Upset, October 2016

EDITOR’S NOTE

IN THIS ISSUE...

RIOT! upsetmagazine.com Editor: Stephen Ackroyd (stephen@upsetmagazine.com) Deputy Editor: Victoria Sinden (viki@upsetmagazine.com) Assistant Editor: Ali Shutler (ali@upsetmagazine.com) Contributors: Alex Lynham, Christopher Jones, Heather McDaid, Jasleen Dhindsa, Jessica Goodman, Kathryn Black, Kristy Diaz, Phil Smithies, 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 The Bunker Publishing Ltd. 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.

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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

4 S U M 41 8 YO U M E AT S I X 10 MEMPHIS MAY FIRE 11 P I N EG ROV E 12 KO RN 14 T H E D EV I L W E A RS P R A DA

ABOUT TO BREAK 20 KAMIKAZE G IRLS

30 25 YEARS OF RISE RECORDS 32 JOYCE MANOR 36 PWR BTTM 40 JIMMY EAT WO RL D

RATED 44 G RE E N DAY 47 S ET I T O F F 48 I P REVA I L

22 SHVPES

49 T R A C K S O F T H E MONTH

FEATURES

VS THE INTERNET

24 OF MICE & MEN

50. PIERCE THE VEIL

Ah, ‘Q4’. That magical time of year when the nights draw in, the temperature drops and the big guns come out to play. This year is no different. Not only are our cover stars Of Mice & Men packing a brilliant new album ‘Cold World’ as they hit the UK, but some of the most sizeable names in the genre are making moves. Green Day are back with a brand new album that’s, y’know, actually pretty decent. Sum 41 have returned with something to say. Jimmy Eat World have a ninth album out. Legends the lot of them. That’s not to say there are no new voices, though. PWR BTTM are a vitally important band, who you can read much more from this issue. Best get on with it, eh? x

S

WE’VE BEEN LISTENING TO...

JIMMY EAT WORLD - INTEGRITY BLUES

GREEN DAY SOMEWHERE NOW

There’s no other band on the planet quite like JEW. Nine albums in, they’ve still got it.

We’re pretty sure the first track on Green Day’s new album has a lyric about online shopping...

FRANK IERO AND THE PATIENCE PARACHUTES Frank’s new album drops just before Halloween because it’s scary good.

RIOT ING IN ROCK E V E RY T H I N G H A P P E N

“THERE WAS JUST SO MUCH NOISE IN MY HEAD.”

W

“

hen this record comes out it’s going to be our twentieth anniversary - that’s pretty fucking cool!”

During their time as a band, Sum 41 have produced timeless pop punk staples that are still played with the same enthusiasm and excitement that they were fifteen years ago; ‘Fat Lip’ and ‘In Too Deep’ are time capsules for a generation that’s grown up alongside them. New album ’13 Voices’ marks not only two decades of the group, but their sixth full-length release - seeing the return of Dave ‘Brownsound’ Baksh after his 2006 departure, and also reaching into the past three years of frontman Deryck Whibley’s life, including his recovery from severe alcoholism that saw him admitted to an ICU in LA. “Early on in 2001, before ‘Fat Lip’ took off, when it was just on the brink of doing something, we performed at this MTV thing for their 20th anniversary,” Deryck recalls of the moment before his band were launched into the public eye. “We played ‘Fat Lip’ and then we went into some Beastie Boys stuff and then Tommy Lee came out and played drums and then Rob Halford came out and we sang ‘You Got Another Thing Comin’’. We just did this whole medley of stuff and it was really really cool, and the next day it was like we were a different band. People knew who we were for the first time, and then ‘Fat Lip’ started to get played on radio and everything took off from there.”

With such a drastic ascension, focusing

on the time that was passing rapidly was never an option. “I wasn’t counting each year or anything, so it’s definitely surprising and it’s cool, but it’s also not surprising,” Deryck muses. “For your band when you’re 16-yearsold, you’re that young, you think this is going to last forever anyway because you’re that naive. Now that this has actually happened, I look back and it’s really not very common.”

Over the years the band have lost and gained members, but they’ve now settled on being a five-piece with the addition of Tom Thacker (guitar/ vocals) and Frank Zummo (drums), joining Deryck, Dave and bassist Jason ‘Cone’ McCaslin. “The band sort of retains the same spirit that it always has, there are things that change within the band, the sound etc., but it still to me feels like there’s always a constant something.”

WHIBLEY D E RYC K SUM 41’S IVE. TO B E A L IS LUCKY S, HIS D D O E ALL TH AGA I N ST ING FIT T H G I F K E BAC BAND AR .

M I N TOW EW ALBU WITH A N .

N I T F O STEVEN L WORDS:

“I ACTUALLY THOUGHT AT ONE POINT I WAS GOING CRAZY.”

Part of the band’s endurance comes down to the relatability of their songs, but it’s not something that Deryck immediately focuses on during the writing process. “I don’t think about other people getting it,” he says. “I sometimes write and think I’m being so personal that how could this relate to anybody, and then I hear from fans that they do actually relate and it’s really cool.” After the release of 2011’s ‘Screaming Bloody Murder’, which concerned his divorce from Avril Lavigne, the then four-piece

found themselves approaching the end of an era. Although the album resulted in their longest but most fruitful tour, it came at a cost.

By the end, drummer and founding member Steve Jocz had left the band and Deryck found himself in a crippled state due to alcoholism, not helped by three solid years on the road.

This is where ’13 Voices’ comes in. Written during his recovery period - a long and arduous process over two years it’s almost chronological in its delivery. From opener ‘(A Murder of

RIOT Crows) You’re All Dead To Me’ to finale ‘Twisted By Design’, it’s one of Sum 41’s heaviest efforts both lyrically and musically, though it’s in the title itself where the context for the album lies.

Revealing where ’13 Voices’ originates, Deryck explains: “It represents my mind state while making this record, because during the whole recovery I’m doing everything for the first time sober, and there’s also all this uncertainty of if I was ever going to actually recover.

“There was just so much noise in my head, so many voices and all this chaos.

It just felt like there were thirteen voices constantly screaming in my head every second I was awake, and even while I was asleep my dreams were nightmares.” He pauses, before continuing. “I actually thought at one point I was going crazy, and when you see crazy people on the street yelling at nobody, I thought I was headed towards that. I was worried for myself.

I just realised that it was my own insecurities, my doubt and feeling emotion and fear for the first time in your life, and not knowing what all that stuff meant. All these questions, everything was just swirling around in my head, it felt like there were thirteen voices screaming all the time. That became my working title and it just carried through.”

One such tale from ’13 Voices’, and a particular pivotal moment for Deryck, is first single ‘War’. “That was probably the most important song for me, because it was right at a time where I was at tipping point in my recovery, and I could’ve easily just fallen off and gone back,” he recalls. “The progress seemed like it was non-existent. I was just not getting any better, I couldn’t walk, it was a year into recovery, doctors didn’t even know if I was going to be able to be normal again. It was a wait-and-see type situation, and I almost gave up. Instead of giving up I wrote these lyrics for the song, about fighting and knowing what you want and pushing harder and blah blah blah, all that positive stuff. Once I had the song, I was like I have to live up to this, it’s a song. It would be kind of stupid if I have all these lyrics and I’m just going to backwards, I’m going to have to live up to my own word. So, it kept me pushing forward.”

The album’s been complete for a while, providing a much needed break in which Deryck was able to come to terms with what he had created. “I just listened to it the other day,” he says, 6 upsetmagazine.com

“for the first time almost this whole year actually. [Before] when I did have to listen I’d be objective, take myself out of it and just look at it, because I’m also the producer - I had to take my writer side out and try to look at it from a listener’s perspective. I had some time away from it, and it got to the mixing stage, where I was working on it every day, just working on it, working on it - and finally mixed it. Then we went out on tour immediately and we’ve been on the road this whole time, and I haven’t had a chance to listen to it - I didn’t even know if I really liked it. I was like, ‘I hope it’s good’. But all I know is it’s the best it’s going to be, so I handed it in and now I listen to it and it’s not as bad as I thought it was. I was actually way more happy with it the other day than I was when I first finished it.”

With the future here for Sum 41, his demons have been vanquished - which is something Deryck won’t soon be forgetting. “The whole recovery took about two years and it’s still so fresh that I’m sort of reminded of it all the time. The whole experience was so bad and so rough that I hope it stays with me, because I never want to go back there.” They’ve also found a new, healthier foothold in the presence of Hopeless Records, and Deryck isn’t one to ignore the success that’s been granted to them. “I feel pretty confident,” he laughs. “I just write music, and kind of hope for the best all I know is everything seems to work out. I don’t ask too many questions I just try to enjoy the ride.” P Sum 41’s album ’13 Voices’ is out now.

IT’S ‘OKAY.’, THERE’S A NEW ALBUM FROM AS IT IS Brighton’s As It Is will release second album ‘okay.’ on 20th January. “These are by far the most personal and honest songs we’ve ever written,” says vocalist Patty Walters.

TALL SHIPS DEBUT ‘MEDITATIONS ON LOSS’ VIDEO Featuring a bloke doing a lot of running, the track is taken from the band’s forthcomingbut-not-actually-anouncedyet second album. Watch now on upsetmagazine.com.

DEAF HAVANA MAKE PLANS FOR 2017 Deaf Havana will follow the release of their new album with a headline tour that kicks off on 17th February.

“I’m literally itching to get out on the road,” says frontman James Veck-Gilodi.

THE STUNNING NEW ALBUM

THE SERENITY OF SUFFERING IN STORES 21 OCTOBER INCLUDES THE TRACKS ‘ROTTING IN VAIN’, ‘INSANE’ & ‘A DIFFERENT WORLD’ (FEATURING COREY TAYLOR) CD • CD DELUXE • DIGITAL • DIGITAL DELUXE • LP DELUXE EDITIONS FEATURE TWO BONUS TRACKS

LIVE IN THE UK WITH LIMP BIZKIT 12 DEC - MANCHESTER ARENA • 14 DEC - SSE HYDRO, GLASGOW 15 DEC - BARCLAYCARD ARENA, BIRMINGHAM • 16 DEC - SSE ARENA, WEMBLEY, LONDON 18 DEC - MOTORPOINT ARENA, CARDIFF • 19 DEC - MOTORPOINT ARENA, NOTTINGHAM

KORN.COM

ROADRUNNERRECORDS.CO.UK

F RIOT

or a year and a bit, You Me At Six went pretty much AWOL - then at the end of summer, they suddenly announced a huge but intimate UK tour, along with a new album, new single and video, and a not-so-secret Reading & Leeds set.

“We had a lot of stuff to say, so we just thought we’d say it,” explains vocalist Josh Franceschi frankly. “Obviously for us, we’d been away for a year or so, and we didn’t want there to be any distractions or any unnecessary noise, which is why we took ourselves away and focused on what we were doing. We wanted to make sure that the fans knew that this is us coming back with a new record, not just a song or a few tour dates. We wanted them to know that everything was happening at the same time, and give them the

news they had been waiting for.”

New single and title track ‘Night People’, received a reaction that the band haven’t really experienced since the experimentation with post-hardcore on their third album ‘Sinners Never Sleep’.

But that was five years ago now, and the direction they have taken with their new single, retains a pure garage rock sound they’ve never even inched close to before. “When we were making ‘Night People’, we were really being inspired by an older generation of rock music like Led Zeppelin and bands of that ilk, period and sound. If I listed every single band that quite obviously remade the ‘Room To Breathe’ [from 2014’s ‘Cavalier Youth’] video in the last 18 months, I could be here for half an hour. We don’t look at that as other bands ripping us off, we look at is as inspiring bands to do something. We love the pace of the White Stripes video [‘Seven Nation Army’], I’d

be lying if I said if that wasn’t one of our reference points when we were coming up with the idea, but ‘Night People’ has a similar sort of pulsing beat throughout the whole song, like the same sort of tempo. We didn’t all want to be in the same shot at the same time, it was a way of bring in and out of focus different band members at different times. We’ve been influenced by bands from the 70s and 80s, and that was the stuff that inspired the effects you see in the music video; a more psychedelic, trippy side to it.”

Despite heading out on tour in October, ‘Night People’ isn’t out until January next year, and with the lead single being clearly different from previous material, fans have been chewing the fat as to whether or not the other tracks on the album will follow suit. “It’s one of those classic cases where I’d have to let the listener of the record sort of decide what they make of it as a whole, I mean our only aim on this record, like it’s always

TONIGHT’S THE . . .

E L P O E NIGHT, P MAKING H O LOV E A BAND W SIX ARE AT LOV E E D M N YO U G LIVE, A E P L AY I N S I C, LOV THY G N E L ROCK MU A TER FA N S . A F ING WITH BAC K .

M E H C O N N ECT T E AV O O D TO H AY , I T ’ S G S T I N T AW SA. EN DHIND E L S A J : WORDS

been over the duration of our career, is just to make the best record we could at that moment in time, and I feel like we’ve always given quite a broad sort of mixture of sounds on our records. We can do the bigger, riff-rock stuff, and we can also do the slow mid-tempo ballads quite well, so we continued to try and develop and grow as a band, and it would be difficult to say whether ‘Night People’ is indicative of how the rest of the record sounds, but there’s this one pretty obvious theme in the record: it’s just a rock band sounding like a rock band. As sort of blasé as that may sound, that was our intention - to make a great rock record. We’ll see what people think of it, I’m sure they will be pleasantly surprised.”

Not only has there been talk of what to expect from the rest of the record, the UK tour You Me At Six are embarking on is noticeably different from the arenas they are used to playing now, with seventeen dates all at small venues in places the band have either never been to, or haven’t been to in a while. “For us, it was really about doing something for the fans to be honest. We wanted to play small rock clubs and academy sized venue, just so we could go back and in to playing our songs, and we’re only taking out one band because we want to play for a long-ish set. We’re going to places we’ve never been before, like Folkestone, Swansea, Cambridge… we haven’t been to Inverness in almost ten years It’s for the fans that have been waiting around patiently letting us do our thing in our own time, and we thought, well, what better way to come back and be up close and personal in people’s faces? Playing new songs, playing old songs, I’m looking forward to it as well because the last UK tour we did was like five shows. [This time] we really wanted to do as many

as possible, reach as many parts of the UK as possible, and I think that’s what we used to enjoy, when we’d go on a tour and it’d be a three week tour around the UK, and that’s why we ended up doing seventeen on this one. I’m sure it’s going to be great to go back to some of these venues we haven’t been to in a long time, like a lot of them we have very special memories and close relationships with, so it’s going to be a good tour.”

“You have to go into every record believing you’re making the best record you can possibly make,” Josh concludes.

“At the time of ‘Cavalier Youth’, I thought it was our best record, and looking back on it now, I still have a lot of love for it, but there’s lots of things I felt we missed out on, and things that we know that we like about ourselves and that our fans like. Whereas with this record, we didn’t worry about what the expectations would be, or what people wanted to hear, we just made what we wanted to hear because that’s what’s made us most successful in the past. I think it is our best record, we tried to sort of develop and move forward in our sound, and also maintain what people like about our band. There’s some big moments in the record, and I think it’s nice because we did a lot of moving around with people in our team, and we only want to work with people that really love this band as much as we do, who want to take it and understand what we want to try and do with it. It’s going to be nice to be back out there, and as much as we’ve enjoyed the time off, it’s just been nice, we’ve all bought houses and took certain steps in our personal lives we wanted to take, it’s just part of growing up that we wanted to do without the pressures that come with being in a band. Taking time with this record, I can only say contributed to this being one of the best, if not, our best record. Time will tell how it filters through the fanbase.” P

“I THINK IT IS OUR BEST RECORD.”

You Me At Six’s album ‘Night People’ will be released on 13th January 2017.

TAKING BACK SUNDAY AND FRANK IERO TEAM UP With one of the best bills of 2017 so far, Taking Back Sunday and Frank Iero’s tour kicks off on 11th February, and includes a stop at The Forum in London.

WEEZER ALBUMS TO GET REISSUES Weezer first six albums are about to be reissued on 12” vinyl, including 1994’s The Blue Album, 1996’s ‘Pinkerton’, 2001’s The Green Album, and 2002’s ‘Maladroit’.

MUNCIE GIRLS RAISE MONEY FOR EXETER CAVERN The band have released a demo of ‘Five Miles’ to help out the Cavern venue in Exeter, which recently had a fire. Buy it at munciegirls. bandcamp.com.

GHOST’S AMAZING NEW EP HAS LANDED ‘Popestar’ dropped by surprise, and features not only new track ‘Square Hammer’, but covers of songs

by Echo And The Bunnymen, Simian Mobile Disco, Eurythmics and Imperiet.

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RIOT YOU BLEW IT ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM Titled ‘Abendrot’, the fulllength is set to drop via Big Scary Monsters on 11th November. Check out first taster ‘Autotheology’ now on upsetmagazine.com.

NO SMOKE WITHOUT FIRE

FANGCLUB HAVE AN EP ON THE WAY ‘Coma Happy’ will land on 11th November to coincide with the band’s upcoming support tour with recent Upset cover stars, Twin Atlantic.

M E M P H I S M AY F I R E R E L E A S E T H E I R F O U R T H F U L L - L E N G T H , ‘ T H I S L I G H T I H O L D ’ L AT E R T H I S M O N T H . F R O N T M A N M AT T Y M U L L I N S ( W H O ’ S A L S O J U S T F I N I S H I N G U P H I S SECOND SOLO ALBUM, FYI) FILLS US IN.

So you’ve a new album on the way when did you start working on ‘This Light I Hold’? Did you know how you wanted it to sound from the off?

We started working on the record over a year ago. We spent a couple months at home writing for it and by the time we hit the studio we knew exactly what we were after.

You’ve said it’s a “giant step forward” in what way?

We spent a lot of time on every aspect of the record and also added a new producer [Matt Good] into the mix which really brought a fresh perspective to the table. The album is definitely one we’ll be proud of forever.

Did you learn anything about yourselves during the recording process?

We always learn a lot during the recording process. It’s important to hold yourself to a higher standard than previous albums and push yourself to become a better artist in the process.

Are there any themes that run across the album?

There’s no specific theme that’s mentioned in every song, but I’ve been learning that it’s okay to not be okay

10 upsetmagazine.com

sometimes and how important it is to be honest about that with yourself and with others. So I wrote from that perspective quite a bit.

What were your main sources of inspiration during its creation?

The inspiration was to make the best MMF record yet and we absolutely accomplished that.

Are there any tracks on the release that particularly mean a lot to you?

They’re all special to me for different reasons but ‘Carry On’ is a very bold and vulnerable statement and I’m proud of that.

You’re about to set off on the Rise Up tour with your label mates The Devil Wears Prada - are you looking forward to it?

We are SO stoked about that tour. The whole line up is stacked with friends of ours and it will be a very special experience for anyone that attends.

Finally - what are you most excited about right now?

I’m most excited to be breathing and living another day. P Memphis May Fire’s album ‘This Light I Hold’ is out 28th October.

WSTR LINE UP DEBUT FULLLENGTH ‘Red, Green or Inbetween’ is due on 20th January. “[It’s] mainly a break up album,” explains vocalist Sammy Clifford. “The title is based on being stuck in limbo.”

WOLF ALICE ARE GOING TO BE IN A FILM Titled On The Road and due later this year, it was filmed with director Michael Winterbottom while the band were on tour in the UK and Ireland.

THE WONDER YEARS AND PUP ARE PAYING A VISIT The two bands have teamed up with Tiny Moving Parts too, for a UK tour that’s scheduled for January and February 2017.

PINEGRO

VE’S DEB UT ALBU M IS AN A DV E N T U R E T H AT ’ S O N LY J UST BEGINNIN G. WORDS: J ESS I CA GOODMA N.

“WE’RE HAVING

A GREAT TIME.”

T

“

he image in the songs is of a cardinal landing in the dogwood tree in my back yard,” Evan Stephens Hall depicts. “I’m looking at it right now – there are no birds in it currently. It’s always a lucky sight when there are.” Speaking at his home in Montclair, New Jersey, ahead of Pinegrove’s first UK tour, the frontman is as eager as he is animated.

“It’s kind of exciting to see natural iterations of the colour red,” he elaborates. “They’re rare, and surprisingly aestheticised for something that occurs naturally. That’s always been a symbol to me of the aesthetic potential of the universe.”

It’s the ability to find and convey wide-eyed wonder within the innately familiar that makes Pinegrove such an extraordinary band. Debut album ‘Cardinal’ – released in the US in February and the UK in July – is a roaming venture along well-known streets and deep-rooted thought.

Heartfelt emotion, intricately woven as it is, becomes laid bare – ready and

waiting for anyone who chooses to delve in to it.

“It says things that I struggle to say in just language,” Evan carefully portrays of his songwriting. “There’s a James Joyce quote: ‘In the particular is contained the universal’,” he recites.

“The more specific you can be to your own truth, the more likely someone else is to relate to it.” Through refined language and carefully considered lyrics, it’s the records open-hearted nature that resounds the most ardently. “This is the mechanism I have for dealing with intense things,” he states. “Maybe that’s all I’ll say on that.”

Talking in the middle of their UK tour, the frontman is in high spirits.

“I’m thinking of one of my favourite authors, George Saunders,” he alludes.

“He said that part of the reason he writes is so that he can send a piece of himself out first, so that he can make a good impression before he gets there.

It’s a little bit like that for me too.”

Performing a sold out show – one of many on this tour – thousands of miles from home, in front of a crowd singing along to the lyrics so loud

it nearly drowns out the band on stage, the impact Pinegrove have created means as much to the band as the people who have paid to be a part of this moment. “It’s important for us to express vulnerability and to be honest,” Evan tells their audience, heralding the openness and sentimentality that’s drawn everyone together.

It’s taken a long time for Pinegrove to get here. Having been on the road almost consistently since March, the band are, admittedly, exhausted. But faced with an audience singing their own words back at them, all of that melts away. “This is what I want to do,” Evan states, with no shortage of conviction.

With tours already announced to carry the group through until December, and the promise of “another tour” across the UK in February, this is a dream the band don’t have to wake up from.

Spinning along the pavement postconcert, lost in the adulation of the occasion, Pinegrove are celebrating every moment they can. P Pinegrove’s album ‘Cardinal’ is out now.

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RIOT

HARDCORE KORN KO RN M AY B E O N TO T H E I R T W E L F T H REC O RD, BU T FO R T H I S O N E T H EY STA RT E D F RO M

SC R ATC H , S E E I N G T H E M RET U RN AS A BA N D

T

‘

he Serenity of Suffering’ is not like Korn’s recent electronica endeavours, but that doesn’t mean it is a complete return to their classic, relentlessly heavy and creepy sound.

“I don’t feel like musically it was a struggle, although we were kind of hard on ourselves with writing material because we wanted it to be great,” guitarist James ‘Munky’ Shaffer reflects on the initial process that would manifest into material for the band’s twelfth album, something that frontman

RE N E W E D. WO RDS : JAS L E E N D H I N DSA .

Jonathan Davies struggled with.

“We wanted to make sure that we were delivering him great songs that were going to excite him and get him creatively moving in the same

“IT’S A RECORD FOR THE FANS.”

direction we were. I think it was kind of a challenging to get him in that creative place, and make him excited, and I think it could have been a combination of things. He was very much into electronic music, [so] it was kind of challenging to get him to see our vision that we wanted to make a heavy guitar-driven album. We wanted the songs to be great, and we wanted it to have a sense of melody, and get him engaged. We weren’t in a rush to start delivering unfinished songs, but there were some challenges.”

“We have had some struggles in the past coming up with new material,”

he continues. “We can always go back to our default, which is just making a heavy album and then kind of wiping our hands clean and walking away, because we’re good at it, we know the formula. But we’re always trying to up the game for ourselves when it comes to writing creatively, which presents challenges for any writer when you’re trying to basically write sequels to a story that’s already been told.”

‘The Serenity of Suffering’, though bringing Korn into a fresh direction, has obvious connections with the band’s pre-electronica days because of the return to the heaviness that’s been missing with the band’s recent releases.

“A lot of that has to do with [producer] Nick Raskulinecz. Nick kind of pushed us in a way, he said: ‘Hey, what happened to the songs? What happened to the band that I fell in love with?’ He wanted to hear these elements that were missing, and I think he was sort of the voice of the fans. He gave the fans a voice in the writing process. Once Roadrunner Records got involved, it was even more of a push to make it heavier.

They have some of the heaviest bands in the world on their label, even the president said ‘you will never be too heavy for us’, which is amazing to hear from a record executive, it’s a refreshing thing to hear. So it is in a sense a nostalgia record, even though the songs are still very fresh.

It’s hard not to see the personal endeavours that were met with ‘The Serenity of Suffering’, but this makes the record ever more one to resonate on new levels with the fans. “I think for Jonathan it was personal, lyrically it was something he needed to personally get out. For Brian and I, and the rest of the band, it was definitely a record that we hoped the fans enjoyed. We want to lose energy when we play these songs live; you don’t want to be out there having to fake it. With Nick in the room pushing us, and the energy level high on each song, [we] just imagine us in a live situation, which includes the fans so I would say it’s a record for the fans.”

“A lot of us push each other to go out of our comfort zone,” he continues, on how Korn find new inspirations this far on in the band’s career, “because we could all have different influences, and sometimes we want to try and persuade each other in a direction that the others aren’t so comfortable with.

“But after being a band for so long, you compromise - you want everybody to be happy, you don’t want anyone to be

bummed out. Initially, the first ideas that come into the amps or drums can not be great, but once there’s vocals and bass and it’s mixed, it’s like, ‘Wow!’ A lot of the ideas we think are terrible, always turn out to be our favourites because it feels so new and fresh. There was one song on the album Brian and I were thinking, ‘Jonathan is never going to go for this…’, and he listened to it and he didn’t like it, he even pulled me aside and said ‘Can you just get rid of that song?’ and I was like, ‘Well, yeah - are there parts that you don’t like about it? Maybe we can change the tempo?’ You know, I’m trying to offer compromise.”

Compromises aren’t the only thing that the band have to face, the new breed of metal bands that are all seeming to explore a plethora of other genre influences also add a slight edge into the writing process. “I love what’s going on in metal [currently]. I’m just trying to stay up on it. We might be the old guys, but we still pay attention to what’s going on. You have to, especially in this industry - you have to know what’s going on in your genre.

“You have to be really smart and know what you’re doing these days, because if you want to make music and make a living at it, you can’t be a fuck up - you have to have your shit together, you have to have a focus. The band has to have their shit together, everybody has to pull together to make that happen. I think people that really want to do this, have to have a real focus. Musically I see things reoccurring, history always repeats itself and art always repeats itself - art inspires art, [there are] circular patterns to song writing. Like Avenged Sevenfold sounds like old Metallica, it sounds familiar.”

Yet there is still a band to be compared to Korn in the same way, because of the innovative approach to their songwriting, and always being the first band in the metal giants’ scene to reach uncharted territory - which after the dubstep era, is almost seemingly impossible to repeat. But somehow, ‘The Serenity of Suffering’ has achieved this after the struggles faced. The energy of the much-loved heaviness is back, with Jonathan’s signature nonsense vocals making a long-awaited appearance, too. Despite art repeating itself and the patterns in songwriting - the band have never felt fresher than today. P Korn’s album ‘The Serenity Of Suffering’ is out 21st October.

PANIC! GET UP TO STRANGER THINGS Panic! At The Disco have shared a creepy new video for ‘LA Devotee’, and it stars Noah Schnapp, aka Will Byers from Stranger Things – have a gander on upsetmagazine.com.

FALL OUT BOY TO RELEASE NEW LIVE DVD ‘The Boys of Zummer Tour: Live in Chicago’ was shot (unsurprisingly) at the Chicago date on FOB’s Boys of Zummer Tour. It’s out on 21st October, and follows their recent ‘Bloom’ project.

CHRISTIAN FITNESS SHARE ‘YOUR FAVOURITE BAND WANTS YOU DEAD’ The ‘not a solo project’ of Future of The Left‘s Falco has released a new song - check it out on upsetmagazine.com.

BLACK PEAKS PLAN BIGGEST HEADLINE SHOW TO DATE Following their co-headline tour with Heck, Black Peaks will perform at Concorde 2 in Brighton on 10th December, with support from Krokodil, Bossk and Press To Meco.

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RIOT A RO C K A L BU M I N F LU E N C E D BY S I M O N E D E B E A U VO I R ? W H Y N O T. O N THEIR NEW ALBUM, THE DEVIL WEARS P R A D A’ S M I K E H R A N I C A E X P L O R E S H I S L O V E O F L I T E R AT U R E .

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

CRAFT WORK transition

noun 1.the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another.

T

his is the road on which The Devil Wears Prada sits. Eyes ahead.

Band evolving. Always.

The process has been accelerated since 2013’s ‘8:18’, their own appetite to evolve teamed with the departure of drummer Daniel Williams and guitarist Chris Rubey. No reasons offered, just amicable statements aplenty. It’s enough to throw some off track, but not them.

Forward they continue, with the theme of transition at the core. “It feels fluid to me,” says vocalist Mike Hranica, on these shifts in the band. “It feels quite natural. I think that as we have gotten older and gone from being 16 years old to 27 years old, there’s been so many changes and we have always done our best to adapt.”

The Devil Wears Prada are a band who have barely considered even

14 upsetmagazine.com

“I TRY TO CRAFT THINGS WITH DEPTH.” tapping the brakes, whether it’s the EPs between albums, or the way in which they zone directly into topics to handle. ‘Transit Blues’ is a triage of transition, separation and mourning, the inevitable process of growth and change as people move, drift and settle in a new part, or place, of life.

They locked themselves away, living and working together fully for the first time. “This is the first we have Kyle [Sipress, lead guitar] full on actual being in the band on guitar,” explains Mike. “He demoed so many songs, and then we spent two-three weeks out in the middle of Wisconsin on a farm.

“Then it was sort of the same thing early this year in Michigan, we were in a vacation home where we set up all the gear. The goal was to write without any guideline or restriction, no travelling between our place of stay

and our actual band space. So, we had the freedom and liberty to be able to write with confidence.”

The writing skirted closer to Mike’s own preferences than usual. Their ‘Zombie’ and ‘Space’ EPs were clear in their theme, but both could be held at an arm’s length. They were never his ‘thing’. For him, the distance gave them more to toy around with, but here it felt natural to delve into his own interest: literature.

A dip into Mike’s library has given classics such as Lolita a fresh and ferocious new life in their album and sparks a real, and surprising, delight for someone who said he never would – even mentioning literature is met with more fan-like enthusiasm than most other topics of influence.

“I mean I could go on about songs forever,” he laughs. “I try to craft things with depth and much intention as to what each song is and each song’s identity. I feel like it’s an important part of my growth.” P The Devil Wears Prada’s album ‘Transit Blues’ is out now.

N E W

O U T

A L B U M

N O W

F E A T U R I N G T H E S I N G L E S ‘C A R S I C K’ A N D ‘L O W L I G H T’ dayshellband.com

spinefarmrecords.com

P A I N. J O Y . E C S T A S Y . D E S P A I R .

O U T

O C T

1 4

T H

GO TO SHVPES.COM TO PRE-ORDER THE A L B U M A N D E XC L U S I V E M E R C H B U N D L E S C A T C H S H V P E S O N T O U R T H I S O C T / N O V. T I C K E T S : L I V E N A T I O N . C O . U K

RIOT

SCARY MOVIES

W H AT I S H A L L O W E E N F O R , I F N O T S T U F F I N G Y O U R F A C E W I T H S W E E T S A N D P L A N T I N G YO U RS E L F I N F RO N T O F A F I L M S O S CA RY YO U ’ L L B E

A F R A I D T O S L E E P F O R W E E K S . S O M E O F O U R F AV E B A N D S R E C O M M E N D S O M E O F T H E I R F AV E H O R R O R F L I C K S .

“I absolutely adore horror films and I have so many faves that it’s difficult to whittle it down to just one. When pushed, I keep going back to The Orphanage. I love anything that Guillermo Del Torro’s involved in.

This film is spooky and heartbreaking in equal measure. Outstanding film making. Aside from that, I worship most Rob Zombie films” - Mo, Lonely the Brave

recently. But I’d say are definitely worth a watch.”

- Matt, ROAM

“The Babadook - Luke and I watched this movie on an overnight drive to Adelaide which is creepy enough.”

- Inigo, With Confidence

“There’s quite a few, but the one that’s creeped me out the most in the past few years is Insidious. I’m a lot more freaked out by my own imagination when it comes to horror films, the Paranormal Activity/ Unseen forces sort of vibe where you never actually see what’s trying to eat you it was get me…

Insidious played on that for a lot of the film, but when they actually personify that devilish character towards the end it gives me the willies just as much. It’s quite rare for a hour film to pull that off and have the same effect.” - Griffin, SHVPES

“I’m actually a bit of a wimp when it comes to horror films, so please don’t judge me. I know there’s better horror films out there. It would probably have to be some old classic that doesn’t majorly freak me out, like the Shining or like Jaws used to be classed as slightly horror so I’ll go with that. But recently I really enjoyed The Babadook and also Goodnight Mommy. Both really creepy films that are fresh in my mind because I watched them fairly

“Scream. I was fascinated with it when I was 12. It has equal amounts of shocks and jumps as it does self aware black humour. It rejuvenated the slasher genre, and it still holds up well and is borrowed from today.”

- Rob Lynch

“The Texas Chainsaw Massacre parts

Go go Pow er Rob from

Don Broco!

1 & 2. Those have been my favourite films since I was a kid and still are to this day. It was scary, but also funny to me, and that’s kind of how I explain my music to people, it’s scary and fun.”

- Wednesday 13 “Probably Insidious, the first one. Idk there was just something about that red demon that made my hair stand up and feel scared even at the age I am now, haha.”

- Shayley, Dayshell “Scream. It was one of the first horror flicks that creeped me out yet made me want to see more!”

- Ant, Black Foxxes “Wes Craven’s New Nightmare. I haven’t seen it since I was kid but just remember it totally freaking me out - the fact that the actors were playing themselves and acknowledging the Nightmare On Elm Street franchise but that Freddy Krueger could break through to the real world and hunt down the filmmakers and actors. It was the first time I’d experienced that blend of fiction and reality (apart from maybe in Arnie’s Last Action Hero) and in that horror movie context found it totally mental.”

- Rob, Don Broco “I’m going to say Gremlins because people say it’s a horror/comedy and it’s one of my favourite movies of all time.”

- Steph, Greywind

Look, ROAM. We won’t ask, you don’t tell, OK? 18 upsetmagazine.com

“A Nightmare On Elm Street. When I was around 11 I entered a video store sweepstakes for ANOES4 and ended up winning the grand prize which was

a trip to Hollywood to be in the film as an extra, and a huge prize bag. Because I was so young, my mother wouldn’t let me go but since that I have been totally obsessed with the film franchise and have been a serious collector to this day.” - Garett, The Color Morale “The Woman In Black because Daniel Radcliffe is in it and it reminds me of Harry Potter… I love Harry P.” - Dean, Muncie Girls “The Fly. It’s also just one of my favourite movies of all time. I remember watching it with my mom when i was very little. But I have watched it many times since. I dunno if its “horror” exactly. It’s like weird sci-fi horror or something? But its so amazing! Even as Jeff Goldblum is morphing into a horrible monster, he’s still so charming. He calls himself “brundlefly” its just so cute! But the story is so tragic and heartbreaking. It’s really a love story.

A horrible fucked up love story. But then again, aren’t they all?”

- Lelah, Tacocat “It might be a cop out, but Shaun of the Dead is the best. Comedy is the most important cultural invention of all time and everything is improved by it. 28 Days Later is bae af but throw a couple of goddamn zingers in there!”

- Andrew, Field Mouse “Probably Carrie. It’s perfect.”

- Rachel, Field Mouse “My favourite horror film is absolutely the original Halloween. Michael Myers was always the thrasher that scared the fuck out of me the most, and even still to this day I get the creeps watching any of those films. I watched the documentary on how it was made and I loved the DIY work ethic that John Carpenter had. He made a legendary

Blimey, Miley looks a lot like Rob Lynch these days...

film, score and character pretty much out of nothing. That’s amazing to me.”

- Motionless In White “I Saw The Devil. I would be hard-pressed to call it a true horror film, because it doesn’t aim for real scares. But it’s film that I found truly frightening and shocking upon first watch, and continues to unnerve and disturb me on the many many repeated watches that I’ve given it. It’s the story of a police officer seeking revenge against a serial killer.

Choi Min-Sik’s depiction of the killer and his complete lack of morality, is profoundly disturbing.

And it also features some pretty graphic violence. No jump scares involved here, but it will certainly leave you shaken upon completion. Highly recommended.”

- Dave, The Dirty Nil “The first Saw blew my head off!

Bear in mind I was like 14 and at the time for me it had it all:

Remember, bands. include a photo of a dog, like Steph from Greywind has here for definite coverage.

Twists, gore and lots of intense atmospheric moments. Probably a pretty lame one but don’t judge.”

- Sammy, WSTR “The original and the remakes of The Evil Dead are probably my favourites. There’s also a great remake TV series called Ash Vs. The Evil Dead which is really funny and super violent.”

- Alex, Columbus

ABOUT

THE BEST

B R EAK

TH E H OT TEST

TO

NEW BANDS NEW MUSIC

KAMIKAZE GIRLS I T ’ S O K AY T O B E S A D .

W O R D S : S A M T AY L O R .

L

eeds/London duo Kamikaze Girls bleed DIY. It’s in their veins. From self-booked tours, to negotiating record deals, to their lo-fi slacker punk - nothing happens that isn’t entirely down to vocalist and guitarist Lucinda Livingstone and drummer Conor Dawson.

“We got to a point in our old band where we weren’t getting a huge amount of enjoyment from the music we were playing,” starts Conor. The duo have played together before, but it’s with their latest project that things are really taking off, picking up fans as far flung as Paramore’s Hayley Williams.

“It wasn’t what we were listening to and it wasn’t what we wanted to play.

Kamikaze Girls grew out of the ashes of that.”

The struggles they’ve faced to get to this point are key to their debut EP, ‘Sad’.

It’s a release born from dealing with mental health, and it tackles difficult topics unashamedly. Opener ‘Hexes’ is about psychosis and figuring out what’s real, ‘Stitches’ considers anxiety towards settling down, ’Black Coffee’ touches on addiction, and ’I Hate Funerals’ is, well, pretty self-explanatory. Then there’s ‘Ladyfuzz’, about being rescued from an overdose by a super hero alter ego. “’Sad’ is written about the last two years of my life,” explains Lucinda.

“I struggled with a lot of mental health issues. When I was at my worst Kamikaze Girls started, and I guess I ended up using all of that bad energy and issues I was struggling with and channelled it into our music.

“One of the main things I was struggling with was Post Traumatic Stress Disorder throughout that time, so I wasn’t leaving the house often apart from to go to work or to jam with Conor. I’d never quite used music in that way to push myself through something.

“I was getting medical help for this stuff, but having an outlet to vent to really helped. We weren’t originally going to call it ‘Sad’, but I guess there just wasn’t any other way to sum it up.”

“After twelve years of playing in bands I finally found some confidence to speak about all of the awkward things no one acknowledged when I was growing

“IF WE CAN HELP RAISE AWARENESS, THEN WE WILL.”

up and playing shows in the UK,” she continues. “There’s so many bad attitudes towards women in creative industries, and there’s little awareness about getting support for mental health issues.

“These are two things that have affected me hugely and at the point we’re at now I’d rather point it out and talk about these things instead of sweep it under the carpet. It’s not all that the band is, but if we can help raise awareness about issues in our scene and in the places we live then we will.”

They’re currently part-way through a massive tour that has just seen them take on Europe and the UK, with the US next on their list. Dropping in on different cultures, and fans around the world not only helps them spread their supportive vibes, but it feeds into the pair’s music too. “I’m constantly on the move, even when I’m not touring,” laughs Lucinda. “Being able to see different things and meet different people is a big [inspiration]. I’ll write a lot about my personal experiences of different things in different places.”

“We’re playing next to the Werder Bremen football stadium [in Germany] tonight which we get to visit tomorrow before we move onto Kiel,” adds Conor.

“We got to play in an Anti-Fascist Ex World War II bunker in Aachen last night. Stuff like that will never not be amazing.”

“We’ve had one single online and an old three-track for the last year and to actually have a record to tour has been great so far,” continues Lucinda.

“We’re having people come up to us saying ‘Do you have records for sale?’ or ‘Where can I hear that song?’. I’m excited to not have to say, ‘Sorry we don’t have anything out yet’ every night!” P

PETROL GIRLS ANNOUNCE DEBUT ‘Talk of Violence’ is due on 18th November, and the band are previewing it with a new video for ‘Phallocentric’. Watch now on upsetmagazine.com.

VANT ARE OFF ON TOUR Vant are going to squeeze a tour of their own in between upcoming support slots with You Me At Six (October), and Nothing But Thieves (December). They kick off on 18th November in Bath.

CREEPER ARE DOING WEIRD THINGS ON THE INTERNET There’s been a “hack”, a hangman, a hunt around Southampton, some bloke called James Scythe... it’s all very strange.

FACT FILE

Band members: Lucinda, Conor Hometown: Leeds and London (UK) Formed: 2014 Did you know? Lucinda is one of the folk behind awesome creative collective Ladyfuzz. Find out more at ladyfuzz.co.uk.

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SHVPES B I R M I N G H A M U P S TA R T S SHVPES ARE RELEASING A D E B U T L I K E N OT H I N G YO U ’ V E

I

EVER HEARD BEFORE.

to so many shows just made me think ‘I’ve got to do this for a living’, there’s nothing like playing shows and sharing your music with people you’ve never met before.

W O R D S : S A M T AY L O R .

f you’ve attended a festival with rock acts playing this summer, chances are SHVPES were nearby - from rowdy staples Slam Dunk and Download, to new band showcase The Great Escape, they’ve popped up all over the place. The band’s onslaught continues with the release of debut album ‘Pain. Joy. Ecstasy. Despair.’ , and - as drummer Harry Jennings explains, taking a break from building a bar in his girlfriend’s back garden of all things - it’s a real move up for the fledgling band.

Hello Harry. What first inspired you to create music?

I was brought up in a very musical family. My parents were punks in the 1970s and always had an ear on new music coming through, my dad’s also a fan of all sorts of stuff, so funk and jazz were also played on the school run as well as punk and heavy metal. Going

“IT’S GOING TO BE SO MUCH FUN.”

And how did you get together with the other guys in SHVPES? We were called Cytota from 2009-2014; I formed the band with our old singer and my childhood friend Youssef [Ashraf, guitar]. Ryan [Hamilton, guitar] came along when we all started college then Griffin [Dickinson, vocals - son of Bruce Dickinson, no less] popped up when Joby [Fitzgerald, vocals] left us in

2014. Always been thankful to have met some great people who share the same goals as me.

What’s the new band scene like in Birmingham? Are there many opportunities for those just starting out?

The new band scene in Birmingham has always been really exciting. Always someone new to check out or old bands forming new ones. There are great venues here too with gigs going on a lot, and a lot of the bigger bands in the scene love supporting the ones starting out, which is what we are excited to be doing on our headline tour starting next month.

Would you say ‘Pain. Joy. Ecstasy.

Despair.’ a step up for SHVPES? Massively, it’s not like anything we’ve ever done or heard anyone do before, that’s why it took us so long to perfect it. So many influences from hip-hop and nu-metal have gone in there with our classic sound of hard rock, it’s a real mash up of sounds but every song has our brand on it. Again, we are so proud and have beaten our own expectations with what we’ve come up with.

You’re touring throughout October and November, what are you most looking forward to about it?

Going places we haven’t been before, or just re-visiting places that we have haven’t been in a very long time. Also connecting with new fans in smaller venues and getting to play pretty much the whole album bar a couple of songs.

It’s going to be so much fun we really can’t wait. P

PLUS GUESTS

NOVEMBER FRI 0 4 SOUTHAMPTON O2 GUILDHALL T SOLD OU S AT 0 5 LONDON TROXY T U O D L SO W E D 0 9 GLASGOW BARROWLAND T H U 1 0 MANCHESTER ACADEMY T SOLD OU S AT 1 9 BRISTOL O 2 ACADEMY S U N 2 0 BIRMINGHAM O 2 ACADEMY GIGSANDTOURS.COM TICKETMASTER.CO.UK

NEW ALBUM ‘INTEGRITY BLUES’ OUT 21 OCTOBER JIMMYEATWORLD.COM A METROPOLIS MUSIC, SJM CONCERTS & DF CONCERTS PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH X-RAY

23

d l co

Baby, it’s WOR

E AT DS: H

HER

MCD

A I D.

e d i s t u o

O F M I C E & M E N H AV E B E E N T H R O U G H A L O T T O G E T H E R E , BUT WITH THEIR NEW ALBUM ‘COLD WORLD’ A TRIUMPH A N D A U K R U N T H I S M O N T H , I T ’ S B E E N W O R T H T H E F I G H T.

“It’s hard enough to record an album healthy…” f Mice & Men are real. ‘Cold World’ has had a little time to seep into consciousness, unfurling its intricacies bit by bit with each listen - they’re only four albums in, but their sights are set, holding themselves to the highest account, and then looking for more.

They’re always fighting.

The year is in one sense almost over, but for the band, it’s just starting.

“At the beginning of the year I was doing a bunch of physical therapy and recovering from a couple of surgeries that I had,” explains frontman Austin Carlile. “We literally moved to an apartment in New Jersey for three and a half months, and kept doing my physical therapy and aqua therapy there, all while recording the record.”

After dotting all over, then having a few weeks to lay low, they topped off their summer opening for Slipknot and Marilyn Manson, playing to audiences who often hadn’t heard them before.

It was a challenge they thrived on. “It’s been a pretty busy year so far and we’re really just now getting into it,” he laughs.

26 upsetmagazine.com

But now they enter their newest, and arguably biggest, era.

‘Cold World’ pushes them into places they’ve yet to tread as a band, and does so with a confidence many could only hope to have. It’s a game-changing album, and in the midst of Austin’s battles with Marfan syndrome, the surgeries and recoveries that come with it, it’s even more of a triumph.

“It made it difficult,” he admits. “It’s hard enough to record an album healthy.

When you’re recording it feeling like I did, going through what I was going through, you know, I technically shouldn’t have even been there in the first place. But we had a time schedule, we had stuff to do and I didn’t want to hold up the band any more than I had.

We were actually scheduled to go into record before that and we pushed it back because I had to continue to heal I’m really grateful that the band stood by me for that. They stood by me through a lot when I was in the studio, and that was a big part of this record.

“A lot of this record is what it is because of that, whether it would have been that I was in pain or because I was gone that day or because I didn’t feel well, whatever it may have been - that’s why ‘Cold World’ is another chapter in Of

Mice & Men’s book, and we always leave room to do more, we’re always thinking about the next step.”

That next step for Of Mice & Men was letting multiple stories seep into the album as they toyed around in new styles. “We had to let each song tell the story itself,” says Austin. “They’re all about different things - it’s almost a concept album in a way. It’s the ‘Cold World’ - the imagery, talking about pain physically and mentally and emotionally and spiritually, that’s touched on in ‘Like a Ghost’ and in ‘Real’ and ‘The Hunger’ and stuff. There’s political issues, from the 1% to the wealthy Americans to the pharmaceutical companies like ‘The Lie’.

‘Transfigured’ is the inner battle that you deal with every day. ‘Away’ and ‘Down the Road’ is missing someone and trying to replace someone who you’ve lost before.

“You know, each song has its own purpose for the record and its own story.

It’s for the listener to take what they would or what they will from each song and personalise it to themselves.”

These stories, personal to political, are woven through Of Mice & Men old and new, newly fearless and familiar all at once. “When we were writing the record, a lot of it revolved around what I clicked with and what I vibed with the most,”

27

he notes. “The guys would come with demos and we’d write demos in the studio and write demos in the rehearsal space, but at the end of the day if I’m not inspired by the instruments alone to write something to it then we kind of have to scrap it.

“So the songs that we have were either creations by Aaron [Pauley, bass] that he had, or Tino [Arteaga, drums] coming to the table with some of the heavier songs like ‘Contagious’ and ‘Relentless’ and I was really shaping ‘The Lie’ which Alan [Ashby, guitar] kind of brought to the table. The songs ended up writing themselves - that’s what we really liked about this album, why the record sounds so different – we don’t want to write the same record twice. We don’t want to perform the same songs over and over again, you know, we want to be able to build musically and branch out and to pursue more of us as people and as musicians.”

All albums are exciting in their own way, but this one has caused almost Christmas Eve-like excitement on repeat.

“I couldn’t fall asleep last night because I was excited to wake up today and go to rehearsals,” he beams. “It’s like the first day of school, it’s really exciting when you get to play new music and practice and perform what you’ve spent so much time working on. The songs mean a lot to us, and a lot to me especially because of the stories that are behind them and it’s really cool for me to be able to see what our fans, our listeners, really take from the record.”

No matter how deep you delve into Of Mice & Men’s world, there’s no getting away from the greatest bond of all, inseparable. “Our fans,” he says simply.

“They’re our lifeline.” It’s something that shines clearly from the band in all that they do, but there’s no finer example than their video for ‘Real’, in which they simply asked people “What makes your real?” One question, many answers, a strong unifying bond of fandom that weaves into a hell of an uplifting video.

“We wouldn’t be able to tour without them,” continues Austin. “I wouldn’t be able to eat without them. I mean, just five years ago I was on food stamps and now because we have a fanbase and because of a band that I started back by myself in Ohio, seven, eight years ago, just to do it because I liked music… Now it’s become a job, it’s become a career.

Being a rock band, it’s not like it was in the 90s or the early 2000s, but I’m not on food stamps anymore and I’m not having to eat Jack in the Box all the time because I don’t have the money.

“And our fans have a lot to do with that.

You know our dream and our passion is to play music every day and to do that - it’s very possible to do that - but it makes it a lot easier when you have fans that care about you and your music. They mean a lot to us and we wanted to make them part of the video. They’re part of the story as it is and we really wanted to let their voices be heard on the song.

“It was really cool for us because the

first time we saw it all was on the video screen behind us when we went to go record it. We kept stopping during the video and looking at the screen and talking about the different fans, and we recognised some, we’d talk about the last time we saw them. We actually got to the point where the director was like ‘Alright, everybody turn around, we’re going to watch the whole video once and then not look at it again’.” He pauses to laugh at the constant stop-starting of the video in awe of the montage. “We love our fans, the stories that we get to make with them and the friendships and the relationships that we forged with them, they’re very strong. They’re very real and that’s exactly what that song is about to us, and that’s exactly what we wanted them to be a part of.”

It might be a little philosophical, but what, really, makes Of Mice & Men real?

He thinks for a moment. “Being able to still do this,” he replies. “To play every day and still love it. I see a lot of bands that don’t enjoy playing, that don’t enjoy doing what they do and everybody in Of Mice & Men loves being here, we love playing music and this is our lives.

“We’ve all given up some kind of personal sacrifice to be where we are today and to have the opportunity that we do today, and that weighs a lot on us because it’s what we love and we take this very, very seriously.

It’s such an honour for us to know that something that brings us so much joy and something that we do is a cathartic release for ourselves is…

“I’m finally okay with who I am today.”

28 upsetmagazine.com

2 5 Y E A R S O F. . .

“I make music for me, and I make music because I enjoy making music, so the fact that we have people that can relate to it, relate to my story, and grow and maybe even be inspired by those stories, it means a lot to us. We’re fans of music ourselves so we see ourselves in our fans and being able to do this every day is what keeps it real for us.”

Austin’s story is indeed one that inspires people, and it’s one that’s breaking down barriers in music. In the last few months, he spoke about the true scale of his struggles with Marfan syndrome, and the response has defied genre. People who have never even heard of the band before are hearing his story, amplifying his story and battles – he, in his late twenties, has the back of a 70-year-old, arthritis, chronic pain, he even suffered a collapsed lung at an American show earlier this year, but completed the set before getting it dealt with. Despite the endless troubles he faces through ill-health, Austin inspires through the dedication to his course in music, never straying, never even considering forgoing his dream.

“I really wanted to start being open about my situation and my disease and what’s going on with me,” explains Austin. “I think it’s my responsibility to bring awareness. My own mother passed away because of misinformation, and that’s something that I don’t want to see anyone go through, let alone one of our fans, let alone somebody who’s a part of our family. I think the more awareness I can bring to that, the more people I can share my story with, whether they’re dealing with the same thing or something different, or something not even physical at all - people are still in pain emotionally and spiritually and it doesn’t always have to be physical. It’s something that I really feel compelled to share my story and share what I’ve been through and where I’ve been and where I am now and how I got here.”

The latest instalment of sharing this story is the album in which the band really stamp their intent unlike ever before. On ‘Cold World’, Austin says, “I’m finally okay with who I am today,” and that about sums it up. It’s been a journey, but Of Mice & Men have made it. They’re doing what makes them feel alive, feel real, and with their fans in tow, a bond unbreakable, this is going to be one hell of an era to be a part of. P Of Mice & Men’s album ‘Cold World’ is out now.

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G E T T I N G A N Y C R E AT I V E E N D E AV O U R T O A Q U A R T E R C E N T U RY I S O N E H E L L O F A N AC H I E V E M E N T, B U T R I S E R E C O R D S S TA N D S O U T F R O M A S P A R S E LY P O P U L A T E D C R O W D .

A S T H E Y C E L E B R AT E T H E I R 2 5 T H B I R T H D AY , W E C A T C H U P WITH OF MICE & MEN’S LABEL BOSS CRAIG ERICSON, AND SOME OF THE ARTISTS WHO CA L L RI S E H O M E .

W H AT F I RST M A D E YO U WA N T TO G ET I N TO RE L E AS I N G REC O RDS ?

I grew up going to shows at Gilman street (legendary punk club in the bay area) in the early 90’s, this was a great time for music, bands like Green Day, Rancid, Jawbreaker, 7 Seconds we’re all bands that were playing shows regularly. I needed to be a part of the scene that I loved so much, and since my musicianship wasn’t where I wanted it to be at that time, it just made sense to go the label route.

CA N YO U RECA L L WO RK I N G O N YO U R F I RST RE L E AS E ?

It was a 7” release for the band

Up To Here. The band was an up and coming band in the scene and good friends of mine so I convinced them to let me release the record. I had to call united pressing myself and it was a lot of learning as I went, I was fortunate and had some friends who were running other labels, who were able to point me in the right direction for a lot of things, but there was something rewarding about seeing the process through, and helping them share their art with more people.

W H AT D O YO U G ET U P TO O N A T Y P I CA L WO RK DAY ?

The day is constant communication, phone

”Working with Rise, we knew exactly what we were getting into. We did our first two albums, ten, eleven years ago with Rise and we’ve been in touch with Craig Ericson for as long, and when he brought on Sean, we were familiar with Sean, as I recall correctly because of doing Warped Tour together and whatnot. It’s the familiarity that drew us in to be with Rise. I think it’s the fact that it’s a small operation.

In my own experience, working within the Warner Bros umbrella, which we did for quite a while, it sometimes feels like there’s too many hands on one thing; when something on a smaller scale is actually more conducive. As far as just having so many points of contact and having so many bosses above other bosses, that a lot of things seem to fall through the cracks.

That’s not me dogging on people I’ve worked with, but my observations with other friends’ bands, and music in general.

I think that’s something that Rise avoids and that being a smaller operation and being of, not limited staff because that sounds negative and I don’t mean it to be at all, but they’re just hands on and I think their staff size reflects that. ” - M I K E H R A N I CA , T H E D EV I L W E A RS P R A DA

calls, emails, texts. Communicating with artists, managers, agents, employees, our distribution network.

We’ve developed some very strong partnerships with agents, managers, publicists, and bands over the years and we work them daily to ensure the best for our bands. I also make sure that the DNA of the label stays the same, Rise Records is a culture.

D O YO U H AV E A N Y PA RT I C U L A R H I G H L I G H TS F RO M RI S E ’S 25 Y E A RS ?

I’ve been able to sign a lot of my favourite bands through the years, Hot Water Music, 7 Seconds are two examples of this, these are bands that didn’t just shape my musical taste, they shaped me as a person. In 2014 we had four Top 10 albums (on the Billboard Top 200), that was very rewarding. And recently signing a band like Five Finger Death Punch, they’re a modern era arena rock act, and to be able to work with them is a true gift.

MATTY MULLINS MEMPHIS MAY FIRE I T ’S RI S E REC O RDS ’ 25 T H A N N I V E RSA RY T H I S Y E A R - W H AT L E D TO YO U R SIGNING WITH THE LABEL? We signed with Rise halfway through the recording process of ‘The Hollow’ because we felt Rise was the best match for us and they understood what we wanted to accomplish as a band.

H OW H AV E YO U FO U N D YO U R T I M E WO RK I N G W I T H THEM? They’ve been great! We just recently re-signed with them for two more albums.

W H AT I S I T T H AT M A K ES T H E M S U C H A N I M P O RTA N T L A B E L , D O YO U THINK? Rise puts out records that they really believe in and they have some great people on staff. Shout out to Sean Heydorn!

”They’re great. I’ve been with two bands in my career and they’ve both signed to Rise Records. I knew Craig Ericson from Rise when I was 19 years old - it’s been ten years that we’ve known each other, and it’s just so cool to see any label grow from what they were to what they are now and how we’ve grown with them along the way. Sean Haydorn and our drummer Valentino practically grew up together, they used to be rock stars together, running around doing bad boy stuff and getting into trouble. We were always giving them a hard time about that, and Sean is now like the main guy at the label and he’s someone that Tino considers family. We also do too, so it’s really cool to be able to see where they’ve come as a label and where we’ve brought each other up. We’ve risen together through everything. It’s been a decade and we’re just getting started. There’s always progress. There’s always moves to make and steps to take. There’s always room to grow, and that’s something I really like being part of Rise Records, they’re on the same page with me for not settling and going for gold and for pushing the limits - they’re all for that, and they have a lot of faith in us. They support us a lot. We wouldn’t be where we are without them, and we’ve still got another record to put out with them too, so we’re gonna be here for a bit more! They put out all of our records. That’s a big deal. That’s a lot. From helping me financially over the years to helping me out at home, a place to sleep, aside from the fact that Craig Ericson still owes me a car – and you can quote me on that! – it’s great. We respect each other. We love Rise Records a lot.”

- AUST I N CA RL I L E , O F M I C E & M E N

W H AT D O YO U T H I N K I S T H E K EY TO T H E L A B E L’S P O P U L A RI T Y W I T H BOT H BA N DS A N D FA N S ?

When I was running this label back in 1991 and I was in high school, I just wanted to release records that I thought were great, The music was the most important factor. That simple premise hasn’t changed. We listen to the music, we don’t listen to message board talk, we don’t listen to industry buzz, we listen to the music, and if we think it will connect, we’ll do it. You have to trust your gut.

W H AT A RE T H E B I G G EST C H A L L E N G ES FAC I N G REC O RD L A B E LS TO DAY ?

The business is changing every day. The CD is going away, most new cars don’t have CD players, and Apple computers did away with CD drives a couple years ago. Streaming is a very real thing.

The challenge is not letting these things become roadblocks, you have to be in front of these things. Rise was one of the first label to put its entire catalogue on YouTube back in 2009.

Because we knew this was an inevitable thing. You have to be able to adapt, and adapt quickly. You always have to be thinking about what’s next.

T H E T Y P E O F BA N DS RI S E WO RKS W I T H S E E M S TO H AV E B ROA D E N E D OV E R T H E PAST F E W Y E A RS - H OW D O

YO U C H O OS E W H O TO S I G N ?

It all comes down to the songs and the music. As for the broadening of the roster our success has given us greater access to bands that used to out of our element. I would have loved to sign Hot Water Music back in 1994 But Rise wasn’t in a place to do that back then.

W H I C H O F YO U R S I G N I N G S F E LT L I K E T H E B I G G EST COUP? When we released the last Sleeping With Sirens it was the #3 album in country and we sold almost 60,000 copies in the first week. It was the bands 4th release with us, and it was a slow build to get it to that point. It was a nice reward to years of hard work and a great build.

W H AT ’S T H E M OST E XC I T I N G T H I N G YO U ’ RE C U RRE N T LY WO RK I N G O N ?

We have a lot of exciting things going on, from new releases from bands we’ve had really long relationships with (Dance Gavin Dance, The Devil Wears Prada, Of Mice & Men) as well as forthcoming releases from legacy acts such as Placebo.

I F YO U W E RE TO G I V E O N E T I P TO T H OS E WA N T I N G TO STA RT T H E I R OW N L A B E L , W H AT WO U L D I T B E ?

Be patient, be prepared to lose money, and trust your ears. P

Joyce Cuts J OYC E M A N O R H A D TO L E A R N A F E W N E W T R I C K S F O R A L B U M NUMBER FOUR.

WORDS: STEVEN LOFTIN.

U

“

p until now my process has just been to trust my gut. I’ve known when it’s right; there were some ideas that were really ‘no trust me on this’, where I was like ‘this feels wrong’.” Joyce Manor have been doing things alone for so long that they know no different. Everything has been self-sufficient, bar a little label help. So for their fourth full-length, ‘Cody’, they decided to get some help in.

Producer Rob Schnapf enabled the band to find their next step forward, building on the raw, relatable pop punk that has made Joyce Manor both a band’s band and one with a diehard fanbase, into this fully-formed, more approachable sound.

The album sessions saw frontman Barry Johnson entering a whole new territory within his craft. “It felt like I was ruining a song,” he says, “and then I’d spend time and get used to it and Rob was right. It was weird to go against your gut and have it be the right thing to do.” He excitedly talks about his favourite cut from the album; the introductory look into this new material, ‘Fake ID’. It’s a song which sums up the new Joyce Manor sound perfectly. “I love that song, I think it’s really infectious and really fun, but I could see people hating it… I fought [for it] to be different and I was wrong, really wrong. When I listen now to the demo version and the one we have it’s just no question, he was right.”

In addition to this richer sound, ‘Cody’ sees the worlds of pop punk and pop culture collide - in particular, where Barry sings: “What do you think about Kanye West? I think that he’s great / I think he’s the best / I think he’s better than John Steinbeck / I think he’s better than Phil Hartman.” “Usually when a melody pops into my head it comes with lyrics attached to it, and those were the lyrics that came with that melody,” he explains. “I was like, those can’t be the lyrics. And then the more I thought about it, those have to be the lyrics. It’s genius, but it’s just not. It’s gibberish, but in a good way. I’m really proud of it. It’s really antagonistic, there’s something I

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just like about it.” But what does Barry really think about Kanye West? “He’s an amazing producer. He has some great songs, but sometimes his lyrics make me cringe a little bit. But yeah, I’m a fan - I don’t think he’s the best, but I’m a fan.”

“It was weird to go against your gut and have it be the right thing to do.”

Proving ‘Cody’ to be the band’s most thoughtful work to date, there’s even a soft acoustic number referencing a friend’s choosing of addiction rather than help, ‘Do You Really Want To Not Get Better’. Discussing this brief departure from the fast-paced action around it, Barry offers: “We wrote that one a while ago and then didn’t really do anything it. We had this other fast pop punk song on the album, that kind of sounded like ‘Dude Ranch’ Blink-182, and by the time we were getting into the mixing stage we decided to not use the fast pop punk one, and to try recording the acoustic one. It was kind

of a nice way to maybe introduce a bit of seriousness, I don’t know, I just kind of liked the melody and Chase [Knobbe’s] guitar part. I like that it doesn’t go on and on, it’s just this brief little snippet to kind of break things up a little bit.”

Adding in songs that touch on the darker side of life was a tough choice. “I think it introduced a little bit of emotion weight, without over doing it and ruining the pacing of the album. I didn’t want to go too far in either direction where it’s too serious, but also I don’t want to be just a pop punk band. I love the genre and playing in that style of band, but you want to kind of push yourself to do more than that without losing what’s so fun about playing in a pop punk band.”

Like Blink-182? “They went too far,” he laughs. “I think once they kind of tried to be a little bit more serious and go with that Angels and Airwaves vibe, it lost some of what made it human and made it relatable.”

The future is something the band don’t really look to: they’re here to enjoy the ride and see what happens next. “I don’t think I really think that far ahead, I always just focus on what I’m making at the time. I don’t do ‘where do you see yourself in 10 years?’” It’s a concise summation of the Joyce Manor ethos, one that has seen them build up their successes all through gut instinct and own knowledge. “It forced me to push myself to learn how to make songs work with the limited knowledge I had, and people seemed to like it.” P Joyce Manor’s album ‘Cody’ is out now.

PWR UP! W ITH TH E I R D E BUT A L BU M A BOUT TO L A N D I N TH E U K, P W R B T T M A R E A L R E A DY L O O K I N G A H E A D T O T H E I R N E X T. WO RDS : J ESS I CA G O O D M A N .

V

italising rock’n’roll with addictive hooks, radiant humour, and a seemingly never-ending supply of glitter, PWR BTTM are an outfit unlike any other.

The duo – comprised of Ben Hopkins and Liv Bruce – make the kind of open-hearted music it’s futile to try to resist. Ripping up the rule book and tearing through gender norms, the band use their expression as a vehicle to permeate acceptance.

“As a kid in America, I’d see a lot of queer artists not very well accepted here going over to the UK and being really well accepted,” Ben recalls.

“It’s always been like, ‘Damn, if I ever get to make anything it’d be so cool to do that, to see the ways that people in other places understand it’.”

With headline tours of the UK and Europe ahead of them, the band are about to do just that.

It’s been over a year since PWR BTTM first released their debut album ‘Ugly Cherries’ into the world. From the storming self-affirmation of the title track through lingering heartache, whimsical ambition, and everything in between, the record is equal parts wide open introspection and echoing resolve. Questioning the world around them with a tenacious sense of self, the duo are screaming out until their words become real.

Eternally striving to feel less alone – and to help others do the same – it’s of little surprise that the album was met with a wave of heartfelt

37

''WE HAVE A GOOD FEELING ABOUT IT.'' adoration. Released in the UK this month, that tidal wave of excitement is going stratospheric. “It’s been so cool!”

Ben exclaims. “And I’m so excited to tour Europe for the first time this year.”

Promising “disaster, drag, and shredding,” PWR BTTM are ready to not only make their voices heard internationally, but to hear what the world is saying to them in return. “My favourite thing about touring in America is getting to see little glimpses of what people are like, and especially what queer people and queer communities are like, in all these different places,” Liv enthuses. “The same goes for touring in Europe. I think it’s going to be so interesting.”

Equally as eager when admitting that “it’s the most fucking American thing to say, but I just want to wear a beret and eat a baguette in Paris,” the pair are raring to see all they can. “What I’m most excited for is obviously, er, the men,” Liv professes. “Uncut dick!” Ben shouts, laughing.

Discussing the possibility of adventures on the road, a sense of fun is a huge part of the band’s identity. In order to preserve that freewheeling energy

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for everyone at their shows, since November of last year the duo have been including with their rider a request that every venue they perform at provides easily accessible gender neutral bathrooms.

“It’s just a basic level of respect,” Ben states. “There’s so much that has been said about public bathrooms, and about gender neutral bathrooms, in the past year – at least in America,” Liv gripes.

“It’s self-evident. It just makes sense.”

Ensuring a sense of safety in public places for anyone who – much like the band – doesn’t feel completely comfortable identifying as male or female, in a genre and an industry somewhat typically dominated by macho ideals, PWR BTTM are taking concrete steps to make DIY venues and punk shows a welcoming place for all.

With tour buddies The Spook School following suit, while peers like Speedy Ortiz and Modern Baseball strive for a similar sanctuary at their shows through the introduction of “Help Hotlines” for any fans who feel unsafe, PWR BTTM are just one band endeavouring for inclusivity – together

making a difference. “We’re not the first to do it, and we won’t be the last,” Ben states. “It feels awesome,” they grin.

Furthering notions of social change through their music, PWR BTTM are making the most out of every moment.

Their debut is only just seeing release on these shores, but the band are already well on their way to making album number two. “We’re excited to get to lay more jams!” Ben shouts with a grin. “It’s going really well,” they enthuse.

Sure, they might describe what they’re working on as either “a disaster” or sounding “like the Hindenburg exploding for forty-five minutes,” but behind their tongue in cheek humour the duo are gleaming with excitement.

“We have a good feeling about it,” Liv expresses. “We’re hoping we still feel that way by the time it’s done.”

Stating the new album is expected for release “next summer”, PWR BTTM are on a trajectory that shows no sign of slowing. Paving the road with acceptance and glitter, there’s no more magical place to be. P PWR BTTM’s album ‘Ugly Cherries’ is out now.

Also available from TOPSHELF RECORDS:

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J I M M Y E AT W O R L D A R E O N E O F T H E M O S T C O N S I S T E N T BANDS IN ROCK, HANDS DOWN - AND THIS MONTH THEY RETURN WITH THEIR NINTH ALBUM. WORDS: ALI SHUTLER. PH OTOS: PH I L SM ITH I ES.

“THERE’S A NEW JIMMY EAT WORLD ALBUM? GREAT, WHY SHOULD I CARE?” 41

J

immy Eat World have never released a bad album. They’ve been a band for twenty-six years and existed with the same line up since 1995. Since ‘Bleed American’ dropped in 2001, they’ve put out a record every three years. They’re one of the most reliable bands around, but don’t let that fool you. They’ve done it all for them. Sure, ‘reliable’ is not the sexiest of accolades but Jim Adkins is okay with that. “Sexy is an opinion, reliable is a fact. Opinions change, facts don’t and it’s nice, we’re still here and having fun. If that means losing a little bit of sexiness, if that’s the trade off, then fine.”

There’s been an excitement behind every release but with ‘Integrity Blues’, the adventure is amplified. “After the last tour we consciously decided, ‘Okay, everyone can have a break from Jimmy Eat World for a year’,” starts drummer Zach Lind. It was the first time the band didn’t have to worry about writing or playing shows. Both Jim and Zach wrote and released solo material, bassist Rick Burch set up a legitimate distillery making beverage spirits and guitarist Tom Linton chilled. “He took advantage of it best,” laughs Zach.

“The goal of taking a break was ultimately to support the overall health of the band,” ventures Jim. “If we went into the studio fresh off the road for the last album, the beginning and ending of the story would have been ‘new Jimmy Eat World record’. While we’re proud of the work we’ve done so far, we know what we’re going to get if we approach it the same way. We felt like doing things differently might help challenge us in a new way. Just stepping away from the project for the first time in twenty years was pretty different feeling.”

Coming back to JEW a year later, the band could set about asking, “What kind of album do we want to make? What do we want to do? It was about being open to trying something that might feel unsafe. We came back with a fresh perspective and it ignited us to really make a record that we feel would be just as good, or better, than any record we’ve ever done,” continues Zach. “I couldn’t be more stoked on an album that we’ve done.”

Approaching the record in a different

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way meant the band were less meticulous in their planning. Normally the group would know how everything was going to turn out before heading into the studio but for ‘Integrity Blues’, they “let things take shape as they’re discovered and then responding to the brand new things on an instinctual level rather than too planned out, second guessed, calculated and shifted around.” It was simple, stupid. “Does this feel good? Does this feel great? Cool.

Next thing.”

Learning the songs as they went may have started as a risk, and felt like a challenge throughout, “it was never a challenge of dread. It was always a healthy challenge.”

And that’s what Jimmy Eat World do best.

‘Integrity Blues’ is a record that talks about accepting your life as being in constant flux and finding happiness in the moment, rather than a destination.

Inspired by “just growing up. Dying a little bit more every day,” it tells a truth.

“A lot of times in the daily struggles we face with life, you can get obsessed,” starts Jim. “It’s easy to get tripped up on and obsessed with the problem when really, what you really want, is the solution. You can get so upset about things you have no control over, things that never were in your power. It’s easy to do. What’s interesting to me, is what’s behind that. What’s really at the route of the struggle?”

The bloody, rapidly beating heart of ‘Integrity Blues’ is the sense of selfdiscovery and confrontation. “We’re all in a state of progress and the difference between the reality and your expectation is a grey area. It’s all too easy to fall into the trap of taking it personally when that doesn’t solve anything.”

Announced alongside a note explaining its themes, Jimmy Eat World’s ninth album isn’t keeping anything from anyone. “I think that’s the sort of record it is,” explains Jim. “It’s a very simple, straightforward message that’s presented in a cinematic environment.

It’s to answer the obvious question: ‘Ninth Jimmy Eat World album; why?’

‘There’s a new JEW album? Great, why should I care?’ If you’re interested at all, there’s another layer to dig. We do this because we love it and we find, as a band, a great reward in just playing music. Beyond that, when other people pick up on it and recognise it, it is

flattering. It’s a big compliment and we appreciate it.”

The band have done this enough times to know the music they release means the world to others. With a lot of skilful ignoring during the creation of the record, Jimmy Eat World don’t write with anyone else in mind. There’s really no need. “If you see yourself as an influential band, you either try and repeat the past or you get lazy,” offers Zach. “For this record we wanted to do things we haven’t done before, but we didn’t want to stop being who we are now. It’s a fine balance of accepting yourself but accepting the fact you can do better.”

“There’s nothing more of a turn off than someone just seeking your approval and listeners pick up on that,” continues Jim. “We’ve always done a good job of being honest with ourselves and presenting what we like as music fans.

We’re brutally honest with that, and I think that just connects to people. We don’t censor anything or shift direction based on how we think our listeners might react. It’s just about us and what we like and what we want to hear.”

A lot of ‘Integrity Blues’ is about letting go of your expectations as well as your expectations of others. “It’s always been a truth that is there, floating around in the background without a name and the material on this record dives in head on, on purpose. It’s definitely taken more notice of. We’ve always enjoyed the idea of creating for us rather than for an imaginary listener, that’s something we’ve always had.

What other people are going to expect from the work, that’s not up to us. That’s a mantra we’ve had the entire time we’ve been a band.

“I guess coming to full life awareness of that fact, it’s just interesting right now for where we are as people. The more you learn, the more you realise you don’t know and there’s really no end to how you can push yourself and how you can challenge yourself, but if we found ourselves just mailing it in, feeling like we’ve said it all and we’ve got nothing to give, then we wouldn’t do anything. There’s no point.

If you’re trying to chase the approval of an imaginary listener, it’s going to compromise what you want to get out of it, and that’s just going to torpedo the whole thing.” P Jimmy Eat World’s album ‘Integrity Blues’ is out 21st October.

“SEXY IS AN OPINION. RELIABLE IS FACT.”

RATED GREEN DAY REVOLUTION RADIO

Reprise Records

eeee

T

hese are strange times for Green Day. If you were in an argumentative mood, you could say they’ve not released a truly successful album since 2004’s ‘American Idiot’. In the twelve years since then, they’ve hardly bombed, sure, but ‘21st Century Breakdown’ couldn’t help but wilt slightly in the shadow of its predecessor. It’s 2012’s trilogy of quick-fire records that really put the pressure on: ‘¡Uno!’, ‘¡Dos!’ and ‘¡Tré!’ are perhaps most notable in quite how easily forgettable they became - definitive proof that quality is better than quantity.

If a band with a back catalogue as shiny and laden with megahits as Green Day could ever need to prove themselves all over again, this could well be it.

Thankfully, they’ve at least learned some of their lessons.

Picking themselves up and getting back on their charger, ‘Revolution Radio’ is still very much post-’American Idiot’ Green Day, painted in prime political colours, all raised fists and aggression. Finding a strong footing in their latter day strengths proves a sharp move. While peers try 44 upsetmagazine.com

to rediscover the lightning that broke them through as spotty youths, Billie Joe Armstrong seems intent to recharge his imperial phase, spitting loud and proud over lead single ‘Bang Bang’.

Their highest heights may remain off limits, but there’s enough to prove they’ve still got teeth.

And that’s where the outside narratives start to take hold. In a world where Trump runs for the White House, Green Day’s smart vitriol seems like it’s needed even more than during the Bush years. More focused than at any point since, they’re a band rising to the challenge. “We live in troubled times,” Billie Joe sings. He’s right, but at least the soundtrack to the downfall is sorted.

Christopher Jones

Green Day aren’t about to lose their political side with ‘Revolution Radio’. The clue is sort of in the title, right?

Take lead cut ‘Bang Bang’. The track is “about the culture of mass shooting that happens in America mixed with narcissistic social media,” according to Billie Joe Armstrong’s interview with Rolling Stone.

“There’s this sort of rage happening, but it’s also now being filmed and we all have ourselves under surveillance. To me, that is so twisted. To

get into the brain of someone like that was freaky. It freaked me out. After I wrote it, all I wanted to do was get that out of my brain because it just freaked me out.

“I wouldn’t even say I was trying to understand it. I was just trying to figure out the character.

I don’t know why someone would ever do something that horrific because I know I never would.

It’s just sort of meant to also reflect the culture a little bit without sounding pretentious.”

DANGERS - THE BEND IN THE BREAK (eeee)

Topshelf Records Pissed off, sardonic hardcore.

That’s one hell of a descriptor to live up to, but Dangers do it with ease. Then again, if you’d been playing “basements, garages, living rooms, squats, warehouses, banquet halls, high school auditoriums, Adriatic beach resorts, abandoned Soviet furniture factories, and public park gazebos” for the last decade or more (their list, not ours), you would be too.

Sharp, smart, direct and in your face, Dangers sound dangerous, and there’s little better than that. Stephen Ackroyd

SO SO GLOS KAMIKAZE (eee)

Votiv Music “Something to read, fuck my newsfeed,” Alex Levine shouts. We’ve all been there.

So So Glos are amped up and ready to go. Lead single ‘Dancing Industry’ shows it well - the sort of track that sets hairs on end, it’s not the only gear they have in their arsenal, but it’s a damn good one to settle on. Christopher Jones

BOSTON MANOR - BE NOTHING (eeee)

Pure Noise Boston Manor aren’t an unknown quantity - their excellent EPs made sure we were prepared for this, their debut album - but that doesn’t mean they can’t provide a pleasant surprise too. From the huge, anthemic heights of opener ‘Burn You Up’ it’s evident that Boston Manor belong in the top class of new UK rock icons.

Unlike so many of their peers, they’ve got different gears too - as shown by the excellent ‘Broken Glass’.

A band full of promise, delivering with interest.

Christopher Jones

SHVPES

PAIN. JOY. ECSTASY. DESPAIR.

KEVIN DEVINE

INSTIGATOR

Search and Destroy / Spinefarm Records

Big Scary Monsters / Procrastinate! Music Traitors

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The debut release from SHVPES, formerly known as Cytota, wastes no time in introducing new frontman Griffin Dickinson.

The savageness on display shows the band are ready to make a statement; ‘PAIN. JOY. ECSTASY. DESPAIR.’ is unrelenting, the occasional moments of respite only serving to enhance the brutality. They’re a force to be reckoned with. Steven Loftin

Kevin Devine has been busy in the last few years. Bad Books records, double albums and his Devinyl series of split 7” with the likes of Jesse Lacey and Meredith Graves are enough to keep anyone off the streets, but that doesn’t make ‘Instigator’ a distracted affair. Instead, he’s on prime storytelling form, tackling some pretty heavy subjects. ‘Freddie Gray Blues’ in particular delves deeper than most would dare. It’s what Devine does best. Stephen Ackroyd

AMERICAN FOOTBALL

AMERICAN FOOTBALL

Wichita Records

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Seventeen years is a long time to have to wait for a second album. Thankfully, American Football are able to play the longest of odds with ease.

Still just as introspective and intricate as they sounded back in 1999, frontman Mike Kinsella sums it up best: “We’ve been here before but I don’t remember a lock on the door,” he sings on album opener ‘Where Are We Now?’ A reintroduction to a familiar world, some places are worth revisiting again and again. Stephen Ackroyd

PWR BTTM

UGLY CHERRIES

Big Scary Monsters

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PWR BTTM are a dream. The NYCbased gender-defying punk duo’s debut album finally gets its UK release, with the addition of two new tracks. ‘Ugly Cherries’ is awkward, and unashamed of it; goofy, but serious when it needs to be. In the mix of the party, clap-your-hands pop rock nuggets of ‘All The Boys’ and ‘Dairy Queen’, PWR BTTM truly glitter in their ability to write hook-filled yet uniquely disjointed melodies, against wholehearted narratives.

New additions ‘Projection’ and ‘New Hampshire’ feel like missing parts that weren’t immediately obvious; it’s as though the album comes full circle.

Jasleen Dhindsa

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KORN

THE SERENITY OF SUFFERING

Roadrunner

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SUM 41

13 VOICES

Hopeless Records

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Sum 41 are back, and they’re angry. It’s understandable too. Deryck Whibley’s trials in the years leading up to ‘13 Voices’ are well documented, and clearly form the primary influence for the album something which proves its biggest strength and weakness.

Personal and occasionally pretty dark, for anyone hoping for a blast through the good times, a shock awaits. This isn’t ‘All Killer, No Filler’ part two.

When that old flame starts to burn though, like on ‘Goddamn I’m Dead Again’, Sum 41 still have it. Stephen Ackroyd

DANCE GAVIN DANCE

MOTHERSHIP

Rise Records

eeee It wouldn’t be a Dance Gavin Dance album without some strange song titles. ‘Flossie Dickey Bounce’, ‘Petting Zoo Justice’; take your pick. There is, however, method in the madness. ‘Chucky vs The Giant Tortoise’ has moments of profundity; Tilian Pearson and Jon Mess’ vocals sound sublime together, souring through ‘Deception’ and ‘Inspire The Liars’, before crashing into a cacophonous ‘Philosopher King’. ‘Mothership’ pushes the boundaries of where a band can go.

Kathryn Black 46 upsetmagazine.com

THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA

Korn’s twelfth effort sees the nu-metal legends return back to their heavier roots: this is exactly where they should be, and what they ‘should’ sound like in 2016.

‘The Serenity of Suffering’ opens doors to unknowing future material, but more importantly tells that Korn didn’t come into the 2010s as a dubstep hankering band, but as a band that can establish a difficult equilibrium between the old and the new, and keep people guessing twenty-odd years on.

Jasleen Dhindsa

TRANSIT BLUES

Rise Records

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The Devil Wears Prada’s latest release, ‘Transit Blues’, is a metalcore haven. Despite having a few line-up changes under their belts, the band haven’t diverged too far from their previous sound, with Mike Hranica’s vocals holding it all together.

Lead single ‘Daughter’ is nothing short of unsettling; ‘Worldwide’’s melodic chorus lifts the dark, guttural noise; while ‘To the Key of Evergreen’ is a smorgasbord of eerie vocals, The band continue to dominate their genre.

Kathryn Black

JOYCE MANOR

CODY

Epitaph

eeee It’s easy to forget that Joyce Manor are on their fourth record in five years. Having been on a huge trajectory since their self-titled debut in 2011, ‘Cody’ is, perhaps surprisingly, their least punk record. It’s accessible, refined, and more ‘produced’ - phrases that are usually applied detrimentally - but it serves to show their continued growth that all of these things are true and yet ‘Cody’ is utterly, completely perfect; the logical result of a band constantly hitting their peak. Kristy Diaz

A SHORT

SET IT OFF

UPSIDE DOWN!

Rude Records

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Progressing from a synth-packed pop punk sound to something far grander, Set It Off’s killer production team have drawn influence from hip hop, R&B, rock and pop to create something genre defying. Juxtaposing upbeat melodies with lyrics about defeating negativity, ‘Upside Down!’ is uplifting with a serious message. Tracks like ‘Tug Of War’ might put off serious music types, but the party sound never falters; it’s alternative pop at its best.

Kathryn Black

H...

Q&A WIT

SET I T OFF VO CA L I ST C O DY CA RS O N SPILLS THE BEANS ON THE

MEMPHIS MAY FIRE

BA N D’S N E W A L B U M , OV E R A P U M P K I N S P I C E L AT T E .

THIS LIGHT I HOLD

Rise Records

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Memphis May Fire’s fourth album has a lot to live up to. Their previous effort hit #4 on the Billboard Top 200, and they’ve clocked up over 300,000 album sales in the US so far. Taking the time to get it right they’ve produced what they describe as their “favourite Memphis May Fire album.” It shows, too. Direct and accessible, yet cohesive and complete, they’ve not peaked yet. Stephen Ackroyd

THE PRETTY RECKLESS

WHAT YOU SELLING FOR?

Razor & Tie

ee The Pretty Reckless wanted to make a classic rock record without limitation and it takes just a few seconds of the sultry piano opening of ‘The Walls are Closing In (Hangman)’ to see that their new take on the genre is anything other than expected. ‘Oh My God’ is hazy and snarly, ‘Prisoner’ has a low key attitude to it. Did The Pretty Reckless remove the limits of classic rock? Absolutely. Did they pull it off?

No. Heather McDaid

What can you tell us about ‘Upside Down’?

We are incredibly excited and about to explode from having to wait for you all to hear it. It’s fresh, we take risks, it’s honest, it’s vulnerable and it’s overall a very catchy record.

making?

What it did is open up what sort of avenues could fill the role of “bass”.

We were able to use bass synths and programming as well as actual bass.

It opened so many doors and cool vibes for songs.

You’ve described the new material as your most “mature” to date - what do you mean by that?

As you grow as a writer you learn a lot about what a song does and doesn’t need. We used to force instruments and sections of songs into a writing session because we thought it had to be there. Now it’s all about the best song possible and we have nailed our process finally.

Do you have a favourite place from which to draw inspiration?

Not to sound cliche, but just life in general for lyrical inspiration and music from every genre you can imagine for musical influences. My parents raised me on a wide variety of music from Beethoven to Whitney Houston. My sis showed me pop, hip-hop, and R&B and I discovered all the rock groups.

You spent some time writing with All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth, how did that come about, and what was it like?

I’ve spoken with Alex for quite some time now but he ended up in la when we were there and he came to my birthday event with Jack at a bar out there and we reconnected and talked about writing. I invited him to a session and he accepted and it went incredibly well. He’s a very smart and fun writer, we had a great time and got a lot done.

What do you think is the key to creating a good album?

Worry about the songs and fight for perfection. Have variety and don’t stop yourself from writing a certain style in fear of what others will think. Dare to be different and have fun doing it.

Did your recent line up change impact upon how the record was made, or the music you ended up

What excites you most about being a musician right now?

The open mindedness of listeners out there. It wasn’t always this way.

We are very fortunate to live in a musical world where all anyone wants is a great song. It relieves pressure and anxiety and I love what we do. P

I PREVAIL

LIFELINES

Fearless Records

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Yes, I Prevail did make their big first impact with a Taylor Swift cover, but even with 20 million plus streams behind it, there’s more to them than that. Don’t expect ‘Lifelines’ to be shifting 20 million units, sure, but do expect it to make a significant impact. Heavy, catchy, screaming and clean - it hits its post-hardcore mark every time.

There’s no ‘Blank Space’ here; at each step along the way, I Prevail fill their world with ease. Stephen Ackroyd

THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN

DISSOCIATION

Party Smasher Inc / Cooking Vinyl

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Facing the prospect of this being the final Dillinger Escape Plan album, it seems somewhat pithy to try and critically place ‘Dissociation’ within their existing canon; so it’s convenient that it isn’t immediately comparable to any of their previous albums. It retains some of the aggression and reverseon-a-dime choppiness of ‘One Of Us Is The Killer’, but perhaps dials up the weirdness and exposes more shades of their sound. Case in point - there’s the trip-hop electronic groove of ‘Fugue’, recalling to some extent the glitchier parts of ‘Ire Works’ - but there’s also the superb lounge jazz middle-eight of ‘Low Feels Blvd’, one of the most joyously unchained and brilliant passages they’ve yet penned. When the band kick back in with laser-guided precision and Billy Rymer’s trademark snare-heavy shredding, the release is as powerful as anything in their back catalogue.

All in all, ‘Dissociation’ feels less like a full-stop on a distinguished, if chaotic, career and more like an excellent mid-career album, with the promise of more to come. That this will be their final record is all the more tragic; this is not the sound of a band bowing out, but a group at the peak of their powers bulldozing all in their path. Alex Lynham 48 upsetmagazine.com

D E T R O I T B A N D I P R E VA I L M A D E A S T I R B A C K I N 2 0 1 4 W I T H T H E I R C O V E R O F T AY L O R S W I F T ’ S ‘ B L A N K S PAC E ’ - A N D I T ’ S B E E N O N E H E L L O F A R I D E S I N C E T H E N . VO CA L I ST B RI A N BU RK H E I S E R E X P L A I N S H OW T H E I R D E BUT A L BU M CA M E TO G ET H E R .

‘Lifelines’ is out soon - are you feeling much pressure to deliver?

I’m not really feeling pressure, I’m just ready for the time to come!

When did you begin working on the record properly, how did you get started?

We started working in late 2015. We went back to our roots and back in to the studio we recorded our EP at with BJ Perry.

Did it come together easily?

The first couple of weeks we had to get in our groove, but it went smoothly after that.

What’s your best tip for avoiding creative blocks?

The best thing is to not put too much pressure on yourself.

Does ‘Lifelines’ sound as you thought your debut would?

It’s everything and more! I went in with high expectations and was very pleased on how the final product turned out.

Are there any over-arching themes?

What do you hope fans will take from it?

We kind of touch on a lot of topics.

The one thing I hope listeners take away is that no matter what emotion they are feeling they can connect with any one of these songs.

You’re currently on tour with Pierce the Veil and Neck Deep in the US how’s it going?

One word: INSANE. How do you prepare for such a long tour?

Lots of sleep! Also, plenty of rehearsing in our storage unit helps.

Have you been airing any new material live?

Yes! We have been playing three new songs: ‘Scars’, ‘Stuck in Your Head’, and one we can’t say the name of yet.

Album aside, what are you most excited about right now?

Being on this tour is one we never thought would happen. P

LIVE

JIMMY EAT WORLD

ISLINGTON ASSEMBLY HALL, LONDON eeee

TRACKS OF THE MONTH FRANK IERO AND THE PATIENCE REMEDY

Frank’s crew may be claiming to be patient these days, but ‘Remedy’ doesn’t hang around when it comes to getting its hooks in. Part Weezer-esque delight, it’s pleasingly rough around the edges. A solid gold nugget that’s hard to perfect, but impossible to ignore.

TALL SHIPS MEDITATIONS ON LOSS

Taken from the quartet’s second album due to drop next year, ‘Meditations On Loss’ is a driving, ceaseless taster of promise. Never breaking its relentless beat, there’s both a dark edge and shining light to their indie rock charms.

JIMMY EAT WORLD

INTEGRITY BLUES

Sony

eeee When it comes to identifiable voices in music, Jim Adkins’ crystal clear tones must rank pretty high up the list. From the opening chorus of ‘You With Me’, this could be no other band. While ‘Integrity Blues’ may not quite hit the heights of the quartet’s finest moments, there’s no suggestion they’re running out of steam either. ‘Sure And Certain’, ‘It Matters’ and ‘Get Right’, with its brooding undercurrent, all fit firmly into the lexicon. Jimmy Eat World are uniquely brilliant.

Stephen Ackroyd

Showing off their impressive catalogue of hits, Jimmy Eat World are electric. They sound excited and every stop along their twenty-odd year journey is dynamic. The likes of ‘Blister’, ‘Lucky Denver Mint’ and ‘The Middle’ are the very definition of classics but they’re still punching people in the heart with a ferocious love that is ever-present. Confident in everything they do, they’re as fresh and vital as ever.

A trio of new tracks are aired, standing shoulder to shoulder with giants and earning their place. ‘Get It Right’ bubbles with intensity and assurance, ‘Sure and Certain’ dances in the light, smouldering and skipping while ‘You Are Free’ is direct, encouraging yet confrontational. There’s more than a spark of brilliance about each one.

“Ageing isn’t a choice,” explains Jim Adkins after realising that ‘Chase This Light’ is now ten years old. “Acting crotchety is.” There’s nothing graceful about the way this band are approaching album nine. Instead, it’s furious, urgent and soaked in sweat. This is the return of Jimmy Eat World and it’s met with nothing but full-bodied enthusiasm.

Ali Shutler

DZ DEATHRAYS POLLYANNA

DZ Deathrays have always enjoyed a good old din, but that’s not the only weapon they have in their locker. If occasion demands, they’ve also got an ear for a mighty sharp hook - and that’s exactly what they’ve brought out for ‘Pollyanna’. A discordant delight, it’s also run through with infectious energy. Summer may be gone, but DZ Deathrays still know how to heat us up.

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Pierce The Veil’s Vic Fuentes 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’S THE MOST EMBARRASSING THING THAT’S HAPPENED ON TOUR? I recently tried to jump on top of Mike’s kick drum and ended up just falling into his entire kit. Such an amateur move. Worst part is it was being filmed. GIFS for days.

WHAT IS THE STRANGEST THING A FAN HAS GIVEN YOU? An old toy cat, that had fur like a sheep. So we named him Sheepcat. He was our imaginary band mascot for years.

50 upsetmagazine.com

WAS IT HARD TO START A BAND? WHAT ARE SOME GOOD TIPS ON HOW TO START ONE? I was lucky because both my brother and my best friend wanted to play music at an early age, so I fell right into it. Over the years I’ve learned that the hardest part is finding people who have the same commitment and passion for music as you do. Finding like minded people, along with good chemistry is like catching lightning in a bottle.

IF YOU COULD BE IN ANY TV SHOW, WHAT

SHOW WOULD IT BE? I’d love to see what is look like as a Simpsons character.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN ALIENS? I had a chemistry teacher in the 9th grade flip my life upside down with a lecture he gave about how huge the universe is and how we are all just tiny specs of dust in the universe. It basically taught me that there’s no way we are alone in the universe. I want to believe.

WOULD YOU RATHER

BE ABLE TO GO BACK IN TIME, OR GO INTO THE FUTURE? I really wish I could have seen the 70s. It seemed like such an amazing time to be alive. I would have been such a peace and love hippie. I’m a bit afraid of what the future holds.

Afraid of what people will do to each other.

WHAT IS THE SCARIEST THING YOU HAVE EVER DONE? Performing with All Time Low and dodging their pyro flames all over their stage.

Great balls of fire!

DEBUT ALBUM O U T 11 . 11 . 1 6

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