel good about how far we’ve come”, but there’s much more work to be done. “For trans people, it’s fallen short. They’re not protected in many places, like the workplace, and that’s something we should all fight for. But it’s also about changing people’s attitudes, which is a tougher battle.” You can watch ‘Growing Up Gay’ on the BBC iPlayer.

W I L L J OS E P H C O O K We’re sorry to announce that, last month, your friend and ours Will Joseph Cook became your dad. No really, he did. If he didn’t, why the fuck is he making jokes like this on Twitter?

WO L F A L I C E

Yuk off!

BIG Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett.

Arcade Fire are returning to the UK & Ireland next year for a huge tour. Playing “in the round” (they’ll be in the middle of the venue with a 360 degree stage), the run takes in shows in Dublin, Manchester, Birmingham and London this April, as well as two nights at the London SSE Arena Wembley. The dates read: Dublin 3Arena (6th April), Manchester Arena (8), London SSE Arena Wembley (11, 12), Birmingham Genting Arena (15), Glasgow SSE Hydro (16). Tickets are on sale now.

W H AT YO U R FAVO U RI T E BA N DS A RE U P TO, N O M AT T E R H OW M U N DA N E .

Wolf Alice have dropped a brand new video for the storming ‘Yuk Foo’. The clip sees the fearsome foursome locked in a basement, snarling, growling and strobing their way down the camera. Don’t get in their way, they’re coming through. We’re all about that sarcastic, unnerving laugh at 1:25ish. Perfect. They’re just announced a brand new tiny UK run this month, kicking off on the 16th in Derby and finishing up on the 25th in Guildford. You can check the dates, and the vid, on readdork.com now.

WE’VE GOT THE KEY... RECORDING RELEASE TOURING RUMOUR SPOTTED OMGOMGOMG VIDEO BANGER SOCIAL

DOWN WITH BORING

2017 S E P T E M B E R

CALENDAR 1

WE’RE IN HEAVEN WITH INHEAVEN Dork faves INHEAVEN drop their self-titled debut album today. It’s one we’ve been looking forward to for bloody yonks - and if you flick a few pages forwards to our Reviews section, you’ll see why. All the stars, guys.

THE NATIONAL AND SUPERFOOD BOTH HAVE ALBUMS OUT, FYI September’s heaving with fab albums, and today sees the release of both The National’s latest full-length, and the long-awaited follow up to Superfood’s 5* debut, ‘Don’t Say That’.

LORDE ON TOUR We waited long enough for that second album - now Lorde is bringing it back to the UK for a tour that kicks off today. If her Glastonbury set is anything to go by, it’ll be the hottest show in town.

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IT’S BESTIVAL! One of the last major festivals of the year, Bestival features both pop stars like Pet Shop Boys and Justice, along with indie faves, such as The xx, Circa Waves, Jamie T and Blossoms. They also have fancy dress - this year’s theme is colour. Go nuts.

IT’S THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF EVERY ROCK ALBUM YOU CAN THINK OF COMING OUT, PLUS BEN-CLEM AND EMILY HAINES It’s another heavy release day for albums you need to get in your ears, and here’s the order in which you should prioritise them: Fall Out Boy, Sløtface, Emily Haines, Arcane Roots, Benjamin Clementine, Foo Fighters, Prophets of Rage. You’re welcome.

THE MERCURY PRIZE WINNER IS ANNOUNCED TODAY, AND SOME OF OUR FAVES ARE IN WITH A SHOT Not one, not two, but THREE former Dork cover stars are up for a Mercury Prize: Glass Animals, Alt-J and The Big Moon. Coincidence?

AIM HIGH WITH THE AIM INDEPENDENT MUSIC AWARDS 2017 It’s time to celebrate the best in independent music with the AIM Independent Music Awards 2017. Now in its seventh year, previous winners include acts such as Stormzy, Adele, London Grammar, Wolf Alice, Christine and The Queens and Alt-J, along with labels like Alcopop!, 4AD, Transgressive and Rough Trade. Independents ftw.

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM ARE PLAYING IN OUR HOUSE, BY WHICH WE MEAN COUNTRY In a survey of 1 magazine, LCD Soundsystem were found to be one of the best live bands on the planet. True fact. They’ve been touring the world since June, and it’s finally the UK’s turn: Manchester, Warehouse Project (16th, 17th); Glasgow, Barrowland Ballroom (17th); London, Alexandra Palace (22nd).

IT’S ST. VINCENT’S BIRTHDAY! How many pop stars are better than Annie Clark? If you have a number in the positives, you’re probably doing it wrong, cos we can’t think of any. With new track ‘New York’ out too, she’s the one giving us the presents.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY R’KID (AS YOU WERE, D X) Happy Birthday, Liam! We’re sure he’s getting out the party poppers and streamers for a birthday blowout, munching on jelly and ice cream, playing pass the parcel.

HORROR SHOW The Horrors’ fifth album is due today, and they’ve named it ‘V’ - following in the footsteps of Wavves and Maroon 5. “It is a risk,” says Faris Badwan, “but life isn’t much fun without risk. It’s the antithesis of being creative if you know what you’re going to be doing.”

SOUND THE KLAXON! LOCK AWAY YOUR PETS! WOLF ALICE ARE BACK! It’s time. Wolf Alice’s second album is released today. If it’s half as amazing as ‘My Love Is Cool’ - their debut then it’ll probably be enough to take over the whole bloody planet. And let’s face it, Dear Reader, it’s going to be a damn sight better than half as good - especially if lead tracks ‘Yuk Foo’ and ‘Don’t Delete The Kisses’ are anything to go by.

25-30

Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett.

THE 12 BEST SONGS BY MYSTERY JETS

We’ve picked out Mystery Jets’ twelve best songs. Want to listen? Load up Spotify on your mobile, tap search, then the camera icon, scan the code to the left, and it’ll pop right up.

JETROSPECTIVE

This September, Mystery Jets are taking over the Garage in London to play each of their five albums in full. It’s going to be one for the history books. Words Jessica Goodman.

t takes something special for an act to keep selling out shows nearly fifteen years into their career. This is something Mystery Jets are well aware of. Reinventing and redefining who they are with every album they’ve released, this month sees the collective look back on everything that’s made them the band they are today, and celebrate it, performing each of their five albums in full over five nights. “We’re five records into our musical journey,” frontman Blaine Harrison enthuses. “It’s a good time to allow ourselves that glance over the shoulder at the past through the different musical landscapes that we’ve taken.” From art school enthusiasm, through pop prowess, star-spangled Americana, and beyond, no one Mystery Jets record is the same. As they begin work on album number six, there’s never been a better time to celebrate the group’s legacy.

“It’s partly to inform where it is that we should be going next with our music,” Blaine considers, “and also to give our fans from different eras a chance to re-experience the first connection they had with Jets.” Whether it was the ramshackle house parties on Eel Pie Island, the indie dancefloor anthems, the eclectic, the stratospheric, or something else entirely that first drew you to Mystery Jets, theirs is a sound that’s maintained the magic of that first connection through every evolution. This is what #Jetrospective strives to immortalise, inviting fans of each record to come together and celebrate exactly what the music and the moment means for them. “The wonderful thing about live music is that as opposed to listening to a record, which is sort of enjoyed in a very isolated and personal way, live music brings all those different people together,” Blaine enthuses. “#Jetrospective felt like a way to celebrate different people forging different connections with different

“A GREAT BAND SHOULD FEEL WITHIN REACH” eras of our music at different times.” It’s not just the fans that want to re-forge these connections. “It’s really a chance to try to reconnect not only with the songs that we wrote in that time but with who the people writing those songs were,” Blaine expresses, “and to reacquaint ourselves with these versions of the people we now are.” Looking back at “songs that would probably have only come out at that specific time in our musical experience,” each record with its own character, through these shows there are whole worlds to rediscover.

just diving in and sifting through the chaos, and trying to make some sense of it all,” the frontman adds – and there’s certainly a lot to commemorate. “I think when you start out as a band when you’re 18/19 years old, you’re very impressionable - wonderfully so,” Blaine recalls. “We wanted to be so many things,” he chuckles. Citing near simultaneous first exposures to the likes of The Coral, The Smiths, and The Cure as early sound shaping moments, ‘Making Dens’ is very much the sound of a band discovering who they are and who they want to be.

“I’m really looking forwards to

“I think the more time goes on, you DOWN WITH BORING

M YS T E RY J E TS

WHAT ARE BLAINE’S FAVOURITE MYSTERY JETS SONGS?

“I WANT IT TO FEEL LIKE A CELEBRATION” find those poles within your own experience, within your own music,” Blaine illustrates. “Making that first record was like letting five art students loose in a recording studio and just going absolutely mad,” he grins. “‘Twenty One’ was almost the opposite: it was an exercise in control.” Describing how “pop music had given us a call to put down the pots and pans,” this was the record that saw Mystery Jets hone their creativity and scale the rungs of success. “The first record is when you’ve had all these songs inside of you for years, and suddenly here’s your chance to let them all out,” Blaine portrays. “The second record is when you go on and refine your craft, and you prove that actually there’s more to you. Third records are often when people want to go out and try to reinvent the wheel.” Releasing what they describe as “a sister album to ‘Twenty One’” in the form of ‘Serotonin’, it was album four that saw Mystery Jets reset the playing field. “We had that third record syndrome on our fourth record,” the frontman affirms. “We sat down, and we said, ‘What shall we do now? Where can we go that we haven’t been, that’s interesting, and that’s going to excite us?’” The answer was unanimous. “For a kid growing up in the UK, going to America for the first time is like going to Disneyland,” Blaine marvels. “This idea of making a record in Disneyland was just too good to turn down.” So the band relocated to Texas. Taking up residence in a secluded ranch near Austin, filling it with equipment hired from a private collection owned by the inventor of

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the stealth bomber, ‘Radlands’ is as rooted in the culture of Americana as the surroundings that forged the release. “We were almost spoilt with the location that we were in,” Blaine reminisces. “It was like being on a film set.” Describing a place where “if you take the wrong turning it’s like driving into the 50s,” the album is an exploration into a new frontier. “By the time we got back to London it felt like the band was going into a new era,” Blaine states. Taking over a disused button factory where they built a studio of their own, and recruiting a new bass player after parting ways with Kai Fish prior to the release of ‘Radlands’, Mystery Jets found themselves at the start of something brand new. “Jack [Flanagan] brought a renewed sense of the gang mentality that we had when we started out,” Blaine illustrates, “that feeling of ‘us vs. them’, of ‘We can do anything if we just stick together.’” With the band “in the studio as we speak, in the writing stages of Jets #6,” Mystery Jets’ story is far from over. “I still get the same shivers, the hairs on my arms still stand up in the same way they did when I was a kid, when Will [Rees] plays me a song for the first time,” Blaine enthuses. “That’s why I’m in

SEPTEMBER

ALL SHOWS AT THE GARAGE, LONDON.

25 MAKING DENS 26 TWENTY ONE 28 SEROTONIN 29 RADLANDS 30 CURVE OF THE EARTH

“The songs that I’m often most drawn to are probably the songs that never quite had their chance to shine in their own time: songs that never got played live, or songs that never ended up on the radio. They’re the kind of songs that got buried somewhere. They’re probably the track #5 or track #6s of the records. I’m going to pick those ones.” From ‘Making Dens’ ‘LITTLE BAG OF HAIR’ From ‘Twenty-One’ ‘UMBRELLAHEAD’ From ‘Serotonin’ ‘LORNA DOONE’

INCOMING THE ALBUMS YOU SHOULD BE EXPECTING.

L I A M G A L L AG H E R Title: As You Were Due: 6th October After month’s of streaming and swagger, we’re finally closing in on the release of r’kid’s debut solo album. If lead track ‘Wall Of Glass’ is anything to go by, it’ll be a swaggering monster. What, you were expecting an album of folk ballads?

From ‘Radlands’ ‘THE NOTHING’ From ‘Curve of the Earth’ ‘1985’

a band. That’s why I still do this.” With #Jetrospective, the band are celebrating everything they’ve come to be and inviting everyone who’s been a part of the journey to revel in the moment with them. “I just want it to feel like a celebration,” Blaine affirms. “Not just a celebration of the songs, but a celebration of the connections that people have had with those songs.” More than just a nostalgia trip, these shows act as a commemoration of where band and fans alike have come to stand right now. “It’s so much about the audience,” he adds. “It’s so much about peoples’ first experiences with that music. It’s about recontextualising those experiences in a room full of other people who have had other experiences.” “We very quickly realised we were here because we felt like we had a dynamic connection with each other,” the frontman portrays. “I’m very fortunate to say that twelve years later I can still say the same thing.” With “the story of the Jets still very much being written,” #Jetrospective is a springboard towards whatever the future might hold. Teasing that “we’re not going to leave it so long this time,” that future might be closer than we think. P

K E L E O K E RE K E Title: Fatherland Due: 6th October ‘Fatherland’ is Okereke’s third solo effort to date and follows on from 2014’s ‘Trick’. The album features Years and Years’ Olly Alexander as well as Corinne Bailey Rae. New track ‘Streets Been Talkin’ is streaming now.

WO L F PA R A D E Title: Cry Cry Cry Due: 6th October After reuniting last year for shows, Wolf Parade are set to drop their first album in seven years. You can check out the lead track, ‘Valley Boy’ - conceived in the days following the 2016 U.S. election and Leonard Cohen’s death - on readdork.com right now.

DORK

MARIKA HACKMAN + THE BIG MOON PHOTO: POPPY MARRIOTT

CONNECTION STUFF YOU SAID. STUFF THEY SAID.

TOP TWEETS @littlemix: My jet lagged greedy ass thought this was Greggs for a split second xjadex Jade, Little Mix Jade from Little Mix continues to be our hero (see Top Tweets, August 2017). She can have a monthly spot at this rate.

LETTER OF THE MONTH MAN OF STYLES

Hey Dork, When people all over Twitter were raving over Harry Styles’s solo record I was a bit sceptical, and honestly didn’t even give it a listen till a few days after its release when the chatter about it hadn’t died down - but when I did listen I was very pleasantly surprised! He managed to create an album that’s honest and full of genuine expression, which isn’t what I would

LONG TIME READER, FIRST TIME READING-ER

Dear Dork, I’m going to my first Reading in a few weeks. I’m excited, but also a bit worried - I’ve never camped before, never mind at a festival! I’ve heard stories of all kinds of stuff going on in the campsites. Do you have any tips? Sarah, Durham Fear not. We have more tips than you could ever wish for, Sarah. Unless you’ve got a lottery win coming, it’s probably a bit late to find a last minute hotel room, but our number one tip for all Reading goers is simple: decide you’re going a year up front and reserve space in civilisation for 2018 while the 2017 festival is taking place. Seriously - you’ll get it for less than half the price you’ll find come the line-up announce. Yes, we’re wusses, but when you’re having a nice shower with warm water, and your mates are bathing in - y’know - more yellowish coloured liquid, you’ll be the real winner. But it’s too late for that now, so let’s 34

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have expected an ex-boy band member who could’ve simply hired people to write him catchy radio tunes if he’d wanted. It makes me really respect him as a person, and it excites me to see what he’ll do yet. What are your guys’ thoughts? Jillian, Washington, USA Good question, Jillian. Is Harry an indie now? Has Harry always been an indie? He was wearing a Cribs t-shirt years ago, after all. The thing is, everyone thinks that musicians

WI N!

A WI ‘DOW TH N B T-S ORIN HIR G’ T!

only like the kind of music they make. No matter what you think about Style-o’s album, he’s clearly got his own thing going on, and you have to respect that. And just look at those support acts he’s booked in for his tour! Muna! Warpaint! We loved 1D [Pop is AMAZING, we’ll fight anyone who says otherwise - Ed], but Harry’s clearly nobody’s puppet.

@liamgallagher: I’ve just been told I can’t buy cigs unless I got ID im 4FUKIN4 has the world gone mad Liam Gallagher Hahahahahahaha. Hahahahahaha. Hahahaahahah. Hahahahah. Can we find whoever IDed r’kid and give them some sort of banter award? @RichardOsman: Thank you to the #MercuryPrize shortlist for introducing me to the brilliant #TheBigMoon album. Loving it. Richard Osman, off of Pointless Look, Richard. If you need help ‘keeping up with things’ just give us your address and we’ll send you a subscription. @GetInuit: I might just start pretending we played festivals to see if the festival retweets it.. Get Inuit Never change.

get real. Embrace the madness, and or you can grab a cab, they’re about 6 wee without wanting to die. Result. learn your surroundings. Get your tent quid each way. Use them. They’re your planted - not too close to the arena, route to non-festival breakfasts and EASY QUESTION not too far, not near the toilets, but affordable beverages. Dork, m8s, maybe near some form of security With your grip on civilisation Just picked up my first copy of your tower - after all, you don’t want your established, stop worrying, enjoy the magazine - the one with Declan stuff being nicked. Check it’s not too bands, have a nice drink and let go. McKenna on the cover. It’s really, really lumpy before you put up the tent, too. Reading is the best festival in the great. Are you the best magazine on So much, so basic. Local knowledge world when you don’t overthink it. the planet? is everything - so, get out there, find Just do it while knowing how to get a Alex, Leeds your supermarkets. This, to you, is decent coffee and where you can do a Yes. Obviously. Come on, Alex. Keep up. civilisation. And also loos that won’t make you want to die. WHY WASTE TIME LOOKING FOR THE NEXT TOP MODEL - WOODY FROM BASTILLE HAS IT There’s one up the tow DOWN WITH HIS SIGNATURE LOOK. (P.S. WOODY WE <3 YOU.) path next to the river - it’s about 20 mins brisk walk if you turn right when you reach the water. There’s another in the other direction - up Richfield Avenue then take a right at the end. Just follow the people. The city centre is about the same distance in *SIZZLES* *SMOULDERS* Someone hose us down. Now. the other direction,

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ALL OF YOUR FLAWS DRAWS

THIS MONTH’S BASTILLE INTERVIEW (P4) ALSO APPEARS IN THE MOST RECENT DORK FESTIVAL GUIDE. WHEN FANS SAW THE PHOTOS, THEY GOT ARTY, SO WE SAID WE’D PRINT SOME OF THEIR STUFF. IF YOU’VE DRAWN, PAINTED, COLLAGED (OR WHATEVER ELSE-ED) A BAND RECENTLY - ESPECIALLY IF YOU’VE BASED IT ON A PHOTO IN DORK - SEND IT IN AND WE’LL PRINT IT HERE.

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E P Y H . W BANDS E N L A I T ESSEN

F O A ANN H T R O THE N AND LO TT ER U D

O ANNA N -K IW I D U N O RW EG IA A RE C O RD E PE N N ED -S M IT H H AV LL IE N DA BR A DY N JO LL EY. W O RD S: BE RT BR EA K . EA H T U A BO

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ver since I was little I always wanted to be a pop superstar,” Anna Lotterud starts, chatting to Dork from her studio thousands of miles away in Oslo. Though she doesn’t believe it, Anna’s dream is quickly becoming a reality. As one-half of Norwegian-Kiwi duo Anna of the North, she met Australian producer Brady DaniellSmith after moving to Melbourne to study. “He was performing an acoustic show, and I was in the audience,” she begins, telling the story of their chance meeting. “It wasn’t planned at all, it just kind of happened. I play guitar and piano and, in his break, I sang a song because my friends forced me to…” Peer pressure turned out to be a blessing in disguise, though. After hearing Anna sing, Brady approached her and asked if she’d like to make music together. Soon after that, Anna of the North – “Brady came up with the name, jokingly, while I was sleeping and it just stuck… he was in another time zone” - was born as a way of exorcising the demons of their love lives.

CAN BE M U B L A R U “ I H O PE O EOPLE’S P N I E V I IT S PO SOMETHING M H UG ” R A W G I B A LIVES… LIKE

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After uploading their dreamy synth-pop breakthrough ‘Sway’ onto SoundCloud, Anna woke up the next morning to thousands of plays and interest from record labels. “I have no explanation, it just happened!” she remembers, having made the track by playing around with production in Garage Band and borrowing a microphone from her dad. “We just put it up there and BOOM.” Growing up in Norway, Anna’s musician dad was the DJ in the family: “Whenever I wanted to play music in the car it was always his CDs; he was actually quite selfish,” she jokes. Phil Collins, Toto and a lot of 80s music would play on the

stereo, but Celine Dion had Anna’s heart. “I had all her albums and knew almost all of her songs; I love her - proper power pop,” she remembers. “The 80s influence has carried on to be a part of our album.” Three years on from ‘Sway’, Anna and Brady are about to release their debut album. Recorded in Oslo, and mixed in Copenhagen and London by Luke Smith (Foals, Depeche Mode), it’s a heartbreak album that’s full of brooding-yet-bright electronic pop production. “It’s inspired by stuff me, Brady and our friends have been through. Everything is inspired by something that’s personal to us…” “Different kinds of love and relationships - and their ups and downs,” says Anna, whose multiple break-ups fuelled the record. “But not just about love – it’s also about helping friends through a hard time. I really hope it’s a nice, warm album that can make people feel something: I hope they have some kind of reaction when they listen

to it and that it can help people if they’re going through a hard time. I hope it can be something positive in people’s lives… like a big warm hug.” Tell Anna you love the album, though, and she seems genuinely taken aback and surprised. “Ahh, you do?” she says, sounding shocked and relieved. “You never finish a song, you just have to stop at a point because you always want to change stuff,” she adds, detailing the tireless process of making ‘Lovers’. “You end up going round in circles changing stuff and getting so perfectionist about it… it’s hard because when we did ‘Sway’, it was more just putting something out there. But now we’re getting a bit more pressure, you just think and listen a lot more: it’s just never good enough, and at some point, you have to quit and just put it out there.” Although she and Brady tweaked the tracks throughout the creation, sticking to the originals seems to

have worked out best for them. “You make, like, ten different versions of the same track but the first one is always the best because that’s the feeling you have when you made it - a moment you’ll never have back apart from in a song. Often songs come, and there’s a reason for it.”

E HE TH O NT ON E NE VIIN EV PE AP G RA GR

The same weekend the album hits the shelves, Anna of the North return to the UK for Bestival. “I’m really excited!” she gushes, adding that performing in London was one of her favourite shows, having overcome tougher crowds at industry festivals like The Great Escape. “There was this one show at a little club where we were playing with two other bands and we were the last act. In the end, the crowd was chanting “one more song” and singing along. They are beautiful and really, really fun. I could just tell that they were really there for the music…” P Anna of the North’s album ‘Lovers’ is out 8th September.

T H E M O O N L A N D I N G Z H AV E A N E W TO U R P L A N N E D FO R N OV E M B E R

The Moonlandingz will head out on the road from 18th November. The run will feature dates in Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Bristol, and a night at London’s Electric Brixton.

A L E X L A H EY ’S D E BU T A L BU M I S O U T I N O CTO B E R

Alex Lahey has announced her debut album. ‘I Love You Like A Brother’ is due out on 6th October via Dead Oceans. The full-length is accompanied by a UK tour, which will kick off on 8th November at Boston Music Room in London. G RE E N M A N H AS C O N F I RM E D T H E L I N E U P FO R I TS RI S I N G STAG E

SUZI WU

Green Man has announced the line up for this year’s Rising Stage. The acts include competition winner Siobhan Wilson, alongside Bad Parents, Francobollo, Hotel Lux, Dead Pretties, Pale Seas, Madonnatron, Stevie Parker and Sports Team. Green Man takes place from 17th-20th August.

REC OMMEND ED BY F ELLOW LON DON E R AN D

FORC E OF NATURE, G I RLI, SUZ I WU’S DE BUT E P IS PAC KED WITH ATTITUD E, AND A BOUT TO LAN D.

Hey Suzi, how are you? Have you had a fun summer so far? Hi, I’m great thanks, summer’s been groovy. You’ve said before that your debut EP, ‘Teenage Witch’ is in part inspired by comic book artist, Simon Hanselmann. What drew you to his work? My older sister brought his first book of works ‘MEGAHEX’ back from Australia, and the art style was so beautiful, so I picked them up. The subject matter’s funny, but I suppose very dark. I think what drew me to his books was a sense of relating to the lives of the characters. I guess I felt like they were looking at their unfortunate world through the same

evil, rose tinted glasses as me. Are you generally a fan of comics, or the fantasy genre? What else do you enjoy in that vein? I’m a big fan of comics and cartoons all round. I like my colours vibrant, my characters complex and my story surreal. So I try and emulate that in my music. I also could watch Lord of the Rings for the rest of my life and still enjoy it, so there you go. What first got you interested in making music? It got me out of trouble, and it keeps me there. How do you go about creating your songs? Where do you start?

It starts with writing words, usually. I’ll see a friend or read a book I like, and it’ll all start pouring into my head. The melody usually comes with it though, and when I finally get home, I go on Logic and put it all down. We hear you’re pals with Girli - how did you guys meet? That’s a really good story actually. We met at an open mic and pretty much everyone there was doing soul covers and was 35. She came out with this mad pink hairdo and buffalos on and did a cover of ‘Hotel California’, GIRLI style. Some people there looked pretty startled, but she broke my brain that night. It was excellent! After that, we even lived together

for a bit. Do you ever do anything musical together? We make stuff all the time; it’s just usually for ourselves though. Are there any other bands or acts around at the mo you particularly like? Pussy Liquor and Princess Nokia. What are your plans for after the EP’s out? I’d like to make more work, lots more. P Suzi Wu’s debut EP ‘Teenage Witch’ is out 8th September. DOWN WITH BORING

HYPE ESSENTIA

NDS. L NEW BA

A K A N YO

ST IVA LS TA K IN G FE AV E BE EN H A K A N . -B AS ED YO BE G IN N IN G BR IG H TO N JU ST TH E - A N D IT ’S ER M M SU ET T. TH IS U IS E BE N N BY ST O RM : SA RA H LO ER . PH O TO TL U SH LI W O RD S: A

ou don’t want to get in Yonaka’s way. The band have only released a handful of songs, but they’re already glimpses into a world of fire, flare and wicked grins. There’s the crouched tiger of ‘Ignorance’, all warped builds and sudden throw downs, the open armed warning of ‘Drongo’ and the no-apologies, zerofucks of ‘Wouldn’t Want To Be Ya’. Alongside the live promise of ‘All In My Head’ and the bubbling ‘Run’, they’re a band who control chaos.

but when we released ‘Wouldn’t Want To Be Ya’, we were getting 5000 plays a day which was nuts for us.”

“It’s just all of our different influences mixed together,” starts Theresa. “We started writing and this style just sorta started happening,” she shrugs. “It works well for us.” Rather than clear definitions and obvious nods to the right, Yonaka are subtle in their inspirations. Taking feelings and flavour rather than shape or sound, their music is perfectly weighted without being overcrowded. There’s a lot to get your teeth into. “There’s a lot going on, but there’s still a lot of space,” explains George.

“We’ve recorded like 15 songs,” starts Theresa before someone corrects her. “17? Fucking hell. When people tell us to put something out, we want to, believe me. The album’s going to be next year, and singles are going to come every two months instead of every eight months or something stupid, which is what we had done before. We’ve got enough material for the album, but we just keep writing. At some point, we’re going to have to stop.” Or release 80 singles. With Yonaka, you never quite know what’s going to happen.

Formed two and a half years ago against the rainbow backdrop that is Brighton, the band have slowly built a connection and a back catalogue. Now they’re getting primed to release both. “We’re a small band, and ‘Drongo’ and ‘Ignorance’ built slowly. This might not sound like a lot to you or other people

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The band take no shame in watching the numbers climb, and even worked out what time it gets updated. There’s pride in the journey so far. There’s a hunger for what comes next. A summer of festivals ranging from The Great Escape (their show at 1am was one of the most euphoric, chaotic, dangerous and fun of the weekend) to Download has left their name on the tips of tongues. It’s a good job there’s so much more to come.

There’s a lot of different components to Yonaka. There’s chemistry and secrets. There’s excitement. As much as the band cut, collide and play with, one thing remains pure. The energy. You don’t want to get in Yonaka’s way, but you’ll want to be at their party. P

SOCCER MOMMY 19-year-old Sophie Allison from Nashville is breaking out of bedroom pop. TELL US ABOUT YOUR MUSIC. WHAT DO YOU MOST ENJOY SINGING ABOUT, AND HOW WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR SONGS TO MAKE PEOPLE FEEL? I like singing about my personal experiences in a way that kind of meshes a lot of moments into one to capture the overall feeling. I hope my songs can make people feel like they can relate to me. HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT PUTTING TOGETHER YOUR NEW MINI -ALBUM, ‘COLLECTION’? I put ‘Collection’ together by kind of choosing the songs we played most live with the band and the ones I played solo usually. It was pretty easy in the end. DO YOU HAVE ANY FURTHER RELEASES IN THE WORKS, OR ARE YOU TAKING MUSICIAN LIFE ONE STEP AT A TIME? I’m working on a new album at

the moment, actually. It’s going to be a full-length, and it should be coming out in the not so distant future. WHAT DID YOU GROW UP LISTENING TO? DO YOU COME FROM A MUSICAL FAMILY? My parents aren’t very musical, but they definitely like music a lot. I grew up listening to stuff like The Who and Bruce Springsteen from my dad, and I kind of started branching out to indie rock, punk, shoegaze - all that stuff - in high school. ARE YOU A CREATIVE PERSON IN NON-MUSIC WAYS TOO? I think I’m creative when it comes to writing or thinking, but I’m not very good at many other forms of art. WHAT ELSE DO YOU DO FOR FUN? I like to watch TV shows and hang out with friends a lot. I’d also say I like to travel. P Soccer Mommy’s mini-album ‘Collection’ is out now.

G EORG E EZRA

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ALL THE

BEST Last time round, he was the plucky upstart. A squillion album sales later, and he’s one of the biggest pop stars in the country. Not that you’d tell - welcome to the world of George Ezra. Words: Jamie Muir. Photos: Phil Smithies. Hair & Makeup: Verity Cumming using Oilixia. DOWN WITH BORING

G EORG E EZRA

eorge Ezra is a big deal. His debut album sold over 1.2 million copies and took him around the globe. After 12 months away packed with moments of self-doubt, puzzles and starting afresh - he’s backed with a vital message and new outlook on the world. George is back, and he’s throwing any fears or worries right out the window.

upbringing that ensured there was only one direction George was heading into. “It’s just eternal,” exclaims George as he chats through that love for music which radiates from him. “It never ends. I distinctly remember at whatever age I was, asking my Dad, ‘Will there be a point where every song is written?’ There’s only so many chords for starters, but he was like of course not, and I just couldn’t get my head around it. It fascinated me.” After friends slowly moved away from music, George’s love remained strong - writing folky numbers inspired by Dylan, Woody Guthrie and the classic songwriters of old. It was only when George reached the age of 19/20 where pop suddenly become a constant in his life, a challenge to write and convey meaning with the sharp hooks and immediacy that now breathe through everything George puts to paper.

As George Ezra bounds into the West London studio, we find ourselves in; there’s a smile on his face that’s practically bursting at the seam. Taking off his shades and delving into stories and questions about his day and those around him, it’s only a matter of moments before he realises something’s missing. “Has anyone got any music we could listen to?” George asks. Quickly, the responsibility falls to him to provide the soundtrack, settling on a playlist of favourites he’s been listening to over the past few weeks. From his self-confessed hero Bob Dylan to London Grammar, The Japanese House, Hot Hot Heat, Vanilla Ice and The Strokes - it’s a blending of new and old that demonstrates the jumping thoughts racing around George’s world. “Oh, I think some of my own songs are in there,” remembers George. “Please skip those!” It perfectly captures just how linked into the musical blood-stream of the past few years George Ezra is. A story that started in cobbled venues and intimate nights in pubs and bars has blossomed onto a world stage where now just a glance at Spotify shows his biggest tracks have been streamed over 600 million times. That’s a whole lot of playlists that’s for sure, and summarises an 18 months where George Ezra became not just another singer-songwriter with a devoted following, but a force to be reckoned with millions joining him for the ride. The Pyramid Stage at Glasto? Check. Number 1 album? Check. Sold-out venues around the globe? Check. It all came to George in a flurry, and means the next chapter he’s about to embark on is one that eyes are firmly locked in on, but this is no ordinary tale of a ‘pop star’ riding on that wave to the glossy worlds that could come his way. “Yeah, ‘pop star’ weirds me out a bit,” laughs George, “because that is definitely not me! So much comes with the name pop star. Pop singer? I’ll take that - it’s just the star bit that troubles me. I’ll never say it, but in the back of my mind I think ‘What’s that all about?’” Taking it all in his stride, the story of George’s past three years is a foundation of discovering life, learning how to deal with ever-changing surroundings and coming out of it with one of the most refreshing takes on how to move forward. If you think you know George Ezra, then think again. “I guess there’s probably a crowd out there that see me as another male singer-songwriter,” he

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“It was the challenge I needed,” George remembers, gazing out across the West London rooftops. “I’m not saying I completed doing those folkyacoustic tunes, but it got to the point where everything GEORGE’S PLAYLISTS sounded the same. SHOULD HAVE THEIR OWN I appreciate that RADIO STATION… EZRA FM, challenge with ANYONE? pop tunes, there’s something harder “I actually really struggled about them, and to listen to any music while I it’s quite tricky, recorded, because it would get to be honest, and me thinking ‘oh I should probably articulate yourself put a bridge there’ and I was like in a way that’s new. I you need to stop this. What have dunno, I love that.” I listened to recently? Haim’s new “Follow me.”

contemplates, “which I am, but I think they just take it as not much going into it. I’m not trying to convert those people, but I think well, maybe if they came along to a show or listened to the record then it’d be cool to see what they thought.” IT’S 5TH OCTOBER 2014. George’s debut album ‘Wanted On Voyage’, a collection of tracks inspired by characters and tales witnessed during a month-long trip around Europe and searing with an emotional core that has wrapped its way around millions, has just gone to Number 1 in the Official Albums Chart. It’s been out for fourteen weeks already, and George has just the news in the most unlikely of locations. “Yeah, when it happened I was in a Park Inn Hotel in Cork Airport,” recalls George, “which is just weird after it being out for so long. I got the phone call and I just kinda went ‘Ohh!’. You turn to your friends who aren’t there and just think, ahh so this is how it feels - and just start thinking about the free breakfast that’s included with the room!” It’s the sort of breakfast that would go down a treat, that Number 1 album breakfast. It’s a meal that George will have only dreamed of when growing up in a musical household in Hertford. Surrounded by music pouring out of every room - whether it was the radio in the kitchen, his sister Jess blaring out a CD upstairs or his Dad plugging into a classic in the lounge, it was a walking musical

EZRA’s JUKEBOX

record, ANOHNI - such a heavy record, I’ve listened to it through about three times and the first time I listened to it I was like, fuck that’s intense, but I have gone back to it. Oh and Bon Iver! That last record came out, and I just didn’t stop listening to it for months, absolutely loved it. And then for a second, I thought, ‘So, how has he..’ and I said, ‘Forget it George - you are not Bon Iver’. He’s doing it so well, so just leave him to it.

The culmination of it all, ‘Wanted On Voyage’, melted its way into hearts all over the place. A rich record of immeasurable warmth, its dives between singalong favourites (‘Blame It On Me’, ‘Listen To The Man’), earnest heartache (‘Barcelona’) and skiffle grooving melodies (‘Cassy O’, ‘Drawing Board’) make it a record that could spin at any time of year. There wasn’t a place on the planet that you couldn’t hear the soothing tones of ‘Budapest’ - and being in the midst of it all meant that George still can’t truly grasp its huge success. “It’s really odd, but I think it’s odd for

“I’M SHIT AT NOT HAVING A PLAN” the opposite reason that somebody would think,” details George. “It’s so odd because you just feel so detached from it. Someone can say your album was the third biggest selling album of the year in the UK and that’s just…” He pauses, still taking in that fact. “When it’s happening you’re caught right in the middle of it. You’re the wrong person to talk about it because you’re the least aware of it. I kinda feel like I’ll have more of an opinion and view on it all in 30 years time when you can really appreciate it in hindsight and go, ‘Fuck, that was insane’. It’s not that I take it for granted, it’s just so hard to make sense of it all.” That perspective on the tidal wave that came with ‘Wanted On Voyage’ may be one that comes in decades to come for George, but it also got rid of a fear that he harboured when stepping into the spotlight. Life changes when you became a household name and that worry of losing touch with the life he had was one that truly resonated with him. As primetime TV show appearances clocked up like days in a diary, the last thing George wanted was to be taken out of the day to day life he enjoyed so much, and for fame to became an overbearing shift in the way he lived his life. “It was the thing I was worried about the most, coming off tour to find my life completely changed - whether that’s my social life or my personal life. I just didn’t know what was going to come and how to cope with that. In school, you have lessons on Maths, on English but you don’t have a lesson on how to deal with being recognised in the street. Thankfully it didn’t happen that much, and my life didn’t change at all - it’s kinda made me relax about going into this album and the touring to come because well, you’re in control. The last thing I ever wanted to be was a ‘celebrity’, and I think that worry came from the uncertainty of it all.” George finished up the worldwide run around ‘Wanting On Voyage’ in America on 14th December. The year that followed proved to be an eye-opening one, bringing its own challenges that George had to face head-on - but when opened up, have laid out a path to a new way of seeing the world, and the sheer importance of embracing the good. STRUCTURE IS AN IMPORTANT THING. It’s what keeps the boundaries around our lives, what points people in the directions they need to go to and above all else, is a motivation to get up out of the seat being sat in for way too long. Back at home, after two years of schedules and dates in the diary, George found himself at odds for what to do, with a clean slate completely. There were no alreadypenned down hits there and no demos, just the end of one chapter and the beginning of the next. “When I came off tour, the one thing I didn’t want

to do is fly anywhere for a while,” recollects George. “People were like, ‘What are you going to do?’ And I just went to places like Norfolk, did the Cotswolds way, but it took me a while to leave England. You don’t really capitalise on time off; I started thinking that I shouldn’t take a trip somewhere because what if that was the day that I wrote THE song. Other people must be so much better at it than I am, I just sit there looking at the guitar and spurring myself on to pick it up and see what comes out.” There’s that thing you hear about with musicians who spend years on tour, and that’s a feeling of being locked away from everything. To change from that way of life back into a surrounding where you’re suddenly fixed right back into the swing of things is a daunting one, and for George, that feeling was one that affected him greatly. There were no crowds around, no timetable in place, just George and his thoughts. “Yeah, I mean, when I came off tour, and for the first time in my life I became quite an anxious person,” details George, sitting forward on the sofa. “At first I couldn’t put my finger on it and didn’t know that it was anxiety. These are names that you give to things that aren’t tangible, you can break your leg, and it’s pretty clear what’s wrong, but if there’s something going on in your head, then you need to work it out. “I didn’t realise what was going on, so I booked a trip to Barcelona to get away from things as I was getting quite overwhelmed by it. It was then that I realised what it was. A lot of people around me were experiencing it as well, and 2016 was such a weird year for a variety of different reasons where everything that could go wrong did. For the first time in my life, I had spent time in this bubble of touring, and I had gone from that to waking up every day with breaking news notifications on my phone of things happening on the other side of the world. When that would happen two or three times a day, it became something that would make me worry, and it just built and built.” George decamped to Barcelona, a place which already had weaved its way into his very being on his debut album, where he would spend his days walking its shining streets and bustling corridors taking in life once again. He didn’t write any songs, simply soaking in the very vibrations and essence

that filled the city’s streets and it led to an epiphany that flows through his as-yet-untitled second album.” “It really was that trip that helped me realised and learn that it’s okay to switch off - and I don’t think any of us do,” details George. “It’s just a habit we have, like all of us have smartphones right now and each smartphone is connected to the world and what’s going on in it. There’s almost no escape from it, and there’s also this demand for when something does happen that everyone needs to have an opinion on it or a response straight away. And if you don’t have one, then get off the track because that’s not how the world works. “You need to be seen to have recognised what’s happened, whereas actually, it’s okay to say, ‘Yeah, I’m aware of what’s happened, and I’m just trying to compute it’. I think what it did over the past 12 months, is that it stopped people from being able to take in the good that there is out there - without sounding too soft about it.” It’s a feeling that resonates and brims through ‘Don’t Matter Now’, the only taste so far out there from George’s second album and a track that throws away any fears and worries in one triumphant blast for carefree and jubilant vibes. If there was a way George wanted to return, with the lessons of the past twelve months behind him, then that’s exactly what ‘Don’t Matter Now’ encapsulates - a progression from the pulls of ‘Wanted On Voyage’ that’s beaming with that message of the good times - and more importantly, that enjoying them doesn’t make you a fantasist or out of touch with the world around you. Sometimes, savouring the best in people can be the hardest thing to do, but it’s more important now that ever before. “If you look at it in a really simple way,” continues George. “I leave my front door every day and can

DOWN WITH BORING

G EORG E EZRA

“WORLD DOMINATION? THAT’S NOT ME ”

have a nice smile and a chat with my next door neighbour, and I know they’ll do the same with their neighbour. That still exists, and if that still exists then, that’s something to celebrate and recognise. The news would be so shit if it just reported on the good in the world, and I think we take it for granted because of that. It was nice to realise that. Actually, there’s more of that good going on in the world.” George’s next step comes with the knowledge and reassurance that music doesn’t have to push every boundary all of the time. When speaking, he’s relaxed, happy with the standing he now finds himself and with a newfound vigour in what he’s doing and how the new music is shaping up to provide a message of its own. Savouring the little things and rising up with the joy the world holds, it was a connection that took him a while to actually realise. “I remember I was at Latitude last year with Huw Stephens, and we were backstage during Billie Marten’s set, and he asked ‘Are you writing about everything going on?’ and I turned to him and just said, ‘No, I don’t feel like that’s my job to do that’. I got home and listened to my demos and just went, ‘Shit, I am - but from a completely different angle’.

are panoramic in size, glowing towers of epic sensations that have already been treated to those catching George over the summer. Yet it’s in ‘Pretty Shining People’ that George may have served up his biggest number to date - a swooning universal anthem that manages to encapsulate every drop of this appreciative way of approaching the wonders of the world. With the line ‘What a terrible time to be alive if you’re prone to overthinking, what a terrible time to be alive if you’re prone to second guessing’ - it’s destined to nestle its way into millions around the globe. If ever there was an anthem needed to bring the world out of the darkness, it’s this one. “The first record we were writing and recording for nobody, and basically you’re writing for such a very small audience, and there’s a very good chance that a lot of people aren’t going to hear it so it’s fine” points out George. “Whereas this time around, in the back of your mind, you’re aware there’s a certain size of audience there but I’ve kinda learnt that the most important thing is that you dig it and you like it. This time around I just thought that this was only going to work if I was honest with myself - not for anyone else’s sake.” “And it’s been really therapeutic, like what a luxury it is for there to be a demand for people to hear what you’re writing anyway, so you need to do that, but also you enjoy it, and you’re getting things out there.”

“All these songs that I was writing were about escaping and taking yourself away and that being alright. I thought I was just writing those songs for me and then I listened to them and realised that a lot of people might actually really appreciate that sentiment.”

GEORGE CONTINUES TO RECALL THE WEIRD AND THE WONDERFUL PAST 12 MONTHS. From the time he spent almost a month down in Cornwall working on five huge thousandpieced puzzles (“I took a picture of them when they were all out, and for a second I was like, what are you doing man? But then I was like, nah that’s good - this is time well spent George.”), to listening to the latest 2 Chainz and Bleachers records, there’s one key message that pours out of him.

Tracks like ‘Get Away’, ‘Hold My Girl’ and ‘All My Love’

Happiness. George Ezra is a guy who has worked

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hard, pushed through self-doubt and now has the world at his feet waiting to witness the sequel he’s so proud of. “And we’re still not quite done,” states George. “There are still tweaks going on, and therefore I’ve just said I’m going to keep writing. Even if none of it goes on the record, it’s just good for me to be still exercising that muscle. It’s not set in stone which I quite like, it goes against everything I usually like as I’m always about a plan normally. I’m shit at not having a plan, but this freedom is quite nice. It’s all up in the air on music and when the rest of it is heard. It’s all working in this weird world of not having to of committed to anything yet and just seeing how everything is going which is a great thing to do.” More than anything, George Ezra is unabashed in who he is - a songwriter writing earnest tales of modern life and offering a hand back to jubilant euphoria and kicking back for moments of bliss. He knows who he is, and knows there’s a place now more than ever in the world of pop for what he’s offering. Things are about to get extremely busy once again, and George is raring to set the fuse once again. “I’ve not tried to shy away from what I am,” details George. “I think that’s a common thing where people think, ‘Well, I’ve got this audience but those guys don’t like me’ so they start trying to write songs that appeal to that audience but the thing is, they’ve got their fix. They’ve got something else. Honestly, I think that happens more often than we realise so I was really keen to stay true to what I am.” Like, for me, I’ve got a larger fanbase than I ever thought I’d have - and I’m happy, y’know? And you can’t really ask for anything more than that. If there are more people that want to come and enjoy it, then that’s brilliant, but if not… then that’s okay. If you’re in a position where you get to write and record music, and people want to come and experience that with you live then that’s the dream, and I’m kinda there at the minute, so I’m happy. I wouldn’t change it.” “World domination? That’s not me.” Being free, and simply realising that sometimes we all need to switch off and enjoy what’s going on around it - now that’s a lesson that’s vital. As George Ezra strolls down the corridor, you can hear his laughter ringing out. That’s exactly what life is about - and sometimes saying that it doesn’t matter can mean the most. P George Ezra’s new album is out later this year.

DOWN WITH BORING

THE CRIBS

K C RO ‘N

if any, n few, e e over b ’s esome There w an a e r mo ore th bands decade or m out to t ’re the las s. Now they ib r The C ey rock. th prove ann. Konem . : Liam k s ic d r ll o u G W : Steve Photos

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L L RO S R A T S

DOWN WITH BORING

THE CRIBS

t’s 11am in New York, and Ryan Jarman has been awake for less than twenty minutes before the phone rings. The Cribs, he says tiredly, don’t get a lot of downtime.

They do tend to work almost constantly, sometimes stockpiling things for years before coming back to them. Their new album ‘24/7 Rock Star Shit’ includes a handful of those tracks, and has been in the works since they were recording ‘In The Belly of the Brazen Bull’. Attentive fans will recognise the album as one-half of the rumoured twinned LP set that ‘For All My Sisters’ supposedly kicked off – ‘...Sisters’ was the pop record, ‘24/7 Rock Star Shit’ its grittier punk rock sibling. The only thing is, that pair didn’t actually exist as far as

the band were concerned. “I kind of wish that we hadn’t mentioned the fact that we were working on a new album when we put ‘For All My Sisters’ out,” Ryan sighs through a phone line riddled with static. “The way it was reported at the time almost made it seem as though we were specifically writing two different records and were trying to keep two aspects separate. But it hasn’t really been a conscious exercise.” It was more a matter of luck, really. Divine intervention in the form of legendary grunge engineer Steve Albini. “When we were recording ‘...Brazen Bull’ Dave Fridmann only had a few weeks, so we booked some sessions with Steve Albini,” Ryan explains. “‘... Brazen Bull’ was going to be a combination of Dave Fridmann and Steve Albini, but after we’d come back from working with Albini, the two sessions sounded so different that we decided to keep Albini’s separate

and turn it into an album at some point.” ‘At some point’ turned out to be right after the end of the cycle for ‘For All My Sisters’, when the Jarmans reconvened in the US to finish their punk album. On the phone in Portland where they wrote the record, Gary Jarman is rather more awake than his brother, despite being three hours behind. “Our last show for ‘For All My Sisters’ was in Shanghai, which was really fun and felt like a good spot to leave it,” he says. “So we got back at the end of that year and then obviously there was the US election and all kinds of crazy political stuff going on, and we were sort of shell-shocked for a while. It was better to go back to the basement and get back to work, really.” “We were ready to go into the studio really quickly, the show in Shanghai was in September, and we went into the studio in November. We were purposely trying to make it so that we didn’t get too familiar with the songs so that when we got in the studio, we were playing them with the same amount of excitement that you get when you’re unfamiliar with them, you know? It’s more adrenalised because it’s not just muscle memory,” he continues. The buzz was aided and abetted by Steve Albini, whose hands-off mixing approach and raucous sound was precisely what the Cribs needed to bring out the clattering immediacy they had in mind for the album. “When you record with Steve you know exactly what you’re going to get which is exactly why we chose him,” Ryan says. “We knew that when we picked him, he was definitely going to fulfil that criteria, of sonically being ‘immediate’.” Gary agrees. “He doesn’t really like to adorn things too much because he thinks that ultimately you move further away from what the song’s supposed to be. That really stuck with the way that we’d been writing, we were trying to keep the songs in sort of a nucleic form,” he says. “They should still sound sort of feral.” The result is that ‘24/7 Rock Star Shit’ sounds the way the Cribs do live. “Warts and all,” as Gary says. Despite the anniversaries and retrospective tours, the Jarmans don’t particularly like to look back, but there are exceptions to every rule. While ‘24/7 Rock Star Shit’ is the Cribs moving into the next phase, it does call back to the band they were before they’d had any kind of mainstream success. The live recording technique returned them to where they were on their first album, when they were their most fundamental selves as a band, Ryan says. “My favourite record throughout our career has always been our first album. That really encapsulated who we were as a band. When we first started out we were always going to record live, and we were always going to record on tape, and as your career progresses your stance on stuff like that softens a little because you can’t just keep making the same sounding record over and over,” he says. “But we felt like now was the time, it’s been almost fifteen years so we thought we’d record in a similar way again, because really that’s how we are best represented.”

Why do Ryan & Gary look like they’re cosplaying Supernatural?

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“We wanted to get these songs down in a way that we thought would serve them the best,” Gary adds. “For me, it sounds really... I keep coming back to that word ‘unsterilised’ it sounds like what we do live, there’s no polishing off or rounding off of edges.” Recording live meant that in the end the band only had to spend five days in the studio before the album

“IT SOUNDS LIKE WHAT WE DO LIVE” was finished. They found that the songs on ‘24/7 Rock Star Shit’ didn’t need the tweaks and adjustments they might have made on a more pop-driven album, and could be more or less left well enough alone. Gary maintains that the process was so smooth they could have been done faster, had they not gone and written an extra song.

“We wrote another song while we were in the studio, and ‘cause we wrote that extra song we had to record it the next day, so that added an extra day,” he says with an almost audible eye-roll. “‘Sticks Not Twigs’ was written on an acoustic in the dormitory there. We stayed at the studio, so Steve got this really sweet old acoustic that belonged to his dad, and he let me take it upstairs to play around on when I was writing my lyrics and working on bits and pieces. And one night in the dormitory I played this idea that I was having and turned it into a song. So the next day Steve showed up at the studio, and we’re like, ‘Hey we’ve got another song to record’. And he’s so cool you know, he could’ve been like, ‘No we’re mixing now, you’ve got to stick to mixing, we’ve changed the desk around’ or whatever but he was like, ‘Okay cool man, go in there and do it’.” While Gary is careful to note that their rapid recording process “wasn’t a dogmatic thing”, on a personal level Ryan feels it’s the right way for them to work. “Personally, my philosophy is that you’re better off spending more time in the rehearsal room than you are in the studio. For me, that’s a better idea,” Ryan says. “When people spend ages recording an album they edit all the humanity out of it; you know what I mean? To me, it just sounds like the human element gets lost. That’s why we try to record quite quickly, to keep that humanity.” That pursuit of authenticity has filtered into almost everything they do. After almost fifteen years, The Cribs still try their best to be the kind of band they’d have loved as teenagers. Earlier this year they released their single ‘Year of Hate’ / ‘In Your Palace’ on white label 7” vinyl. A limited number of copies were hidden away in record shops around the country, waiting for eager fans to find them. If you wanted

one, you had to go and look for it. They’re keen to point out that it wasn’t about exclusion so much as inclusion, about giving fans something that felt like it was just theirs and that made them part of a club. A communion between band and audience, in a way. Even now though, several months down the line, Ryan and Gary seem a bit worried it could be misinterpreted. “That wasn’t like an elitist thing, making it so that some people couldn’t hear the record,” says Ryan. “It was more a case of giving the people that are prepared to hunt it down something exciting and kind of exclusive. With the whole online thing, it’s cool that you can get your music to people instantly but I feel like that isn’t that exciting anymore, so we wanted to make it so that it was difficult to find so that it felt special.” For Gary it was partly about recapturing the buzz, he felt shopping for records as a teenager, when the process was tinged with anticipation and near-obsessive enthusiasm. “When I was a kid, I wouldn’t always be able to track down records from Kill All Rock Stars and Sub Pop, I’d have to pre-order them and wait for them to show up. I didn’t know what they’d sound like, but that was kind of what was exciting, having to wait for them and then when they arrived looking at the sleeve on the bus home trying to figure out what it was going to be like. That was the thing with ‘Year of Hate’; it was like, ‘Let’s just have it so that people don’t hear it online first and people don’t have a copy straight away’. I miss that. It used to be something that was an intrinsic part of the experience of buying a record for me when I was a kid.” He pauses. “I guess sometimes I can get a bit foggy-eyed about that kind of thing, but it’s not really nostalgia,” he says a little self-

THE CRIBS ARE ACTUALLY PUNKS FOR THE RECORD, THE CRIBS ARE PUNK ROCK.

Sure, the ‘world’s premier mid-fi band’ can serve up a slice of pop brilliance with the best of ‘em, but let’s not forget for one minute that we’re also dealing with a raucous force to be reckoned with. To prove it we’ve pulled together a bunch of their scuzziest tracks from across the years they’ve been ‘on the scene’. Scope ‘em out on readdork.com now.

consciously. “Kids who come to our show now who are like 17, 18 years old, that means they were like 7 when we put out ‘Men’s Needs’. They were just kids. So we realised that era of music would’ve totally passed them by, they would never have had that experience of having to wait for a record and not just have immediate access. It does sound like you’re being perverse and just being awkward or something, but I dunno, it was only a couple of weeks when it wasn’t available. I like to think that in those couple of weeks it made people want to hear a record in the same way that I used to when I was waiting for a record to come into the store.” That surprise release worked because of the unbridled loyalty of Cribs fans, and the band know it. It’s part of the reason why they can release ‘24/7 Rock Star Shit’ on such short notice, too. It allows them to get straight to the point. “It affords us a lot of freedom,” Gary says. “That’s why we do it. It’s more fun, and you bypass a lot of bullshit, really.” 24/7 Rock Star Shit, no bull involved. P The Cribs’ album ‘24/7 Rock Star Shit’ is out now.

DOWN WITH BORING

“It’s okay lads. We’ve got this all wrapped up!”

G R I Z Z LY B E A R

An American Democracy Following 2012’s ‘Shields’, Grizzly Bear nearly drifted apart; five years later, and their fifth album is proof that passion and determination pay off.

nybody who has read the liner notes of a Grizzly Bear record will know that a lot of work goes into sounding so refined. Initially founded in New York by Ed Droste as a solo effort, they’ve been hard at work for nearly 15 years perfecting their multi-instrumental sound, the gap between each album widening as they strive to develop their layers, learn new instruments and generally sharpen an approach that once earnt them the plaudit of being Johnny Greenwood’s ‘favourite band in the world’. It’s a process that is highly democratic – a gang of highly trained players, all four members chip in to the music at it every juncture, from the demoing stage right through to press junkets and social media management. “I think it is something that’s weirdly unusual,” explains Chris Taylor. “I dunno, many bands now are just one person writing all the music, but definitely with us, all four of us have the tools the means to contribute in different ways. I find it to be a real luxury to have lots of ideas there. We all tend to agree when the right course of action has been presented, which is good.” Steering themselves onto that right course of action though did take the self-confessed prodding of one particular member. Taylor, who has played on and produced every Grizzly Bear effort since 2006’s breakthrough ‘Yellow House’ willingly admits that it was him who fought so vigilantly to keep the band together as the commitments of ‘real life’ began to kick in after an extensive touring cycle for 2012’s ‘Shields’. “I remember speaking with at least Chris [Bear] and Ed [Droste] after our last ‘Shields’ show in Sydney,” he recalls. “We had a great last show, and we were all hanging out afterwards on a bit of a high. I took the opportunity to be like, ‘Cool, now we’re feeling good, maybe we should check in with each other in like three months and talk about music, keep it light and low pressure and whatever’. I just know that when we break communication and go into our separate corners of existence, we can become quite disparate and uncommunicative with each other just by way of doing our own thing. I was ready and raring to go right away, but I had to accept that the band wasn’t. I’m pretty

Words: Jenessa Williams. restless; I need to be making stuff constantly to feel happy and satisfied. I did have to accept the idea of, what am I going to do if I’m not in a band?” There was a period where this felt as if it would be a distinct possibility. Three months of non-communication stretched into a year as all four members kept themselves busy with various grown-up endeavours. Taylor addressed his restless side with a solo record, various production work for other bands and stints as a NOMA-trained chef; Ed Droste enjoyed a break from music entirely to focus on travelling and social activism, and Daniel Rossen became the only member to remain in New York, throwing himself into agricultural living. And then for drummer Chris Bear, there was the small matter of adjusting to first-time parenthood, something set to change the band’s dynamic completely. “It’s going to be a very different process of going on the road and what that means from now on,” he reflects. “I’m still very excited to start playing live again, but it’s a whole new level – I’m going to be gone for three to four weeks and she’s changing by the day, it’s going to be tough to miss all of that.” Accommodating for this new-found pace of life turned out to be a blessing in disguise; encouraged by Taylor’s insistence, sessions for ‘Painted Ruins’ began tentatively via email, each member submitting ideas without the financial or logistical restraints of committing to a rehearsal studio, or any mention of the word ‘album’. “I think one of the things we tried to do was set it up so we were presenting ideas in a way that a was a little more casual, so sharing ideas that weren’t even finished or you wouldn’t necessarily even think to be a song yet,” says Bear. “It was nice to work in that way; it allowed for everyone to dip in on the collective songwriting that probably wouldn’t happen in we were all in the room. Sometimes you do really just need to sit with something and try lots of ideas, and that isn’t always the easiest with three other people staring at you!” Taylor concurs. “‘Album’ was a kind of forbidden word, I didn’t want to add that pressure and ruin things for anybody in the process. After doing my best not to annoy everyone I had to come to terms with the fact that it wouldn’t be a good record if I forced anybody to do it, so I

had to learn just to let it happen. That was an interesting exercise, and in the end, I think it was quite productive.” He pauses. “You have to let go of the idea of the band as an absolute thing. It never was, and I never thought it was, but I guess I always felt like there was more for us to do and I wasn’t satisfied for this to be the end. But I think it helped; by accepting the possibility that we might not have a future made me appreciate the whole process a lot more, I think it made for a more open-minded creative environment which was a lot more fun. Yeah, I’m pretty glad I prodded!” A record of complex emotions, ‘Painted Ruins’ is a Grizzly Bear album as it should be: lush instrumentation and a wide lyrical span that keeps things humbly vague but undeniably touches on some key moments of the past five years - Droste’s divorce, Bear’s new fatherhood, growing older and apart while also trying to negotiate this strange new world we find ourselves in under the Trump administration (Grizzly Bear were vocal supporters of the Bernie Sanders campaign). On the cusp of this new frontier, the narrative of their music has significantly changed. “I know the guys so well that I can hear in the lyrics that there is a different perspective this time,” Taylor observes. “To me, it’s about that slice of life when you’re in your mid-thirties, and you start to assess the fact that you’re definitely not a kid anymore. It almost feels like the beginning of adult life in a way where it’s quite natural to stop and assess the path behind you and the path ahead. I feel like with ‘Shields’ we were all introspectively searching for answers to define certain concepts and sharpen tools, and I think this album, in contrast, is just playing with those tools; not seeking to repair them, but to just make use them as they are. Just enjoying what we’ve got and the possibilities we have. There was a very different headspace with this record.” “To me, it feels ambitious and playful,” agrees Bear. “Obviously there’s still all of the multilayers and intricate parts going on, and although most of it wasn’t done live, we tried to still capture some kind of live rhythm section energy and have it feel energetic. I think it came through; I guess it feels pretty colourful to me. These are pretty exciting times!” P Grizzly Bear’s album ‘Painted Ruins’ is out 18th August. DOWN WITH BORING

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SUPERFOOD

N P e P U sTO aBL on not the same band they were Superfood are back, but they’re ’ ino mb ‘Ba um alb ond , their sec their debut. Signed to Dirty Hit . is ready to cause a stir h Louise Bennett. Words: Jamie Muir. Photos: Sara

DOWN WITH BORING

SUPERFOOD

“T

here was a time when we were recording, and we had a moment where we just didn’t know if we were going to finish it,” recalls Superfood frontman Dom Ganderton. “We were standing on our balcony listening to Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’, and because we were such a mess at that moment, we just listened to the whole song in silence. Just a minute ago, we were chatting about that and how it feels so good to see an actual tracklisting together up and people can pre-order the thing.” ‘Ol Blue Eyes himself sums up the spirit of Superfood far better than any motion picture could. There was doubt, they ate it up and spit it out, and now they have one of the most stunning reinventions of the past few years written under their own banner. The story of Superfood’s road to ‘Bambino’ is one paved with detours, late-nights in North London and an unfiltered dive into the unknown - a record that could very easily have ended up in the trash files on their computers and remained a mystery to the world. At its heart above all else, is the relationship between Dom and partner-in-crime Ryan Malcolm. Harking back to all-nighters and ‘dirty warehouse raves in Birmingham’, Dom and Ryan can remember those early days like the back of their hands. “You know he was a professional football player before?!” bursts Dom, turning to Ryan. “I just find that so mad that you had this whole life of training, being the sports guy and then it was like you heard The Strokes and *click*.” “I mean, semi-pro,” points out Ryan. “I remember listening to The Strokes and thinking, ‘Oh my god, this is sick’.” “The leather jacket came on straight away,” laughs Dom. “But yeah, when we were living in Birmingham there were like 50 kids all going out to the same two bars every weekend, and everyone was in bands. Me and Ryan would see each other, and every time at like two in the morning we’d be saying, ‘Mate, we need to get together man and do this!’ And that just went on for months. Then one night, I went back to his flat after a night out and just started jamming, and no exaggeration we jammed for like eight hours - until 2pm the next day.” They both erupt into laughter, and it’s in that emotion that Superfood in 2017 find themselves. Two best mates enjoying the music and good times, clinking glasses and running through memories at the drop of a dime with an album they’ve been itching to make from the moment

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they met. Throwing away the shackles of restraint that coated itself around their self-titled debut album, it’s a marked difference in style and attitude that sees the pair finally making the music they’ve always wanted to make. “Musically, we just naturally did what we wanted and weren’t being held down,” details Dom, “but in our own heads we were battling with that thought of, ‘Have we lost the plot here?’ Because when we’d show it to people right at the start, some didn’t know how to take it in. From now on with us two, we’ve proven that we can do something different and kinda broken out of that mould around us. Now it’s like, right, if you stick to what you’re doing and be weird and be yourself it just comes across as so much better.” “That’s something I’m really happy about as well,” continues Ryan, “It’s all so natural, nothing is forced or pushed in there, and I think that’s really important.” Looking back to that mould that they found themselves in with their debut, it’s a time that both Dom and Ryan see as a rushed burst from the gate. ‘Superfood’ was a whirlwind that took them on a manic run around the country with loud flurries of Britpop chimes - and the lessons learnt from that time meant that their next step needed to be bold and distant, embracing the aspects that both Dom and Ryan needed to incorporate. That feeling of unrestricted unison that came with their jamming sessions in each other’s flats in Birmingham during those early days, and one undeniably of their own. “It was very of its time,” pinpoints Dom, summarising those early years. “It was of that moment. It was going just so fast, and we were playing all of these gigs. It was just the way things were, and we didn’t really think it out from the get-go, just rushed really. I think I’m kinda glad it happened like that because if it didn’t happen, we probably wouldn’t have the people and fans we have now, but it was definitely a learning curve. “It’s just annoying that we sat for three of four years with a debut album that we didn’t really fully back, and it got to the point where it all just ran out of steam. Our hearts weren’t really in what we were doing, and I think we made it difficult for ourselves in a way because we could have just carried on and hammered out another album that would have been quite similar.” After touring subsided, Dom and Ryan found themselves in a situation where they had no idea where things were heading for Superfood. Left to their own devices and with no clear

end goal in sight, they retreated to what they knew best. Building on Dom’s years of bedroom producing, they began playing around in the shared flat they lived in, blending strange ideas and sounds into the music that they wanted to make. It wasn’t about time; it wasn’t about fitting into any sort of bracket - it was about Superfood simply creating. “It was just trial and error the whole thing,” notes Dom. “When we started recording again, it was firstly for ourselves, and we agreed to just take our time. We were living together so we’d be working on songs till like six in the morning and then wake up after that at about two in the afternoon, get breakfast and jump right back in. We ended up recording drums in an old button factory in Stoke Newington, and it didn’t have a toilet, just a compost version that you had to fill with hay, so it was hard to force ourselves out of our place.” ‘Bambino’ is a record that never sits still, it’s practically shaking with ideas and vibrant sparks of different genres and different moods. From the peaks of chanting neu-ska chimes on ‘I Can’t See’, the glam stomp of ‘Need A Little Spider’, the cut and paste majesty of ‘Where’s The Bass Amp’ or the plucky heights of ‘Unstoppable’ - it’s a record comfortable in its shape-shifting skin. One that blossoms with the sound of a band in their element and locking in on exactly who they are. Yet even then, the future wasn’t clear. “It was still all up in the air,” reiterates Dom. “We got this amazing opportunity to go out to LA to finish mixing the record - and we just crammed in all the time we could. Even then, when it was all done, and we were back, we were like, ‘Well, what are we even going to do with this? How do we get it to a label?’ We didn’t even have a band to play live!” “We were actually going to leak it once,” interjects Ryan, with a smile sneaking across his face. Dom immediately starts laughing, knowing the story to come. “So we were drunk on a night out,” continues Ryan, “and we looked at each other and just went, ‘Mate, let’s just fucking put the album out’.” “We were walking down Ridley Road in Dalston,” picks up Dom, “and our mate chased down the street after us and just went, ‘Lads. Don’t.” “Two years work,” finishes Ryan. “Don’t do that.” The first people they reached out to were Dirty Hit. A combination of daring, swagger and a constantly burning hunger to go bigger and bolder while delivering musical shades of every colour, it’s what Blind Date would call a match made in

heaven. “It’s crazy,” notes Dom, taking a satisfied sip of his beer. “They were the first people we sent it to and right away were into it and supportive, and just like that everything changed. It turned around in the space of two weeks to a whole new position.” Switched up, turned to a dial that rings out far and wide - Superfood are not just a band reborn. They have a new vision, one wrapped in every bright light under the sun and more - unafraid and determined to leave a mark with a record that’s as complete a snapshot of where Dom and Ryan belong. Forever knocking on doors, forever pushing against any restraints and willing to take whatever path tickles their fancy, it’s what bands should be like. Yet there’s nothing like Superfood. It’ll take them to bigger stages, bigger moments and above all else, makes them one of the most exciting British bands of the year. “We realised that what it’s all about and what’s going to make us happy and do this for years to come is us two sitting in a studio and being weird,” points out Dom, as he finishes his beer and prepares to head back into the studio to mix even more music. “Just doing what we want and learning how to play it live later. That’s what we’ve learnt over the past couple of years. It was a rollercoaster, but now we just want to make the next album, because we know exactly what we want to do.” Always looking to the next horizon, Superfood are free to do it their way. A life that’s full, now that’s a classic we can get behind. P Superfood’s album ‘Bambino’ is out 8th September.

FAX-ING HELL A *WHAT* SOLO?

Dom: I’ve got to get this out there because it’s amazing. But on one song, and I won’t say what song, there’s a fax machine solo. Honestly. We recorded some office noise, and then we put it in and over the song. And all this is going on, and it gets to a point where the fax machine just kicks in, and it was in the same pitch and everything! Ryan: I actually thought that you must have slipped it in or something… Dom: Just HRRRRRR - so good. Oh, and it’s the last song on the album by the way. [That’d be ‘Clo Park’ then lads - good to get your fax-ts right eh? - Ed]

R AT B O Y

M U C S band - aren’t self, or alongside his him y rd Ca an rd Jo rt of why that Rat Boy - be it ht now. And that’s pa rig t ne pla e th on e y brilliant. like anything els but album is so blood much anticipated de rah Louise Bennett.

Photos: Sa Words: Jake Hawkes.

“I

They’ve put us have been really good. watched do what we us let and dio stu in the Jackass again have to sell ally actu we want. But now the other night, it’s definitely a bit scarier So rd! reco a and now I “It’s a first now,” Jordan elaborates. wanna shove a se songs the all got ve we’ so record, toy car up my ’s got on one not tha re the that are out arse.” Those are we need to put them on and , um alb an the words of the older shit. there because people like Jordan Cardy, ff we did, stu t firs the e hav to d It’s goo aka Rat Boy, d of new loa a e hav to d goo but it’s also ive of how t means it’s hard to get Tha l. and they’re pretty indicat wel as ff stu (not very, in ether, with seriously he takes himself a record that flows all tog from those ces uen infl nt ere case that wasn’t clear). diff all the two years.” of grass in North Sitting on a small strip ry, Har s ate dm ban his by linking London, he and The band got around this king up the pets of snip h wit er eth Liam and Noah - are soa tog gs the son the local wildlife, g the for oyin enj ally cific and e spe d shin rde sun “radio” reco cries of, “Look nd Theft occasionally letting out album. “We used the Gra [voice actor how cool that dog is!” Auto radio station guy make it and try to yd] Flo Lloyd ’ is due for UM ‘SC um ce, I alb pie a ut as deb se ir sen The make more re are plenty went with the I ks. imminent release and the wor it k thin really scary; you tty of nerves all round. “It’s GTA theme because I pre it. The album’s nI whe sic mu can’t do anything about into got much ds,” says Noah, there, it’s out of your han from playing GTA ht eig was nd. all rou radio to murmurs of agreement San Andreas, and all the surreal this e wer s ion stat d’s record label] “They [Warner, the ban

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. The way they piss-take of everyday life and flip ces ren refe and take names that.” them on their head, I like Floyd to As for how they convinced ? um alb the to als lend his voc n Well, that was easier tha they thought it would be. “My manager found Lloyd’s email

DOWN WITH BORING

R AT B O Y

address, and we just thought, ‘Fuck it, let’s try emailing him’. And then he replied within a day saying yes!” He laughs. “So we had to do it after that, we couldn’t not.” The voice of GTA isn’t the only guest on the album though. “Damon Albarn plays keys on a couple of tracks,” Jordan gushes, clearly just as excited about it now as he was when it happened. His Blur bandmate Graham Coxon also contributes guitar to ‘Laidback’. “It’s a weird one, we messaged loads of people when we were making the album, hoping to get a couple, but we got loads more than we expected. Mallory Merk’s on it too, she’s from New York, and she’s fucking sick.” Jordan has always been keen to use the internet to his advantage, whether it’s emailing voice actors or just plugging Rat Boy through Facebook. “Some girl at my school had this Facebook page: ‘swishy hair and tight shirt makes a girl go woo-hoo’ or something like that. It was just a load of indie kids, but it had bare likes so I asked if she could post Rat Boy... she said no, though. “I used to be the admin of a Ralph Wiggum Facebook page with like 60,000 likes,” Liam says, puffing up his chest in mock pride. “They were giving away a few admins, so I asked for one and then plugged Rat Boy, so they kicked me off again.” Not exactly an illustrious start to their social media marketing campaign.

and hip-hop music. We all love British spoken word: The Streets, Ian Dury, Arctic Monkeys, all of that stuff.” As for Jamie T, the artist Rat Boy get compared to most? “Who?” Harry chips in, giggling. “Yeah, we still haven’t listened to him!” Jordan replies jokingly. “But seriously, we’re listening to a lot of American records at the moment, stuff like N.E.R.D, I love that sort of production. The challenge is to incorporate guitar music into it without sounding like we’re just trying to do hip-hop with guitars. Limp Bizkit were so sick at that; their songs are fucking wicked. We wanna produce our stuff to sound like something new. That’s why we listen to people like Playboi Carti, we wanna sound current, not stuck in the past.”

If it sounds like the album might be a departure from the Rat Boy we know and love, don’t worry. “When people hear the album hopefully they’ll be like, ‘Okay, they haven’t changed their music, they’re just exploring and mixing it all together’,” Jordan says. “Because it gets frustrating, every time we release a song people say it doesn’t sound like Rat Boy, and it’s just like, ‘We’re trying stuff out, we’ve been making music for two years, calm down!’”

They haven’t ruled out ditching the instruments entirely either. “We’ve already got a trap song, proper autotune and everything!” Jordan announces, to laughter all round. “It’s about Gucci gold chains, we were gonna release it and not say it was us, just to see how far it would get, come on stage in a mask like MF Doom, or maybe do it Gorillaz style…”

This exploration of new sounds is something Jordan comes back to again and again. “We’ve got loads of influences; we all grew up listening to indie music

“I showed my mate the track the other day,” adds Liam, “and he refused to believe it was us! He

WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING IF NOT MUSIC? Noah: I’d be at uni doing something I don’t wanna do. Jordan: I’d probably be working with my dad. I’d still be trying to make a skate company, but it’s fucking hard, you’ve gotta have money to start it. The smaller scale you do stuff, the more money it costs for everything. It’s peak. In America, it’s a lot easier, but in England, you can’t even get like blank skateboards, it’s all gotta be imported. I’d love to make my own board, but you have to import everything over. That’s why we’re doing stuff now, we’re getting the help, and it’s a sick opportunity. It’s not like a musician being like “Yeah I wanna do a clothing company” and then someone else does all the designs, it’s all come from us. Noah: The socks really help us out, don’t they? Tour laundry.

kept saying it’d be alright if he didn’t think it was us.” So is the Trap Boy album in the works? “That would be such a dream,” says Jordan. “Get those fucking sick chains. Some rappers have Instagram accounts just for their chains; I’d love to live that life! We’d be good with that sort of money; we could benefit the world with all the shit we’d start doing. I think we’d build some mad big playground studio, with a skate park and everything.” A skate park makes sense, as all of the band members are big fans of the sport. “A lot of the artwork is inspired by skating, by people like Mark Gonzalez,” explains Jordan. “I’ve got a clothing brand called SCUM which I’m releasing in America right now, and that started off in the skate scene over there. The skate scene in the UK is great, but it’s not that big. There are so many people out in America that could be interested in what we’re doing.” “I used to go down the skate park with my Sony phone and try to make skate videos. I didn’t even have a fish eye lens for it,” says Harry. “I made a fish eye out of one of those things you look through doors with,” Jordan chips in. “I hacksawed the end of it off and glued it to the end of a flip camera. It was so shit! I took it down the park, and everybody started calling me ‘picture kid’.” “I fucked myself skating the other day actually,” Noah adds, before going into a catalogue of skaterelated injuries. “I’ve split my eyebrow open, busted my leg, broken an ankle, I think I broke my wrist…”

“Gizza kiss.” 58

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“He doesn’t check

trying

stuff OUT. “We’re we’ve been making music for two years,

calm down!”

because he doesn’t want to know!” Harry jumps in, and the rest of the group laugh.

“That’s not true!” Noah replies, massaging his wrist. “Recently I haven’t been checking, but I’ve officially broken one of my wrists once and one twice. Two were from skating, and one of them was from…” “Wanking?” Jordan asks, innocently. “I’ve never broken a bone. I drink loads of milk, so I’m pretty fucking hard.” He mock-flexes his arms. “It’s vegan milk though; I drink loads of types of milk.” “Sheep… Dog… Cat… Human?” Noah asks, getting a kick in the ankle from Jordan in response. “We’ve got loads of stunts coming up too,” Noah announces. “We had a video that got two million views of Noah fucking himself up jumping over some chairs, his neck looks ridiculous,” Jordan says, trying to find the video on his phone. “It keeps popping up in those videos online of fail compilations, that’s how bad it is!” “Yeah, I had long hair at the time,” Noah says, rubbing his shaven scalp. “For like three days afterwards I had to lift my head up off of the pillow using my hair. My neck just wouldn’t work, I couldn’t lift it at all.” The motivation behind nearly breaking your neck while on tour? “One of the weirdest things for me is just having to wait for four hours and do nothing. You can’t even make music or anything!” Noah says, clearly exasperated.

“When we had a tour bus we made that trap song,” Jordan interjects. “We do stuff when we can, but when you’re in a green room, or an aeroplane, or a shit hotel…” “Sometimes there’s literally one plug in the hotel room,” shrugs Liam. “And me and Harry are trying to get a USB into the TV.” “Trying to get the TV off the wall bracket just to get at the plug socket!” Harry laughs, pulling up the grass next to him. Later, back at their studio, the guys spend ten minutes fiddling with an aux cable and searching through their phones, and ‘Gucci Gold Chains’ is finally unveiled. It’s actually pretty good, but don’t hold your breath on that Rat Boy trap album happening anytime soon. P Rat Boy’s album ‘SCUM’ is out now.

GIMME MORE

NEVER DOING THINGS BY HALVES. Jordan: We’re starting a record label. Basically, we’ve got a lot of mates who are into making music. We should be able to drop mixtapes on it, and more free stuff, because we wanna have a constant thing of stuff going out. With a label obviously, it’s more structured. What else are we doing at the moment? We’ve got the album coming, clothing stuff. A lot of effort’s gone into that, that’s really exciting. We’ve had our mate Tommy filming us for like a year and a half, so we’ve got a lot of video stuff coming out. We’re doing a House of Vans event. We’re gonna get all of our mates down skating; we’ll have a cinema with a documentary of the making-of the album. There’ll be skate clips. Gonna have an art show, with a load of my paintings that’ll go up in the gallery. *turns to Liam* Do you wanna do some art too? We’ll try to sell it! There’s gonna be screen printing there so that you can make your own SCUM collab Vans shirts. We’re DJing, and you can buy the record there too. Banquet are gonna be down there selling records. DOWN WITH BORING

A LV VAY S

Alvvays’ Molly Rankin ran away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life to work on the follow up to the band’s much-loved debut. “I wanted it to be an escape,” she says.

Words: Jessica Goodman.

‘d been feeling a lot of escapism and wondering what life would be like had I not started this band, and what it would be like if I just left it all behind…” Molly Rankin contemplates. It’s been three years since Alvvays released their self-titled first album. In the time since, the band have performed in front of crowds oceans apart, securing themselves in the hearts and minds of audiences worldwide.

Retreating away from the day to day, it was on Toronto Island that the musician started to give shape to what has become the band’s second album. “I had some ideas early on, when we just got back from touring,” she states. “I was wondering how I was going to come up with a record’s worth of songs…” Staying near the beach at night and working in an old, abandoned classroom by day, the freedom of these surroundings proved to be the perfect solution.

“We expected it to fade into obscurity,” the frontwoman laughs, thinking back to their debut release. “But we were able to tour a lot. It was unexpected and thrilling to be able to see places, to drive through Switzerland and for people to show up and see us in places like Zurich or Hamburg,” she marvels. “It’s all wild to us!”

“The writing would have been different had I not been living on the shore by myself,” Molly affirms. “I’m influenced by water and the ocean - though that was technically a lake,” she laughs. Whatever the body of water, it was here that the musician was able to rediscover her strengths, using her own escape to fuel the songs.

With lyrical tales of love, seclusion, and confusion told along melodies seemingly woven out of halfremembered dreams, Alvvays’ debut cast a spell that no one fought to shake. As the band enchanted audiences further with their entrancing live shows, anticipation for a second record steadily continued to grow. “I’m not very good at writing in a van, or during soundcheck, or at a festival, or in a Travelodge,” Molly admits, laughing. “Touring really threw a wrench into my writing process.”

“I was really grateful to have a fair chunk of time to be able to get comfortable with writing again,” she enthuses. “I was able to just be by myself and feel like myself again, and channel some inspiration.” Telling tales of walking along the island’s coastline and listening to her favourite records on the beach, while writing and recording demos in a place that she made her own, the process that led to ‘Antisocialites’ seems almost as rose-tinted as the melodies that flood its construction.

Days on the road and nights under the spotlight aren’t always the most conducive to creativity. “Being an introverted person and a frontwoman, I’m perhaps more comfortable working in the shadows,” Molly discloses. “That describes the other people in the band too,” she adds. “We’d probably rather not be front and centre of something.”

“I think that I really needed to go away from everything in order to write the songs,” she states. “To be alone again and to conjure up influences, to be able to walk along the shore and have some perspective on things...” she trails off. “It’s an empowering thing to work and to be productive and ambitious. I’m

Finding comfort in solitude, and solitude in escape, the path to Alvvays’ second record was one that seemed to pave itself. Packing a small PA into a wheelbarrow, the musician forged her escape on a ferry to Toronto Island. “My comfort zone is to be isolated” Molly states. “Obviously, when I was touring, I’m not so great at that.”

glad I got back into that place.” It’s a place that’s as vivid in these memories as it is on record. Refrains sparkle and glimmer as if frozen in sunlight. Molly’s vocals soar with nonchalance and grace, her words gently inviting listeners to “forget about life with me tonight, underneath this flickering light.” There’s a nostalgic haze that bleeds through the melodies, songs as fond as they are forlorn, forging the path to someplace new. “I wanted it to be an escape,” Molly eagerly illustrates of the album. “This idea was basically the core theme of the record for me,” she explains. “There are a lot of different methods of escaping. The lyrics explore that.” Through dreams and fantasy, from losing yourself completely to discovering relief in your own acceptance, and everywhere beyond, with their second album an escape is exactly what Alvvays have created. Taking the band’s characteristically vibrant melodies to a dynamic high, ‘Antisocialites’ is a refreshing break from the dreary and the habitual exactly when you need it most. “The debut record kind of sounds like us through a pillow, a little bit,” Molly describes with a chuckle. “We had some sonic struggles in mastering,” she clarifies. “This time around we had a lot more leeway with frequency. We understand our band a little bit more, our strengths and weaknesses.” Assured in their intentions and their capabilities to bring them to life, their second record might have been a long time in the making, but the band wouldn’t have it any other way. “We did a lot of tracking in Los Angeles,” Molly recalls. “We got home and realised that

“WE UNDERSTAND OUR BAND A LITTLE BIT MORE”

we weren’t really fully aware of the songs and we needed to do a lot more. So we did.” “We took months,” she continues. “We wanted to extract whatever we could from the demos. Whatever magic the sound of the thought forming brought.” Working with several different mixers before ultimately finishing the process themselves, it’s been a long road that’s led here – and that’s all part of the charm. ‘Antisocialites’ is Alvvays as they always intended to be heard. P Alvvays’ album ‘Antisocialites’ is out 8th September.

FAN CLUB A BIT OF HELP GOES A LONG WAY.

Alvvays’ second album might have been written about solitude and escape, but that didn’t stop them from seeking a little help from their friends to get the record finished – most notably involving Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake. “We met him a few years ago,” Molly Rankin recalls. “He introduced us at the Polaris Prize ceremony.” A collaboration between the two was something that’s long been on the cards. “We had been talking about recording a 7” together,” the frontwoman reveals. “He just happened to be in town the day that we were working on vocals for the first single in Toronto.” “I think we just called him,” she recalls with a grin. “He was doing his Christmas shopping or something. Came to the house and just did it in a few hours.” From mutual appreciation to collaboration, Norman Blake can be heard signing backing vocals on lead single ‘In Undertow’, “I know people say don’t meet your heroes,” Molly deliberates, “but in terms of Norman Blake he’s just the most lovely human,” she enthuses, before laughing, “suspiciously so.”

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DREAM ON 62

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E V E RY T H I N G E V E RY T H I N G

Everyt hing E veryth chang ing ha ed lan ve e again new alb for the um, ‘A ir Feve Can yo r Dream’. u keep up? Words : Jam

ie Muir .

Words : Jam

ie Mu

ir. new alb Can you ke e chang um, ‘A Fever p up? ed lan D e again ream’. Everyt fo hing E veryth r their ing ha ve

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“FUCK KNOWS W H AT WE DO NEXT” to the world around them. Never compromising and committed to making the truest record they can possibly make in that very instance, ‘A Fever Dream’ is born out of a period where the band had to face challenges head on and came out on a creative and personal high. “For us, it’s a relatively quick turnaround,” points out Jeremy. “We didn’t really break stride from finishing the touring and then starting the writing. We didn’t really have any time off, partly because we learnt our lesson when writing ‘Get To Heaven’…” For all bands, there’s a defining record and time and with Everything Everything, it’s fair to say that the whole process around ‘Get To Heaven’ was a journey of seismic importance. Fighting through creative droughts, finding it difficult to get a hold of a record that twists and fizzes with a violent energy and then coming out of the other side with some of their biggest live shows and packed diaries - it was an album that taught Everything Everything the importance placed on being a band in the modern age. For Jeremy, it was a time that rose out of the darkness and led to the band sitting in the best place they’ve ever been not just musically, but personally too.

HAMELEONS OF P O P . Blenders of genres. Art-pop’s uncompromising leaders. They’re all titles you can attribute to Everything Everything, and it’s in that sheer experimentation that they thrive. It’s been seven years since they first jolted their way onto the collections of thousands with ‘Man Alive’ and that drive is still blossoming in front of our very eyes - a firm fixture in the world of British music, unpredictable detours and all. “Just the idea of putting out a fourth album feels quite establishment, and that’s quite strange to us,” elaborates bassist Jeremy Pritchard. It’s been just

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under a year since the band wrapped up proceedings on a mammoth run of shows in support of third album ‘Get To Heaven’, and already they’re back with a new era of material and a new buffet of forwardthinking art-pop to tuck into. “It’s something we say all the time,” he continues. “We’re a pop band, and we want people to really get into what we’re doing, and yet we never make any concessions to being that musically ever!” ‘A Fever Dream’ is a glorious continuation of Everything Everything’s mantra. The idea of boundaries and constraints are something that seem ridiculous to a band always looking to incorporate new sounds into what they do. On ‘A Fever Dream’, they allow those visions to run free again, with a collection of tracks full of unabashed freedom and dark parallels

As Jeremy recollects the time, it’s clear just how different making ‘A Fever Dream’ was compared to its predecessor. “We had this massive crisis of confidence making that album, and we didn’t really know how it was going to go down. We kinda lost touch with certain things, mostly ourselves really and that sense of identity - that was the lowest ebb for us as a band, that end of 2014 time. We learnt a lot about ourselves and each others behaviour at that time, and I remember at the end of making ‘Get To Heaven’ thinking that we might need to take a break.” From that turmoil though, came unbridled success. An album that garnered dazzling critical acclaim and captured the minds of fans not only across the country but through Europe and the world - it singled a new era for the band, one with their position as true purveyors of new and exciting alternative pop firmly secured under their name. If ever there was a reward for the hardships and doubt that floated around the making of it, their time on the road with ‘Get To Heaven’ was nothing short of rejuvenating. “It was nice to be reminded in a very direct way that people love the songs, and there are people who love the band. Because touring the album was such a reassurance we didn’t feel we needed that break

E V E RY T H I N G E V E RY T H I N G

anymore,” notes Jeremy, recalling memorable gigs and a summer full of festival fields. “We really needed that shot in the arm. It was very quick and forthcoming when we first started playing those songs out on the road, that emotion came out, and people really loved them. We were very buoyed up by it, and we’re still sort-of riding that energy now.” “We really learnt our lesson and didn’t want to spend so much time making an album again. We thought it was good for us just to keep rolling, so we’ll end up playing festivals for three years in a row, but in terms of the music we’re making it definitely feels like a fresh start.” Developing and morphing between styles and snapshots in time are a key to the doors Everything Everything continue to open. Putting your finger

OH WE DO LIKE TO B E BESIDE THE SEA SIDE... Everything Everything are set to headline By The Sea festival, which takes place on Saturday 30th September and Sunday 1st October. Held at Margate’s Dreamland, they’re joined on the bill by fellow headliners The Libertines and Metronomy, as well as a supporting cast including Marika Hackman, Dream Wife and HMLTD. The full bill at the time pf of press reads: Everything Everything, Metronomy, The Libertines, British Sea Power, Marika Hackman, HMLTD, Dream Wife, Girl Ray, Deep Throat Choir, Flamingods, Wesley Gonzales. Get more info and the latest lineup at bytheseafestival.co.uk

on them is a fruitless task, pouring with emotion and conviction no matter what avenue they find themselves. Over the course of seven years, they’ve become a band who carve out their own platforms to play from, the searing vocals that come out of frontman Jonathan Higgs a call to arms that has people flocking to their every whim. There’s a careful intricacy to everything they do, and a journey between each album that finds them reacting not just against those looking in, but against themselves. “I think every album that we’ve made, has been a reaction to the one before,” points out Jeremy. “‘Man Alive’ is a young, youthful exotic pop record. Then we wanted to make something more mature, more stately, more considered in terms of songwriting and that became ‘Arc’. From that we found ‘Arc’ to be quite insular, so we wanted ‘Get To Heaven’ to be quite aggressive, quite hard, direct and fast. And so when it came to this album, we just let it come and did exactly what we wanted. “We didn’t say we’re not going to have any tender moments or we’re not going to have any harder moments. We just let it all mix in a way we haven’t done really since maybe ‘Arc’ or ‘Man Alive’, and that was quite freeing, knowing that we didn’t have to work to any particular agenda. Yet it’s still extremely cohesive.” What makes Everything Everything such a vital band, is the feeling you get when you click play on a record. This is a band who manage to capture the grit between your fingers, the chilling drips in the late-night alley and build a world around each and every track. ‘A Fever Dream’ is their most engrossing yet, jumping between whirlwind unravelling (‘Night Of The Long Knives’), Hacienda button-pushing (‘Can’t Do’), swagger-filled strutting (‘Run The Numbers’), a Hope Of The States-esque penchant for swelling instrumentation (‘White Whale’) and tight blossoming (‘A Fever Dream’) with ease. Always connected, it’s a dense record that has you under its spell in moments - effortlessly demanding to

be played over and over. “You know, we always want to convey a particular atmosphere,” continues Jeremy. “There has to be a consistency of feel and feeling throughout, and I think there is on this album. ‘Get To Heaven’ was quite anguished and this is a reaction to the same sort of stuff going on in the world. Whereas ‘Get To Heaven’ was just before it all, this is more of a dizzying and dazed reaction to it. It’s more obscured, hence the title, and we were conscious of wanting to make it sound and feel as if we’re almost unconscious with the dizzying absurdity and level of information people are labelling under now.” Everything Everything in 2017 are a realisation of all they promised to be and more. A band operating completely in their own orbit, free of any shackles and out the other side of a creative period that pushed them to levels they never thought possible, the result is a band thriving and bristling with ideas and pictures of their years to come. ‘A Fever Dream’ isn’t just another album; it’s the sound of a band locking in and flexing their muscles for every other band to see. There’s no band shaping and forming the type of music

Everything Everything are, fearlessly leading the way and no longer looking behind them. Refreshing and undeniably glorious, it only feels like the beginning. “We want to keep moving forward,” Jeremy states, offering an insight into the ideas already flowing ahead of getting back onto the road that so inspired them over the past two years. “Musically we’ve already started talking about how we might want to change our approach on the next record but I know as soon we have those conversations that in a year’s time we’ll be in a completely different place. “I mean, fuck knows what we’ll do next, we just wouldn’t want to become dry - it has to be completely open with us. Who knows, in a month’s time we’ll probably be talking about a techno record or something like that.” The sound of a band surging with confidence, Everything Everything are only just clicking play - no matter how you want to describe them. In fact, it says it all that nobody really can. P Everything Everything’s album ‘A Fever Dream’ is out 18th August.

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T H E WA R O N D R U G S

Holding On For Tomorrow The War on Drugs are getting the hang of this life business. “Maybe I’m just going through an easier spell,” considers Adam Granduciel. Words: Liam Konemann.

DOWN WITH BORING

Those musicians. Always hanging out around disused buildings.

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T H E WA R O N D R U G S

“T

here’s a certain thing that a kick is supposed to do to a speaker,” Adam Granduciel explains with a sheepish smile. “And I don’t really know what that is, but I was convinced that the kick was so loud [that something must be happening].” Settled into the West London offices of his record label on a grey weekday afternoon, the War on Drugs frontman is attempting to debunk the suggestion that he might be a perfectionist. He’s not exactly making a solid case. “People were like, ‘Oh that’s fine’, and I’m like-” he frowns, squinting up at an imaginary amplifier - “‘I dunno, it seems so fuckin’ loud’. I’d be looking at the speaker thinking, ‘Is it doing something that I haven’t seen before?’ There are people who really get that stuff, who know that it’s supposed to do ‘a thing’, but I was like, ‘Is it pumping too much? Surely it is.’” He laughs. “But it probably wasn’t.” Maybe not a perfectionist, then, but certainly attentive to detail. With his band The War on Drugs, Adam deals in the kind of layered soundscapes that could easily become laboured in clumsier hands, but which shimmer under his design. His latest record ‘A Deeper Understanding’ sets these glittering instrumentals alongside pensive, at times dispirited lyrics, allowing the contrast to sharpen each element.

you know?” This time around, there were fresh challenges to face. Having written and recorded the two existing War on Drugs records ‘Slave Ambient’ and ‘Lost in the Dream’ at his home in Philadelphia, Adam opened his next chapter by heading out to Los Angeles for ‘A Deeper Understanding’. “You just go about your day because there’s no rainstorm or something, there are no snowdrifts, you just kind of do your thing and don’t really think about it,” he says. “But the ‘LAness’ to me ended up being me feeling a little bit isolated from the way that I had become used to writing and recording, which is in Philly with my band nearby and a close group of friends. So I took myself out of the comfort of it, which is probably pretty good.” While there were moments when he struggled with the change, Adam managed to shake those feelings off fairly quickly. “You kind of think, ‘Oh, I miss my old life’, but then you think, ‘Wait, if I went back there it’d be fucking, the same thing all over again’. In Philly, I would be like, ‘Oh man wish I could be living somewhere else, and be free’, you know what I mean?” he says.

“When I was doing ‘Lost in the Dream’, these were important techniques to me, whether it was soundscape stuff, sampling myself, or synthesiser stuff. So I wasn’t going to make a rule like -” he takes a deep breath and tosses his long hair back, making a faux selfimportant face - “‘No bass!’ Like bands make a record with great guitar, and then their next record they’re like, ‘We made a record with no guitar!’ and it’s like, why would you do that?” He laughs. “That’s stupid. You love guitar! Use it! But I also knew that every year that passes I get more into recording and I get more adept at finding new ways to build a song,” he notes. He’s also careful to point out that it wasn’t purely his songwriting that had distilled into something new. “Also, I can’t make the same record I made last time because I’m a different person,” says Adam. “Part of it was thinking creatively, putting pressure on myself to make sure that I was building something that I believed in and that I could stand behind, that was a good representation of my values. I think you’re always a little bit of a different version of yourself, which is fine.” The version of himself that Adam is today is effusive and easygoing, an expressive conversationalist whose hands are in perpetual motion. It feels odd to try to square this laid back person with the one who wrote and released ‘Lost in the Dream’ three years ago. During the writing and recording of that album, Adam grappled with bouts of anxiety that were sometimes so severe they left him reluctant to leave the house. Today those panic attacks might seem to an outsider as though they must have happened to somebody else, but that’s the thing about anxiety - it manifests on the inside. An invisible crisis.

“I can’t make the same record I made last time because I’m a different person”

“That’s a dichotomy I always liked,” Adam says. “I like the music to be uplifting. Not overly dramatic or overly dynamic, but a lot of different ideas overlapping. Lyrically there’s a mood that I tend to fixate on in writing, but there’s a comfort to having these bright soundscapes.” He smiles, hands hovering over an invisible piano. “Major key kind of things.”

Lyrically, ‘A Deeper Understanding’ picks up where 2014’s mainstream crossover ‘Lost in the Dream’ left off, at a moment of introspection and personal change. The album’s first two singles, ‘Holding On’ and ‘Thinking of a Place’ hinge on transition, both preoccupied with the past and facing up to a brighter future. Together they capture an artist at a crossroads. “It’s interesting because I’m still only channelling things,” Adam considers. “I know what I’m trying to express lyrically, but I still don’t find myself persuasive enough to find a million ways to say it. It sounds strange, but when I’m singing the songs without the context of rewriting or doing a take, just listening to my breath or whatever, I start to understand the themes of the record more. There is a lot of stuff about just coming to terms with your life,

At first, the influence of a different atmosphere seemed almost divine. “The first night, we were recording a version of ‘Pain’, and the vibe of it was pretty rock. I was like, ‘Let’s take it down a step, let’s just chill, and do ‘Thinking of a Place’ as a palette cleanser’. So we all turned down a little bit and then we recorded the version that’s on the record in one go. Then right after that take we did the album version of ‘Pain’, and that was a keeper,” he says. “At the time it kind of seemed like we’d be done in a month. That whole week I was in LA like, ‘Oh my god, I’ve got these two great versions, we’re going to be done with this record in like two months’.” Adam grins. “Two months later I was erasing everything on purpose.” He shrugs this off as part of the process, but after the success of ‘Lost in the Dream’, it would have been easy to get bogged down by expectation. The band were well aware of the risk, though, so while some parts of the process got an overhaul, Adam never felt the need to change for the sake of it.

“With the last record, I don’t think the record was about the panic attacks – maybe a little bit, at times – but it was a big cloud over my life, and I couldn’t talk about the record without talking about that. It kind of became therapeutic because a lot of the journalists that I was talking to about it were dealing with the same things,” he says. “Not that I thought I was alone, but I realised it was okay to bring it up and people would want to talk more about it.” ‘A Deeper Understanding’ sees him coming to terms with and moving beyond those experiences, and establishing where they leave him now. “I still have all those things, but I know how to manage it a little better. I’m older, and who knows, maybe I’m just going through an easier spell,” Adam considers. “But it gets better, and then it gets worse, and then it gets better, you know? You just try to do the best you can do.” P The War on Drugs’ album ‘A Deeper Understanding’ is out 25th August.

DOWN WITH BORING

RAT BOY

SCUM

eeee

ndividuality is everywhere. Every artist is a talent operating in their own special sphere. Most of them, in all honestly, aren’t actually the beautiful snowflakes they’re made out to be - existing as simple iterations on an existing formula. It’s always been that way. But there are exceptions. Rat Boy isn’t just one of the most exciting new acts on the planet right now; he’s also one of the most unique. It’s taken a while for us to get here, sure. We were expecting a debut album twelve months ago that never came, but some things are worth waiting for. In fact, it’s that wait that may have birthed a record worthy of an act that’s been gathering buzz for longer than most. Unconfined to one single idea, ‘Scum’ is a melting pot of hyperactive energy. Skipping between styles, blended in one

ceaseless mix, it’s the UK indie underground’s very own Grand Theft Auto radio station. From the stalking sugar rush of ‘Turn Around M8’ to the Britpop balladry of ‘I’ll Be Waiting’, they’re songs linked by a thread, but able to punch out on their own. For most artists, it’s an approach that would result in samey audio soup, but with Rat Boy’s disparate influences, it sounds every bit as vital as anything on the airwaves, real or fake. With 25 tracks, skits, intervals and other assorted nuggets on the deluxe cut, at no point does ‘Scum’ drag or outstay its welcome. There’s the slacker spirit of Beck, the raw confidence of the Beastie Boys and the urchin cheek of Jamie T, but at heart, it’s all Rat Boy; never staying still long enough to become any one thing. That would be boring, and that’s the one thing Rat Boy will never, ever be. Stephen Ackroyd

“RAT BOY ISN’T JUST ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING NEW ACTS ON THE PLANET RIGHT NOW, HE’S ALSO ONE OF THE MOST UNIQUE”

BAND MATHS

Because lazy comparisons are cool, okay?

BEASTIE. BOYS. 70

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BECK.

JAMIE T.

RAT BOY.

Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett.

REVIEWS

EMA

EXILE IN THE OUTER RING City Slang

Hiya,

EMA

eeee There’s meaning in EMA’s new record. Serious - important meaning. ‘Exile In The Outer Ring’ is crafted in a world of turmoil, moulded in a fire of poverty and resentment. The Outer Ring, see, represents the people pushed out of cities by low wages and rising costs - forced up against rural communities as the sprawl seeps out, ever growing. This isn’t the suburbs of Arcade Fire, but a scene of tension and anger, everyone feeling they’re not getting their dues. All of which makes for an album that feels both personal and public, working in small confined spaces and overarching trends at the same moment. The meaning in cuts like ‘I Wanna Destroy’ may be obvious from the title alone, but the execution still fascinates and intrigues. While it’d be easy to paint ‘Exile...’ as an album of complaint, in fact, it finds fascination in the modern world. A diverse palette of sparks and friction applied to a canvas of shifting unease; EMA is painting an ever shifting portrait. Stephen Ackroyd

EMA GIVES INSIGHT INTO A RECORD THAT DOESN’T BEAT AROUND THE BUSH. Tell us about your new album ‘Exile In The Outer Ring’, where was it created? ‘Exile In the Outer Ring’ was recorded mostly in my generic apartment in Portland. It’s the sort of standard-issue American apartment complex with white walls, beige carpeting and slit blinds on the windows. After recording it myself, I went to Jake Portrait from Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s studio in NYC, and we finished it off. Did you know what you wanted the album to be about before you started? Making an album is always a process of discovery for me. A boring apartment in a suburban zone isn’t the most obvious place for inspiration, but through making art, I discovered it as a place of radical transformations and/or spiritual crisis. The album covers political themes such as poverty and capitalism, are they particularly close to your heart? I think it’s really hard to see outside of a system you’ve been raised in, like a fish in water. There are lots of these — racial and gender hierarchies, sexual norms and taboos, ideas about food, families. I feel like capitalism can be especially devastating because it gets so tied up in people’s self-worth and it’s a system that is so heavily exploited by the rich. Also — this idea that everything has to grow, grow, grow all the time. Like every project and company and profile should just try to get as big as possible and if it doesn’t it’s failing… So you’re either poor and worthless, or you are doing okay, but it’s never enough… it’s annihilating compassion and the environment. Did you do much research before writing the record? I read a lot, even just during the process. A lot of long-form journalism, profiles on people, reports from geographic regions, etc. It’s interesting for me, so it doesn’t feel like a chore. During this record, I read a lot about race relations in America, which are super complicated. I don’t necessarily set out to research a topic, I just take it all in and let my subconscious filter it. What would you most like listeners to take away from it? Mostly just the music. There are always a lot of themes in my records that end up being topical, but also I put a lot of work into the sounds. There are a ton of hooks on there and interesting instruments. It’s a unique blend of sonics and styles that is hard to describe and is pretty outside of current genre. Hopefully, it can reprogram your ears in a good way. There’s a lot of doom and gloom in the world at the moment - tell us something positive. Damn, I keep getting stuck on this one! What are you up to for the rest of the year? Touring! I’m putting together a super tight band, a three-piece, and we are hitting UK and EU in the fall. I’m stoked! P

ALVVAYS

ANTISOCIALITES Transgressive Records

eeee Returning refined, retooled and crisper than ever before - Alvvays’ second LP ‘Antisocialites’ is one of those records where a band who shimmered and dazzled into first light blossom into the force they’re primed to stand as for years to come. Their self-titled debut album was a gorgeous invitation into the slack-chimed dreams of Alvvays, a dream that’s built upon and formed across ‘Antisocialities’ in crystallised-ease, always jumping from one idea to another but held together by an untouchable glue. Snappy and lush, it’s everything Alvvays have been teasing since the very beginning. Bold, brave and feeling like an old favourite from the very first play Alvvays are slipping into the sort of territory that’ll have us doe-eyed for years to come. Jamie Muir

ANNA OF THE NORTH

BABY IN VAIN

LOVERS Different Recordings

MORE NOTHING Partisan

eeee

A standout debut effort from the Norwegian-Kiwi pair, Anna Of The North’s long awaited full-length is an amalgamation of heartbreak and life coming to fruition through swelling pop beats. Perfectly encapsulating how the world can pick you up and throw you down, leaving you winded, the frankly ridiculously alluring and melodic sounds the duo create are nothing short of incredible. Every track is made to tell a story you can relate to. Anna Of The North are a pop power that’s only just beginning; once they get started, they’ll be a sight to behold. Steven Loftin

Denmark isn’t where we’d usually head to find a menu of riffs, but that’s probably more to do with our introspective, self-obsessed world rather than any lack of quality. After all, Baby In Vain are right here, going toe to toe with all comers, and they’ve no intention of backing down. From the downturned discord of ‘To Heaven and Back’ (and there’s certainly a lot more ‘back’) to the the oft melodic, occasionally frenetic ‘Pills’, ‘More Nothing’ is an album that takes the cookie cutter world of rock and fucks it up good and proper. Stephen Ackroyd

DOWN WITH BORING

REV I E WS

EVERYTHING EVERYTHING

A FEVER DREAM RCA Records

eeee Few, if any, do oddball pop better than Everything Everything. On their fourth full-length, they’re not about to let that crown slip. From the opening bombast of ‘Night Of The Long Knives’, through the pulsing dark heart of lead single ‘Can’t Do’, this is a band who find the obtuse, angular points and set them sharp side out as they ram the barricades of mainstream attention. It’s a formula that results in some of the freshest, most exciting sounds imaginable - and while ‘A Fever Dream’ may see them evolving rather than setting light to their previous rulebook, it’s no less exciting for it. The blasting chorus of ‘Desire’, the bait and switch of ‘Run The Numbers’ - the many and varied strands of Everything Everything remain brilliantly weird. Stephen Ackroyd

GRIZZLY BEAR

PAINTED RUINS Columbia / RCA

eeee A few tracks in, and it’s clear that despite its extended, tentative germination, ‘Painted Ruins’ is in as lush fruition as any Grizzly Bear record prior. Bolstered by this new sense of freedom, it’s an eclectic and engaging listen; ‘Wasted Acres’ is a comparatively sparse opener, a low-key beat that nervously questions “Are you even listening?”, before giving way to the driving rock of ‘Mourning Sound’, a track that Win Butler would gladly swap his pearly king jacket for. A lot has changed in the world in the past five years - Droste has divorced, Taylor is a father and despite best endeavour, America as we know it has fallen to the hands of an egomaniac set to threaten the liberties we hold dearest. These themes of acclimatising to a new, scary way of living are present in abundance, but so is the strength of collaboration - Grizzly Bear has long been a band of democracy, and they complement one another in a way only well-practiced pals can, as evergreen as ‘four cypresses’ title suggests. As Droste croons “It’s chaos, but it works”, you’re tempted to believe him - a small flicker of hope that we may all get out of this alive. Jenessa Williams

JACK COOPER

SANDGROWN Trouble In Mind

eeee Jack Cooper is a man of many talents. After making sparky indie pop with Mazes and effortlessly melodic sonic explorations with Ultimate Painting, he’s struck out under his own name and once again knocked it out of the park on ‘Sandgrown’. It’s an album that takes its cues from classic British songwriters and is full 72

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of gentle beauty and winsome charm. Cooper’s delicate voice is beautifully suited to these ballads filled with tales of growing up outside Blackpool in a once great destination gradually going to ruin. There’s a melancholy vibe, but it never gets depressing. There’s a lot to unravel here; the music spreads from folk to jazzy excursions like ‘Sandgrown part 2’. A track like ‘Estuary’ has a timeless quality that adds greater depth to an immaculately crafted collection. The album never loses its identity and marks an impressive step in the musical evolution of Jack Cooper. Martyn Young

Thumpers,

L.A. WITCH

L.A. WITCH Suicide Squeeze Records

eeee L.A Witch have perfected the sound that’s been prevalent on their early EPs: you can almost imagine yourself driving along the Pacific Highway in some neo-noir thriller. The California trio have a penchant for writing songs that break out into psychedelia, while holding steadfast to their sultry vocals and story crafting lyrics. Composed of a hefty chunk of tracks you’ll have heard before, those that join the lineup are a fitting match. Steven Loftin

LIARS

TFCF Mute

eeee Liars’ eighth outing is a little bit all over the shop, but you wouldn’t expect anything less. With everything now coming solely from Angus Andrew, you can feel the vast openness that comes from such changes. Not adhering to any sort of flow or consistency, it jumps from desolate electronica through to acoustic guitar. Almost impossible to pin down, ‘TFCF’ is a return to where Liars began - filled to the brim with a manic urgency that can dissipate as quickly as it begins. Steven Loftin

THUMPERS

WHIPPED & GLAZED True Say Recordings

eeee Know when people say that a band sound like nobody else? Well, with Thumpers that’s truly the case. After rising from their days as Pull Tiger Tail, debut LP ‘Galore’ was a sun-kissed ode to summer romance that served up layers of stunning melodies and glides that set them well apart from anyone else. Much denser than ‘Galore’, ‘Whipped & Glazed’’s shining moments belong when they kick the pedal down on euphoria. ’99’, ‘World Removed’ and ‘Boundary Love’ are tracks born and raised on collective joy, primed for singalongs. Even when experimenting on sultry sways (‘Caramel’) and the spine-tingling pulls of ‘That Waterfall’, there’s an undeniable world of tastes added into the mix doesn’t just entice for a one-track listen, but is primed for the full album experience. ‘Whipped & Glazed’ sits as an album that builds on everything they’ve represented and more. Strawberry sprinkles on that? Nah, you’re alright - ‘Whipped & Glazed’ already is a sweet and shimmering delight. Jamie Muir

recommend us some stuff.

Last good record you heard: The cassette that comes with Radiohead’s ‘OK Computer’ reissue box set. This is an audio notebook/ treasure trove of snippets, demos, noises that went into making ‘OK Computer’. Favourite ever book: Raymond Carver - Will You Please Be Quiet, Please? This collection of short stories from his “first life” I just can’t stop returning to. TV show you couldn’t live without: Coogan and Brydon’s The Trip to the Lakes/Italy/Spain. Perfect melancholic musings on age, failure, lust, unrequited love, art and ambition. Best purchase of this year: Entrance into Wolfgang Tillmans exhibition at Tate. The work speaks for itself. Anything else you’d recommend? Sivu - ‘Childhood House’ / St Vincent - ‘New York’ / Arcade Fire - ‘Creature Comfort’. P

REV I E WS

INHEAVEN INHEAVEN

eeeee

f you’re a regular reader of Dork - and why wouldn’t you be - you’ll already be well aware of our love of INHEAVEN. For us, they’ve long represented something special; that pack of amazing new bands who arrived

kicking and screaming into a post1975, post-Wolf Alice breakthrough scene, planted a flag and claimed it for their own. With their self-titled debut, they’ve put down the first payment on a legacy to last. Like their peers, they’re a band who

understand what it takes. Able to grab attention, demand excitement and set light to the imagination, INHEAVEN either can’t or won’t stand still. Over the last couple of years, they’ve evolved perfectly, their dark heart beating louder by the release. From the swooning summer swirl of ‘Drift’ to the frantic intoxication of ‘Vultures’, they’ve long since proved themselves as worthy heirs to the throne. But each of those calling cards have existed in the moment - independent of context or a wider body of work. Perfect singles, sure, but when brought together that doesn’t always result in the best album. Apart from with INHEAVEN, it does.

The bangers are all here - from the already iconic ‘Baby’s Alright’ through the brooding stare of ‘Treats’ and the incendiary burn of ‘World On Fire’, when combined they’re the sound of a band already half way through their greatest hits. Fearsome live, every tensed fibre of their on stage presence bursts through in recorded form. Nothing is left on the table, every bead of sweat invested. Their peers may be smashing it with blinding debut albums right, left and centre, but there’s something special about INHEAVEN. With them leading the way, the new wave of British indie may actually stand a chance. Stephen Ackroyd

A brilliant debut...

There have been loads of great debut albums in 2017. Here’s four of them.

BLAENAVON

THAT’S YOUR LOT ‘That’s Your Lot’ is a gorgeous tapestry painted with the bold, the fragile and the beautiful. They still can’t be boxed in or pinned down, and that’s just how Blaenavon want it.

PUMAROSA

THE WITCH When people ask about the next Radiohead, it’s easy to point to Pumarosa as a band capable of following that path – but that would do injustice to how vital and unique Pumarosa are.

WILL JOSEPH COOK

SWEET DREAMER There are many records this year that’ll try to command the confidence that ‘Sweet Dreamer’ spills out by the bucket-load – but most won’t even get close.

THE BIG MOON

LOVE IN THE 4TH DIMENSION The Big Moon aren’t just any ordinary band. With ‘Love In The 4th Dimension’, they have the blueprint and guidebook to their wonderful world .

DOWN WITH BORING

REV I E WS

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE VILLAINS

ee ee

hen a band reaches the very top, where do they go from there? It’s fair to say that for Queens Of The Stone Age, the ‘… Like Clockwork’ was one that helped defined them in a whole new light, a potent beast that took them to festival headline slots and arenas around the globe. A calling card that put Josh Homme on the very top of that rock pyramid as a frontman of immeasurable importance. So, as we

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were saying - following that? Embracing every extravagant and outrageous side of their swagger-funked ego, ‘Villains’ is a record that manages to grab everything Queens Of The Stone Age have built and ratchet it up to a level where boundaries or cut-offs are a ridiculous throwback. Teaming up with Mark Ronson, it’s an album that fully realises the show in front of them - and is bringing the popcorn to match it. What Queens Of The Stone Age fully embraced in the live shows that followed the release of ‘… Like Clockwork’ was a commanding show of force that had you weak at the knees in awe of the sheer coolness and aura they emitted, yet at its core was a wink and a cackle in its vivid and raw power. ‘Villains’ dials up the flamboyancy to a level that Queen would admire, laying

out a scuzzy hip-shaking thrust that’s both jaw-dropping and unlike anything else you’d of heard this year. Opener ‘Feet Don’t Fail Me’ arrives to a two minute pomp and hop swell of horns, chanting and synths that suddenly jolts into a bounding scratcher of a hook that rips the tape right off the bandage and leaves a fresh new scar. It’s the sound of a band tight, locked in and overflowing with ideas - from the clap-drawn disco of ‘The Way You Used To’, to the prowling spiral of titanium licks that is ‘Domesticated Animals’ and ‘The Evil Has Landed’ which manages to sound as visceral as the Queens’ debut LP ‘Rated R’ ten distilled through a 2017 body. Full of firsts and ricks, ‘Villains’ pays off every time, going from oneend being the rough and ready sound of ‘Head Like A Haunted House’ (which could easily be the soundtrack spilling

from a raucous garage session) to the panoramic shine of closer ‘Villains Of Circumstance’ like a tooth-pick flying through the sky. Effortless, graceful but with a spiky edge flying right ahead. What ‘Villains’ manages to do is truly remarkable. It doesn’t just put Queens Of The Stone Age out onto those big stages again, it lays out the blueprint for Josh Homme & Co to build their very own. A staggering and rich snapshot of a band in their prime and boiling with confidence, the neon-blood that flows through these desert kings is feeding new life into everything around them. Stylish, cool as fuck and staring directly into the eyes gazing at them - Queens Of The Stone Age have the statement of rock royalty in their hands. Best get bowing. Jamie Muir

REV I E WS

FILTHY FRIENDS

INVITATION Kill Rock Stars

eee “I hate the business,” Peter Buck said in 2016, five years after the end of R.E.M. “Everything except writing songs, playing songs and recording them.” That desire to get away from “the money, the politics”, but to keep working, restlessly and hungrily, has given us three low-key solo albums since 2011, along with a number of collaborations. Most recently, Buck has come together with Corin Tucker of SleaterKinney, guitarist Kurt Bloch and longtime associates Scott McCaughey and Bill Rieflin (on bass and drums), forming Filthy Friends. Now, there’s a full-length ‘Invitation’ and Buck sounds invigorated. Tucker’s lyrics are as fuelled by poignancy as by fury, her paint-stripping, glassy wail slightly tempered and sweetened for the Fleetwood Mac-ish ‘Faded Afternoon’ and the slightly daft glamrock boogie of ‘Come Back Shelley’, but just as passionate as ever. Filthy Friends are good clean fun. Rob Mesure

Hiya,

FILTHY FRIENDS CORIN TUCKER SPILLS THE BEANS ON THE DEBUT ALBUM FROM HER NEW PROJECT WITH PETER BUCK. Hey Corin, how are you? Have you had a good summer so far? Hi, we are having a fabulous summer in Portland. Don’t tell anyone. It’s not too hot this year and perfectly pleasant. Tell us about Filthy Friends. How did you guys end up making music together? I sang a song on Peter [Buck]’s solo album, and it went well. He called me and said we should make an album together. Was an album always the intention? When did you start working on it? Yes, I think we both think in terms of albums. We actually started on it maybe in 2012 or 2013. How do you go about collaborating, you guys must all have pretty hectic schedules? We get together when Peter is in town and work on things, I record it all and store it on my computer. Or we go over to Scott McCaughey’s house and record demos there, too. What impact would you like the album to have on listeners? I like to make music that makes people feel things, especially joy. You’ve been making music for a long time now - do you want different things from your music now compared to earlier in your career? I’m not sure it’s that much different - to make good music is still the goal, to write about things that are important to me. I just don’t want to ride around in a van all the time anymore.

LANA DEL REY LUST FOR LIFE

Filthy Friends’ album ‘Invitation’ is out 25th August.

H! MA YBE I’ L L E NTER !”

e e e ee By this point, it feels like we all know Lana Del Rey - and yet, over three albums, there’s the uneasy tinge of suspicion that all we’ve ever met is a persona created to deliver a perfectly sculpted image. ‘Lust For Life’ is the record where that all changes. Opener ‘Love’ may well be Lana’s greatest triumph. A goosebump-upon-goosebump tinged voice in the darkness, it’s as timeless as anything she’s offered to date but beautifully vulnerable at the same time. Let us be clear; this isn’t an artist opening the door to her deepest feelings through any form of weakness - if anything, Lana stands stronger than ever, the spark of light shining bright from within. The rest of the record stays true to her unifying filter, but plays in increasingly brave worlds. If this is the real Lana Del Rey, she’s worth getting to know. Stephen Ackroyd

What’s your favourite thing about ‘Invitation’? I think it is a unique collaboration and chemistry, and it sounds uninhibited. What are your plans for after the album release, do you have a busy year? We have a few shows planned for the fall; we are doing some festivals and looking forward to it! P

“OOO

WIN!! A SIGNED COPY OF LUST FOR LIFE

W IN S TUFF

Yep, Dear Reader, we’ve managed to nab ourselves a copy of brand new album ‘Lust For Life’ scribbled on by Lana herself. Because really, who doesn’t prefer their records drawn on. To win it, head to readdork.com now!

DOWN WITH BORING

REV I E WS

GHOSTPOET

DARK DAYS + CANAPES Play It Again Sam

eeee Dark days, indeed. It’s no news to anyone to suggest that the world has gone to shit. Those who suggest the silver lining should be found in the art created from that turmoil are probably missing the point - a few ‘made you think’ bangers don’t exactly make up for the suffering of others - but still, there’s we reason you can’t appreciate the fruits of the storm. That’s Ghostpoet’s position, anyway. By his own admission, “this time around I felt there were specific stories that needed telling”, specifically on ‘Immigrant Boogie’, a stalking, serious cut that humanises the thoughts of those fleeing for a better life. “Oh let us in / we never bite,” it demands, “it’s just the boat’s going down / and I don’t think we wanna stay.” Indeed, ‘Dark Days + Canapés’ echoes with the sounds of turmoil. An unease reigns through an enveloping sonic palette, forming diamonds within the maelstrom of unease and fear. It’s doubtlessly Ghostpoet’s most complete and fully realised record to date. Stephen Ackroyd

Hiya,

GHOSTPOET O BARO EJIMIWE ANSWERS A FEW SUPER QUICK QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS NEW ALBUM. Hey Ghostpoet. How are you, are you having a good summer so far? Hello Dork. I’m well, my summer is going pretty swimmingly so far, roll on winter. So your new album - when did you start work on it, where were you at the time, and what was your frame of mind like? I started work on this record roughly late November/early December last year and it was completed sometime in February I would say. My mind state was one of contemplation, fear of the future and desire to tap into the zeitgeist of the current times we’re living in.

much busier, contributing songs to such big-hitters as ‘Blond’, ‘A Seat at the Table’ and ‘E•MO•TION’ and recording an album with Hamilton Leithauser which gave us at least one song, ‘A 1000 Times’, that sounds something like an all-timer. While all this was going on, occasional solo singles trickled out, dating as far back as 2011 in some cases and promising something special should an album ever appear. And ‘HalfLight’ doesn’t disappoint. Batmanglij obviously revels in the possibilities of the studio, filling every inch of sonic space with ideas. At 15 tracks, it could be a touch over-generous - ‘Hold You’ under-uses Rostam regular Angel Deradoorian, while ‘When’ is a slight, aimless digression - but there’s so much here to love that we shouldn’t be ungrateful. After all, he’s a busy guy. Rob Mesure

Did you have a set goal when you first put pen to paper? Not really, no. I just like to make music I want to listen to. What impact would you like the record to have on listeners? That’s down to the listener, I only ever ask to lend me your ears. What about ‘Darks Days + Canapés’ are you most proud of? I’m proud of every aspect of it. What’s your favourite thing about being a musician, now you’ve reached your fourth album? Has it changed over the years? It’s just nice to be given the creative freedom to make what I want. I’ve been lucky to be in that position since day one and long may it continue. Are there any other artists around at the mo that you particularly admire? Who are you a fan of? Currently I’m enjoying the sounds of This Is The Kit, Aldous Harding, Pumarosa and Alabaster Deplume. What are your plans for after the album’s released? You’ve got a tour coming up, haven’t you? Yep, touring, sleeping and watching my beloved Liverpool FC. P 76

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PVRIS

ALL WE KNOW OF HEAVEN, ALL WE NEED OF HELL Rise Records

eeeee Sometimes, the greatest bands on the planet just know what makes them so special. It’s not a strict formula or a repeated structure to things, it’s a feeling - one that pulsates through from the moment that play button is clicked. For PVRIS, that feeling sharped its way into focus on debut album ‘White Noise’, the sort of record that stamps down a phenomenon in the flesh, becoming that record that thousands around the globe can goto for solace and comfort. It opened

the doors on a new kingdom, and on ‘All We Know Of Heaven, All We Need Of Hell’, PVRIS expand on every aspect with a lightning bolt of electric earthquakes that cement their position as a truly truly special band. Jamie Muir

ROSTAM

HALF-LIGHT Nonesuch

eeee A lot of time has passed since ‘Modern Vampires of the City’, with little news from the Vampire Weekend camp aside from the departure of Rostam Batmanglij in January 2016. Rostam, on the other hand, couldn’t have been

SUZI WU

TEENAGE WITCH EP Lucky Number

eeee From the moment her voice cuts into the silence declaring “the guys are fuck boys, the girls are sluts”, you know this debut EP from Suzi Wu isn’t going to be a complacent listen. Punk tendencies that come through over urban beats, she takes a little bit of everything to craft social commentary tracks that are incredibly relatable. Atmospheric tinges flirt in and out, while Suzi offers the antithesis to any well-polished pop vocals, her voice cracking to give the delivery an even more cutting aesthetic. Steven Loftin

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SUPERFOOD

BAMBINO Dirty Hit

eeee Reinvention is a funny thing. A clean slate, a new direction - it’s a risky move that can sometimes backfire drastically. Yet, it’s a decision that can only be respected, forgoing any preconceptions of what or who something is and diving head first into a more honest and natural sound. For Superfood, it was vital. A reaction to the world of negativity that surrounded them, ‘Bambino’ is a kaleidoscopic pinball machine of influences and styles - and as a result stands as a truly career-arriving statement of intent. Taking themselves out of the conversation and creating their own, Superfood have embraced every sound and vibration they find on the street and turned it into a glorious buffet of treats and moreish delights. Jamie Muir Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett.

THE CRIBS 24-7 ROCK STAR SHIT

eeee

he Cribs aren’t stupid. Well over a decade as one of the UK’s most consistently great bands means they know where their strengths lie, and it’s never been in flashy, slick sounds or carefully positioned radio sheen. In fact, they’re at their best when such things are cast aside. It’s the strength of their debut album - practically perfect because of, not despite its limitations - that made the suggestion of a hook up with legendary ‘not-a-producer-buta-man-who-records-bands’ Steve Albini make so much sense when first floated all those years ago. Now that it’s finally been realised, it sounds no less brilliant

than it did in our mind’s eye. Or ear. You get the point. In truth, ‘24/7 Rock Star Shit’ is a tongue in cheek title. This is The Cribs playing their strongest hand. Their pop sensibilities may be roughed up, but they’re still there. Even in the rage of ‘Year of Hate’, there’s still a hook line that’s stickier than super glue. The acoustic ‘Sticks Not Twigs’ shows that fuzz and noise isn’t a universal requirement, while ‘Rainbow Ridge’ is scrappy brilliance front to back. There may be a lack of that one immediate ‘obvious single’, but it seems churlish to complain. This is The Cribs being The Cribs, and The Cribs are still the best, 24/7/365. Stephen Ackroyd DOWN WITH BORING

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THE NATIONAL ARE MASTERS OF MELANCHOLY

THE NATIONAL SLEEP WELL BEAST

eeee e

he National have long been celebrated as purveyors of introspection at its most heartfelt. Whether that’s something that draws you in or passes you by, there’s no shirking the band’s proficiency at what they do. Masters of melancholy and intimacy, the Ohio outfit have

perfected the power to inspire the most earnest kind of emotion. Sure enough, with ‘Sleep Well Beast’ there’s a lot that remains true to form. Stuttering into life, ‘Walk It Back’ sees the band at their most reflective. Matt Berninger, voice rich with emotion and heavy with the toll that takes, utters words of deprecation and resolved

than it rolls, percussion building and building until it takes control, pummelling through the speakers without restraint.

determination with shiver inducing proximity. Equal parts lingering affection and stoic resolve, ‘Guilty Party’ drives through broken-hearted emotion with no shortage of uncertainty, strident piano and shimmering synth lines a brave face in the wake of desperation.

Then there’s album centrepiece ‘Turtleneck’. Here we find The National at their most ferocious - actually ferocious - with thundering refrains and vehemently spat lyrics that take the listener on a turbulent roller coaster ride of emotion frenetic enough to leave you physically reeling.

Lead single ‘The System Only Dreams In Total Darkness’ boasts a guitar riff bolder and more brazen than anything the group have ever done before. From its rippling synth led introduction, ‘I’ll Still Destroy You’ rocks even harder

“I’m gonna keep you in love with me for a while,” Berninger croons on ‘Dark Side Of The Gym’. True to his words, ‘Sleep Well Beast’ is an album that will keep fans enamoured for a long time to come. Jessica Goodman

You need these albums... The best albums from the last few months.

DECLAN MCKENNA

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE CAR? What you get with our Dec is one of the most engaged, fascinating voices of a generation. Not that he’d thank you for branding him with such lofty tags. 78

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LORDE

MELODRAMA ‘Melodrama’ is quite probably the album of the year. There are other contenders, sure, but they’re all playing by someone else’s rules. Lorde has no time for the beaten path - and yet she’s not going to career off into the leftfield either.

JAPANESE BREAKFAST

SOFT SOUNDS FROM ANOTHER PLANET It’s the stand-out tracks that make ‘Soft Sounds From Another Planet’ a good album, but it’s the way that everything links together in such a perfect way that makes it a great one.

HAIM

SOMETHING TO TELL YOU This is summer, there’s a new Haim album - no matter where we find ourselves, those two things go together perfectly. After years of promise, their second full-length is finally here - and it’s worth the wait.

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THE WAR ON DRUGS

A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING Atlantic Records

TURNOVER

GOOD NATURE Run For Cover

eeee There aren’t many albums designed just for just one time of year but Turnover’s ‘Good Nature’ is a soundtrack for all of those hazy summer days. Two years on from their moody and acclaimed album ‘Peripheral Vision’, the band remain as dreamy as ever but ‘Good Nature’ feels drenched in sunlight with shimmering guitar tones and happiness pouring through the 11 tracks. ‘Good Nature’ doesn’t feel like a reinvention of Turnover but a continuing progression of their ever expanding sound as, while the styles and influences change, the album seamlessly flows together with feel good vibes running through its core. So, let this be the album you hear every time the clouds part. Alex Bradley

WILLIE J HEALEY

PEOPLE AND THEIR DOGS National Anthem / Columbia

eeee What Willie J Healey does on his first full-length outing is offer up a real good time. Every new track unveils a new inspiration from his mind; the twists and turns grant a feeling of freshness and youthful exuberance. From the mundane side of life to the dreams that give birth to his poppy, rocky and bluesy numbers, Willie gives a little bit of everything a go. It’s a cracking start to what will most likely be a lengthy, and surprisefilled, career. Steven Loftin

FILE YOUR OWN REVIEWS

‘These days’, you can listen to as much music as you like, as soon as it’s released. So why do we need reviews then, you ask?

eeee The success of 2014’s ‘Lost In The Dream’ meant a new sense of pressure and anticipation greeted The War On Drugs’ subsequent fourth album, ‘A Deeper Understanding’. It seems no one told Granduciel though, who has turned around another superb piece of work which manages to push the band’s sound forwards without compromising on the charm of its predecessors. A perfectionist who has crafted much of his music alone, Granduciel decided to draft in extra help from this current crop of band members during the recording process in LA - a move which has resulted in more of a band record, with each instrument given greater scope and prominence than perhaps on previous efforts. If ‘A Deeper Understanding’ takes off in a similar vein to its predecessor - as it quite rightly should - there really can be little surprise this time around. Even for Granduciel. Alex Thorpe

Stop being so rude. Still, it does mean you can let us know what you think about the latest releases. Fill in the form below, cut it out, and send it to us. You can tweet a photo to @readdork, or mail it direct to Dork, PO Box 390, Hastings, TN34 9JP.

OUT NOW!

JUSTICE, M.I.A., ROYAL BLOOD AND MØ MAKE GAROROCK 2017

uring a brief respite from the torrential Marmande rain, MØ takes the unpredictable weather in her stride and makes the most of the calm on the first day of Garorock. Her crowd, suitably covered in mud, are more than tuned into the performance, with nothing getting in the way of their good time at the front of the twin main stages; La Plaine and Garonne Pression. MØ dances around the stage, she proves that Scandinavia really does have a magical ability to craft some of the finest pop songs known to humankind. Shortly after, Foals, in their second show back since taking a break from touring at the tail end of last year, bring a mixture of both newer and older material. Breaking out deep cuts like ‘Heavy Water’ from their debut, and mixing them with the power and might of the fuller sounding later tracks, Yannis and co. demonstrate why they’re now headline material. A late night slot from Phoenix is a positive boost for a pretty damp crowd. Bright and poppy, their set provides a warming backdrop, especially when hits such as ‘Lisztomania’ and ‘1901’ kick in. The embrace of their melodies achieves more than any sunny day could, with the eager crowd ready to dance themselves warm. The following evening, London Grammar’s dark, brooding atmospheric sounds perfectly match their approaching-nightfall slot. Attracting an incredibly large crowd, the trio cater to the festival’s penchant for synth-led pop. Tucked away in the corner is a smaller third stage, Scène Du Trec.

A platform for newer names and a place where you can find some real gems – including Spanish metal band Berri Txarrak covering MGMT’s ‘Electric Feel’ – it’s from here the abrasive sounds of Ho99o9 ripple through the festival site. Eaddy bounces and leaps around the stage from the get-go, with theOGM crouched behind a sample pad waiting for his time to strike. It’s a set that refuses to relent at any moment, even when the duo retreat to their respective sides ready for the next onslaught, leaving their drummer/producer Ian Longwell to keep the power going. Rounding off the night, M.I.A gives a full-on barrage of both substance and style. Backed by a mammoth grid screen, every moment is spent solidifying that she is in charge of the stage. Finding her way to the crowd, she invites fans to join her – an invite readily accepted. The final day hosts one of the festival’s few British exports, as Royal Blood make sure everyone will remember their name. Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher play off each other like brothers, Mike every inch the rock star frontman. Rounding off their triumphant set with an extended ‘Out Of The Black’, with Ben running to the crowd and sourcing a sombrero and a questionable inflatable, the grounds of Marmande are well and truly shaken. Closing the festival are Justice: two looming figures surrounded on three sides by light edged flight boxes. The French duo move with precision, executing big hitters such as ‘D.A.N.C.E’ and ‘Genesis’ to a fantastic reception. As they jump down to thank the crowd and say goodbye, it’s the perfect end to a real gem of a festival. Steven Loftin

DOWN WITH BORING

PVRIS - ALL WE KNOW OF HEAVEN, ALL WE NEED OF HELL

RAT BOY - SCUM

18TH AUGUST GRIZZLY BEAR - PAINTED RUINS

EVERYTHING EVERYTHING - FEVER DREAM

GHOSTPOET - DARK DAYS + CANAPÉS

WILLIE J HEALEY - PEOPLE AND THEIR DOGS

25TH AUGUST THE WAR ON DRUGS - A DEEPER UNDERSTANDING

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE - VILLAINS

TURNOVER - GOOD NATURE

FILTHY FRIENDS INVITATION

EMA - EXILE IN THE OUTER RING

LIARS - TFCF

1ST SEPTEMBER INHEAVEN - INHEAVEN

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM AMERICAN DREAM

THUMPERS - WHIPPED & GLAZED

8TH SEPTEMBER THE NATIONAL - SLEEP WELL BEAST

L.A. WITCH - L.A. WITCH

ALVVAYS ANTISOCIALITES

SUPERFOOD - BAMBINO

ANNA OF THE NORTH LOVERS

SUZI WU - TEENAGE WITCH EP

ROSTAM - HALF-LIGHT

MY ALBUM OF THE MONTH IS...

A! TA - B A A A

IT’S....

EE P, LO U RE D SH S AND CO ER G N BA , BA N DS FU N ! H A M PA RK R SO M E H EN IT ’S TI M E FO FT IN . ST EV EN LO M IE M U IR , E BE N N ET T. W O RD S: JA RA H LO U IS RR IO TT, SA A M Y PP PH O TO S: PO

MORE THA THE 1T9HE7R5BAANRDE JUST ANO

the written when e begins. It’s were still nd ba The slow dron s ushered I LIK known as Drive a sound that ha E IT WHE shows at 75 19 N YO e ke I Do. It’s Li in Th U an S in e g H ob in gl sh E e ni th E P. . . an asto around ly on n ca at th throwback 18 months seismic. that can only be described as se ur co the light the fire of Building over s er e. A , it flick what’s to com of 20 minutes at rips at comes y monsoon th av he and jolts – wh in on say it’s en to t, om ar the stage ap after is a phen ’t about uld be an isn wo t ng gh pi ni op To dr n. wja actio t. , it’s not understatemen headline slots it’s , s like ow sh r he ot further raritie ith W about any on r g, te rin ap ai ch a an ‘You’ getting about closing lmination s taken The cu a ha is at e th ud a tit er La an A-leagues The 1975 of everything 1975 into The g out in rv ted and gone ca en – es nd have repr and beyo e th . When in te e through to da their own stag se’ lights El y od s. eb es m oc ‘So pr s above, it e swagger the night skie Exuding in th nesty ho engulfing d ke an e oa -s lik does so and glam it e lik When ‘I rt. ed fo wrap of com that has defin …’, Latitude ’ beckons ep ou ry sle fo u yo ng lli en ‘Fa wh e show that ld closer, it the packed fie is witness to th to rn bo mething so re th we wi does it The 1975 cuts straight ably real. ni de un play. ‘Love Me’ t’. ‘The City’. , kicking off ‘Girls’. ‘Heart Ou in with a wink y track gs jolt er in ev th e e er tim wh t e th By a nigh und onium with so e em th nd th pa s wi toward echoes an s whip of er lin ng lo ad ga ‘Sex’, a sin of festival he at drowns out tion have th ra e’ ne at ge ol e oc tir ‘Ch en selves, and for. The the band them been waiting atty M of at erupts ts th ru st ia d er st the hy points an e th th wi d’ lights the ng un wi So when ‘The Healy are flo c ni ico enough to of s h it’ uc curtain call – occasion, a to wrapping dations of y un ad fo re e al th st e du ak sh star m. When he to new levels. Henham Park itself around hi mes co it e, e cake of a or th m on r The icing screams fo – s ne bo ern musical s od hi moment in m straight from e th on e ounc history. leaving every 18 months For a band that stage. a, er an of d ved glance lo en be an a ago were “Tonight is w ne a of future of g l in ia at the potent but the beginn ic For Cars”, they leave us ic, M us d m lle sh ca iti e Br on launching nquering it as globe-co Matty states – y pl sim odern pop. an m th of e s purveyor into a mor ck tra a , 8’ ’2 of rare version

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atitude is a festival like no other. It’s not just the multicoloured sheep you’ll find mentioned in every report. Over one weekend in mid-July, Henham Park becomes a magical kingdom, packed with brilliant bands, astoudning art and sparkling sun (if we’re lucky, anyway - Ed). Set in a forest clearing, next to a picture postcard lake, it’s unique on the UK festival circuit. So obviously, we had to roll up and give it the full Dork treatment. Over the next few pages you’ll find reports, interviews and snazzy posters. It’ll be as if you were there, unless you were, in which case - welcome back to Latitude 2017!

come to Latitude with mates, but she’s leaving leading a revolution.

PUMAROSA BLOW AWAY THE OBELISK ARENA

How do you define a superstar? We’ve tried many different variations (it’s kinda our jobs y’know) but really, it’s all about a feeling. A moment in time which you can point to and say “Yes – this is the real deal” and every other description can go to dust. You know Sigrid at Latitude? Now that was superstar. “I can’t believe so many of you have come to see me in England” she exclaims, in awe of the spilling crowds running right out into the woodlands around the stage. Even when stripped of the glistening electro chimes, As ‘Don’t Kill My Vibe’ sends the crowds off into the evening with the crowning song of the summer ringing in their ears, there’s a statement that can’t be argued. Sigrid is a superstar. Now follow that.

While it may be a breezy start to Latitude, the weather isn’t the only thing blowing people away. Kicking off the weekend on the Obelisk Stage, Pumarosa bring their dreamy yet striking arsenal out in full force for the early afternoon risers. Isabel MunozNewsome spirals around the stage, relishing the crowd’s attention. The playful demeanour she wears twins perfectly with the expansive and, at times, vicious sound the five piece make. Pumarosa certainly don’t waste their chance to show they’ll rise up the bills sooner rather than later. LATITUDE IS A SPECIAL PLACE FOR THE JAPANESE HOUSE

Latitude is a special place for The Japanese House. It’s the festival where Amber Bain has spent many years hanging out with friends and sharing in the undeniable memories it brings. Now, she’s creating her own potent moments, and that touch of something special radiated throughout her set in the BBC Music tent. The Japanese House may have first

SUPERGLU BRING THE FUN

You won’t get any more fun at a festival than you will with a set from newcomers SuperGlu. Bounding on to the Lake Stage for their mid-afternoon slot with more energy than the gangs of small children running around on sugar rushes, they’re good to go. A penchant for banging melodies and clearly having a good time, SuperGlu refuse to be stuck down in one place for long. It’s a good job too, because they’re certainly going to be making a few new friends over the summer. SIGRID IS A SUPERSTAR

MYSTERY JETS LEAD THE SINGA-LONG

Mystery Jets have reached a stage that few bands can hold a candle to. Beloved, admired and yet looking forward with a vigour and style that places them still at the front of the pack – there’s a whole

A LATITUDE Q&A WITH...

THE JAPANESE HOUSE HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE BACK AT LATITUDE? It’s weird because we’re playing the BBC tent, which is pretty insane because I’ve seen loads of people I love there. I remember watching people come out of the gate near the press tent being like, ‘Who’s that?!’ Then on the way here I was walking through that being being like, ‘Looool’. SO A REALLY GOOD FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE? It has actually been really nice. We set up our tent; we set up my girlfriend’s tent, one of those big bell tent things, which we put up really quickly. Our catchphrase is ‘For the good of the group’. Have you seen Girls? You know the series before when Marnie organises a girls’ trip to rebond? That’s basically what this is. Hopefully, this won’t end in the same way, with us all just screaming each other.

world that Mystery Jets could claim as their own, and they’d be right to do so. Like a shining beacon of hits and creative turns, their moment under the Latitude sky is a prime reminder as to how essential they are. Long may that continue. LATITUDE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME ONCE DEAD PRETTIES HAVE FINISHED WITH IT

Like a barrage of twisted licks and in your face trill, the green lands and sparkling waters of Latitude may not have seen a band quite like Dead Pretties before, but after laying waste to the Lake Stage – it’ll never be the same again.

ARE THERE ANY ACTS YOU’VE SEEN HERE BEFORE THAT WERE LANDMARK MOMENTS FOR YOU? I saw Beach House on the same stage as us, that was really good. I saw The 1975 on the Lake Stage, which is quite funny. That would have been four years ago. I’ve seen loads of people. I’ve seen James Blake here every time he’s played. He makes me cry; it’s so sad. DO YOU THINK WITH ‘SAW YOU IN A DREAM’ YOU’VE FOUND THE DIRECTION YOU WANT TO GO IN FOR THE ALBUM, OR ARE YOU STILL OPEN? I think we’re still open. The stuff that I’m working on now for the album; there are some songs that are… I don’t want to say ‘old school’, but like guitar, classic songs. That kind of style. I think it’s going to be quite a weird album actually. I’m just adding all these songs together like, ‘Ooh, weird’. Is this going to fit?

With blistering numbers tackling addiction and struggle like a kick to the teeth, there’s a ramshackle growl that fills through every moment. Wide-eyed and raw, Dead Pretties are the natural reaction that builds inside all of us. At Latitude, that expulsion of emotion is nothing short of palpable, and feverishly hungry for more. SHAME’S SET IS A TOUR-DEFORCE

Have you seen the spirit of live music? Yeah, we know, it’s hard to define – how do you describe something that’s purely build on emotion and experience. The

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out and make sure everyone from the tent to the far reaches of the festival can hear you. King Nun waste no time in exploding onto the stage, in a flurry of noise and fast movement, with frontman Theo declaring succinctly, “We are King Nun and these are our songs.” No need for bloated introductions, that’s what the barrage of tunes is for. Careening through their set with unrelenting power, King Nun have no intention of slowing down. It’s not a even a footnote in grand their plan. All hail King Nun. SLØTFACE BRING THE BANGERS

Taking to the stage a fair bit later than listed, Sløtface quickly make up for lost time. Barrelling through their building songbook, the Norwegian four-piece prove why they’re some of the brightest up comers in the game. It’s another triumphant win for one of Norway’s finest exports, paving the way for a debut which will no doubt host banger after banger. answer? Shame. A band who not so much play on a stage but rather exude everything they have into a set of immeasurable importance. Latitude is the latest to witness it in all its class. What’s even more stunning? They keep getting better and better – blazing a trail for the important place they’ll stand in for a wave of British bands. The future of live music is here, can you feel it? MARIKA HACKMAN IS IN FULL SWING

A LATITUDE Q&A WITH...

HMLTD

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE AT LATITUDE? YOU’RE QUITE HIGH UP THE BILL. Henry: Yeah I think it’s a really nice progression from last year. Last year whenever we played it would be in a very underground venue, late at night, to people who are all under 24. Now it’s like, we’re at a festival, it’s a bit more of a middle-aged crowd, a bit more middle-class crowd, and it’s obviously different. So in that sense, it introduces a new dynamic, and it forces you to reinvent yourself in certain ways, to innovate. WHAT’S IT LIKE TRANSFERRING YOUR LIVE SHOW TO FESTIVALS? Henry: When we do our own shows we curate the environment quite meticulously, we decorate the venue with a particular theme, be it b-movie horror or paradise, but at festivals that’s

impossible. So you have to bring other things out, like the light show, stuff like that. Achilleas: At festivals, there’s a seduction. We start trying to seduce people. DOES IT CHANGE HOW YOU APPROACH THE STAGE? Henry: In a sense, it’s just like we’re starting out again because we’re playing to people who don’t know what we’re like. YOUR ETHOS IS VERY MUCH PERFORMANCE WITH A MESSAGE, HOW KEY IS THAT TO YOU? Henry: It’s crucial. What we’re trying to do onstage is reach each of our individual identities and put that across. I think the main message of what we’re doing is having confidence in your own identity; that’s an important message.

With her new album acting as something of a purposeful second coming, Marika Hackman is in full swing. Immediately kicking in with her new brand of attitude-filled, but not obnoxious, rock, she commands a packed out tent here to experience ‘I’m Not Your Man’ in all its glory. ‘My Lover Cindy’ gives the set its vulnerability, whilst keeping true to its recorded twin, and is received with unprecedented welcoming and yearning. Marika’s new voice is certainly her best move forward. KING NUN ARE TAKING THE THRONE

What do you do when your label mates are headlining the opening night of the festival you’re both playing? You come

THE HORRORS SOUND BETTER THAN EVER

Glammed up with glitter, Faris patrols the stage looking out at the baying crowd. The 1975 fans have started arriving in their droves, so The Horrors don’t quite receive the reception they deserve, but the set is perfectly executed. ‘Still Life’ comes through full of life, a track that marks both their severe departure from the original “Horrors” sound and also the bold evolution of which they’re capable. ‘Something To Remember Me By’ meanwhile is just that, a perfect reminder of who The Horrors are and where they’re going. SKOTT CASTS A SPELL

Ushering in Saturday at Latitude, Skott’s enchanting presence in the BBC Music tent is the perfect tonic to sip into the day ahead. Striking a chord between mountain-sized peaks of pristine anthemic pop and icy mysterious flourishes – it’s a set that stops Latitude in its stride. Managing to open her soul yet drench it in a mystique that has everyone gathered longing for more – today is a look into a future world formed in

DORK

PHOTO: SARAH LOUISE BENNETT

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“ S W IS

H !” MAGGIE ROGERS IS ONE OF A KIND

Skott’s vision. No matter the stage or the location, the result is the same. One of the most spellbinding forces in new music has an invitation that’ll keep pulling people in over and over again. HONEYBLOOD ARE THROWING A PARTY

There are some bands that when you look on a festival bill, you know full well that you’re guaranteed a good time. It’s a place Honeyblood know all too well, growing and punching with an instinctive bite that means Latitude is treated to a scorching set from a band who deliver and deliver big as soon as the chords are switched. “We’ve come all the way from Scotland for this, it’s taken like two days to get here – so let’s dance” declares Cat Myers from the stage. On this evidence, that group of dancers is only going to get bigger. DECLAN MCKENNA’S SET FEELS LIKE A STORIED MOMENT IN WAITING

How many mid-afternoon magical moments have you been a part of? The sort of tales that you hear echoed out before sold-out arenas and award shows, from the folks who say “I remember seeing them in a tent in the afternoon all those years ago…” Those are the sort of stories you write down and remember, moments you know will play a vital part in the years coming for an artist. Declan McKenna is special, but here at Latitude it blossoms into something you’ll be hearing stories about when he’s selling out huge halls around the globe. The fact it’s only the beginning makes it nothing short of sensational. Dec’s about to play an important role in many a-life – but you don’t need us to tell you that. LUCY ROSE CHILLS OUT IN THE AFTERNOON

The early afternoon slot is always a tough one to command, but Lucy Rose manages to draw a crowd who need soothing after a 84

memorable and emotional previous evening. There aren’t any mosh pits, but relaxed swaying moves the set perfectly on its way. There’s even a little string accompaniment to hammer home the delicateness of Lucy’s new found penchant for deeper songwriting. It’s a chilled out set from one of Britain’s premier songwriters, who’s more confident than ever in what she does.

Everyone wants to be unique and push new ground that nobody else has covered before. But to actually live that and thrive on it? Well that’s quite rare – and that’s what makes Maggie Rogers an artist that you simply can’t turn away from. It’s also what makes her set at Latitude such a perfect fit; a coming together of a festival and an artist who seem cut from the same cloth. That tangible emotion radiates throughout her set in the BBC Music tent, bridging electronica and classic pop sensibilities into a melting pot. Individuality reigns, and Maggie is the queen. A Latitude coronation looks pretty ace from where we’re standing.

A LATITUDE Q&A WITH...

KING NUN

HOW WAS YOUR SET? Theo: I loved it, I loved it. James: Busier than I thought it’d be. A lot of fun. It’s nice to see so many people, I mean we’ve done a few festivals before but I’d say this is one of the busier ones we’ve done in terms of people coming to our show, and so many people into it as well. IS THIS YOUR FIRST LATITUDE? James: Yeah. Theo: This is my first festival that’s happening outside in a field. James: Same for me as well. Theo: It’s fantastic, we really like how loving everyone is, it’s really

nice. And it’s nice to play our kind of music in an environment where you know people are there to be loving and healthy and nice. Cause often you play punk music and people are a bit like [makes an angry noise]. IT’S A BIT OF A PUNK HOUR TOO, WE SPOKE TO DEAD PRETTIES A WHILE AGO… Theo: They’re fantastic, they’re so good. THEY SAID YOU GUYS WERE AWESOME AS WELL. Theo: Aughhh! James: They’re awesome as well. Theo: That’s so nice.

The Lemon Twigs bag themselves a tent of new fans Brothers of baroque pop, The Lemon Twigs are one of those bands who translate incredibly well to the stage. While in the studio they have a playful, experimental edge, live it all comes together with a charisma and charm that simply can’t be faked. On stage the songs have much more of a bite to them, even when the dreamy pop undertones are in full swing; it’s hard to look away. Brian and Michael D’addario somehow toe a line of their own volition – a blend of Beach Boys melody and eighties rock, with a little indie pop thrown in for good measure. It’s no wonder they’re one of the most sought after bands around. GLASS ANIMALS BELONG ON THE BIGGEST STAGES

Glass Animals have struck gold over the past 12 months, and we don’t just mean the huge sparkling pineapple that sits proudly behind them as they take to the Latitude stage. ‘How To Be A Human Being’ is a defining record, one that elevates them from short term sensation to a bonafide force of their own. From Coachella to Glastonbury, it’s lead to a summer of huge landmarks, and at Latitude they add another indisputable win to add to their account. The huge crowd swarms forward as ‘Life Itself’ rockets into gear. Cuts from ‘How To Be A Human Being’ are given new life on the live stage, with ‘Season 3 Episode 2’, ‘Pork Soda’, ‘Agnes’ and ‘Youth’ all dazzling in the late evening glow they command. Taking those experimental flourishes and distilling them onto big festival stages with such ease, Glass Animals reign with a buoyancy and charm – a measure of where the band stand in today’s musical landscape. Refreshing and juicy in each bite, Glass Animals have another name to add to their repertoire. Future headliners. TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB FINALLY MAKE IT TO THE OBELISK ARENA

“It’s taken us three years to get here!” Two Door Cinema Club frontman Alex Trimble acknowledges the long road it’s taken them to get to this point after illness saw them pull out of headlining Latitude back in 2014. Talk about making up for lost time; the trio come straight out with banger after banger. The first three tracks, including absolute stonker ‘Undercover Martyn’ and the more delicate ‘Do You Want It All?’ show the birth of the melody and pop sensibilities that have served them so well. It may have taken a few years for Two Door Cinema Club to get to

DORK

PHOTO: SARAH LOUISE BENNETT

the Obelisk Arena, but it was more than worth the wait. IDLES RIP A HOLE IN LATITUDE 2017

A LATITUDE Q&A WITH...

DECLAN MCKENNA HOW ARE THINGS? HOW IS BEING AT LATITUDE? It’s good! It feels really good. It’s the first festival season I feel like we’ve kind of been… well, it’s certainly been busy, but also like, seeing so many people. Festivals are interesting because at a big one like this, or like Glastonbury which we’ve done recently, you draw a bigger crowd than you will at most shows that you do. It’s awesome. Everything’s going well, can’t complain. IT’S LESS THAN A WEEK NOW UNTIL THE ALBUM, HOW DOES IT FEEL BEING SO CLOSE? It’s mad. Although it’s been a really long time, it feels like it’s come super quickly. One minute it was three-months to the album release, then it was a week. What is that?! That is a weird little bug. THAT’S THE ONE THING YOU FIND AT LATITUDE, WILDLIFE. Weird bugs, and strange activities for middle-class

children. There’s quite a few going on in the woods; I don’t really know what’s happening. It’s an interesting festival; it’s not like any other festival in the UK really. It’s just so… calm. HAVE YOU BEEN HERE BEFORE? Yeah, I’ve been here two years in a row before this one, played here last year. Stayed I think for just a day, and then I came two years ago as well with a couple of friends. It’s a nice one. It’s just super calm. It does have a reputation for being the middle-class “Lattetude”, but a little dose of that is quite pleasant. It’s just super clean. DO YOU HAVE SPECIAL MEMORIES OF THE FESTIVAL? ANY STANDOUTS? I remember queuing up for Thom Yorke, who was doing a secret set at like 3am. There was like 5 million people, and they kept telling everyone to leave. He didn’t play until like 3am, and I basically left at 1am. I was just really bored.

A few hours before their chaos filled Lake Stage set, Idles tweet out that none other than Theresa May would be introducing them. Sadly, this match made in sarcastic heaven doesn’t come to fruition, and instead, they take to the stage with frontman Joe Talbot gruffly declaring: “Hola, Como esters, yo muy bien.” It’s an apt opener for the band who are so openly for the people; the energy is palpable. After making their entrance, they waste no time as Joe stares menacingly into the crowd, eyeing everybody there. Among a sea of lovingly raised middle fingers, Idles’ ripples are felt for miles around. SOHN WEAVES HIS MAGIC

SOHN arrives onstage with little fanfare. Accompanied by his drummer, he takes his place with his instruments – a simple synthesiser setup – and proceeds to welcome in the drawing Saturday evening. The magic is unrelenting and completely unforgettable. SOHN is a purveyor of massive beats and swirling sounds that refuse to let you go, even as the setting Suffolk sun beckons through the massive tent’s entrance. MUMFORD AND SONS DO MUCH MORE

THAN JUST TOP THE BILL

Mumford and Sons are a band who took over the world, and no one saw it coming. Four guys from London playing folk music with a bit of attitude somehow broke into the mainstream enough for them to, several years later, launch their own promotions company and record label, Gentleman Of the Road. Taking over the second day of Latitude, the boys not only headline but curate much of the bill. With the Suffolk sun putting on a final show, the foursome take to the stage and immediately kick in with a guitarladen third album cut. Moving straight into breakout track ‘Little Lion Man’, they bring out their infamous banjo; there’s an ease to their migration from new to old, seamlessly jumping between their iterations. More ‘Wilder Mind’ cuts such as ‘Believe’ deliver a rockier vibe, while major players like ‘The Cave’ initiate such immense sing alongs that you’re not even sure if Mumford and Sons are still performing. As a special treat, Marcus Mumford welcomes Baaba Maal to the stage to do a couple of tracks from ‘Johannesburg’, the 2016 mini album they teamed up for. Following it up with another mass singalong, ‘I Will Wait’ is brought out to well and truly get the crowds windpipes going, while finale ‘The Wolf’ sees Leon Bridges pop up for a guest spot. It’s a worthy end to an enjoyable set. GIRL RAY CHARM THE SUNRISE ARENA

Approaching the Sunrise Arena, hidden amongst the Henham woods, the jangle of Girl Ray pours out, the band

REV I E WS

quickly charming their way into the hearts of everybody from the front of the tent to the leisurely sitters outside. Gaps between songs are punctuated with interactions with the crowd; the excited “Alright!” that singer Poppy Hankin lets out early on feels contagious, and the cutting melodies that come soon after sees the excitement build from tentative to down right unmissable. Girl Ray prove to be another bit of magic hidden away in the Latitude woods. MATT MALTESE EXPANDS HIS WORLD

Taking his place at the piano, Matt Maltese’s opening notes quickly capture the passing crowd’s attention. He effortlessly channels the likes of Lou Reed and Morrissey – a subtle dark edge framing tales of the sadder side of life. When he suddenly breaks into a loud howl during tracks such as ‘Strange Time’, it’s captivating. Getting lost in Matt’s world is all a part of his game, and during his triumphant mid-afternoon slot, that world got just a little bit bigger. GOAT GIRL RIDE THE STORM, LITERALLY

Goat Girl, with their fast and furious indie rippers, move with a natural swoon that draws the masses to their mid-afternoon Sunrise Arena set. There’s a reason they’re currently a leading light in the DIY scene; they bring charm and fun by the bucket load. Even those seeking shelter from a spontaneous downpour find themselves drawn into their storm. CHILDHOOD PULL OFF ONE OF THE SETS OF THE WEEKEND

With a fairly lengthy soundcheck eating into the planned start time, the packed tent for Childhood begins to get a bit agitated after hearing “we need more guitar in the wedge” for the umpteenth time. The moment frontman Ben declares they’re ready, the crowd erupts into cheers, and the band prove it was more than worth the wait. Bringing a whole world of funk,

soul, a little bit of indie and a lot of rock’n’roll, Childhood put on a show for the ages with no holding back: one of the sets of the weekend. DREAM WIFE ARE A SIGHT TO BEHOLD

Each member of Dream Wife brings their own dynamic to the Lake Stage, uprooting any feelings of a Sunday daze. Singer Rakel flows and turns about, her powerful vocals blowing any other sound away, while Alice and Bella playfully dance, giving their performance everything. Their melodies and hooks are massive; vicious riffs that bark as much as they bite dominate their set. It’s a captivating show filled with ferocious bangers that are as savage as they are enticing. Dream Wife are one of the coolest gangs going.

THEIR OWN

Before a single note is played, shouts of “We love you!” cement Latitude’s booking as a solid choice. Opener ‘I Am All That I Need / Arroyo Seco / Thumbprint Scar’ eases both band and crowd into a long-awaited reunion. Fleet Foxes’ music relies on its perfectly crafted and honed layers to come together and form a euphoric sound that’s unbeaten; it’s one that perfectly traverses the arena tonight. Every word comes with a well-packaged sincerity. With the setting sun in front, Fleet Foxes blend with the evening perfectly. A headliner in all respects, they’re masters of their craft – be it rapid and panicked guitars, flute or

delicately played brass. ‘He Doesn’t Know Why?’ comes out as a clear fan favourite, with ripples of applause. Fleet Foxes constantly feel at home; every moment is a fresh turn into familiar territory. ‘Mykonos’ kicks in with its choral introduction as the drums pound in causing a remarkable rise in linked arm dancing from the ever enthusiastic crowd. This year’s third album ‘Crack-Up’ was a welcome return from the Seattle group. Fleet Foxes are over eleven years into a career that’s seen them go from hidden gems to mainstream long stays, and tonight at Latitude, they prove why: they’re in a world of their own. P

THE MAGIC GANG HAVE THE LOT

The Magic Gang frontman Jack Kaye appears on stage with his right leg in a brace. “We were playing this festival the other week, and I fell off the stage and fucked up my leg,” he explains. Encouraging the audience to dance enough for him too is a needless ask. From the first opening chords, there’s no stopping anyone. Injuries aside, Jack still brings a groove with his playing, while the rest of The Magic Gang help to bang out their infectious and downright incredible jams. Each track feels like a hit; there’s a power and might that reflects the dedicated crowd’s screams between songs. Playing while the approaching sunset signals the end of this year’s Latitude, you can’t help but feel The Magic Gang will one day see their name at the top of the bill. They have the entire package – pop bangers, character, dedicated fans. Give it a few more years and their time will come. FLEET FOXES ARE IN A WORLD OF

A LATITUDE Q&A WITH...

DREAM WIFE

YOUR FESTIVAL SEASON’S BEEN PRETTY BUSY SO FAR? Alice: Yeah it’s been pretty intense. Rakel: July has been beautiful and different. Yesterday we were in France, the day before we were in Spain. It’s been a wild ride. It’s our first festival season.

it’s like that point where you start to hear it as a whole, and you start to get a sense of what it’ll be as a body of work. It’s an exciting point in the process, but yeah we’re getting there. It’s going to be great to have an album out there for sure.

DO YOU DO TOURISTY THINGS? Rakel: We’ve seen a bunch of great bands, but not much exploring. I think one of the exciting things that I find with festivals, is playing to crowds you wouldn’t normally play to and winning people over. It’s hard; you have to really work them. It’s really satisfying when people are having a really great time, and maybe they didn’t know you before.

IT’S TOUGH WITH A FULL-LENGTH, YOU NEED TO CAPTURE WHO YOU ARE. Alice: It’s also our debut, it’s like, “Hello this is us, here we are.” Rakel: It’s an introduction as well in that sense, it’s important in a lot of ways. Alice: I’m excited. We’ve written a bunch of songs, we’ve chosen songs that we want to have on this, and it represents what we’re doing now and what’s happening now around us, and isn’t that what you want?

MUSIC-WISE, HOW’S THE FUTURE LOOKING? IS THERE A FULLLENGTH? Alice: We’re mixing it, hoping to send it to masters very soon. Rakel: It’s kind of coming together,

THAT’S ALL YOU CAN ASK FOR REALLY, ISN’T IT? Alice: Yeah, I’m excited to have people hear these songs.

REV I E WS

W H AT WENT D OW N

L E D A T I C 2017 MIE MUIR WORDS: JA NNETT H LOUISE BE RA SA S: TO PHO

unday. What a day. Usually reserved for lounging about in front of the telly, throwing a touch of glitter into the mix is Citadel – the sort of one-day festival that green fields were created for. Its headliners, Foals, are no ordinary band, a troop perpetually chomping at the bit to win over doubters. This is a huge British band, one whose forward thinking layers build a ship we can all sail into battle on. From top to bottom, Citadel is crammed full of exciting bands – none more so than Parcels. After

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announcing their arrival with ‘Overnight’ a few weeks ago, today is an opportunity to witness them in that golden moment where things are starting to take shape. Melding the glam strut of Chic with the sophisticated cool of Phoenix, it’s early doors, but Parcels are destined to deliver something pretty special. Ardyn’s early set of wholesome Americana is lit with swooping melody, with closer ‘Together’ a lush example of their sparkling form. In sharp contrast, Bellevue Days are all about kicking the day in the face, with their early set a scratch on the surface of a band committed to uncompromising rock breakdowns. Ruffling a few feathers with the

early morning Pimms drinkers, it’s the perfect example of making a 20-minute slot truly unforgettable. The spirit of Citadel is in full display as Laura Marling takes to the stage. It’s staggering that at only 27 years of age she boasts such a catalogue of moving visits into love and life. Laura stands above everything, managing to blend the pure fabric of life with an earthly grounding that rings throughout. Melodies croon out, and new cuts from latest LP ‘Semper Femina’ ease effortlessly into a set that can’t be looked away from. A comforting hand on the shoulder, today at Citadel confirms how vital Laura Marling is.

To follow that needs some panache, and it’s that which Wild Beasts are primed for. Over the course of the past 12 months and latest album ‘Boy King’, they’ve become a band comfortable with the biggest of stages. Taking every pulsing left turn and fixating it into one delectable cocktail, their presence has become a formidable one. Sweet nuggets like ‘Alpha-Female’, ‘Big Cat’, ‘Get My Bang’ and ‘Wanderlust’ are a swooping sensation in neo-pop lighting, taking the thousands gathered through a trip that has become so diverse and impulsive that it can be nothing but staggering. It’s the sort of set that doesn’t solidify where they are, but instead, claws at something bigger.

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In the midst of the swarming bodies and humid surroundings, Sylvan Esso are a refreshing bottle of ice-cold water. Heady yet crystallised latenight beats fuse with soaring hooks for a set that fuses emotion with creativity, truly laying themselves out on a dazzling island of their own. Equally doing so is A Blaze Of Feather, caked in mystery but once the music starts there’s only one world it belongs to. Carefully orchestrated and delicate in its approach, it’s a set that makes people feel – with a certain Ben Howard perched towards the back of the stage. Like a grand painting of musical brilliance, what comes from them could be truly special and on today’s evidence, there’ll be plenty in awe of it. Steeped on the Main Stage, Bonobo is a commanding presence with the sort of show that orchestrates how influential he’s become. Dense and textured, his live band allows for experimentation and freedom – a gorgeous tapestry on which to write his story. Slices from across his career make their mark, surrounding Citadel in an undeniable swell of lush percussion and visionary thoughts. It’s not in your face or aggressive, but alluring and potent. This is a set of immeasurable power and one that puts the tick next to everything Bonobo is and will become. Foals couldn’t give a fuck what day of the week it is. Every day is theirs, and kicking the pedal fullthrottle tonight proves it. They thrash out of the blocks with the sort of uncontrollable energy that’d knock the rest of the summer on its arse. It’s not just that Foals are a band firmly at ease with the level

they now sit at, it’s that they are completely fixated on becoming something bigger, something louder and with an unquenchable thirst for a live experience beyond any description. An opening flurry of ‘Mountain At My Gates’, ‘Snake Oil’ and ‘Olympic Airways’ triggers a set that manages to look back and gaze forward all while sounding raw and new – dipping into ‘Antidotes’, rarities like ‘Electric Bloom’ and ‘Heavy Water’ get an airing in a set that manages to melt everything that Foals are about into one throatgrabbing force. Organically focused on the details which blossom into spellbinding moments, the breadth of who they are is mesmerising. When ‘Spanish Sahara’ drops in the middle of the set, as the night covers Victoria Park, it becomes a mass congregation. A guiding example of how to set the hairs on the back of your neck up in sheer awe, Yannis seizes the moment as he prowls around the stage – baying for more and flinging himself into every note and spiral. In a set that flexes and pushes its chest out, ‘Inhaler’ and ‘What Went Down’ set fire to Victoria Park with primal intensity, a fitting raise of the glass to the role they now play in British music. Foals aren’t just headliners, they’re a force of nature. What they do from here isn’t clear, but what’s obvious is that it’ll be just as captivating and real as everything that has made them who they are. Foals are a band of immeasurable importance, one that sweats and pulses with freedom and emotion. This is music you can feel, but can never get hold of. That’s worth celebrating time and time again. P

THESE ARE THE BEST FIVE BANDS WE SAW AT 2000 TREES 2017

WORDS: ALI SHUTLER PHOTO: SARAH LOUISE BENNETT

2000trees festival takes place at Upcote Farm in Cheltenham. It has a lot of trees and plenty of great bands. We couldn’t pick a favourite tree, but here are the five greatest bands we saw. They might be in a particular order, but we’re not telling you what it is. #1 FRANK CARTER & THE RATTLESNAKES Frank Carter has been a regular this summer on the ol’ festival circuit and thank God. Ten years plus in the game and he’s still a breath of fresh air to every field, tent and crowd he stands upon. His second album with The Rattlesnakes has underlined his transition from fiery frontman to a force-of-nature entertainer, and today he dances about the Main Stage like nobody is watching. Obviously, everyone is, but he doesn’t care. He’s been taking festival crowds (Glastonbury, Rock Werchter) and making them his own all year long, and now there’s nothing holding him back. #2 SPRING KING A year on from their debut album, Spring King are the same merry bunch we know and love. Some things have changed, sure. Their ramshackle brilliance has grown into something broader, more robust but equally as wonderful while their songs of uncertainty have become sure-fire anthems. However, they still play like their lives depend on it, they still grin like this is the best day ever and they’re still taking hearts, minds and souls with a reckless abandon. #3 MILK TEETH There are a lot of bright hopes in rock at the moment, but none shine as brightly as Milk Teeth. Their bold

new EP ‘Be Nice’ has let the band take a second and work out exactly what they want to be. The answer is fun. Today sees that desire for a good time hoisted above and celebrated. Snarls turn to smiles and fury becomes the fuel for something joyous. ‘Owning Your Okayness’ is made for the sunshine while ‘Swear Jar’ bats away the darkest of clouds. #4 THE WINTER PASSING There’s something marvellous about The Winter Passing. It might be the way they bound about the stage, leading the charge through the wardrobe and out to someplace secret, someplace safe. It could be the way their music twirls about the place, never settling but always inviting. Possibly it’s their love for a silent disco, which is completely understandable. Live, the band take the beauty, the passion and the landscape escape of their ‘Double Exposure’ EP and place it in your hand. It’s delicate but at the same time, fiercely defiant and robust. #5 GET INUIT No one takes Get Inuit less seriously than Get Inuit. Today’s set is full of the same wondrous chaos the band always manage to evoke. They tumble about the stage; they poke fun at themselves and the idea of rock stars in general. It’s ridiculous and silly, but the crowd is always laughing with them. But then again, what’s the point in acting seriously when your songs can do it for you? Obviously, ‘Barbiturates’ and ‘ProProcrastinator’ are weird, wonderful and full of sparking majesty but the urgency of ‘All My Friends’, all sideways glances and direct threats, and the dream-pop dance of ‘Teriyaki’ are yet more reasons to fall for the band. P DOWN WITH BORING

LISTINGS

29 AUG & 30 AUG.

BOOK YOUR PLACE NOW. EMAIL LIVEADS@READDORK.COM

14 SEP.

Beach Fossils

Henry Green

31 AUG.

14 SEP.

Oslo

The Lexington

Cymbals

Chastity Belt

04 SEP.

20 SEP.

Thousand Island

The Garage

Waxahatchee

Kiran Leonard

04 SEP & 05 SEP.

21 SEP.

The Garage

Courtney Marie Andrews Bush Hall 05 SEP.

St Pancras Old Church

Oui Love Birthdays 22 SEP.

Starcrawler

W.I.T.C.H

07 SEP.

26 SEP.

Boston Music Room

Moth Club

Girlpool

Anna of the North

08 SEP.

26 SEP.

Village Underground

Omeara

Alvvays

By The Sea Festival

13 SEP.

02 OCT.

KOKO

tickets and more info

WANT YOUR GIGS IN HERE?

Charly Bliss Old Blue Last

Dreamland, Margate

Malihini

The Waiting Room

ACTIVITY CENTRE IT’S STILL FESTIVAL SEASON. YOU’RE STILL GONNA BE SAT IN TENTS, WAITING FOR BANDS TO START, OR STUCK AT A SERVICE STATION SLOGGING YOUR WAY UP AND DOWN THE COUNTRY IN A QUEST FOR SOME HOTT NEW MUSIC. SO WE FIGURED YOU COULD USE SOME ENTERTAINMENT BEYOND READING WORDS AND LOOKING AT PRETTY PICTURES. HERE’S A PAGE OF TOP QUALITY PUZZLES TO KEEP YOU OCCUPIED. IN NO WAY ARE ANY OF THEM CHEAP GAGS AT A MUSICIAN’S EXPENSE.

YS A LWA LO O K E D TO WA N T R !” AS T E THE M L IK E “ I’ V E

MUSIC FOR CAR PARKS

OH NO! MATTY HAS FINISHED TOURING ‘ILIWYS...’, BUT NOW HE CAN’T FIND HIS WHEELS IN THE LATITUDE CAR PARK. HOW CAN HE RECORD MUSIC FOR CARS WITHOUT THEM? HELP HIM FIND IT BY GETTING HIM THROUGH THE MAZE.

BEARDY SPOT THE DIFFERENCE WEIRDY T H EY ’ RE BAS I CA L LY T H E SA M E , RI G H T ?

ALEX TURNER HAS A BEARD NOW, BUT HOW SHOULD THAT CHANGE HIS WARDROBE? WE’RE ALWAYS DEALING WITH THE DIFFICULT QUESTIONS. COLOUR HIM IN TO FIND OUT IF HE’S ON TREND OR OFF HIS ROCKER.

PENS OUT! EYES DOWN! IT’S THE AMAZING DORK

CROSSWORD

Across 5. The Big Moon are looking for ____ in the 4th Dimension. (4) 6. That burns, Circa Waves! (4) 7. They’re just not coming here, Declan. You can’t make them if they don’t wanna. (4) 8. This isn’t exactly dinner party lighting, Estons. (6) 9. The Jarmans don’t like that number. Pick a different one. (7) 11. Royal Blood only do this when they love you. (3) 14. Don’t delete these. Wolf Alice would be sad. (6)

17. Fickle Friends are a sticky lot. (4) 18. Blaenavon reckon they’re the man. (8) 22. It’s a Public Service. (12) 24. Dreamy. (4)

Down 1. They want it all, twice over. (10) 2. Why do you have to be so like this, Salen? (4) 3. The Japanese House swears she saw you here. (5) 4. Every new band has their own Method. (6) 6. Off Bloom have a bird’s eye view. (6) 8. This isn’t just any grub. (9)

10. Dua Lipa is always making new ones up. (5) 12. Where can we find that link again, Diet Cig? (3) 13. MØ can think of nobody better to spend her evenings with. (3) 15. George, Furman, Keonig, bloke off Pretty Little Liars. (4) 16. Sigrid calls ‘em. (5) 19. INHEAVEN just want to watch it burn. (5) 20. Will Joseph Cook is a huge one of these. (3) 21. Milk Teeth know it costs nothing to Be ____. (4) 23. Haim want it done right. (3)

DOWN WITH BORING

ANY OTHER Q U E S T I O N S WITH...

INHEAVEN

THIS MONTH, JAMES FROM INHEAVEN RUNS THE GAUNTLET OF OUR RANDOM, STUPID QUERIES.

Reading or Leeds? Reading for the gig, Leeds for the party. How punk are you out of ten? 11

Hello. How are you? Been better.

Who’s your favourite new band? My new favourite band is HMLTD

What did you have for breakfast this morning? Lucky Charms and cider. What’s your favourite thing about being a musician? Playing live is my favourite thing about being a musician. It’s one of the most life affirming things you can do. What’s your biggest accomplishment? Probably releasing our first single on my teenage indie hero Julian Casablanca’s label Cult records.

What is your earliest memory? Trying to work out if I asked to be born? Do you believe in aliens? Yes, I’ve been abducted numerous times. After the third time I was able to telepathically communicate with David Bowie. Which was nice. Which is your favourite member of One Direction? The edgy one.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done, and would you do it again? The craziest thing I’ve done is snort a line of ants and I would do it again!! Who was your favourite musician or band when you were 14? The Strokes.

Have you got any secret tattoos? No unfortunately not. However Chloe has Niall from One Direction’s face on her left shoulder. If you won the lottery, what would you spend the cash on? I would start a record label and sign all my favourite bands. What’s the best present you’ve ever been given? A Nando’s voucher.

When’s your birthday? 14th of April the month of the Holy Spirit. What strength Nandos sauce do you order? Extra Hot. What was the last thing you broke? My mind. What’s the most impressive thing you can cook? Fish tacos. What do you do for fun? Play in a great new band. INHEAVEN are playing Reading & Leeds this month, so that’ll be nice. Their self-titled debut album is out on 1st September.

R L HEA N S T IL “ I CA .. .” D AV ID YO U ,

“ S LOW

, S LO W

HAND

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Photo: Phil Smithies.

S .. .”

OOK L OT L “ T H AT IA R .. .” FA M IL

NEXT M O NTH...

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBE R 8TH 2017 YOU DON’T WANNA MISS A THING. IT’S THE...

BAND INDEX Against The Current Alex Lahey Alma Alt-J Alvvays Anna of the North Arcade Fire Arcane Roots Architects Arctic Monkeys Ardyn At The Drive In Baby In Vain Bastille Black Honey Blaenavon Blossoms Bloxx Bonobo Boston Manor Casey Charli XCX Childhood Circa Waves Counterfeit Culture Abuse Dead Pretties Deap Vally Declan McKenna Defeater Dinosaur Dream Wife Drenge Dua Lipa Ed Sheeran EMA Eminem Everything Everything Fall Out Boy Fickle Friends Filthy Friends

11 37 9 16 60, 71 36, 71 29 11 11 93 88 11 9, 71 4, 34, 35 15 15, 73 9, 16 27 88 11 11 9, 19 87 9 11 12 81 9 13, 23, 78, 84, 86 12 16 87 29 26 16 71 13 13, 62, 72 30 13 75

Fleet Foxes Flume Foals Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes Freak George Ezra Get Inuit Ghostpoet Girl Ray Glass Animals Gnarwolves Goat Girl Grizzly Bear Grouplove Haim Halsey Harry Styles HMLTD Ho99o9 Honeyblood Idles INHEAVEN J Hus Jack Cooper Jagwar Ma Japandroids Japanese Breakfast Justice Kasabian Kate Tempest Kele Okereke King Nun L.A. Witch Lana Del Rey LANY Laura Marling LCD Soundsystem Liam Gallagher Liars LIFE

87 13 79, 88 12, 89 9 40 13, 34, 89, 93 76 86 13, 16, 17, 84 12 87 50, 72 13 13, 29, 78 13 34 82, 83 79 13, 84 13, 86 13, 30, 73, 94 16 72 13 13 78 79 9 16 32 13, 82, 84, 85 72 75 13 88 20, 30 14, 30, 32, 34 72 14

Little Mix London Grammar Lorde Loyle Carner Lucy Rose M.I.A. Maggie Rogers Major Lazer Marika Hackman Marmozets Matt Maltese Milk Teeth MØ Mumford & Sons Muncie Girls Mura Masa Muse Mystery Jets Off Bloom Oh Wonder Paramore Parcels Phoenix POND Pumarosa Puppy PVRIS Queens of the Stone Age Rat Boy Rostam Royal Blood Sampha Shame Sigrid Skott Slaves Sløtface Soccer Mommy SOHN Spring King St. Vincent

34 79 30, 78 14, 16 84 79 84 14 14, 33, 82 12 87 89 79 86 12 14 14 31, 81 14 13 29 88 79 14 15, 73, 81 12 10, 76 74 15, 56, 70 76 79 16 12, 81 13, 81 82 24 15, 27, 82 38 86 28, 89 30

Sundara Karma Superfood Superglu Suzi Wu Ten Tonnes The 1975 The Amazons The Big Moon The Cribs The Horrors The Japanese House The Killers The Lemon Twigs The Magic Gang The Moonlandingz The National The Strokes The War On Drugs The Winter Passing The xx Thumpers Tigercub Tigers Jaw Toothless Turnover Two Door Cinema Club VANT While She Sleeps White Room Wild Beasts Will Joseph Cook Wille J Healey Wolf Alice Wolf Parade Yeah Yeah Yeahs Years & Years Yonaka Zeal & Ardor

14 15, 30, 52, 77 81 37, 76 15 29, 80, 93 14 15, 16, 17, 33, 73 46, 77 30, 82 15, 29, 81 27 84 15, 87 37 30, 78 29 66, 79 89 16 72 12, 19 12 15 79 15, 18, 84 15, 29 12 15 88 15, 29, 73 22, 79 27, 29, 30 32 26 29 15, 38 12