Upset is a new rock mag. Hello. This month in Upset Riot!
4. DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL 2015 12. NO DEVOTION 13. CANDY HEARTS 16. ENTER SHIKARI 17. PVRIS 18. DON BROCO 19. TELLISON 20. TWENTY ONE PILOTS 23. NECK DEEP 24. DESAPARECIDOS 26. BRAWLERS
Features
28. MOOSE BLOOD 30. BULLY 32. BLACK PEAKS 34. MILK TEETH 36. WOAHNOWS 37. CREEPER 38. ALLUSONDRUGS 39. CASSELS 40. REFUSED 46. ROLO TOMASSI 48. FRANK IERO
Rated
52. ALBUM REVIEWS 58. LIVE REVIEWS
upsetmagazine.com Editorial: editorial@upsetmagazine.com Stockist enquiries: stockists@upsetmagazine.com Advertising: ads@upsetmagazine.com This month’s edition of Upset is brought to you by... Ali Shutler, Andy Ritchie, Ben Tipple, Dan Richards, Emma Swann, Heather McDaid, Jessica Bridgeman, Louise Mason, Ryan De Freitas, Sarah Louise Bennett, Sarah Jamieson, Shiona Walker, Stephen Ackroyd, Tom Connick, Viki Sinden 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 Upset. 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 Upset holds no responsibility.The opinions of the contributors do not necessarily bear a relation to those of Upset or its staff and we disclaim liability for those impressions. Distributed nationally. 3
Riot! THE LOWDOWN ON EVERYTHING HAPPENING IN ROCK.
On The Download
Rock’s old guard rubs shoulders with future stars at Download 2015 and we were there for every minute. Words: ALI SHUTLER. Photos: SARAH LOUISE BENNETT
W
ith its carefully curated lineup branching across all sections of loud noises, the spiritual home of rock threw open its doors to veterans, newcomers and those floating in the middle for the 2015 edition of Download Festival. Blending nostalgia, vitality and bristling excitement throughout the long weekend, Download remains both showcase and rite of passage. As bands make either opening statements or repeated promises, Donington embraces them all.
Friday 14:58: God Damn let it burn. “This is fucking beautiful, you’re fucking beautiful,” shouts Thom Edward before God Damn drop into their set. Air raid sirens, howling screams and an airborne drum stick, the Wolverhampton duo aren’t making their Donington debut a subtle one, but this is Download Festival.
The much rumoured hot weather has put in an appearance – a sunnier performance than normal – and half the crowd are proudly wearing Slipknot tees, masks and boiler suits ahead of their return this evening. That crowd is currently spilling out of Jake’s Stage as the two piece take the chemical spark that zips through debut album ‘Vultures’ and toss it into a pile of sun-bleached notes of garage rock. Building tension before crashing down in a swirl of thrash and refrain, God Damn are on fire. 15:35: Gnarwolves 1 - 0 Download. If last year’s triumph on the Reading & Leeds Main Stage belonged to everyone present, today’s victorious bounce is wholly Gnarwolves‘. Commanding the space with a smile and a laugh, the Brighton three-piece are beginning to look at ease with an ocean of people before then. Thom Weeks is playing it cool though, “Honestly, honestly, honestly, this is so cool,” he beams. Starting small, Gnarwolves are presented
with isolated outbreaks of physical activity but by the roaring crunch of ‘Melody Has Big Plans’, there’s chaos throughout. The rag tag band have never sounded more together as the scratched frustration of ‘Smoking Kills’ unites in vocal harmony. Today is a clenched fist reminder of Gnarwolves’ brilliance. “You should stay here and watch Defeater,” suggests
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19:43: Baby! Metal! Dragon! Force! DragonForce, that technically proficient yet hyper fun band credited with the air-guitar revival, are happily tearing through their set when Babymetal decide to join the party. Entertaining? You bet. DragonForce’s skill merrily dances between madcap and genius. “This song is about blood, vampires and darkness,” they explain at one point before leaping into an electric ‘Symphony of the Night’. Carrying themselves with such joy, it’s never anything but a pleasure to witness. Joining with Babymetal may seem strange but that message of entertainment through music and fantastical storytelling is not only empowering, but shared. Running onto the stage to create Baby Dragon Metal Force, the super group lean into a playful rendition of ‘Gimme Chocolate’ that sends waves of excitement through the overflowing tent. They came, they conquered then Babymetal are off, smiling and waving at the biggest reaction of the weekend yet. It’s left to Dragonforce to follow that. There’s only one song for it; the epic ‘Through The Fire And The Flames’ ensures that not a single person escapes without a grin.
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Charlie Piper after Thom’s attempt at Slipknot karaoke fails to take off, once again proving the band’s good taste. 16:34: Defeater love us. Awwww. Earlier this year Defeater signed to Epitaph Records, leaving their home on Bridge Nine after six years. Any doubts about changes for the worst are crushed within the first blistering minutes of today. Onwards and upwards. Derek Archambault prowls the front of the stage, screaming tales from the band’s creative narrative. Laced with upright passion and resonating en masse, these are more than simple stories. Edging ever closer, the crowd are drawn in by the steely wall of noise that the vocals lean against. There’s delicate poetry scratched into the brickwork and an intense honesty in the lyrics. Caleb ‘Beartooth’ Shomo tears onto the stage for a stunning ‘Dear Father’, adding one final layer to the gutwrenching allure. “We’ve been coming to this beautiful country for the last 6 years. In all honesty, in all sincerity, we love playing England,” Derek admits as his voice cracks. With the crowd lingering as the band make their exit, the feeling’s mutual. 18:21: Allusondrugs charm Download. Through their scuzzy emo pleas to their gnarled punk demands, Allusondrugs cart
around the stage like a temperamental, fun-loving whirlwind. It’s carnage from the off but beyond the raucous free-for-all that possesses the Leeds rabble, there lies a glint of determination. That shining secret is the heart of their set and holds the disparate styles, the wild limbs and the crowd’s gaze for the duration. Wildly fun with a collared prowess, Allusondrugs
Interview
Derek Archambault, Defeater “I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about Download. Performing is never the easiest part of being in a band but it’s the most fun, I still get nervous especially with festivals. The barrier, the bigger crowd and the loud static surrounding noise is strange and makes everything feel a little disconnected, but we’ve played some festivals where it feels like we have the attention of everyone in the tent and that’s amazing. If anyone’s paying attention at all, then that’s great.You can’t really ask for anything more.”
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shine with rugged charm. 23:06: Slipknot. The heavy, metal musical. Slipknot return to Donington Park and they’ve brought the forward motion of 2014’s ‘.5 The Gray Chapter’ with them. They’re a band rejuvenated as ‘Killpop’ and ‘The Devil in I’ stand shoulder to shoulder with generational anthems, bringing forth a powerfully relevant set. No mean feat for an act rapidly approaching their 20th anniversary. Theatrical and over the top, Slipknot’s Heavy Metal Musical is an orchestrated flourish of the power of music. Devils heads, spinning drums and members skipping about the stage; it would be all too easy for this to feel cheap. However Corey Taylor, masked MC extraordinaire, conducts the night with flawless precision. His vocals wrenched and poetic, his goodwill sincere (“Ladies and gentleman, Slipknot are home.”) The crowd adore this attentive figurehead, bad jokes aside (“I’ve got a name change for Andrew Copping, Downpour 2015.) ‘Psychosocial’ and ‘Duality’ turn the thrashing masses into a fraught choir and ‘Spit It Out’ retains
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still raining, let’s say no more about it. Playing the same slot as they did in 2003, the band claim they’ve come full circle but that doesn’t do their journey justice. With a back catalogue threaded through the past fourteen years to delve into, Funeral For A Friend have retained a powerful relevance. From the forward thinking ‘1%’ to the uniting hammer of ‘Roses For The Dead’, today is about the present.
Interview
Mikey Chapman, Mallory Knox
The band sound incredible and, with something to say, their set is a friendly nudge that they remain a band to be reckoned with. Their no frills, all thrills approach is underlined with sincere passion. “Somebody’s got to have faith,” Matthew says before the shimmering crunch of ‘The End of Nothing’, but Funeral For A Friend’s has never wavered.
its crouch down and jump mastery.
21:17: Fightstar deliver the goods. The Maverick Stage hasn’t had time to recover from Baby Metal meets Dragonforce before Fightstar strut out and pull the crowd under their spell. Assured and jagged, there’s a crackle about the stage as the four piece rattle through a set of their greatest hits. The band are pristine yet off-kilter as melody and snarls circle one another in fraught glory. Charlie Simpson is polite (asking the crowd “How are the dog tags working out for you? Any issues? Got enough to eat?”), yet commanding. His enthusiasm knows no ends, and his reward is a crowd in full lungs.
16:34: Mallory Knox go out to prove a point. Throwing themselves into their first appearance on the Download Main Stage, Mallory Knox act like they’ve got something to prove.
Having grown into a forceful live presence, the Cambridge fivesome are constantly on the move. Whether jumping about the stage or flipping between the soar of Tonight is their first headline slot at the ‘Lighthouse’ and the festival and it just feels right. Fightstar gloom of ‘Ghost In aren’t only a band reuniting, they’re a The Mirror’, Mallory family reconnecting. A message that’s Knox hook the crowd underlined as Charlie’s brother, William, at every turn. Mikey joins them. With the band launching the Chapman, leading the crowd over cliff, there’s an exhilarating charge upwards, is a danger that marks tonight, and joy to behold. Spinning Fightstar’s return, as a defiant win. about the space before slipping into flawless vocals, he is a commanding frontman. “Let’s make this a day 12:48: Funeral For A Friend get... to remember,” he suggests before ‘Getaway”s erm... moist? inspired crowd echo. Today marks the ten-year anniversary of ‘Hours’, Funeral For A Friend‘s second album, Carefree fist-pumping makes way for the but that doesn’t mean the South Wales mob inspirational anarchy of ‘Bury Your Head’ are looking back. before the demand of “Chase your dreams and make them a reality,” leads into ‘Shout At “Let’s continue to get a little more moist,” The Moon’. “Smile Download,” Mikey offers. offers vocalist Matthew Davies-Kreye.Yes it’s How can we refuse? For Slipknot’s diehard maggots, their band at Download is a homecoming. For the siblings perched on their parents’ shoulders, matching boiler suits under ponchos, and the countless others viewing this community for the first time – tonight is an open door into a world that will define them.
Saturday
“I couldn’t be more happy with how today went,” starts Mikey. “I’m feeling very blessed right now.” “There’s always a degree of nerves, but over the years you learn how to drop that into the background. If I was to address those nerves, it wouldn’t do a lot for me. It’s better to be proactive, professional and stuff them under the carpet. It’s like skiing or parachute jumping, it’s terrifying but that’s the appeal of it.” He may have learnt how to handle his nerves but Mikey is still in awe of his position. “I fuck up on stage because I forget I’m playing,” he laughs. “I just take stock of where I am and what I’m doing.You have to snap out of it quickly, otherwise I get too mushy or I miss a cue. It’s a real experience and you have to take stock. If people just take it for what it is, then they’re doing it fucking wrong.You’ve got to appreciate this.”
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18:53: Creeper. Believe the hype. There’s been a lot of talk about Creeper this week but before anyone gets the chance to mention hype, Creeper strut onto Download’s Jake’s Stage and prove why they’re more than worthy of any and all attention. With emblems adorned to jackets and screens, Creeper are a band with a vision. If that vision includes a tent full of excited people giving their all, it’s coming true. Opening with ‘We Had A Pact’ and ‘Gloom’, it’s wonderful business as usual. The Southampton crew know when to square up and when to stand down. Taking pause for moments to sink in before tumbling into the next act, Creeper are a dramatic presence. New song ‘The Honeymoon Suite’ and recently released ‘Lie Awake’ expose another level of brilliance from the band. The last drabs of self-doubt fall away and the real Creeper, all grand theatrics and soul grabbing resonance, emerge unshackled. As the band tear, twirl, and in Will’s case leap from stage to barrier to reinforce a connection, there’s a sense that Creeper’s tale of grand romance and grander unity is only in its 8 upsetmagazine.com
opening throes. 19:17: Northlane take light. All eyes are on Northlane as they make their return to the UK with new vocalist Marcus Bridge, but there’s no sign of hesitant nerves; they relish the attention. The band jostle about the stage, comfortable with one another and the new shape of the band after only seven months together, quickly getting the audience up to speed. Songs new and old bounce with a youthful desire to explore and the band, in playful spirits, allow every turn to shine. Harmony circles deliberate refrain before it all gets too much and Northlane strike with deadly precision. There’s a hint of sludge about new single ‘Obelisk’ but under the dynamic watch of Marcus, the melodic swipes take flight. 19:50: Rise Against peak. Rise Against have been in this game a long time, but today is their most recent peak. Reflecting the struggles of the world with articulate growls and emotional resonance, they achieve something few bands manage.
That beautiful marriage of punk and poetry allows Rise Against the freedom to soar while still giving them a face to face connection. Empowering, vital and sounding absolutely massive, the Illinois band bask in their message, but there’s a simple desire
Party hard “If we could collaborate with anyone on the bill, it would probably be Andrew W.K., because let’s face it, Welsh people like to party. It’s in their blood. I think it would be a pretty crazy mash up, it would be pretty fun; I would actually like to see that happen!” - Matt Davies-Kreye, Funeral for a Friend
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Interview
Josh Smith, Northlane
to create community through music too. With frontman Tim McIlrath in a playful mood (“Where are the dancers in the crowd?”) he holds the Main Stage field in the palm of his hand.
“We don’t know what to expect coming over here and doing these festivals for the first time, we’ve never done it before but they’ve been great. There was a lot of pressure on us to do well because of all the industry people there and Download is a festival we’ve always wanted to play. We were a little bit nervous before we went out there, but once the show started, we had a great time. We feel like we’re winning people as the set continues onwards, which is the outcome we want. “
20:15: Roam prove pop punk can work at Download. Roam were worried about how their sugary pop-punk would go down with the Download crowd. With people struggling to get into the tent, those fears were totally unfounded. On a high, the Eastbourne gang bound around the stage, looking like they’re on top of the world. Their straight to the bone pop-punk is predictably infectious, but there’s surprising charm to their beaming smiles and relentless attack. As their set progresses, as does the experimentation with what they’re capable of. As they come to a jubilant finish they still can’t find a ceiling. 21:08: When it’s time to party... The prime minister of partying, Andrew W.K. brought the uhh… party to Saturday night of Download. It was everything you’d hope for and more. Bounding around the stage like a possessed gym instructor, Andrew W.K. cares about two things, partying and… erm… partying some more. Pounding beats and unrelenting charisma, he turns Download into a feel-good rave. Beyond the ‘getting wasted’ mantra, there’s a bigger more important message of acceptance and feeling good. “Tonight is the start of a brand new life and things are going to be better. We’re going to grasp it and live with it for the rest of our lives,” he promises before launching into an explosive ‘Party Hard’. Whether they know it or not, those words will stick with the crowd through the hangovers of tomorrow. and beyond.
22:14: Muse. Download. Done. Freed from the shackles of concept, Muse show off just what ‘Drones’ can do. No, not kill you. Their new album has, against all the odds, breathed new life into the band’s already phenomenal live show. From the opening one-two of ‘Psycho’ and ‘The Handler’, Muse find the big red button marked ‘heavy’ and push it with both palms. From the gunshot drums to the roar of the guitar, this is the most vicious they have ever sounded. They know Download Festival is one of the few challenges left to overcome – there are crosshairs on the screen for a reason – so they pull out all the stops to conquer it. And they do so in triumphant fashion.’Mercy’ and ‘Reapers’ stand tall like off-kilter cousins to the familiar snap of the hits, while a devastating trio of ‘Micro Cuts’, ‘Dead Star’ and ‘Citizen Erased’, with a hunk of ‘Agitated’ for good measure, act as a two-fingered salute to all who doubted their rock credentials. Muse have headlined festivals around the world, and for good reason. They know exactly what a crowd wants and, despite the naysayers (and Matt falling over within the first few minutes – “let’s hear it for Dave Grohl”) tonight at Donington is no different. As the explosive conclusion of ‘Knights Of Cydonia’, all fireworks and flames, rings out, Muse can tick Download from the ever shrinking list. ‘Drones’ finally has a place within the Muse universe. 9
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“And when you open your eyes, our career will have completely disappeared! Ta-da! “
Interview
Thom Edward, God Damn
Sunday 13:16: Sunday brunch with Beasts. Sunday by name, Sunday by nature, for the most part anyway. We’ve just about recovered from Muse’s return to form last night, and we’re very excited about waving Download off with FIDLAR tonight. There’s still time for brunch, but that doesn’t stop Beasts kicking up a storm on Jake’s Stage. “I fucking love festivals, it’s a coming together of like-minded people and that’s important. Our set was surprisingly good. Plenty of God Damn t-shirts about, which was nice. We were just excited. These festivals, you’re on and off so quickly and you don’t have a soundcheck, you’ve just got to check everything works, turns on and you go. You’re flapping about just getting your instruments sorted and before you know it, it’s over and you’ve had a wicked time. The only thing that scares me about some festivals is that they’ve become quite male chauvinistic, predatory. That I don’t like, that lads, lads, lads thing. That’s why I stopped going to big festivals when I was younger, and I haven’t been to a big festival in a long time as a punter because of that. But I haven’t felt that here today.”
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Striding about like they own the place, the band refuse to let the ceremony of the occasion interrupt their unrelenting desert march. Stomping between howling guitar and moody groove, Beasts’ travels through the sparse and the dark are knowing. ‘Crying Blood’ is a slower stroll, allowing the doubled up vocals to sink deeper while the rich, closing yell of ‘Annie’ is a deft collision of hook and abandon. 14:59: Code Orange reign. “Bring it in, bring it in,” demand Code Orange at the curtain drop of their set. Winding the audience tighter, the band explode and the crowd follows suit. Setting off a chain reaction, they crash from destruction to anarchy, building up jagged walls of noise for
15:56: The Darkness are still ridiculous. There’s a time and a place for The Darkness‘ flamboyance, and mid afternoon at a festival, surrounded by strangers screaming about believing in love, is almost certainly it. Taking to The Maverick Stage the band are in fine, ludicrous form as they thread new with nostalgia under pointed enthusiasm. Justin Hawkins hasn’t mellowed with age and neither have his fashion choices. Growing into his position as the English dandy of rock, his twirling pantomime performance is charming, colourful and silly. As the band frolic about the stage, dancing through their jukebox back catalogue, the crowd wear out the remaining scraps of voice. It may be the worst kept secret of the weekend with swathes of people unable to get near the tent, but The Darkness still have it in them to bring the best of fun live.
the audience to climb as they go. Ominous moments of calm and an undeniable sway of rhythm makes way for guttural screams. This shattered combination cuts through the tent; Code Orange are precise with their hacking hardcore. “For heavy music” they cry before the stop-start apocalypse of ‘I Am King’. For thirty minutes, Code Orange reign. 16:54: Eagles of Death Metal. But no Josh Homme. Boo.. Eagles Of Death Metal didn’t know if they’d make it to Download today, but as the gunshot start of ‘Bad Dream Mama’ fires upwards, boy are Donington glad they did. Homme-less despite circling rumours, the band are still in full-effect. Frontman Jesse ‘Boots Electric’ Hughes, an excitable force of nature, wields his position with charming polish. Hip-shaking, kneeknocking, he strolls about the stage engaging every section of the
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Interview
Zac Carper, FIDLAR
crowd before breaking away into a frenzied dance that sees his sunglasses go flying. Eagles Of Death Metal are seriously good fun. As Jesse squares up to Darlin Dave Catching for a mid-song guitar battle, the band cement their victory. 18:43: L7. Not dead. “Download this,” snarl L7 as they walk onto a heroes’ welcome. Reunited after thirteen years apart, this evening is about discovery as much as it is celebration. Two kids tentatively step into their first pit as the fourpiece gallop through their lip-curling back catalogue. Sliding about the stage and clearly loving being back in each other’s company, L7 are rocksteady with every aspect of their performance.Vibrant and charged, their influence is given a second wind and a new generation to inspire. With a clenched fist to one side, beaming with pride, they haven’t lost a drop of their venom during their time apart. Today feels like a moment that could change things all over again. 20:24: Who cares if Motley Crüe have pyro? “Who cares if Motley Crüe have pyro,” asks Ryan Key as he raises his fist in the air. “We have this,” and the crowd roars. That united front lights up Yellowcard‘s sugar coated punk, making each arching chorus and swirling hammer that much more instant and
devastatingly beautiful. The band are at their swinging peak tonight headlining The Maverick Stage as the crowd before them reacts to every demand with vigorous enthusiasm. Tonight the whole joyous affair flows with effortless agility. ‘Ocean Avenue’ remains a faultless hunk of songwriting but it’s only the glitter sprinkled over Yellowcard’s decadent, heartfelt parade. 22:20: FIDLAR create chaos. “Download Festival, you look tiiiiired man,” tease FIDLAR halfway through their Donington debut. It is the last night of the festival and the crowd have been throwing themselves about to FIDLAR’s gnarled beach punk since they crashed onto the stage, but there’s no sign of anyone slowing down as the Californian four-piece bring Download to a riotous end.
“I love the lineup. Growing up in the States, Slipknot were the biggest band. I think Download is cool. We’re in this weird pocket where we’re too indie for the punk crowd, too punk for the indie crowd and too poppy for them both. It’s this weird inbetween, it’s like that here in the UK and back home on the LA music scene. We’re kinda heavy metal but not really.”
As their anthems of cheap beer and reckless abandon are rattled out, the faithful create chaos while the band tumble about the stage, egging on the madness. Songs from their forthcoming album chug with the same boundless energy but head for new sunrises. The pogo of ’40oz On Repeat’ drags everyone forward while its haggard skip is punk rock at its most playful. FIDLAR are well versed in igniting a party. Theirs is just getting started. P Find more photos, interviews and more from Download Festival 2015 on upsetmagazine.com. 11
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No Devotion:
“We’re figuring this one out realtime.” A year on since making their arrival, No Devotion are planning to unleash their statement of intent.
“I
t’s pretty easy to say we are excited about this record coming out,” starts Stuart Richardson, bassist and producer of No Devotion. The band have just confirmed plans to release their debut album, the aptlytitled ‘Permanence’. Set for release on 25th September, the full-length will not only be their first album proper, but it stands as a victory of its own, before it has even hit shelves. “The inception of this band has been well documented,” Stuart - formerly of Lostprophets explains.“The making of this record and our lives have
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been rife with problems, both public and personal – setbacks, heartbreaks, health issues and general frustrations. It has only made us more determined to put this out there. We believe in this record; at this point for me it is critic-proof. We finished it, we fucking won already. I feel like we have everything to prove and I can’t wait for it to come out so we can get back to playing live shows.”
people try to turn that place into a punchline but fuck that, it was great. The atmosphere is so different from LA, where we usually record. I was getting sick of recording there so the change was welcome. We were sleeping on floors and sofas in AirBnBs and we were working 16 and 18 hour days. We had five or six days to finish the record so we made every minute count.
Recorded in-part in Brooklyn with both Stuart and Alex Newport taking on production duties, it was an experience that the band truly enjoyed, even when faced against time constraints. “I loved recording in Brooklyn,” he offers. “I know
“It was a fantastic experience - aside from the studio, we got to hang out with our Collect Records family. We played a show at Glasslands just before it closed and Sick Feeling lent us all of their gear to play the show. It just felt right.”
The album also marks the departure of the band’s drummer Luke Johnson, but boasts performances from both him and Bloc Party’s Matt Tong, who stepped in to complete the drum tracks. “I was stoked to get Matt Tong to play drums on a few of the songs,” Stuart says, “and it was amazing for me as the engineer and producer to record one of the most influential and most recognisable drummers in recent history. He killed it.” As for Stuart’s favourite part of the whole process – aside from first meeting No Devotion frontman Geoff Rickly and realising that the ball was starting to roll – it was getting
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“If the album does alright, do you think we should, y’know, redecorate?“
The Ins and Outs Of...
Candy Hearts’
‘Acoustic Hearts’ As the band gear up to release their new acoustic EP out on the Warped Tour, Mariel Loveland offers up some of its defining details.
to work with Dave Fridmann, who mastered the album. “It was the mixing,” he says, “and seeing it all come together so I could take the backseat. Dave is just someone I have always admired and I love his attitude to making and mixing records. He doesn’t give a fuck; it’s a very simple process for him, or at least he makes it look simple. He’s a genius. “I guess people are just trying way too hard to make things happen musically now,” he goes on, “and sweating the small stuff. Dave will just point a microphone at something, process it in a way that is just mind-blowing and have the balls to say it’s done. He commits, and I guess that’s a pretty old school way of
doing things now.” As for what they want ‘Permanence’ to say about their band, Stuart’s hopes are simple. “I would hope people will have an open mind about this record. It is a statement of intent that has been caught in its earliest form. I’m not some hollow hype guy who’s going to tell you we are the best thing since whatever the fuck the last best thing was… We’re figuring this out realtime. We’re proud of what we’ve done and we would hope people like it. We want to grow.” P No Devotion’s album ‘Permanence’ will be released on 25th September.
Hey Mariel! How did you come up with the idea for ‘Acoustic Hearts’? I was trying to think of something that would be really cool to release on Warped Tour, something that could be for our fans and would go with the record we had released at the end of last year. It was kind of almost like the record and this sit together because it’s three acoustic songs from ‘All The Ways You Let Me Down’ and two brand new ones. What made you decide to include some new tracks in the mix? I wrote one of them for ‘All The Ways You Let Me Down’ but I realised it didn’t make sense for the record. I realised it didn’t make sense any other way than acoustic and thought, ‘Yeah, I could change it for the record,’ but I liked the way it was and didn’t want to. The other one I wrote after the album came out, but I really thought that those two songs wouldn’t work any other way
but acoustic and I really love them so much. They’re so different from what we usually do that I didn’t feel like we could put them on the regular record, but I felt like our fans would like them and that we should put them out there. And what was it like to translate the tracks from the record back into acoustic renditions? Was it a challenge? Even though I did write them acoustically, I felt that it was a little difficult. Difficult in the way that I have to sing them differently; when we originally recorded them, I was singing that little bit louder but this time, I wanted to match the vibe. I’d been singing them for about a year, so I was having to relearn singing them in a different way, which was hard when I was stuck in the habit of singing them in a more powerful, accented way. P Candy Hearts’ EP ‘Acoustic Hearts’ is out now. 13
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Ready to launch OOPS, YOU’VE ALREADY MISSED OUR LAUNCH PARTY, BUT HERE ARE SOME PHOTOS ANYWAY. Well, this is embarrassing isn’t it? You’ve picked up our first issue and already you’ve missed our launch party. John and Cassels packed into a sweaty Old Blue Last in London while somebody - mentioning no names - decided to drop P.O.D.’s ‘Alive’ right before headliners Milk Teeth went on stage. Sorry, everyone.
Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett
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Recently on
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Enter Shikari: “A band
can really stand for something.” With massive live shows alongside The Wonder Years booked for 2016, Enter Shikari are on a hot streak. It’s all about standing up for what they believe in.
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hroughout their 12-year career, Enter Shikari have transcended more trends than most of their peers put together. Why? Because fewer bands understand the capabilities and importance of capturing minds with music, and repeatedly doing so successfully, quite like this St Albans quartet. “All we can ever do is raise awareness in anything, that’s all we’ve ever wanted to do,” says bassist Chris Batten, as he gathers with guitarist Rory Clewlow and drummer Rob Rolfe, by a vacant fence panel to do press backstage at Download
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Festival. Hours from now, the band will play in front of thousands when they headline the second stage at Donington. In an unexpected turn of events, Enter Shikari’s top festival billing stands to address far more than the issues depicted on their 2015 album, ‘The Mindsweep’. Just 24 hours prior to our meeting, the band were forced to cancel a gig for only the third ever time in their history, as frontman Rou Reynolds fell badly ill. At the time of talking to us, Rou’s bandmates don’t know if he’ll even be fit enough to perform (he does, with a few tearful moments that make it a truly
unforgettable set). “We always try to remain positive about things and that’s what our music is all about,” Chris adds, as we rally topics from free healthcare and the UK government, to the current state of the band in Rou’s absence. It’s crucial then, that Enter Shikari’s passion and influence isn’t formed on the sole opinions of one mind. While it may be Rou singing the words, these are beliefs shared by the whole band. Something it takes us approximately five seconds to confirm as they talk passionately as a group
and individuals. Having never been ones to shy away from speaking their minds either, ‘The Mindsweep’, in parts, deals with the dismantling of the NHS. And despite feeling depressed and downtrodden by the results of the 2015 General Election - a landslide win to the Conservative Party - Enter Shikari aren’t losing sight of the topics tackled on their fourth full-length. “The issues are still very important to us and to a lot of people,” confirms Chris. With Rob adding: “The things that are talked about on the album
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Look like a big band 101, lesson #438: have your promo photos taken aborad so you look super successful!
“We’ve got a duty to talk about the issues we feel are important” ROB ROLFE, ENTER SHIKARI are issues that will continue being important, and not just now. “‘Anaesthetist’ isn’t just about the NHS, it’s about free healthcare in general. They’re all issues that effect everyone in the world, even if they’re in slightly different circumstances, they’re all still relevant.”
Not unaware of the impact their records have upon a young fan base, Chris notes the difference between pointing the finger and forcing opinion. “We don’t want to preach to anyone or anything, we just want to put out what we think and let people make up their own minds.” For them, it was bands like
System Of A Down and Rage Against The Machine who started to shape their views of the world as teenagers. Even more notably though, Enter Shikari credit UK hardcore and punk bands like Adequate 7, for giving them the ability to generate their own political opinions early on. “They used to play around our local area and they had a lot to say,” Chris remembers. “That was something that really grabbed us, that a band can really stand for something.” Now, with a 2016 arena tour which will see them headline London’s Alexandra Palace, Enter Shikari are among few British bands really standing for something in the eyes of young rock fans today. “We’ve got a duty to talk about issues that we feel are important,” says Rob, before quoting Rou. “Art today should be representing the zeitgeist of the time.” With the weight of ‘The Mindsweep’ embedded into their live show, it’s no real surprise Enter Shikari continue to be one of the most exciting bands in our current climate. As well as an unrivalled enthusiasm for their own songs, their standard stage setup packs plenty of strobes, huge lighting rigs and, er, an antique vase which always gets smashed during ‘Slipshod’. “There’s nothing like the feeling out on stage, it feels addictive.” Chris says with his eyes almost clenched shut. “Just being in that moment and being able to do whatever you want,” agrees Rory. “It’s the freedom to live in the moment and to make instinctive decisions in front of loads of people. It can feel so perfect and euphoric.” So with the band’s touring schedule locked tight until next spring, long may it last. P Enter Shikari hit the road with The Wonder Years next February.
PVRIS: “I’m already excited to see what happens.”
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rom the fervour that currently surrounds PVRIS, there’s no way that you could guess that their first visit to the UK was just a handful of months ago. Having released their debut album ‘White Noise’ late last year, it didn’t take long for people to take notice. But what’s it like on the inside? “It feels awesome,” beams band leader Lynn Gunn, when Upset chat to the group after their debut festival set. “We don’t get to see this over in the States - what it’s like over here. It’s always cool to see how much [the fanbase] grows, and how much has already changed just from our first time over here. I’m already excited to see what happens.” With such a confident debut and self-assured image, it’s no real surprise that their audience is growing, but – even with an album as accomplished as ‘White Noise’ – the band are always looking to what could come next. “With the debut album, I guess we really just wanted to showcase what we’ve got,” Gunn offers. “I think it’s a pretty dynamic record, and it has a lot of different vibes and different genres. I like that it leaves it kinda open-ended for the next record. We have enough songs for the next record already but we’re gonna keep going. We’re probably gonna end up with forty or fifty songs before even recording. I already have over twenty already so it’s all about choosing!” P 17
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Don Broco: Anything goes With news of their new record ‘Automatic’ now out in the open, Don Broco offer up some of its defining features.
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he way we set about it,” begins Don Broco’s frontman Rob Damiani, on the subject of the band’s new album, “we didn’t necessarily say, ‘This is the direction we want to go in’ at any point. We wanted to see through all of our ideas and not pigeonhole ourselves into any particular type of song or sound.”
TASTE OF CHAOS TOUR RETURNS FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY The Taste of Chaos Tour, set up by Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman, was a pretty big deal. Founded in the winter of 2005 and eventually branching out into Europe, Australia and Asia the ‘Winter Warped Tour’ first brought Paramore and Fueled By Ramen together. Having been absent since 2010, The Taste of Chaos Tour has announced its return. Headlined by Jimmy Eat World, Dashboard Confessional and The Used, it will take place on 3rd October at the San Manuel Amphitheater Festival Grounds in California. The Movielife, glassjaw and a DJ set from Blink 182’s Mark Hoppus are also on the cards.
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“We wanted to push ourselves in musical directions that we hadn’t really probed too far in the last record,” offers guitarist Simon Delaney, “while developing musically as Bobby developed lyrically.” “The only thing we decided amongst ourselves is that we didn’t want it to be a carbon copy of the last album,” Rob continues. “That meant scrapping a song if it sounded like it could’ve been a bonus track on ‘Priorities’; that was probably the only time we’d be like, ‘Nah, maybe we should take this song in a different direction to make it exciting for us.’ We had an ‘anything goes’ policy. If we thought it was a good song, then we wrote it.” Writing their second album was something of a new experience for the group; not only was it the first time they wrote with all four of the band’s current members, it doubled as their first foray into working with someone outside
“I think there were a lot of new experiences on the album,” Rob admits. “It was the first time we got to write outside of the three of us,” he says, gesturing to his bandmates, Simon and drummer Matt Donnelly, before turning to their newer bassist Tom Doyle, “so that was exciting. There were moments when we were feeling each other out and seeing what works and the best way to make the process click. That was quite interesting.” Then there was teaming up with their producer, A’s Jason Perry. “It was really cool to work with someone who had done a lot of big albums before and had a lot of experience,” the frontman continues. “Someone you can trust, to a degree. We would always question every decision any of us would make, including his, but it was still nice to have someone with that know-how and experience. We have only ever worked on our band and our music, so to have someone from outside was cool.” The results - at least in the eyes of the band speak for themselves. “It’s got more character than the last album,” concludes Simon. “This has way more depth and personality behind it, and that’s to do with the fact we spent so much time with the instruments and techniques.” P Don Broco’s album ‘Automatic’ will be released on 7th August.
Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett
EAGLES OF DEATH METAL ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM ‘ZIPPER DOWN’ Eagles of Death Metal have announced their fourth album, ‘Zipper Down’; their first new studio release since 2008.The eleven-track full-length will be released on 2nd October, through T-Boy / Universal Music. It was recorded at Pink Duck Studios in Burbank, California, and – for some reason – features a cover of Duran Duran’s ‘Save A Prayer’. “One should not zipper up, they should zipper down and let it all hang out,” says cofounder Jesse Hughes.
If there was one defining factor when it came to writing ‘Automatic’, it was freedom. Having begun work on their second offering back in 2013, the primary target for the four-piece were simply to try things they hadn’t had the chance to before.
of the band as a producer.
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Tellison head out on tour this September with Upset. Find out more details on p61.
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Photo: Emma Swann
Tellison “I realised no one cares as much as I do.” Tellison are back with their third album, ‘Hope Fading Nightly’ released in September via Alcopop! Records! and it sees the London four-piece accepting but never submitting.
umped by some of the team around them at the end of their last album ‘The Wages Of Fear’, Tellison were alone again. “It sucks to feel like everyone thinks it didn’t quite work out. We all went back to our lives, working day jobs,” frontman Stephen Davidson explains. “We let Tellison lie and dealt with the body blows of having everyone around you feel like you aren’t worth the effort.” He, alongside Pete, carried on writing music though and eventually built back up to start work on album three. “We recorded it under a McDonalds in Highbury,” Stephen says. “I’d work ten hours a day then catch the bus to Highbury and stay in the studio until either I or Andy (Jenkin, who produced the album) passed out or started shouting at each other. We did that for a year, I had no social life and I lost all my friends.” Launched by comeback single ‘Tact Is Dead’ which deals with the idea of “feeling very
valueless to society,” ‘Hope Fading Nightly’ is a “record about failure and unachieved potential,” explains Stephen. “It’s a really sad record but it’s also guitar heavy.” Inspired by The Weakerthans and Drive By Truckers, Tellison have moved away from the highly wrought keys and string samples of their previous album and replaced it with
accepting we’re not going to be a huge famous rock band. We’re not going to be The Beatles,” he admits, “but we’re still doing it. We feel ok about it all.” “I’m just trying to be a good songwriter and say the things that have been eating me up,” he shares. “It feels good to be doing it on our own terms
“I’d work ten hours a day then stay in the studio until I passed out.” STEPHEN DAVIDSON, TELLISON what they had around them; drums, guitar, bass and voice. “No dicking about,” laughs Stephen. “We just tried to play the songs properly and if we couldn’t, we wrote new parts.” “So much of Tellison is charting us growing up,” he continues. “I was fifteen when we did our first tour and we’re now
now. Not trying to get a major label to think we’re handsome enough to sign.” And despite being, “hilariously incompetent” - the band were too busy ordering t-shirts for tour that they forgot to announce the album - Tellison are taking their music by the horns.
“I used to trust that other people were going to do a better job than me,” says Stephen of his newfound hands on approach to the band. “I realised, at the age of 27, no one cares as much as I do. I will do a better job and it’s liberating to opt out,” he says with a smile. “I’m choosing to opt out of something that doesn’t want me but it’s nice to feel in charge. It comes back to feeling content.” With a smattering of live appearances announced and more to follow as we hurtle towards the release of ‘Hope Fading Nightly’, Tellison are excited to be back behind the wheel. “We’re steering our own ship now,” Stephen declares. “It feels good, scary and exciting. I’m doing it because no one else wants to but at the same time, I think I’m the best person for the job.” P Tellison’s album ‘Hope Fading Nightly’ will be released on 18th September. 19
FIDLAR get ready for album ‘Too’ LA punx FIDLAR will release their second album ‘Too’ on 4th September. “We could have made record number one again… but instead we decided to challenge ourselves and admit that we don’t know everything,” says guitarist and lead vocalist Zac Carper. Check out the (AMAZING) video for first track ‘40oz on Repeat’ on upsetmagazine.com now.
“I read a couple comments today about how I can’t be feminist or whether or not I’m a “good” feminist.To speak specifically to one of those comments, I’ll say this: ‘Misery Business’ is not a set of lyrics that I relate to as a 26 year old woman. I haven’t related to it in a very long time.Those words were written when I was 17… admittedly, from a very narrow-minded perspective. It wasn’t really meant to be this big philosophical statement about anything.” Hayley Williams from Paramore on online comments about the lyrics of ‘Misery Business’.
Twenty One Pilots’ genre defying second album feels like something new. To them, it’s just a product of their generation. Words: ALI SHUTLER.
Twenty One Pilots
Live & Kicking
Photos: SARAH LOUISE BENNETT.
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wenty One Pilots exploded into focus with ‘Vessels’ in early 2013 after years of self-released songs, relentless touring and accumulating anticipation. On their Fueled By Ramen debut, Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun captured the essence of what they wanted Twenty One Pilots to be and showed it to the world. The world was divided. Now, two years later, they’ve come back swinging with ‘Blurryface’, a fourteen shot attack that pits insecurity against self-belief in bare-knuckled combat. There’s blood, guts and spirit throughout but while Fight Club is governed by rules, Twenty One Pilots don’t concern themselves with such frivolities. “I don’t think Josh and I ever set out to be rebellious,” starts Tyler, sitting backstage at The Boston Music Rooms in London. Tonight, the pair will play their fourth sold out headline show in a row as the release of ‘Blurryface’ looms. Sitting side by the side, Josh and Tyler are far more reserved than their onstage antics and clenched fist recordings would suggest. Hands are wrung as they discuss the platform they find themselves on but throughout, they ensure that one another is given space to talk. “It’s hard for us not to see things through the filter of live music,” he continues. “We’re not intentionally trying to write the next song different to the last.” Instead what drove the sonic landscape of ‘Blurryface’ was the need for certain songs to fulfil their live desires. “We just want people to get the music however they can so they can come to a show and experience that music with us. That’s really where it all comes together and makes sense,” enthuses Tyler, “Face to face.”
“...and then he pulled a face like this... “ 21
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“To me, it’s an improved version of what we’ve been doing but that’s just coming from being a fan of my own band,” reasons Josh. “The goal is always to be improving. The songs are still different from one to the next, so that hasn’t changed,” he says with a grin. “At the same time, there’s this common thread running through each of them. When I hear the songs together, it makes sense because they’re all describing a moment in time. A snapshot of where we are in our lives and what we’re going through,” explains Tyler. “One of the things I wanted to tackle was the idea of insecurity. For me, it helped give these insecurities a name, a face and a seat at the table so I could stare across and address them. This record is focused on that character, ‘Blurryface’ and trying to defeat him.” “You’d be surprised what kind of things we have to go through,” reasons Tyler quietly. “You think guys who are on stage every night are really confident and full of themselves but that’s not the case. There are a lot of times where we’ve had to push through that self-doubt. I want to be transparent about the fact we’ve struggled with our own self-doubt and with the right mindset you can overcome that.” “We come from a generation of kids who have the ability to get their hands on any type of music so we’re going to write every type of music,” Tyler states. “I want people to know there’s a creative freedom today.You don’t have to write a certain style journal, you don’t have to create a particular painting and you don’t have to fit a genre.You just do whatever you want to do.” That freedom has driven their music since they first started crafting it “When I first started writing songs, the idea of people hearing them didn’t cross my mind,” Tyler admits. “The first time I ever wrote a song and showed it to my immediate 22 upsetmagazine.com
family, I realised that as they were listening to my lyrics, they were hearing some really deep stuff that I hadn’t shared before. There’s something about the fact it was inside music that made it ok. Music is a vehicle to express those things without being judged. There are definitely songs I’ve written that people will never hear because they’re too revealing. I don’t write strictly for myself very often. It’s usually double sided where it’s helping me but I intend on sharing it.You have to balance that tension and hopefully you don’t overstep it. Even talking about it now makes me nervous. What if we said something we weren’t meant to say on ‘Blurryface’? I don’t know. It’s out in five days, we’ll find out then,” Tyler says with a sense of foreboding. “I’m in a certain mindset when I write lyrics and it doesn’t always translate. I’ve toned it down. Believe me, what’s heard is the third or fourth pass. I show Josh the song, he reads the lyrics and if he says it’s ok, we just do it. We try and keep ourselves in check.” That self-policing goes beyond the music they make as their unashamed honesty and positive approach sees them held as role models. “It’s a responsibility. Even realising that is totally scary because we’re just kids,” concedes Josh. “I try not to think about it too much but when I do, it’s motivation for me to be a better person.” “I think it’s interesting that both Josh and I are older brothers,” Tyler ventures. “We’re both the oldest of four siblings so in a sense, we’ve understood the role of trying to set a good example. We know what it feels like to fail at that and hopefully it’s prepared us for this sort of pressure. At the same time it’s something we want to step up to and be, but we also know we’re not deserving of it. We will always be humbled by the fact people will care about how we live our lives.”
“You don’t have to fit a genre. You just do whatever you want.” TYLER JOSEPH, TWENTY ONE PILOTS There are two sides to every story and for every person queuing outside in the rain, there’s someone less into what Twenty One Pilots are trying to achieve. “They hate us, it’s perfect,” challenges Tyler. It would really bum me out if we were creating something vanilla. To not be a fork in the road with your art is wasting your power of creating art in the first place. We’re fine with polarizing people when they hear us.” Put simply, Twenty One Pilots are for “whoever decides that it’s for them.” “There’s a lot of things wrong with the world today and there’s people trying to fight a lot of evil out there but more times than not, someone’s worst enemy is themselves. That’s where we are right now and that’s what we feel comfortable talking about. I hope this music attracts people who can resonate with that struggle,” offers Tyler. “We never wanted to break molds but after going through the album cycle for ‘Vessels’ we really started to see the innards
of what makes the music industry tick.You realise there’s a formula to art. We thought if you create something great, you’re going to be great but that’s not always the case. We felt deceived.” Tyler says with a genuine sense of hurt. “We know there’s this formula out there but at the same time we worked really hard to lower our heads and create an album that wasn’t affected by it and was true to us. We tried to get back to that mindset of when we were writing songs and didn’t know if anyone was going to hear them. It’s tough but the whole time we had each other.” “One of the reasons I was so excited about playing music with Josh is because one of the first times we ever hung out, we talked about our dreams. It’s a very naked feeling talking about what your dream is but it’s safe to say we’re big fans of not putting a ceiling on them. Whatever you could imagine is probably what we’re going for,” Tyler reasons. P Twenty One Pilots’ album ‘Blurryface’ is out now.
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“Pleeeeeaaaaase make it sell well...”
Neck Deep: Keeping it simple
Neck Deep are soon to release their second album ‘Life’s Not Out To Get You’. It’s set to be bigger and better than anything they’ve done before.
“W
e didn’t really have a strict outline of what we wanted it to sound like,” answers Neck Deep bassist Fil Thorpe-Evans when asked what exactly they wanted to do with their new record. His answer’s simple, which looks to be the essence of the album itself. “We just wanted it to be us but bigger and better. We didn’t wanna change the style, we didn’t want to not change the style. We just wrote songs and it kinda just naturally happened. It was just the same as last time, but bigger and better.” Having released their debut full-length just last year, Neck Deep are already picking up the pace. The Wrexham five-piece are set to release their new effort ‘Life’s Not Out To Get You’ this August, and if the band want you to know anything about it, it’s that it’s exactly who they are. Just, you know, even better. “We just wanted to top our last album” continues frontman Ben Barlow. “We just wanted to write a better record. We wanted to stay true to who we are and what we do, but just do it really well and I think we actually did that. I think the team that we worked with really knew that as well, and I think that everything just really fell into place with this album. We just wanted to work with the right people and write some killer songs; why complicate it with the idea of, ‘Oooh, we want to go in this new direction’?” he laughs. “We’ve got plenty of albums to try that!”
Following on from a series of EPs and their first full-length ‘Wishful Thinking’, the band decamped to the good ol’ USA to work with the likes of Andrew Wade, Tom Denney and A Day To Remember’s own Jeremy McKinnon. “Dream team!” exclaims Fil, when the trio are brought up. “I mean, that team basically wrote everything that A Day To Remember have ever done,” continues Ben. “As songwriters they are amazing and that’s kinda what they helped us do. On ‘Wishful Thinking’, a lot of the songs didn’t really change from their demo form but we really went into the songwriting process this time around. We looked into the songs and asked, ‘How can we make this better? What needs to change?’ We were just always wanting to improve the songs and that’s something that we didn’t really do before. Now, I feel like we have developed as songwriters and musicians from that experience that they gave us.” Have no fear: whilst the band may have upped their game in terms of the writing process, ‘Life’s Not Out To Get You’ is still, in its purest form, exactly what you’d hope it to be. “If you were to listen to this record for the first time,” concludes Barlow, “you’ll just say, ‘Yeah, that’s Neck Deep.’ It’s totally Neck Deep, but the best version of Neck Deep.” P Neck Deep’s album ‘Life’s Not Out To Get You’ will be released on 14th August.
THE WONDER YEARS ANNOUNCE ‘NO CLOSER TO HEAVEN’ Details for The Wonder Years’ much anticipated new album have been announced. Commence your excited flapping. ‘No Closer To Heaven’, the follow up to 2013’s ‘The Greatest Generation’, will drop on 4th September via Hopeless Records. The album was produced by Steve Evetts, is thirteen tracks in length and also features letlive.’s Jason Butler. Listen to their new track ‘Cardinals’ on upsetmagazine.com now.
EX HEX PLOT NEW UK TOUR Ex Hex have announced they will return to the UK for a tour this November, following their recent performance at London’s Field Day and a forthcoming slot at End of the Road. The run will kick off on 2nd November at London’s Scala, going on to visit Brighton, Nottingham, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol too. Check out the full list of dates on upsetmagazine.com. 23
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After thirteen years Desaparecidos are back Nearly a decade and a half after their last record, Conor Oberst and co. are bringing their tough-topronounce punk project back to the masses. Words: SARAH JAMIESON.
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f Desaparecidos were to offer up any motto for life, it would be to live on your own terms. That much is evident from their own life story; having first emerged all the way back in 2001, the band were just a group of friends who decided to give making music a go. With their first record, they showcased their explosive sound, managed to both impress - and piss off - an array of listeners and then, when other projects came into their lives and took over, decided to put the band on the back burner. Some might call them defiant; they’re just 24 upsetmagazine.com
doing things in their own way. “There aren’t really any rules,” assures the band’s Denver Dalley, ahead of the release of their long-awaited second album, ‘Payola’, which comes over a decade after their debut. “I mean, there are people who are constantly trying to build a formula to have success but we’ve never paid attention to that. I mean,” he laughs, “even our band name is one of the hardest things to pronounce. The rule with us has always been that, as long as we’re having fun and we’re doing everything on our terms - there’s no expectations or obligations -
then we’re gonna keep doing it. So that’s just the way the album came about. It felt like the most natural, organic way for it have happened.” After the release of the band’s first full-length, ‘Read Music/ Speak Spanish’ caused quite a stir, the band began touring with the likes of Jimmy Eat World and The Promise Ring. Soon, however, frontman Conor Oberst’s other project – the little known band, Bright Eyes – began to gain traction, and so the Nebraska group decided to slow things down. It was only in 2010, almost a decade later, that the fivesome began playing together again,
after reforming for Omaha’s Concert For Equality. “We would never do anything that we weren’t all completely excited about,” Denver goes on, referencing what sparked the band to give things another go. “[At the start] the timing just wasn’t right and we all just wanted to pursue our own things. Then, when it came to 2010, I think we were all surprised at just how natural it felt and how we picked up right where we left off. I think we played better than we had ever played before, because we were quite a bit younger back in the early 2000s. So, we just started to get back together
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That’s fourteen years waiting for a new album, NOT a bus.
“We’ve always wanted to really say something with our music, and not be like the stuff you hear on the radio that’s all bubblegum and pop” DENVER DALLEY, DESAPARECIDOS unhingedness. “You know, it’s such a funny thing to talk about,” he laughs, “to say that you’re a lot better sounds like a big headed thing, but I think we have truly grown as musicians. When you compare the albums, there’s that same loud energy, but it sounds more refined to me and a little more precise.”
just to play shows and hang out, with no intentions of writing a new album,” Then, the ball started to roll. “As we spent more time with the band, we started working on some songs and then released them as a 7” and then, the next tour came around and we realised we were working towards a new album at that point. We just decided to keep going.” Now, thirteen years on from the release of their debut, the band will be releasing its follow-up ‘Payola’. Despite the age gap, their new effort is no less potent or angry than its predecessor, but Denver is confident that is does showcase a more refined side of their
One element that doesn’t seem to have changed is their motivation. Desaparecidos had something to say back at the turn of the millennium and now is no different. While ‘Read Music/ Speak Spanish’ was a record born into the turmoil of a post-9/11 world, ‘Payola’ will arrive into a world just as fraught with violence and turmoil. That’s something the band – again, unafraid of doing things their own way - don’t shy away from. “I think there’s always gonna be struggles and there are always gonna be wars and there are gonna be issues with each government,” Denver offers. “I think there’s always going to be a time to release an album like this; no matter how great things are, there’s always room for improvement and I think that’s the wonderful thing about so many countries.You have that freedom to speak
out and appreciate the great things about your country, but also call out the things that need a lot of attention and a lot of improvement. “I think we’ve always wanted to really say something with our music and not kinda be like the stuff you hear on the radio that’s all bubblegum and pop,” he agrees. “You can listen to an entire song and realise ‘I don’t know any of those lyrics and I don’t know what’s happening in the song.’ It just takes you out of the moment and that’s great, there’s a time and a place for that. But the idea that you can inspire someone to look into something that they don’t know about, or hear about an issue or term that they’re not familiar with, that they look up online and - in an ideal world could become active with these issues, is an amazing thing; to be able to use the music medium as a way of getting a message across. It’s such an amazing thing, the idea of making people feel passionate in either way. Whether they love a song, or hate it, it’s an honour that you can inspire someone to feel something.” P Desaparecidos’ album ‘Payola’ is out now.
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THERE COULD BE A BRAND NEW BRAND NEW ALBUM THIS YEAR In a rare interview with the band, Brand New frontman Jesse Lacey has (sort of) let slip that a new album could come “out this year”. The only catch? The entire interview is in Spanish, but our trusty translators claim the point in question says: “We have a new album to get. The thing is that it is not ready, so to speak. Hopefully it out this year, at least that is our aim. We do not know whether it will be an EP of seven songs or so, or the traditional LP of 14 songs.”
FRANK CARTER & THE RATTLESNAKES ANNOUNCE DEBUT ALBUM Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes have announced plans to release their debut album, ‘Blossom’ on 14th August. “I had one of the hardest, most turbulent years of my life in 2014,” Frank says of the full-length. “I wrote it all down, a line here a paragraph there and soon I had a book full of suffering and questions. In the winter I decided that I needed an outlet to help me take these lyrics and do with them what I do best. Perform.” 25
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Harry from Brawlers “We’re a fucking rock band!” With their debut album on the shelves, Brawlers’ frontman is looking to find as many new fans as he can. Words: ALI SHUTLER. Photos: EMMA SWANN.
“I
f you want to dissect every aspect of what our band’s about, you’re probably not going to have a good time,” starts Harry George Johns. “It’s deceivingly simple.” Later on tonight the band in question, Brawlers, will take to the stage of Camden’s Underworld for the second time in as many months. Since spring sprung, the Yorkshire four-piece have been on the road promoting their debut album ‘Romantic Errors Of Our Youth’ and with festival season looming, they’re not looking to take a break anytime soon. “We’ve always been about four guys on a stage, give us half an hour and let’s go,” he declares. Coming together in the summer of 2013 from an eclectic musical past, Brawlers have been unrelenting since. “We’re really hard to pigeonhole,” Harry admits. “We’re still a new band but we know exactly what we are.” Simple but powerfully effective.
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“Someone called us bubblegum Trash Talk, and that makes me feel good. The band was borne out of trying to put on a really memorable live show and the songs were an after thought at first but imagine if you could mix that with some great choruses. Surely you’re onto a winning combination.” And as Brawlers, despite being the first band on the bill, unite the crowd with fist in the air solidarity and cries of “I believe in rock and roll”, tonight certainly feels like a victory. “There are definitely messages in our music, whether people get them or not is a different thing,” he questions. “We had
a meeting with Radio One. They said ‘we really like the social commentary aspects of your songs,’ and I remember spending one evening sat on my sofa with my guitar thinking ‘maybe I’m supposed to be writing songs about Facebook.’” After a fruitless night Harry woke with the realisation, “If you start writing songs for anyone else but yourself, you’ve basically fucked it.”
“For the time being we can’t make rent or eat but we get to play shows with our favourite bands so we’re going to write songs about what’s in our lives which is dumb stuff on the internet and having fall outs with friends. I think the next record, and I’ve only just started writing it, but it will probably be a diary of a low paid, touring band. It’s hard but it’s not so hard that we’re not going to do it.”
“That’s why people react so well to us, touch wood,” ventures Harry tapping the table before him. “It’s because we’re honest. That’s the word that crops up everytime you read about Brawlers. If you’re going to get on stage and sing about being in a club with loads of money, drinking Courvoisier and you’re not that, people can smell that a mile off. If I ever get rich and famous from playing music, the songs will reflect that and the struggles that come with it.” While the dream is alive, Brawlers aren’t there yet.
“There’s a struggle there every day,” he admits. “We’re playing shows that are mentally draining, physically exerting. You make friends and lose friends in a heartbeat from how you act on that particular night and I don’t know any other scenario like that. It’s like going to a job interview every day; if you fuck it they’re not going to give you the job. I can’t have a bad day.”
“I didn’t write these songs to be on an indie 7”. That’s not what we’re about.” HARRY GEORGE JOHNS, BRAWLERS
“We are all very up and down characters in our personal lives but we all understand the importance of giving it 115% every time we play,” he shares. “We all have anxiety, depression and all the other things that every human being in the world has. We all suffer with that in our own way but we all have an agreement that we should be on the same page for half an hour every day, that seems fair to me. If you want a job where you’re allowed off days, go work in a factory.”
“The rewards far outweigh the cons of this job,” appeals Harry. “We are, generally speaking, really nice positive human beings,” and that’s reflected in their lyrics. ‘The Romantic Errors Of Our Youth’ takes the shadows of nostalgia and finds the positives within. “All those songs are about things that have happened in the past three years. That’s literally it. Everything I’ve sung about is real, I haven’t changed any names and all those people exist. The songs are selfreferential to the point of selfdeprecation. If I can laugh at some of the awful things that have happened in my life, then people should seek solace in the fact I’ve gone through it. If they’re going through a shitty time and they feel like a worthless piece of shit, or they feel like they’ve missed out on the romantic errors of their youth then what’s better than to look at me. If I can sing about it, you can get over it,” he says with a laugh. “People have said to me that it’s really nice I’m so blasé about being heartbroken because only when you’re out of being heartbroken, do you realise what a waste of time it was in the first place. I find that amazing, it’s the zeitgeist that I’m trying to capture with Brawlers. Don’t get too upset over these girls or guys, because another one’s going to come along and rescue me,” he explains, quoting his own song for the third time with a wry smile. “It’s really that simple.” “We want to write some really great songs that people will love,” states Harry before summing up his desires for the band to inspire “excitement and memorability.” “I think we’re the perfect support band,” he claims, carefully rolling the words around his mouth. “Not because we’re good but because we’re enthusiastic. I’m not saying we’re the best support band in the world but we’ve played with a lot of bands who are very unenthusiastic. If you’re going
to waste my twenty-five minutes, you may as well try and win me over,” he challenges. “I think we’re good at winning over fans. The day you don’t want to do that is the day you might as well give up.” After months of accumulating fans through live shows and recorded snapshots, the next step is usually a headline tour. “The idea petrifies me. I don’t think we’re anywhere near big enough to do it,” he offers. “We’re still in the position where I’d rather people just had the opportunity to listen to us without being on that springboard of a headline tour. It sounds crass to me.“ The aspirations of Harry George Johns are simple ones. “We want to appeal to the most people we can. I didn’t write those choruses to be on an indie 7”. That’s not what we’re about,” he underlines. “I think people will really like our band if they listen to us. Some people don’t get it, ‘It’s just four chords.’ Yeah, but so was Nirvana, so was The Beatles so shut up. People are always looking for something more at the moment and we are defiantly anti-more.” “Our music is simple and will stay that way for a long time. That’s the way we like it. People are afraid these days to be just a rock band. If you’re good enough, it shouldn’t matter,” Harry says as ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine comes on over the sound system. “Guns and Roses don’t give a fuck about that stuff, it is what it is. I want to be a band that just are what we are and we’ll continue to be that. “We’re a fucking rock band!” he states before reconsidering “Actually, if Matt didn’t throw his guitar in the air every five minutes, we’d be a pop band,” he says with a grin. P Brawlers’ album ‘Romantic Errors of Our Youth’ is out now.
News, videos, features, photos, reviews & more. upsetmagazine.com
This Aint a Scene...
When we decided to start a new magazine, we thought long and hard about the best way to introduce ourselves. Mission statements? Manifestos? Rambling statements about what we stood for and how we were different? Nah. Not for us. Instead, we decided to catch up with some of our favourite bands. Not to try to group them together, or to make a new scene - just to say they’re great. That’s what Upset is about.
moose blood
TH I S A I N’ T A SC ENE...
It’s not even been a year since they released their gorgeous debut, but MOOSE BLOOD are already going global. Words: SARAH JAMIESON. Photos: SARAH LOUISE BENNETT.
I
t’s been a special twelve months for Moose Blood. Over the past year, the Canterbury fourpiece have gone from strength to strength; from releasing their long-awaited debut album ‘I’ll Keep You In Mind, From Time To Time’ to embarking upon their first ever headline tour and then some, it’s undoubtedly been a pretty exciting time to be in this band. “It’s been great,” offers the band’s Mark Osbourne when asked about how things have been going. The band have just played their first ever sets at Slam Dunk (and packed them out for good measure) and they’re already looking ahead to their next challenge. “We’re very, very fortunate and very lucky to have done a lot of the things that we’ve done. I think we all feel very grateful that we’ve been given those chances to do those things. It’s evolved into something we never thought it would do.” After all, it was just a few weeks after the release of their debut full-length that the band were whisked away on tour alongside Mallory Knox and Frank Iero, before they
“It’s evolved into something we never thought it would do.” MARK OSBOURNE, MOOSE BLOOD were offered up the chance to head out on their very first run of headline shows.
else is now listening to your music and you can’t really ask for anymore than that.”
“We kinda like it,” Mark admits, of taking on support roles, “as intimidating as it is, being put in front of someone or an audience who don’t know you, just to see how many people you can win over. We noticed it a lot coming off the Mallory Knox tour, that people would then come to our shows just from seeing us on that tour. It is quite intimidating when you play in front of an audience that isn’t your own and don’t necessarily care who you are, but it is lovely if you can win some people over. Someone
As for their first set of headline shows... “A challenge is a good word to describe it,” he continues, on the subject of their sixteen-date run which took place back in January. “For our first headline tour, to do something of that size was awesome. We did feel like it was a challenge and we felt a bit apprehensive about it as well, because we had never done a headline tour before. That was the first time we were doing it and it was two and a half weeks around the UK, but it couldn’t have gone any better. We came off that
tour feeling really grateful and had a bit of a sense of achievement that we were able to do that. We had some of the best shows we’ve ever played.” Now, with summer well and truly in swing, the quartet have set their sights on some new territory. No longer completely content with wooing audiences across the UK with their vulnerable brand of melodic rock, they’ve decided to head across the pond to take on Warped Tour, and – unsurprisingly – it’s all a bit surreal for the group. “It’s a dream come true,” the band’s Eddy Brewerton assures, before Mark continues. “It is a very daunting thing,” he laughs. “It’s very far away!” “To wonder in your own country,” begins bassist Kyle Todd, “whether anyone has heard of you is one thing, but to go to another country and then to have them sing the words back is an overwhelming feeling. To be as far away as America... If anybody cares, it’s gonna be so good.” P 29
THI S AI N ’T A SC E N E . . .
Palm Reader With new album ‘Beside The Ones We Love’ taking centrestage and being pretty much the only good thing to come out of Woking, Palm Reader are taking their furious, complex hardcore to wider stages than ever before. Loud, heavy, hard and fast – basically everything you need from a hardcore band. Up Next: Festival and national dates are racking up.
John We really are carving away at the bottom of that band name barrel now. John’s music is every bit as baffling as their name is the opposite – all crunching time-signature changes and throat-shedding vocals. That Blakfish reunion may be a way off, but this duo are doing a valiant effort of holding the torch. Up Next: Probably returning the cymbal they borrowed off Rudimental for our launch show. 30 upsetmagazine.com
L bul vy
The Nashville four-piece have been cooking up a storm of buzz, but grunge is not a dirty word for BULLY.
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Words: TOM CONNICK. Photo: EMMA SWANN.
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ully are a sucker punch. Barely stopping for breath since their emergence last summer, it’s little wonder the road to debut album ‘Feels Like’ has been so swiftly-tread – anything less than 100mph is dawdling for this lot.
As such, ‘Feels Like’ is a record trimmed of any fat – something reflected in the writing process. “I would write something and then bring it to the band and tell them how I wanted it to be and they would just play along with it,” explains guitarist, vocalist and primary songwriter Alicia Bognanno with an almost comically deadpan simplicity. She’s quick to deny any clashing of heads or ego-massaging though – “that’s why we’re a band! Because we all like stuff that each other likes, that’s why it works!”
but I don’t think the band would have gone anywhere if we weren’t in such a serious music scene, music city, where we could take music seriously.”
The city’s musical pedigree certainly helped when it came to the practicalities of building the band, such as finding jobs that would allow them the time off for their swiftly-filling touring schedule, but ‘Feels Like’ ended up coming together in another city – and as a result of another job – entirely.
But first and foremost, Bully is Alicia’s baby; an outlet for independence that sticks itself to Electrical Audio – the famed studio of Steve three-chord, Japandroids indebted euphoria Albini, and swelters producer like the heat of Nirvana’s of their ‘In Utero’ Nashville – was the ‘music city’ place where home – Bully and listening in ‘Feels Like’ on her odes found their to “spinning footing. Alicia around STEWART COPELAND, BULLY interned in my there in the underwear” summer of and “praying for my period all week” feels 2011, using her spare time to get to grips almost intrusive, such is the minutiae of with the intricacies of Albini’s direct-to-tape her white-hot reflections on youth. It’s a recording facilities and feeding this all back kaleidoscope of influence, manifesting itself in into her home recordings of early Bully a tumbling collection of fuzzed-out pop-rock material. hits.
“We wouldn’t be a band if it wasn’t for Nashville.”
“We wouldn’t be a band if it wasn’t for Nashville,” starts drummer Stewart Copeland when quizzed on their hometown’s influence. “We wouldn’t have met each other. Alicia and I ended up there together in Nashville proper,
“I knew I would be comfortable working there,” she explains of the recording process for the album, “I had interned there, and knew everybody that worked there was really awesome and incredibly smart. I knew
it would be the best way to free myself of the distraction that I would have doing it in Nashville. And also I wanted to do it all on tape machines.” “I’ve just always done all our stuff on tape – this was the only record that we had the budget to go and do it there and mix on a console and send it to the half-inch machine and send that reel off to be mastered,” she spirals off, visibly excited by the tech side of the recording process. She bemoans the sadly necessary use of Pro Tools in their earlier material – “I knew that if I had the option to not do that, I didn’t want to do that, because I’m very indecisive and it would just take me way too long and I’d keep coming back to it.” “I just like the method of it,” she continues on the subject of tape. “Committing to
what you want to do instead of like, ‘we could try this’ or ‘let’s see what it’s like to cut this bridge!’ It’s like; no I’m just going to do it the way it was written.” Stewart picks up the baton; “I think as far as performance and stuff, I think before we went in Alicia definitely talked a lot about her really wanting the record to sound like it’s us playing the record and not like it’s super worked-over. We didn’t have Pro Tools or have to lay down a million tracks and pick the best ones. There’s no effects afterwards, they just spent a couple of days finding all their pedal chains to make the sounds while they’re doing it live and did it live.” “It’s nice to just have 24 tracks and have to work with what you have and figure it out from there,” smiles Alicia. “Not be like ‘maybe we should throw on just a little
Bellevue Days Soaring sonics and main-stage baiting singalongs – Bellevue Days are gunning for that Deaf Havana crowd with their upcoming EP ‘The Sun
bit of synth over this’ of something – we knew that wasn’t what it was and that wasn’t the kind of record we wanted to make.” It’s easy to look at Bully’s fuzzed-out aesthetic, links to the ‘In Utero’ producer and aversion to overly pernickety production methods and draw upon that ever-lingering buzzword, ‘grunge’. That’s not a pegging that Alicia will settle for though. “I think lots of times we just get thrown in with that label, cause a lot of people think that it’s reminiscent of the 90s,” she shrugs. “I’m not saying it’s not! But it was never intentional.” True to Bully form, bassist Reece’s word on the matter is as no-frills as it is final: “It just feels better to hear it called grunge than hear it called “indie-garage-pop” or something like that.Y’know - adjective party!” P
Came Up When We Were Young’. There’s no reason they shouldn’t capture those hearts – these tracks were festival anthems the second they left the practise room. Up Next: EP two is on its way. 31
TH I S A I NT A SC E N E . . .
p k c a l b peaks Words: ALI SHUTLER
Photo: EMMA SWANN
As approved by Mr Zane Lowe himself, Brighton rock crew BLACK PEAKS are gearing up for their next astronomic leaps.
“W
elcome to the inner workings of Black Peaks,” laughs Joe Gosney as his bandmates break away from the conversation and start arguing amongst each other, all playful smiles and knowing jabs. The band are back home in Brighton for a handful of appearances at The Great Escape, bringing to a close a lengthy UK tour that’s underlined the excitement surrounding the four-piece. A brief rest period awaits before festival season kicks off proper with Black Peaks playing everywhere from Nass 32 upsetmagazine.com
and Boardmasters to Hevy and Reading & Leeds. Then there’s the small matter of that debut album that’s been a glimmering source of anticipation ever since Zane Lowe played its first single ‘Glass Built Castles’ to the nation. “We had a clear plan for this year,” starts Andrew Gosden. “Well, we thought we did and then that happened. Scrap the plan, let’s roll with it,” he says with a hint of disbelief still present. “It’s been a whirlwind.” The storm isn’t over yet though, it’s just getting started. Formed in 2012, Black Peaks
were originally an instrumental band called Shrine. Will Gardner joined on vocals, the band released their ‘Closer to The Sun’ EP and everything was growing nicely. Then at the close of last year the band changed their name to avoid confusion with other acts and retreated to work on their debut album.
in the studio was terrifying. We didn’t know what was happening,” admits Joe. “But we had to keep writing this music.”
“For us, there hasn’t been any other change apart from branding,” explains Andrew. “At the end of all the Shrine stuff, we had to go quiet for a few months to finish writing and recording the record. That period of no gigging and being
When asked about the reaction they’ve received, essentially two songs into a new band, all four admit feelings of pride, surprise, excitement and overwhelm. “We never really thought our type of music would get that
“When Zane heard ‘Glass Built Castles’ and it blew up,” starts Liam Kearley before pausing. “It was brilliant, faith restored,” Joe concludes.
TH I S A I N’ T A SC ENE...
reaction, especially radio,” admits Andrew. “I never thought we’d appeal because it’s quite complicated,” continues Will. “It’s not straight 4/4 rock, there’s a lot going on but we’ve had so many young people that have just absolutely loved it. In Aberdeen these two kids, maybe 14 years old, came along and it was the first show they ever went to,” he says before having to repeat it, in a bid to make sense of the situation. “In Aberdeen as well. We’re from Brighton. All the way up there, there was two kids that had heard us on the radio.” “We probably ruined their idea of live music,” says Andrew with a grin before Will admits that his first gig was Brighton’s Party In The Park with B*Witched and Gary Barlow. It doesn’t seem to have affected his artistic direction though. “We’ve been asked a few times if we’ve written to a specification or to fit radio and it’s honestly never been the case with us,” Joe clarifies. “We’ll go into a rehearsal room and make music. If it makes us happy and excited, to us that’s a good song and we’ve tried to make as many of those good songs as possible. It just so happens that the two we’ve chosen as singles, ‘Glass Built Castles’ and it’s follow-up, ‘Crooks’, have stood out,” he reasons. “It’s surprising and humbling. We’re really stoked on that but we never wrote those two songs as singles.” “It’s nuts because we wrote the album as a different band,” muses Will. “We were three-quarters through writing it this time last year and nobody’s going to hear the whole thing until the end of summer.” “We haven’t got a release date yet but we’re working really hard to make sure that happens,” adds Joe “It’s a piece of work,” gushes
“We probably ruined their idea of live music.” ANDREW GOSDEN, BLACK PEAKS Will. “There’s segues and we’ve written sections where certain tracks all connect up. It’s not just ten or eleven songs mashed together; it’s a rollercoaster. The two tracks we’ve released are fast, hard hitting and they’ve got a lot of momentum. After that, it goes a lot darker,” he emphasises. “A hell of a lot darker, a hell of a lot heavier,” “It’s darker in the sense of expression, rather than metal,” adds Andrew before a chorus of Slayer roars. “As the album progresses we get experimental and at the end, there are some brighter songs that are more reflective and anthemic. It’s a real journey.” “As a whole, it is quite relentless, Andrew states. “We’re super proud of it and I don’t think we could add anything or take anything away,” he says, dismissing the idea that this newfound level of exposure will affect the album. “It’s good to know you can be proud of that one piece of work,” explains Liam “We went and recorded it with blood sweat and tears. At the time, we could not have done anything better or anything more to add to that and we wouldn’t want to,” defies Will. “It represents that moment in time, of us as four people as well as the other people we have as part of our team. Everything is part of that sound.” An instant and enthusiastic chorus of yeses show the bands excitement to share this record before Will adds “I’m really nervous as well. We put our hearts into that, it’s super sensitive.” “I think it will resonate,” starts Liam. “Hopefully it will, but I don’t really mind if it
doesn’t.” “The way I see it is that everyone has the kind of emotions that we express in our music,” interjects Will. “All the darkness in our music and in our performance is in everyone. It keeps me and everyone else in the band sane by being able to express that frustration, that sadness and all of that exuberance. It’s this massive release and to be able to do that live is amazing but that expression is real.” “I think there’s more room for bands with a heavier nature so, if anything, now’s the time. If we work as hard as we can, at least we’ll find out how far we can take this, that’s always been our ethos. Not to be pessimistic but if it doesn’t happen, at least we know we’ve done everything we can.You can try and you can aim high and see what happens,” challenges Joe. “I still wouldn’t say we deserve or have earnt anything though,” says Will. “It’s just luck, it’s just a game. There’s all sorts of stuff under the surface with us that’s really difficult to manage in our own personal lives but we do it.You get thrown some awesome cards, you keep working as hard as you can and you hope for the best.” While Black Peaks are still making sense of the spot they’ve been thrust in, there’s a sense they’re comfortable basking in it’s light. They are, after all, four friends at the start of a grand adventure. Welcome to the world of Black Peaks. There’s a storm brewing. P
Napoleon With as many vocalist swaps under their belt as timesignature changes in their songs, Devon melodi-posipassion-groove peddlers (their words, not ours) Napoleon are gearing up for their first full length. Expect raging vocal catharsis over twisting guitar/ drum arrangements as new vocalist Wes Thompson stakes his claim. Up Next: The album’s on its way.
Great Cynics Scratchy and sketchy indiepunks Great Cynics have been plugging away on that infamous toilet circuit for years. With their third full length album ‘I Feel Weird’ now out in the world, they’re set for more globe-trotting runs. Up Next: They’ve just wrapped up yet another UK tour with The Sidekicks - more dates surely await the eagle-eyed. 33
mI ilk TeI eth
TH I S A I N’ T A SC ENE...
Life on the road can be tough, but for those busy bees in MILK TEETH, it’s allowing them to grow in ways they just didn’t expect.
T
Words: SARAH JAMIESON. Photos: EMMA SWANN.
here are all sorts of ways to get noticed these days but some say that the best way to make your mark is to quite simply get out there and start doing it. If Milk Teeth are following any sort of recipe for success, it’s that.
tour,” he begins, explaining their recent endeavours, “and we had booked the Frank Iero tour. Then whilst we were out, we booked the Frank Carter tour, and we did the show for you guys in London” - for more on that, head to p14 - “and thought that we might as well put on some more shows beforehand!”
every night, they would be there and they were listening. They cared. A lot of the kids that were at those shows now come to our own shows that we play, and that’s really nice to see.” If anything, the experience has been priceless for the Bristol-based four-piece on all accounts. Having already offered up a hefty slice of their scuzzy-aroundthe-edges alt-rock with their EP ‘Sad Sack’, it’s been their life on the road that’s still teaching them how to really up their game.
“Yeah, I’m good,” begins the band’s guitarist and vocalist Josh Bannister, who’s back at home near Bristol. “I’m finally recovered from the last few months of touring, getting my life back on “It’s been track now.You brilliant,” kinda of have enthuses Josh. two separate “We thought routines. I have JOHN BANNISTER, MILK TEETH that, before we the one I have went on these at home, and Another blessing of their tours, we came into our own then I go on tour and it gets recent live circuit has been when we played live, but we messed up. So, it’s been a case introducing themselves to really feel like we’ve come of getting used to getting up a such an array of music fans: even further. The more you decent time and stuff like that, “With the Frank Iero fans, tour, the better you get at it but I’m back on track now.” the kids who come to those and we’ve toured for so long, shows are fantastic,” he Over the first half of 2015, playing shows pretty much explains. “They appreciate Milk Teeth have pretty every night, that it’s been everything that they get put much been here, there and brilliant for us as performers. in front of them. Obviously, everywhere else in between. We’ve learned a lot from it the show was much more for Just a handful of weeks ago, and I think we needed to do Frank Iero than anyone else, they found themselves on it. I think every band should. their third tour in a row, but everyone else got exactly Before this, the most we had with almost two full months’ the same response and it was done was ten shows in a row, worth of shows tucked neatly fantastic. When you go on and it’s just been brilliant.You into their collective belts. Safe some tours, wherever you just throw yourself into it to say, the quartet don’t do sit on the bill, sometimes not and your body is gonna hate things by halves. being the headliner can feel you for it; but when we were doing it, we were in the best quite detrimental and it can “We booked the Title Fight place we could’ve been.” P feel like nobody cares, but
“The kids who come to those shows are fantastic.”
Hindsights Storming out of that one-time musical hotbed of Berkshire, Hindsights’ debut album ‘Cold Walls / Cloudy Eyes’ has seen them jump several steps of that staircase to national rock royalty. All swirling reverb and heavy, emotional sentiment, the four-piece are sharing stages with their comrades in dirt and grunge. Up Next: Currently on the road alongside US emo m8s Prawn.
Richa If doom-laden alt-rock is more your thing, then Richa are here to bum you out. In a good way. Sharing some DNA with Balance & Composure and the like, and yet all wrapped up in pitch-black bedsheets, the Hereford quartet’s wardrobes probably aren’t cut out for summer camping, but their tear-jerking, skyward-sent choruses most definitely are. Up Next: New EP ‘Inhale/ Exhale’. And they’re recording in a church. 35
THI S AI NT A SC E N E . . .
h
s w no h Woa
Plymouth punks WOAHNOWS have produced the surprise album of the summer. But where will it take them? Words: ANDY RITCHIE
“W
e’ve been a band for about three years now,” begins WOAHNOWS frontman Tim Rowing-Parker. We’re talking to him outside Brighton’s Pavilion Tavern – the Pav Tav to those familiar – in the heart and chaos of The Great Escape. Tonight, his band play as part of the annual Big Scary Monsters vs Alcopop! extravaganza, but right now he’s munching down on a local Grubbs burger, recounting the Plymouth punks’ story so far. “We did one EP that we put out with a mate and just stuck it up on the internet for free,
36 upsetmagazine.com
then BSM were up for putting out the next one. We’ve just been doing odd bits and bobs – touring bits here and there. We’ve generally used the band as an opportunity to travel – most of the European tours we’ve done – we go to Greece, Spain, shit like that. It’s just an excuse to do it.”
Their debut album ‘Understanding And Everything Else’ surfaced in May, stuffed with 13 indie punk bangers; equal parts irresistible hooks and awkward punk scruffiness. It’s not just a great debut album, it’s a great album, and one you’d think they’d been
toiling away over for their entire three-year existence. As Tim explains, however, it only came to fruition through stepping away from the band entirely.
“When we started writing some songs, we thought we were going to smash this out,” he explains. “We did a long tour with Bangers, then an even longer one with Gnarwolves and we got back home and were like ‘we don’t really want to be in a band anymore. Let’s just not do that for a bit’. We were putting ourselves under pressure – we got a label, then all of a sudden
there’s a PR guy and so on. So we took a bit of space.” Life returned to normal, or as normal as it gets when you return home from being in a touring DIY punk band. “Dan – who was playing bass – was getting married, and the venue he used to run, the White Rabbit, was closing down. Whirley was at home in Bristol, and I was just at home surfing and shit. Walking my dog, so not up to much!” All that time, though, Tim continued to write and the songs started to take shape.
TH I S A I N’ T A SC ENE...
Then, they just kept coming. “You can be lazy with writing by just not doing it. But if you try and force it, it’s just gonna be shit.You’ve got to let certain things come naturally. You can’t go ‘right, pop banger. I’ve got half an hour to do one, let’s go’.” Maybe not, but he’s made quite a few of them. With one album under their belts, then, what’s next for WOAHNOWS? As Tim brings us up to the present, they’re quite content in riding the wave and seeing where the road takes them, with an eye already on album number two. “Where we are now as people, we’re fairly flexible with what we can and can’t do. I think if something comes up that we want to do, then we’ll do it. There’s no pressure. And I’ve been writing loads, I want to start thinking about the next record. It’s not the easiest thing in the world, but we’re going to try and do stuff that we haven’t done before, and avoid treading old ground.” P
r e p E e r C
Signing to Roadrunner Records, it’s an exciting time for the CREEPER cult. Words: ALI SHUTLER. Photo: EMMA SWANN.
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hat’s happening to my band and my life is a dream come true,” starts Will Gould.Yesterday he abandoned the flumes of Splashdown waterpark in Poole to watch the reaction – via mobile phone in the adjoining café – to his band announcing their singing to Roadrunner Records. The label is responsible for releasing the likes of the Misfits’ ‘Famous Monster’, Slipknot’s self-titled debut and is home to Marmozets, Lamb of God, and now Creeper. “It was such a crazy reaction, I was completely
overwhelmed and ended up out of the pool for ages trying to respond to people. It was absolutely manic, really humbling. We’re getting to do things that are beyond belief,” he continues. “We’ve signed to Roadrunner Records, and today we announced support shows with The Misfits. I can’t put across how crazy it’s been.” “We’ve had a lot of people rooting for us,” says Will, a mixture of pride and disbelief. “Everything we did, people kept coming to shows and people kept offering us stuff. It was growing very naturally but very quickly which is unlike anything that’s ever
happened to any of us before. A bunch of different labels got in touch but Roadrunner is the perfect fit for our band.” “We get to do this on a bigger scale and maybe we’ll get to play our songs to more people. We get to put out records out through Roadrunner. We have that legacy and history on our side.” “It’s got completely out of control,” he laughs a few minutes later. “It’s really more than we could ask for. I don’t know how it’s happened but we’re really grateful. We’re going to write some great songs.” P 37
THI S AI NT A SC E N E . . .
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s g u r d on s u AlL
Keep that dirty grunge revivalism to yourself - with road-time continuing to rack up, ALLUSONDRUGS’ favourite ‘g-word’ is graft. Words: BEN TIPPLE. Photos: SARAH LOUISE BENNETT.
“I
t’s because we’re amazing, actually,” the distinctive Allusondrugs frontman Jason Moules provides as the definitive reason for their snowballing success. It’s a statement he offers bluntly; far from playful yet entirely void of arrogance. There’s a commendable self-belief on display that Jason delivers with a nonchalant confidence, punctuated by his relaxed sway that heightens comparisons to legendary Nirvana vocalist Kurt Cobain. “It’s just passion really,” he continues. “People can tell we’re doing it for the right reasons.” 38 upsetmagazine.com
This unapologetic attitude appears to be doing the thick-accented Yorkshire five-piece no harm. If anything, it’s seen them rise through the echelons of the British underground, leading them hastily towards the head of the pack. Those distracted by their free-spirited image and their mischievous persona may find themselves swiftly blindsided by the strong work ethic on which they base their philosophy. “If I wasn’t here, I’d just be at home. I wouldn’t be out or anything. I’d just be playing guitar,” Jason admits shortly before taking to the smallest
stage at this year’s Download Festival. Fighting against his nerves, something Jason isn’t ashamed to openly admit, he explains that everything the band have achieved is down to a relentless work schedule. “What can I say? You do well and you get good gigs,” he states adamantly. “I don’t mean it in a disrespectful way,” Jason offers as an agreeable caveat. Everything offered in conversation carries with it a refreshing sincerity. “You get a lot of bands who wonder why they aren’t going anywhere, but then they only practice just once a week.You know
what I mean. Practice five times a week. Gig five times a week. In two years, see where you are at.” Primarily influenced by grunge, Allusondrugs are quick to shake off the revivalist tag. Mention of the phrase is met with an unsubtle eye roll by both Jason and his bandmate Damien Hughes, who prefers to go as Damo. Musically the band’s overt focus on melody far outweighs that of the genre’s heyday. “There’s not really anything else like us out there,” Damo states tentatively when questioned about their appeal. It’s a sound that has seen them take to various stages with differing focuses over the last eighteen months. Picked up by the BBC, their first big break saw them play the Introducing Stage at Reading & Leeds Festival, leading to a support slot for electro-rock stalwarts Enter Shakari in the first quarter of 2015. “We only played for the first time
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as a band just over 12 months ago,” Jason says humbly, “now we’re playing to one and a half thousand people with Shikari.” A five year plan keeps Allusondrugs rolling. Each milestone, although not dictated by the plan, edges the band closer to their ultimate goal. “Follow your dreams, that’s how it works”, he offers somewhat flippantly. “We just said we were going to take it all the way,” he counters when questioned over the simplicity of his previous statement. “We’re going to sell millions of records. That’s our five year plan, and we’re six months ahead of schedule.” Naturally, exposure has a big part to play in their plan. Both Damo and Jason agree that their placement at a range of eclectic showcase festivals and their tireless touring routine are key in achieving their aims. “It’s one of the main factors that has got us where we are today,” Jason exclaims emphatically, speaking of Allusondrugs’ work ethic. “We’re all workaholics, at least with this type of work.” Their more frivolous impression is underpinned by careful structure; one that provides a path but retains creative control and freedom. “As a musician you can’t just turn up somewhere and expect people to love you,” Jason muses. “You can’t just go on stage and be average.” A lot of time and careful attention is directed into Allusondrugs, and as Damo points out rather matter-of-factly, not all band members partake in the hedonistic lifestyle signalled by their moniker. “People only have to talk to us to decide if we’re right for them or not,” Jason continues. “It’s the same with watching us. That’s why we play festivals, because it’s such a divided crowd. A lot of people like it but they might not check us out any other time.” To those who can’t be persuaded to enjoy their tones, Jason has a fitting response. “I don’t give a fuck
if people don’t like us. It’s not going to stop us doing what we do,” he states with confidence. This assuredness sits alongside their diligence to aid their propulsion. “It’s pointless to worry about what people don’t like about you. We’re not going to change because of it,” he adds. Allusondrugs are completely clear on who they are and what they want to achieve. Their plan pushes them in the right direction, and their unwavering confidence in their own sound keeps them on track. “If anyone tried to change us, we’d just come back with shaven heads,” Jason jokes at the idea of heavy-handed label influence, particularly the idea of being forced to veer further towards traditionalist grunge. “We’d wear matching shell suits… that’s never been done before,” Damo adds with a laugh. “We’ll keep doing this… as long as I don’t die, or we all fall out,” Jason concludes. P
casSelS Words: BEN TIPPLE. Photo: SARAH LOUISE BENNETT.
I
t’s not a bad time to be an alternative duo. From Royal Blood to Slaves, loud two pieces are having a decent go at making it big. Now a pair of comparably young brothers from Chipping Norton, a quaint market town in Oxfordshire, are preparing to make their mark. “[It’s] fairly intuitive and easy,” Cassels vocalist and guitarist Jim Beck offers as an insight into the dynamic of a two-piece, completed by drummer and brother Loz. “As we’ve been playing together for so long it never really takes us long to learn a song and we’re usually pretty in tune with each other. I guess being brothers helps,” he notes, before referencing
the unavoidable sibling drama, “though of course there are the occasional childish spats.” Jim and Loz have been making music together since a very young age, influenced by their rural surroundings. “I think the biggest catalyst was probably boredom,” Jim reminisces about the formation of Cassels. “The more we’ve been playing the further I’ve come to the conclusion that we’ll probably never make a full time living off of music which is what I always dreamed of as a kid; but I’ve also realised that I wouldn’t necessarily want that now anyway,” Jim concludes. “To me it seems that pretty much every band that has got ‘big’ has had to make major compromises somewhere along the line. I could never relinquish control of any creative aspect of Cassels.” P 39
RE F USE D
NOTHING HAS CHANGED It may have been almost two decades since the release of their iconic record ‘The Shape Of Punk To Come’, but now, Refused are here to show exactly why they’d rather be alive. WORDS: SARAH JAMIESON PHOTOS: SARAH LOUISE BENNETT
“T
hey say that the classics never go out of style, but they do.” The first words uttered by Dennis Lyxzén on the opening track of Refused’s undoubtedly seminal album have always stood as a potent, taunting opening gambit.Yet, with almost two decades between then and now, if time has taught us anything, it’s that perhaps on this occasion Dennis wasn’t entirely correct. Seventeen years ago, a punk band from Umeå, Sweden unleashed their third album into the world. They would find their successes in playing to rooms of a few hundred people, but remained unsurprised when they arrived in North America to perform
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for a fraction of that. Then, just as soon as it really began, it all fell apart. The legend of Refused was born. The show that went on to become Refused’s final live set - taking place in Harrisonburg, Virginia back in October 1998 - has safely gone down in history. An already fraught band - one, some would believe, were already broken up - were infamously greeted by police sirens just a few songs into their set. It was there that the young group decided to call it quits and mean it.
“IT’S NOT NOSTALGIA OR. TRYING TO RELIVE SOMETHING.” DENNIS LYXZEN, REFUSED Since then, bands have come and gone but Refused’s presence has always been felt in the background. While ‘The Shape Of Punk To Come’ began its life as a failure in almost every right - doomed to die in that same Virginia
basement - it’s since gone on to become the inspiration, the lifeblood, of some of modern day rock’s biggest bands. Luckily that’s no longer where the story ends, but rather, where it all begins once again.
REF USED
“It’s not easy to sometimes comprehend that something we did a long time ago holds that much meaning, and means so much to so many people.” Dennis Lyxzén is sat amongst his bandmates, having just – quite literally – completed a US tour and hopped on a plane to London. Not even jetlag or lack of sleep is stopping the four-piece this time around. “You become disconnected, you carry on with your life and once in a while, you’d meet someone who’d say, ‘Hey, I liked Refused’ and you’d be like, ‘Oh that’s cool’, but it’s hard to grasp the reach of that record. Once we came out and started playing it, it was like… From being a band who was quite happy if 200, 300 people showed up to go to playing in New York two nights in a row and selling 4000 tickets like that,” he clicks his fingers, “it’s quite surreal.” At the start of 2012, the rumour mill went into overdrive; Refused were making an unprophesised comeback and it was a real second chance to give their record the airing it deserved. What the band didn’t expect, however, was for the reaction to be quite so overwhelming. “We knew there was interest, of course,” offers drummer David Sandström, thinking back to three years previously. “Everyone had been telling us, but it was impossible to know how big it was. People that we know sort of laughed and said, ‘Oh, you’re so detached, you have no idea,’ because we were so surprised. I think, actually, everyone was surprised that it was so intense.” “We’re also kind of dismissive when it comes to our own music,” continues guitarist Kristofer Steen, who was also the mastermind behind their infamous 2006 documentary ‘Refused Are Fucking Dead’. “More than most artists,” he assures, “we’re sort of
hyper-critical, I would say. I think when we disbanded the band we, in a way, dismissed the record. It was quite fresh,” the album was less than six months old by the time Refused split, “and it was a failure, commercially. We felt like, ‘Okay, it’s over’, so it was a bit of a shock because it was our music and we have our own attachment to it, but we had been so actively dismissive of it that it was almost weird to meet the people and see how passionate and insane they were.” “I remember the day we posted the picture of us that said ‘Refused 2012’,” Dennis thinks back. “I was sat at home and just the response on my Facebook [looked like it] was
weren’t the band they had been in the 90s, and that was something they didn’t want to overlook. The shows were about showcasing the most present version of Refused, even after almost two decades away. “I think people tend to fall into that category when they do reunion stuff,” Dennis considers, “they put on the t-shirt they were wearing twenty years ago because they want to emulate what that was. I mean, yeah, we played the songs and we were true to the music and we were true to what Refused were, but we want to be true to who we are as people. I think that’s an important distinction. I think
“I THINK WE KNOW WHAT. REFUSED IS.” DENNIS LYXZEN, REFUSED about to explode. I was like, ‘Oh, people are gonna get excited,’ but I had no idea how that was gonna spread. At that point, I don’t even think we had started practicing!” he laughs. “The response was so overwhelming, I got super nervous. I was sitting at home like, ‘Holy fuck, this is out of control!’” The months that followed saw the band reignite a flame that fans once believed extinguished. Performing live across the world, the quartet played close to eighty shows, including slots at Coachella, Primavera and Download Festival, and proved that they were more than capable of picking up where they had left off so many years previously. Yet, at the same time, they
what people saw immediately, this wasn’t just gonna be nostalgia. It’s a contemporary thing that’s happening, and even more so now we have new music and new songs. It’s not nostalgia and it’s not repeating something or trying to relive something. We’re trying to do new things.”
T
hat’s where the next chapter of Refused really began for the band. After drawing their tour to a close in their hometown of Umeå after a year on the road, things began to click into place. Their thoughts soon turned to the possibility of new music. “We’re all forty-plus now so our lives have many different ins and outs,” explains David, detailing the events which had to happen in order for the
band to get to this point today. “For a thing like this to happen, a lot of things had to fall into place. One thing was that we were all living close to each other. Three of us were playing together and me and Dennis had a band that played violent punk rock so there was a vibe that was different than it had been since the band split up.” He then broaches the elephant in the room. “We have a lot of respect for our fans and we work very hard, but it wasn’t like, ‘Oh my god, the Refused myth! We’ve gotta preserve it at all costs.’ To me, I just felt like Refused was just us.” “It’s our band, that’s the thing,” throws in Dennis. “I think, for a long time, our band was not our band. It was public property and everybody was a part of that. When we decided to come back and start playing shows, we retook some control of our band. The ball got rolling because all of these things, and why we’re here today, is because we started playing as Refused. It’s a special thing. We could play and have other bands, do other things, but once we start playing as Refused, there’s something different that happens. They had songs and they had ideas,” he says, gesturing to his bandmates, including bassist Magnus Flagge, who had begun work on a nameless project before approaching Dennis, “but all of a sudden, it became more like, ‘Maybe these songs should be Refused songs.’” And so, the band’s fourth album ‘Freedom’ was born. “The creativity part of it was the least of our problems,” begins Kristofer, on the subject of their new album. “We always had an abundance of ideas and that was almost the problem. We didn’t have a board meeting about what the
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RE F USE D
So, Shellback, huh? Ever wondered how Refused ended up teaming up with pop super-producer Shellback – the guy behind songs from the likes of Taylor Swift, Britney Spears and Carly Rae Jepson - for two tracks from Freedom? Turns out, it wasn’t actually strictly planned... “It was like we had this little bubble,” explains Dennis, referencing their recording process, “and we thought, ‘Maybe someone else should hear a couple of songs,’ so we had some feedback, as we wouldn’t let anyone listen to what we were doing. We thought, maybe Shellback because he’s an old Refused fan but he didn’t come with feedback, he just rearranged the song.” “It was as much a joke as anything else, contacting Shellback,” Kristofer continues, on just how they came to using his cut-down edit of ‘Elektra;. “We didn’t expect anything. Two weeks before recording was supposed to start, he sent us a new arrangement for the songs. We were a little bit in conflict with what to do with it, so we ended up doing a bit of a mish mash version of the old and new one, but we weren’t happy with it.”
direction was; it was just natural for us to be adventurous and experimental.” “I think we know what Refused is,” the band’s frontman continues. “I think 2012 taught us a lot about what we are and how we interact and play, so when we started writing, there was a certain idea as to what Refused is. Even though it is very diverse and adventurous and eclectic, there’s something in the way we play and the way we sound that is Refused.” From the first pummelling guitars
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of album opener ‘Elektra’, the power and presence of Refused is undeniable. Stark scenes of a dystopian future unfurl as Dennis once again takes on the role of our crazed narrator, and – for a millisecond - it’s almost as though no real time has elapsed since the band last resumed their roles. “I think the surprising thing was that,” starts Dennis, “when we started practicing back in 2012, reading the [early] lyrics, I was like, ‘oh, this is just a naive youngster saying stuff that still means a lot,’ which was quite surprising. I realised that those words kinda held up really well to the backdrop of the world today.
W
hile their return to the forefront of music has been so celebrated, unsurprisingly, that’s not always wholly the case. For some, whatever Refused’s next step was set to be was doomed to disappoint and the band know that. As they joke about maintaining their “legacy” - “The record is not out, so we could still pull the plug on this one…” laughs Dennis. “Now that would be myth-making!” - they’re aware of the criticism they’re set to face but, when everything aligns and gut feelings take
an environment that was just conducive to making interesting and brave choices. Everyone has such a huge grasp on things and we’ve listened to so much more music. We’ve played a lot and thought a lot.” As for what they hope to achieve with their latest offering - never mind, seminal records and explosive splits, stern-worded manifestos and prolonging their own myth their intents are simple.
“We really, really always want to be able to blow someone away,” David offers plainly. “There are people who are into us because of the intensity of our live shows and the music being powerful “When we in that sense, started writing people are lyrics for the into us new record, me because the and David sat music feels down and we like it touches talked about them because ideology and it’s sincere, politics, and and there current events. are people We actually sat who are into down, made us because DENNIS LYXZEN, REFUSED notes and talked they’re about different interested issues and how in what we do in the over, it was only ever the we should approach this. We experimentation of the rock band themselves that could spent a lot of hours working format. I just hope that we make that final decision. on the lyrics because that’s won’t lose any of those also an important aspect of different listeners. I hope that “We were sort of like, ‘what what Refused is as a band. they find what they like about is this gonna be?!’,” admits We came out of the gate with us still.” Kristofer, when returning these political ideas and, [we to the idea that sparked all were] coming from the punk “It’s also for us,” adds of this to happen. “It was a rock tradition of, ‘If you’ve Kristofer. “I’m as much of process of refinding our way got something to say, then say a fan of our music as our into the Refused world, so it loud.’ We had always done listeners.” “We want to to speak. I think gradually we that and now that it’s been be representing the entire reconciled ourselves with the seventeen years, we wanted reach,” concludes Dennis, past and learned how to love to continue that tradition but “and if we can get some the old music.” write with more depth and people to connect with it in more complexity than before, the way that we feel about “We’ve had an incredible because as you grow older, our music, then that’s a creative experience,” David you realise that’s what the fucking success.” elaborates, returning to world is.” the present day. “It was Refused’s album ‘Freedom’ is
“IF WE CAN GET SOME PEOPLE TO. CONNECT WITH IT, THEN THAT’S A FUCKING SUCCESS.”.
out now.
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a o c l e Ro a d der The un luence inf
ROLO TOMASSI
Few bands make it to a decade in the limelight. Even fewer are still trying something new. Then again, most bands just aren’t ROLO TOMASSI. Words: ALI SHUTLER. Photo: EMMA SWANN.
T
en years (and a few months) into a career they never thought they’d have, Rolo Tomassi have just played one of their most fun shows they’ve ever. Last night at The Black Heart in Camden, “everything just came together,” as the band celebrated the release of their fourth album ‘Grievences’ at the second of four tiny London shows. Tonight they’re going to do it all over again at The Waiting Room, but first Eva Spence and Chris Cayford explain how “everything we do from now is beyond anything we could have imagined.” “You’ve just got to go with it. One of the things Gok Wan said about accessorising,” starts Chris on the band’s previous approach, “is that you should always take off the last thing you put on. That was his rule, and ever since I’ve based my life on Gok’s teachings. If you ever think something’s getting too complicated, just take the last thing you did off.” This streamlined approach is reflected in ‘Grievances’, a record that takes a step back before hurtling itself forward. It goes some way to explain how Rolo Tomassi are still pushing against their self-imposed boundaries after all this time. “It’s hard to know what to expect when you’re putting out new music,” explains Eva. “It’s the most nerve wracking part of anything we do because so much goes into releasing an album.” “It shouldn’t really matter what other people think of it, but it does,” ventures Chris. “We, as five people, are very confident in this record but the reaction validates how we feel about it; that the hard work has paid off.” Written over the course of a disjointed year, ‘Grievances’ took its time to come together. “We had a practice space in Nottingham that the boys were travelling up to and I [at home in Brighton] would get rough demos emailed to me so I could start thinking about what I wanted to do lyrically,” says Eva. “It let the ideas work themselves out,” states Chris. “With ‘Astraea’ there were some ideas that could have been developed but because we stretched out the writing process this time, we worked each one
out to its fullest. We have a much more rounded record. It suits our music as well, you can’t write one of our songs in an afternoon,” he adds. “We’re lucky we don’t have to cut things down to three-minute pop songs. If a song is ten minutes long, it’s ten minutes long for a reason, we just go with our instinct.You know when the ideas click together and something sounds right. The songs take a lot of hard work to get them to where we want them, we’re never going to write a record in three months.” “As a group we have so much fun playing shows but recording is something that both Eva and I aren’t that comfortable with,” admits Chris. “It’s a tricky, stressful environment to be in but recording with Lewis Johns, we had a really good time.” “I find recording difficult and Lewis was absolutely incredible,” states Eva. “It’s the most comfortable I’ve ever felt in a studio. His input definitely made this record.” That comfort can be felt from the opening collision of ‘Estranged’ to the ethereal sway of ‘All That Has Gone Before’.
“I don’t feel like we’ve realised the full potential of what we can achieve.” EVA SPENCE “We are getting more comfortable in working together,” Eva says. “It’s the second record we’ve done with Nathan [Fairweather, bass] and Chris and everyone has fallen into their position within the band. That’s given us confidence. We’ve toured the world together and that’s definitely lent itself to how we’ve written. Nobody’s afraid. We feel like we can say anything together, we’re such a tight knit group of people.”. “And we’re all older now, we don’t have to go for that shock factor or try and do something to be a bit out there,” continues Chris. “We can let there be space on a record, be more musically creative with it and add things like strings. We get to push and expand. It’s something we’re always happy to do and it’s something we’ll continue to do on the next record.” “The energy for the heavier songs was from not playing in a year,” Eva offers. “It is a darker record because there was a lot more pent up aggression. We’ve been doing this for such a long time now that having a year off, a lot of stuff caught up with me. It’s a personal album. A lot of our lyrics are confessional, it’s like a diary,” she
says before going on to explain why she doesn’t offer meaning to her own songs. “As somebody who just adores lyrics in general, I think it’s nice to apply meaning for yourself and make it relate to you rather than how one person feels. I like to take my own experience away from music,” she continues. “It’s really cool when people sing along with something you’ve written though. It’s something I will never take for granted.” “This album has our most melodic dynamic moments but songs like ‘Estranged’ are some of the heaviest and most chaotic music we’ve ever written. It doesn’t sound like two different bands,” Chris reflects. “It’s just the feel of them. Once it goes through the process of all five of us having an input, they feel like a family of songs.” “We’re lucky that we’re in the position where we can go in any direction and it not be too shocking, weird or throw people off,” Eva adds before Chris concludes. “It just allows us to grow as a band and it makes the next album even more exciting. “ Ten years is a fearsome milestone and Rolo Tomassi passed it by announcing an album that sees them at their most progressive and daring. “Always with this band, I’ve taken it how it comes,” starts Eva. “If I was to reflect, I just feel incredibly luck for what we’ve done and achieved. When I first joined the band I would not have expected we’d last ten years, toured outside of Yorkshire, or that we would have even recorded an album, let alone four,” she says with a small sense of uneasy disbelief. “It’s not anything I was expecting so whatever expectations I did have, they’ve been completely blown out of the water. Everything we do from now, in the future, is beyond anything I could have imagined. I feel very fortunate to still be doing it and still be enjoying it as much as I am,” Eva concludes. That disbelief replaced with defiance. “I still don’t feel like we’ve realised the full potential of what we can achieve,” Eva points out. “It’s nice to grow with every record and while we’re still very driven creatively, there’s nothing really stopping us. We’re just enjoying it so much at the minute, which is exciting. We’ve just released an album and I’m already excited about what we’re going to work on next. We’re in a really good position at the moment.” “We’re constantly writing,” Chris says with a smile. “This is the third day the album’s been out and we were downstairs sound checking a new song earlier. It’s a slow moving process so we better kick it off now.” P Rolo Tomassi’s new album ‘Grievances’ is out now via Holy Roar. 47
Stomachaches and heartache couldn’t stop FRANK IERO from answering his calling. Now he just needs to get used to the limelight. Words: SARAH JAMIESON. Photos: SARAH LOUISE BENNETT.
F
or someone who’s only 33 years old, Frank Iero has done a lot. Having grown up in the midst of a musical family, his path was set from an early age and since entering into the New Jersey punk scene barely a teenager, his life has gone from one musical juncture to the next. “That’s the thing, I’ve always been in bands,” begins Frank, on the other end of a phone line from somewhere in his native New Jersey. The guitarist has just returned home from a lengthy jaunt around the UK and Europe, and he’s contemplating just what drove him to get back on the road. “Towards the end of my other band [My Chemical Romance], I was doing a project called Death Spells and then when James [Dewees, his collaborator] went on tour with The Get Up Kids, I immediately went into making this record. Then, as soon as I had done the record, I ended up getting a deal and putting it out. I don’t think I know how to do anything else, you know?” Since his early teens, Frank has been in and out of more bands than some people can even think of. From his early groups I Am A Graveyard and Pencey Prep – who released their only record back in 2002 – to the multi-million-selling beast of My Chemical Romance, he has had his fingers in many pies over the years. It was only when his former project wound down in 2013 however, that he realised he had different priorities to take
into consideration. Despite already having begun his aforementioned electronicfused Death Spells, he was also enjoying being a husband and a father to the family he had spent so much time away from already. It was the music, though, that really pulled him back out onto the road. “It wasn’t a decision to make lightly,” he admits, opening up about how touring was back on the table once again. “It was definitely something I had to sit down with my wife and think, ‘I don’t know if…’ I didn’t know if I wanted to do this again, especially in the capacity of how I was gonna do it now. I’ve always been very happy being the guitar player, being the ‘other guy’ who’s a little bit more in the background. To be a focal point or a mouthpiece for a band has just never been a goal of mine. We sat down and I was like, ‘I don’t know if I should do this, and I don’t know if I want to do this.’ She was just like, ‘Well, you’ll never know unless you try it and if you don’t try it, you’re gonna hate yourself for it.’ She just said, ‘See how it goes; if you like it, great, if you don’t like it, come home.’ That’s what I’ve been doing. The second it stops being fun, you have to go home. If I could choose where I would rather be, I would rather be with my family, but this is all I’ve ever known and all I know how to do.”
“THIS IS ALL I’VE EVER KNOWN.”
The very fact that music was all he
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F RA NK I ERO
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FR A N K I E RO
A LITTLE ELBOW GREASE If Frank Iero is an advocate for anything, it’s putting in the hard work. Despite having been in one of the last decade’s biggest rock bands, he’s always more than willing to start over and, as he explains, it’s simply because it pays off. “Yeah, you know, sometimes things aren’t as broken as people think, and if they aren’t broken, you shouldn’t fix them,” he says. “There’s something to be said about putting in work and building from the ground up, doing things yourself. If you don’t do things yourself, it’s probably not gonna get done the way you want it, and if you’re not willing to do it yourself, you shouldn’t expect someone else to do it for you. “I’m thankful for the late nights I spent at Kinkos making flyers and stickers and artwork for demos. I’m thankful for all of the long days I spent silkscreening my own shirts in my basement, because now I know how to do it. I know what goes into it and the good work ethic you need.” 5 0 upsetmagazine.com
knows how to do was even the reason for his latest project. Having suffered from chronic stomach issues for the majority of his life so far, sessions for his newest album ‘stomachaches’ – the debut under his solo guise of frnkiero and the cellabration – stemmed from the pain affecting his sleeping pattern. The music became his therapy, and sooner or later it brought him back to where he belonged, even if it was with a bit of a different agenda. “It’s weird, I don’t know if…” he starts, again referencing his newfound role as a frontman. “I’m getting more used to it and I’m having some fun with it. I’ve been realising that it’s possible to do it on my own terms. If you look at that quintessential frontman, for me that’s always been something that I’ve never wanted to do. Not that I’ve hated it, but it seems kinda funny to me. It’s a little bit laughable, so now I find myself in that position, I’ve realised I don’t have to do it like
“IT’S POSSIBLE TO DO IT ON MY OWN TERMS.”
everyone else has before. I want it to be genuine and I want to be able to do it on my own terms. I feel lucky enough to be able to do it.” His worries about his new position didn’t just stem from him being a bit more fond of the back of the stage - “It’s a rough one, especially for an anti-social person like me!” - either; turns out, it’s a hard job in general, and he’s still learning the ropes. “I mean, that’s the thing!” he laughs. “I didn’t really fully know everything that goes into it. Now that I’m doing it, and at first I was like, ‘Oh man, this sucks, I don’t like this at all,’ but I have obligations that I have to fulfil so the more I do it, the more I learn and am able to control things. Once you get the hang of it, it starts to get more fun. It’s definitely a lot of responsibility; I give singers a lot of credit because I didn’t know how hard it all is until I’ve had to step into those shoes. Especially, being in charge of an instrument that you can’t see, and have everything that you do affect it. If you play guitar, even if you’re not feeling that well or you’re a bit under the weather, you can still play it all night long. If you’re tired, you can muscle through it. But if you have to sing for an hour every night, the third or fourth day it’s hard to have anything left. It’s hard to mask how you’re actually feeling because it shows up in your playing. It’s such a strange thing. I’ve never been that healthy a person, to try to be the best that you can at it, is incredibly hard. There’s a lot of moving parts. On paper, it’s the worst job ever! It’s the worst!” What’s incredible to see, though, is while Frank’s project may have been born from pain and uncertainty, it’s really offering him the chance to be the person he wants to be. Whether that be the father at home, or the musician on
tour, this project is another opportunity for him. He’s never one to take that for granted. “For me, at least, I didn’t expect to be doing this again,” he offers. “It really is a bit of a surprise because after my previous band effectively finished, that was it. I was gonna do other things.” Talk turns to his most recent set of dates. “I don’t know if I went into the tour with any expectations. It’s one of those things where this project is very unique for me because I wrote and recorded the record in my basement; I didn’t really expect to release it or anything like that. So now that I’m touring these songs it’s pretty incredible for me, to play these songs that I wrote in my basement. The fact that people show up is insane. I’m so thankful for it.” “I’m not gonna say I’ve not been tired or sick of stuff because that would be untrue,” he adds, “I think you’d be crazy not to be a little fed up at times. There’s nothing worse than hearing your kids say to you, ‘I miss you, I want you home’, so it’s like, if you’re just out on the road somewhere eating chips and watching TV, it’s like, ‘What the hell am I doing?’” That’s half of the reason that, when he’s on tour, he’ll meet fans, play in-stores and just stay as constantly creative as possible. “If you’re working and constantly playing, it takes up that time and makes it go quicker but you’re also achieving a goal or completing something and that helps and makes the time feel worthwhile. Every little step along the way, every good experience and every bad experience has shaped the person I am today, so I’m very thankful for it.” P frnkiero andthe cellabration’s album ‘stomachaches’ is out now.
RATED
mewithoutYou Pale Horses
Big Scary Monsters
eeeee The ever-influential Philadelphia band tackle the end of the world, refining every fibre of their being in the process.
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ver a fifteen year career, Philadelphia’s mewithoutYou have carved a legacy. While they have never been afforded the same levels of hype as those they’ve so directly influenced, their genrespanning output has been delivered with consistent quality. Now on their sixth full-length, ‘Pale Horses’, they manage to compound all the folk-leanings of their mid-career efforts with the heavier intensity of their earliest releases which, with Will Yip contributing arguably the most ambitious production of his prolific career so far, amounts to their greatest and most complete record yet. Where 2012’s ‘Ten Stories’ followed a pretty strict concept-arc, ‘Pale Horses’ flourishes with the freedom of a more loosely linked narrative, connected by an apocalyptic theme that sees reference to religious doomsday prophecies, criticism 52 upsetmagazine.com
of present-day hypocrisies and exploration of the concepts of life and death along the way. Loose though the connection may be, this is still a record best consumed in full. Littered with Arrested Developmentlevel strokes of self-referential genius, ‘Pale Horses’ is almost impossibly clever, rewarding repeat listens the way that very few albums can. Never overly reliant on intelligence alone, mewithoutYou back up the grandiose with some of the grittiest performances they’ve delivered in the last decade. Interspersed with crescendos worthy of the armageddon they soundtrack, the instrumentation serves its purpose and then some. Not a single note feels like filler, with dark undertones creating a looming calm-before-the-storm atmosphere during quieter sections and verses that manage to maintain and build on that suspense. Almost orchestral in
Bloody great, m8 Prrrretty good It’ll do Bobbins
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its nature, there’s always something huge on the way, whether in the form of the chaotic latter half of ‘Mexican War Streets’ or standout moments like the erratic staggering of ‘Blue Hen’. The payoff never fails to satisfy. Aaron Weiss’ vocal further builds on this complexity, fittingly shifting between lullaby and diatribe with near-frightening ease as he navigates prophetic foreboding on ‘Red Cow’, or frenetic accounts of war on ‘Watermelon Ascot’. Despite taking cues from the likes of Interpol and the bizarrely abstract storytelling of Neutral Milk Hotel, Weiss never strays too far from his own unmistakable style - something that serves to strengthen ‘Pale Horses’’ sense of identity. How many bands can claim to have produced their finest work fifteen years down the line? Surely the creative spark should’ve died by now? Surely there should be nothing left for Weiss to sing about? Surely in 2015 mwY should be little more than a nostalgia act, wheeled out by festivals every few years to play one of their earlier albums in full? Instead, they’ve bucked all trends, exceeded the weightiest of expectations and written a record that would be worthy of such exalted treatment in 2025. A stunning piece of art. Ryan De Freitas
RATED
“The pale horse image signifies the end of the world.” mewithoutYou’s new album isn’t just good. It’s WORLD ENDINGLY good, as Aaron Weiss confirms.
“Five stars! Yay!”
‘P
ale Horses’ is a pretty complex listen, but with it being as great an album as it is (we won’t be handing out 5* ratings willy nilly), that complexity is certainly worth delving into. That’s why we spoke to mewithoutYou vocalist, Aaron Weiss to get an insider’s view on it all. ON THE RECORD’S LYRICAL THEMES… “I had a few different themes for the album and it alternated back and forth between those, until I ended up deciding to try and incorporate all of them. One of those was about my recent marriage and my honeymoon – I got married about a year ago – and my experiences and changes since being married. There’s also some in there about my dad and grandmother dying. My dad died five years ago and my grandmother died less than a year prior to writing the new album, so I definitely had that on my mind and was still processing it. Then some other less personal themes like technology and dystopia, nuclear energy and nuclear war. ‘Progress Gone Wrong’ sort of themes. Mental illness and extreme mental states were
big ones, too. I initially thought they would be encompassed on the whole album. They got on there in pieces, but not in their entirety. There’s also a lot that I wrote in the wake of reading James Joyce and other authors I enjoy. What strikes me as the most salient theme, though, is that of Armageddon; The Judgment Day, End Times, Book of Revelations imagery. Hence the name of the album, the pale horse image that signifies the end of the world.” ON THE SYMBOLISM BEHIND THE ‘RED COW’ THAT APPEARS AS A SONG TITLE… “The red cow is seen as a biblical precursor to the end of the world. There’d be this perfectly red cow that would appear on Earth and that would be a sign of imminent destruction. I read that there was a farmer somewhere in the United States that was trying to breed a perfectly red cow to bring about the end of the world faster. That was a very curious image that just stuck with me.” ON THE ALBUM’S SELFREFERENTIAL TENDENCIES… “I wanted there to be something coherent about the album so that it was all tied together in some way, but I also didn’t want it to come across as too deliberately thematic, which might
have ended up feeling like a rehash of the previous album [‘Ten Stories’] which had a very distinct narrative. I really like a collection of songs to have a distinct identity, so that when you picture it, you can picture an overall landscape or a set of ideas that binds it all together.” ON BUILDING ON WHAT THEY’VE LEARNED IN THE PAST… “Listening to some of our previous albums, they strike me as being out of balance and that they rely too heavily on just one approach of loud aggression and distorted guitars, or they totally abandon that and try to rely too heavily on melody and acoustic instruments and folk structures, which I don’t think is our strong point necessarily. I think we tried to encompass a bit of everything we’ve done before while still introducing something new. I can think of at least two songs on the new album that have a different feel where we tried to incorporate a new genre or new instruments that we’ve not explored in the past. That helps tie everything we’ve done in the past together and add in some ‘new’ to keep it interesting, but ensures that it stays recognisable to someone who already likes our music. P 53
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Refused Freedom Epitaph
eeee Refused’s new album may divide opinion, but it far from tarnishes their legacy.
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eviews about reviews may well be the most tiring form of music writing committed to page or screen, and yet if you read anything on ‘Freedom’, Refused’s first album since 1998, chances are you’ll be able to work out what side of the divide the writer is on before you reach the end of the second paragraph. There are two camps. They hardly need describing. On one side, there are those who probably consider themselves a little more cerebral. Fed on polemic, they feel the band’s decision to release new material is herasy - going back on that venom filled ‘final communiquè’ that claimed “all that we have to say has been said here or in our music/manifestos/lyrics” and demanded (in capitals)
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“THAT EVERY NEWSPAPER BURN ALL THEIR PHOTOS OF REFUSED so that we will no longer be tortured with memories of a time gone by and the mythmaking that single-minded and incompetent journalism offers us.” On the other, those who believe Refused deserve a chance to see what they can do with a platform they were never afforded first time round. That a band like theirs, in a climate such as today’s, might find rich pickings for new vitriol. And that really, getting angry about a band wanting to make music is a little bit silly. ‘Freedom’ is not ‘The Shape of Punk to Come’ - not that such statements should need making. With guitarist Jon Brännström departed, the same band is in there, but if anything they’ve tightened those muscles. More immediate, more direct, what
is lost in subtlety is made up for in raw power. So when they decide to work with Taylor Swift collaborator and Refused super-fan producer Shellback, it isn’t a betrayal of what they stood for, but more an acceptance to push all boundaries. It means ‘Elektra’ opens with an almighty bang - a direct line to ‘New Noise’, a rallying cry that “nothing has changed”. ‘Dawkins Christ’ may not win the Matt Bellamy Award for Complex Political Critique for its title, but that build, scream, release pattern feels like seventeen years in the making, while ‘Francafrique’ achieves the near impossible of turning white boy funk rock into something disturbingly good. To judge a band nearly two decades on from their initial split, on a statement made under different conditions, in a different time, is to expect Refused to be weak; too scared to go back on their word. The punk thing to do is to rip it up, deny everything, and raise hell once more. Defy expectation, ignore the haters, let it burn. The more you look, the more its true shape resembles Refused. Stephen Ackroyd
Northlane Node UNFD
eeee With a new frontman, Northlane have taken it up a level. The departure of vocalist Adrian Fitipaldes in the autumn of 2014 forced Northlane into an uncomfortable position. Adapt or die. Choosing the former Marcus Bridge joined the fold and, with a realigned sense of purpose, they set about constructing ‘Node’. From the wake up cry of, “Daydreamer, rise and shine,” this is the sound of a band demanding a second chance, storming forward with shoulder grabbing inspiration. The initial double tap of ‘Soma’ and comeback track ‘Obelisk’ show confidence with their new skin, while the title track is a flourishing realisation that, in this guise, Northlane could become unstoppable. Ali Shutler
RATED
Senses Fail Pull The Thorns From Your Heart Pure Noise Records
eee An album that’s at its very best when it gets weird and loud. Sometimes bands put themselves on music lockdown when recording a new album; avoiding all other mediums in fear of subconsciously impacting their own work. On ‘Pull The Thorns From Your Heart’ though, Senses Fail allow the influences to fully flood in. With no obvious shift away from their post-hardcore roots, the New Jersey quintet focus on being as heavy as they can. ‘The Courage Of An Open Heart’, ‘Dying Words’ and opener ‘The Three Marks Of Existence’ achieve this new-found force in fearless form, while ‘The Importance of the Moment Of Death’ emphasises an intentional Rage Against The Machine influence. Most notably, it’s the unapologetic nods to Deftones that make tracks like ‘Take Refuge’, ‘Carry The Weight’ and ‘Wounds’ stand out from the pack. As Buddy declares: “Depressions, anxiety and shame, they almost killed me. Obsession, addiction and pain, they almost killed me,” it’s clear that honesty is the best policy. In fact, the entire album is laced with lyrics about loss, misdirection and fear, before notes of courage and compassion read like a letter to the frontman’s former self. “Be the change you see,” he concludes. Final track ‘My Fear Of An Unlived Life’ exposes Buddy’s most vulnerable state,. Despite their accomplished approach to screamo, it’s the weird and noisy moments that deserve to played loudest. Jessica Bridgeman
Vennart
The Demon Joke Superball Music
eeee Former Oceansize man produces a solo debut that demands the limelight.
Mike Vennart was always going to make this album. His history bears no influence on ‘The Demon Joke’ though. From the gentle leaning of ‘255’ to the dizzy heights of ‘Amends’, it stomps with the confidence of a grand vision. Part winding narrative, part charmed objects, he uses both voice and instrument to construct a fable that transports you to another world. As ‘The Demon Joke’ thrives,Vennart stands tall wearing a grin. Ali Shutler
Interview
Vennart After years in cult heroes Oceansize, and on the road with arena dwelling Biffy Clyro, Mike Vennart is finally stepping out on his own. “Even when Oceansize was going, I always knew I was going to do a solo record,” admits Mike Vennart. “I remember saying to Simon years ago ‘I’m going to make a fucking guitar album and it’s going to be me just playing the guitar’ and Simon asked, ‘is that not what Oceansize is?’” The answer was a resounding no. With the release of ‘The Demon Joke’, it’s painfully clear how mistaken Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil was.
Dan Andriano in the Emergency Room Party Adjacent Xtra Mile
eeee The Alkaline Trio bassist’s second album is a massive step up in ambition.
ended up with a surprising mix. ‘Don’t Have A Thing’ strums like Gaslight Anthem on a battered amp. ‘Haunt Your House’ begins as a more confident acoustic “Stare right into my eyes, crawl presence, but becomes a wall of on in,” sings Dan Andriano on sound, declaring “I’m so tired, I his lullaby-esque ‘Pretty Teeth’, don’t sleep.” hinting at more to come with Snoozing is not on the brain the occasional guitar flourish, as ‘Fire Pit’ sets itself as a but holding back until that final harsher Hot Water Music. Loud minute; an epic that doubles as and exciting, it’s a stand out a bold declaration of intent. alongside the summer slam Side projects aren’t just a ‘Lowrider’. ‘Plain Old Whiskey’ chance for fans to experience strips it back, while ‘Lost’ is a bit band members away from more out there, but distortion their main outfit, but for the soon gives way to the vibe of artists to flex their musical the rest of the album, big chorus muscles. Instead of the and all. electronic frolics of Skiba’s Strip a band of its individual recent ‘Kuts’, Andriano’s outfit parts and you’ll find what sees more acoustic influences, drives them. If ‘Party Adjacent’ and a massive step up in is anything to go by, it’s pretty power and ambition from much a snapshot of nights on 2011’s ‘Hurricane Season’. the Revival Tour captured on In penning songs that weren’t record. And that’s good fun all round. Heather McDaid suitable for Alkaline Trio, he’s
“This is the first tour I’ve done with my own music in five years,” starts Mike. “Not a day has gone by where I haven’t thought about doing it or imagining what it might be like though.” He “couldn’t really be happier with the response” to the first few tracks dropped online, but he’s not expecting that to continue. “There’s going to be some stuff on the record that’s going to rub the older audience up the wrong way, but I don’t fucking care. “The thing is, you can’t worry about that,” he explains. “There are things that I would never have got away with in the old band. I get to do guitar solos now, albeit in a stupid way, and that’s great fun. Oceansize’ realm of virtuosity was reserved strictly for the drum department and I wanted to have a go. It’s my turn.” “When you’re in the thick of it, you’re just chipping away at what you think is a good idea. When you finish a song and it works, there’s nothing like it. That’s better than playing to a million people, it really is. Even if no one ever hears the song, it’s still the best thing I’ve ever done.” With the album out there, that confidence will be shared with the world. 55
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60 seconds with
Muse
Bleachers We asked Jack Antonoff a few questions about his new project’s debut album, ‘Strange Desire’. When you were writing this album, you were out on the road with fun., who had just experienced a huge amount of success with their second record. Do you think that situation helped to shape this set of songs?
Drones Warner
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A concept album about the loss of hope. And, y’know, drones. That will kill you.
use’s seventh album sees the larger than life three-piece once again questioning the society that surrounds them. Their slanted view on the modern world has been a staple of their music, from the small town frustrations of ‘Showbiz’ through the power plays and bombast at the heart of ‘Black Holes and Revelations’ to ‘The 2nd Law’’s attack on global chaos. As each album passes, Muse always have something bigger to say. Enter ‘Drones’, a concept album about the loss of hope. And, y’know, drones. That will kill you. Dead. The stadium pomp of album opener ‘Dead Inside’, all twitching synths and
Definitely. I think being on tour in that situation, I just felt this need to keep writing. I didn’t wanna get wrapped up in what it meant to be in a ‘huge band’. I wanted to stay connected to the music I was making and the performances, so I think my reaction to everything that was going on was just to lock myself in the hotel every day and write a lot. It really feels as though you’ve experimented on ‘Strange Desire’. What pushed you to do that, in terms of production?
scattergun drums, starts the (hardly subtle) narrative with an angst-ridden takedown of unrequited love before ‘Pyscho’ puts a loaded gun to the head of this spirited intimacy and ‘Reapers’ pulls the trigger. But sidetracked by their oft-confused, never subtle, stand against – quote unquote – The Man, ‘Drones’ quickly descends into a struggle for direction. Matt Bellamy’s lyrics have often been questionably heavy handed, but the more he toys with metaphor and revolution, the more he sounds like a petulant teenager writing his first awkward words. His vocal delivery remains unique, but as soon as that voice stops being an instrument and the lyrics come into focus,
With production and writing and stuff like that, it’s really just whatever I’m feeling. I would never do anything that’s reactionary. I would never want to do anything because something else is a certain way, so I’ll do this that way. It’s more just based on what feels right for the song or the album.
Sorority Noise Joy, Departed Topshelf Records
eeee
I Bleachers
Strange Desire Columbia
eee A year on from its initial US release, Jack Antonoff’s post fun., poptastic project finally gets a UK airing. 56
the whole affair becomes too jarring to avoid. In a bid to return to their roots, Muse have ended up retracing their steps. There are moments of genuine excitement dotted throughout ‘Drones’. The middle section of ‘The Globalist’ flawlessly marries the two extremes of Muse’s sound together, while the broken plea of “show me mercy please,” is the most genuine Bellamy’s sounded. Unfortunately, as the band lurch between over considered and under developed, these sweet spots are a rarity. For a band who strive to push boundaries and wear that sense of adventure with swelled chests, ‘Drones’ comes across as an album that often looks at its feet, and stumbles around that safe middle ground. As the choral conclusion comes to meandering end, we’re left with far more questions than answers. Ali Shutler
t’s an odd thing, the zeitgeist - because that’s what fun.’s Jack Antonoff has found himself riding of late. Mr Lena Dunham has always had an ear for a pop song, but since bandmate Nate Reuss decided he was off to make a solo album, and he started writing with the world’s biggest pop star (that’s Taylor Swift, durrr) his abilities have been thrust into the limelight in spectacular fashion. A project described as ten years in the making, Bleachers shows Antonoff’s talents unleashed. ‘I Wanna Get
An album that positions Sorority Noise as the heirs to the throne. Better’ is both saccharine sweet and undeniably infectious, while ‘Rollercoaster’ is the song The Killers’ Brandon Flowers has spent a career trying to perfect. When he hits the mark, the ability to craft effective, smart, all American FM pop rock is undeniable - but the peaks, as high as they soar, aren’t wholly consistent; occasionally finding themselves with all the right moves, but without that earworm magic. If Bleachers find an extra gear, world domination would be undeniable. Dan Richards
Previous material saw Sorority Noise grouped with countless other ’emo revival’ bands; this, their second fulllength, sees them outgrowing that tag. Detailing the darkest of post-teen experiences, that such subject matter has been transposed into major-key rock songs takes nothing away. No matter how brave a face is worn on these songs, the underlying pain that anchors them isn’t a million miles away from what made Weezer’s ‘Pinkerton’ such an enthralling listen. Ryan De Freitas
RATED
Cassels
Citizen
Everybody is Going to Heaven
Hating is Easy EP
Run For Cover
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Just when one genre settles on the brain, they shift gear.
A notably different record without ever going out of its way to alienate.
What can four tracks really tell you about a band? They seem to fly by, but in the case of brothers Jim and Loz Beck, it reveals a heck of a lot. ‘Hating Is Easy’ cuts to the chase on what Cassels offer - a cataclysm of brashness, tempo and styles. Think early Biffy Clyro’s penchant for mixing anything and everything that sprung to mind but grungier, and you’re on the right line. Ambitious without frills, ‘Hating Is Easy’ doesn’t fit in to one box. Cassels only had minutes to gain your attention, but we’re most definitely listening. Heather McDaid
While it’s unfair to judge a band on what their peers are doing, the rapidly changing nature of their musical landscape poses some questions: how are Citizen going to progress? It would’ve been easy to succumb to peer pressure, bust out the delay pedals and start wearing Slowdive shirts; almost as easy as it would’ve been to rewrite ‘Youth’ Instead, they’ve managed to make a notably different record without going out of their way to alienate their existing fanbase. Ryan De Freitas
Desaparecidos Payola Epitaph
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Time away has only made Conor Oberst’s band more charged than ever.
f it wasn’t for Refused (see page 54 - Ed) and Failure, Desaparecidos’ thirteen and a bit years between albums would look like an even more ridiculously long gap. As it stands, their esteemed peers have made Conor Oberst’s garage punk troupe look positively punctual, finally getting round to following up 2002’s much revered ‘Read Music/Speak Spanish’. But this isn’t a time keeping competition; if Desaparecidos have returned, it’s because they have something important still to say. Packed tight with ‘us vs them’ rage, ‘Payola’ is Oberst and co. letting rip. Its message is clear and direct - its politics uncomplicated, uncompromising and loud.
Bully
Big Scary Monsters
Recorded over a period of years, and featuring a decent wedge of material that’s previously been released on various 7” singles over that time, there’s a certain familiarity to much of Desaparecidos’ second album - but if anything, that only helps keep it tight. ‘Backsell’ loads and releases like a swan off shotgun, ‘MarriKKKopa’ crunches in all the places with its demands to ‘drag them from their beds’, while ‘Radicalized’ is as pop as it is punk, with its repeating refrain. ‘Payola’ still feels current, though. Against Me!’s Laura Jane Grace’s cameo on ‘Golden Parachutes’, for example, only helps to dial up the fist pumping volatility. What it lacks in subtlety, it makes up for with heart. Dan Richards
Feels Like Sony
eeee A subtle call to arms veiled under an irresistible sound.
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n ‘I Remember’, the opening track on Nashville based four-piece Bully’s debut full-length, Alicia Bognanno launches into a grunge-heavy onslaught that captures a carefree vibe without pulling any punches. It’s a juxtaposition that dominates ‘Feels Like’; slinking between spitting vocals and sun soaked guitars. The perfect balance, in part thanks for Bognanno’s self-production credit, subtly pushes the record away from revivalist territory, instead oozing with originality and charm. Comprising a combination of new material and reworked tracks from their 2014 self-titled EP, ‘Feels Like’ showcases the band’s range whilst maintaining a careful consistency. The newer tracks carry an increasingly That New Sound experimental nature, building on You’re Looking For the comparably uncomplicated Hopeless Records earlier material. Bully succeed eee at both, pulled together by Bognanno’s open-book lyrics; A polished and fun a plethora of introspection, collection, shoops and tackling tales of anxiety, selfall. worth, uncertainty and growing up. What’s Eating Gilbert, the side Above all, Bully offer a release. project of New Found Glory’s As Bognanno’s vocals both spit Chad Gilbert, has had a few and serenade, the final message outings, but nothing concrete. is one of freedom. Regardless ‘That New Sound You’re of the lyrical content ‘Feels Like’ Looking For’ isn’t exactly remains wholeheartedly upbeat, a leap from these tracks; with liberating overtones ever‘Follow Her Around’ might present in the record’s thirty as well be plucked from the minute running time. Bully display Grease soundtrack, ‘Show Off’ a ferocious attitude that perfectly channels ‘Teenage Kicks’ meets unpicks the anxieties and selfJerry Lee Lewis, and ‘Recurring doubt. The beachy baselines and Dreams’ is - surprisingly - a effervescent guitar work lay song about a recurring dream. waste to any negativity and allow It doesn’t take long to clock ‘Feels Like’ to truly shine. that every song is lyrically what On ‘Trash’ Bognanno spitefully it says on the tin, no mystique declares her susceptibility to or sweeping metaphor, but self-loathing; “It’s magic how you musically it’s a sugar sweet homage to eras gone by. Take make me feel like trash,” she one look at the album cover spews. Emblematic of the album and you immediately get the in its entirety, it’s a subtle call to entire vibe of the album; it just arms veiled under an irresistible clicks. While many blend into sound. ‘Feels Like’ breaks Bully one another, every song fits, away from their insecurities and, and each is as enjoyable and in doing so, explodes onto the catchy as the one before it. scene with a disarming beauty. Heather McDaid Ben Tipple
What’s Eating Gilbert
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LIVE The Movielife with Gnarwolves and Apologies, I Have None Electric Ballroom, Camden
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ever mind the last 12 years, The Movielife have spent the 24 hours prior to tonight’s show making sure it even happened. Factor in a cancelled flight, a handful of last minute cab rides to JFK and five new plane tickets, and it feels as though the strains of their entire career have been condensed into one day for full dramatic effect. While the fans may be oblivious to how close they came to clutching a defunct ticket, the look of relief across the band’s faces suggests they were all too aware. First though, London trio Apologies, I Have None warm up the crowd on home-turf. It’s a little empty and there’s an undeniable need to hurry along the headliners, but when you’ve waited this long to see The Movielife, a charming set from AIHN is no biggie. For those who listen, there’s a dull air of The Menzingers about this triplet that makes them viable openers for such an occasion. Similarly, Gnarwolves are suitably modest about their main support billing, not that you’d expect much else from the Brighton three-piece. “This one’s for the skate rats,” proclaims bassist Charlie, before singer and guitarist, Thom, remembers to plug their upcoming tour with Anti-Flag. The UK punks leave tracks like ‘Bottle To Bottle’, ‘History Is Bunk’ and ‘Melody Has Big Plans’ to warm up everyone’s vocal chords. Job done. It’s all go from the crash of Evan Baken’s cymbals on ‘Face Or Kneecaps’, as the familiar lyrics – “all those fucked up things you put me through” –
PHOTOS: SARAH LOUISE BENNETT
levitate the 1,100-cap venue. From there, The Movielife – Vinnie Caruana, Brandon Reilly, Dan Navetta, Phil Navetta and Evan Baken – look to ‘Pinky Swear’, ‘I Hope You Die Soon’ and ’10 Seconds Too Late’ to lead the ‘This Time Next Year’ section of the set. 2003’s ‘Forty Hour Train Back To Penn’ proves more popular with fans here, as ‘Kelly Song’ provides the real pinch me moment everyone’s been waiting for. “We’d like to come back and see you soon, if that’s okay?” asks frontman Vinnie. “It’s a date,” he adds, as the room erupts with cheers. Frankly, any other response would’ve been downright awkward. So as he mouths ‘this means the world’ after the final notes of ‘Jamestown’, it’s clear that The Movielife’s comeback won’t be a short-lived affair. As special as tonight will be for fans, this isn’t the last we’ll be seeing of the Long Island legends in London. With time to settle in their roles, and to turn their minds to new material, their next visit to the UK stands to be even sweeter. Jessica Bridgeman
RATED
Interview
The Movielife
Interview
Gnarwolves If you believed everything you saw on Instagram, you’d probably think that when DIY punk bands aren’t touring the world relentlessly, they’re at home living off mum and dad, perfecting their kick-flips on time-lapse and eating pizza in their pants. For Gnarwolves frontman Thom Weeks, his Brightonbased reality couldn’t be further from the lo-fi filter. “I’ve got a really good job,” he explains en route to Buckingham Palace. “I’m a mental health support worker.” When he’s done detailing his band’s plans for another phenomenal year ahead,
he plans to head off for a day of sightseeing around London, with stops at Westminster and Camden Lock. “Really bad time management is how I get through it all,” the 27-year-old admits, adding that his employer of five and a half years may only be lenient of his punk-rock double life for so long. “I guess there will be a day when they tell me I’m not allowed to come back to work, because I take too much time off, but I really hope not.” If ever there was a time when Thom’s nine to five could well feel the weight of Gnarwolves’ success, it’s now.
There’s a fine line that separates a reunion show from the full-blown effort of reforming a band for good. When influential Long Island mob The Movielife took their second attempt at getting back together in December 2014, their initial run of live shows, along with the prospect of UK tour dates, were at the forefront of fans’ minds. For band members Vinnie Caruana, Brandon Reilly, Dan Navetta, Phil Navetta and Evan Baken, there was a much longer game plan in mind. “In 2011 we reformed to try and do this,” singer Vinnie explains. “It quickly dissolved because we just weren’t ready to do it and we were forcing it to happen. “This time, there’s no forcing anybody to do anything.” The mere thought of The Movielife writing new material in 2015 may be enough to dub this a permanent proposition, but as they explain, their future lies in the hands of fans. “This isn’t a thing where we’re opening the door and then shutting it again,” says Vinnie. 59
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Three things we learned from a rare Brand New interview Brand New’s Jesse Lacey has done a rare interview with RockZone Magazine and, in peak Brand New News, it’s in Spanish. With a crack team of Reddit users armed with Google, we’ve translated the whole thing. Here are a few things we learnt from it.
THERE IS A NEW BRAND NEW ALBUM.
“We have a new album to put out but the thing is, it’s not ready. Hopefully it will be out this year. We still don’t know if it will be an EP of seven odd songs or the traditional album of 14. We’ve been working on a lot of songs but sometimes it’s good to leave them to rest before you deal with them. Some days we feel ready to release them, others we feel like they need more time.”
THERE MIGHT BE AN OLD BRAND NEW ALBUM.
“[The leaked ‘Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me’ demos] were like abandoned children and, as people listened to them and fell in love, it helped rescue them. I think some of those songs are among the best I’ve ever written so we wanted to give them the importance they deserve. I think that the tapes are going to be released soon.”
THERE’S A REASON ‘MENE’ SOUNDS LIKE A ‘TDAG’-ERA SONG. “‘Mene’ is older than the new songs we have written. We probably started working on it when we were working on ‘The Devil and God’. We rediscovered it recently and we liked it. Ten years ago we didn’t.“ 60
Brand New Brooklyn Bowl, London
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ult; a word that is bounded around with reckless abandon, doesn’t even come close to describing Brand New’s status. The online world was awash with frustration and desperation as limited tickets to tonight’s show went on sale as part of a short UK run that has also seen the band take in three other cities. Those lucky enough to get their hands on tickets gleefully forgo the beaming sunshine to cram into the depths of London’s The O2; specifically the sensory onslaught of Brooklyn Bowl. The crowd’s excitement is immediately evident. Anticipatory grins line every face from the bar to the in-use bowling lanes. The atmosphere is buzzing as the venues multiple lighting rigs project a wave of dancing spotlights on the expanding sea of diehard fans. For some unexplained reason the crew are adorning the mic stands in flower garlands. Why not? After all, this is Brand New. Cue: eruption. Brand New enter the stage to a reception destined to rival that of Take That – who are serenading the throngs in the adjacent O2 Arena. Donning a casual beanie, frontman Jessie Lacey stands at odds with his flowers but on point in his vocals. Brand New sound better than ever. Stories of audible difficulties that have previously plagued tonight’s venue, and even tonight’s band, are laid to rest. ‘Mene’ sounds
PHOTO: Jay Maude
stunningly brash as it opens the nineteen track setlist. In typical Brand New style the evening continues in a formulaic fashion, blocking tracks together by album. A one-two from ‘Daisy’ followed by double from their seminal ‘The Devil and God Are Raging Inside Me’, before proceedings hit fever pitch for ‘Sic Transit Gloria…’. It’s a rise from the exhilarating to the electrifying, with energy levels only dipping slightly for the surprise appearance of b-side ‘Brothers’. Even a broken guitar strap during ‘Dugausser’ can’t slow Lacey and co. down. There’s no sign of the audience getting tired either. Opening the encore, ‘Soco Amaretto Lime’ encourages a charged return of the anthemic refrain, as repeated chants of “you’re just jealous cause we’re young and in love” fill the room long after Lacey concludes his solo performance. By the time the band finish ‘The Quiet Things That No One Ever Knows’ the room is filled with an overwhelming combination of glee and exhaustion that will stay with fans for hours, days and months to come. As punters filter through the exits with overwhelming feelings of awe and amazement, it’s abundantly clear that this was something very special. Tonight is about family. Tonight is about a brand new family. There’s a lot to be said for shared experience. Ben Tipple
RATED
On the road
Lonely The Brave The Tabernacle, London
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PHOTO: Shiona Walker
et back from the road in the midst of West London’s decadent terraced housing lies Notting Hill’s The Tabernacle, a modern multipurpose venue steeped in religious history. Affectionately known as The Tab, tonight’s venue is lined with tiered seating and old church pews, welcoming the lucky few who have secured tickets to Lonely The Brave’s ‘Redux’ performance. The premise, like its setting, is grandiose. Having reworked their critically acclaimed debut ‘The Day’s War’, the evening promises stripped back versions of the band’s catalogue, a string section and a healthy dose of atmosphere. The lighting is fittingly set to sultry as the opening notes of the album’s instrumental ‘Intro’ envelop the stunning venue, and the band enters to rapturous applause. The string quartet sits motionless as Lonely The Brave saunter into their opening two tracks. Only as ‘Dinosaurs’ gets underway does the accompaniment first come into play, enhancing the reworked track in part yet failing to truly elevate the sound towards the expected crescendo. The sadly underused strings fall back to the wayside as Lonely The Brave move into an underwhelming Bruce Springsteen cover.
Things largely fail to take off from here. The organic atmospheric highs that usual dominate Lonely The Brave’s performances are lost in the redesign, with the string section struggling to counteract what has been lost in the simplification. Frontman David Jakes - although never the most confident of frontmen - looks increasingly uncomfortable, losing his vocal footing on numerous occasions. All the while the anthemic sound claws at the forefront, disallowed from truly breaking through. On a few occasions all the elements balance brilliantly, offering a glimpse of what Lonely The Brave can be. Set closer ‘Backroads’ is spine-tinglingly good, unleashing their distinctive atmospheric sound and complimenting it with the quartet. Jakes removes the restrictions on his vocals, belting out the chorus without a shade of insecurity. In this moment, the idea makes complete sense. A masterstroke. Yet it’s a bittersweet end to an interesting evening. Affected by an underused string section, a reserved reshaping and a reluctance to truly let loose, Lonely The Brave only scratch the surface of their musical imagination. Although tonight is undoubtedly special for many, Lonely The Brave offer more atmosphere in their everyday set than they do in their ‘Redux’. Ben Tipple
Tellison set for Upset UK tour On September 18th, Tellison release their third full length album ‘Hope Fading Nightly. (read more about that on p21 - Ed), and to celebrate, Upset is bringing you the band on an intimate UK tour. Kicking off in Southampton on September 19th, they’ll then play Brighton, Cardiff, Hull, Liverpool, Leicester, Bournemouth, Norwich and London - with details of a special release day show for ‘Hope Fading Nightly’ still to be announced. Check out the dates in full now. We’ll see you there. SEPTEMBER 2015 19 Southampton,The Joiners 20 Brighton,The Hope 21 Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach 22 Hull, Fruit 23 Liverpool, Bumper 24 Leicester,The Firebug 25 Bournemouth,The Anvil 26 Norwich,The Owl Sanctuary 27 London,The Lexington 61
W E A R E B U I L D I N G A R E L I G I O N , A L C O P O P ! R E C O R D S & U P S E T P R E S E N T. . .
19 20 21 22 23
S O U T H A M P TO N , J O I N E R S B R I G H TO N , T H E H O P E C A R D I F F, C LW B I F O R BA C H HULL, FRUIT LIVERPOOL, BUMPER
24 25 26 27
LEICESTER, FIREBUG BOURNEMOUTH, ANVIL N O R W I C H , OW L S A N C T UA RY L O N D O N , T H E L E X I N G TO N
tellison.co.uk / ilovealcopop.co.uk / wearebuildingareligion.com / upsetmagazine.com
Next month in Upset
READING + LEEDS ‘15 Get ready for the biggest rock weekend of the year. On the streets
FRIDAY 21ST AUGUST
TEMPLES – PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING – AUGUSTINES SAINT RAYMOND – DON BROCO – PETER HOOK & THE LIGHT (JOY DIVISION AND NEW ORDER HITS SET)
TRUCK X SWITCH PRESENTS
SHY FX – MY NU LENG – GOTSOME – DJ LUCK & MC NEAT – SWITCH DJS DARWIN DEEZ – FAT WHITE FAMILY – PULLED APART BY HORSES – GHOSTPOET SLAVES – LUCY ROSE – RAE MORRIS – D.I.D – EAGULLS – THE WYTCHES – BO NINGEN RALEIGH RITCHIE – SUNSET SONS – HONEYBLOOD – JAWS – ALL WE ARE – THE BOHICAS SUMMER CAMP – NOTHING BUT THIEVES – DMA’S – RAT BOY – THE MAGIC GANG – NEON WALTZ BABY GODZILLA – TELLISON – JAKE ISAAC – BLAENAVON – SPRING KING – BRAWLERS – BEASTS ALLUSONDRUGS – DEMOB HAPPY – NEW DESERT BLUES – TALONS – WAYLAYERS – BLOODY KNEES WOAHNOWS – DELTA SLEEP – FREEZE THE ATLANTIC – POLEDO – ODC DRUMLINE – KING PLEASURE & THE BB’S FOX CHAPEL – RICKYFITTS – DINGUS KHAN – GANG – WALLFLOWER – DELORA – SULKY BOY – FEVER
VETERANS AND VIRGINS STAGE ALPHABET BACKWARDS – BALLOON ASCENTS – CO-PILGRIM – DEATH OF HI FI – DECOVO FLOWERS OF HELL – INTERLOCUTOR – LITTLE BROTHER ELI – MAIIANS – ORANGE VISION – PINEY GIR POLLY & THE BILLETS DOUX – RAINBOW RESERVOIR – SHAPES – THE DREAMING SPIRES – THE EPSTEIN THE FICTION AISLE – TOO MANY POETS – WATER PAGEANT – WILL JOSEPH COOK
THE GREAT WESTERN SALOON BAR AGS CONNOLLY – CASE HARDIN – DANNY & THE CHAMPIONS OF THE WORLD – DELTA BELL DON GALLARDO & FRIENDS – FRANKIE TEARDROP – DEADJASON SERIOUS – KNIGHTS OF MENTIS LEGENDS OF COUNTRY – PASSPORT TO STOCKHOLM – PAUL MCCLURE – PORCHLIGHT SMOKER PRESIDENT SWEETHEART – REDLAND PALOMINO CO – SIMON STANLEY WARD – SMALL TOWN JONES STEVIE RAY LATHAM – THE FRUITFUL EARTH – THE IMPELLERS – THE JAMIE FREEMAN AGREEMENT THE LONG INSIDERS – THE ROSELLYS
TICKETS £79.50
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