So Young Issue Twenty-Two

Issue Twenty-Two Girl Band The Murder Capital Swim Deep Whitney Sports Team Speedy Wunderground

D N A B L R I G

www.aaronelvisjupin.com

Festival season is drawing to a close and we’ve all fallen in

Continuing with exciting returns, we speak to Swim Deep,

love with a new band or rekindled our relationship with an

Warmduscher and Jerkcurb about their upcoming releases.

old favourite. We do both in issue twenty-two as we speak

Sports Team continue to dominate festival line up’s and it’s

to both The Murder Capital and Girl Band from Dublin. The

been a while since we caught up. Alex Rice called us from

Murder Capital have released their debut album ‘When I

Lords to keep us up to date with their Reading Festival

Have Fears’ and we caught up with them at their hometown

plans and talk about the new single. Dry Cleaning are a new

album release show. Girl Band are back, a band that have

name from South London and we sent over a few questions

inspired guitar music in Ireland and beyond. We catch up

via email to see how they’re dealing with the hype. As ever,

with them as they prepare to release their new album ‘The

‘Who Are You?’ introduces you to some of our favourite

Talkies’. In Chicago, Whitney have just released their

new bands. This time we say hello to Powerplant, High-Vis,

second album. We get them on the phone for a chat about

Sinead O’Brien, Katy J Pearson, Saint Jude and more.

being done with cool. Is there a more important label than Speedy Wunderground right now? We sat down with the label to chat about how they work and the shift from singles to EP’s.

3 Warmduscher Midnight Dipper

31 Speedy Wunderground Will Not Be Slow

7 Jerkcurb Air Con Eden

33 Girl Band Going Norway

12 Whitney Forever Turned Around

37 Who Are You? Get to Know

15 The Murder Capital When I Have Fears

40 Dry Cleaning Goodnight

20 Sports Team Naval Flares

41 William’s Green Glastonbury

25 Swim Deep Sail Away, Say Goodbye

44 Art’s Cool Margate

Warmduscher Warmduscher, a German compact word, is taken to mean

With Saul, was it just conflicting schedules that meant

‘wimp’ or equivalence (the literal translation, for reference,

he wasn’t with you?

means something along the lines of ‘person who takes warm showers’, or is literally incapable of stepping out of their

No, he left the band- me and him fell out, although we’re

comfort zone. Paradoxically, however, the band bathe you

friends now. I love him, but he’s unreliable, and had

in nonsense, capturing a wildly spontaneous jam session

Insecure Men and Fat Whites going as well so it was never

into compact pop songs, pissing boiling liquid onto you as it

really going to work. He doesn’t really like touring either,

freezes into your ears.

so when we became more busy, it just didn’t really make sense. We’re a live band, and the only thing keeping us

‘Tainted Lunch’, the new album from Warmduscher, is

going is touring constantly, so it just got to the point where

a sludgy ride straight into the backrooms of your mind.

it was right for him to leave. No hard feelings, but it is what

Part psychotic post-punk, part existential electronica, and

it is.

everything in between, it is the perfect third album. It is the sound of borderline insanity, and is the essence of a band

Obviously you have a spoken word part from Iggy Pop

finding their weirdest, most comfortable stride.

as an intro to the album, and there’s also a massive tune with Kool Keith on it. How did the collaboration with

We spoke to enigmatic frontman, Clams Baker on his jaunt

these two legends happen?

across the pond, to catch up on what the album means, and why you should either shut up or get arrested.

We just asked! With Iggy, he was playing us loads on his show, he ended up playing our whole album. That was such

The album is a real mix of genres spliced together - is

a good feeling for us, because industry-wise, they don’t

there a particular theme or idea that you’re trying to get

really want to touch us. That sounds a bit “poor me” or

across?

whatever, but I know we’re a bit of a handful so we never really got the breaks a more standard, maybe younger band

With this one, we had the same time constraints and did

would have. No animosity towards that, but it does mean we

it with Dan Carey again, across 5 days. We just wanted to

just have to play live constantly, and get ourselves out there

try and go more towards the sort of funky, more soulful

that way. So it was amazing for Iggy to agree to do an intro

direction. Obviously there are still some songs on there that

on the album or whatever.

are more rocky or whatever, but we didn’t really think about it, we just did what we do, and the sound is what came out.

We were without Saul for this one, and Adam from Fat Whites joined us to write it.

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Words by Dan Pare, illustration by Stefanie Röhnisch

I read somewhere that the album was all done on tapethat must have been ridiculous to record, could you talk us through the process?

With the ‘Whale City’ album we had a really short amount of time to actually record, so he basically said: “we have three days, so let’s just do it all on tape”. So we went into the studio and I was shitting myself because I didn’t know who would turn up or what state they’d be in. We wrote down the song titles before we even knew what the songs would be- I’d written conceptual lyrics, so I figured I’d just see what music came out, and I’d pace them to that. And because of the setup, we were doing one side of the album on the first day, and one on the second- and because it was all just a continuous recording, if you messed up a part of one song, you’d have to go back to the beginning of the side and start over. So with the new album, it was all to tape, but we were able to do it track by track, so we only had to go back to the start of that song rather than the start of the album.

Your album comes out in November- what’s the plan until then? Are you back out on the road? Or just waiting nervously for it to be birthed?

So I’m in the US right now, and the band are scattered between Cambodia and London, with some UK dates lined up for October. I can’t wait to start touring the new album...I’m just psyched to get back to playing loads.

Any final words about the state of the world or whatever?

Fucking lighten up, everyone. We’re all gonna die, unfortunately, so go out and do something if you’re that pissed off. Either go out and get arrested, smash something, or don’t let it ruin your day. Keep it simple, but responsible.

Don’t be dicks. That’s about it!

www.stefanieroehnisch.de

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Jerkcurb After already becoming a cult figure in London’s music

There’ll often be the same chords or lyrics but I’ll try them

scene, Jacob Read - aka Jerkcurb - is finally ready to unveil

in loads of different ways until it feels the most right for

his debut solo project, ‘Air Con Eden’. Years in the making,

that song. It’s actually a lot more empty sounding! It sounds

the album fully transports you into his own little world, and

different. I’m still really proud of it and I think it’s the way

we found out about the process.

that it should sound.

Your debut album is finally coming out! How are you

What were some of the inspirations for ‘Air Con Eden’?

feeling?

It’s a real mixture. More recently I was trying to write about Good! I just want it to come out, like, now. I want it to be

more personal stuff. The earlier songs are a little bit more

out and then move on to the new stuff. I want people to hear

fictitious. There’s really no template of where the stories

it and I want it to do well. I thought it would be out last

come from. I got really obsessed with primitive capitalism

year but everything takes me ages. I try to control all the

and how we got to where we are now in terms of the

visual stuff and I tend to think in the long way when I don’t

evolution of retail and consumerism. I got really interested

really need to. It’s a control freak thing, but I guess because

firstly just from an aesthetic point of view of what shopping

it’s my solo project it ends up being like that. The next thing

culture was like. I found these really amazing postcards

I do I want to try something completely different than that.

from 1960 of Cherry Hill Mall in New Jersey which were

Do it all in one take. Maybe straight onto Instagram stories.

the first ones designed by Victor Gruen who was this Austrian architect who immigrated to America after fleeing

Because it’s been such a long time coming, is there any

the Nazis, he was a real environmentalist - it’s an amazing

pressure?

story - but he ended up creating shopping malls and it’s kind of like this antihero type of story. I exaggerated bits

I waited for everyone to forget who I was! I don’t really

of it and took parts of this guy’s biography and amplified

like the pressure, I find the whole “London music hype”

bits. I ended up writing a thesis on it, it was a bit shit,

thing quite terrifying. It works for a lot of bands, it’s great

I don’t want anyone to read it, but it’s all about the air

to have that momentum to keep it fresh, but for me I really

conditioned Eden and all about man made utopias. Shopping

wanted to take my time with it and to make sure that it was

malls kind of started off like that and then by the 70s he

something that I wanted it to be. I guess that’s why it took

disowned his creations and that’s when the dystopian angle

so long. I had a taste of the hype when I put out my first

of consumerism started. In the 50s everyone was like “we

stuff but I was studying animation and I just wasn’t in the

need this!”, and it’s a very different headspace to where we

headspace of following through what the project was. I did

are now when we’re now understanding how fucked up our

one song and then, yeah! If I was to go back in time I would

planet is because of capitalism. We now grow up with this

try and do stuff a little quicker!

guilt and I feel guilty just about existing because of the state of the world we live in. I take a lot of inspiration from the

How has the record changed since you first started

past and I’m never quite sure why. I was born in 92, why

working on it?

am I obsessed with stuff that happened so long ago? It’s like fake nostalgia, and that as a theme interests me as well, the idea of being interested in stuff that has nothing to do with you and trying to find the thread between now and then.

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Words by Elly Watson, illustration by Núria Just

www.elliotfox.co.uk

Whitney There’s been a Whitney shaped hole in many of our playlists

The album’s still very major key. We knew we wanted to

these past three years, as we waited impatiently for more

continue writing positive sounding songs but this time with

of their sugar sweet folk melodies. With their new album,

more of an introspective and sceptical lyricism. We’re not

‘Forever Turned Around’ about to drop, we thought it

happy with where America is at, and it’s why the album

would be the perfect time to catch up with the Chicago duo.

isn’t one hundred percent positive, but we’re still trying to

Calling the pair as they chilled backstage at a festival, we

find hope in a place that isn’t so hopeful. We wrote songs

talked Neil Young and being done with cool.

for the record that sounded too dark, but we weren’t able to finish them, as we were like this isn’t what people need

It’s been a pretty crazy few years for you guys. What’s

right now - they just need a melody that brightens their day.

been happening between ‘Light Upon the Lake’ and the Does expressing your inner most thoughts in your music

new album?

make you feel vulnerable?

Julian: We just toured for a long time. When you start a band from ground zero, you don’t really start making money

Max: With the lyrics we definitely have a conversation, we

until promoters realise you’re worth tickets, so with the first

had it this time with one of the songs where we were like

album cycle you can end up over doing it. We immediately

“do we want to sing this every night, because it will become

wanted to start writing, but when we got home we realised

part of our lives?” And if the answer is “no” then we go

our brains were a little bit fried - it took us like nine to ten

“okay we won’t put that in.” It’s not about being vulnerable

months to do anything we really cared about. (With this

it’s about being honest, we want those songs to still feel

album) we put pressure on ourselves and pushed each other

relevant to us in a years time.

to work harder and I’m so glad that we did that, making sure that the end product would be something that we could

Speaking of honesty, would you say you’re done with the

be proud of forever.

concept of cool?

Something that struck me in particular was the album

Julian: Completely! When we were younger and in other

title, what made you choose ‘Forever Turned Around’?

bands like Smith Westerns people would prioritise the image, and obviously image does have a part to play, but

Julian: The main meaning that both of us hung onto from

you have to put your time and effort into things that are

that (phrase) was the idea that forever isn’t real, everything

actually important. As we get older the music side of things

is always changing. Half of the songs are still relationship

is the only thing we care about holding on to.

songs, and are about the ups and downs you experience from that, feeling forever turned around in that way, feeling

Max: Whenever you try to jump on a trend it always ages

completely lost to complete commitment and love. Other

poorly, so we try to commit ourselves to writing songs

songs are about being turned around in a different way, like

that are important to us. Trends and image always seem so

complete exhaustion or substance abuse, just watching the

bizarre years later, but good music will always be impactful.

world going round which isn’t so fun at the moment.

Words by Eleanor Philpot, illustration by Franz Lang

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The Murder Capital ‘When I Have Fears’ is the debut album by The Murder

Damien Tuit: I think we’ve got a lot of respect for who’s

Capital. It’s an equally stunning and harrowing exploration

stuck around from the beginning till now. It’s kind of

of hope and fear, isolation and despair, understanding and

hilarious to see how many times Mick & Sonny have caught

finding solace in others. On the day of the record’s release,

us, the dedication is unparalleled.

I joined the group in their home of Dublin, Ireland to capture the relief, exposure and ecstasy emanating from this

J: Also, we’re at the very beginning now and today feels

unquestionably vital and rewarding group of people.

like another beginning in itself and we haven’t really started. Here’s the record, we have been working on it for

For you to have started all this here together in Dublin,

a while and we’ve been doing everything we can do to

how does it feel that it has now all come full circle?

communicate what we want to.

James McGovern: Well, when we started off we were

D: It feels like now we’re a band, now we have the album

playing shows to five people in upstairs rooms with seats

we’ve proved ourselves.

and two of the audience were family, and that wasn’t so long ago.

So does this feel like chapter one now?

Gabriel Pashal Blake: This venue (The Button Factory)

D: It’s felt like a dark secret, in that people have heard

was where I saw Damien and James for the first time. I just

the songs they’ve heard and the record is obviously so

remember coming in on a dark November night, raining like

much more than just the singles, I think especially with

it is now. That was the first time I walked in to anywhere

this album. Now that’s it out, it’s completely a load off

in Dublin and straight away felt like this is something that

your mind, and people know who you are now. It’s like if

completely resonates with what I want to do artistically. It

someone knew you from your social media profile and then

was the first time I heard music or saw a performance that

they finally met you.

was so perfect. So now to be a part of that and to see how far we’ve come in the year and with all the families coming,

J: Its wild releasing it, you feel incredibly exposed. Here’s

it feels like a christening or a communion.

everything we said, everything we wrote, every single thing we put together, all our experiences over the past couple

The fact that there is a real sense of occasion is obviously

years together, and everything is just there, and it really

a reaction to how your music is relating to people.

is contained within that. It’s a very intrusive feeling but a

How have you personally dealt with the way people are

beautiful one at that.

responding to your music?

G: Someone sent me a really lovely text about the songs, J: That experience has been dripping through the ceiling for

they said “each song is a seed now for anyone else to grow

a long time, but it’s pretty wild to watch it today, with the

now whichever way they want to” and I thought that was

record here and a lot of people having waited for it for a

really beautiful.

while. It’s nice, you see a lot of people at different shows, everywhere, and you recognise them and know them.

Everyone’s reaction is incredible really. I would like a little bit more hate…

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Words by Ross Jones, illustration by Ian Moore

We’ve discussed previously about the importance of

This unity that you share not only attempts to

sharing your feelings and being able to express your

acknowledge a sense of intense loneliness but embrace

emotions. For you, is this something that has only

it as much as fight against it, you are consistently trying

become stronger recently with the way that more and

to find a better understanding of what you feel, together.

more people are relating?

For me this unity you share is what has made your music so necessary, do you feel it does the same for yourselves

J: I think we’re yet to find out man, as this all happens you

personally?

get less and less time to be creative like you used to be.

We’ve been working towards this in so many different ways

G: I needed this in my life, I needed to do everything we’ve

and then, through the most purest serendipity I’ve ever

done, I needed for us to go through all these processes to

experienced, we all got to meet each other and form this

be able to speak about it. So it would be nice for people to

band. The level of creativity right before we went into the

perceive the record we’ve created as somewhere that they

studio was pleasure, pure hedonistic pleasure. Creatively, I

can go to and not have to do the work to feel the benefits

feel like our minds are as open and as wide as they’ve ever

of it. It’s strange at the start people coming to your shows

been, and our perspective on things is broadening and our

and really investing in your band, but I finally got it today

understanding of each other and the environment we are in.

when I saw Mick at the in-store, maybe the reason why

To me, there’s a communal conscience being built all the

he or anyone comes so often is because this is the place

time in a band. The ten eyes are focusing closer and closer

they can find all those answers, feel all the emotions or

all the time.

the understanding that we tried to get to with each other, especially when they come to a show or hear the record.

G: Understanding expression, one of the biggest things

So I can understand the necessity of it ‘cause I felt it very

about the album and the process of making it was us

necessary to make.

learning how to communicate and understand each other, as well as ourselves. So I think we’re still in the afterglow

Diarmuid Brennan: Just on the unity, this is the first band

of going through that process, we do it everyday because

for me where not a day goes by where I don’t think about

we spend all our time with each other, and we’re still

the four lads, they each individually cross my mind at

continuing to communicate correctly the love and respect

some point, whether something in passing, I’m constantly

we have for each other. The process of the album was a

thinking about the band and the individuals behind it. All

huge exercise in learning how to express ourselves, but I

I think about is how we are going to go back into a room

don’t think it’s changing, I think it’s just growing.

together and be able to write, and the way I feel we will be able to write, because we think about each other so much,

J: You then always get that feeling of the grass always

and we want to get the most out of each other, and also use

being so much greener on the other side, because you are

each other as well. I mean that not in a manipulative way,

lamenting the fact that you aren’t in the studio. But then

but we know we’re going to be so constructive.

you don’t realise the way the molecules move under the microscope in how we do a show. Everyone is weaving in

D: I think to create you have to have faith in yourself or

and out of each other, everyone is moving, the synchronicity

else how can you get past those periods of drought or

of that, the way that’s changed so much over the last

whatever, you have to believe in yourself. But with a band

six months or whatever since recording, it’s so fucking

you can believe in each other and trust that everyone has

different, so that communal consciousness is becoming one

their strengths, I think that’s what’s so great about us and

of far better use than you ever thought it could. So you are

what makes it work is that we’re all very unique and the

giving and taking, your craft onstage is becoming so much

chemistry is there that just brings everyone up. It’s nice to

freer, you don’t have to think anymore like you did at the

be able to have that faith because it just makes you able to

very beginning, you’re just flowing with your friends. When

create freely when you have that faith in each other.

you’re watching a show, you want to be engrossed in it and just experiencing it, you shouldn’t notice things happening.

Now it’s the most pure freedom allowed to us in life.

17

The Murder Capital

Sports Team Sports Team are flying high, during a busy summer of

Ollie does it all! He does it all properly, he went and had DJ

writing and recording, the band have spent August preparing

lessons on the hottest day of the year. He booked himself a

for a return to Reading Festival whilst recovering from their

rehearsal studio in Reading to practice on the decks whilst

annual Margate all dayer, curated and headlined by the band

the rest of us went swimming.

themselves. The London six piece have just released a new single titled ‘Fishing’, the second from their deal with major

Last year you headlined the BBC Introducing Stage,

label, Island. As the band prepare album one, they’ve kept

anything exciting planned for this year?

the excitement high with the announcement of their biggest London headline show at The Forum, touring dates with

Well, we’ve got naval flares. A lot of flowers and a lot of

Two Door Cinema Club and Pale Waves plus a UK tour of

naval flares. We have this classic funeral garland which says

their own. I gave frontman Alex Rice a call in the midst of

‘Sports Team’ but it’s made for coffins. It’s very long. It’s

picking his Reading Festival ensemble to chat naval flares,

one of those things that looks impressive when you order

meeting the fans and finally gaining public belief that they

it but then isn’t. I sent an email to the fire manager for

can sell out a big venue.

Reading Council saying, “Hi mate, just wanted to keep you in the loop, I’ve got 20 retired offshore naval flares. I trust

We’ve caught you just before Reading and Leeds

this won’t be an issue as they’re all maritime approved. Just

festival, what does the weekend have in store...

gonna get into the crowd you know, point them upwards.

We’ve got an oily rag that we’re gonna light them with...”.

Yeah, we’ve got Reading and then Leeds, think we’ve

We got an out of office/ holiday response so he’s going to

got them the right way around. Then a DJ set at Headrow

have that when he gets back. We’ve offered him guest list

House…

haha. Looking forward to seeing his response.

We’ve got posters printed to put around Reading Festival as well and I’m pretty sure we’ve posted the wrong time on them haha.

At Truck Festival, someone was guilty of playing one of your own songs during your DJ set…

Words by Sam Ford, illustration by Ryuta Endo

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These festivals come off the back of the Margate all

You’ve announced your biggest headline to date and will

dayer. This was the second year of the bus trip and all

be playing The Forum in December. What made you

dayer which you curated as a band. How did it go?

want to play that venue?

It felt like inviting a group of mates down to get hammered

This is the thing, seems silly but it now feels like a natural

but it just so happened that those mates were in bands. All

progression. It’s got away from it being like “oh haha Sports

the fans were generally really nice as well. It could’ve felt a

Team have booked The Forum”.

bit like, “come meet your heroes” as we set it up as a ballot with the community (Sports Team Community WhatsApp

You’ve always been the band, live especially, that have

group) but it turns out we definitely aren’t their heroes

looked like you’re punching above your weight and then

haha.

pulled it off. To reflect on what you’ve said, this is the one where people are probably thinking you can actually do this. Is that a bit weird?

Was it more a case of them being far too comfortable with you?

Yeah I think that’s true. It is a bit weird, maybe we should do somewhere bigger.

Yeah exactly, coming up saying “You look like an idiot, what have you done?” and another like “that song is terrible” haha.

Do you plan to better the event next year?

Yeah I think we might try and get Dreamland. We want to try and own the town, we’ve got a song about it and we’ve done a bit of writing and recording there. You get to know 50 people pretty quick and then you start going to the Tap Room and expand it a bit. So really, you can own a little town if you’re quite fugle about it.

You have a new song out called ‘Fishing’ which you’ve been playing during your festival shows. Can you tell us a bit about it?

It’s one of those ones where it’s almost writing and recording to the live sound. I think it sounds like a lot of the american bands that we love like Iggy Pop or The Velvet Underground in terms of the music except it’s about a fishing trip on the Thames. Which I think is quite typical of what we do with a lot of them.

21

Sports Team

Swim Deep Swim Deep are back. The Birmingham (“b-town”?) rockers

O: Well, we were finally surrounded by a band who actually

have returned from the wilderness with a brand new line-

wanted to do something instead of just pottering along. So

up, album and live set that’s as trim and potent as it’s ever

that happened and everything started to come into shape and

been. Having being dropped by their label RCA, the album

we met Dave (McCracken, producer) and he just kicked us

represents a turning point for the band. Losing two founding

up the arse a thousand times, and he knew that we wanted it

members and the financial security of big-industry money

so bad, so we just worked really hard.

might have been the death-knell of a lesser band, but for Swim Deep it was a chance to make the record they’d

So, it’s been a while since ‘Mothers’, what have you been

always wanted to. We caught up with Ozzy, Cav, James and

up to since then?

new members Robbie and Tommy to find out what they’ve James Balmont: We finished ‘Mothers’ and then went to

been up to.

write almost straight away for about three months and it was Hello Swim Deep. You’re back! Why now?

just really grim. It was three months at the Fortress…

Cavan McCarthy: Why now? Why not.

O: It’s gone now but it was just this really horrible studio complex in East London. Nothing came out of that except

Ozzy Williams: There was a massive turning point about

for meeting Dave, who helped us see the bigger picture.

two years ago when Higgy and Zac decided they wanted to

And then after that we just all kind of got back to reality in

leave the band, in the space of the same month. Even though

a way. Everyone had to pick up part time jobs, and DJ sets

we knew one of them was coming, the other was a complete

every week and that also shaped the record. You know, it

surprise. Me, James and Cav just sat there in the pub and

gave us this drive to be back being a full time band.

decided it was all or nothing really.

That must have been pretty tricky to pick yourself up from...

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Words by Rob Knaggs, illustration by Leanne Rule

So what can you tell us about this new record, what can

O: It would be fucking hard, saying no to a lot of money,

people expect?

but we have it in our hands now. We were lucky to have had that kind of experience, and it would be hard to turn it down

O: We always said that we were writing a hits album, but

but I think just do it yourself if you can. We didn’t have to

I feel like that cheapens it a bit. It was just that every song

have side jobs and stuff with the first albums, but I think

had a big statement and meaning without shoving anything

now we do, we appreciate it a lot more .

down people’s throats. It’s just a very joyful record, but also a very melancholic record… it’s quite grim at points but the

What do you think of this new crop of bands coming

music is very uplifting all the way through.

through, are you fans of that post-punk thing?

C: It’s just a pop album really...

O: It happens doesn’t it, it comes back at certain points you need to find your own lane and not change your lane. More

O: (laughs) There you go, it’s just a pop album...

than ever this year I’ve noticed a lot of interesting bands coming out like Squid, even the ones I don’t like they’re

This album’s coming out on your own label right?

at least interesting, they’re not just trying to be a band that was big last year.

C: Yeah it’s coming out on our label Pop Committee O: aka Pop Com Why did you decide to go independant?

O: I mean no-one wanted to release our record. That’s the nitty gritty of it really. When we came back there were a few people interested in the band, but we didn’t want to go back onto a major record label. Cooking Vinyl are the people releasing it, and they said they’d be up for letting us release it on our own label so it was the perfect thing. You know, you feel a bit rejected and then someone comes along and believes in you...

I feel like a lot of bands would have just said “fuck it” at that point. You guys were signed to RCA, had big money deals and all this hype.

J: I think even if we had the chance to do that big label thing again we wouldn’t do it.

Swim Deep

28

Bobby Dowler, 2019, Paint and objects, 55 x 46 cm. See Bobby’s work at Sunday Art Fair in London at Galeria Alegria of Madrid’s booth. 03 - 06 October.

www.hisamitanaka.com

Speedy Wunderground is Dan Carey, Alexis Smith and

Spontaneity is a really important factor for you when

Pierre Hall. Between the three of them, they run one of the

making these records, how do you like to approach

most unique record labels in the UK, working with Black

maintaining that sense of impulsiveness?

Midi, Squid, Lazarus Kane and many more of Britain’s most exciting acts. With their singular, independent approach to

Dan: By making slightly small changes to the arrangement

recording and releasing - Speedy Wunderground are gifting

or to the order in which it’s going to go. But also by tending

their artists the opportunity to work in a liberating and

to make quite a lot of sounds in the room that have derived

wholly natural way. We sat down for dinner in Streatham,

from what they are playing but in a slightly unpredictable

across the road from their fabled one-room studio, to

way. Partly it’s because to me it sounds interesting, but it’s

discuss the label’s approach, it’s fast-rising growth and

also to slightly put everyone on edge.

how Squid have inspired them to evolve from their 7”-only release format.

Alexis: The thing as well in this set-up process, Dan may go around and add another bass amp or the guitar, and then

Speedy Wunderground sets out to capture an artist in

one of them will say that it’s amazing and it’s just how they

the midst of a fluid and naturally creative streak. With

imagined it, it’s added a whole new level to it.

the actual approach itself being quite time-restricted, it’s interesting that such pressure can deliver obviously great

Pierre Hall: It must be quite weird when you write a song,

results...

and you’re playing it all the time, to not know how it can sound. It’s a producer’s job to help artists hear their music

Dan Carey: The thing is, the reason for starting it was that

materialise in a different way.

I began to think that the thing that can destroy the creative flow is over-working and over-thinking. Usually once you’ve decided to make a record with someone, the initial bit is very free flowing and creative, the thing that can spoil it is the back and forth. So, the theory behind it is to try and create a space where we can do something that wasn’t susceptible to any of those problems. The idea of the rules, it’s not meant to be restrictive, it’s meant to be liberating you from the things you would get tangled up in before.

31

Words by Ross Jones

This year you’ve really been on the money when it comes to working with exciting new artists, black midi, Treeboy & Arc, Lazarus Kane. How do you know when an act is right for you?

Dan: Normally it’s very apparent even after listening to half of the song. We get sent so much stuff it’s ridiculous, and I’ll always listen to a couple of songs. Like Lazarus Kane, I was on the phone to Pierre as soon as I was half way through it, the songs were good.

Pierre: It’s quite random as well, there’s certainly an element of trust involved. I’m very much trying to seek out the new coolest things, while Dan is meeting this person randomly through this person, like Sinead O Brien. I didn’t know who she was and Dan liked it, and now it’s my second favourite that we’ve done.

Alexis: The thing I find quite interesting as well is, I guess because you are a producer, straight away you’ll go, “this needs to happen in the chorus”, straight away you’ve got a vision for it which wouldn’t necessarily be true if it was sent to any other label with an A&R.

You are now venturing into your first non-single release with Squid’s debut EP, what was it about them and their music that made you want to break from the commandments you set for the label?

Pierre: Part of it for me is knowing that, from working with all these labels that I work with, I love them don’t get me wrong, but if you’d told me five years ago I’d be working with Bella union, DFA, if you thought these organisations are massive and overarching, that’s not the way it is, they are just music fans, like I am, like Dan is, like Alexis is.

From my point of view, we can do it as well as any anyone else.

Dan: Also, with Squid, it’s clear they’ve got a lot more to give than what can be contained into singles format. I think something like ‘Savage’, you couldn’t put that out as a single, but it has to be put out, ‘cause it’s amazing.

32

Girl Band While London continues to drip feed its regular apathy

Did recording at Ballintubbert House have an effect on

upon us, Dublin four-piece and Irish noise-rock trailblazers,

your sound?

Girl Band, are set to release probably the most dynamic, masterful and limitless record we’ve heard in recent years.

Dan: Definitely. We built a studio in there, basically had

Shortly after signing to Rough Trade in 2014, the band

the kitchen beside the control room. We recorded the

released their ‘Early Years’ EP leading with ‘Lawman’,

drums on the landing and also down in this big stone

an eerie, thumping track in which we hear their now

basement which is how we got that hollow, echoing sound

indistinguishable sound in utero. Following a four year

formed. So the physical space has been really useful for

hiatus, which left fans and critics alike on tenterhooks,

literally shaping the sound of the songs, especially with

comes Girl Band’s 2nd studio album, ‘The Talkies’.

the instruments, rather than just trying to record them in a box. And recording guitars down there, you can literally

Just as much is expressed in Dara Kiely’s yowls, in his

place them elsewhere in the room and feel their distance

screams and heavy breathing as in the words themselves as

or displacement in the recordings, this effect occurs

this record knowingly deals with the phenomenon of sound,

organically, rather than by twisting a knob on a desk.

the artistic blast upon the senses as artistic communication becomes sensory rather than cognitive. Lyrically,

You’re trailblazers of Irish alternative music, Fontaines

Dara drops pronouns (he/she/us/them) and language is

D.C., Just Mustard, and The Murder Capital all single

decontextualized, creating new forms of meaning and

you out as a key influence, have you felt the effects of

emotion. By erasing this integral part of learned language it

that?

becomes removed from its known axis, allowing it to rock seamlessly between the absurd and the everyday.

There have always been bands like that in Ireland, maybe not for a long time, but they have been here. I guess we

Recorded in November 2018 at Ballintubbert House,

just managed to get our music out of the country. Too many

Ireland, who’s alien construction and corridors help to

great bands don’t get to leave Ireland. One of the biggest

navigate Girl Band’s cataclysmic sound within a world

influences for us was a band called Turning Down Sex.

of its own as this enigmatic manor becomes Girl Band’s

When we saw them live in the early days we were like-

sonic playground. And the sound of the record mirrors the

“woah! Songs can do that!?” So yeah, there’s always been

distorted realism of Dara’s lyrics: to take life’s monotony

those groups, but I guess the indie stuff similar to what was

and bring it into the realm of the absurd simply by exposing

going on in the UK was getting most of the attention.

it; to look at the everyday, then to look at it again, and again, and again, until it becomes swollen and distorted to the point of surrealism. ‘The Talkies’ is continuously breathing, undergoing continual metamorphosis: the moaning and sawing guitars, the atonal blanket of sound, the abstractive lyrical repetition, chugging snare and ascending/descending snakes and ladders noise-rock guitars deliver something that is insatiable to the ears yet remains so distinctively Girl Band.

33

Words by Georgie Jesson, illustration by Joe Watson-Price

Your debut record, ‘Holding Hands With Jamie’, was

Dara, you’ve set yourself creative limits lyrically in

pretty revolutionary, it represented a huge leap for

order to expand your surrealist environment, were you

guitar music, what were the expectations you put on this

ever worried about it sounding prescribed?

record?

Lyrically, I dropped all pronouns, I, you, he, she, they, them.

Alan: With the first record, we just thought, “ok, all these

I was aware that those situations were full on, (excessive)-

songs put together makes sense and that makes a record”

‘I’ was grandiose, ‘he/she’ would be sexist, ‘us/them’ would

but with the second album we really went in to make a

be racist, so from the lyrical side of the album, I thought if I

record. As for the expectation, I feel like the expectation is

capped those pronouns, it would give me this new world to

still on ourselves- it’s not easier, but it seemed a lot more

focus in on. I just wanted to see if it could still be emotive.

logical to do it ourselves- we recorded with the same people

I’d never heard anything like that before, and suddenly I

as the last. The songs often refer to each other, the whole

really began to notice it everywhere. I was listening to Bob

album itself is self-referential, so it made sense to keep it

Dylan, and I thought “he said ‘I’ there, that’s so tacky”. I

contained.

mean, Bob Dylan is a genius, he’s one of the best lyricists ever, and I’m just like “sell out! Its been done, Bob!”.

Your sound is anarchic, difficult to define, but the way tracks bleed into another gives the illusion of structure,

Did the surrealist elements from the first album carry

how did you go about constructing ‘The Talkies’?

over?

Dan: We weren’t really writing together as much anymore

Sort of, because I was restricted to the surroundings that

so we were more into demo-ing and writing down parts

I’d put on myself. I was just trying to hone in on this new

then cutting them up, putting them in the computer and

world that would still be cohesive to the last one. What I did

kind of reconfiguring them that way. A lot of the time when

lyrically in the first album is something that I also wanted

we were arranging it and then we’d go to demo it live just

to do with the second, document a part of my life to some

wouldn’t work, so then we would just take one of the bass

degree...so there’s a bit where: when you get examined by a

elements of it and then rebuild the tune again around that, -

doctor, they say to you “apple, penny, table” and you have

and normally you would have never actually arrived at that

a conversation and they ask you to repeat those three words

kind of thing on your own if you’d just shown up and got

again later. So the beginning of ‘Going Norway’ opens up

going.

with ‘apple, penny, table’ and ends with it. Those lyrical restrictions were to create a world, and it took me a long

And how do you feel about transferring this to the live

time, and I’m happy with the world they’re in now.

shows?

Adam: Not playing live for 2 or so years gave us the headspace to make this album in such a way. We didn’t even really think about how we were going to do it live.

Physically, I would have needed to move around the kit and stuff to match the recordings. Eventually, we did learn how to play it live, but whilst recording we didn’t think about that kind of consistency, if I thought, on record, the drums would sound better if I played them differently or moved the kit around, I would allow myself to do that.

35

Girl Band

www.jerkcurb.com

Katy J Pearson Can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?

I’m Katy J Pearson, I’m from Bristol and it’s a kind of 70’s tinged contemporary take on classic pop.

What’s special about where you’re from? Has it inspired your music?

Definitely - Bristol is a peaceful city with a wonderful music scene. It’s superb to be a part of, as everyone in the movement seems to be growing together. Plus it’s very close to my hometown of Stroud and sea and nature, and it’s great.

Sinead O’Brien Can you tell us the story behind one of your songs?

‘TAKING ON TIME’ my latest release on Speedy

High-Vis

Wunderground is a lyrical examination of my positioning in the world. I reflect myself onto different surfaces and paint

We’re called High Vis and we play a sort of aggressive post

the results. The ‘walled city’ I speak about is Limerick,

punk. We’re made up of a bunch of misfits with a shared

where I grew up. I find this idea of the walls we make

love of bands like The Sound, The Chameleons and early

(physical and otherwise) fascinating. Frames, ways of

Joy Division.

seeing and perspective as so biased - in fact we can never really be unbiased. That’s what gives everyone a particular

Can you tell us something that you collectively hate?

and unique way of seeing; their own ‘frame’. Walls can be a defense, they can also be a division between order and

The limits placed on what defines a sound. We’re definitely

chaos. And what do gates mean when the walls fall down?

more interested in doing what we want rather than

Walls are the definite limits, somewhere to draw the line

conforming to a post-punk aesthetic. That’s why one song

and work backwards from. The track weaves in and around

might sound like Youth of Today and the next like the Stone

these themes in a rather cyclical nature ending up where we

Roses. We’re all hyperactive and listen to a lot of different

started out only different. It’s made to go on a loop! Maybe

things, so week-in week-out the influences are going to

it’s different every time it plays out.

change and that doesn’t change us as a band.

Saint Jude

Powerplant

Yoo I’m Jude Woodhead, from Forest Hill in South

We are Powerplant - a synth-punk operation. We hail

London. I make a lot of different kinds of music - I release

from around the isle and one of us is Ukrainian. Music we

electronica tracks under my own name, and I’ve just started

produce sizzles with synthesizers, giddy bass and barely

a new project called Saint Jude which is going to be more

cohesive lyrics.

focused on bringing together the electronic stuff with lyric Can you tell us something that you collectively really

songs I’ve been writing.

love?

What’s special about where you’re from? Has it inspired your music?

Kasteel Rouge :)

My area’s far enough from central to have escaped the worst

Can you tell us something that you collectively hate?

of gentrification so far, it’s still got the weird interesting inner London things that are kinda getting pushed out of

When your mom won’t leave your room when you are

more central neighbourhoods.

listening to podcasts.

I couldn’t really say what effect it’s had on my music - I think it definitely has, because there’s a real sound and aesthetic to the music from South East London that for ages I kinda tried to resist but I’ve now kinda embraced more.

Strawberry Guy Can you tell us the story behind one of your songs?

‘Mrs Magic’ is a bit of a strange one.. most people might

Lazarus Kane

expect it to be some kind of sensual song or something along those lines but it’s actually about a time trying magic

My name is Lazarus Kane, I’m from the United States of

mushrooms from Rotterdam. I was expecting something

America. I make music with old synthesisers and drum

really amazing, hence the lyric ‘please give me one last

machines. Some people call it popular music, other folks

show’. I guess I expected a kind of show from taking them

don’t really know what to call it. I’d probably call it luxury

whereas instead they just made my mind turn against me

lounge music.

and I didn’t feel comfortable in my own home.. hence me wondering ‘I don’t know, I don’t know, what I’m doing

Can you tell us the story behind one of your songs?

here’. I certainly don’t condone taking magic mushrooms at all, especially after feeling like that! Haha.

I have a song called ‘Nothing More, Nothing Less’ which is a song about writing songs. It’s a sort of Russian doll situation.

What can we be excited for (from you) over the next 12 months?

I believe that at least one of my recordings will become available before the end of the year of our lord two thousand and nineteen, but I’m not sure how much I can say. My management are desperate not to have another slip and slide like ’96, but we won’t talk about that.

Illustration by REN

38

Dry Cleaning Dry Cleaning formed in 2017 after their now lead singer,

It’s possible that what we meant by this is that we feel more

Florence Shaw, laughed at the rest of the band for even

influenced by American post punk bands than by British

suggesting such a thing. This is telling foresight for

or European. We’re big fans of the bands that came out

what has now become a truly sardonic story as the band

of Athens in the 80s - REM, B52s, Pylon - who have all

release their debut EP, ‘Sweet Princess’. A nervy, wry and

demonstrated over the years where these genres can overlap.

fastidious 6 track record with a tongue firmly in cheek, ‘Sweet Princess’ is both personal and impersonal in equal

Is there an artist or a piece of art which has moved

measure; you can expect to hear eloquent odes to Meghan

you to a point where you have not felt the same after

Markle alongside the words “have you ever spat cum on the

consuming their work?

carpet of a travelodge?”. Dry Cleaning are a masterclass in the swinging pendulum of consumerist culture in 2019,

I saw the Frida Kahlo show last year at the V&A and I

collecting riffs, anecdotes and opinions with an ease maybe

found myself moved by the inclusion of her cosmetics in the

even they couldn’t have predicted.

exhibition - old nail polish bottles and powder compacts.

They were displayed as objects of interest in themselves.

With the release of your debut EP and a sold out debut

I immediately realised I’d never seen the beauty products

headline, it’s an exciting time to be in Dry Cleaning.

belonging to a female artist acknowledged as an important

Have your hopes or expectations shifted at all as a

context to their identity and their work before. It caught me

result?

off guard and straight away I felt I could cry! So I suppose I was moved by the way objects and artworks had been

Our expectations are shifting daily at the moment. It’s not

placed next to each other. It made me realise something.

very long ago we were rehearsing in Lewis’s parents garage and trying to scrape the money together to self-release a

You’ve released the EP via cassette tape. Is the physical

tape. The last few weeks we’ve been on tour around the UK

format something that is important to you as a band?

and it’s been great to see so many people at the shows and hear how passionate people have been about the music, it’s

It’s always nice to have something tangible when you have

pretty unreal.

a release coming out, and it’s really important to so many of the people we meet after shows. We had the opportunity to

In an earlier interview together, you mentioned that you

do the tape and thought it would be nice to see it through as

combine Post-Punk and Americana. Combining these

that’s what we had planned originally. We have a second EP

genres throws away any potential of a blueprint, but are

coming out in October and we’re aiming to release that and

there any songs that you mutually appreciate from both

‘Sweet Princess’ back to back on a 12”.

sides of the coin?

What can we expect from you over the next 12 months?

Genres are tricky and it’s possible we don’t do either of these things, never mind combine them! Between us we chat

EP2 in October as well as some more shows. Hopefully

about this stuff quite a lot, but the meanings are very broad

we can make it to SXSW next March and get some more

and the definitions are something we’re constantly trying to

festival shows. At some point, an album!

refine and understand more.

Words by Harley Cassidy, illustration by Naso Sasaki

40

Williams Green, Glastonbury Festival. A place to get

A prized slot at William’s Green is a nod to a good year,

excited about the state of guitar music. The small tent on

and if you’ve only just begun, a tip for a great year ahead.

the village green was home to some of the most exciting

A great performance may even edge you closer to the

bands in the UK and beyond in 2019. Fontaines D.C. played

infamous Park Stage and a slot on the BBC, ker-ching! Not

one of their four Glastonbury sets there and were joined by

only was the modest tent a place to gain respite from the

the likes of Amyl and the Sniffers, Sunflower Bean, Sports

sweltering heat, it was somewhere for successful bands

Team, black midi, Squid, Gently Tender and more.

to return, with the likes of shame, Yak and The Big Moon bringing hits to a festival equivalent of an underplay. If you thought it was hot outside, it’s likely what was going on inside carried more heat!

35

Girl Band

Art’s Cool

You’ve been an influential figure within the development of the new staple venue and record store, Elsewhere. It

Born out of small town boredom in 2013, Art’s Cool has

also seems to be a home for Art’s Cool. What was your

become a vital cog within the alternative realm of Margate.

role in that process and why was Elsewhere vital for the

Founder, Sammy Clarke developed a local reputation by

area and Art’s Cool?

hosting conventional early shows for the likes of Slaves as well as less conventional events at disused warehouses and

With 6 years worth of experience in booking/promoting

the local bowling alley. Art’s Cool have always looked to

shows and having accumulated a wealth of music industry

move forwards, but also move differently. We caught up

contacts on a local and national scale, I naturally fell into

with Sammy to find out how it all began and what we can

becoming the venue’s programmer and PR. As a promoter

expect in the future.

Art’s Cool began to outgrow the tiny confines of the Tom Thumb Theatre and we were beginning to hit a bit of a glass

Sammy, you’re the founder of Art’s Cool, can you tell us

ceiling with regards to the scale of the artists that I was

a little about how it all began and your intentions?

able to book there. So helping to open up a 150 capacity venue in Margate became integral to the future of Art’s

Art’s Cool came into existence as a necessary means to

Cool and it’s ambitions in remaining a part of a band or

bring something that I felt was lacking in Margate in

artists journey once they’d gone beyond selling out the Tom

2013. So one of the first things that I did was approach

Thumb Theatre.

Laurie Vincent (guitarist from Slaves) he’s also a brilliant illustrator and I wanted him to create a logo for the brand.

As someone who has always followed emerging bands

It wasn’t until I got chatting to Laurie during his creative

from afar, you must’ve been craving a scene to land on

process that I realised that he actually played in a band and

your doorstep at some stage. Is the music scene in Kent

so I ended up getting a new logo AND the headline band for

healthy and what have you done locally to try and make

our first night in one fell swoop! The night consisted of a

it a breeding ground for alternative artists and bands?

night market that I had curated with friends who were either makers or vintage shop owners, DJs, projections and bands.

Going back to the FOMO, cultivating what felt like an

The amount of people involved in the event created the

actual music scene in Margate was and still is a prime

feeling of being a part of community from the get go and

motivation for Art’s Cool. The increase in live music

the show was packed out.

coming to the area has increased exponentially and as a result so too has the amount of bands and musicians that

Art’s Cool operates across Margate, what was missing

now call Margate and wider areas of Kent their home. I

from the area for you to decide that Art’s Cool was

believe the music scene in Kent to be healthier than it has

necessary?

ever been. At least in my memory.

Apart from our local indie club night, there wasn’t anything

What does the future hold for Art’s Cool, what can we be

else to do on a weekend. As much as I appreciated that

excited for?

this night united me with the people that had similar music tastes to mine i.e indie/alternative music from the previous

We’re looking to expand our artist development roster with

5 decades, it started to feel a bit like groundhog day.

the possibility of a new record label on the horizon too.

I’ve never felt more enthusiastic about, Margate, new music

It’s patrons just weren’t really interested in new music and

and the humans that make it. I’m always constantly inspired

I wanted to dance, jump and shout to the new music that I

by all of the other people doing amazing work in their own

was listening to and reading about being created in the rest

respective towns and cities too.

of the country. I felt a bit isolated from the fun and I was getting some serious FOMO before I even knew what that acronym stood for!

Art’s Cool

44

A monthly showcase for Poetry/ Spoken word and acoustic music.

10 minutes per act.

M/C Ray Roughler Jones and m/d Toby Andersen hope to bring the best range of talent to the upstairs room at The Italian Job on All Saints Rd London W11 1HE

Artists

Josh Whettingsteel Aaron Elvis Jupin

Stefanie RĂśhnisch

Editors Sam Ford

Josh Whettingsteel

Writers Dan Pare

Elly Watson

Eleanor Philpot Ross Jones Sam Ford

Rob Knaggs

Georgie Jesson

Harley Cassidy

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Email

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NĂşria Just Elliot Fox

Franz Lang Ian Moore

Ryuta Endo

Leanne Rule

Bobby Dowler

Hisami Tanaka

Joe Watson-Price Jerkcurb REN

Naso Sasaki

Photos for Collage Ross Jones

Jono White

Charles Moriarty Holly Whitaker Bands On Film

Art Direction

www.joshwhettingsteel.com

Special Thanks Sam Craven Cal McRae Jamie Ford Ross Jones

Cameron West