MOOSE BLOOD
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upsetmagazine.com Editor: Stephen Ackroyd (stephen@upsetmagazine.com) Deputy Editor: Victoria Sinden (viki@upsetmagazine.com) Assistant Editor: Ali Shutler (ali@upsetmagazine.com)
EDITOR’S NOTE Occasionally a
band steps up a level. Crosses a new boundary. Moves into a gear previously untested and breaks through to fresh ground. Metaphors are all very well, but beating around the bush aside, Moose Blood’s new album ‘Blush’ does all those things and more. They’ve always been an exciting lot, full of promise. On album two, they’re realising it in spades, turning in one of the undoubted records of the year. With divides bridged, with any justice it’ll be huge, hence why we’ve put them on our cover this month. About time too. With company in this issue from Blink-182 and Good Charlotte, plus long time faves Johnny Foreigner, current crushes Charly Bliss and Cane Hill, and all the fun from Download and Slam Dunk, this summer is x looking like a scorcher.
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IN THIS ISSUE RIOT 4. SLAM DUNK ‘16 10. YOUNG GUNS 12. TOPSHELF RECORDS 14. HELLIONS ABOUT TO BREAK 18. CHARLY BLISS 20. CANE HILL FEATURES 22. MOOSE BLOOD 30. BLINK-182 34. JOHNNY FOREIGNER 38. GOOD CHARLOTTE
RATED 42. BLINK-182 43. BILLY TALENT 45. YOUTH MAN 46. BIFFY CLYRO 48. TRACKS OF THE MONTH 49. VANNA LIVE 50. DOWNLOAD 2016 56. ARCHITECTS 56. SWMRS VS THE INTERNET 58. LETLIVE.
Contributors: Amie Kingswell, Corinne Cumming, Danny Randon, Heather McDaid, Jack Glasscock, Jade Curson, Jasleen Dhindsa, Jessica Goodman, Kathryn Black, Kristy Diaz, Phil Smithies, Poppy Waring, Rob Barbour, Sam Taylor, Sarah Louise Bennett, Steven Loftin All material copyright (c). All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of 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. P U B L I S H E D F RO M
THE BUNKER W E LCO M E TOT H E B U N K E R.CO M
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RIOT E V E RY T H I N G H A P P E N I N G I N RO C K
T H E B E S T O F. . .
SLAM DUNK ‘16 I T ’S S L A M D U N K . W E ’ V E C O M E TO E X P ECT A W H O L E BU N C H O F B RI L L I A N T BA N DS B E I N G B RI L L I A N T, A N D T H AT ’S J UST W H AT W E G OT. H E RE A RE T H E V E RY B EST B I TS . WO RDS : A L I S H U T L E R , DA N N Y R A N D O N . P H OTOS : SA R A H LO U I S E B E N N ET T, A M I E K I N G SW E L L
O
ver the past decade, Slam Dunk has established itself as one of the most important, exciting dates in the calendar of UK rock music. From humble beginnings it’s grown into a three leg, multi-stage extravaganza, attracting some of the biggest names in the world and the most exciting bands on the scene.
is contradicted by a tiresome lack of punctuation; cues are missed, notes are snubbed, and both he and his cohorts sound rough around the edges in all the wrong ways. The Florida quartet have doubled their discography since their last Slam Dunk five years ago, but no matter how many hits they cram into this career-spanning set, it doesn’t defeat the fact that these are songs begging for a better performance.
As we decamped to Hatfield for Slam Dunk South to bring you the highlights of what was on offer, this year was no different. WITH CONFIDENCE
P A N I C ! AT THE DISCO M A I N S TA G E
It’s been on the cards for a few albums now but with ‘Death of a Bachelor’ it finally happened. Panic! at the Disco have moved past being the guys who did that goddamn door song. Tonight, as they close out Slam Dunk 2016, the band are very much forward facing. From the pointed ‘Don’t Threaten Me With A Good Time’ through the madcap shine of ‘Crazy=Genius’ until the dark theatrics of ‘Emperors New Clothes’, this really is the rebirth of Panic! At The Disco. And everyone present adores it. ‘LA Devotee’ is undeniably massive, all pulsating dreams and neon pride, while ‘Victorious’ is impossible to be anything but. Heroes always get remembered but nights like this are impossible to forget.
As the Shakespearean saying goes, ‘What’s in a name?’ – Well, in With Confidence’s case, it’s the way the Aussie four-piece bound on to the Fresh Blood Stage, and it pays off superbly. Kicking off their set with ‘Keeper’, these Sydney kids give it some welly with their shamelessly saccharine singles, and it doesn’t take long at all for the crowd to respond by bouncing the floor to buckling point. No matter how sickly sweet the whoa-oh-ing of ‘Take Me Away’ is, With Confidence play with a refreshing conviction which elevates them above the pit of by-thenumbers pop-punk. M AY D AY PA R A D E
Having celebrated their 10th anniversary last year, Mayday Parade have racked up a formidable arsenal of pop-rock bangers to wreak havoc with wherever they go. However, the tireless energy of frontman Derek Sanders as he bounces around the stage in a whirlwind of curly locks and plaid
W AT E R P A R K S
It doesn’t get much fresher on THE Fresh Blood Stage than Waterparks, who are making their debut European appearances at Slam Dunk. Such a sentiment is met in the only way possible for this Madden brothers-approved trio of Texan upstarts: with a playful attitude and adorably nervous stage patter. There are moments of serious potential in the synth-riddled choruses of ‘Crave’ and ‘Silver’ but there are just as many, if not more moments where the expansive power-pop choruses that erupt on their EP, ‘Cluster’, fizzle out into flatter pastures. It’s not worth skating over the bits where they sound like American Idiot-era Green Day produced by Skrillex though – Waterparks aren’t on a slippery slope just yet. REAL FRIENDS
Slam Dunk has never failed to hold a place in its heart (or on its bill) for the earnest, heart-on-sleeve sounds which have pinpointed the North-Eastern US states on the pop-punk globe. With a bit more pace and a box-fresh album, ‘The Home Inside My Head’, to boast, Real Friends shoo away any signs of a late afternoon lull.
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“ I T ’S O N E O F T H OS E A L BU M S
M O OS E B LO O D
W H E RE I
M A I N S TA G E
L I T E R A L LY D O N ’ T K N OW H OW I T ’S G O I N G TO SO U N D.” M A L LO RY K N OX
“2016 is definitely the year of the album,” announces Mikey Chapman. “Since the headline tour we’ve just been cracking on with album three,” adds Sam Douglas. “I think the word ‘fresh’ is something that’s good for us. It’s refreshing to write the kind of music we are, everything feels really brand new again. We feel like a new band in a way. It’s awesome.” Mallory Knox haven’t nailed anything down just yet, however. “We’re trying to keep it ambiguous,” starts Mikey, before Sam interjects. “The best thing about this album is that I don’t know how it’s going to sound. It’s one of those albums where I literally don’t know how it’s going to sound. But in a good way. In a very good way.” Following the success of ‘Asymmetry’ it felt like the band could go anywhere. “I think that’s how it was with us,” agrees Sam. “There are a lot of things that are left to the imagination on this record and I think that’s exciting. We normally have a pretty good idea after
two or three songs where we’re going with a record but this time, it kept snowballing into something different.” “I think the general theme of the album so far has been jamming, trying ideas, seeing what sounds best, and then coming out of it from that side,” continues Mikey “We’re going to go into the recording process doing exactly the same thing.” Despite a record that can go in any which way, the band went into the writing process with a very specific mindset: to have fun. “We found this new confidence that we’ve never had before but, at the same time, we still have this underdog mentality. We’ve always felt like we’re tapping on the door but we’ve never properly been let in, so this album’s got a shit load of attitude.” P
Opening the Main Stage with less of a boisterous exuberance and more of a heart-warming charm, Moose Blood are fast becoming showmen in their own charming, no-frills way. Eddy Brewerton is a humble frontman as always, struggling to stifle his grins of amazement as ‘Honey’ is met with the summer anthem appraisal it fully deserves. Even as their second record, ‘Blush’, looms with higher anticipation than ever before, there’s still time to delve into the likes of ‘Chin Up’ and ‘I Hope You’re Miserable’, the latter of which is a fleeting moment of up-on-your-mate’sshoulders glory.
A hoarse-sounding Dan Lambton powers through the Illinois quintet’s set on The Key Club Stage, but even if his throat wasn’t knackered, he couldn’t match the volume of the crowd during ‘I’ve Given Up On You’. Moments like that, when combined with the crowdsurf-athon on ‘Mess’, are when the Slam Dunk spirit truly shines. HELLIONS
Criminally undervalued on this year’s bill as a last-minute addition, Hellions are primed to explode into a flurry of
MALLORY KNOX M A I N S TA G E
A bit of time off in the first half of 2016 has worked wonders for Mallory Knox as they stride out onto the Main Stage and nail their hooks with the clarity and the instantaneous catchiness they’ve long demanded. There’s not an inch of room for any filler in this set between the likes of ‘Getaway’, ‘Beggars’ and ‘Ghost In The Mirror’. If they enter the studio this summer to record album #3 with the same sense of authority (not to be confused with cockiness), they might even be faced with becoming Slam Dunk’s next British headliners…
RIOT flailing limbs and frantic riffs night after night if the odds rule in their favour over the coming months. The lion’s share of their set on The Fresh Blood Stage makes for some unrelenting shit-kicking hardcore, but with enough funky nu-metal vibes and math-rock skittishness to keep things interesting. There’s no half-baked tough-guy hokum coming from this Sydney five-piece tonight, but there is enough force in new track ‘He Without Sin’ to send their metalcore contemporaries flying out the water.
“ W E ’ RE A BO U T TO G O F U L L ST E A M .” OF MICE & MEN
Their Slam Dunk shows hinted at it, the release of ‘Pain’ confirmed it. Of Mice & Men aren’t just back, they’re better than ever.
OF MICE & MEN M A I N S TA G E
CREEPER
It sounded like Creeper was the word on everyone’s lips weeks before their crowd-surfing competitions and tear-jerking sing-a-longs made their Slam Dunk debut. The room which hosts the Fresh Blood Stage is packed to its sweat-dripping rafters as the Southampton punks make the next crucial leap forward in what has been a stepping stone of a year, with members of their callous-hearted cult queueing hours before the spookiest show on Earth (or Hatfield, at least) commences. ‘Lie Awake’ and ‘Astral Projection’ have seldom been played with such urgency, and ‘Black Mass’ never ceases to crush any doubts towards the band’s dark majesty. Nevertheless, it’s the moment Will Gould surrenders his mic during ‘Misery’ that will make this set one for Slam Dunk’s history books. N E W F O U N D G LO RY
Occupying what you could call Slam Dunk’s answer to Glastonbury’s ‘legends’ slot, New Found Glory have aged gracefully, but they’re far from becoming the granddads of the festival circuit. As the veterans rattle through ‘Truth Of My Youth’ and ‘Understatement’ outrageously quickly, they could take the Pepsi Challenge against any of the younger pop-punk bands on the bill and leave
The last time Of Mice & Men graced the University of Hertfordshire’s heaving campus, they were on the cusp of something generation-defining. Lo and behold, the Californians went on to become one of a few deserving bands to shake off the shackles of cookie-cutter metalcore and inhale new life through the bigger picture of arena-crumbling rock. That’s not to say that the slamming beatdowns of ‘O.G. Loko’ and ‘The Depths’ are pulled off with any less ferocity up against the more chorus-driven likes of ‘Glass Hearts’ and ‘Feels Like Forever’. When Austin Carlile is on full furious form, he captivates with enough power to crush your head like a beer can. Dare you challenge the man?
them weak at the knees. It’s shows like this that remind you of the consistent brilliance of NFG, so much so that when their harmonious cover of Sixpence None The Richer’s
“We’ve been off tour for nine months so we’re just getting back out on the road. To finish an album on top of that too, knowing the gears are turning and we’re about to go full steam soon… that’s exciting,” teases Phil Manansala, while Alan Ashby shows off his Yeezys. “I’m really excited about these shoes.” “The longer the band goes on, the more you realise it’s a lifelong thing,” he continues. “You make music, it’s just what you do. There’s no ‘You have to do this and this, then that.’ We just do it naturally.” Despite not playing a show for threequarters of a year, it didn’t take long for Of Mice & Men to find their groove ahead of Slam Dunk. “It’s funny, we had two days of rehearsal and then a warm up show. I was really nervous for that first song but after that, it’s like riding a bike.” And that ride is always present when the band are writing new music. “If we write a riff and we don’t band our heads to it, it’s not good enough,” starts Phil, as Alan continues: “I know a lot of bands have one dude who writes everything. We don’t write music like that. When we write music, it’s literally us jamming in a room with all our shit set up as if we were playing a show.” “You gotta be able to play it live,” explains Phil. “It’s always a bummer when you go and see a band you like and they fucking suck. We try and write shit that we know we can do live but you always want to write new music and try new things.” All that new comes to a head on 9th September with ‘Cold World’. Brace yourself. P
RIOT
“AS I T I S SHOULD BE W H AT W E D O. ” E RM , AS I T I S , O BV
After a hectic eighteen months, As It Is are still struggling to comprehend just how much has changed for the band. “That comes in waves,” starts Patty Walters. “When you play a show to so many people, it puts it into perspective of ‘wow, this is incredible’ but also, everything else that’s been happening is incredible. We lose that perspective sometimes, but it’s been a very wild couple of years.” Eager to keep the As It Is train rolling, the band are heading to the studio in July to record the follow up to ‘Never Happy, Ever After’. “We’re definitely not taking some time off. We’re working on album two and we’re loving how it’s sounding. Hopefully this record is at least as good as the previous one. I think it has the potential to be a bit better. “We’ve talked about what As It Is should be for this next record and, for the most part, we’ve said As It Is should be what we do. We’ve just improved upon our strengths and weaknesses and we’ve written some songs we’re all incredibly proud of.” The new direction isn’t “drastically dissimilar to the last record,” he continues, “but we have taken it somewhere new, with new experiences and a new perspective, and I think that shows. It also touching on our experiences of touring relentlessly for the last year and a half and how that’s affected us as people and the relationships we have.” P
‘Kiss Me’ comes around, even the sun is tempted to nudge its way through the clouds. Of course it doesn’t, because we’re in Britain. N E W Y E A R S D AY
Beyond the dark, bubbling synths which usher in ‘Scream’, New Years Day’s otherwise tepid hard rock rarely parallels the horrific intrigue of their image as they headline the Fresh Blood Stage. Ash Costello holds an intoxicating presence as a frontwoman who clearly strives for the solace of her fans, but her sincerity and seething attitude does little for the haunting concepts that frame these dark-souled Californians. The scene wearily referred to as ‘New Grave’ has fallen victim to a short shelf
life, but if New Years Day are able to match their macabre demeanour with something equally bone-quivering on an aural level, there will be much more of a cause for celebration. E V E RY T I M E I D I E
An Every Time I Die show which is anything less than chaotic is not an Every Time I Die show. And there is no doubt that the New Yorkers’ headline stint on the Impericon Stage is an Every Time I Die show – one that swaggers, roars and goofs around with punk‘n’roll carnage of the most unabashed order. A back-to-back run-through of ‘We’rewolf’ and ‘The New Black’ is when things come to merciless fruition – that said, trying to identify a moment where ETID let up is like trying to identify a moment where guitarist Jordan Buckley isn’t testing his weight on any fixture of his choosing: simply impossible. P
RIOT
“IT’S NEVER A DULL DAY IN THE YOUNG GUNS CAMP.” D I D S O M E O N E S AY ‘ N E W ALBUM’?
Y
WORDS: ALI SHUTLER.
oung Guns are back! They may be a man down following the departure of drummer Ben Jolliffe but, as their Slam Dunk shows proved, they’re still swinging. “We haven’t played in six months so there’s that slight element of ‘is anyone going to turn up? Is anyone going to be there?’” admits Simon Mitchell backstage at Hatfield. Turns out their worries were unfounded. “We had an absolute packed crowd. It was amazing.” “We’re built to be busy,” he continues. “We’re built to be busy and when we’re not doing stuff, it feels weird. We don’t like it so even if it seems like we’re not around, we’re always getting on with something. It’s never a dull day in the Young Guns camp,” he teases, which leads us on nicely to that new album. “Basically, in that six months, we’ve 10 upsetmagazine.com
gone away and written it, we’ve recorded it and we’re just getting the mixes back now. We couldn’t be happier about the new stuff. I absolutely love it.” The record is inspired by “things that have happened in our lives over the past three years. The last record we released was ‘Ones and Zeroes’ and it’s amazing what can happen in that short space of time that can influence an album straight away. So, there’s more honesty in the lyrics and that comes from certain experiences we’ve had in the past few months but done in a way that’s relatable. People can find their own way of relating to the lyrics.” “It’s a slightly different direction in terms of lyrical content. The last record was more universal whereas this one, it’s a little more honest. That comes across, that’s definitely a theme for the record.” The band has also drawn influences from elsewhere. “We’re into a load of different things so when we’re not writing music, we tend to do a load of cooking, or we go and eat some good food or do some photography.” Those
experiences are carried back to the studio. “The opportunities are endless and that influences artwork decisions and it might inspire a lyric.” Four albums in, Young Guns are still looking for fresh experiences. The glass is half full. “It was a shame to lose one of your brothers but these things happen,” starts Simon. “It wasn’t a sudden thing, we knew things weren’t quite right. I think what’s important, and what happened with us, is we felt inspired at that point because it’s a new chance for new energy. “We’re working with a couple of drummers on the record and live so there’s no rush to get a permanent member just yet. That in itself gives us some inspiration. Ben was and is a great drummer so it’s a tough job to fill his boots. For us, it’s a new chapter in the Young Guns.” “We’re really happy about this new album. We just want to go on tour and give it the promotion it deserves and so, as long as we’re on the road and playing as many shows as we can, then that’s an achievement in itself.” P
THE NEW ALBUM FEATURING 40 OZ. DREAM AND LIFE CHANGES OUT JULY 15 www.GoodCharlotte.com
TO PSH E L F I S O N E O F U P S E T ’ S F AV O U R I T E LABELS. FROM RECORDS BY SO RO RI T Y N O I S E , N A I H A RV E ST A N D T H E WO R L D I S A B E AUT I F U L PL AC E …, TO TH E U P C O M I N G F I E L D MOUSE ALBUM, THEY’VE WORKED ON SOME PROPER
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOPSHELF! What first made you want to get into releasing records? I think if you could poll everyone who’s ever started a record label, the majority would say it’s not something they specifically set out to do — that they sorta just fell into it. The same applies to us. We started Topshelf as a means to release our own band’s music way back in 2005 and just continued doing it for our friends’ bands in our local music community in western Massachusetts — things sorta just grew from there and before we knew it we were releasing music for musicians around the world, which is still a completely bonkers thing to me. I don’t think we had a sense that this was a real thing until about our fifth release. Our logo was just a sketch that we weren’t intending to keep and our name was definitely just a placeholder until we thought of something better, but after a few releases we kinda realised it was a little late to start changing it all so it stuck. Were you a part of your local music scene before getting involved with/ starting the label? Yeah, for sure. Seth and I hosted 12 upsetmagazine.com
shows in various venues, VFW halls and basements across western Massachusetts, played in a couple bands ourselves and started a preMyspace/Facebook-era show listing / local musicians resource online… I think the URL was like, westernmass. cjb.net or something? Humble beginnings. Did you have a mentor when you started out in the music industry, to help show you the ropes? People have lent us invaluable advice and guidance along the way — which I think is a hugely overlooked component to the music industry in general: by and large, people help each other. Early on, Chris Wrenn at Bridge Nine Records took Seth on as an intern and eventually ended up hiring him. Seth peppered him with questions on a pretty much daily basis and was instrumental in helping us learn how to grow, scale and stay organised as a label. I also remember when we started taking things a lot more seriously, Seth sent out a few dozen emails to labels we liked and respected asking for advice on a few things. Matt Lunsford at Polyvinyl
CORKERS. THIS YEAR, T H E Y ’ R E C E L E B R AT I N G T H E I R T E N T H B I R T H D AY . T H E L A B E L’ S K E V I N D U Q U ET T E LO O KS BAC K AT T H E I R P A S T D E C A D E . W O R D S : S A M TAY L O R . PH OTO: H A N N A H C H A N.
Records was the only person to respond to us and has continued to be a supportive fixture as we continue to grow as a label. Polyvinyl is and always has been one of our favourite record labels so that’s incredibly humbling for us and we’re so thankful! Can you recall working on your first release? Yep. I designed the artwork myself on my 4GB hard drive Dell Desktop computer (lol). The art files were so big that I didn’t have the scratch disk space to save them. I actually couldn’t save the artwork. I forget how we got around this, but I remember that being a significant hurdle. I think we made and sold over 5,000 copies of that on CD. It’s absolutely hilarious to think about how much things have changed since then. I don’t think we’ve even sold that many CDs total of any other release since. CDs! Have you had a ‘wow’ moment while working at the label, where you were suddenly aware you were doing well? There are a lot of cool little anecdotes and memories that this question conjures up for me, but I think as far as the context of ’doing well’ goes, I think it’d be quitting my nine-to-five job
RIOT and starting Topshelf full-time. There’s something really cool (but also kinda funny) about getting your own pay cheque from yourself. Do you have a favourite anecdote from Topshelf’s first ten years? My memory is terrible. It’s abysmal. people are always telling me about things we did together and I’m like “cool, sounds like it was a nice time!” So, whenever I’m experiencing something really nice, sometimes I’ll write a little note in my iPhone notes about it just so I have it to look back on, like a short form diary entry or something, I dunno, like a faux Cam Jansen style memory preservation type thing. I find I’m usually doing this while watching one of the bands we work with perform, or riding in a van somewhere with friends or whatever. It all kind of just blurs together and I can’t believe we’ve been doing this for ten years. The whole thing feels like one big blur of a memory. If pressed, though, I think it might be watching toe’s first ever American show. They’re my all-time favourite band so getting to work with them is a wonderfully rewarding thing. The crowd was overflowing with excitement and I 100% definitely cried during their set. What’s the most exciting thing you’re currently working on? Field Mouse are a band that’s built up an immense amount of good will throughout the years. They’re all some of my favourite individual personalities and they’ve written one helluva new record. We’ll be releasing it on 19th August and I think it’s gonna be what finally garners them the attention of a broader audience that they so very much deserve. I also have to mention that we’re releasing Bellows’ new album ‘Fist & Palm’ on cassette (the always brilliant Double Double Whammy is handling the release of the album via other formats) and I cannot wait for people to hear it. It comes out 30th September and is pure pop magic. It’s my favourite record of the year so far! What do you think the biggest challenges are facing record labels today? I should know the answer to this. I should have an always-at-thetip-of-my-tongue complaint about what could be better. I don’t know, though. There’s a whole onslaught of things stacked against the idea of owning a record label in 2016 — too many. But, I think it’s all in how you
approach it, too. Because those same problems viewed in another light are essentially just new opportunities. So, that’s how I prefer to view things. It’s 2016. There are no rules. We can do whatever the fuck we want — and we do — and it is sick. Seth and I are both 30+ years old now, we’re done playing by other people’s arbitrary rules or doing what’s expected. If you were to give one tip to those wanting to start their own label, what would it be? If you don’t give a fuck, no one else will.
COMING UP
NO JOY - DROOL SUCKER EP Released: 15th July 2016 Noisy Montreal quartet No Joy’s new EP ‘Drool Sucker’ is the first in a series they’re releasing as a “fuck you” to everyone who’s told the band they should be something they’re not. HAPPY DIVING - ELECTRIC SOUL UNITY Released: 5th August 2016 Happy Diving’s fourth record in less than three years, the fuzzladen ’Electric Soul Unity’ tackles universal topics such as freedom, love and pain with hooks to spare. FIELD MOUSE - EPISODIC Released: 19th August 2016 Recorded with Hop Along’s Frances Quinlan, and with guest turns from Sadie Dupuis (Speedy Ortiz), Allison Crutchfield (Swearin’/Waxahatchee) and Joseph D’Agostino (Cymbals Eat Guitars), Field Mouse’s ‘Episodic’ is exactly as good as you’d expect. (Very.) BELLOWS - FIST & PALM Released: 30th September 2016 Started as the bedroom-recording project of songwriter and producer Oliver Kalb, and now touring with the likes of The Hotelier, Bellows specialise in delicate recordings that sound both huge and intimate all at once.
YELLOWCARD CALL IT A DAY
“We have decided that it is time for Yellowcard to come to an end,” say the band. “This will be our last album and our final world tour.” Their self-titled LP is due on 30th September, with a UK tour that kicks off on 11th December in Bristol.
TOUCHÉ AMORÉ EMBARK ON ‘STAGE FOUR’ Touché Amoré are set to release new album ‘Stage Four’ on 16th September via Epitaph. The news comes alongside new song ‘Palm Dreams’, which you can hear on upsetmagazine.com now.
DEATH SPELLS RETURN
Following a bit of teasing earlier this year, Death Spells – Frank Iero and James Dewees – are back, and they’ve announced a new album. ‘Nothing Above, Nothing Below’ is out on 29th July. The duo also have an August UK tour planned.
EVERY TIME I DIE CONFIRM LP Every Time I Die have announced they will release new album ‘Low Teens’ on 23rd September. The fulllength is previewed with the track ‘The Coin Has a Say’, which is streaming now on upsetmagazine.com.
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RIOT “We always want to be grand,” continues Dre of the band’s vision going in, “but a lot of the songs changed. We rewrote three or four tracks and doing that, going over there and having them totally change, is frightening.” The first single from the record, ‘Quality of Life’, is a mishmash of fist-swinging frustration, sky-high dreaming and a driving need for action. The track was inspired by “one of our friends who was becoming a lawyer. She wasn’t enjoying herself, so she wrote her resignation from university. She’s enjoying what she does now. “In any sort of life choice, sometimes you find out it’s not what you wanted to do at all. That song is basically us telling whoever is listening that if you’re not enjoying what you’re doing, if you can’t fight through it, just turn a corner and do something else.”
“DON’T
BE
A SHEEP.” H E L L I O N S A R E F LY I N G T H E F L AG FO R B E I N G YO U R S E L F, A N D D O I N G T H I N G S Y O U R WAY . WORDS: ALI SHUTLER.
t’s sick. It’s something different,” enthuses Hellions vocalist Dre Faivre about their new album ‘Opera Oblivia’. He couldn’t be more right. Theatrical, bombastic and grand while maintaining a ramshackle danger behind an aggressive lust for life, the band’s third album sees the band mix it all up. Again. 14 upsetmagazine.com
Recorded once more in Thailand but approached from a completely different angle, the band has “done the same thing with a different formula. It felt good.” The end result isn’t a million miles away from 2015’s slowburning goliath ‘Indian Summer’ but there’s not a single piece of ground that’s been retreaded. “It’s a growing thing,” offers Dre. “As a person you’re always changing. It’s still got the Hellions sound that we’ve always done.” Somehow, despite more influences and ideas than we’ve got room to list, the album is powerfully cohesive. “All of our songs are different to what we’ve done before they all have touches of us. It’ll always feel like us.“
It’s a fork the band have faced before, but “there’s always going to be bumps in the road. You have to ask yourself why you’re doing something and who you’re doing it for. If it’s leading you towards negativity then it’s not for you.” Hellions are “never going to bullshit. There’s going to be down times. You’re always going to question everything that you’re doing, that’s what makes you a human at the end of the day, but how you react to that situation and how you deal with what you want to do, shows true character. If you want to keep on doing something, just pursue it. Keep on doing it. Persevere.” While the songs of ‘Opera Oblivia’ are an eclectic bunch, the message couldn’t be more united. “We’ve always championed being yourself. You always find people who are leaning towards trends and stuff, but why not just start your own trend? Be a leader at the end of the day, don’t be a sheep. Just be yourself and do you. After all, no one’s going to like you more than you.” P Hellions’ new album ‘Opera Oblivia’ is out 29th July.
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ABOU T TO
BREAK THE BEST NEW BANDS TH E H OT TEST NEW MUSIC
CHARLY BLISS
know if I would totally count it” (and consequently has vanished from their bandcamp), but it allowed the group to cut their teeth and take their first steps towards something truly great.
H I S N E W YO R K B U N C H J U ST
W A N T T O H AV E F U N . WO RDS : J ESS I CA G O O D M A N .
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e want to play the Weezer cruise!” Eva Grace Hendricks exclaims, bursting into a fit of excited laughter. “It sounds like the height of ridiculousness.” Driving from Portland to San Francisco on tour with PUP and Rozwell Kid, Charly Bliss are having the time of their lives – and that’s what it’s all about, really, isn’t it? “The essence of a Charly Bliss song is fun,” Eva
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affirms. “The more we’ve toured and played our songs, the more that’s been cemented as what we’re hoping to come across. We want people to have as much fun as possible. That’s really important to us.” If there’s anything to be gained from Charly Bliss’ music, it’s a sense of enjoyment. The band’s self-termed bubblegrunge sound brings infectious pop hooks to life in an addictively raw style. Larger than life guitars and driving rhythms resound with an all-encompassing energy, sugar sweet vocals and searing solos glimmering like a diamond in the rough. Debut EP ‘A Lot To Say’ might be “so far from what we sound like now that I don’t
Sounding stadium-ready from the outset, the expectations the quartet - completed by guitarist Spencer Fox, bassist Dan Shure, and drummer Sam Hendricks – had for themselves were decidedly more down to earth. “At the beginning we were so excited just to be making music at all,” Eva chuckles. “Then when we started playing shows we were ridiculously excited that anyone would let us play a show anywhere.” Landing national tour slots with the likes of Darwin Deez and Veruca Salt, the group are watching their dreams come true around them. “Our first show with Veruca Salt, I don’t think it fully registered with any of us what touring with them was going to mean, or how big of a leap that was going to feel,” Eva recalls. “It was a
“WE WANT PEOPLE TO HAVE AS MUCH FUN AS POSSIBLE.” huge venue, and there were tons of people, and everyone was dancing. I kept looking around and seeing everyone’s faces and we’re all just like ‘WHAT IS HAPPENING? THIS IS WHAT THIS CAN BE LIKE? HOLY CRAP!’” With a debut album “about 90% there,” moments like this one don’t look set to stop happening any time soon.
knew they were capable of creating better. So that’s exactly what they decided to do. “We wanted it to sound a lot like our live shows, and have a similar energy to our live shows,” Eva illustrates. “That was the biggest challenge in recording this. I feel like we achieved it well. I’m feeling really good about how it’s sounding.”
Initially recorded late last year, sessions for the band’s first full-length were quickly shelved as the four-piece (then recently joined by Dan on bass) began to flourish in the understanding of their ever-expanding possibilities. “I think that going into it, we really didn’t know what we wanted,” Eva explains. “We didn’t really know which route we wanted to go, or what aspects of our sound we wanted to highlight. When we heard the recordings back, we heard that from ourselves.”
With songs occupying the space “in between feeling really young and feeling older” and “relating to things in life changing,” the record-in-progress is the essence of who the band are. “Some of the songs make me feel nostalgic. Some of them I can hear myself grappling with things a little bit better,” Eva characterises. “More on that when they’re out,” she teases. And how long a wait that will be? “We’re dying to put it out!” she shouts. “It’s so important to us, now that we’ve been sitting on it for so long, for it to come out in a way that we’re all feeling very excited and good about. Hopefully as soon as possible.”
Having already been playing the songs on the road and started to work on yet more new material, the group
FACT FILE Band members: Eva, Spencer, Sam, Dan Hometown: New York (US) Formed: 2012 Did You Know? The band are influenced by marinara sauce.
Charly Bliss are on the verge of greatness, but they’re not in any hurry to get there. Savouring every moment on their roller-coaster thrill ride, travelling in a van from city to city, the band are bringing their excitement to light for as many people as possible – and word is already starting to spread like wildfire. “We love playing shows, we think that’s the best part of all this,” Eva enthuses. “We want to continue to do that with more and new bands that inspire us. If you have us, we will come.” P 19
NEW ORLEANS FOUR-PIECE C A N E H I L L - W H O Y O U M AY H AV E S P O T T E D AT D OW N LOA D T H I S Y E A R A RE A BOUT TO RE L E ASE T H E I R L O N G - AWA I T E D DEBUT ALBUM ‘SMILE’ THROUGH RISE RECORDS. FRONTMAN ELIJAH WITT FILLS US IN ON A FEW D E TA I L S .
fucking remember honestly. We sent an email with some songs we did and got a phone call the next day, it was very romantic. What did you find most challenging during the album’s creation process? Making sure everything oozed Cane Hill. We wanted to make sure it was cohesive but exceptionally better than the EP.
Your debut album ‘Smile’ is out soon, when did you start working on it? I think we started writing it immediately after the EP about two years ago but nothing really came together until January of this year.
Are there any songs on the release that stand out as meaning a lot to you, lyrically or thematically? ‘True Love’ and ‘Strange Candy’ are probably my personal favourites. They’re about sexuality and pushing your limits with life/drugs/excess.
Did you have a clear idea of what you wanted ‘Smile’ to be when you began? I wouldn’t say yes, but I wouldn’t say no. We didn’t really figure ourselves out until we got to the studio and really put a lot of thought into it.
You’ve been playing a few new songs live - how have they been going down? I think they get better responses than when we played new songs from the EP for the first few months. I’ve got no complaints.
We read your self-titled EP was at one point meant to be an album what happened? We scrapped the fuck out of some shit songs. They weren’t all as banger as we wanted them to be.
What has been your biggest achievement with this release? Every single thing we’ve done.
At what point did you sign with Rise Records, and what led to the partnership? February 2014 I think? I can’t even
What do you think the best environment for listening to ‘Smile’ is? What do you hope fans will take away from the record? I mean, smoke a blunt sit back and listen to it the whole way through. Don’t skip around, that’s what we want. We put each song in a specific
place for a reason. And I want them to think. I want people to question what they’ve already thought for years and break down ideological boundaries that society has built in their heads. What’s your absolutely favourite thing about being in Cane Hill right now? We’re doing well enough. We’ve got amazing tours and a great team behind us. So we’re just stoked to be able to play our shit music around the world. P
“WE SCRAPPED THE FUCK OUT OF SOME SHIT SONGS THEY WEREN’T AS BANGER AS WE WANTED.”
CANE HILL
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EP FEW YEARS DE M AY O N LY B E A MOOSE BLOOD SH’ U L B ‘ EW ALBUM ENTURE, BUT N I N TO T H I S A DV IKE T LY S O U N D S L AND BRILLIAN C O N F I D E N T LY UT O B HE THING A H E M . T H AT ’ S T N O B O DY B U T T T H E H E A R T. WRITING FROM UTLER. WORDS: ALI SH SMITHIES. PH OTOS: PH I L
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still say it to Eddy [Brewerton, frontman]. When is it alright for us to accept that we are a real band and this is what we do?” questions guitarist Mark Osborne. “And we still don’t. I think we’re all half expecting to have to go and look for a new job next week. But I guess it’s a good thing keeping that in the back of our mind because we never take anything for granted. We never get carried away. We all know full well that it could be over anytime, so let’s just make the most of it.” From the very beginning, Moose Blood have just rolled with it. And with their second album out soon, the band - Eddy, Mark, drummer Glenn Harvey and bassist Kyle Todd - are set to get even more to play with. Where debut ‘I’ll Keep You In Mind, From Time To Time’ declared “I don’t believe in growing up”, ‘Blush’ admits “I’m in no rush to slow down”. More self-accepting, but still cradling fragile emotion, Moose Blood’s new record is a consolidation of purpose rather than a planked evolution. ‘I’ll Keep You In Mind…’ wore its influences on its sleeve and in its lyrics, ‘Blush’ on the other hand, sounds like no one but Moose Blood. “We didn’t want a drastic change,” explains Eddy. “We were pretty happy with what we were doing and we enjoy the songs we were writing. We didn’t try to have a certain sound for the whole record. Us four people playing together just creates that sound.” “We did what we did before, we just tried to do it better,” adds Mark. “Hopefully it is that natural progression and not a mad change of genre or anything like that. We weren’t trying to come out with some sort of concept or make a statement.” Instead, their vision was: “Let’s just make a Moose Blood record and see what happens.” The band have been constantly rolling the dice and enjoying the outcome since the very beginning. Whether it was Glenn falling in love with Blink-182 and Nirvana, Kyle “being a rebellious teenager and just wanting to be loud”, Mark raised on a diet of Michael Jackson, Meatloaf, Def Leppard and Queen, or Eddy singing along to Celine Dion and Michael
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Bolton in the car with his mum (“that just got me to really enjoy music”), the four piece grew up around music but they never entertained any dreams about stardom. “It wasn’t about playing stadiums or whatever, but I just wanted to play music like that,” offers Glenn, as Kyle grins: “I learnt guitar and now I’m here… I’m not sure how that happened.” “I realised I wasn’t going to be a professional footballer, so why not try and be a musician?” starts Mark, before quickly adding: “I still ain’t, but that dream took over. Those teenage years kicked in and you want to be Kurt Cobain or whatever. That was that.” “It just happened without really thinking about it, it’s something I’ve always enjoyed,” summarises Eddy. Moose Blood’s introduction to music was as simple as that. From hanging out with mates making noise to acting as a bookmark in their own lives, the band are into music for music’s sake. “When I was a little kid, ’Hysteria’ by Def Leppard is something my dad would play religiously and now I’ve got that on vinyl,” shares Mark. “I still listen to it because it takes me back.” “It takes you back to growing up?” smirks Glenn. Moose Blood started life in Eddy’s bedroom, with songs written on a Macbook. “I knew straight away who I wanted to be in the band.” A year after messaging Glenn the first track, schedules and commitments had freed up and the group took shape. “We just had to roll with it and keep it going forward.” They haven’t stopped since. Once the band turned the Garageband songs into Actual Band songs “it was a case of ok, let’s go and record. We started practicing together at the end of August 2012. We did our first show in October and recorded the ‘Moving Home’ EP that month as well.” “I remember selling ‘Moving Home’ for £4 or something, thinking that maybe people will buy it ‘cause it’s really low. We were just up for getting it ‘round as many people as we could,” reflects Kyle. There was never a need to experiment or feel around in the darkness for a sound, because Moose Blood comes straight from the heart. They were just giving it a go, so why worry about a masterplan.
“I’d never sung in anything before other than just in my bedroom,” offers Eddy. “I still remember that first practice we had,” Mark reflects. “This was the first time he was singing into a microphone. You were bright red, properly giving it everything you had just trying to find a key from somewhere.” “It was terrible. I have no idea how I’m still doing it to be honest.” “It’s learning I guess. And progressing. The more you do it, the better you should become at it. That’s the plan anyway. And I remember that fondly mate.” “I just remember the massive headache afterwards.” “We were purely just giving it a go,” says Kyle of the band’s tentative steps. “It’s the same thing now,” adds Glenn. “We had no expectations going into it. We never thought we’d get here.” Instead, “We just wanted to put a little record out, have a bit of fun and play some shows,” explains Mark, before realising: “Which is still what we’re doing…” Before Moose Blood, the guys had been in and out of other bands for years previously. Mark and Glenn were part of a melodic hardcore punk band while Eddy and Mark had a noise hardcore band who played Hevy and a couple of local shows. “We really couldn’t be bothered to do it anymore. We couldn’t be bothered to practice.” From the off though, Moose Blood “felt different to anything we’d done before. People seemed to be responding to something we were doing and I’d never had that before. People paid attention to what we were doing,” ventures Mark. “When you spend a long time in shit bands, you notice that quite quickly.” They weren’t concerned with the reason, they just rolled with it. Following ‘Moving Home’, the ‘Boston/ Orlando’ single, a handful of tours and a split release with Departures, Moose Band unleashed their debut album at the close of 2014. Recorded with Beau Burchell in Los Angeles, walking into the studio with Blink-182 and New Found Glory records on the wall “was one of the most intimidating things ever.” Flying out the day after playing a tiny show in a coastal town where the band messed up a whole lot, “it was
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one of those things where we asked, ‘What are we even doing here?’”
somewhere.”
The band hadn’t seen anything yet. “That first record for all of us felt like the first step towards being a real band,” explains Glenn. Flying to LA to record that debut might look like Moose Blood knew it was only the beginning, but in reality: “I was thinking this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and we’re never coming back.”
Despite the worries that it could all come crashing down, Moose Blood aren’t wasting time looking over their shoulder. They’re staring dead ahead at the coming months. “The level of excitement is nuts. It just increases every time and we’re so fortunate to have these opportunities. Every time we do something bigger, I think they’ve got the wrong band but we’re still just making the most of it all.”
“We all quit our jobs the week after that record came out,” he adds. With three tours in as many months (supporting Balance and Composure, Mallory Knox and their own January headline run) the band simply couldn’t get the time off. “It was a massive leap of faith.”
And with ‘Blush’, those opportunities are set to come thick and fast. “Because of that first record, there’s now this basis of comparison and we didn’t have any of that before,” offers Mark. “It has to be a better a record because of the way that first one was received.”
“You do it on a whim. You just gamble,” admits Mark. “I’m walking away from my career path and my financial security for a couple of tours but it’s all we ever wanted to do. For me, it’s the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make. But that album projected us onto those opportunities and then, from January until the end of the year, we toured every month off the back of that record. We got to do and see some incredible things. We couldn’t be more grateful. We took everything with open arms because it may never happen again. We may never get a second record.” But we know how the story goes. ‘I’ll Keep You In Mind…’ is one of those rare records. Already a classic, it’s adored by scores of people yet feels intimate and special. There’s a real sense of ownership with Moose Blood. They feel like your band. “It’s spiralled so big now, it’s almost incomprehensible, just to think how we got here,” starts Kyle. “It’s really tough to try and put it into some sort of perspective because none of us ever expected it,” Mark continues. “And I don’t feel like any of us think or act in any way like it’s happening. We just go with it. We do things like this.” He gestures to the Maida Vale canteen where the band are waiting to set up ahead of their performance live on Radio One alongside A Day To Remember, Blink-182 and Against The Current. “It’s like… we definitely shouldn’t be sat here. We’re just expecting to get kicked out from
E XC ITE M E NT IS NUTS.” “When you’re in the band it’s hard to have that perspective as an outsider, but this is the first time, with ‘Honey’ and ‘Knuckles’, that we’ve noticed it blowing up a little more,” smiles Glenn. “It’s crazy, we can actually see we’re hitting a bigger audience now.” “That’s also quite daunting,” continues Mark. “There’s more people that could turn around and say ‘you’re rubbish’.” With ‘Blush’ though, there’s no chance of that.
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tarting work on their new record much later than planned - “we knew we should have been writing before we started writing” - the band first started trying to tie down ideas while on Warped Tour, but couldn’t take a step back without it feeling forced. It was only when they got home that the wheels started turning. In fact, ten
“It wasn’t that we were even lazy or being complacent,” continues Mark. “We were just constantly looking towards the next thing and the next thing was always a tour. We didn’t really have time to write.” Not that you’d know it from hearing the record. Fullyformed and tightly knit, you can hear Moose Blood’s relationship threaded throughout. “We could have easily gone in and made the first record again,” reasons Mark. But, reunited with Beau and having developed on the road, the band weren’t out to retread old ground. “We’re making a better record and that’s the end of it. Beau just really pushed us so we’d work through ideas and I think that, on top of all the touring and all the playing we did together, helped us function better as writers within the band. Not saying we’re amazing, but it does help. With anything in life, the more you do it, the better you should become at it.”
“THE LEVEL OF
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weeks before the band were due to fly out to record, all they had was the title, courtesy of Glenn. “That was all the time we had. It was our own fault really.”
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“We’re a bit more glued together,” adds Kyle. “We definitely function more as a unit now. I feel part of a band more now than when we started.” “We spent a lot longer, as much as it felt rushed, writing the songs,” opens Glenn. “We spent a lot longer in the studio on individual songs than the first time around.” Whereas before the band went in and worked from a checklist, “this time we broke everything apart again and made sure the song was there.” “The first record we were doing two songs a day, this one we’d start a song and then come back to it to try and finish it the following week, or go back to the apartment to write little extra bits if we needed them,” explains Eddy, with Mark adding: “If we weren’t 100% happy with what we were doing, we either wouldn’t record it or we would rewrite it. We were very much aware we were going out to make this record under-prepared. What we demoed, it was probably half a record’s worth of material. Two of the songs were instrumental. We didn’t really have a plan other than we want to leave there with a finished record.” “That made us work a little harder,”
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continues Eddy. “We put some more time and work into it because we didn’t have the songs finished and it’s made the album what it is.” The idea of ‘you can do better’ pursued every decision Moose Blood made in the studio. “Beau wouldn’t let us settle for anything unless it was the best that we could do.” Spending every waking minute either recording, writing, rewriting, or pulling things apart to reassemble them, it was an intense couple of weeks for the band but that pressure, intensity and single-minded focus makes ‘Blush’ shine. Once again, Moose Blood’s album is shaped by everything that’s gone on in their lives. “Touring definitely influenced a lot of lyrics this time around, the impact that had on family life and relationships with wives and girlfriends,” explains Mark. “We just draw from any experiences we’ve got and put them into a song. There are tracks about a family breakup and people passing away. I don’t know if we’re very good at sitting around talking and opening up to each other though.” “That’s our way of doing it though, I guess,” Eddy reasons. “We write down things we’d say to each other and put that in a song but maybe we’ve not even actually said it to each other. It’s nice we can put that much into it. We’ve just been brutally honest about what happens. The things we talk about and the people we talk about are people we care about deeply.” “There’s stuff we’ve written about that is tragic or horrible but we try to get it out in a way where you can turn it into a positive. That’s all we know how to do. I’m not good at turning a real thing into a metaphor or something like that, we literally just put it down as it is. Cut yourself open and write it down on a bit of paper. Everything that has gone on, good and bad, there’s probably a lyric somewhere that is us addressing it in some way. It might not be amazingly obvious to people that don’t know, but we cover a lot of stuff that’s really personal. “It’s a really weird feeling when you put everything into a song that you’re so proud of and when you show your mum, it destroys her. We’re not writing these things to upset people, we write them because it’s what we know how to do and the people close to us are going to know what certain songs are
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about and it has that impact. In a way, it’s a good thing because you’ve done a good job of getting it out into a song that could move someone like that. It’s all personal stuff. When we run out of personal stuff, we’ll have to start making things up but that’s probably when it’ll be shit and that’ll be the end of the band. Maybe we’ll have to go out and cause a bit of bother…” ‘Blush’ revolves around loss. “Even the things we have in terms of relationships, work and family, there’s always that underlying issue that you could lose it because you’re away all the time. And you never know what’s around the corner. I think we can all draw on that experience. It’s not that we always dread the worst, it’s just writing in a way so you’ll be able to deal with stuff. Lyrically, we write about things that happen and what we know. We don’t try and be clever with them, I think its quite relatable in that way, it’s actual things that happened to us.” Album opener ‘Pastel’ follows on from ‘Cherry’, with Eddy “just embracing all the stuff that comes with getting older, the responsibilities and all that. As terrifying as it may be at times, you’re not going to stop. You’re just going to live your life and handle everything that comes with it.” While ‘Spring’, Eddy’s favourite song on the record - “I feel very lucky that I get to sing that” - expands on ‘Chin Up’: “It’s just something I’ve never really dealt with that well,” offers Mark. “‘Chin Up’ touched on it and I guess ‘Spring’ was the rest of the stuff I couldn’t say the first time around. You are opening yourself up so much, but then when you have to explain it, it’s tough.” The frank delicacy of “and the way you died, did it hurt at all?” in ‘Spring’ says it all really. Despite the broader views and a more focused approach to writing actual songs, the band are still quick to play down their growth. “I feel more experienced as a songwriter but not more confident,” starts Kyle. “It’s still as scary now with new music as it was at the start. Only now, it shouldn’t matter but you want the existing fans to relate and still feel the same way they did the first time round, but you also want to gain more people. It’s definitely a thing you think about subconsciously, but don’t ever want to think too much about.”
“When you push yourselves and each other, it will make you a better musician to an extent,” says Mark. “We all struggle with confidence in general. Maybe part of being in this band is our way getting past any sort of issues where you might not feel as confident, but I’m in no way a confident musician at all… as you’ll find out when I have to play live on the radio.” As brutally honest as ‘Blush’ is, none of those selfdoubts translate. “There was a real sense of achievement that we were able to do this record,” Mark continues. “We walked away knowing we probably couldn’t have done any better.” “The whole experience of recording this album was probably one of my favourite things I’ve ever done. It’s some of the hardest work I’ve ever had to do but I loved it,” beams Eddy. “Yeah, you’ve never worked a day in your life. I can say that,” laughs Mark who, in another life, worked with Eddy at the day job. Going forward, there’s the release of ‘Blush’, tours aplenty including an already sold out show at London’s KOKO - “It’s breathtaking. We’re all a bit blown away, it hasn’t sunk in for any of us.” - and a keenness to “whack some new ideas together. We learnt our lesson.” Beyond that, “I think you always aim to dream big,” says Kyle. “When we started, I had aspirations to play a tiny London venue and now we’ve absolutely superseded what we thought we’d get to do.” “We’re playing a show with Blink-182 today,” Glenn observes. “I keep forgetting about that and my stomach just goes,” Mark says with wide eyes. “If we get to carry on doing this for a little while, if we get to make music and tour together, that’s perfect,” smiles Eddy. “We’re having such a good time.” “Dream big, see what happens,” finishes Kyle. With Moose Blood, anything is possible and they’re more than happy to roll with that. P Moose Blood’s new album ‘Blush’ is out 5th August.
E DO W E IM RY T E HINK V T E I “ , R IGGE B G N RONG ETHI W M E O S H OT T G E V ’ THEY .” BAND
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’T DON 182? INKAND L F B R N OF E TU HOM ETUR R N O R OTH E BAC K T AN TRIO ABOU THE EES CA L I S N ’ Y A I C . FORN TURE CA L I E FU BE. ‘ R TH D FO . E R T I E UTL E XC LI SH DS: A WOR
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uck, I said excited again. I can’t believe it, I’m sorry,” smirks bassist Mark Hoppus. “I keep saying excited, but it’s the word I’m looking for.”
“That’s what it is though,” reasons guitarist Matt Skiba, as excitement is very much the flavour of the new Blink-182 album. Following years of see-saw emotions and soap opera twists, the band are back on the same page with a slightly altered line up. It’s a change that’s rejuvenated the band, forced them to question what Blink-182 should be in 2016 and united them under a single aim: to make a great album. “It’s been, what, five years since the last Blink-182 record? It’s been a really awesome transition into this new iteration of the band. People have been very supportive and very embracing of Matt coming in. They’ve been very positive about this new chapter,” offers Mark. What started off as a handful of shows with Alkaline Trio’s Matt standing in for founding member Tom DeLonge slowly shifted into something they wanted to put to record. “It was very gradual. When Tom left we had these shows booked and Travis and I didn’t want to cancel them. We were talking and we said, ‘What about Matt Skiba?’ It was the only choice. The reception at those shows was so overwhelmingly positive, it just felt right.” Taking that energy forward, the trio wanted to go into the studio to see what happened. “Everything was incremental, but it was just ramping up the whole time and by the time it got to January of this year [when the band started to record new album ‘California’], it really took off. It felt like the right decision from day one. It really felt totally natural from the time we sat down with Matt, to asking him to fill in for the shows, to being onstage with him, to recording an entire album with him, it’s been very natural.” And despite the whole world watching, Matt wasn’t apprehensive about stepping up to the plate: “I have such huge respect for Mark and Travis [Barker, drums]. We’ve been friends for such a long time, we’ve toured together and I’m an enormous fan of
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the band so y’know, the only thing I was worried about was how anyone else was going to view this. But I had to believe in myself. If these two amazing guys believe in me then I’ve just got to go with it.” Piling on the pressure, Matt knew he had to kill it. “I had to give them everything and make sure they don’t start asking, ‘What have we done asking this weirdo to join our band?’” Luckily, “it felt like home very early on. It was great and it still is. It just gets better.” And that feeling of home can be felt throughout ‘California’. Beyond the name, Blink-182’s seventh album takes lessons learnt from across their twenty-one year legacy and brings them full circle. If you’re wondering whether Blink have anything left to say, you’re not alone. Under the direction of producer John Feldmann, the band “had a lot of theoretical discussions about what Blink is. What really is Blink? What do I like about Blink? What do people like about Blink?” The answer, ‘California.’ “I tend to write a lot about miscommunication, loss of identity and questioning of identity which is a process we went through just by being in the studio, writing a new Blink record and having a new iteration of Blink,” ventures Mark. “I asked myself, what is Blink? What do I bring to the table? What does Matt bring to the table? What does Travis bring to the table? And just looking at life. I think that’s something I probably question a lot. What is my purpose here on this rock? I’ll think about things that happened a long time ago and wonder, did I do that right? Was I the arsehole in that situation or was I the hero? I don’t know.” Asking those questions means ‘California’ is very self-aware. The skits of ‘Brohemian Rhapsody’ and ‘Built This Pool’ are delivered with a tonguein-cheek smirk, while that reflective nature creates a dark edge. ‘California’ is a more (whisper) mature Blink-182 record but that doesn’t mean they’ve slowed down or got boring. It’s a record that feels like the band are still searching for something. It feels like it’s running towards, not away from, the future. It feels exciting. “Recording ‘California’ really felt like the energy and enthusiasm of when we first would go into the studio and write songs. When we wrote ‘Enema of The State’, we went into the rehearsal
spot and wrote that record in a matter of weeks. When we wrote ‘California’, we wrote the entire album in a matter of weeks. There was an intensity, a solidarity of purpose and everybody’s head was right there nonstop from the second we walked into the studio to the minute that we left at the end of the day, and it was awesome.” With a catalogue of thirty demos already down, the band looked to John Feldmann to cull those songs and take them forward towards an album. For fun though, he invited Blink to his studio to write something from scratch, just to see what would happen. The band obliged, writing two songs that first day. They wrote another two the next and it just carried on. “Those songs were so magical from the very beginning that we never even talked about the other demos. They’re just sitting on a hard drive somewhere. There are some awesome ideas in there and there’s a lot of great stuff. Maybe we’ll go back to it someday, but the stuff we wrote with John was so…” pauses Mark, searching for the right words. “Powerful and immediate,” picks up Matt. “The record sounds like the process. It was very fast and energetic.” “We went in with no preconceived notions other than to write the best music that we could,” explains Mark. “And that changed from day to day. We walked in every day not knowing what we were going to create. We just wanted to write a great record. We ended up with thirty songs, all vastly different. Some songs were almost heavy metal, some were acoustic. We had originally set out to make a ten track record but it was so difficult for us to figure out which songs were going to make it and which ones weren’t.” “It was impossible,” adds Matt. “The cool thing about all the different types of songs that if we were to add one, it would change the whole temperature of the record. That’s a great problem to have. It’s a rare problem, having too many good songs, but it’s awesome. Despite the many pieces to the puzzle, as soon as ‘Cynical’ was locked into that opening slot, “everything else started fitting together like Lego. It’s such an incredible opener. Every great record needs that, it’s like a signature. It’s just off to the races in a very unconventional way.”
“We WaLKED In
EVerY dAY NoT KNOWING
WHAT wE WeRE
GoINg To CrEATe.”
“It does set the mood and the pace of the record; it starts off self-questioning and then Travis’ phenomenal drumming kicks in, then the guitars and it just takes off,” adds Mark. “The intro is me talking about myself and the creative process I go through every day. I start every song with this fear, thinking I’m never going to write another good song, and then we go into the studio and things fall into place. There’s a moment when you’re driving home from the studio with a brand new song playing on your car stereo, and there’s such a feeling of joy, accomplishment, pride and excitement. Then I wake up the next day, thinking I’ll never write another good song.” “I didn’t know that until just now,” admits Matt. The pair fed off what each other was singing across ‘California’, but they never spelled it out for one another. “For me, ‘Cynical’ is about the moment of panic when the phone rings. It makes me think of when I was going through a divorce and I wouldn’t check my email because I would just be getting legal bills and requests. It was a fucking mess. An uptown mess, in retrospect it wasn’t that big of a deal, but it was that panic of what is this going to be? It really struck a chord with me and the rest of it wrote itself. That happened throughout the whole record and I think we make a really
good team, all three of us.” “When I listen back to this record, I feel the same joy I did when I heard Blink-182 back in the day,” reflects Mark. “And I want people to have that same excitement and experience when they listen to ‘California’. I want them to get excited on the fast songs, I want them to feel unstoppable when they hear some songs and I want them to feel sad when they hear others. For me, a great record is when you go through an entire range of emotion when you listen to it and I think that this album does that.” “You want to write a record where the whole thing is great but that hardly ever happens,” says Matt. “For me, Bowie’s ‘Ziggy Stardust’ is one of the very few records that, front to finish, there’s not a bad song on it. And I can say that about ‘California’. I listen to it all the time, I work out to it. I’m a fan.” And fans are who ‘California’ is for. The legacy of Blink-182 is something Mark worries about. “Travis does as well. Our whole thing was that we never want Blink to become a greatest hits band. We don’t want to be one of those bands that just goes out and plays the songs from twenty years ago. We love playing the songs from twenty years ago, and we will always do that, but I really want to continue to write new music and be excited by new things.”
Refusing to sit back and cruise, “I want to be on the cutting edge of things. I am so thankful and feel so blessed that our band has come to this point where, when we play a concert, there are people who have been there for twenty years and there are people there that it’s their first concert. To have this multi-generational thing, I don’t know how we’re lucky enough to have that happen to our band. To have new fans coming in and having people reacting to these new songs in such a way, it’s amazing and I am thankful for it every single day.” With a summer tour of America growing more extensive by the day and plans falling in place for the same in Europe next summer, Blink are keeping busy. This chapter of the band, despite the dark prologue, is set to be a long one. But if you’re wary about investing in a band with a turbulent past, don’t be: Blink-182 are here to stay. “That’s what we plan to do. We don’t know if, for the next record, we’ll use the songs leftover from this record or, well, obviously we’ll write a bunch more new ones. But the future is wide open,” promises Mark. “We have great positive energy within the band, we have great support from the fans and we couldn’t be more excited. I’ll say excited one more time, why not?” P Blink-182’s new album ‘California’ is out now.
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THE
BEST OF
US
L FAC E O F T H E D E AT T H E C O A A F T E R A D ECA ER HNNY FOREIGN UND SCENE, JO UK UNDERGRO L L I A N T. ARE STILL BRI CA G O O D M A N . WORDS: JESSI
J
“
ust believe you’ve yet to touch on the best of us,” Alexei Berrow and Kelly Southern sing on the opening track of their band’s latest album. They might be a decade into their musical career, but with ten years worth of song writing and performing to celebrate, and with their fifth studio album ‘Mono No Aware’ about to see release, there’s every sense that Johnny Foreigner are thriving more vibrantly than ever. “Ten years makes us veterans, doesn’t it?” Alexei inquires. “That’s crazy!” From pub basement shows, to opening for their heroes in Parisian concert halls, through 28-hour train journeys across South Africa for festival sets, Johnny Foreigner have been there and seen a hell of a lot. And their journey is far from over. Whether they’re asking friends and fans for places to crash between gigs or balancing their creative drive alongside day jobs, the future, it seems, has never looked brighter. “It got to the point about five years in where I was sort of worried that someone else was going to be like ‘this isn’t fun anymore: I want to stop and have a life and do adult things,’” Alexei recalls. Now all in their thirties, all in long term relationships, and one band member a parent, the quartet have done a lot of growing up in their time together – and it’s affirmed the band as an integral part of who they’ve all become. “Now we’re ten years in, I feel like no one’s ever going to say that,” the frontman asserts. “We’re trapped in it together, forever.” Forever may seem like a long time, but a decade in the band are showing no signs of slowing down. Whether they’re holing up in their rehearsal space to record, or piling into a van to perform across the country, the group are, for all intents and purposes, “like a family”. “It’s like this amazing Smashing Pumpkins quote from D’Arcy [Wretzky],” Alexei illustrates. “Being in a band is ‘like being married to four people you never even wanted to date.’” Having worked together and played together, travelling across the world while practically living in each other’s pockets, that solidarity comes naturally
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– and it’s part what makes Johnny Foreigner such a force to be reckoned with. Following a decade of adventures together the four-piece are both older and wiser. “We don’t enjoy sleeping on floors as much,” Alexei laughs. “And we understand how money works a bit better, so everything’s a little more stable.” Planning tours and budgets so they’re not solely reliant on merchandise sales to put petrol in their van, juggling their art with their obligations has become second nature. “The first few tours we did seemed to last forever. Now we’re super aware of it, having nine days left until the real world approaches, and it comes faster and faster.” Dealing with more responsibilities in their day-to-day lives, the band’s sprit burns with more vitality than ever. “We still get an identical buzz when we write songs, and when they get sung back at us,” Alexei enthuses. “It’s nice to know that whatever spark it is that powers this band is still there.” Driven by a passion for their art, and an honest love for the music they create, it seems only right that this group have managed to stand the test of time. Catering to “the demographic of hypothetical teenage us,” Johnny Foreigner are continuing to live out the dream that drew them together in the first place. “We started out wanting to be the kind of band that if we weren’t in, then we’d fall in love with,” they explain. “Now we want to be the kind of band that if you’re just getting into bands, you’d fall in love with.” Writing the songs that they always wanted to hear, and revelling in every moment they get to spend doing so, the four-piece are somewhat reluctant to venture too far into what makes them tick. “It’s sort of like if you’re a magician and you see how someone else doing a magic trick, then that element of magic is gone because you know how it works,” Alexei characterises. “I kind of think in my head that if I take apart what it is that makes us write songs, and how we write them, and how we progress, then I’ll see behind the magic and the spark will go.” Keeping their craft close to their chest, the group are simply happy to be able to keep doing what they do so well. “As long as the hypothetical teenage us’ are impressed, then we’re doing okay,” they chuckle. Releasing their boldest record to date, the Birmingham quartet are scaling
“A S L O N G
AS THE H Y P OT H ET I CA L T E E N AG E
US’ ARE IMPRESS
ED
THEN WE’RE
DOING OK.”
new heights. Taking its title from a Japanese term that loosely translates as ‘the awareness of impermanence’, ‘Mono No Aware’ is a venture through everything that was, is, and hangs in the balance for the four-piece. “Being aware that stuff fades, everything’s dying, everything’s moving on, and the sadness in beauty – that’s totally something that we wanted to capture with this album,” Alexei depicts. “There wasn’t really a smart English phrase to use for it. Then we found this, and that’s exactly it.” Already joking they regret the name (“it’s a bit annoying because we’re going to be answering questions about this now for the rest of our lives”), the quartet truly couldn’t be prouder of their latest efforts. Recorded over several months from their practice space in Digbeth, the album is the essence of who the band are. Scattered with references to people and places around their home city, the group are bearing their hearts on their sleeves – a stark contrast to the made up metropolitan setting of ‘You Can Do Better’. “There are only so many songs you can write about being in a taxi home from Snobs,” Alexei laughs of the decision.
“But when we started doing this album it just made so much sense to go back to what was happening to us and our friends again.” Set along the streets they call home, inspired by feelings and friends they encounter on a regular basis, the record is a window into the lives of the four musicians who made it. “It could be slightly alienating to someone in Cape Town or New York or wherever when you’re referencing Pigeon Park and no one really knows what it is. It’s just a stupid sounding word,” the frontman ponders. “But to Birmingham there’s a whole context associated with that. People can listen to it and totally get it, and it’ll make it that bit more special.” “I’d rather concentrate on making the people that are into us feel like we’re writing about us and we’re writing about them,” he continues, “rather than trying to bland everything and write about a generic train station or generic meeting point or something.” Singing about subjects close to home, far from alienating their audience, Johnny Foreigner are opening up their world to anyone who wants to enter. “This is probably the one record that I sat down and rewrote, and rewrote, and rewrote,” Alexei divulges of the process. “Everything else we’ve sort of gone in, done it, and it’s done. If you make mistakes, that’s part of it, that’s part of the art.” Taking a near painstaking care to ensure they did themselves justice, it’s not just the writing process that marks a change for the band.
guitar as it did layering forty guitars onto something.” As instinctive as their need to write is, the group are aware that reaching ten years as a band isn’t something that comes easily. “By some grace of God, or luck, or talent, or whatever, we have the ability to write songs that some people will come back to,” Alexei modestly conveys. Placing their creativity on record for the rest of the world to hear, the band couldn’t be more thrilled. “It’s not our record any more, it’s other peoples’, and they can take whatever they want from it,” they state. “If they want to see it as a super hopeful statement, they’re welcome to do that. If they want to see it as some people in their mid thirties still having emo problems, then they’re welcome to take that as well.” P Johnny Foreigner’s new album ‘Mono No Aware’ is out 8th July.
A L L A RO U N D T H I S F E AT U RE YO U ’ L L F I N D S N I P P ETS O F A RT W E ’ V E H A L F I N C H E D F RO M T H E BA N D. AS M U C H AS T H E M US I C, T H E BA N D’S A RT I ST I C V I S I O N H AS B E E N F E A RSO M E LY ST RO N G S I N C E DAY O N E . Alexei: Lewes did a poster for a local show for us, maybe three months after we started, and we were like ‘can you do all our artwork for the rest of our lives, please?’ His colour pallet seems to match our sonic pallet. I’ve been trying for ten years to find a less pretentious way of saying that, and I totally can’t. There’s something about the way he treats images that’s the same as the way we treat music. The music comes first, but it definitely feels like the two are so linked. I can’t imagine being one of those bands that once a record’s finished having to shop around for an artist to try and represent the music. The two absolutely go hand in hand. Lewes: I always think Lex could do the artwork on his own. The ideas and concepts are based totally on his lyrics and inspired by things we’re all into, be it the music, films, games or comics that we’re enjoying at the time. But it’s just always been 100x more fun to put those original ideas through another lens and see what comes out. I think I manage to retain the skeleton of the idea, but add on alien limbs or robot parts that he may not have thought of. A side effect of which is the recognisable colourfulchaos style, halfway between the two of us – with lots of ghosts to help tie everything together.
“‘You Can Do Better’ is straight up rock songs, and ‘Johnny Foreigner vs Everything’ goes on for about six days,” Alexei taunts of their past releases. “They all seem very much ‘this is this.’” Switching between stripped back melodies and raging pop hooks, ‘Mono No Aware’ is the group’s most dynamic album to date – a feat which came completely instinctively. “This record didn’t have those kinds of restrictions. It felt just as natural to be sat working out three part harmonies on an acoustic
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“WE DO WHAT WE DO.”
G O O D C H A RLOT T E A RE BAC K , W I T H T H E I R … T H I RD BEST ALBUM? JOEL MADDEN PONDERS WHERE TH E BA N D SIT I N 2016. WORDS: JASLEEN DHINDSA.
I
n November 2015, Good Charlotte announced to the world that they were back after a four year hiatus. With a sixth studio album ‘Youth Authority’ on the way, vocalist Joel Madden reflects on what the break did for his band, and where they stand twenty-odd years later. “I’m excited to get [the album] out, we all feel good about the record, we had a good time making it and I feel like we took enough time off,” Joel explains. “When we got back together, we all felt really great as a band and it was great to be together making music. We played a few shows, so it’s been great. We’re in a different place now.” Ready to get stuck into everything again after nearly half a decade off, the band acted as support for All Time Low on their UK arena tour back in February. “That was like the first tour we had done in a long time. Everything we’ve been doing so far, we’ve been taking our time and doing shit we feel good about. We’ve toured together before [with All Time Low] and we’ve always talked about touring more together, we get along really well with those guys, and they’re really good friends of ours. They were like, ‘If you guys wanna come and make your first show with us, we would be stoked’, and we were like that’s a great idea, that’s perfect and that’s gonna be so much fun, and it was, it was a really fun tour, a good way to shake the rust off. The UK is awesome, the shows are always really great there.” Playing to a new generation of pop punk fans didn’t unsettle them. “It is kind of like riding a bike, we do what we do, that’s not really going to change too much. We’ve always worked on being good live and got back into rehearsal before that tour and it came right together, but it did feel different ‘cause we’re older and we have families. It’s not the same kind of tour we used to do. When we used to tour our intentions were different, we were trying to have a good time, but it
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“WE DON’T NEED TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD.” was a cool experience to have.” Family life is paramount to Joel, with leaving home being the toughest hurdle he’s face since being back, and one that he is not willing to compromise. “I don’t want do this if we don’t mean it, and I’m not going to do anything I don’t want to do. That was kind of the deal when we all sat down, I was like yeah I definitely want to make a record, it’s been a long time since I’ve had something to say [but] I don’t know if I wanna go on tour. We definitely want to play some shows, but we’re just taking it tour by tour. We’re only doing shit we feel is special to us, and that’s the rule now.” Since the hiatus, there’s a new sense of maturity in the band, but one that has always been under the surface of their non-conformist, down to earth personalities, and one that explains the longevity of their formidable careers. “I don’t know if we feel compelled to win anyone over [now], I think in 2016, we’re all comfortable with who we are. I don’t know if we have a point to prove, we have a lot to say, I think it’s ‘cause we’re older. I don’t think we need to defend anything, we know we’re good live and the record’s good, but we aren’t necessarily out there selling it. We’re independent now, and that to us means we have a
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lot of freedom. We don’t need to take over the world, we want to play shows we want to play and have a good time.” Good Charlotte are a band who knows what’s what, always taking a fearless outspoken, but not superior, perspective of the world around them, which resonates on the second single from the album ’40 oz Dream’, which is a satirical stance of the music scene in 2016. “’40 oz Dream’ isn’t a serious attack on anyone, it’s funny. We’ve been gone for a long time, and it’s like we wake up and we’re like… who am I in 2016? Where do I even fit in? It kind of makes fun of ourselves, kind of makes fun of everyone else. And it’s laughing at everything, going like yeah it’s kind of fucked up and different, but there is some good stuff, and some not so good stuff. It is what music always has been. We’ve always had a take on saying what we see in the world that’s kind of sarcastic, [but] it’s not that serious.” Twenty years on, Good Charlotte are wiser than ever, the experience they have is unmatched. In a world where music is so accessible with streams and torrents, and more and more pop punk bands are trying to make it into the mainstream, it is easy to make a quick judgement and assume the ethos has gone from authentic
unadulterated punk, to radio chart trash. “Some things never change, and some things do,” Joel offers on the topic of whether he thinks there’s a big difference in how pop punk bands were when his band rose to fame in the early 2000s, and how pop punk bands are now currently. “I love bands that are doing it today, because in some ways they’re up against more than I was, and in some ways it’s easier. It’s different for everyone. “We’re in a time now where kids don’t necessarily just have one genre they listen to, they listen to everything. We grew up in a time where everyone categorised you and you were separated into your pile. We always pushed against that, we were one of the early bands in pop punk who really tried to push the boundaries of what you could do in a song and what you could say, so we had our challenges because it certainly was a punk world back then. I remember opening for Bad Religion and playing with bands like Rancid, it was a tough audience for us sometimes, but we believed we were doing something, and we were pushing our agenda, that we can be catchy and poppy, and we can be on [MTV series] TRL, and we can do what we thought no bands from our genre had done before.
“We were really trying to push the limit of what we could accomplish. Some people liked it, some people didn’t. I get it, it’s subjective, but at the time we were really on a mission. The pop punk genre wasn’t taken seriously, it wasn’t really looked at like real music. It was really kind of ignored by the music industry as a whole, there was no Grammy category. We always felt like we were trying to push the boundaries of what a pop punk band, a band from a garage, and a band that predominantly teenagers love, could accomplish. And some of it we did, some of it we didn’t, but we definitely tried, and so it was a developing time and it was a new thing when we did it. Now I think that it’s different today, and it’s just as challenging for them. It’s cool to see that they’re still trying to push the boundaries of what our music can accomplish and how serious people take it.” As always when a band who have been around for as long as these guys have, music critics and fans speculate as to whether or not the new album is a return back to the golden days, or an attempt to fit in with 2016 rock music. ‘Youth Authority’ is neither. “Some of the music on this record does seem like our old stuff, but there’s some new stuff there too. There wasn’t a master-plan, we were like let’s make a record that has energy. We want a record that we can listen to and that we can love, and so some of that is just us in our DNA. This is a very honest record, there was no vision to make a musical masterpiece. I don’t want to make a record that’s trying to make it to the radio, I don’t want anything that makes it feel like we have some kind of plan to have a Number 1 song, I hate that shit right now. I just want to make a record that I can feel like I can say some shit that I wanna say.” But it isn’t the opposite either, thankfully. “It’s not a nostalgia record, it doesn’t feel nostalgic but it is true to our roots. We’re at that place where we don’t feel like we need to keep up with anyone, we don’t feel like we need to be particularly relevant in the sense of the Drakes of the world, the bands of the world, or the people that rule music now. We don’t wanna rule music, we just wanna do our thing.”
Why then, the comparison to where Good Charlotte first started off? “The biggest thing that we returned to was the spirit. If you put it next to the first album [2000’s self-titled], it sounds nothing like it. I think people have the idea of our first album because of an energy and a spirit there. If you break it down sonically, they’re nothing alike. You’re really feeling the intention, and the spirit of the record is not so self-conscious, it’s really truly honest. We just wrote the songs, we didn’t over-think the pre-chorus, we didn’t think how we could make the bridge bigger, we wrote the songs until they were done. It’s more raw; the hope, the vibe and the spirit of that hopefulness has returned to the music. I think that’s really what Good Charlotte had in the early days, it was really survival music for us. We needed to make it [because] we had nothing.” Twenty years on, Joel Madden and his band are wiser than ever. Though they are associated with that youthful spirit of true 00s pop punk, he and Good Charlotte couldn’t be more mature. From being loud mouthed twenty-somethings singing about the lifestyles of the rich and famous, to being nearly forty and actually rich and famous, it’s easy to make the sweeping assumption that they’re past their sell by date and comfortable with where they’re at now. ‘Youth Authority’ isn’t a fuck you, or an attempt to win back the die-hard fans of ‘The Young and The Hopeless’, but instead a true and authentic documentation of a band who have seen and survived it all, and who couldn’t be more grateful and humble of the success that they’ve had. “Being in a pop punk band for me in 2016, means still believing that you can do it yourself. That you don’t have to change or be something to make it, you can build it yourself, you can believe in yourself, and you can bet on yourself. If you write good songs and you believe in yourself, and you do the right thing, you can make it. There will be people who believe in you, and you can have and live the life you wanna live if you don’t let anyone talk you out of what you’re doing, and you don’t change. Don’t change to make it. Make it to change.” P Good Charlotte’s new album ‘Youth Authority’ is out 15th July.
‘ YO U T H AU T H O RI T Y ’ SAW G O O D C H A RLOT T E T E A M U P FO R A F E W C O L L A BO R AT I O N S : N OTA B LY, S L E E P I N G W I T H S I RE N S ’ K E L L I N Q U I N N O N ‘ K E E P SW I N G I N ’’ A N D B I F F Y C LY RO’S S I M O N N E I L O N ‘ RE ASO N TO STAY ’. “Kellin is a really good friend of ours, we worked on his record [2015’s ‘Madness’], and we love that guy. He’s a good songwriter and we don’t really do focus songwriting sessions, with Good Charlotte it’s really just friends and family. If we’re making a record friends come by and are like ‘can we work on the record too?’, and we’re always like ‘of course’. “So Kellin was in and he had this riff or whatever, and we just made a song really fast, we finished it like in a day. I went back and listened to it a week later, and I was like ‘fuck, this song is really good man, it’s different, it’s tons of attitude’. “I lived with it for like a week or two, and I was like ‘fuck this is one of my favourite songs on the record, I love his voice, he fucking killed the bridge’. And I called him and I was like ‘can we put that song on our record?’, and he was like ‘fuck yeah, that’s awesome’. “It was a natural progression, there was no master plan to get a bunch of co-writers and features or anything. Simon was the same thing, I was a big fan, and he was in LA writing songs. He is the fucking nicest guy I’ve ever fucking met, the nicest rock star on the fucking planet. He’s humble and he’s a really good songwriter, and he’s an interesting artist, and I’ve been a fan for a long time of Biffy Clyro. “We met and we had a really nice talk, we’d never met before, so we hung out for an hour or two, and he was like ‘well I’m here writing if you wanna write’, I was like ‘are you kidding me? I’d love to write’. “We went in and we wrote, and the song came out and we finished it in like a day, and again I went back and listened to it and I was like ‘fuck this might be one of my favourite Good Charlotte songs we’ve ever done’, and I got to do it with Simon, and being that he’s such a great guy, those songs were organic. These [collaboration] songs are slightly different as they have new energy.”
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RATED BLINK-182 CALIFORNIA
BMG
eeee Worried about Blink-182 in 2016? Don’t be. They’re back. Like, properly, excitedly and whole-heartedly back. And they’re making no apologies for it. Self-aware but never stumbling too far down that rabbit hole, ‘California’ is smarter than blink have ever been given credit for but is also a whole heap of fun. From the tongue-firmly-in-cheek skits to that opening flourish from Travis Barker on ‘Cynical’, ‘California’ is grin-inducingly great. And not just for Blink in 2016, but for 2016 in general. With persistent questions about identity and belonging, ‘California’ takes the spirit 42 upsetmagazine.com
of reckless pop-punk abandon into adulthood without making it boring. The haunting ‘Home Is Such A Lonely Place’ wears its heart on its sleeve, ‘No Future’, all rough gang-vocals and scrappy battle cries, is a kneejerk reaction to years of unease and uncertainty while ‘Teenage Satellites’ looks inwards, trying to find a reason. The past thirteen years of Blink-182’s recorded output has been dominated by an ever-present space. ‘California’ couldn’t be more in your face. With the band jostling for the spotlight, trading musical blows and forcefully pushing each other on, it’s an intense, joyous listen. This isn’t just a return to form though, it’s Blink-182 taking the next step. More than a hopeful post-prom
pledge, the band have expanded on every one of their playful glances. ‘Los Angeles’ is bigger than blink have ever dared to dream while the gloom-laden title track finds a temporary peace. The sixteen tracks of ‘California’ are a reaction to what came before. It’s a constant and progressive conversation with no definitive answers, only comfort in their sound. ‘California’ is an album of late nights, escape by any means and the sobering fear of tomorrow but as ‘Left Alone’ wrestles with itself, its cry of “here’s to the sunrise” rings true. Blink-182 have made it this far so bring it all on. No future? As if. Ali Shutler
BILLY TALENT
JORDAN, HOW WAS IT FITTING IN WITH THE REST OF BILLY TALENT? Jordan: It was great, I’ve known these guys for a long time and obviously, Alexisonfire and Billy Talent toured all over F R O N T M A N B E N K O WA L E W I C Z the place together so it was fairly seamless. We’ve known each A N D S TA N D I N D R U M M E R other for so long, we’ve been doing this J O RDA N H AST I N G S RE F L ECT band thing for so long, we know how to O N T H E I N S P I R AT I O N B E H I N D do it. It was an amazing experience and THE BAND’S NEW ALBUM. the touring is just kicking off but we’re having a great time doing that as well SO, ‘AFRAID OF HEIGHTS’ IS OUT SOON... ‘AFRAID OF HEIGHTS’ IS AN Ben: I’m really excited to share it with EMPOWERING LISTEN BUT people and finally have it out. It feels IT ALSO ASKS QUESTIONS like we’ve been hiding this secret from OF THE LISTENER. WAS THAT everybody. When you work so hard on DELIBERATE? something for so long, you look forward Ben: Ian had a lot of ideas and when we to just going ‘here, fucking take it. It’s started working on the lyrics, we started yours’.” noticing a theme throughout the whole record. We talk about everything from AND WHAT INSPIRED THE gun control to personal relationships RECORD? to our relationship with the earth to Ben: Man, so much. Life, struggle, Donald Trump and how awful that would happiness and being a good human. be to have someone like that in power . Ian D’Sa [guitar] is the main songwriter We talk about empathy and compassion and producer of this record and it’s his to the refugee status and just keeping brainchild, it’s something he’s dedicated our eyes open and trying to see that, his whole life for the past two plus years as a species, as human beings we have to, so we definitely have to tip our hat to the potential to be so much better than his dedication and vision. Having Jordan where we’re at. To just try and have a Hastings, who plays in a band called little more love in our lives. To try and Alexisonfire, who has donated his time be the best person you can be within to play on the record and come out with your family, your community and with us while our drummer is recovering from your friends. his fight with MS. There’s a lot of good stories that have compacted themselves WAS THAT THE VISION GOING IN into this miraculous little thing of work. TO CREATING THIS RECORD?
Ben: I don’t think it’s a vision, it’s just the way it should be. You hear all these horrible stories, like that poor girl Christina Grimmie who got shot yesterday signing autographs after a show and then last night, in Orlando, Florida, a man walks into a gay club and shot 103 people and kills 49. There is something wrong with the way we think. We need to open our eyes. We need to educate and tell people, guns are not the way. The answer is not more guns. P
BILLY TALENT
AFRAID OF HEIGHTS
Atlantic
eeee ”They say that rock will never survive,” belts Ben Kowalewicz on ‘Louder than the DJ’. “It’s up to youth to keep her alive.” Billy Talent’s tongue-in-cheek defiance of the dilution of rock is just one part of an album that smacks you so hard around the face, there’s no doubt that their music remains very much alive. And their targets are clear. They still have a lot to say - whether it’s looking at the environment, or the pressure placed on mental health on the day-to-day - and they’re saying with an almighty bang. ‘Big Red Gun’ declares it’s going to “shoot, shoot, shoot” until the thrill is gone, where ‘This Is Our War’ looks at a nation with “seeds of intolerance” where “countless fools and reckless cowards rally the people in the quest for power”. With a certain billionaire playing on the fear they speak of just south of Canada’s border, it’s not a stretch to see where their confusion and ire is pointed. There’s nothing particularly speedy resting here, but it’s big - really big. Every song is a declaration, an anthem - between the topics they’re scrutinising, to the wallshuddering strength of what they’re creating, this is a band on a mission. While they look below the border, Ben says to stand for something more. As you’d expect, Billy Talent continue to do so, and do it with such a vengeance that ‘Afraid Of Heights’ has you hooked before you even hit repeat. Heather McDaid
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TTNG
BRAWLERS
Sargent House
Alcopop! Records
DISAPPOINTMENT ISLAND
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We see you TTNG. We know exactly what you’re doing with ‘Disappointment Island’. And from the opening shimmy of ‘Coconut Crab’, so do they. Taking their slanted, off-kilter musicianship and laying it down as a foundation for heartfelt conversations about life, death, everything in between and some of the stuff below, the band aren’t being weird for the sake of it. Instead the contrast between the buoyant, ever-changing instrumentals and the static prison of the lyrics provides a constantly surprising landscape that asks far more questions than ‘what time signature is this?”. Effecting, powerful and deeply emotional, TTNG have placed a bloody, beating heart within their technical prowess and the resulting creation is a sight to behold. Disappointment Island? This record couldn’t be further from it. Ali Shutler
HAPPY ACCIDENTS YOU MIGHT BE RIGHT
Alcopop!
eee ‘You Might Be Right’ is a quarter-life crisis disguised as a good time. Opening track ‘But You’re Probably Wrong’ seems to half-criticise other people, while dealing with a fair amount of self-deprecation. In fact, this sets the tone of the album: tackling generation Y’s most relatable problems, all the while being wonderfully self-aware. It sounds a bit like Happy Accidents have been to some really awful parties, with the deceptively bright track ‘Chameleon’ featuring the line “don’t wanna have to drink to make these three hours bearable.” It can feel a tad repetitive, but since the joy in the record is in hearing the sardonic lyrics, it’s also one that will have you returning. While it’s not going to change the state of music, it’s great to hear a band who sound like they’re having fun on an album of well-paced and well-written pop songs. Poppy Waring 44 upsetmagazine.com
THE BLACK EP
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Light-hearted and full of life, pop punk in Britain is back and Brawlers are breathing life into it. Furiously played chords over fast paced drums, the five tracks on this EP are a guide to life. “I just wanna have a good time, I just want to take drugs and be sexy.” The truth never sounded so good in ‘Day Job’, while ‘Growing Up’ is a perfect ode to the current generation’s loss of youth and money. “I’m drunk, I’m fucking poor” is howled during the everlasting chorus: if ever there were a slogan for life in 2016, this is would be it. There are screams for help within ‘Shake Me Into Shape’, trying to convince someone that you’re The One in ‘Do You Believe Me Now?’ and wanting to be beautiful in the aptly named ‘Better Looking’. A consistent batch of bright songs and witty lyrical content, this marks a strong stepping stone towards their next full-length. Steven Loftin
MARTHA
BLISTERS IN THE PIT OF MY HEART
MASKED INTRUDER
LOVE AND OTHER CRIMES EP
Pure Noise Records
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With rockabilly and punk infused to create the last thing you’d expect from supposed criminals, here’s a perfect example of why you should never judge a book by its cover. The obvious undertones lie in the enveloping subject matter of crime and punishment, most prominent in the track ‘Running From The Cops’, where they turn criminality into a Looney Toons thought; ‘First Star Tonight’ is a love song straight from the heart, while ‘Beyond A Shadow of A Doubt’ references to stalking and restraining orders. There isn’t a single track on the EP that wanes in tempo, giving it a fast pace and easy-to-digest feel, as all good pop punk should. Though at times it can feel as if they rely little bit too heavily on the gimmick of being “criminals”, what’s wrong with a bit of self-aware fun? Steven Loftin
ROB LYNCH BABY I’M A RUNAWAY
Xtra Mile Recordings
Fortuna POP!
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Martha, hailing from Pity Me, near Durham (which is an Actual Place) want to talk about staying punk in the midst of generational pressure to survive under the weight of the uncertainty and disappointing prospects of late capitalism - and all while committed to life in a band. But don’t worry, they’re extraordinarily optimistic about it. While it’s tough to explore that constant struggle between life and art in the space of one record, Martha have managed it with their impossibly catchy, punk-tinged indie. ‘Blisters In The Pit Of My Heart’ is a scrappy summertime romance of a record, combining the garage-punk energy of The Thermals with the ramshackle charm of Los Campesinos!. ‘Blisters...’ manages to highlight the fun, the passion and the adventure to be found in this ridiculous life we call punk; never succumbing to the mundane. Kristy Diaz
Maintaining the charm of a singersongwriter alongside the fuller sound of a full band, there’s not a bad track among the ten on ‘Baby I’m A Runaway’. ‘Selfish Bones’ has an unforgettable chorus and is made for sing alongs, while ‘Tectonic Plates’ is a quiet, acoustic song of heartbreak and loss. In contrast, ‘Salt Spring’ has grungier guitars, darker tones, and a more dominant bassline, while ‘Good For Me’ changes the sound again, as fast guitars switch through a cappella vocals to a chorus worthy of any popular indie band. A progression from Rob’s previous releases, it feels like this Lincolnshire lad really knows what he wants his sound to be and has nailed his niche in the world of the young, English artist. Whether it’s a sorrowful, nostalgic ballad like ‘Youth’ or the optimistic, cheery ‘Prove It!’, it’s guitar pop at its best. Kathryn Black
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YOUTH MAN WAX EP
Venn Records
eeeee It took Youth Man just six hours to record the five tracks that make up the most visceral release of the year. Flag in the ground, cards on the table: it’s so much more than simply brilliant. As filthy, rugged and crushing as we’ve come to expect from the trio, ‘Wax’ takes it further. There are moments of disgust, beauty and intrigue littered throughout a record that’s as confrontational and challenging as it is welcomed. This is a record to rage to and for. Political without preaching, important but never dull, this what we’ve been waiting for. Ali Shutler
ON MY ART, CREATIVITY AND OTHER THINGS
BY M AC RU S P E R K S , YO U T H MAN
I’ve been making art for as long as I can remember. When I was a child I would spend Saturday mornings in front of SMTV Live, surrounded by cereal boxes, scissors, felt pens and sellotape. I’d create little contraptions and figures and board games and whatever. I distinctly remember the day I took one of my contraptions into school to show off – it was a washing machine, complete with soap drawer and functional door and everything. They gave me a gold star and I felt like an absolute badass. In retrospect, it was probably rubbish – but that’s beyond the point. I am lucky enough to have been raised by a mother and a nan who always encouraged any whimsical endeavour I wished to pursue and always met the results of these endeavours with pride and encouragement – I was never told no. This meant that I was able to
explore all manner of hobbies and interests, but art has been the only real constant. I’ve always felt a compulsion to explore and express my thoughts, ideas and feelings with pens and paper and cardboard and whatever else I could get my hands on. In my opinion, creativity and the freedom to create are crucial to one’s development as a human being – whether that be through art, music, writing or any other creative pursuit. We must constantly question and develop our values and beliefs in order to establish who we are and the second we cease to do so we begin to slip into habit and ignorance and lots of other grisly, counterproductive cultural hindrances. I’ve a fascination with the things that humans do to each other and the things the human body can do, so a lot of my work centres around figures in various states of contortion
and distress – I’m also fascinated by arcane torture methods and medical procedures and stuff so a lot of that reflects in the art I make as well as the lyrics I write. Sculpting allows me to explore and illustrate things in a much more straightforward way, but it does also feel pretty weird – I’ll be halfway through sculpting some figure with a light bulb shoved into their forehead or clawing their eyes out or something and be like “this is wicked!” and then realise that I shouldn’t really be enjoying torturing this little figure I’ve made. I do realise that that makes me sound like some kind of unhinged sadist but I would never do that to a real human so it’s fine. So anyway, I sat down with a big pile of clay, some candles, some dentures and some big plastic eyes. A few hours later I’d turned all that stuff into the sculpture you see now. Once it was all set and painted, I showed it to Kaila and Miles. Fortunately they loved it and we decided to use it for the cover of the EP. P 45
BIFFY CLYRO ELLIPSIS
14th Floor
eeee In the build up to ‘Ellipsis’, we’ve heard a lot about how Biffy Clyro were trying new things. References to the madcap antics of Death Grips, the metalfor-people-who-like-to-be-smart of Deafhaeven - hell, even Tears For Fears got a name drop. Expecting something really quite different, yeah? Well, nope. Not really. If you look hard, you can hear all these things and more - but however big and brash some of their influences are, none of them has a DNA quite as strong as Biffy themselves. While the mainstream world struggles to work out there are more than two bands from Scotland (the other is The Proclaimers, obviously), the Biff are owning their rights to the airwaves. Course, there are experiments the near MOR country of ‘Small Wishes’ is definitely coming from left-field for the band - but for the most part, it’s pedal to the floor. From the sugar-buzz energy rush of ‘Animal Style’, complete with its monkey see, monkey rock out backing vocals, there’s no chance of the charge slowing. While Muse sit on the Glastonbury Main Stage, self declared as Brit Rock’s flagbearers, an obvious truth becomes even clearer. For a while now, Biffy Clyro have been on the same level of omnipresent dominance. With each and every album, the inevitable becomes more unavoidable. As the Teignmouth trio depart planet earth, Biffy are happy to get down and dirty. If we’re picking a champion, it’s Simon Neil who we want leading us into battle. As ‘On A Bang’ says best: “Why can’t you fucking do better?” Biffy certainly have. Stephen Ackroyd
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HELLIONS
CANE HILL
UNFD
Rise Records
OPERA OBLIVIA
eeee You don’t need to look further than the title of Hellions’ latest effort to infer they’re aiming for something more. ‘Opera Oblivia’ incites visions of scope, grandeur and theatricality; not something you’d expect from the Australian hardcore mob, as good as they are. Silenced from the off as opening track ‘24’ demonstrates that Hellions are capable of delivering music that evokes mastery far beyond their station. There’s room to breathe and subtle operatic harmonies that are elevated throughout by the bright, dramatic guitar line. Impressive, no? ‘Quality Of Life’ roars into action, but it quickly gives life to a chorus that feels far bigger. It’s quickly followed by ballad-esque, ‘Thresher’, while ‘Lotus Eater’ and ‘Bad Way’ exemplify rolling hooks that hint at their evolution. ‘Opera Oblivia’ is the sound of Hellions coming of age and what comes next may be very special indeed. Jack Glasscock
SMILE
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When Cane Hill exploded in a flurry of crushing riffs and religious fury on ‘Sunday School’, it felt like modern metal was about to receive a long-overdue kick up the arse. Their debut record delivers on that promise, but on even darker and more disturbing terms. Elijah Witt is a powerhouse of a vocalist, but his delivery is at its most writhing and cathartic when he drawls and groans atop nightmarish industrial pulses. The rest of the band follow suit and while they rip through ‘(The New) Jesus’ and ‘Ugly Idol Mannequin’ with uncompromising heaviness, they come to fruition with a skin-crawling screech on the frankly deviant ‘True Love’ and ‘Cream Pie’. If ‘Smile’ was to be embodied in an emoji, it would depict a gruesome, Joker-esque Chelsea grin: it’s short and sharp, but the effect is scarring. Cane Hill are leagues above their peers; this is an unparalleled debut. Danny Randon
WE ARE CHELSEA CARNIVORES GRIN THEODOR’S A DON, BRO EP
SELF INFLICTED
THE FALL OF TROY OK
Big Scary Monsters
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The Fall of Troy’s new record, their first seven years, is incorrectly titled. It might say ‘OK’ on the cover, but it’s missing the following pause for breath and the commanding ‘Let’s Go!’ that should swiftly follow. Because ‘OK’ isn’t about accepting your circumstances or striving for mediocre. ‘OK’ is about running as fast and furiously as you can towards something better. From the opening riot of ‘401k’, the band use that spirit to burn down everything holding them back. And The Fall of Troy aren’t taking no for an answer. Given away as a free download, the band claimed ‘OK’ was a gift. From inspirational messages of pursuit to the chameleon nature of the ten tracks that are so much more than OK, The Fall of Troy couldn’t be more correct. Treasure it. Ali Shutler
CROWN THE EMPIRE RETROGRADE
Rise Records
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Rise Records
We Are Carnivores are like the love child of early Don Broco and Enter Shikari, their new EP ‘Theodor’s A Don, Bro’ filled with punchy math riffs, and a rigidness that really showcases the sheer skill the Nottingham trio have. Equal parts of Press To Meco melody and lurid breakdowns, the four track EP persists and rides on the band’s electronicore wizardry and satirical quips. The experimental title track, suspenseful ‘Scottish Power’, yo-yoing of ‘You Can’t Argue With Sharks’ and the headspinning intro of ‘I’m Not An Alcoholic, I Just Collect Bottles’ congeal the ‘Theodor’s A Don, Bro’ EP. WAC have created a boundlessly pulsating release that turns an unexpected corner at any given moment, and is a glorified alternate math victory. Jasleen Dhindsa
From the brutal opening of ‘Welcome Back’, it’s safe to say that Chelsea Grin have no intention on holding back with their fourth album. Nearly a decade deep, there’s little chance of any sort of cynical, airwaves grabbing turn left for the Utah six-piece. That’s not to say they’re a one trick pony. Far from it. By their terms, ‘Never, Forever’ is basically a lighters aloft ballad for the masses - if they were used to set alight the room beforehand, at any rate. Elsewhere, title-track ‘Self Inflicted’ is crunchier than a fresh box of Frosties. There’s even room for ‘Clickbait’ - yep, ‘Clickbait’ - featuring the lyrics “Fuck the media / Fuck your magazine / Fuck your whole team”. Calm down, guys. We’re not that bad, promise. Please don’t pummel us into oblivion. Stephen Ackroyd
It’s taken Crown The Empire a while, but with ‘Retrograde’ they’ve finally pinned down what sort of band they want to be: a great one. The opening of ‘SK-68’ sees them establish their new world order, all cinema reveals and theatrical emotion while the villainous build of ‘The Fear Is Real’ sees the band further expand horizons. It’s not all far-flung epics though, as ‘Lucky Us’ gets in your face with the sort of shimmering serenade that would be Bieber-esque if not for the fiery pull aways. Elsewhere there’s circling builds around snarling frustration on ‘Are You Coming With Me’, edge of the world abandon with ‘Zero’ and pomp-infused parades as ‘Weight of The World’ marches on. This shifting colour-pallet isn’t a band searching for their shade though. Instead, Crown The Empire have found exactly who they are. Ali Shutler
Self-released
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TRACKS OF THE MONTH A DAY TO REMEMBER – BAD VIBRATIONS
Well, it’s not what The Beach Boys were picking up but that’s fine. The title-track to A Day To Remember’s new album is here and carries on down the dark path that ‘Paranoia’ pointed out. Screaming at the walls that surround them, the band have their sights locked and are desperate to get out. That pain, suffering and all-consuming want drives the track forwards, backwards and around as ADTR enter the fray. There’s no victory here but there’s also no defeat. There’s an acceptance. A desire for change. And with that, the band charge towards the light with you in tow. Brace for impact.
DEATH SPELLS – WHY IS LOVE SO DISASTROUS?
Everyone assumed Death Spells (AKA Frank Iero and James Dewees) had long been abandoned. Left by the wayside. But here we are. An album, a tour, and this track ‘why is love so disastrous?’, the first proper recorded output from a band already four years in. And it’s bloody horrible. And we bloody love it. Distorted to the very edge of sanity but pulled back by a gut-led want for great songs, the track is disgustingly captivating. Pulsating, relentless and unforgiving, it’s a musical breakdown in technicolour and we wouldn’t fix a thing.
CHVRCHES – ‘BURY IT’ FT HAYLEY WILLIAMS
It’s not a new song by any stretch of the imagination but ‘Bury It’ is (and always has been) an all-out banger. The track, a celebration of moving on and getting past a struggle, is a victory cry for enduring the worst. Having Lauren Mayberry and Hayley Williams trade vocals and support atop glittering, driving electronics is more powerful than you could ever imagine. And CHVRCHYMORE is something we’ve been dreaming about since one band covered the other on Rock Band all those years ago.
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OF MICE & MEN – ‘PAIN’
After the year Austin Carlile has had, it’s no surprise that the first track from OM&M’s new album is drenched in ‘Pain’. Tackling the limitations of self and the expectations of others this track is a snarling two-fingered salute to anyone who still doubts the band’s ability to bring it. And bring it they do. If you were expecting the band to step up to the big leagues, this is the track you’ve been waiting for. “Don’t you ever underestimate me,” the band cry. And after ‘Pain’ how could you, you monster.
JOHNNY FOREIGNER MONO NO AWARE
Alcopop! Records
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The UK underground contains many gems, but few - if any - have shone as brightly as Johnny Foreigner over the last decade. On their fifth album they’re as consistently brilliant as ever. From the almost free-form breakdown of ‘I Can Show You The Way To Grand Central’, they’ve got new tricks too. Cascading vocals, pleasingly distorted guitars, lyrics that bite as much as they bark and an ear for a tune, JoFo have always been comfortable in their own skin, but the further they progress, the more they become a band in a league of their own. Stephen Ackroyd
GOOD CHARLOTTE YOUTH AUTHORITY
MDDN
eee Good Charlotte’s ‘40 oz. Dream’ chats about growing up on MTV, checking it’s not 2003, and punk rockers all being over 40 and coaching little league. That’s what comes with the good ol’ reunion: things change, but really listeners still hope for that essence of their earlier band with one eye going forward. Their years away have seen them hanging out with other bands, and their influence has rubbed off: their time with 5 Seconds of Summer for example has left obvious fingerprints. When Good Charlotte come through at full force, you’d be forgiven for wondering if it is indeed 2003, and revelling in every moment. They’ve still got that fire from earlier albums that put them slap bang on the radar, but they’ve also made it feel massive. ‘Youth Authority’ is good, but it’s not mind-blowing. Will you have a good time listening to the album? Most likely. Will it go down a storm live? Yes. Will you have a longing for that little something extra once it’s done? Probably. Heather McDaid
VANNA ALL HELL
Pure Noise Records
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“EVERY SONG IS A PIECE OF ME” Your new album ‘All Hell’ is out soon, when did you start working on it? Did you have a clear idea of what you wanted it to be when you began? I’ve been writing the lyrics and vibes for two years. This is probably the most focused record I’ve ever written. I knew what I wanted to say for so long, just a matter of how to say it, you know?! It felt good going into the studio knowing my goals - vision is a cool thing once you embrace it. Where did you record? Jersey city New Jersey, right outside NYC. I guess the benefit was that we were removed from our normal life. All I did was write, record, lift and read. It was nice to be in my own head without distractions. To be honest the studio doesn’t offer me many options I’m too down with so I took that time to put in work on the record, I think it shows. You’ve previously said the songs are “us being proud and owning the people we are now” - was creating the album a cathartic experience? It just felt good to tell the world, yeah I’ve messed up, I’ve been low - but I’m here, I survived and I’m very proud of the road I took to get here. I just embraced all the failures, all the triumphs, the good the bad and the lessons learned. I feel like people
flee from their past and I’m now the opposite, I preach that mess in hopes people will find comfort in knowing that’s it’s okay to be not okay. We all struggle but you can make it, you just gotta work. Are there any songs on the release that stand out as meaning a lot to you, lyrically or thematically? Every song is important, every song is a piece of me. But if I had to pick one that was mega personal it’s ‘Flower’. That song hits a part of my soul that isn’t tapped often. Read the words, you’ll get it. What has been your biggest achievement with this release so far? Did you hit any particular challenges with it? So far we are only at pre-orders, but the numbers have smashed every other record. But the real victory is reading all the tweets, posts and messages about how hard kids are digging what they’re hearing. That’s all that matters, those feels making that connection with us on what we are laying down. It’s unreal to read kids say words that I said in the studio “I hope kids say this”, it’s a trip man. What do you think the best environment for listening to ‘All Hell’ is?
When Vanna’s Davey Muise calls ‘All Hell’ the band’s most focused record, he’s not kidding about. There’s a brutal intensity running through it like a stick of especially gnarly rock, with none of the seaside fun to boot. From the initial blast of opener ‘Paranoia Euphoria’ and its refrain of “All I see are enemies”, it’s Vanna vs the world, and the rest of us should be running scared. It’s a different tone that takes stand-out ‘Flower’ though. An almost hopeful, almost love song, Vanna are a band with more than one dimension. Stephen Ackroyd WITH THEIR NEW ALBUM ‘A L L H E L L’ B O S T O N P O S TH A R D C O R E B A N D VA N N A A R E E M B R AC I N G T H E I R PA S T, S AY S F R O N T M A N D AV E Y M U I S E .
What do you hope fans will take away from the record? In the car after a hard day. In the morning before you have to face school or work. In your room when you’re sick of everything. In your ear-buds when you’re walking through the halls feeling invisible. The answer is anywhere and any time. This record is for you whenever you need it. Have you learnt anything during the creation of this record that you’ll take forward with you? I’ve learned that I’m happy. That I’m happy with the work I’ve put into my life and my music. I’ve come a long way and I don’t think that’s bragging, I’m just proud of where I came from and where I’m going. Do you have any plans to visit the UK this year? Yeah! We just announced a UK tour with Beartooth - dates and tickets are up! What’s your absolutely favourite thing about being in Vanna right now? Freedom. The freedom to be who and what I am and the freedom it gives kids to do the same. I love living free. P Vanna’s new album ‘All Hell’ is out 8th July. 49
LIVE
DOWNLOAD 2016 Words: Ali Shutler & Rob Barbour. Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett.
D O N I N G T O N PA R K
RO C K M USI C TU RN S OUT TO B E SPL ASH PRO O F AS T H E D OW N P O U RS H I T A N D D ROW N LOA D 2016 IS BORN.
IT’S FUN, FUN, FUN AS ALL TIME LOW ROUND OFF THE FIRST DAY
As a rule, All Time Low don’t so much put the ‘pop’ into ‘poppunk’ as they do take the ‘punk’ out of it. It’s a strategy which has served them well over the last ten years, but although the logic of scheduling them against Rammstein tonight is water-tight – providing a rocklite option for those with less interest in Teutonic industrial metal – the lack of comparable acts at Download this year means they draw a relatively meagre crowd. If Alex Gaskarth and co. are bothered by this it doesn’t show, and we get the full All Time Low headline experience – replete with cringe-inducing stage chat that’s so Blink-182 that at times it actually sounds like Mark Hoppus is on stage with them – and the crowd absolutely lap it up. The fact is that All Time Low are very, very good at what they do and radio-ready bangers like ‘Lost In Stereo’ and ‘Weightless’ sound absolutely huge tonight. There’s a wall of Marshall stacks and blasts of pyrotechnics to go with the massive sound, and as pop punk bands go they’re an incredibly tight, powerful unit. Pulling twenty plus fans onstage to dance, whatever you might think of their songs there’s no denying All Time Low are a LOT of fun. (RB)
PUPPY GET DOWNLOAD OFF TO A REALLY GREAT START
It takes a special kind of band to be able to throw 90s alt rock, stoner grooves and riffs, and the melodic sensibilities and bounce of Blue-era Weezer into a cocktail fronted with a piercing falsetto and a have it do anything but make a terrible mess. Taking to the Maverick Stage, Puppy immediately prove that this unholy mix can not only work, but sound absolutely vital. They’re perhaps unaccustomed to having so much space to work with, but when the songs and the surprisingly brutal metal flourishes are this good, it’s hard to begrudge them a slot on such a large stage. The confidence will come with time but for now this is a great new band doing it well, meaning it, and clearly having an equally great time doing so. (RB)
DON BROCO ARE ON FINE FORM
This could have gone so terribly, terribly wrong. A band whose connections to the metal world were always tenuous, Don Broco have spent the last four years evolving into the closest thing our generation has to the polished, decadent sounds of Duran Duran.
DEFTONES ARE SIMPLY TRANSCENDENT As much the heaviest band enjoyed by people who “don’t really like metal” as they are the most melodic band enjoyed by metal heads, Deftones have been subverting convention and perfecting reinvention for over two decades. And yet there’s no-one else – not on this bill, not on ANY bill – who sound quite like Deftones. Though the artwork from ‘Gore’ hangs over the stage, Chino Moreno’s outfit have been in this game long enough to know when it’s time to crank out the hits. And so we get big-hitters like ‘My Own Summer (Shove It)’ and ‘Change (In The House Of Flies)’ early doors, their blunt-force trauma heaviness daring the torrential rain to try to sabotage this victorious set. With Black Sabbath’s last ever festival set coming immediately after, the metal world is calling out for a new top layer, a new generation of elder statesmen. Tonight, we may just have found one of them. (RB)
So a slot on the second-largest stage at the UK’s biggest rock and metal festival, in direct competition with Disturbed? On a day when the weather has rendered the ground less a surface and more a murky, ravenous pit of hellfilth? A recipe for failure, surely. Apparently, Don Broco didn’t get the memo. And judging by the size of the crowd at the Encore Stage, neither did Download. Disturbed may have drawn a near-headliner sized crowd at tea time, but it feels like anyone who isn’t watching them is here at Encore Stage getting their Thug on. Broco are on fine form, daring the appalling weather to fuck this up for them. Ever the natural leader, powerhouse frontman Rob Damiani has the crowd squatting in the mud and leaping into the air on demand. Even the Derbyshire contingent of the Push-up squad are in full effect, much to Damiani’s apparent consternation. Guitarist Simon Delaney and bassist Tom Doyle might be the two most underrated musicians in UK rock
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right now, and their (respectively) immaculate chord work and subtleyet-powerful slap work cut through the mix like a welly through the Donington mud. In fact, they’re SO good today that their note-perfect half-cover of Rage Against the Machine’s ‘Killing in the Name’ seems entirely superfluous. Particularly when contrasted with Arguable Actual Metal Track ‘Thug Workout’. A triumphant tour-de-force. (RB)
BILLY TALENT’S SET SCREAMS HEADLINER
They may be second-from-last on the Second Stage, on a day when all music has to stop before Iron Maiden take the Main Stage, but everything about Billy Talent’s set screams ‘Headliner’. From the well-earned swagger with which frontman Ben Kowalewicz stalks the stage, to the end-to-end lights taking up its entire width, Billy Talent absolutely OWN Download this afternoon. Ripping straight into ‘Devil In A
Midnight Mass’, their sonic onslaught is relentless. This is a band whose enormous popularity has somehow never translated to the UK, but who pack out arenas and headline comparable festivals elsewhere. And today, it feels like that sheer size might be translating to these fair isles. Stopping the pit set to address the shooting in Orlando, Kowalewicz is every inch the rock star preacher: “This has to end NOW!” He proclaims, to rapturous applause. There’s nothing we, several thousand people sinking into Donington’s quagmire, can do. But right now, united by music, it feels like we’re invincible. There’s another pause during stand out track ‘Devil On My Shoulder’ during which Kowalewicz attempts some football banter – including several different pronunciations of “Maidstone” – but it’s all just gravy on the aural feast of one of the most assured sets we’ve ever witnessed, headline or otherwise. Bolstered by Alexisonfire drummer
Jordan Hastings, whose expert skinpounding drives this incredible band to even higher peaks than they usually achieve, Billy Talent prove that it’s not the time of the slot, or the weather, but the songs and showmanship that count. And they have both in spades. (RB)
BURY TOMORROW EMBODY DOWNLOAD, AND THE FESTIVAL RESPONDS IN KIND
Bury Tomorrow have a convincing claim to being one of Download’s true success stories. Ploughing the metalcore furrow for a decade now, the Southampton mob have slowly but surely worked their way up the festival’s pecking order – paying their dues, making a name the old-fashioned way. All of which has led to this – a prominent slot on the Encore Stage, playing to a field full of people hungry to see them excel. From the second they take the stage, Bury Tomorrow make it their own – where lesser bands might struggle to make an impact in such expansive surrounds, this giant outdoor stage is barely enough to contain them
IT’S NOTHING SHORT OF ALL- OUT SUCCESS FOR MILK TEETH “What’s up? We’re Milk Teeth,” nods Becky Blomfield as the band take to the stage but with the tent overflowing before they’ve played a note, Download has clearly been put on notice. As a roaring ‘Brain Food’ rings out, even more people flock over. Coming out swinging, Becky thrashes through the opening track before dropping back to let Billy Hutton take the lead in the build up to ‘Crow’s Feet’. Elsewhere Chris Webb plays his guitar with a sense of flamboyant showmanship and Oli Holbrook goes in hard and then harder. That sense of unity they established at the very start of the year has been growing tighter with every passing day. Lessons learnt from Tonight Alive, Citizen and their own headline tour put to full effect, the four of them cram in more and more energy with every turn. If you needed any more proof that this band are something special, this was it. (AS)
as frontman Dani WintersBates and his brother, bassist Davyd, ricochet across it with boundless confidence and energy. The onslaught of riffs and blastbeats only relents to allow Dani to deliver heartfelt addresses to their crowd – thanking them for getting their album into the Top 40, and for supporting metal as a whole. “Keep supporting metal and it will never die”. Words which could be a slogan for Download itself. But perhaps the biggest cheer of their set is reserved for Winter-Bates’ rant about bands charging for meet and greets. “THEY should be queueing up,” he passionately intones, “to meet YOU”. Truly a band who haven’t forgotten what it means to be in their position, on the strength of today’s performance this is a band who’ll continue to go from strength to strength. Those headline slots are calling, and Bury Tomorrow are almost ready. (RB)
TWIN ATLANTIC TAKE NO PRISONERS
Sam McTrusty’s dedication to situationally-inappropriate garb knows
no bounds. He’ll wear a raincoat onstage in any given club, but put him outside in a driving Derbyshire downpour and he’ll emerge dressed like a gentleman spy. Having disappeared for a year or so to work on their fourth album, Twin Atlantic have clearly also been working on both their image and their stagecraft. Consequently, there’s a sheen to their performance which even persistent technical difficulties can’t dull. Sensibly opting for a hits set, the band play with a passion and urgency that suggests someone just out of view might be holding their nearest and dearest at gunpoint. Powering through the appalling conditions, the crowd are so on side that by the time they drop new song ‘No Sleep’, it’s greeted with almost as much glee as favourites like ‘Make A Beast Of Myself’ and ‘Yes, I Was Drunk’. ‘No Sleep’, powered by an over-driven, garage-rock-cum-nu-metal bass right riff, hints at an interesting new direction for Twin Atlantic, whose new-found confidence hints strongly at festival headline slots in the nottoo-distant future. By the time their set closes with a triumphant, extended rendition of ‘Heart and Soul’, it’s clear: Twin Atlantic are back, and they’re taking no prisoners. (RB)
BABYMETAL SHOW OFF THEIR ABILITY TO WORK A CROWD
It’s been raining torrentially for at least half an hour before Babymetal
BLACK PEAKS IS A VICTORY FROM THE MOMENT THEY WALK ON STAGE
finally make it to the stage. From the drawn out opening of ‘Babymetal Death’ straight into the electric charge of ‘Gimme Chocolate’, the band give it their all and the crowd responds in kind. From multiple circle pits to two people down the front in full Babymetal attire, soggily copying each and every dance move, today isn’t about curiosity. It’s a lesson in just how far Babymetal reach (as far as the eye can see, if you want a ballpark). Relentless charging, marching and sliding around the stage, Babymetal show off their ability to build excitement and get everyone involved. With a setlist leaning heavily on the shock and awe of their debut, the crowd is led by the hand to every moment of mass participation and release. While ‘Metal Resistance’ builds on two years of hard work, self-discovery and exploration, today’s show feels an introduction. While what
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they do deliver is brilliant, it feels like they’re holding back; it’s a little safe. And that’s one thing Babymetal should never be. (AS)
GLASSJAW TAKE TO DOWNLOAD, REVITALISED AND CLENCHED LIKE A FIST
Glassjaw, or more accurately the creative core of Daryl Palumbo and guitarist Justin Beck, have always been a gleefully awkward band. By following two albums of seminal Long Island screamo with a decade of silence, power-pop side projects and tantalising faux-reunions, they’ve maintained a mystique as powerful as they are unpredictable. On their second UK outing, though, their latest incarnation might just be their most stable too. Tearing straight into ‘Tip Your Bartender”, there’s an energy and tightness to Glassjaw 2016 which seems due in no small part to their relatively new rhythm section. Locked into each other and -crucially- Beck’s snaking, Tom-Morello-of-Hardcore riffs, they provide the perfect backdrop for Palumbo to stalk the stage, his inimitable voice showing no signs of wear. That wilful awkwardness, though, extends to their setlist choices and an early dispatching of the more popular tracks from ‘Worship
From the statement opening of ‘Glass Built Castles’ which, flipping between purging aggression and goose bumpinducing beauty, is still as shocking and ridiculous as the first time it took your breath away, to the sneer of ‘White Eyes’, Black Peaks are larger than life. From the grins plastered across their faces, they know it as well. The band have always been masterfully indulgent but that hasn’t stopped them inviting everyone in. Download quickly takes them up on the offer. From the choral flourish of ‘Saviour’ to the rampant ‘Set In Stone’, Black Peaks maintain their self-imposed bar with the crowd behind them for every ridiculous step of the way. And it still only feels like the beginning. (AS)
& Tribute’ means their set loses momentum halfway through. A nearperfect sound thankfully carries the revitalised band across the finish line to, if not rapturous applause, a crowd grateful to have one of THE textbook heavy rock bands of the early 00s back and on form. (RB)
IT’S A SHOW STOPPER AS BEARTOOTH TAKE TO THE MAINSTAGE
It may only be midday but Beartooth’s frontman Caleb Shomo wastes no time getting the crowd down on the (muddy, muddy) ground, ready to literally leap into action as the band launch into ‘The Lines’. A natural showman, commanding the crowd with a growl throughout the set, Caleb knows how much is riding on today’s set and he’s determined to make every minute matter. The band are just as tight, just as ready for war and look entirely comfortable occupying and dominating Download’s main stage. There’s synchronised head-banging, copious beat downs and spades of guitars even filthier than the Donington mud. The moments of melody aren’t as strong live as they are on record but
their presence, and the connection they forge because of it, is undeniable. Knowing they’re stronger as a unit, bassist Oshie Bicar is quick to pick up slack and their united assault on the ever expanding audience sees a whole field bouncing, screaming back at the band, and proving that there’s more to this band than simple aggression. (RB)
MUNCIE GIRLS PROVE WHY THEY’RE A BAND TO BELIEVE IN
There’s a reason we talk about Muncie Girls so much and it’s because of shows like this. “It’s so lovely that you’re all here,” beams Lande Hekt. “Is it raining or something ‘cause there’s loads of you here?” But, with the sky the clearest they’ve been for a while, the crowd are here for something else. Something more than shelter. And Muncie Girls deliver. The band may swap glances of disbelief in-between their rousing bedroom anthems but this is a set, and a band, to believe in. Energetic, dynamic and full of heart, Muncie Girls prove that you don’t have to shout to be heard. From a sweeping ‘Gone With The Wind’, through the dancing ‘Kaspar and Randow’ until a confident, pointed ‘Gas Mark 4’, the band are simply stunning throughout. And they’re growing in confidence. A flourish here, a smirk there, Muncie Girls are quickly learning that it’s not just themselves that adore these songs. Introducing ‘Learn Is School’ as “about how we don’t get taught politics in school and that would have been really useful recently,” the band are really finding their voice. From the cheers of support to the people mouthing, singing and screaming along, it’s a voice that resonates and it’s only getting louder. (AS)
A VERY DIFFERENT FRANK CARTER SHOW, BUT NO LESS IN YOUR FACE
Suited and booted, this is a very different Frank Carter & The
Rattlesnakes show. It’s still absolute chaos, uninhibited catharsis and a total joy from front to back but instead of leading the charge from the trenches, Frank Carter sticks to the stage for a bulk of set. That doesn’t mean he’s not in the face of every single person present though. Embracing his role as master of ridiculous ceremonies, he encourages reactions rather than forcing them. Because of this, every person in the tent feels part of it. It also allows the strength of the songs to shine through. From the arms-aloft sneer of ‘Trouble’, through the pointed finger ‘Paradise’ to the everything-onred spin of ‘The Devil Inside Of Me’, every song feels like a hit because every song is a hit. And Frank makes sure they all land. “Quit fucking around, we’re here to party,” he demands while trying to instigate a circle pit around the outside of the tent but it’s an attitude that breathes fire into the whole thing. Striding out into the middle of the tent for a gut-wrenching ‘Loss’, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes show a depth, sincerity and an honesty that sets them apart. Sure it’s different, but that’s what Frank Carter does best. (AS)
BLACK FOXXES ARE SOMETHING SPECIAL
“We’ve got an album coming out later this year. You can pre-order it. And
make us all rich.” Optimistic words in the age of streaming but despite his obvious facetiousness, Black Foxxes’ frontman Mark Holley has good reason to believe the assembled throng in the Dogtooth Stage this afternoon will, at the very least, consider the former. No guarantees on the latter, of course, but there’s already a richness to Black Foxxes’ connection to their audience. There’s plenty of feedback drenching the stage but rather than being the main attraction, it’s merely a layer of the sonic texture that makes up Black Foxxes’ sound. Tender one moment, ferocious the next, their aggressive indie-rock onslaught is captivating to witness in person. But it nearly didn’t happen. At times, Holley steers clear of his microphone as if it’s been electrocuting him but instead of feeling incomplete, it only serves to add to the sense of anguish and atmosphere being created. We’re truly witnessing the start of something special, a spectacular set by (yet another) exciting young British band. (RB)
AGAINST THE CURRENT ARE LOUD, PROUD AND SPECTACULAR
The odds are very much stacked against Against The Current. The band found out they were filling in for Architects thirty-six hours ago, all their gear is back home in America and they haven’t played a show in two and a half months. All this means though is that when Against The Current push back, they push back hard. And from the opening push of ‘Paralyzed’, the band are loud, proud and spectacular. There’s no pandering. No forced moments to make them seem more metal. This is all singing, all dancing glittering music with plenty of shine. And it’s delivered with conviction. The band are proud outsiders, they’ve never really fit in and while today could have been a disaster, it’s anything but. It takes a very special group to not only agree to facing the odds, but thrive under them. This is Against The Current though. Take them or leave them, they’re not changing for anything. (AS)
everyone to play catchup. ‘Gone With The Wind’ is an all-out anthem. So is ‘A Match Made In Heaven’. And ‘Downfall’. Backed by the likes of ‘Colony Collapse’, ‘Dead Man Talking’, and ‘Naysayer’ (complete with a crowd-surfing member of Royal Blood), the band have the arsenal to hit hard. And they don’t hold back.
ARCHITECTS C O N C O RD E 2, B RI G HTO N
Words: Ali Shutler. Photo: Amie Kingswell.
“
Y
ou have a voice,” explains Sam Carter as the launch show for ‘All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us’ comes to a close. “Your voice is extremely powerful” he promises and throughout tonight’s show, it’s a message that’s never far from the beating heart of Architects set. Their new
album has been out for a matter of hours but already, the songs are as at home as the band. Building on the platform ‘Lost Forever// Lost Together’ gave them, tonight sees Architects pop off the confides of the Concorde 2. Opening with ‘Nihilist’, the band aren’t easing anyone into their world. Confrontational, snarling and to the point, Architects
SWMRS T H E GA R AG E , LO N D O N
Words: Ali Shutler. Photo: Corinne Cumming.
A
slow, insular ‘Hannah’ rings out as SWMRS look around The Garage, searching out every pair of eyes present. Then a switch is flipped and the chiming intro to ‘Harry Dean’ starts building. “This is the part where you forget about school, forget about work, forget about everything else and lose yourself in the music,” instructs Cole Becker before doing just that. From here on it, it’s goodnatured chaos. Playing their second show 56 upsetmagazine.com
of the day, if SWMRS are tired, they aren’t showing it. From the bratty snarl of ‘Harry Dean’ through the snotty abandon of ‘Miley’ and the huge anthem of ‘Figuring It Out’, SWMRS turn up the dirt. The fuzzy ‘Ruining My Pretending’ and ‘Miss Yer Kiss’ are switched for a more gnarled direction while a twisted ‘Silver Bullets’ sees the band stretch and grow. Shaving off the more sprawling elements of their debut album, tonight SWMRS cut right to the bone. “This is how we do it in Oakland,” explains Max Becker. It sounds great. P
haven’t watered down their fire. Raging against the state of the world, the band are heavier than ever. But there’s a lot more to ‘em than anger. Finding unity in the struggle and enabling a sense of community, there’s a brightness to Architects. It’s always been there but this evening, it’s pushed front and centre. Between the venue-wide choir, the hand-claps and the united front, tonight allows
Unafraid to stand in the spotlight or retreat to the shadows, the band drive the evening forward but it’s never overbearing. As Sam dances to his own band’s chant, it’s clear that this is still new to them. “What would be awesome is, if you saw any of us walking about Brighton…” he smirks. Later on, during a brief pause in ‘Broken Cross’, he exchanges grins with Tom Searle before launching off once more. There are no growing pains here. “It fills me with immense pride that anyone here could turn around and have a conversation with a complete stranger,” Sam continues, close to tears. “There’s not enough love in the world,” he adds but tonight, this room is full of it. P
letlive.’s
Jason Aalon Butler VS
THE INTERNET
YO U G U Y S S U G G E S T E D S O M E Q U E S T I O N S F O R U S TO A S K O N TW I T T E R. W E A S K E D T H E M. H E R E A R E T H E A N S W E R S. WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FAVOURITE MOMENT IN LETLIVE. SO FAR?
Honestly, one favourite moment would be difficult to specify considering how many times I have felt myself in utter disbelief at how lucky I’ve been as a result of being in this band. From touring with one of my favourite rock bands of all time to meeting my soul mate on a tour that she almost didn’t do. IS THIS NEW ALBUM THE NEW LETLIVE. STYLE, OR IS IT JUST A ONE OFF INTERESTING BRANCH FROM THE ‘CLASSIC’ LETLIVE. STYLE?
I think the letlive. sound is defined by unpredictability. This is one of the many branches that we may choose in our time as a band. I can tell you this much; I vowed to never make the same record twice and will honour that vow as long as ll. is making music. WHAT’S YOUR BEST TIP FOR AVOIDING WRITERS BLOCK?
Understanding that said block is just as
much a part of creating as the writing itself. I don’t believe I can avoid it simply because it is so discreet. You never know when it’s around, therefore, preemptive deflection can be quite difficult. DID YOU HAVE MANY SONGS LEFT OVER FROM THE ‘IF I’M THE DEVIL…’ SESSIONS?
There are quite a large collection of incomplete songs from the ‘If I’m The Devil...’ sessions, but only one recorded b-side. WHAT’S ON YOUR RIDER WHEN YOU TOUR?
Stuff with a small “V” somewhere on the package that most people won’t eat. IS IT TRUE THAT YOU GOT SIGNED TO EPITAPH ON OLI SYKES’ RECOMMENDATION?
Yes. That’s what Brett (our label owner/ industry father figure) has told us. Apparently Oli made Brett aware of letlive. after we played a last minute show with BMTH in LA per The Ghost Inside’s suggestion. P
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