Upset, June 2016

PIERCE THE VEIL

P.20

EDITOR’S NOTE We all know how

it feels. We’ve got something we have to do - we know people are waiting on it - but however hard we try, it just takes ages. OK, for most of us that means a couple of days late, but we’ll let Pierce The Veil off. Their new album may come four years after their previous full-length, but it’s better to take time doing a good job rather than rush it and end up with something not as good. ‘Misadventures’ is definitely worth the wait. That’s why they’re on the cover of this month’s issue.

Elsewhere we’re jam-packed with big hitters, from letlive. to Architects, Beartooth to Thrice.

We get ready for Download 2016, introduce some ace new bands, ask your questions to Against The Current and loads more.

It’s a miracle if we make x deadline, to be honest.

S

upsetmagazine.com

IN THIS ISSUE RIOT 4. LETLIVE. 8. FATHERSON 10. NAILS 12. TRASH BOAT ABOUT TO BREAK 16. YUNG 18. EVAROSE FEATURES 20. PIERCE THE VEIL 26. ARCHITECTS 30. REAL FRIENDS 34. THRICE 38. BEARTOOTH RATED 42. LETLIVE. 44. 65DAYSOFSTATIC 46. SLØTFACE

47. PAWS 48. RIVAL SONS 49. TRACKS OF THE MONTH LIVE 50. BRING ME THE HORIZON 52. MILK TEETH 53. LETLIVE. 54. MOOSE BLOOD 55. TACOCAT 55. MODERN BASEBALL COMING UP 56. ON THE ROAD FESTIVALS 58. DOWNLOAD VS THE INTERNET 62. AGAINST THE CURRENT

Editor: Stephen Ackroyd (stephen@upsetmagazine.com) Deputy Editor: Victoria Sinden (viki@upsetmagazine.com) Assistant Editor: Ali Shutler (ali@upsetmagazine.com) Contributors: Alex Lynham, Amie Kingswell, Danny Randon, Heather McDaid, Jack Glasscock, Jade Curson, Jade Esson, James Fox, Jasleen Dhindsa, Jessica Goodman, Kathryn Black, Phil Smithies, Ryan De Freitas, 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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E V E RY T H I N G H A P P E N I N G I N RO C K

“I WANT TO BE AFRAID...”

I F Y O U ’ V E G O T A N Y E X P E C TAT I O N S ABOUT LETLIVE.’S ‘IF I’M THE DEVIL…’, YOU ’ RE I N FO R A S U RPRI S E .

A N D T H AT ’ S T H E P O I N T. WO RDS: A L I SH UTL E R. PH OTOS: PH I L SM ITH I ES.

’ve got to this point that could be dangerous or could be great, where I just don’t want to do anything that doesn’t speak in volumes. Whether it’s frightening, confronting or just cool; whatever it is, I just want to create art in my section of letlive. that makes you want to feel something,” starts letlive.’s instigator, Jason Aalon Butler.

“Whether that’s good or bad, I want it to go on the spectrum of way left or way right.” The middle of the road was never really an option.

With the band’s fourth album, Jason

finally got to do what he’s always wanted, “which was clearly the unexpected but also to plant my feet in the ground and say, ‘See. This is what letlive. is. What you should expect from letlive., is to not know what to expect. For me, this record is about opening up that door, seeing if we can walk through it and how far.”

From the marching drums of ‘I’ve Learnt To Love Myself’ (which would sound right at home on Fall Out Boy’s ‘American Beauty/American Psycho’) through the A Tribe Called Quest influenced ‘Who You Are Not’, to the Nirvana-meets-Keaton Henson classic rock’n’roll shimmy of ‘A Weak Ago’, the band’s new album sees them go

further than ever before. It doesn’t feel like a departure though. “It’s all just stuff that’s been waiting to get the proper representation and I think we finally did it with this record.”

“There’s this whole idea that music has to be something other than music. That’s dumb. These divisions we create, we call it punk or soul or pop, I just don’t care anymore. At the end of this letlive. thing I’d like people to look back and say, ‘They just wrote music, man’. I know the moniker under which we’re placed sometimes and I know the moniker under which I believe in. If it’s good music, it’s good music. Some of the most punk rock shit has been done by people who

“WHAT YOU SHOULD EXPECT FROM LETLIVE., IS TO NOT KNOW WHAT TO EXPECT.” have never wanted a mohawk.”

Haircuts be damned, letlive. have always been inclusive, but with ‘If I’m The Devil…’, the door is wide open.

Everyone is welcome. “It doesn’t have to be a sonic expectation that we meet anymore. At least, I like to believe that.

Maybe people think that’s bullshit but I think it’s just growing with the people who listen, that care about letlive.. We’ll all evolve together.”

And as for the backlash: “I actually want to feel trepidation and I want to be afraid when I release a record.

Like, ‘Oh fuck’. Even if you completely condone what you’ve done, I want to feel a sense of risk. I want to know we took a chance and, whether it worked or not, it really excites me to know that we did.”

‘If I’m The Devil…’ is a record unafraid of extremes but it’s also the least abrasive thing to which letlive. have put their name. Considered, nuanced and delicate, it’s a reaction to Jason wanting “to focus my efforts. To focus the frustration that may have been felt across the last two records and find a way to utilise that. To improve on things as opposed to just bitch about them.”

It’s not just sonically that ‘If I’m The Devil…’ has opened things up. Letlive. have always taken on the world at large but, for the first time, this record doesn’t hold anything back. “I think we’re a political band like we’re an emotional band, like we’re a pragmatic band, just like we’re a progressive band,” continues Jason, quick to point out that his views are “a little more on the radical side” than other members of the band. “Letlive. is just a forum to talk about shit that I think needs to be talked about and right now, around the world, there are many things that are fundamentally wrong.”

There’s a feeling of emancipation to ‘If I’m The Devil...’ that speaks volumes.

“If you felt stuck in any way, if you felt trapped by your parents or your government or if it’s your sexuality or the hue or fairness of your skin, I want people to take away a sense of freedom. You’ve got to understand that letlive.’s got a white dude, a halfblack guy, a black guy and a guy who’s of Lebanese descent. We’re pretty cultured as far as our backgrounds go and we all come from very different places. I want people to feel that for once, they were represented. Even if they felt like there was no one there that would ever speak for them, or understand them or experience what

they’ve experienced. I hope what we have to offer is some sort of representation for those people.”

That raging sense of unity is also one that celebrates individuality. “Here’s the thing, and I’m really careful when I say this, but I don’t think we’re the same. I just don’t. We’re just not the same and that’s the most beautiful and interesting thing about humanity.

We are not the same and we can find all these intricacies and beauties in our differences, That’s what I want people to really understand. Like, race. Race is a construct that was created in the effort of power so to me, that’s not a difference. That’s not a real difference to me but it has to be considered when you’re talking about racism and you’re talking about power, ‘cause those are the constructs in which we live.

“I want everyone to know we’re not supposed to be the same. I just think we’re all here, sharing and inhabiting this thing called Earth and before we completely fucking blow it up or ruin it, we need to realise we’re all here to coexist. And coexist with our differences. I think that’s the big message y’know. The beauty of our disparity is that we find things in others that we don’t have in ourselves

RIOT and that’s how we become a society as a whole. This is talking globally, just trying to figure out how to be different together and be OK with that.

“Who knows man, it could never happen. That’s some Disney shit right there. It might never happen but I’m one of those utopian… what did Walt Disney say? ‘If you can think, it’s possible’, or something. It’s just what I believe. If people want to join in that thought process, they can.”

As optimistic and welcoming as Jason is, ‘If I’m The Devil…’ doesn’t shy away from reality’s bite. Confrontational and eloquent, the topics in his cross-hairs are tackled with no holds barred. This isn’t a new look for the band though, they’ve just realised there’s nothing to gain from being afraid. “I wrote a song for fucking ‘Fake History’ that was so unapologetic in discussing racism in America and I didn’t put it on the record. I was much more cautious when I was younger because of my self-consciousness and my insecurities but those are things that I’ve been dealing with.”

‘I’m The Devil…’ tackles topics that Jason has wanted to write about since the beginning of letlive.. “I wanted to say these things, I just didn’t know if I knew the right way to say them.

I needed people to be aware of a sense of eloquence and a way to assimilate the idea without being ‘Yo, this is fucked up. We need to change it’, ‘cause nobody’s going to listen to a Neanderthal rendition of police brutality or policy that needs to be changed, so I had to develop myself as not only a musician but as an activist.

I had to figure out how people were going to listen. I spent years doing it.”

‘Good Mourning, America’ was written in the aftermath of a protest because “there was no better time. There was something in the back of my head yelling at me, you have to write a song about this because it’s one of the only ways that you, personally, can effect a change.” But as charged, passionate and real as ‘If I’m The Devil…’ is, it’s not a call to arms. There’s more to it than screaming “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me”. Instead, just like The Wonder Years’ ‘No Closer To Heaven’, Tonight Alive’s ‘Limitless’ and Architects’ ‘All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us’, it’s an encouraging cry for education. “Not in an offensive way but I think that the majority of people will be ignorant to a lot of the facts

because that’s how this system that is extremely powerful and extremely processed works. They make sure people don’t know.

“There are physical, emotional and actual geographical restraints that stop people from protesting, but just being aware and hopefully investing themselves in something that does affect the collective consciousness, that is the change I believe in. I believe that there needs to be this collective idea that we are advancing these movements and changing them. It doesn’t mean everybody in the streets and fighting with political figures or authority. It’s a collective idea that goes beyond the politics, that goes with learning about yourself.

That’s what I did with this record, that’s why I’m so comfortable with

these confronting and uncomfortable situations. I had to learn about myself.”

From that, comes a self-acceptance.

Like the opening track says, “I’ve learned to love myself, I’ve learned to love my self-abandonment.” “I had to learn about myself emotionally, intellectually and physically. I had to learn that hurting myself physically wasn’t the best move if I wanted to continue on, to be a father or be around longer than 27-30 years.

Just learning about one’s self and understanding that there’s a beauty in our indiscretions, our imperfections and our flaws, that’s what makes us the beautiful species that we are.” P letlive.’s album ‘If I’m The Devil…’ is out 10th June.

RIOT

LOST BOYS S C O T T I S H T R I O F AT H E R S O N HAD FUN WITH THEIR SECOND ALBUM, AND INDULG ED IN THE ODD “ U 2 -Y ” M O M E N T - B U T D O N ’ T H O L D T H AT A G A I N S T THEM. W O R D S : H E AT H E R M C DA I D.

atherson may be known for their moody music, but when it comes to their battle against the second album slump following debut ‘I Am An Island’, they feel fairly cheery.

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“I think everyone always talks about second album syndrome and how you’ve got your whole life to write your first album,” begins singer-guitarist Ross Leighton, “but the way we did our first album is that we had a bunch of songs that we could have put on it, but we wrote nine of those album songs within the nine months before we went in to record it. It wasn’t like we were banking on old stuff and I kind of liked that bit of pressure.

“All of us are like all-nighters-beforeexams type people, so it was like ‘let’s just give ourselves a bit of a challenge here’,” he continues. That challenge resulted in something daft - around 28 or 29 songs demoed, from which they then had to pick. “It’s nice to know

you’ve got the ability to just go in and vomit out music if you need to!”

This, together with some forward planning, allowed them to be a bit more relaxed going into ‘Open Book’.

“I think we’d already decided we were going to write the album before it was made official that we had to write it. It wasn’t really a surprise to us. I think if it had been planted upon us one morning we’d have probably freaked out a bit, but we’d already been chatting about stuff we wanted to do and sounds that we were liking at the time, so we were like, ‘Cool, that’s fine, let’s just go down and write this’. It was actually a lot of fun rather than a lot of heartache.”

As for those seeds of inspiration back in the album’s early days, it was largely what they were listening to separately being brought together. “I’d been listening to a ton of instrumental music like Gogo Penguin and Chon and Animals As Leaders and stuff like that - not that it sounds like Animals

as Leaders, because that would be a massive departure. But just that sort of vibe. Greg [Walkinshaw, drums] had been listening to loads of U2 and Paul Simon. Marc [Strain, bass] had been listening to a bunch of pop punky stuff, Idlewild-y stuff. We were like, cool, let’s take all those ideas in.”

Though they remain far from a poppunk-U2-Chon (although if they’re looking for a side project idea...), Fatherson started mucking about with any instrument they could get their hands on.

“We were trying to play around with pianos,” Ross says. “Lots of it was first brought to life on a piano and then moved onto other instruments, which is a nice way to write because I’ve got no idea what I’m doing with the piano. I don’t really know what I’m doing when I play the guitar either but I kind of like that because you can’t really go wrong when you don’t know what you’re doing.

“We had loads of fun just chucking around ideas, just setting up all the instruments and having a bash around with them and swapping over.

Somebody would be playing guitar while I would be playing keys, or I’d be playing bass, you know? We just had loads of fun with it. For the first week of the writing process, we’d get through all the wacky ideas, then go, ‘Right, we can’t have a nine minute jazz fusion song’.

So you’d take that back and write a good tune.”

that is maybe the most U2-y song on the album, but lyrically it just goes through from two people’s perspectives verse to verse, the lyrics sort of finish each other off. So the first verse, the questions aren’t necessarily answered until the second verse, and I quite like that. I think it’s pretty cool. Then there’s ‘Forest’ and it’s just got an absolute screamer of a chorus. On the day it happened I was like yeah, this is going to be an absolute smasher.”

“We’ll introduce maybe one at a time instead of a couple in a row.

At the moment, there’s three or four.

It’s always rubbish if you go and see someone when they’ve got a new album coming out and you’ve maybe really liked the album before and you go in and it’s like four tunes from the album before and basically the whole of the new album. The new ones have been going down well. We haven’t had anyone boo, so that’s good.”

“IT’S NICE TO KNOW YOU’VE GOT THE ABILITY TO JUST GO IN AND VOMIT OUT MUSIC.”

On top of being collaborative and fun across the board, ‘Open Book’ has also seen Fatherson level up their songwriting skills. “I think that’s actually been a big thing that I’ve been quite proud of with this album,” explains Ross. “Lyrically it’s gone up a notch. I’m not going to try claim that any of the songs are any happier than they’ve ever been, but just some of the words are a bit smarter. There’s a song called ‘Joanna’ that’s basically a flip flop of the sort of relationship where people are feeling, not really taken advantage of, but don’t know where they stand within something. Maybe the loss of the other person. That kind of story is I suppose fairly relatable for people.

“There’s another song, ‘Wondrous Heart’,

From smashers to those whose lyrics hook you in with threads of your own life, there’s still the next issue: the live show. No matter how good the new songs are, you run the risk of the audience grumble, but they’ve thought about that too. “New songs is a thing that we’re trying to handle it a little bit differently because we’ve all been those guys in the crowd where you’ve gone to see a band you really like and they go ‘Aw, we’re going to play a couple of new tunes’ and everyone goes to the bar or goes out for a smoke.”

With their second album, Fatherson have an almost startling self-awareness in how they’re handling it all. Writing before they need to so they can have fun, putting proper thought into how to introduce them so their audiences have fun. As they’re set to embark on a tour of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland before festival season, they’re on the right road with everything.

Beyond that, they also know that there comes a point where their album is painted in a kaleidoscope of new meanings by others. It’s on the horizon, and they can’t wait. “[The album is] a snapshot in time. That was the culmination of a year, having our own album out and touring Europe and going to America and touring with Enter Shikari and all these other great bands. We got to watch all the bands we loved growing up every night and go, ‘That’s really cool how they do that, let’s take all these ideas and go do them how we would do them’.

“Hopefully we’re writing songs that people can relate to. That’s what it’s all about. Once you’ve written a song and someone else has heard it, it’s not really about you any more. It’s about what they take from it. That’s been the great benefit I’ve found being in this band is meeting people and them telling you what they took from something. That’s pretty much the most incredible thing ever, when someone gets a completely different thing from a song. You’ll have one idea what it’s about and they’ll have ten others, that’s the best thing.

Hopefully this album gives a bit more space for people to just listen to music and make up their own minds.” P Fatherson’s album ‘Open Book’ is out now.

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RIOT

THE MENZINGERS FINISH NEW ALBUM The Menzingers have finished their fifth album, the follow up to 2014’s ‘Rented World’. “We’ve never been more proud of anything in our lives,” they say.

HARD AS NAILS N A I L S A R E O N E O F T H E M O S T B R U TA L BA N DS A ROU N D, BUT W ITH TH E I R N E W R E C O R D T H E Y ’ R E T RY I N G S O M E T H I N G E L S E T O O : C AT C H Y .

W O R D S : S A M TAY L O R .

alifornia hardcore trio Nails are soon to release their third album ‘You Will Never Be One Of Us’. It’s an aggressive record from an staunchly DIY band, lamenting poseurs and those who don’t really contribute to the ‘scene’ at hand.

Yet it also sees them at their most accessible. The band had a pretty clear idea of what they wanted to achieve going in, aiming for something catchier than their previous work, 2010 debut ‘Unsilent Death’ and its 2013 follow up.

“We started working on the new album as soon as our last album was completed,” explains frontman Todd Jones. “January 2013. We wanted to make something heavy and more memorable than ‘Abandon All Life’.”

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CHRONICLES OF THE SEASIDE

Sam Duckworth will perform Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly’s debut ‘The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager’ in full at Southend Pier on 2nd October, a decade after its release.

DON’T THREATEN ME WITH A GOOD TIME

We’ve always wanted to go dancing with Brendon Urie. He didn’t ask when we met up for his recent Upset cover feature, but he’s come good with the new video for ‘Don’t Threaten Me…’. Watch on upsetmagazine.com.

That’s not to say it wasn’t without its challenges notably, “making a full-length album consisting of ten songs that flowed well together.”

Their biggest achievement with this release was just “finishing it,” he laughs.

“Just to have finished another Nails LP is a huge accomplishment for us. I hope fans will enjoy it and relate with it somehow.” The best environment for listening to the album? “In your bedroom on a record player.”

Particular highlights from across the record’s twenty-one minutes include the title track, ‘Made To Make You Fail’ and ‘Life Is A Death Sentence’. “I like those songs a lot,” Todd adds.

Despite the memorable snarl of “You will never be one of us” across the title-track (“It’s a phrase I connected with a lot and wanted to express”), the trio think it very important that bands make an effort to be inclusive where possible.

After all, what would happen to more niche acts without that new blood?

“Every genre of music needs ‘gateway’ bands that introduce metal to people,” Todd ponders, “so they have a path to more obscure/underground bands.” P Nails’ album ‘You’ll Never Be One Of Us’ is out 17th June.

RIOT like, ‘How can we make this fit into a song?’ It’s a very slow process, I’m not the quickest writer.”

There’s one particular song on the band’s upcoming debut that means a lot to him: closing track ‘You Know You Know You Know’ features Tobi reading the opening part of a dear family friend’s suicide note. “Unfortunately, recently, one of my mum’s closest friends died,” he explains, “and it was a very emotional time. He was very interested in me from a young age as he was a musician, he was your classic rocker with his long hair and all that. He suffered with depression, and unfortunately ended up taking his own life.”

“WE WANT TO

SEE

IT ALL.” WAT C H O U T W O R L D , T R A S H B O AT A R E C O M I N G .

WORDS: STEVEN LOFTIN.

t Albans-based Trash Boat have had quite the rise since forming in early 2014.

Recently signing to Hopeless Records, they’re one of a handful of UK acts at the forefront of a new awakening in pop punk.

“We’re getting a lot of opportunities because of this resurgence,” says frontman and lyricist Tobi Duncan, “and you know the hype cloud just happened to drop on our little scene.

Lots of people are now starting to pay a bit more attention to it and yeah, I couldn’t be happier. It’s giving us a lot of opportunities to do what we want to do.”

If you’ve listened to Trash Boat’s previous EPs you’ll notice that the sound is solid pop punk with hardcore influences, but it’s on 12 upsetmagazine.com

their debut where you really hear a switch around in this dynamic. Tobi explains: “I’ve always been the guy who listens to hardcore, the rest of the band have always been into pop punk, punk and stuff like that - which I listen to a lot of as well, don’t get me wrong - but I always push for more of an edge.” It’s a combination that gives them a confident and solid attack.

Of the creative process, he continues: “I’ll have a general idea for something that I’ll want to write about, and I’ll write down some things that aren’t really lyrics - I’ll just keep writing… even if it’s just moving to me, or if it’s just something I want to express but I need to make it rhyme or make it a bit more poetic. That stuff normally comes when I’m driving or in the shower or whatever, and then I’ll be

The song celebrates the man behind the illness. “I wrote the song as kind of a tribute to him and for my mum. I wanted something to leave behind that wasn’t just depression and his suicide, so I wrote that for him and the sample is me reading out the first paragraph of the note he left my mum. It was the last thing that he wrote her. There was a lot of negativity around the event as you’d expect, and I just wanted to give him something else and give my mum something else. I was trying to put it in the mind of not appropriating the experience for my gains, but I wasn’t going to not do it.”

Trash Boat have a determination that could well see them become the kind of band whose lyrics are scrawled across notebooks in classrooms far and wide; the release of album ‘Nothing I Write You Can Change What You’ve Been Through’ sees them expand their horizons. “We would love to hit America,” Tobi enthuses. “We want to hit the whole world. America, South East Asia, Australia, all these places, we want to see it all. There’s a lot of things being booked, nothing confirmed yet but it’s definitely going to happen.”

They aren’t here simply for the ride, they’re going to take control and steer their burgeoning scene. P Trash Boat’s debut album ‘Nothing I Write You Can Change What You’ve Been Through’ is out 17th June.

DON BROCO SET ‘PRIORITIES’

NOT MUCH MORE WAITING

Don Broco will head out on a UK headline tour this July, on which they’ll play their 2015 album ‘Automatic’ and 2012 debut ’Priorities’ in full on alternate dates.

S U M 4 1 H AV E S I G N E D T O H O P E L E S S , WITH THEIR NEW ALBUM OUT ‘SOON’.

um 41 have been working on a new album for a while – and they’ve just announced they’ve signed to Hopeless Records for the release.

The follow up to 2011’s ‘Screaming Bloody Murder’, it will be their first since frontman Deryck Whibley’s stint in hospital a little over a year ago.

“It’s crazy to think that we started this band 20 years ago and so much has happened, and it all happened really fast,” says

Deryck. “When I look back at everything it still feels like it’s all so recent.

“I think this a good thing because it still feels like there is still so much to do… which is why I am excited for a new album and to be releasing it with Hopeless Records.”

The band are about to head off on the Warped Tour in the States, which will be followed by festival appearances at Sziget in Budapest, Open Air in Gampel and Lowlands in Biddinghuizen, among others. P

TOP TWEETS

Hayley Williams (@yelyahwilliams), Paramore

DEMOING ANOTHER NEW SONG WITH T SO ME LEAVE A MESSAGE - my AIM away message, for the rest of my life

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PUPPY ANNOUNCE MINI-ALBUM

London trio Puppy will release a five-track mini-album this summer, ahead of their UK tour with Sorority Noise. ‘Vol. II’ is due on 12th August, following single ‘Entombed’.

PUNK IN LONDON

Youth Man will headline Roundhouse Punk Weekender in London this summer. It’s a festival that aims to explore the continued legacy and future of punk culture, and will be held from 8th-10th July.

WHAT ARE THEY ON ABOUT NOW?

Gerard Way (@gerardway)

How does snapchat work, do I just throw bananas at my phone?

Mark Hoppus (@markhoppus), Blink-182

Great seeing Brandon and the Panic at! The Discos last night.#GoingDownSwinging

ABOU T TO

BREAK

THE BEST NEW BANDS TH E H OT TEST NEW MUSIC

Y

ung’s passion for what they do is instantly infectious. “I’ve always wanted to have a record label,” frontman Mikkel Holm Silkjær enthuses. Hailing from Aarhus in Denmark, the quartet might be gearing up to release their debut album, but their musical roots within their city stem back years.

“Aarhus is really tiny,” Mikkel describes of their home. “The scene consists of 25-30 people who are actually involved, organising shows, and playing in bands. Obviously, that’s not a lot of people,” he chuckles, “but despite

that, there’s a lot of really, really great bands.” Buzzing about a local group’s debut cassette he just got hold of, the energy is alight with potential.

It’s not just his own creativity that ignites this fervour. Founding Shordwood Records in 2013, Mikkel has been releasing and promoting bands from his hometown for years. “We just released our most recent record!” he exclaims, racing through

descriptions of as many bands from a recent compilation as he can muster in the moment. “The scene has really grown,” he beams, and there’s no denying he has a lot to be proud of.

What started out as an outlet for excess creativity took a while to snowball into the form the band are in today. “I was playing in other bands, and I wrote songs for them, but every now and then I wrote a song that didn’t fit,” the frontman explains. “So I called those songs Yung. After three years I had quite a lot,” he laughs.

Finally daring to take things to the next level, Mikkel set about drawing a group around him. “I had never really sent any of my songs to anybody before, so I was kind of nervous,” he reveals. Of course, he needn’t have worried. Tobias Guldborg Tarp (bass) and Frederik Nybo Veile (drums) loved what they heard, and with the later addition of

2 1 -Y E A R - O L D Y U N G FRONTMAN MIKKEL HOLM S I L K J Æ R WA N T S T O S E E T H E WO RL D.

YUNG WO RDS : J ESS I CA G O O D M A N .

Emil Zethsen on guitar, Yung were at last ready to carve out their mark.

Now, sitting at the forefront of a new wave of acts, Yung are on the verge of great things. With an aesthetic grounded in punk, the four-piece are constantly pushing their sound and style to new places, and the world is ready and waiting for them. “This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time,” Mikkel gushes. “I want to travel.”

“I love the adventure,” he raves. “I love meeting new people. I love seeing new cities. I love playing with new bands.”

With Europe and UK dates already in place, and a tour of North America planned for later this year, Yung’s journey is only just beginning.

Recorded at Silence Studio in Sweden, debut album ‘A Youthful Dream’ encapsulates that sense of adventure.

“It’s basically in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by this huge forest area, and there’s a very big lake,” Mikkel recalls. “These Swedish hippies from

Stockholm bought the house in the late 60s, and turned it into a studio. It was a wonderful place to record the album.”

Approaching the undertaking in an entirely new way, Yung were able to create something unique. “I knew I was writing an album,” Mikkel asserts.

“This was the first time that had ever happened. It was very important to me to write something that was different, and had a different vibe.”

Creating something with a difference is exactly what the band have achieved.

From the free-wheeling energy of ‘Uncombed Hair’, through the piano and brass interludes on ‘The Child’, to the lingering chimes of the title track, ‘A Youthful Dream’ is a snapshot into the mind and character of a band just establishing who they are. From these foundations, Yung are capable of achieving anything.

P

FACT FILE

Band members: Mikkel Holm Silkjær, Frederik Nybo Veilie, Tobias Guldborg Tarp, Emil Zethsen Hometown: Aarhus (Denmark) Formed: 2013 Signed To: Fat Possum Did You Know?

Mikkel started playing drums when he was just four years old.

“I LOVE THE ADVENTURE.”

I N T H E A U T U M N O F 2 0 1 3 , E VA R O S E D E C I D E D T O F O L L O W U P T H E I R T E N D AT E U K H E A D L I N E T O U R W I T H A B R E A K T O W O R K O N T H E I R D E B U T A L B U M . T H E Y W E R E O N LY M E A N T T O B E G O N E F O R A M O M E N T, B U T T H E B E S T L A I D P L A N S …

EVAROSE WORDS: ALI SHUTLER.

E

varose have been together for close to six years but Dannika Webber, Connie Rait, Imogen Leslie and Robyn Griffith have been in bands for much longer than that. “It’s just always what we’ve done since school.

We’ve never really thought about doing anything else, and everything that we do is towards the band. It’s all geared towards that.”

After waiting a very, very long time, the band are finally set to release their debut, ‘Invisible Monsters’.

From the opening escape of ‘Routes’ through the sprawling cinema of ‘Telephonic’ until the shimmer of ‘Someone Else To Blame’, the band’s vision is sharp and in focus. The good thing that comes to those that wait?

It’s this record.

Recorded in September 2014, the band spent the next year and a bit bouncing between lawyers, record labels and themselves before ending up on the brink of signing a deal. They then decided to walk away. “We pulled out mainly because we’d taken so long and we really wanted to get ‘Invisible Monsters’ out.

We got to the point where we questioned if we were even going to release this album,” explains Dannika. “But we always knew we would.

crazy and the things that help you feel not so crazy.”

Across the record, the band look at relationships and the way people interact with one another and despite keeping their distance (“I don’t like to be really specific with song meanings”) - the eleven tracks of ‘Invisible Monsters’ find their way to the heart and the head. “It’s just looking at the world all around you.

I worked in a call centre for a while and I wrote a lot of the lyrics sat at my desk, with the ringing going round and round and obviously, that’s so mind-numbingly boring.

“I take a lot of inspiration from the books I read. Things like The Bell Jar [which also recently inspired Muncie Girls’ debut ‘From Caplan To Belsize’] - and Prozac Nation, as well as a lot of Chuck Palanuik,” which is where the title ‘Invisible Monsters’ comes from.

for another album.

“The thing is, we could have gone back and changed things, added or taken things off songs but it gets to the point where, a year and half later, you’re almost in a different place. I didn’t want to mess with the way it felt was as a whole album, I didn’t want to start having different parts of my life just slotted in there for the sake of it. I feel like the album captures that time and place and it works well as an album.”

Despite getting excited about the new material they’d written, Evarose didn’t want to mess with the dormant beast. “We all had a clear vision for what we wanted for the songs, the album, the artwork, the videos, for everything. It’s all worked out, some of it even better than we ever could have hoped.”

“It was our first full-length, none of us had ever done more than five tracks on a CD before and it was loads of fun. We got to a point where we feel like our songwriting was a lot better and it was nice to make a whole piece of art that we are all really proud of. It felt like a new edge, a new direction for us. It wasn’t quite what we were writing before and we were really excited about that. Obviously I want people to like it but if they don’t we’re still really proud of it. We got to the point where it didn’t feel like there was anything else we could have done.

We made the best record we could.”

“SOMETIMES WE WERE JUST TEMPTED TO LEAK THE ALBUM OURSELVES…”

“Sometimes we were just tempted to leak it ourselves. We couldn’t be bothered to wait and in the end, it got a bit ridiculous. I’m like the most impatient person as well so it was pretty damn frustrating, but now we’re really glad that we sacked it all off. As much as I’d like to say I wish we’d done it all sooner… I guess everything happens for a reason.

Hopefully it’ll be the right time.”

Inspired by “life at that time”, the band’s debut is made up of “anything we were listening to, and we were writing exactly what we wanted to write.” ‘Invisible Monsters’ is a record where anything goes. “Love, family, general confusion about life and the things you face growing up. Quite a lot of it is based around feeling a bit

“To me, ‘Invisible Monsters’ is about all those things that are around you.

There’s that saying, always be nice to someone ‘cause you never know what they’ve got going on. And it’s true.

You never know what all the hard things are in their life, everyone’s got those invisible monsters. That’s what it’s about. You don’t always tell everyone the worst things that are happening, you just get on with your life. I think everyone’s got that.”

‘Invisible Monsters’ isn’t a bold statement of intent: it’s an assured promise. Building on their previous two EPs and a handful of singles, if the band sound confident it’s because they are. Despite having the record at their fingertips for eighteen months, they haven’t changed a thing since they signed off on it. “We’ve just recorded more and more demos

Taking matters into their own hands, ‘Invisible Monsters’ is being self-released via PledgeMusic. “We were really worried, we’ve been away so long but we just had to go for it. It felt like a much better option than going with a label.”

Those fears quickly subsided, as the reaction to the campaign was “a bit mental” to start with and has carried on gathering traction ever since.

Vindicated for trusting their gut, there’s only one frightening thing left to tackle, and that’s people backing them. “It’s kind of scary that someone could like our band that much, it’s crazy but it’s cool.” P

“WE WON’T EVER STOP.” T TEN YEARS IN AND FOUR SINCE THEIR LAST ALBUM, ‘ M I S A D V E N T U R E S ’ M AY H AV E TA K E N P I E R C E T H E V E I L A W H I L E , B U T T H E WA I T WA S W O R T H I T .

W O R D S : H E AT H E R M C D A I D .

ime flies when you’re having fun. Turns out Pierce The Veil have been enjoying themselves so much of late that they didn’t even know that 2016 marks their tenth birthday as a band until others pointed it out. But now they know, and there’s all the more reason to celebrate, with new album ‘Misadventures’ marking not only a landmark for the band, but a new chapter going forward.

It’s been a long road here, and no overnight success story. From the

P H OTOS : P H I L S M I T H I E S .

ashes of Before Today, the Fuentes brothers persevered with writing, soon recruiting Tony Perry and Jaime Preciado, the final pieces of the PTV puzzle. They knew it would take hard work, that there would be some lows along the way, but together they’ve grafted over the years and continued a journey that sees the highs getting ever-higher.

As they sit in a London flat, the weather changing its mind at the roll of a die, one moment thunderous, the next scorching, the band consider how they’d have felt knowing the road ahead of them all those years ago. “I would have felt really happy because that was our dream, you know,” begins vocalist Vic Fuentes. “To play bigger

and bigger shows - I knew it wouldn’t happen overnight, I knew that we would have to play to nobody at the beginning, but I was confident that we would actually keep playing bigger shows and keep putting out more records. I think that progressing is a huge thing, and that longevity is even more important.”

“I wouldn’t have changed anything,” adds Tony, “but it definitely would have given me a lot of confidence. 2006, 2007 was a scary time. I had been working full time and I was going to quit my job and do something completely out of the way, like I’m going to go live in a band “ “I would have cut my hair shorter

“THER NO RUE A RE LES.”

and taken out the bleach spots,” jokes Jaime. “For me, we talk about all of these learning curves and growing pains, and doing all the things we did - some the right way some horribly the wrong way... We became better musicians, better people, better bandmates, better whatever just from all those experiences. Like now we know the ins and outs of our band.”

“We’re still learning every day,” admits Mike Fuentes. They remain far from perfect, and Jaime notes that, “I make mistakes on the regular. We have a joke of one in ten, like one in ten I get it right!”

Part of that learning process has been knowing what’s best for the band, and in the case of ‘Misadventures’, it was taking their time. Originally pencilled in for late 2014, it gradually found itself moving through 2015, and settling on a 2016 release, and now it’s out there. “It’s like a weight’s been lifted,” admits Jaime, with Vic adding, “It’s probably the most joyous and exciting moment of our band’s career.”

After a well deserved high-five between them for the album’s release, he continues, “To have this record out, we’ve been working on it for a long time and all of our fans have been very patient, so this is like a celebration.”

It started out the same as any other Pierce The Veil record; they’d finished a string of festival dates, headed home and started writing. “We pretty much had all the music ready then we went into the studio in Long Island and started laying down everything,” explains Vic. “I didn’t have any lyrics written down yet - I thought I was going to write them all in the studio.

That didn’t happen.”

Instead, they worked solely on the music, finding themselves cutting two songs and starting again. “That was another little detour for us,” notes Jaime. “We weren’t expecting to do that, but we had to start from scratch which is not normally our vibe. That was a little challenging but we got through.”

“Our whole thing when we record songs is that we explore every single option there is, pretty much,” says Mike, the sun making an appearance to give their perfectionism some more gravitas. “We don’t just record the first thing that comes to mind.”

With Vic staying longer to work on vocals, he’d been in the studio for too long and just had to get out of the room. It was becoming a case of cabin fever, and that was no way to finish an album. So they stopped. They took off on a world tour slap bang in the middle, including Warped Tour, and then decided it was time to go back - but not to that studio. “Instead of staying in one room, I decided to go and write all over the place,” says Vic. “I stayed in all different houses, in loads of Airbnbs, I worked at a couple of cool different studios. All these places gave me different inspirations and ideas and I describe it as searching for the song.”

One such place was The Village in Santa Monica, where the likes of Snoop Dogg, Ziggy Marley and Weezer popped by, just one of many backdrops to their album. “I wanted each song to have a good story behind it. I’ve never decided to just fly somewhere to write songs. I booked a flight up to Seattle and wrote the last few songs up there, after that it was just a matter of going to record.”

But what was going through the minds of the rest of Pierce The Veil at this time? “We always had a quiet confidence in Vic,” Jaime says, with everyone nodding along. “We just let him be. Obviously there is communication going on sometimes but he knows we have complete faith in him. We were just waiting in the wings for a phone call saying ‘let’s move on with the next phase’.

“Getting that call - when he called, you could tell he was smiling.”

“It was a really interesting time because you really want to call Vic to check in and talk,” adds Tony, “but at the same time you’re like, ‘Do I want to bug him?’, because what if he’s in the zone and he’s about to figure it out?”

Figure it out he did, with the results including the likes of ‘Floral & Fading’, one of a few picked out, and a favourite of all the band. “When I first got together with my girlfriend Danielle, she started getting a lot of people attacking her online and writing all this nasty stuff and threatening her. It was super unfair and weird because nobody knows us, and it really affected her. She would call me crying saying, ‘Your fans think I don’t care’. I don’t even consider them fans, I consider them internet trolls.

“I wrote that song for her, saying we could be alone - we live on another planet and none of it matters.”

“I’ve never felt more confident in every single song as on this record,” continues Mike, reinforcing why they’ve opted for the Misadventures Tour where they play it in its entirety.

“Records in the past, there has always been that song or two that you are unsure if you should have made some changes here or there. But this record, front to back is just my favourite stuff we have ever done. I don’t have a favourite song. When I play this record I love playing every single song, we want to show our fans what we have been working on for so long.”

It’s fair to want to show it off to fans - by all accounts ‘Misadventures’ is the boldest statement of where the band are musically, their biggest album so far. There was a growing pressure from the court of social media during the process; they tried to avoid paying attention and focus on the job at hand, but comments would spring up all over. Tony would post pictures of his dog on Instagram (@imdougthedog, for those looking to brighten up their feed), and get a, ‘Can I come play with your dog? Where’s the album at?’

“When people are asking for a record it’s better than not asking for a record because they want new music,” says Vic. “That keeps us actually excited that fans want to hear stuff.”

“The best thing about it was that for all the fans who were asking about the record, there was just as many like, ‘They are obviously putting their time into it’,” adds Tony. “There were so many fans sticking up for us.”

It’s been some road from 2012’s ‘Collide With The Sky’, and one that’s tested both the band and fans, in a sense. What have they learned about themselves through the process? “I think from writing two songs in the studio we learned a lot about our band,” muses Vic. “That we are not the kind of band that sits around in a circle and writes a song on the spot.

That was a big thing I think we found out about ourselves - it will definitely speed up the process of knowing how we write together.”

For Jaime, it’s the next step in understanding the band and continuing onwards. “I think with every

record, it’s like a growing up phase; you learn from all the mistakes you made from the last record and things you wanted to do. With this record we did a lot of things we wouldn’t have been able to do on other ones. We were in a place where we had a little bit of success with ‘Collide’ so we took more chances, we took some stuff that we would have been hesitant to put out.”

“We know that we are in charge now,” continues Mike, on how they now understand what’s most important in the creative process. “No one is really going to mess up what our goal is.

People can try and get in our way, but the bottom line is we are not going to put something out because there is a deadline.”

“At the end of the day, if you’re making a painting or writing a poem or doing anything like that there are no rules,” continues Vic, recalling how they were often told to just get on with it. “It just happens when it happens and that’s the beauty of where our band is right now. The creative process and the destiny of our band is completely in our hands. That’s a really nice feeling to have that advantage and that power over what you are trying to do.”

The four year wait seems nothing compared to some other art forms (try being a fan of the Game of Thrones book series, if you fancy a real wait time), but at the end of the day dates only matter to people when in anticipation, not in their enjoyment.

“You take someone like [George RR Martin] or any band that you actually love,” begins Jaime, “I couldn’t tell you when their album came out, I can just tell you it came out and I loved it and I still love it. All that deadline stuff, obviously you need that to keep yourself on track, but at the end of the day we are going to be ready when we are ready and that was a huge lesson for us.”

Well, ‘Misadventures’ is here, the band have laid themselves bare, and it’s over to the fans. It is Pierce The Veil, pure and simple. “That’s what I think is the most important thing,” Vic says.

“That it’s real to your own life. That’s the first thing you can tell about a horrible song or a horrible band, you can tell right off the bat that some of those lyrics don’t mean anything.

You can tell - that’s what I think the important things are for us.”

It’s something they, and all music fans, can understand - that connection that someone out there in the world has experienced something that you have, comfort in a musical package. Beyond the lyrics, it also comes down to the performance. For Mike, he chooses a lot of bands off of their live show.

“When you see a band and they don’t want to be there it’s the worst thing in the world but when you see a band putting their heart and soul into it, I’ll watch that band forever.”

That sticking around forever is something that goes hand in hand with Pierce The Veil fandom; they visibly love what they do, and put time and care into what they create.

A decade in, they have never seemed happier as a band than they do now.

If this is where ten years has taken them, and the ‘Misadventures’ story is just beginning, where do they see themselves another ten years down the line?

Beside being lowered in from the ceiling and motorised, hover-type transport systems onstage, Jaime adds that they want what “every band wants - that long run. They want to keep making music. I think we won’t ever stop making music, it’s just a matter of people still wanting to hear it.”

“The best bands are the ones you hear about still playing shows,” says Vic. “To have that longevity and have dedicated fans for that long is the goal, which I think we are starting to move towards. We have been a band for ten years now and I’m starting to get people coming up to me saying, ‘You were my band in school and now I’m graduating college and having kids’.”

“I think our fans know that we work so hard on each album,” continues Mike. “We are trying to beat the album before that we just did, and as long as we keep doing that, they are going to keep listening because each album will progress and it changes every time.”

Seems that this is just the start of a new chapter for Pierce The Veil, so is there any parting thoughts, a footer for this page that they’d like to add? Well, we’ll leave that to Jaime: “We did this entire interview in the nude.” P Pierce The Veil’s album ‘Misadventures’ is out now.

L L I T S E R ’ E G W “ N I N R A LE Y DAY.” R E V E

TAKE THE POWER BACK

K N O C K K N O C K . I T ’S A RC H I T ECTS , A N D T H EY T H I N K I T ’ S T I M E YO U W O K E T H E F U C K U P. WORDS: ALI SHUTLER.

P H OTOS : P H I L S M I T H I E S .

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“

his record is a bit more of a hopeless rally for help.

Two years has passed since ‘Lost Forever’ and nothing has changed,” starts Architects vocalist Sam Carter, before bassist Alex Dean questions, “Maybe things have got worse?”

‘All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us’ is a record forged from “sheer desperation. Wake the fuck up,” points Sam. “We need to do something.”

Ignoring the temptation to repeat ‘Lost Forever’, the band’s seventh record sees them listen to their own demands. “It would have been so easy to repeat ourselves, but it wouldn’t have been a challenge. We’ve been doing this for so long that part of the fun is challenging yourself. It was nice to drive ourselves mental and create something that’s better.”

Sketched out since the release of their last record and then coloured in, in a dedicated space of a few months ‘All Our Gods…’ has been constantly on the go: “Basically what happens is we finish one album and Tom [Searle, guitar] starts writing another one the day we get home,” explains Alex. “It just starts, doesn’t it,” continues Sam. “It’s not like he says what it’s going to be… I don’t think even he knows ‘cos he always says, ‘I can’t wait to hear what the next record sounds like’.”

though. ‘All Our Gods…’ is about, “whatever’s happening at the time. Whatever feels relevant, important and whatever we want to get off our chests at that point in time, whether that’s personal things, environmental stuff or the state of the world and other ways of describing it and viewing it. It’s just challenging life,” explains Sam, before Alex summarises: “The overall theme that the world’s in a very bad place tends to sit with the group all the time but there’s different issues that come up and they’ll be addressed.”

Instead of pointing fingers and picking targets, ‘All Our Gods…’ is the grand equaliser. The state of the world “is everyone’s fault,” according to Alex. “More people are conscious, but that’s not nearly enough. They’re aware of the problems but they’re not willing to change because it’s not convenient or they don’t realise how serious it is. People won’t change until it’s too late. Problems get illustrated by various groups all the time and people look at it and go, ‘Oh, it’s not at the breaking point yet’ - but when it does get to the breaking point, you can’t do anything about it. That’s where this feeling of hopelessness comes from on our end.”

“We’re judging ourselves as much as everyone else,” adds Sam. “We were in the studio and it was a pretty dark time,” starts Dan. “The Paris shootings happened and however much you don’t want to eat into the spoon-fed fear you’re given by the media, it’s an unpleasant and scary scenario and of course, in our selfish self-centred world view, we play in a band and we could have been playing that show. Obviously that enters your mind. Then our friends The Ghost Inside were in a bus crash.

We were excited to be recording but it felt like a lot of bad things were happening, so I think that further drove the album down a slightly darker path. It’s not all dark but I still listen to it and go, ‘Oh, we went in pretty hard on this’.”

“IT’S IMPORTANT THAT PEOPLE AREN’T AFRAID TO BE HONEST.”

Turns out he’s not the only one. From the release of ‘A Match Made In Heaven’, there’s been an excitement around Architects and what they’ve built this time around. The five-piece have been asking themselves, “How is this reaching so many people,” in disbelief. “It’s a testament to how much ‘Lost Forever’ had made us grow as a band to see that start there.

This start is next level,” offers Sam.

“We’ve never had this platform to release new music on before,” adds drummer Dan Searle. “It’s odd. When we released ‘Lost Forever’, we’d just come off the back of two averagely received albums, if we’re being honest. Going into ‘All Our Gods…’, we knew there was a lot more interest and that was really exciting. We knew there was a lot of people waiting to hear what we’d gotten up to and it does feel like it’s gone to a whole new level now. We’re at a point well beyond what we ever thought possible. We did six albums as a much smaller band and you get comfortable.

When you get taken out of that, you have to pinch yourself occasionally and remind yourself how great it is to be in this situation.”

It’s not just their own history the band are reacting to

That darkness grows into a sense of mortality that creeps throughout the record, but that helps towards a “healthier attitude towards death. There’s an element of acceptance, eventually we all die,” offers Dan. “We all forget that, I think. Everyone behaves like they’re immortal in a sense and because of that, humans act like they’re blind or they can’t see beyond their own reach. We’re destroying the planet but we still want children.

Well, they’re not going to have much of a life and their kids certainly won’t if we carry on like we are. Humans can be pretty silly like that.”

No matter how dark things get, there’s a light to ‘All Our Gods’. “You don’t want it to be too full on the whole time.

The important thing about this record is how you take it.

From the artwork and the record’s title, to the words that are being sung, this album is about perspective. “Once you find out about all the stuff that what we’re talking about, all these dark moments, it’s not like we’re making this stuff up.

It’s all true but at the same time, it’s very empowering once you realise that this is life and this is what’s going on. You’re not walking around blindfolded anymore and you really

appreciate what you have and how much time you have on the planet.

You can’t walk around knowing all this stuff and being bummed out by it, ‘cause then you’re defeated by it.”

As blissful as ignorance is, the record’s power comes from accepting what’s going on and sharing hard truths. “I think it’s important that people aren’t afraid to be honest with themselves about the state of the world,” explains Dan. “As bleak as the world is you have to just get on with your life. You shouldn’t live your life blindfolded with your fingers in your ears. It’s more liberating to be honest with yourself about what’s going on around you and if there are changes you can make to have a positive influence on the world, even in a small way, I think you should do it. A lot of people feel like they’re voiceless and they can’t do anything, and there is an element of truth to that, but you do what you can.

If you feel like you’re contributing to the world in a positive way, whatever small way that is, then great.”

The heavy subject matter of ‘All Our Gods…’ is presented as a discussion.

It’s a record that asks questions rather than demanding compliance and, “that is what makes it a subjective record.

That’s why people can take what they want from it rather than feel like they’re being told off,” explains Sam, before Dan adds that preaching “is not the way to go about it. If people want to have that conversation with you, they’ll have the conversation with you.

You can’t force it down their throats and if you do, they’ll resent you for it.”

And anyway, “throughout the whole recording, there were discussions where we realised we’re all fucking guilty. We’re not excluding everyone else, we’re all part of the mess that we’re in.”

As the band - and the people following them - grow, their message and desire to discuss is in no danger of being diluted. “It’ll always be there and we’ll always make sure it can be heard,” promises Sam, and as important as that avenue of Architects is, it’s not their everything. “We all listened to Rage Against The Machine when we were kids and to be quite frank, I didn’t give a fuck about the message behind the music. It went completely over my head,” grins Dan, with Sam sharing his smile. ”I just thought that those songs were cool.”

“When you’re a teenager and you hear

‘Fuck you I won’t do what you tell me’, you don’t think oh this guy’s raging against the system, you think he’s a teenager who doesn’t want to do what his parents are telling him. People can take away whatever they want from it.

Some people will enjoy the message and some people, I’m sure we’ve got thousands of fans right now where the message goes over their head, which is fine.”

Instead the band are just enjoy having an impact on someone’s energy. “It’s cool to be responsible for some sort of emotion in somebody. I love the idea that there are people out there who have an emotional attachment to songs we’ve written. You can’t fully understand or appreciate the scope of that,” Dan says, but it’s not just their fanbase that get something from the band. “There are songs that even I listen to, having not written the lyrics, that I relate to in a different way to what they’re even about,” explains Sam. “It’s nice to be in a band where someone else’s lyrics can help me and it’s great.

“Music in general is completely subjective. That escapism is what music’s all about, being able to completely detach yourself from whatever stress or worries you have at that moment in time. Personally I want people to take away the feeling of needing to have more empathy for their fellow brothers and sisters of the world ‘cause we’re all in this together.

And to just care more. Love more. I think we really need to realise that change isn’t going to happen until we love the planet more but we also need to love and respect ourselves and other people in the world.”

“It all starts with us,” continues Dan. “The first thing we can do to make this world a better place is to start with ourselves. Ask what are the things I don’t like about myself and let’s change them. Let’s live life in a way that’s more in harmony with the planet.”

With every record, Architects get more comfortable and more vocal about their beliefs. “It’s knowing how to approach it and it’s just growing up and observing world events,” but as Tom points out “our ideas and beliefs are always evolving.” “People are rigid and I think what sets us apart, is our willingness not to be rigid in our beliefs,” adds Dan. “Our willingness to be open,” which includes being open

to new outlooks and ideas. “I think people need to readjust where the bar is. Our generation is sold this idea that it’s going to be so hard, the economy is bad, houses are so expensive, there are no jobs out there and a degree is worth nothing. We need to ignore that and ask, ‘What do I want to do?’ and aim as high as they want.

“We wrote this album, and our objective was to write the best metalcore album in the world. I think anyone, no matter what they’re doing with their life, should aim as high as possible. If they don’t get there first time or second time, then don’t worry.

Keep trying. You can achieve all sorts of stuff, regardless of what people tell you. In some ways, we’re proof of that.

We’ve created this job for ourselves.

We’re very, very lucky but we have always believed in it and stuck at it.

There was no careers adviser at school telling us to join a metalcore band.

There was no one saying, ‘You can do that’. It wasn’t on the list but we wanted to do it, we stuck at it and we made it work. We’ve made something of it and I think people need to aim outside the box.”

“Trust me, coming from someone who failed every single one of his GCSEs, if you set your mind to something and you want it bad enough, you’ll find a way,” promises Sam. “Do what makes you happy.”

If after listening to Architects you feel inspired to make a difference, to do something to make the world a better place, well, it’s less daunting than it seems. “Try and invite new experiences into your life rather than doing the same things you did yesterday. A lot of people expect their lives to just change without them changing anything. They’re not happy with their circumstances but they keep going on with the same actions,” says Tom, with Sam echoing, “just make a change. If you’re not happy, don’t sit and moan about it. Get up and do something.

Change your routine. Just do something that will make you change.

Embrace the unknown. Do something different.”

“And if you don’t take any of that from the record, just come to the show and start a mosh pit,” laughs Tom, with Adam smirking: “Worst case scenario, we’ll see you in the pit.” P Architects’ album ‘All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us’ is out now.

“OUR OBJECTIVE WAS TO WRITE THE BEST METALCORE ALBUM IN THE WORLD.”

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R E A L F R I E N D S E M B R AC E T H E U N K N OW N . “ YO U N E V E R R E A L LY K N O W W H A T ’ S G O I N G T O H A P P E N , ” S AY S V O C A L I S T DA N L A M BTO N .

WORDS: ALI SHUTLER.

“G

etting older scares the shit out of me,” admitted Real Friends on debut album ‘Maybe This Place Is The Same and We’re Just Changing’. Two years later and the band are facing their fears with ‘The Home Inside My Head’.

“It still does,” shares vocalist Dan Lambton, “but this record is definitely coming to terms with that. Life happens. There are things we can do to steer it in certain directions but we’re not always going to be in control. That’s the biggest thing to take away from it.

Letting life run its course. It’s OK if things don’t come out the way you planned ‘cause that might mean it comes out better.”

It’s an attitude the band - bassist Kyle Fasel, guitarist Dave Knox, guitarist Eric Haines, drummer Brian Blake and Dan - took to heart when creating their second

album. Written over the course of months, not weeks, the band had space to feel things out and ensure nothing slipped through the cracks. “It’s just weird how these things kinda materialise. After we put out our first album I remember thinking, ‘Oh, there’s eventually going to be an album two’, and you think about certain things, what that album’s going to be and then it just shows up, nothing like you originally pictured. That’s awesome. It’s how life is. If you predicted every single thing that ever happened, it would be pretty boring.”

The band’s debut album was the perfect summation of everything Real Friends were up until that point.

‘The Home Inside My Head’ sees them head to pastures new. “We never set out to sound a certain way when we put the songs together. We did the bulk of the record with Steve Evetts and a big reason was because he was so passionate and adamant about this record being the best version of Real Friends that we could possibly be.

“We’d never worked with a producer up until this record and we just felt it was time to go to somebody with a little more experience. We went through pre-production for the first time and we were able to put the songs under the knife and let them breathe. That was the big thing that sets it apart from everything else that we’ve done.” With space at every turn ‘The Home Inside My Head’ was a lot less stressful than what had come before. “We didn’t have the luxury of time before. Having more time made the record much more cohesive and definitely brought out a lot better songs.”

parents. The idea that both of my dad’s parents are gone and soon, both of my parents will be gone and then I’m next. Realising that cycle, we’ve got to step up to the plate. We’ve got to grow up, be responsible for ourselves, take ourselves where we want to go and not have to rely on anyone else anymore.”

not happy and confident in it, why?

What’s the point? That’s another thing Steve said that really resonated with me: ‘We don’t have to do this.’” The band are doing this because they want to. There are no groans in the morning as Real Friends head off for a job they hate. “We have this opportunity so why bullshit it.”

“I just want people to be able to listen to this record with an open mind and have something resonate with them. Hopefully our interpretation of pain or an experience means something to them.

Hopefully it helps them in the same way all of our favourite bands helped us. When I was younger, I would walk around and listen to all these albums [on a portable CD player] and I would have this half hour to just turn my mind off and, even though I didn’t have this person next to me, I knew that there was somebody else that had some sort of feeling that resembles whatever I was going through. It doesn’t matter what they went through that I’m relating to, it just matters that there’s this emotion there and I’m able to grasp it. I’m able to feel it and I’m able to know that someone else felt it. If somebody else can get that out of the album, then I think we have done what we needed to do.”

“IT’S OK IF THINGS DON’T COME OUT THE WAY YOU PLANNED.”

Not only does the new Real Friends album sound bigger, it also sees them draw from a wider lyrical palette. Part of that’s down to them growing up and experiencing more but also, for the first time, Dan wrote lyrics for songs instead of only acting as an editor for Kyle’s words. Despite two different voices at play, the band were united under the arching theme of “the perception of life versus actual reality. The idea that you can’t predict everything and you want to paint this picture of how your life is going to turn out while you’re growing up but you can’t really finish it until you get there ‘cause you don’t know what’s going to happen.

“You can think that whatever you want to do with your life is perfect and there’ll be no drawbacks but then, that wouldn’t be real life. We have to deal with obstacles; we have to have negatives in our lives to enjoy any sort of happiness or positivity. I think that can also tie in with the idea of how we look at people that we idolise. We see them as these infallible beings that will always be there but then you grow up and you realise they’re human just as you are and they’re capable of the same pain and same limitations that you are.

“Kyle and I both dealt with the deaths of our grandfathers, maybe six months apart. I think a lot of that goes in there too. The frailty of life and the idea that we aren’t going to have these safety nets to fall back on. At some point in our lives, we’re not going to have our

Across ‘The Home Inside My Head’, Real Friends put everything out there.

“We’ve always talked about whatever’s on our minds, no bars held. And I think that’s the charm of it. We don’t bullshit people with it. What you hear is what you get and it is what it is. I don’t think we ever try and hide behind anything.

We’ve been pretty transparent with Real Friends and what we are with our fans.” There are no misconceptions about their flaws. “We’ve never had room for bullshit. Whatever we want to put in the music, we’ll put in the music and we don’t need to hold back from anyone.”

That honesty comes from the cardinal rule: if it feels right, say it. “Personally, I don’t really share a lot about myself and music is a great way to express things that I might not otherwise be able to.” From realising that your heroes are just as fallible as you to dealing with a disconnect with the world around them, ‘The Home Inside My Head’ cuts to the bone. It’s never forced though. “You need to be able to put passion and yourself into it.

If it feels right in the music and the emotion’s there, then you let it in. ”The first people that need to be satisfied with the music are us, because if we’re

As accepting and self-aware as ‘The Home Inside My Head Is’, there’s still a sense of unease running rampant. Yes, the band has grown but there’s still an uncertainty to everything. A mortality.

“I feel like bands can be so temporary.

You never really know what’s going to happen. I don’t know if Real Friends are going to be here a week from now, or two years from now.” Because of this, the five-piece are grabbing everything with both hands and there’s a sense of pride that they’ve made it this far. The group share, “this feeling of happiness that we were able to get here.”

And as the band reason on ‘Mess’, you “don’t need to be perfect, just happy” P. Real Friends’ album ‘The Home Inside My Head’ is out now.

“ E V E RY T H I N G CHANGES .”

NINE ALBUMS DOWN, AND THRICE A R E N ’ T P L A N N I N G O N S TA N D I N G S T I L L .

WORDS: STEVEN LOFTIN.

T

hrice’s upcoming ninth album, ‘To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere’ is named after a quote from philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca. “I stumbled upon it when I was reading and thought it was very interesting in a way,” explains frontman Dustin Kensrue.

“Apparently he was writing it to his protege trying to be encouraging like, ‘Hey, don’t read every book, you don’t have all the time in the world. Don’t spread yourself thin, read things you know are good and helpful’.

“If you look at society now, and the millions of ways we’re distracted and distractible, and spread thin between not only the things that we’re spending our time on, but even where we are kind spreading ourselves out through the world on the internet…”

Dustin has been involved in the music industry for some fifteen years, and has had a lot of time to think. Over the course of his band’s career, they’ve changed sounds a number of times and - thanks to the internet - dealt with outside opinions, both good and bad, coming from all angles. “It can be frustrating at times, or discouraging,” Dustin ponders, “but I think that you’ve got to keep perspective. Primarily we’re creating music for ourselves first and we want it to be something that we’re proud of, that we enjoy, find interesting and think is good.”

“If you’re being honest with your work, working hard and being proud of what you’ve done, then that stands above

“ YO U ’ V E G OT TO A DA P T OR GO A WAY . ”

what any critic or fan has to say,” he elaborates. “As a fan though I think we live in a strange time where everybody can express their opinion to the whole world. I feel like I was on the edge of the last generation who didn’t grow up doing that, and so when I see people kind of spouting things off, that they would never say to someone’s face, then it seems a bit strange to me. It just seems rude.”

A double edged sword, evolving technology has hit the old guard hard, but toughened the skin of those who continue to survive. “It’s brought recording costs down a lot at the same time,” Dustin reasons, “because there’s not much money in selling music anymore. All the old, classic studios have gone by the wayside. Everything changes, you’ve got to adapt to it or go away.”

One unfortunate aspect of this change, is that where once Thrice were able to give a portion of the proceeds from album releases to charity, it’s become less and less viable.

“We stopped a couple of records ago. I think it was cool while we did it, but it started to get very complicated. In the end we felt like it’d be better for us to be involved on a different level. Also, it started to become quite frustrating as a talking point. People would be like, ‘This is so great!’, but we didn’t want some false impression - ‘Hey, we’re in a band to support charity!’”

Currently rehearsing for a batch of live dates, this summer will mark Thrice’s first proper outing since last year’s comeback tour. “Everyone realised that it was super important we had that break, and we came back and had a fresh perspective,” Dustin says of their brief hiatus. “I think the gratefulness - for each other as people, as musicians and for what we’ve been able to do together and what we can continue to do together - was really important.”

Nearly two decades together in one of the most volatile and unforgiving industries is enough to put pressure on even the strongest of relationships. “I think we’re actually 18 years [old] now which is crazy,” he adds. “It’s really cool to look back, and it’s weird how time compresses and ends up looking like it’s going faster as you get older. I feel like it’s just weird looking at certain sections and thinking, ‘Oh that was all in this amount of time’, or ‘This was actually over five years’. But I think as much as there’s a lot in the back catalogue that we wrote half a lifetime ago, there’s not any regrets.” P Thrice’s album ‘To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere’ is out 17th June.

SONGS FROM

THE

BASE M E N T

B E A R T O O T H H AV E RE AC H E D A T IPPING POINT: COULD EITHER THINGS TA K E O F F , O R F L O P , S AY S F RO NTM A N CA L E B S H O M O. WO RDS: JAC K G LASSCOCK.

I

t’s all smiles and excitement from Beartooth’s creative mastermind Caleb Shomo, as he reels from last night’s show in Corpus Christi, Texas, as they roll around the US with Stray From The Path in tow. “It’s amazing!

We’re playing a lot of places that I don’t know if we’ve ever played before. They’ve been really cool shows, really wild.”

Yet that excitement is quickly modulated by his affirmation, “I just want that record to get out now.”

fear of possibly jinxing his efforts up to this point.

This US tour appears as a limbo period for the Ohio-based metalcore mob, who are out on the road playing these crazy shows with the omnipresent knowledge that their upcoming second record, ‘Aggressive’ is just sitting there finished - but their wait is almost over.

Caleb’s very measured when he tries to explain this decision over the band’s dynamic, although it doesn’t seem like that much of a conscious decision. During his days in Attack Attack!, Caleb moved from his keyboard duties in the background, to taking on the role of frontman before being tasked with the role of producer as well. His angle on Beartooth is just an extension of that trajectory.

You might think that the pressure’s off Beartooth. They’ve proven they’re worth their salt with the hook-laden, emotionally heavy and impossibly catchy debut album, ‘Disgusting’; and their follow-up is done and dusted. Caleb doesn’t hesitate to say that “from the beginning I’ve been writing this music alone in my basement” - it doesn’t come from a place of ambition for acclaim, but Caleb doesn’t see it that way.

“I think it’s actually a little more nerve-wracking,” he confesses. “The first EP and the first album; I didn’t have any pressure. It wasn’t like people knew anything about us. It was just me writing songs alone to get my head on straight. Then, you know, it gets signed and starts touring and records come out. I think there is a little more of a sense of pressure.

“I try not to focus on it when I’m writing, but now that the writing’s all done and the album’s done, mastered, waiting to go live, it’s a bit more of an intense feeling. It seems like a part of band’s careers where things really take off or things really flop,” Caleb admits freely, without

Of course, Caleb has more reason than most to feel tense at this point than anyone else in camp Beartooth. He is, after all, Beartooth incarnate; all-star writer, recorder and producer who takes his months of hard work to his committed touring band to hit the road with. But why? “That’s just how it started and, I guess, just the way it is. It really helps me to feel more comfortable. I can get kind of stressed out if there’s a ton of people in a room and at least for Beartooth, because it’s such personal stuff, it’s just a lot easier for me to write alone in my own basement, you know?”

“Although the writing process is just me, it’s not really a solo venture.

It is a band, but the one thing I do myself is make the music and record it,” Caleb affirms before tempering his statement with another. “I’ve been making records for a little while and I just like doing it myself to capture the right sound. I know how it should sound, so it makes it a little easier that way. But live, we’re a band, we’re all up there and doing our thing; everybody’s playing the parts in their own way and going nuts. It’s kind of like two different experiences.”

The live environment is where Beartooth really come alive; when Caleb’s inner turmoil and isolated labours meet with the collaborative effort of the band, but it’s an approach that is necessitated.

“There’s an EP and two records done with this dynamic, it’s just the way that Beartooth songs are written. I just want to keep it authentic and keep it the way it started which was just writing songs alone in my basement, you know?”

It’s all well and good justifying Caleb’s remote work ethic in Beartooth, but will it restrict the band’s progression going into ‘Aggressive’? “I will say that the thing that I don’t like sometimes is when people make a record that all these people fall in love with and then they get a taste of success and then they write an entirely different sounding album.

“I’m definitely not against progression as a band, of course,” he affirms, “but I think it should be progression. With ‘Aggressive’ I just wanted it to be a ‘Part 2’. I really like playing Beartooth songs and I just didn’t feel like changing it up with some crazy sound. I just tried to push myself as a songwriter and write better songs, but, you know, it’s still just two guitars, drums, bass and vocals; keep it simple.”

His improvement as songwriter is coupled with a slight transgression in tone as Caleb explains that “even though there’s a bit more singing, I still think this record is way more pissed off than the first one.

The first record was very sad and self-deprecating, this one’s a little angrier but hopeful.”

This direction is clearly evident in the lyrics on ‘Aggressive’, as Caleb shrieks “I tried to fit in, I got sick of it” on ‘Loser’, which shows his conscious effort to stick his feet in the ground and spit his feelings back. It’s a theme that continues on tracks like ‘Burnout’ as Caleb storms in with “you won’t get the best of me”, accentuating his newly found self-confidence.

“The bottom line is that I really love the album, I’m extremely proud of it and I think that real Beartooth fans are going to love it - and hopefully new people start to jam out as well,” he says in closing.

‘Aggressive’ is the sound of a man accepting the vulnerabilities that he’s so publicly exorcised, and moving on with his band. All the while, answering only to himself and, this time, with his middle finger up. P Beartooth’s album ‘Aggressive’ is out now.

RECORD “THIS IS W AY M O R E PISSED

THAN

THE

OFF FIRST

ONE.”

RATED LETLIVE. IF I’M THE DEVIL...

Epitaph

eeee EVERYTHING CHANGES. It’s there, clear as day, in the first track of ‘If I’m The Devil…’ letlive have learned to love themselves. That sense of acceptance means they’ve got no reason to hold anything back and, across the carefully constructed eleven tracks of album number four, they don’t.

From bona fide moments of soul-punk (Patrick Stump would be proud) to war, peace and everything in between, the band have taken the fleeting glances scattered across their back catalogue and run to them. Gathering up their eclectic blend of influences, letlive. march forward.

And as diverse, shocking and twisting as the record is, it’s held together with a powerful cohesion. letlive. know how to use their voice and there’s not a moment where it isn’t utterly compelling.

‘Another Angry Song’ shows letlive. can still rage but it, like the rest of ‘If I’m The Devil…’ is so much more than that. ‘Who You Are Not’ wastes no time in throwing open its arms, ‘Nu Romantics’ is a scuzzy alleyway dash with ‘Reluctantly Dead’ burning slow but white hot.

Underneath the glittering welcome mat 42 upsetmagazine.com

lies points for discussion. Asking questions about the way you view the world, as well as raising points on power, the record is the launch pad for countless conversations and change at large. letlive. have always been a band that’s welcomed anyone in, but with ‘If I’m The Devil…’ they’ve got a record

to match. Warm, intelligent and empowering, letlive. are on your side but ‘If I’m The Devil…’ isn’t here to lead the charge. Instead it’s all about of self-discovery. A record that’ll make you want to stand up for yourself and choose your own battles. An album that’ll make you believe you can make a difference. ‘If I’m The Devil’ is out for change. Ali Shutler

GAME ON!

T H E D AY S W H E N V I D E O GAMES WERE LOOKED

D O W N O N A R E L O N G PA S T, B U T 6 5 D AY S O F S T AT I C A R E M OV I N G U P A G E A R .

T

W O R D S : R YA N D E F R E I TA S .

he soundtrack that Sheffield post-rock outfit 65daysofstatic have provided to videogame No Man’s Sky isn’t quite like most soundtracks.

For starters, there are two versions.

There’s the official one, which works as a standalone piece of music, and then there’s the somewhat revolutionary version that will appear in the game itself.

The space exploration game (billed as being almost infinite, such is the

65DAYSOF STATIC NO MAN’S SKY

Laced Records

eeee

It’s hard to talk about ‘No Man’s Sky’ and divorce it fully from its functional purpose and the context surrounding its creation; even so, this is a bold, beautiful and exciting entry into the 65 canon, a worthy successor to career highlight ‘Wild Light’, and a tantalising glimpse of where the band might be headed now. A new life surely awaits them in the off-world colonies; the chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure. Alex Lynham

amount of planets and galaxies there are to explore) actually procedurally generates the music during gameplay.

In non-nerd terms, this essentially means that the game makes it up as it goes along as it reacts to what the player is experiencing. Pretty cool, but how the fuck does that work? We figured that the best person to ask was 65dos guitarist, Paul Wolinski.

PAUL, HOW DID YOU AND YOUR BAND END UP GETTING INVOLVED WITH NO MAN’S SKY? They [indie gaming studio, Hello Games] got in touch with us because they wanted to use a track of ours, ‘Debutant’, to soundtrack the launch trailer for the game back in 2013. They sent us through some concept art and stuff and it was immediately clear that this was a pretty interesting looking project, so we said yes and asked if they had anyone on board for the soundtrack, which they didn’t.

WRITING MUSIC THAT’S GOING TO BE PRESENTED IN SUCH NON-LINEAR FASHION MUST BE DIFFICULT, RIGHT? It was a huge challenge, but a really exciting one. We’d started playing about with this kind of thing before, doing sound installations and working with game engines. So because of that, we’d grown comfortable with not having ‘definitive’ versions of songs. Being an instrumental band, we’ve got a bit of extra flexibility there too.

HAVING GIVEN THE GAME ENGINE THE TOOLS TO TAKE APART AND REBUILD YOUR SONGS, ARE YOU WORRIED THAT IT MIGHT ACCIDENTALLY WRITE BETTER VERSIONS OF THE SONG THAN YOU DID? Well, hmm. That’s a good question. It’s not going to be able to come up with a better linear arrangement because

it’s a live system that’s beholden to the player’s actions and, obviously, there are compromises that have to be made because of that. In any music, any melody has to exist through time, even if it’s just a few seconds. The live procedural system can do that to a degree, but it can’t plan very far in advance because it never knows when the player is suddenly going to get into a fight with a huge space dinosaur, or do something else that the music has to react to. What it will do is soundtrack the action going on better than we could’ve, but it won’t come up with a better version of an actual song.

SO YOU’RE NOT WORRIED ABOUT REPLACED BY ROBOTS JUST YET, THEN? Not yet, but I’m sure it’s coming. P

SOME VIDEO GAME SOUNDTRACKS THAT ARE REALLY QUITE GOOD As fascinating as the capabilities of the No Man’s Sky soundtrack are, video games have been filling our ears with greatness for some time now. Here are a few of the best.

SAINTS ROW 2: This game gave us the possibility to perform drive-byshootings while listening to Paramore, Taking Back Sunday and even The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus (remember them?). While Moose Blood like to remind us that emo is a gang, Saints Row allowed you to be an emo in a gang – and that’s every bit as good.

ROCK BAND 2: It feels like we’re cheating you by including a game about music, but it’d feel like cheating ourselves if we didn’t. Any of the Rock Band or Guitar Hero games could’ve made the cut, but this one was the first to put AFI, Panic! At The Disco and Silversun Pickups on the same setlist, so it wins by default.

TONY HAWK’S PRO SKATER: We had an argument about which game in the THPS series would make it, so for the sake of diplomacy we’ve picked the entire thing (THPS4 is the best one, mind [no it isn’t - Ed]). Tony Hawk and the lads made it possible to land kickflips while listening to Bad Religion and The Bouncing Souls from the comfort of our sofas and, for that, we are eternally grateful.

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EVAROSE

INVISIBLE MONSTERS

Self-Released

eeee

Forgetting about the hurdles that stood in their way, Evarose’s first full-length sees them deal with a grander struggle.

Sharing a title with a Chuck Palanuik novel originally deemed too disturbing to publish and taking its lead from dark, confronting literature, ‘Invisible Monsters’ is a record that gets under your skin.

From the static of ‘Glitch’, through the literal ‘Breathing Space’ and onto the pointed ‘Someone Else To Blame’, the record looks at the way people interact with one another and tries to find a way to cope with the darkness. It’s an engulfing, all consuming question, but there’s a light that never goes out.

Across its eleven tracks, ‘Invisible Monsters’ demands the spotlight. They may be looking to find where they fit in the world but Evarose are looking dead ahead. This is what they wanted, obstacles be damned. Ali Shutler

THRICE

TO BE EVERYWHERE IS TO BE NOWHERE

NAILS

YOU’LL NEVER BE ONE OF US

Nuclear Blast

Vagrant Records

eeee

Transitioning between genres and maintaining a solid fan base is difficult, and Thrice are going through those motions once again with their ninth album. Lead single ‘Blood On The Tracks’ especially sees a more accessible sound, still erring on the heavy side.

The rest of the album is built around the idea that the world is in a state of decline and frequently out of our control.

You can feel this logic within every track, the simplicity of the instrumentation juxtaposed with the complexity of the subject matter. Thrice - especially after nearly twenty years together - know what they want to say, be it through a casual four-chord rock song, or something more intricate. Even at their calmer moments, such as finale ‘Salt and Shadow’ there’s an unsettled undertone. ‘To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere’ is a solid continuation of a much respected career. Steven Loftin

Over the past few years, nobody has pushed the boundaries of just how aggressive music can be as much as Nails. The initial shocks of 2010s ‘Unsilent Death’ and the tidal wave of attention that came their way with 2013’s ‘Abandon All Life’ were due to the band presenting a sound that went five steps further than anyone else.

Three albums in and Nails aren’t really doing anything drastically different to what they did the first time around. Their previous album suffered from the same criticism, although it did have a more focused production and noticeably better flow than its predecessor. Here, Nails are slightly more direct with their assault.

In some ways ‘You’ll Never Be One Of Us’ is their best yet, but what’s for sure is that this record is just as relentless as their previous material. Nails have not dropped their level of aggression and firepower whatsoever. James Fox

eee

GATES

YUNG

GARBAGE

Pure Noise Records

Fat Possum / Tough Love

Stunvolume

“I was working a job where I had to take the subway,” Gates’ Kevin Dye explains on the inspiration for ‘Parallel Lines’ . “And I’d constantly see the same person on my morning commute sometimes, or I’d hear a passing conversation, only a sentence or two, and wonder what the rest of their story was. I’d walk past apartment complexes full of people, and know I’d never step foot in their homes or know what their lives were like.”

As concepts go, it’s a strong one. Building a record of differing styles, songs crossreferencing each other, heading this way and that without ever becoming incoherent or disparate, it’s also one that proves remarkably successful. Opener ‘Forget’ sparkles with a reassuring warmth, ‘Penny’ step things up several gears, while the closing title track burns slow and long.

‘Parallel Lines’ is an album both for the head and the heart. Stephen Ackroyd

Having spent years performing in bands in and around their home of Aarhus in Denmark, Yung are no strangers to the world of music. Newcomers they might not be, but if ‘A Youthful Dream’ shows anything, it’s a band at the start of something great.

Whether their tracks are raging with a freewheeling energy or resonating with a startling intensity, everything on their debut record echoes with a sense of character that’s too tangible to fake.

Take, for example, ‘Uncombed Hair’: with a deliciously sun-kissed style of garage punk, the track’s hauntingly catchy lyrics cry out against depression.“It’s just pain wrapped in beautiful times” frontman Mikkel Holm Silkjær cries out on the album’s title track – and essentially, that’s what this album is. Yung make no bones about the nature of the world they inhabit, and in doing so, they speak to anyone who cares to listen. Jessica Goodman

‘Strange Little Birds’ is the sixth studio album from 90s legends Garbage, and second to be released on their own record label Stunvolume. Eerie, debauched and retaining that outsider, nonconformist attitude the four piece are famed for, it blends the wisdom of their multi-platinum selling debut with the new wave beats of ‘Beautiful Garbage’.

From the classic rock of lead single ‘Empty’, to the deep seductive trip hop of ‘If I Lost You’ and the whining, brash, fuzzy experimental electronica of ‘So We Can Stay Alive’, ‘Strange Little Birds’ is an effort that shows off Garbage’s unwavering sharpness with paradoxical self doubt.

Hazy and mysterious, its songs are searing, fitting with the green smoke and leopard “G” that shrouds the album cover. Jasleen Dhindsa

PARALLEL LINES

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44 upsetmagazine.com

A YOUTHFUL DREAM

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STRANGE LIT TLE BIRDS

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TRACK BY TRACK

SLØTFACE

GET MY OWN

‘Get My Own’ is kind of our manifesto of some women’s issues that are important to us. It is a song about how women deserve more space than they are given. It also shows a sense of optimism because we feel things are getting better for women in the world, and more and more people are aware of and behind the feminist cause.

SLØTFACE SPONGE STATE EP

KILL ‘EM WITH KINDNESS

Propeller Recordings

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Sløtface mean business. With their name tweaked to prevent censorship (Facebook wasn’t a fan of Slutface, it turned out), ‘Sponge State’ is a declaration of intent. A line in the sand. From here on in it’s all or nothing.

It’s no gamble, though. Sløtface have an arsenal of brainy bangers to spook any opposition. From the overbearing media glare (‘Kill ‘Em With Kindness’) to a refusal to be intimidated (‘Get My Own’), everything is delivered with refreshing immediacy. “We love good pop songs, so we always try to write them,” explains guitarist Tor-Arne. “We don’t like droney, seven-minute songs. We’d rather listen to Robyn than prog.” Us too, mate. Us too. Stephen Ackroyd

SONIC BOOM SIX THE F BOMB

Cherry Red Records

eeee The F-Bomb’ is everything you could want from a band that have been around for as long as these guys have: it’s quintessential Sonic Boom Six. A step up from the aggressive politics that dominated their previous material, they’ve matured since their 2012 selftitled. More positive and inspiring than their previous, this record still has a knack for being the feisty SB6 fans love, with themes of empowerment: feminist issues are at the forefront, as seen with lead single ‘No Man, No Right’. ’The F-Bomb’ has moved SB6 from punk territory, to wholehearted ska, reggae

and dub, with dabbles of disco too. It’s good vibes all round. Jasleen Dhindsa

AUGUSTINES THIS IS YOUR LIVE

Caroline International

eee The third outing from Brooklyn-based Augustines sees them developing and evolving around the heart on sleeve, hands in the dirt sound that’s treated them so well. The guitars are still furious and determined, the drums still thunderous, but an added electronic element creates a new dynamic.

Turning from straight forward rock, to pleasant Americana, across the album there are vast soundscapes that almost simulate physical locations.

Taking this kind of real world experience and putting it to music is a sign that Augustines have a special gift. Steven Loftin

HOLY FUCK CONGRATS

Innovative Leisure

eeee Imagine taking a shed-load of dark, hard hitting, smash-your-teeth-in bangers, wrapping them in a great big tea towel, then bludgeoning them to death with beats and bass until they’re all reduced to tiny little pieces. That’s what Holy Fuck have done on ‘Congrats’.

Sticking them back together without once looking at the instructions, they’re left with something weird, wonderful and utterly exhausting - in a good way.

Congrats on that one. Stephen Ackroyd

This one is actually an old song that we re-recorded with producer Dan Austin. It was recorded at Ocean Sounds Recordings, a beautiful seaside studio on the west coast of Norway along with track three ‘Sponge State’ and a few other songs. The song is about the way that press sometimes seems to be waiting for artists to fail, and how that is always a better story than a success. Especially when it comes to young female artists and scandals.

SPONGE STATE

Our latest single, it tackles the issue of apathy in our peers. How people keep saying they want to make the world a better place, but it isn´t enough to share a post or tweet.

True social change comes about by being an active and engaged part of society and standing up for things you believe in.

SHAVE MY HEAD We felt this one would be the best track to end the EP with as it ends in a screaming shouting mess of feedback and yelling. We actually smashed a guitar by jumping up and down on it for the guitar feedback. The song is a comment on the way we as a society have pretty strict codes for how women should act and what they can be for instance how men with mental health issues are portrayed as tortured geniuses, but women are crazy bitches. With this song we´re trying to tell people, especially women, that you don´t have to fit in with anyone’s gender expectations, your feelings are real and you never have to change for anyone.

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MOCK ORANGE

PUT THE KID ON THE SLEEPY HORSE

VINNIE CARUANA SURVIVOR’S GUILT

Big Scary Monsters

Topshelf Records

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Twenty years plus is a long time for anything. To be a band who are still writing and performing at this point is nothing short of a miracle. Mock Orange, now on their sixth full length release, are just that band. Originally giving us a glimpse of new material in 2014 with ‘High Octane Punk Mode’, a song that has reappeared as track two on this new effort, they feel like a machine at the peak of its process.

Showing they’ve lost none of the furiousness that age can take from a band, ‘Nine Times’ has a climbing guitar riff that is both aggressive and pleasant, a feat that by no means is easy to achieve.

Following this there’s a beautiful chorus that drops into a new world, one that’s inhabited by melody and perfect chord progressions. Whatever happens, it’s great to see a band still this strong and fresh.

Steven Loftin

How great it is to hear a solo album that sounds as huge as this? Vinnie Caruana’s debut full length ‘Survivor’s Guilt’ is a hopeful, accessible effort; ten tracks of simple chords, headbopping melodies, and unbelievably relatable songwriting. It’s about pushing forward despite circumstances; about facing what’s in front of you and getting on with it. ‘Roll Back To Me’ trudges along, mirroring its subject of dealing with heartbreak with a sombre guitar, gloomy bass line, and every bit of emotion poured out in Caruana’s voice, while ‘Your Religion Is Killing Me’ could be a Brand New song.

Whether you’re a fan of his previous work or a newbie to his music, ‘Survivor’s Guilt’ is an impressive standout album from a singer who’s cemented a solid career already. If you like your music packed with emotion, you’ve got to check it out.

Kathryn Black

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BIG DEAL SAY YES

FatCat Records

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In the three years since Big Deal’s last album, ‘June Gloom’, they’ve been through quite a bit.

Lost band members, ended relationships, self-funding an album, finding a new label and losing their whole new album when a laptop was stolen at the end of 2014; ‘Say Yes’ is the sound of a band refusing to lay down and die.

It shows, too. Bolder, more robust, 2016’s Big Deal are fired up with deliberate intent. The album’s title track thumps and pounds, ‘Saccharine’ is as smooth and sweet and its title suggests, while ‘V.I.T.R.I.O.L.’ stalks over a thundering, dense rhythm.

With the odds stacked against them, Big Deal had to go huge, or go home.

With their backs against the wall, they’ve managed something even better - they’ve discovered the best version of themselves. You’d be mad to say no.

Stephen Ackroyd

WATERPARKS FATHERSON

BEARTOOTH

Easy Life / Red Essential

Easy Life / Red Essential

Red Bull Records

It’s apt for a band like Waterparks, handed the sceptre as fresh princes of pop-punk by managers the brothers Madden, to not so much dip a toe but take a plunge into a pool of noughties influences.

From the get go, ‘Crave’ dives in with same antagonistic stomp of ‘American Idiot’-era Green Day (aided by guest bassist Mikey Way), before throwing a curveball of Skrillex-esque electro throbs. It creates such a splash that ‘Territory’ is left to doggy paddle towards the wrong side of power-pop.

That said, the three-piece aren’t on the slip-and-slide yet: ‘Mad All The Time’ could have been overlooked on the cutting room floor for ‘A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out’, while ‘Pink’ gives off the hip-shaking vibes of Head Automatica’s finest moments.

Waterparks’ debut EP buzzes with boisterous energy, with a potential to make waves. Danny Randon

When you release a debut album as staggeringly beautiful as Fatherson did with 2014’s ‘I Am An Island’, consider your all-conquering place in arenas reserved.

The massive melodies, intense bursts of emotion and, of course, singer Ross Leighton’s sonorous tones set the bar sky-high. When they first teased ‘Open Book’ with the brilliantly vibrant ‘Always’, it seemed like the Glaswegians were primed to vault over the bar with ease.

The title-track and ‘Wondrous Heart’ are more than likely to help the trio in their destined path to cracking the mainstream. Following a sightly plodding middle section, ‘Forest’ and ‘Stop The Car’ then storm in in the nick of time: warm, invigorating and with immense wholeheartedness. The lion’s share of ‘Open Book’ roars with a peerless majesty; an admirable stab at the ‘difficult second album’. Danny Randon

It’s not a subtle title, is it? ‘Aggressive’ is by nature as it is by name: metalcore at its finest and full of the tropes you’d expect.

From the instant scream of the intros to the double pedal drums and roaring riffs, the Ohio foursome mean business.

Spitting venom with every word of ‘Loser’, vocalist Caleb Shomo proves his strength as he screams his way through the defiant, screw-you anthem. ‘Hated’ follows the same sentiment, the “who knew you’d be hated for being who you are?” hook accompanied by thrashing guitars and flawless, melodic vocals.

‘Fair Weather Friend’ and ‘Censored’ encompass the heavier side to their sound and ‘Burnout’ and ‘Always Dead’ – all shout-along vocals and visceral breakdowns – were made to be noticed.

Destined for the main stage at Donington Park, Beartooth’s time is now. Kathryn Black

CLUSTER EP

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OPEN BOOK

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AGGRESSIVE

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W

hen life throws curveballs, you can chuck in the towel or stick two fingers up at what’s come before you and turn it into something better. Scotland’s own PAWS faced that decision in winter 2014 at one of their toughest points as a band, though as we chat in spring 2016 ahead of their new album ‘No Grace’, it will come as no surprise which road they opted for.

“We came back from a two month tour of America that was particularly, not difficult, but it was quite a challenging tour,” explains vocalist Phillip Taylor.

“Promoters hadn’t promoted certain shows well, our van was robbed at one point and we lost a lot of wee precious things to the band. It was a big downer.”

But it became a learning experience. “A lot of bands would have probably given up half way through it,” he continues.

“It was really hard, emotionally, with everyone just trying to keep a level head, with certain things going wrong all the time and feeling let down by certain people along the way.

“There’s only really two ways you can do it: quit and go home, or keep doing it and try get something out the end of it.

I think what came out of it was a kind of attitude that if we can get through that, then we weren’t going to give up easily, we’d just keep going.”

And keep going they did, with a surprising guest in tow: Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus. One day he declared on Twitter that he was a fan of Paws, and the next he was producing their album. “We had no idea that he even knew who we were, so that was cool.

We started talking and joking back and forth on Twitter and that turned into him sending his email. I think we basically just became kind of internet pals.

“He asked if we were planning on making a new album any time soon.

We had started writing but hadn’t thought about what we were doing, who was going to do it or where we were going to do it. As we were writing it and we were talking to him, it just felt natural.”

The result of their work is ‘No Grace’, a record that really focuses more on the band’s experience together. “On previous records I’d written about things in my life,” says Phillip. “When I started writing this album, it

“WE HAD NO IDEA

MARK HOPPUS EVEN KNEW WHO WE WERE.”

WHEN THE CHIPS WERE DOWN, PAW S C H O S E T O F I G H T. W I T H A ( V E RY ) FA M O U S F R I E N D L E N D I N G A H A N D, TH EY’RE D E L I V E R I N G A K N O C K O U T B L O W. W O R D S : H E AT H E R M C D A I D .

was the first time I’d sat and thought about all three of us. I think that tour was probably the biggest catalyst, us finding our feet after that and figuring out how we could come back stronger.”

It’s been a bit of wild journey this last 18 months, but the next chapter of Paws is ready to be released. “You forget that nobody else has heard it. It’ll be good finally to just have people to hear them all, so I’m very, very excited to just get it out there. We’re pretty impatient when it comes to stuff like that so just looking forward to finally letting everyone have it and call it their own, and not just ours any more.” P

PAWS NO GRACE

Fat Cat Records

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Spawned from a tour that saw their morale at an all time low, PAWS come out with fists swinging on ‘No Grace’. “Just work hard and be hyperactive,” ‘Impermanent’ declares, one uplifting twang after another.

And that they do. The title-track wastes no time in shouting their story, beaten down at times on the road, but doing what you love with those close to you. ‘Complete Contempt’ is loud in all the most enjoyable ways, where ‘Salt Lake’ is primed for the live setting, feeling like it’s been plucked from it.

This is PAWS at 100, not an ounce of time missed, not a moment to ponder. With a tour that tested their limits as a band, this album was a case of putting up, or shutting up, and there’s absolutely no question which option they went for. Heather McDaid

RIVAL SONS HOLLOW BONES

Earache

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Q&A

RIVAL SONS

‘HOLLOW BONES’ IS OUT THIS MONTH, WHEN DID YOU START WORKING ON IT? We started it upon completing a late summer or early fall tour. Spent thirty days on it in Nashville - then jumped back out on another tour, this time with Deep Purple. Home just in time for Christmas.

DID YOU HAVE A CLEAR IDEA OF WHAT YOU WANTED IT TO BE WHEN YOU BEGAN? I mostly wanted it to be very good…

And especially wanted it to not be very bad. Other than that it was a very open playing field. I think we did a pretty good job.

WHAT DID YOU FIND MOST CHALLENGING DURING THE CREATION PROCESS? Making art with a group of people is very trying in itself. The way we make records takes it slightly to the next level. Coming in without having been writing together and basically working in a very immediate sense - right off the floor.

Opinions always clash, and it’s a melee in getting everyone’s ideas and perspective to be heard. This is the most challenging part I think making sure your voice is heard as well as making sure you play solid supportive roles equally.

ARE THERE ANY SONGS THAT STAND OUT AS MEANING A LOT TO YOU?

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I love the theme and lyrics to ‘Hollow Bones Part 2’ and ‘Thundering Voices’ - ‘Fade Out’ also.

I think everyone will enjoy those songs musically very much, and the stories/lyrics are wonderful. Very much continuing themes in this band - and done very well this time around.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT WITH THIS RELEASE SO FAR? The collection of songs is short but very strong and very “to the point”.

A very complete feeling record I believe. We’ve done our best to make a couple left turns while maintaining a sound we’ve been working on for six albums now. The Rival Sons sound, if you will. It’s all there and more.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE FANS WILL TAKE AWAY FROM THE RECORD? I hope it makes people feel good mostly. Anytime you see art - you wanna be transported somewhere.

You wanna feel something. Be it the artists perspective or a very individual perspective the art itself makes you feel. Every person consumes and digests art, or a song, or a performance differently. People will have a very individual reactions.

What can I really hope for? Except that the listener gets what they want from it. I got what I wanted from creating it.

ANYTHING ELSE WE SHOULD KNOW? The Maha Mantra, your mother’s love, a child’s love, respect for your elders, please and thank you, how to use Google, and how to make a few delicious meals... you should definitely know these things.

The sun-and-whiskey-drenched, fuzzed-out rock‘n’roll that Rival Sons have become known and loved for over the course of four records would typically befit motley crews of dive bardwelling miscreants. However, the Californian quartet have once again proved not only that they can smash that grubby aesthetic with one fell swoop, but they can do it in spectacular style.

The only thing that’s more defined than their dapper attire are the grooves that form the rock-solid foundations of their fifth record.

There’s also more confidence in the distorted licks and hefty helpings of psychedelia: opening track ‘Hollow Bones Pt. 1’ sounds like Royal Blood and The Black Keys dropping acid and jamming Led Zeppelin covers in a garage. Its counterpart is a less instantaneous affair, but there’s still plenty of panache in its choruses.

If you liked ‘Great Western Valkyrie’, you’ll be lapping ‘Hollow Bones’ up like a cat to a saucer of milk laced with Jack Daniel’s. If, on the other hand, you think that classic rock is merely an old man’s game, then prepare to meet the new classics…

Danny Randon

WITH CONFIDENCE BETTER WEATHER

Hopeless Records

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Those rating pop punk records by decrying their lack of ‘originality’ are missing the point. With Confidence aren’t.

From the moment opener ‘Voldemort’ hits the ground running, nobody is bothered if they’re reinventing the wheel, so much as if it’s as sunny outside as it feels in here. That typical bittersweet lyrical/sonic combination is playing to well practiced strengths. All the plays are performed to perfection, from the cut out vocal-overisolated-guitar-line of ‘Keeper’ to the crunch that follows. When you pull it off so well, nothing else matters. Stephen Ackroyd

WACO UPRISE EP

Venn Records

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WACO don’t believe in subtlety. Nor should they, when going all out is so much fun. There’s nothing shy or retiring about their new EP - from the exterior artwork to the music within - but with so much heart, anything other than pedal to the metal would seem somewhat insincere. From single ‘SE17’, with its earworm, gang vocal hook, to its sister in arms ‘Nancy Guntrip’, there’s something real and believable about their glorious brand of uncomplicated noise. While some may yearn for a little more, those that go with the flow will be rewarded well.

Stephen Ackroyd

TRACKS OF THE MONTH

suddenly seem a vastly more interesting prospect.

BLINK-182 - BORED TO DEATH

Don’t blink. Blink and you’re dead. They are fast. Faster than you can believe.

Don’t turn your back. Don’t look away.

And don’t blink. Because if you do, Brand New will probably have dropped a surprise track on you.

Just over a year on from ‘Mene’ comes ‘I Am A Nightmare’, an incendiary roll back that wouldn’t sound out of place in the New York indie explosion of the early00s. While for some that might sound tired and backwards, for Brand New it’s anything but. Now, do the album.

Was this in the script? The return of the DeLonge-less Blink-182/3rds was anticipated, hyped even, but when ‘Born To Death’ finally came it proved to be something else entirely. Really Very Good Indeed. So much so we’ll forgive Mark that ‘Life is too short to last long’ line. Catchy, anthemic, not too smart, not too stupid - while nobody would claim the influence of the band’s erstwhile guitarist wasn’t missed, this new iteration

TRASH BOAT DIARRHEA NOTHING I WRITE YOU CAN PLANET CHANGE WHAT YOU’VE BEEN THROUGH

Hopeless Records

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With their two previous EPs taking the pop punk approach with a few added hardcore influences, Trash Boat’s debut effort ‘Nothing I Write You Can Change What You’ve Been Through’ takes the opposite approach. The hardcore sound much more apparent, it works incredibly well, especially on ‘Catharsis’. Building toward the climactic ending where everything drops into organised chaos, it epitomises exactly where the future of the genre could be. Trash Boat have more than enough emotional output to go around: you can hear the the attachment singer Tobi Duncan puts into his lyrics in ‘The Guise Of A Mother’, where the melodic qualities of his voice come through. Trash Boat take what made these genres so loved in the first place, and bring back the youthful exuberance that keeps them fresh. Steven Loftin

BRAND NEW - I AM A NIGHTMARE

TURN TO GOLD

WE ARE SCIENTISTS HELTER SELTZER

Infinity Cat / Dine Alone

100% Records

Featuring four guitarists, each vying for attention via the medium of ridiculous solos and riffs, Diarrhea Planet have returned with their third full-length release. Still filled with tracks that are expertly crafted, the approach here appears to be more of a consistent sound, piling in the riff- and chord heavy chugging progressions.

It’s a solid effort from an underrated band.

They manage to radiate some form of positivity even when the lyrical content doesn’t necessarily call for it. Who needs another sad, sappy song about heartbreak when you can have three guitar solos and pounding drums? Everything about Diarrhea Planet is authentic, which is exactly what comes across in their recorded material. And if the name puts you off, then they wouldn’t want you to listen anyway. Steven Loftin

Over a decade on from the release of their debut album, and We Are Scientists have put their past firmly behind them.

Releasing their self-proclaimed “flashiest” record yet, the duo are striving to shine. Cutting from crooning vocal harmonies to searing electric solos and pounding rhythms, ‘Waiting For You’ is an instant standout. Sweeping ballad ‘Too Late’ is another highlight. Fighting to preserve a deteriorating relationship with characteristically tongue in cheek lyrics (“nothing’s for sure / and that’s for certain”), the track is capable of whisking anyone off their feet in a heartbeat.

When We Are Scientists hit their mark, there’s very few who can rival them. But with more near misses than hits, ‘Helter Seltzer’ remains a collection of pop songs that doesn’t quite manage to take off the ground. Jessica Goodman

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LIVE BRING ME THE HORIZON R O YA L A L B E R T H A L L , L O N D O N

I N A I D O F T H E T E E N AG E CA N C E R

Words: Ali Shutler.

Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett.

T R U S T, B R I N G M E T H E H O R I Z O N (A N D A N O RC H ESTR A) C O NTI N U E TO S U RPRI SE.

D

espite how far removed tonight should be from Bring Me The Horizon’s comfort zone, the band make themselves at home from the off. Taking to the Royal Albert Hall as part of a week of gigs in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust the band - backed by a 60-piece orchestra for good measure - continue to bend rules and expectations.

It’s getting tougher and tougher to find a place where PVRIS don’t belong. Taking a break from their own headline tour in Europe to support, the band fit into the grandeur of the evening while still representing the outsider element.

We know the band are amazing and tonight is further proof that no matter the situation, PVRIS will not only rise to the challenge but they’ll make it look easy. The layers, whispers and shouts of ‘You and I’ should give an indication of what’s next for the band but it’s Lynn pulling away from the mic at every opportunity to get closer to the crowd and Alex & Brian bouncing in unison to ‘My House’, looking at each other and grinning, that really tells us what’s next.

As for Bring Me The Horizon, their future’s been up in the air since the release of ‘That’s The Spirit’. It’s an album that promises that anything goes and the band continue to

live by that sword. The orchestral opening rings out, transfixing the sold out room, before Bring Me The Horizon stroll onto stage and launch into the atmospheric ‘Doomed’. Oli’s already in his element, dragging the mic stand around the stage but it’s not until the culture shock of ‘Happy Song’ that everyone else gets it. Hitting like a truck, the mood inside the venue instantly changes as the pit opens up and even the fourteenpiece choir breaks rank with half of them clapping along. From here on out, it’s glorious unpredictable business as usual.

As Simon Dobson conducts the Parallax Orchestra from the back, Oli conducts the 5000 strong choir from the front. ‘Throne’ sees all six floors of the venue jumping, ‘Drown’ continues to sound bigger and bigger and ‘Can You Feel My Heart’ makes use of every body in the room while live debuts of both ‘Oh No’ and ‘Avalanche’ highlight just how left-field Bring Me The Horizon were facing when they wrote them.

For the months of work the band put in ahead of tonight, it’s the orchestra who come to Bring Me The Horizon and not the other way round. They amplify the majesty and underpin the beauty of the band while taking away none of the snarling ferocity. In the same way that they’ve taken on new influence and direction in recent years, tonight at the Royal Albert Hall, Bring Me The Horizon use the orchestra to amplify who they are.

It’s fearless, it’s fun and despite the apprehension and uncertainty ahead of tonight, it makes a whole lot of sense. P

MILK TEETH B A R F LY , L O N D O N

M

ilk Teeth have come a long way since the release of ‘Vile Child’. The band have played over seventy shows in eleven countries since the start of the year and they’ve all taken their toll. Tonight Milk Teeth, taking to London’s Barfly for their biggest headline show to date, are all systems go.

As the playful opening falls into the double-time ‘Brain Food’, Milk Teeth are in charge. Gone are the wide-eyed kids playing and hoping for the best, tonight the four-piece know they are.

‘Brickwork’ is as vicious as ever (quickly showing off how snug a fit Billy is in the squad), ‘Melon Blade’ is dreamy yet jagged and the drum build in ‘Moon Wanderer’ sees Oli push the whole band to the very edge of their limits. Constant touring has seen Milkies discover a previously untapped 52 upsetmagazine.com

Words: Ali Shutler.

Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett. hugeness. Tonight, there’s not a single moment that isn’t scaled up.

And it suits them just fine. ‘Swear Jar’ sounds far bigger than the confines of the room and while the band could easily sit back and bask in the mass participation, Milk Teeth are eager to take part.

There’s a flag draped over Billy’s amp carrying the confession that one fan has travelled all the way from Italy for the show (and their mum doesn’t know) and while the rest of the crowd had a slightly less daunting journey getting here, they’re no less enthralled.

“I encourage you to talk to each other,” starts Becky ahead of ‘Kabuki’, “the most personal song I’ve ever written.”

And while one bloke dismisses the positive message, the band are quick to point out how stupid he, and his ideas, look. Oli, Chris, Billy and Becky have the backs of each other, and of everyone in the room. It’s swiftly made apparent that the protection and respect is mutual. “If you want to be a

prick, leave.”

Taking the vitriol and making it shine, ‘No Fun’ is anything but. Moments later, as the dying roars of ‘Vitamins’ ring out, Oli jumps off the stage and crowd-surfs to the bar safe in the knowledge that tonight, Milk Teeth have raised theirs. P

W

e’re two songs into letlive.’s show at The Underworld when Jason Aalon Butler tears down the white backdrop and throws it into the crowd. Much to his surprise it’s returned to him minutes later, a little worse for wear but complete. Everything the band gives this evening, heart, soul and respect, is matched by the 500 strong-crowd. The word of mouth has never been louder.

Youth Man know a thing or two about volume. Miles Cocker walks onstage, stamps on his pedal board and fills the room with feedback. A deep breath and the band kicks off a set that is frantic, intense but still finds space for big moments of groove. At every opportunity the band get in each other’s faces, push back and challenge one another to play harder. The dark menace of ‘Pigs’ leads into the night time escape of ‘Fat Dead Elvis’ as Youth Man show off their ability to flit between filth and beauty. The building storm of ‘Dead Weight’ reaches its conclusion and gives way to a wall of

feedback once more. Miles pauses, turns off the amp and the band leave. Their message heard loud and clear. letlive. are releasing new album ‘If I’m The Devil…’ soon but tonight isn’t so much a glimpse into what’s to come, more a chance to catch up and get everybody on the same page. There’s no introductions needed as from the opening shots of ‘Banshee (Ghost Fame)’ through the swing of ‘Muther’ (dedicated to the girls in the room, “letlive. have your back.”) and onto the all-out rage of ‘Renegade ‘86’ , the whole room knows the score and it’s one for all.

shit is tight”), a rare outing of ‘Lemon Party’, a snippet of Bruno Mars’ ‘Just The Way You Are’ and the band corpsing midsong because of the carnage they’ve caused, tonight is a reminder that anything goes at a letlive. show. More than a band you go and see, letlive. are a band you’re a part of. There’s a belief in what they do and a trust in what they stand for. Expectations couldn’t be higher for ‘If I’m The Devil…’ but when have this band ever let anyone down? P

‘The Dope Beat’’s message of “getting your arse up and making something of yourself when they say you can’t, when they say you won’t, when they say you shouldn’t,” proves the band are still out to start something and with ‘Good Mourning, America’, their spark catches.

Despite only being two weeks old, the only new track gets the biggest reaction of the evening. And it’s an evening of big reactions.

The singalong to ‘Pheromone Cvlt’ (“that

LETLIVE. T H E U N D E RWO RL D, LO N D O N

Words: Ali Shutler.

Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett.

MOOSE BLOOD TH E 1865, SOUTH A M P TO N

Words: Danny Randon.

Photos: Amie Kingswell.

T

he prospect of Moose Blood teasing new material from their agonisingly-awaited second LP Blush has elevated their latest UK trek to stratospheric highs of anticipation.

Even without two fresh cuts, the band still have countless anthems which, to coin an oh-so-relatable phrase, can make you feel all the feels.

Moose Blood don’t even have to strike the opening chords of ‘Swim Down’ before the crowd are pouring out passion by the bucket-load, and making the bouncers work for their keep at the barriers. From the joyous sentimentality of ‘Pups’ to the swaying melancholia of ‘I Hope You’re Miserable’, the band are nothing short of sensational in return.

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Now, about those new songs… ‘Honey’ has left Moose Blood’s fanbase polarised with its sickly sweet poppunk sheen, but when it airs live with a charm not dissimilar from Jimmy Eat World in their prime, all apprehension heads straight out the window. There are few things that can make you feel as warm and fuzzy as your other half’s sweater, a late-night coffee, or that umpteenth spin of ‘Deja Entendu’, but you can safely count these new choruses amongst those.

Their live display has never been much of a spectacle (because with songs like these who needs it, right?) but what is seen tonight on stage is a cooler, more confident Moose Blood. Don’t be expecting grand theatrics from them anytime soon but it’s reassuring that transatlantic travels have not stifled frontman Eddy Brewerton’s humbling demeanour and gratitude.

As Moose Blood saunter into a blindsiding finale of ‘Boston’ and ‘Gum’, it seems that ‘I’ll Keep You In Mind…’ will always sound fresh. If ‘Blush’ manages to deliver the same heart-wrenching poignancy of its predecessor, then Moose Blood will be well on their way to becoming the band of a generation.P

TACOCAT E L ECTRI C C I RCUS, E D I N BU RG H

Words: Heather McDaid.

Photo: Jade Esson.

J

ust down the road from the Electric Circus lies the entrance to the Edinburgh Dungeons, where dark histories live and, frankly, a lot of murder and creepy things seem to have happened. But that’s not enough to dampen the spirits of Tacocat, a technicolour, Hawaiian burst with lights in their hair and spaceships at their backs, who dance and natter their way through a show that sets the humble venue alight.

From proclamations over periods and their mansplainer-diss anthem ‘Men Explain Things To Me’, Tacocat wrap the female experience in infectious guitar pop, with a show that’s equally likely to lure you in. Emily Nokes’ vocals soar effortlessly, dancing tambourine in hand as the band roll

through soaring summer jams ‘Bridge To Hawaii’ and ‘Spring Break Up’, and call out street harassment on the grittier ‘Hey Girl’.

Nasty internet trolls who comment on women – basement dwellers as they’re also referred to – get their time in the spotlight, as does Dana Scully of the X-Files (which should happen more at shows).

Tacocat soar, they riot, they flip from their easy-going beachy vibes to confrontation striking through their lyrics, they do it all with a smile on their face and a certain joy in their

performance.

The city’s history may surround a lot of death, but Tacocat’s first venture to the cobbled city was the latest in a long line of testaments that guitar pop isn’t following a similar fate no matter how many times people decry it. Not only is it very much alive, but Tacocat make it magnificent, bold and bright, and their shows are a fine remedy to a gloomy mid-week evening. P

MODERN BASEBALL

Words: James Fox. Photo: Amie Kingswell.

STI C K Y M I KE’S F RO G BA R, B RI G HTO N

T

here’s excitement in the air as two rising successes take to Brighton’s Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar. Both PUP and Modern Baseball are set to release new albums in the coming months and both are desperate to show off just what they’ve got up their sleeves.

Debut album opener ‘Guilt Trip’ introduces PUP’s set and its reaction indicates that there’s a decent contingent that have come

specifically for them.

“Holy shit” is the response Modern Baseball’s Brendan Lukens has to the crowd reacting to his opening lyrics of ‘Fine, Great’. The swathe of restless bodies in a cramped basement though does lead to Luke’s later admission, “Smells funny up here!” The band themselves don’t quite have the same energy PUP had before them, but the audience’s reaction fills that deficit. If you haven’t gotten onboard with either band yet, now is the time to do so. P

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ON THE ROAD VISIT UPSETMAGAZINE.COM FOR THE LATEST TOUR NEWS.

18 Cardiff Motorpoint Arena 19 London Alexandra Palace 20 London Alexandra Palace

ANTI-FLAG

PETROL GIRLS

JUNE 12 Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms

BASEMENT JULY 12 Newcastle Riverside 13 Carlisle Brickyard 14 Cardiff The Glove 15 Wolverhampton Slade Rooms 16 Truck Festival 18 Southend Chinnerys 19 Brighton The Haunt 20 Tunbridge Wells The Forum 21 Southampton 1865 22 Plymouth The Hub

BRING ME THE HORIZON OCTOBER 31 London O2 Arena NOVEMBER 1 Bournemouth International Centre 2 Nottingham Motorpoint Arena 4 Birmingham Barclaycard Arena 5 London O2 Arena 6 Sheffield Motorpoint Arena 8 Manchester Arena 9 Glasgow SSE Hydro

BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE NOVEMBER 24 Newport Centre 27 Newcastle O2 Academy DECEMBER 3 Manchester Academy 6 Birmingham O2 Academy 56 upsetmagazine.com

9 London O2 Academy Brixton

COHEED AND CAMBRIA, LA DISPUTE, MEWITHOUTYOU AUGUST 22 Glasgow O2 ABC 23 Manchester O2 Ritz 24 London O2 Forum

DON BROCO JULY 24 Manchester Gorilla 25 Manchester Gorilla 26 Glasgow Oran Mor 27 Glasgow Oran Mor 28 Newcastle Riverside 29 Newcastle Riverside 31 Birmingham Institute AUGUST 1 Birmingham Institute 3 Leeds Key Club 4 Leeds Key Club 5 Bedford Esquires 6 Bedford Esquires 8 London Islington Academy 9 London Islington Academy 10 Southampton Engine Rooms 11 Southampton Engine Rooms 13 Norwich Open 14 Norwich Open 15 Bristol Marble Factory 16 Bristol Marble Factory

GNARWOLVES JUNE 15 Kingston, Fighting Cocks 16 Tunbridge Wells, Forum 17 Swindon, Level 3 18 Bridgend, Hobos 19 Cannock, The Station

MOOSE BLOOD OCTOBER 3 Birmingham O2 Institute 2 4 Glasgow Garage 5 Sheffield O2 Academy 2 6 Cardiff Y Plas 7 London Koko 8 Manchester Academy 2

MOTION CITY SOUNDTRACK AUGUST 17 Manchester O2 Ritz 18 Birmingham O2 Institute 2 19 London KOKO

MUNCIE GIRLS JUNE 16 Leeds Nation of Shopkeepers 17 Leicester Roundhouse 18 Chester Live Rooms

PANIC! AT THE DISCO NOVEMBER 17 Manchester O2 Apollo

JUNE 7 Cardiff Gwdihw 8 Bristol Exchange 9 Worcester Fly Bar 10 Plymouth Junction 11 Brighton The Prince Albert 12 Norwich Owl Sanctuary 14 Glasgow Bar Bloc 15 Newcastle Trillians 16 Huddersfield The Parish 17 London DIY Space 18 Liverpool Social Centre

PIERCE THE VEIL NOVEMBER 25 Cardiff Great Hall 26 Birmingham O2 Academy 27 London O2 Academy Brixton 29 Nottingham Rock City 30 Newcastle O2 Academy DECEMBER 1 Glasgow Barrowlands 2 Manchester Academy 4 Belfast Mandela Hall 5 Dublin Academy 6 Dublin Academy

SORORITY NOISE OCTOBER 4 Newcastle Think Tank 5 Glasgow Hug & Pint 6 Manchester Deaf Institute 7 Nottingham Bodega 8 Leeds Key Club 9 Birmingham Hare & Hounds 10 Norwich Epic Studios 11 Cambridge Portland Arms 13 Bristol Exchange 14 Brighton Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar 16 Milton Keynes Craufurd Arms 17 London Dingwalls

PREVIEW

DOWNLOAD 2016

R O C K M U S I C ! P L AY E D L O U D LY ! I N A F I E L D !

DOWNLOAD 2016

MUNCIE GIRLS 2016 WILL SEE MUNCIE GIRLS MAKE THEIR DEBUT P E R F O R M A N C E AT D O W N L O A D .

FRONTWOMAN LANDE HEKT LO O KS A H E A D TO TH E BA N D’S S E T.

YOU’RE PLAYING DOWNLOAD FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS JUNE - ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO IT? Of course we’re looking forward to it! It’s going to be a wild time.

IS IT A FESTIVAL YOU’VE ATTENDED BEFORE AS FANS? I think Dean [McMullen, guitar] went once when he was like 15 or something, but Luke [Ellis, drums] and I have never been.

HAVE YOU PLAYED MANY BIG FESTIVALS HERE IN THE UK BEFORE? We played Reading and Leeds a couple of years ago and it was one of the best things ever. When

you’re used to playing in underground clubs and house parties, big stages feel really intimidating but also really exciting. Also Brody Dalle and Jimmy Eat World were playing the same stage as us and we felt so lucky to be there!

ARE YOU PLANNING TO STAY ALL WEEKEND? IS THERE ANYONE YOU’RE ESPECIALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING? We’re actually on tour with Beach Slang when we play on the Sunday so we won’t be able to go on Friday and Saturday but it’s all right because Iron Maiden are playing on Sunday.

We’re gonna try and get on Bruce’s plane. If we were there the whole weekend I would make sure I saw Juliette and the Licks, Anti-Flag and obviously Black Sabbath.

WHICH OF YOUR SONGS DO YOU THINK WILL GO DOWN BEST WITH THE DOWNLOAD CROWD? Well, Download is mainly a metal festival and we’re almost as far as you can get from metal in a very intentional way. So basically anything could happen. We’re excited to find out!

IF YOU WERE IN CHARGE OF BOOKING DOWNLOAD 2017, WHO WOULD BE YOUR HEADLINERS? If I was in charge of booking Download, the first thing I’d do would be address the massive gender imbalance. I’d also change the whole vibe purely because of my own taste. Some bands I would invite would be Patti Smith, Billy Bragg, Hop Along, Royal Headache, The Julie Ruin, Sleater-Kinney, Against Me!, Bully, Ex Hex, Screaming Females, Modern Baseball, Alvvays and Desaparecidos. The usual attendees would probably be annoyed though.

OZZFEST MEETS KNOTFEST

Ozzy Osbourne’s Ozzfest and Slipknot’s Knotfest will team up this summer for an event dubbed Ozzfest Meets Knotfest, from 24th–25th September at the San Manuel Amphitheater and Festival Grounds in San Bernardino, California.

ASH AND VANT TO PLAY 2000TREES

2000trees has confirmed a batch of new additions, including Ash, Sikth and Vant. Jamie Lenman, Augustines, The LaFontaines, Hey! Hello! and Cheap Meat will also play the Cheltenham event from 7th–9th July.

M U N C I E G I R L S A R E N ’ T T H E O N LY A C E B A N D P L AY I N G T H I S Y E A R ( O B V I O U S LY ) .

H E RE’S TH RE E M O RE BA N DS N OT TO M I S S AT D O W N L O A D 2 0 1 6 .

GLASSJAW

FRIDAY, ZIPPO ENCORE STAGE After the initial excitement of live dates and that single new track, we’re still waiting for that fabled new Glassjaw album. Download looks like just the opportunity to show up and demand an update, in person.

BLACK FOXXES

SUNDAY, 4TH STAGE Black Foxxes debut album - spoiler alert, kids - promises to be the kind of record that sees a band blow up overnight. Get in there while they’re still able to play small stages.

MILK TEETH

SATURDAY, 4TH STAGE We wouldn’t be Upset if we weren’t tipping Milk Teeth as one to watch, would we? One of the UK’s best new bands, nothing else comes close.

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FIRST RIOT FEST BANDS

Riot Fest has announced a Misfits reunion topping both events, as well as Deftones, Death Cab and Sleater-Kinney at the Colorado leg (2nd-4th September), and Brand New, Morrissey and Death Cab at Chicago (16th-18th).

YOUNG GUNS JOIN FORT FEST

Young Guns, Black Peaks, Arcane Roots, Adelphia, FOES, Autumn Ruin, Boston Manor, New Device and Fahran have all joined Fort Fest, which will take place from 2nd–4th September in Bedfordshire.

The new EP from Sorority Noise — It Kindly Stopped for Me is available everywhere on vinyl, cassette & digitally now from Topshelf Records.

Tickets for Sorority Noise’s autumn UK tour are on sale now!

04.10.16 - Newcastle, UK @ Think Tank 05.10.16 - Glasgow, UK @ Hug & Pint 06.10.16 - Manchester, UK @ Deaf Institute 07.10.16 - Nottingham, UK @ Bodega 08.10.16 - Leeds, UK @ Key Club 09.10.16 - Birmingham, UK @ Hare & Hounds Bi 10.10.16 - Norwich, UK @ Epic Studios 11.10.16 - Cambridge, UK @ Portland Arms 13.10.16 - Bristol, UK @ Exchange 14.10.16 - Brighton, UK @ Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar 16.10.16 - Milton Keynes, UK @ Craufurd Arms 17.10.16 - London, UK @ Dingwalls

Get tickets at topshelfrecords.co.uk/snuktour

Also available from TOPSHELF RECORDS:

MOCK ORANGE

Put the Kid On the Sleepy Horse CD / LP / CASSETTE / DIGITAL - MAY 20, 2016

THE WORLD IS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE & I AM NO LONGER AFRAID TO DIE Long Live Happy Birthday

CLIQUE

NAI HARVEST

CD / LP / CASSETTE /DIGITAL - MAY 27, 2016

AA 7” / DIGITAL - OUT NOW

Burden Piece

Jelly / Just Like You

7” / CASSETTE / DIGITAL - OUT NOW

New releases coming from Happy Diving, Special Explosion, Solids, Ratboys, Del Paxton, Slingshot Dakota, Enemies, Hey Mercedes, Field Mouse & more.

tsr-store.com topshelfrecords.co.uk

Against the Current s ’

Chrissy Costanza 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 IS THE MOST EMBARRASSING THING YOU’VE DONE DURING A TOUR? I’m not sure but speaking for Dan he fell flat on his ass during our last song at our show at Koko and it was pretty hysterical.

WHAT IS SOMETHING THAT YOU’VE NEVER DONE AS A BAND, BUT WOULD LIKE TO? Oh I don’t know... Win a Grammy?

Yeah, we’d like that.

IF YOU COULD GIVE ANY ADVICE TO YOUR 2011 SELVES, WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE? Stick to your guns. We got where we are now being ourselves and being genuine and we only faltered when we let other people take control. We know

what’s best for us.

WHEN YOU WERE KIDS WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? We all wanted to be musicians from a fairly early age. I think at some point I wanted to be a vet though.

IF THERE WAS ONE CELEBRITY YOU COULD SWITCH LIVES WITH FOR A DAY, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY? Maybe Taylor Swift during the ‘1989’ tour. That seemed like it was a lot of fun.

WHAT WAS IN THE SUITCASE IN THE ‘RUNNING WITH THE WILD THINGS’ MUSIC VIDEO? “What is rightfully ours.”

WHO IS YOUR FAVOURITE SUPERHERO/SUPERVILLAIN? Superhero would be I’m not sure they’re all just good. Super villain maybe the Joker. He’s a little wacko and I like that.

IF YOU WERE SELECTED TO BE THE ASTRONAUT TO LAND ON MARS, WOULD YOU AGREE TO LEAVE? NOPE. COUNT ME OUT. I’m terrified of space. If the earth was crumbling and we all had to evacuate on space ships I’d just die with the planet.

GET EVERY ISSUE OF UPSET DELIVERED TO YOUR DOOR. SUBSCRIBE NOW FROM £25 PER YEAR. GO ON. PLEASE? GO TO UPSETMAGAZINE.COM FOR MORE DETAILS. HAVE A NICE DAY. #GETUPSET