Upset, June 2019

NEW ALBUM

CUT & STITCH 24.05.2019 AVAILABLE ON LIMITED 12" VINYL, CD & DIGITAL ON TOUR THIS SPRING / SUMMER PETROLGIRLS.COM

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NEW ALBUM

NEST OUT NOW AVAILABLE ON LIMITED 12" VINYL, CD & DIGITAL ON TOUR THIS SPRING / SUMMER WEAREBRUTUS.COM

JUNE 2019 Issue 44

HELLO. We’ve probably got a bit giddy this month, if we’re honest.

Blame it on sunstroke, if you like, but as it gets warmer, brighter and generally less hostile outside our window, we get increasingly more excited about what’s to come over the next few months.

That’s why we’ve - for the first time ever - got four different covers for this month’s magazine, featuring some of the biggest and best bands delivering four of the brightest, most hair-raising records to soundtrack your summer.

Dinosaur Pile-Up, Employed To Serve, Frank Iero and the Future Violents and Yonaka are wildly different bands with one thing in common - we really love what they’re doing right now. We think you will, too.

S tephen

Editor / @stephenackroyd

Upset Editor Stephen Ackroyd Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden Associate Editor Ali Shutler Scribblers Chris Taylor, Dillon Eastoe, Jack Press, Jake Hawkes, Jamie MacMillan, Jasleen Dhindsa, Jessica Goodman, Rob Mair, Sam Taylor, Steven Loftin Snappers Ebru Yildiz, Frances Beach, Patrick Gunning, Sarah Louise Bennett P U B L I S H E D F RO M

W E LCO M E TOT H E B U N K E R.CO M U N I T 10, 23 G RA N G E RO A D, H A S T I N G S, T N34 2R L

All material copyright (c). All rights reserved.

RIOT 4 CHARLY BLISS 8 LIVE AT LEEDS 12 THE GET UP KIDS 16 PANIC! AT THE DISCO 18 PETROL GIRLS 22 CASE STUDY 23 PUP FEATURES 24 YONAKA 32 EAT YOUR HEART OUT 34 WEATHERSTATE 36 DREAM STATE 38 FRANK IERO 44 EMPLOYED TO SERVE 50 MALLORY KNOX 52 ALL TIME LOW 56 DINOSAUR PILE-UP 64 IDKHOW REVIEWS 66 EMPLOYED TO SERVE TEENAGE KICKS 70 JAMIE LENMAN

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THIS MONTH IN ROCK

Check out some of the best acts from this year’s Live at Leeds. p.8

EVERYTHING HAPPENING IN ROCK

YOUNG AND REST -LESS C Interview.

Back with their second album, Charly Bliss are stepping things up a gear.

Words: Jessica Goodman Photos: Ebru Yildiz

harly Bliss possess a magic. It resonates in every catchy chorus hook. It rallies at every live show. It even materialised in a trend of Charly Bliss meets Harry Potter memes that took flight around the announcement of the group’s much anticipated new album. Arriving two years after their acclaimed debut,

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Indie-rock pioneers The Get Up Kids are back. p.12

Petrol Girls’ new album ‘Cut & Stitch’ is a reflection of our times. p.18

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Riot_ ‘Young Enough’ is a record that showcases the band at their most magical yet. “The internet can sometimes feel like the worst place, the toilet bowl of the universe,” Eva Hendricks laughs. “It’s moments like that when the internet is used for good,” she announces, “when someone is making Charly Bliss memes out of Harry Potter stuff.”

The band – completed by Spencer Fox, Sam Hendricks, and Dan Shure – take it all in their stride. Whether it’s comparisons to Draco Malfoy, ongoing jokes about a recent (unexplainable) headline of ‘Charly Bliss Potato’ (which led to everything from Simpsons memes to superimposed images of the band using spuds as plectrums), there’s one thing that’s unavoidably clear: Charly Bliss are having the time of their lives. Theirs is a magic destined to soar, driven by an earnest enthusiasm to keep dancing through life in all of its infinite variety. It’s a magic that recently saw the group’s song feature in an episode of supernatural Netflix reboot Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.

Mention of the band’s licensed-for-television debut sends them into a flurry of excited exclamations. “That was the best thing that’s ever happened!”

Eva squeals. Talking after a

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“I WOULD GIVE MY LEFT ARM TO BE IN RIVERDALE”

photo shoot in of shows like the Brooklyn bar Buffy which where bassist had so many of Dan Shure used my favourite to work, the bands on group are in it, that’s contagiously incredible. I EVA HENDRICKS high spirits. “We wish TV shows were in the van would do more on a tour with Death Cab For of that,” Eva enthuses. “Not just Cutie, and we got a text from our because selfishly I wish that,” manager,” Eva recalls. “This is she laughs, “but I think it’s so always how he gives us news,” she brilliant.” chides, laughing. “He texted and No one could argue that they said ‘do any of you guys watch don’t fit the bill: a kick-ass sense Sabrina The Teenage Witch?’” She of empowerment, a contagious pauses to let the left-field nature sense of humour, and a sense of of the question sink in. “Then he magic that can’t be ignored are all waits!” she exclaims. “We’re all in things that Charly Bliss possess the car on the other end like ‘what in spades. Their excitement and is he going to say?!’” enthusiasm for their craft – and It’s an achievement that has for the record they’re about to the whole band abuzz with both release – is practically its own appreciation and possibility. endorsement. It’s an excitement “I would give my left arm to be and an enthusiasm that’s been in Riverdale,” Eva proclaims, simmering for a while now, quickly adding that “if we and with the release of ‘Young could’ve been a band that played Enough’, looks set to send the at The Bronze, that would’ve been band stratospheric. the pinnacle.” With references “I always felt like I was coming to Buffy The Vampire Slayer to songwriting late and that I scattered through debut album didn’t really know what I was ‘Guppy’, the group’s appreciation doing,” Eva contemplates. “I kind for the cult TV phenomenon is of felt like my relationship with one they wear on their sleeve with songwriting was like, ‘wow, a song pide – and with a sequel series just fell from the sky, and it’s in in the works, this “pinnacle” my head! Who knows if that will dream of theirs might not be as ever happen again?!’” she laughs. far out the realm of possibility as “When ‘Guppy’ came out it forced you might think. “When I think me to overcome that self-doubt and feel more confident in myself as a writer. I had to force myself to stop being so hard on myself and accept that it’s something that I’m good at, that I love doing.”

A labour of love, unquestionably, the release of their first album and the two years since have seen the group grow in a way they never imagined. “We didn’t really know who we were as a band yet,” Eva recalls of their debut.

“We recorded an album, the first time, trying to sound like other bands.” The decisions and the ensuing process of scrapping those first sessions and recording

a second time for ‘Guppy’ was a steep learning curve that played a pivotal role in Charly Bliss’ story.

“Making that mistake really taught us,” Eva expresses. “We now feel very solid about who we are.”

So, who exactly are Charly Bliss? “We’re a pop band!” Eva grins. “What we value above anything is that our songs have catchy melodies and that they’re fun and that you can connect to them easily,” she explains. Clear cut lyrics? Check. Contagious hooks? Double check. An allencompassing energy that you just don’t want to pull away from?

“POP MUSIC MAKES ME FEEL LIKE I’M INVINCIBLE” EVA HENDRICKS

Without a doubt. On ‘Young Enough’ Charly Bliss have it all.

“For the first time ever in a writing process, we all didn’t have jobs, or we weren’t in school or had other things taking up our days,” Eva states. “Really, we got to focus solely on writing this album, which turned out to be so awesome,” she enthuses. “It

made me realise how much I love writing.” With a newfound sense of self, armed with newfound discoveries such as preproduction and GarageBand, working on ‘Young Enough’ saw the band not only finding comfort in their own skin but building from that to be the best they could be. “Having that opportunity to make music in a different way and write songs not just on guitar,” Eva describes, “I brought out some really different and cool ideas that felt new to us.”

“Our number one concern was that we did not want to make the same album twice,” she adds.

“We didn’t want to just make ‘Guppy #2’. We wanted to push ourselves.” So that’s exactly what they did, and the result is nothing short of spellbinding. With a push towards using synths (after realising all four of them can play), ‘Young Enough’ arrives as a shimmering explosion of pop sensibilities, driving refrains, and contagious energy too fervent to be forced. “It’s important to us to feel that these songs would all feel thrilling and cathartic to play,” Eva states. “We all want our set, our live show, to feel like a release for us - and for our fans,” she explains, before laughing. “I don’t think we know how to write any other way; pop music makes me feel like I’m invincible.”

Described by the group as “a massively joyful expression of years of extreme and expedited growth,” ‘Young Enough’ is the sound of a band taking the helm and charting their own course, a soundtrack to showing the world who you are and what you’re made of. “We’re just going to try to enjoy this, and enjoy all the new adventures coming for us,” Eva describes. It’s a simple dream, but with magic like ‘Young Enough’, Charly Bliss are capable of rattling the stars. Whatever adventures are coming for the band, you can be sure they’re going to dazzle.

P Charly Bliss’s album ‘Young

Enough’ is out now.

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LEEDS LEEDS LEEDS Festivals 2019

Annual buzz-fest Live At Leeds is known for its top bills featuring both hyped up newcomers, and cult faves.

Here are some of the best acts we saw at this year’s all-dayer.

Words: Ali Shutler, Chris Taylor Photos: Frances Beach, Sarah Louise Bennett

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JAMIE LENMAN

A

fter his tentative return to music in 2013, Jamie Lenman really found his feet again with the release of 2017’s ‘Devolver’.

Since then, he’s fully embraced the silly, weird and wonderful.

Later this year he’s releasing a covers album, tackling everyone from The Beatles to the theme tune from Popeye, and that spirit of keeping things exciting and making sure it’s always fun is at the very centre of tonight’s headline set at The Key Club.

The ferocious one-two of ‘Hell In A Fast Car’ and ‘Waterloo Teeth’ start things off, all thrashing limbs, reckless abandon and gleeful escape. “Are you having a fun time?” Jamie asks, ever the chaotic but caring ringleader. “It’s only going to get funner,” he promises.

There’s a cover of Nirvana’s ‘On A Plain’ alongside choice cuts from his solo work and Reuben classics. “Imagine writing ‘when I was younger’ at the age of sixteen.

What a fucking prick,” he continues with a glint in his eye before the raging thump of ‘No One Wins The War’. But he doesn’t waste time looking backwards. Why would he, when’s there’s so much fun to be had in the now. Never nostalgic, everything about his set tonight comes with jubilance and carnage in abundance. And if that’s not the perfect way to close a festival…

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THE PEARL HARTS

SUNSHINE FRISBEE LASERBEAM It’s early doors at The Key Club, with Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam kicking off the Upset stage. A few songs into their rollercoaster set full of rollicking riff-fuelled anthems, and things suddenly come to life. Pete Dixon and Andrew Bullock lead the charge, supported

by David Bentall and Ralph Morton. With a frenzied Junior Elvis Washington Laidley on drums, the five-piece pull the crowd closer, hypnotised by the playfully frenetic joy. The band are running on three hours’ sleep; not that you can tell. New material hits with the same force as anything released so far; dizzying riffs colliding with sweaty shouts and thrashing rhythms. If this riotous set is anything to go by, new records will be coming thick and fast.

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Self-confessed survivors of a heavy night out at Leeds Popworld, The Pearl Harts seem grateful to be performing within the dingy, low-lighting of the Hyde Park Book Club. Still, if they’re as hungover as they say, they don’t sound it – their good old fashioned rock’n’roll has a polish that offers up a much more powerful sound than on record.

Opener ‘Suck It Up’ is more than ready for rock radio, while the bratty vocal trade of ‘Lara’ demonstrates their skill for boozy sesh anthems. You’d definitely want this duo on your drinking team.

SPIELBERGS May Day Bank Holiday is pretty much the perfect time to hear a bunch of celebration rock anthems that make you want to quit your job and live the easy life. In the dark caverns of The Key Club, Oslo’s Spielbergs deliver that in spades.

There’s a world-weariness to the group, having been put through the industry ringer in the ‘00s and been moulded by their lives outside of music.

Drawing from their recent debut album ‘This Is Not The End’, Spielbergs are all about death or glory.

From the pummelling ‘Five On It’ to the fuzzy catharsis of ‘We Are All Going To Die’, the trio wear their heart on their sleeves.

There’s not much in the way of stage banter, knowing that their throatshredding yells say so much more.

VANT Vant’s ‘Dumb Blood’ was a hyperactive blitz of politics and passion, with a lot to say and not much time to say it. After a yearlong hiatus, Mattie Vant is back with a new band, a new outlook, and more to say.

While the first iteration of the group was held together with safety pins, sharpies and bloodied plasters, Vant 2.0 is more deliberate. They start today’s set with an acoustic reworking of ‘Time & Money’ just to drive that point home, while the handful of new songs are more spacious, changing colour and shape but never losing their focus. Infused with darkness, ‘Thank Lucifer’ is a wide-eyed parade at the end of the world and ‘Propaganda Machine’ twirls with hard-fought belief.

Vant may have been away, but the need for voices like theirs has only grown greater.

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Problem Child Interview.

Indie-rock pioneers The Get Up Kids are back, and after the success of last year’s ‘Kicker’ EP, they’ve got some ‘Problems’ they need to discuss…

Words: Rob Mair

“Y

ou always think every record you make should make all the other records you’ve made obsolete,” says The Get Up Kids’ Matt Pryor, as he dodges construction traffic while walking his dogs around the neighbourhood.

We’re talking about ‘Problems’, the Kansas City indie-rockers sixth album, and follow-up to last year’s rapturously-received four-song ripper of an EP, ‘Kicker’. It was a release that put The Get

Up Kids back on the map, following the mixed response to 2011’s challenging ‘There Are Rules’, which saw the group drift through the following seven years in a state of partial cyrogenesis.

This time, however, with the buzz around the band firmly back, ‘Problems’ is a confident return that marries the best of The Get Up Kids’ trademark indie-rock sound with the sharpest and most intelligent songwriting the quintet has produced. Indeed, seeing ‘Kicker’ as an appropriate jumping off point serves to

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Riot_ contextualize just what The Get Up Kids are – and where they’re going – in 2019.

“The thing we took from ‘Kicker’ was to go, ‘Ok, we need to have that same energy – but it needs to be better’,” considers Pryor. “We needed to have it all more thought out. ‘Kicker’ was very much like ‘four-songsreal-fast’ – and it’s all very base emotions. So we said we need to have something that was going to sound bigger.

“I guess it’s similar to going from our first record [‘Four Minute Mile’] to our second [breakout ‘Something To Write Home About’]: ‘We need to do that again, but more so – and it needs to be smarter’.”

‘Problems’ is reflective of the headspace The Get Up Kids (completed by guitarist/vocalist Jim Suptic, bassist Rob Pope and drummer Ryan Pope) find themselves in at this moment in time. It means there are some remarkably powerful and poignant moments on an album that meditates heavily on issues of family, life, death, legacy, and divorce. There’s even a moment where they reflect the lens back on themselves and the old trope of the emo break-up song.

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“FOR A WHILE, I GOT PRETTY JADED TOWARDS MUSIC” MATT PRYOR

“So, ‘The Problem Is Me’ – you can write break-up songs for as long as you want, but eventually you’re gonna have to talk to your therapist about why you keep having these failed relationships,” says Pryor.

“It can’t always be the other person.”

It’s clear talking to Pryor is just how passionate he is – not only for ‘Problems’, and how eager he is for people to hear it – but also the general state of music in 2019.

Much of this can be attributed to his children – his daughter’s band practices in his garage – and Pryor comments that it “warms his heart” to see them doing the same things he and his friends did as teenagers.

He mentions that seeing The Spook School inspired him to write the buzzing pop-punk of ‘Lou Barlow’, and how, when he

now sees the list of bands put forward for tour, he can’t wait to hit the stage and play with acts he’s excited to see night after night.

“For a while, I got pretty jaded towards music in general,” he says. “In fact, I still see this with a lot of my peer group, who are frustrated with the status of things – whether that’s being fans of music or being in the industry itself.

“Then I look at my kids, and their friends, and all these younger bands that are only a couple of years older than them, and I’m like ‘Oh no, this is fine – this isn’t our generation anymore’.”

It might seem like a dour way to end the interview, but it’s also fitting; The Get Up Kids have grown up, and in ‘Problems’ they’ve delivered an indierock album that considers the challenges their generation is now facing. It’s to their testament that by addressing these issues in universal ways – through narrative, allegory, and storytelling – they’ve achieved their aim of doing the same as they’ve always done, only smarter… P The Get Up Kids’

album ‘Problems’ is out now.

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DISCO! INFERNO! Report

Brendon Urie reaches new heights at London’s O2 Arena.

Words: Ali Shutler, Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett

F

or some, Brendon Urie will always be the eyeliner-wearing, top hat twirling, ringleader of emo.

For fifteen years though, Panic! At The Disco have been striving for new, desperate for adventure and always taking the road unexplored.

From the decadent tall tales of ‘Too Weird To Live’ to the last chance to dance of ‘Death of a Bachelor’, he’s always had a touch of showmanship in everything he’s done but it wasn’t until ‘Pray For The Wicked’ that he fully embraced being a pop star.

As he bursts out of the stage at London’s o2 to thunderous applause, he wears that sparkle with pride.

Now the figurehead for a

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whole new generation, from the opening erupt of ‘(Fuck A) Silver Lining’, Brendon is a constant, effortless and effervescent source of entertainment.

Determined to have a good time, he wants the whole room to share in the joy of wildest dreams coming true. ‘Ready To Go’ twinkles under neon menace, ‘High Hopes’ beams with a starlight promise while ‘Girls/Girls/ Boys’ sees the arena turned into a rainbow of celebration, pride and unity.

“If you’re feeling like you don’t belong, or you feel like an outcast, a misfit or are being bullied, know this. You do belong. We accept you. We love you, very very much. Thank you for being brave individuals.”

‘Hey Look Ma, I Made It’ trembles with a bravado that

quickly shifts into inspiration.

It happens time and time again.

No matter how much Brendon belongs in the spotlight, he never keeps it to himself.

“Start every day by looking in the mirror and saying ‘you’re amazing’, he encourages. “I do hope you guys leave tonight exhausted, worn out, happy (and after a mammoth 28-song set, that’s almost a given) but if you leave with nothing else, leave with this message. “I hope you understand how important you are. Look at all of us, we were born against the numbers, we’re in a room sharing the love and I couldn’t be happier.”

Full of self-belief, selfdetermination and self-love, Panic’s show is an inspiring tribute to doing things your own way. P

BABYMETAL RETURN There are some big bands returning at the moment, including Babymetal, who have dropped their new single ‘Elevator Girl’. Their first new music since last year’s ‘Starlight’, it arrives ahead of a show at London’s O2 Academy Brixton on 2nd July.

BLINK-182 DROP NEW MUSIC blink-182 have debuted a new single, ‘Blame It On My Youth’.

The Tim Pagnotta-produced track follows news of a run of US tour dates with Lil Wayne this summer, as the trio work their way towards the follow-up to 2016’s ‘California’.

ISSUES ARE BACK Issues have shared their first new song in three years: ’Tapping Out’ is out now via Rise Records, and arrives after some time off to work on other projects. “We couldn’t be more thrilled to finally release new music,” say the band.

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Cut Interview.

+

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A

Stitch Billed as “a patchwork of different sounds, ideas and feelings”, Petrol Girls’ new album ‘Cut & Stitch’ is a reflection of our times.

Words: Sam Taylor

band to believe in, Petrol Girls are one of the best around for channelling societal frustrations into a unifying call to arms. Tackling everything from the environment to mental health, their new album ‘Cut & Stitch’ might just be their most challenging yet - and it arrives after a difficult few years, as vocalist Ren Aldridge explains.

Hey Ren, tell us about your new album - what kind of headspace were you in going into it?

Honestly, we weren’t in the best state. Thank fuck we did the record with [producer] Pete Miles. He was absolutely lovely to all of us and really helped us through what was quite a difficult time, and come out with a great record on top!

I can only really speak about my own

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“I’M SICK OF BEING TREATED LIKE A ONEDIMENSIONAL RAGE WHIRLWIND”

or like I’m super shit, which tough and need it’s fair to say I bringing down a lost, quite a few peg or two - there times, while aren’t any bloody in the studio pegs left!!

- I don’t mean Which brings aggressively, I me to my second just got super point: I know low. I was I’m not the only completely person in a band, burnt out. and especially I’d finished REN ALDRIDGE not the only a full-time woman in a Masters, then feminist band, that’s struggling moved out of where I was living in with how much is demanded of Glasgow and onto a month-long them on top of a very precarious tour, with no solid plan of what I lifestyle. That’s a big part of what was doing next. That tour was a ‘Monstrous’ is about - arguably rough ride - Joe had his bag with the most cathartic lyrics I’ve ever his passport stolen in Paris, both written, from “this is not all of the guitars went missing on a me” to “I can’t give you any more.” flight, I got the flu but also had to power-through, and Zock and Liepa drove the whole thing! It Did you approach this record in was pretty killer. a different way to your debut?

We hit the studio not long after Absolutely. This record that. I still didn’t know where I was written almost entirely was going to live next. We’d played instruments first with vocals a sweet show with Propagandhi, added on top. There was some RVIVR and Dead To Me in restructuring as well, and I think London, slept for a few hours then ‘Burn’ began vocally a few years gone directly to the studio for five ago. But I was living in Glasgow weeks. I hadn’t really slept for while the others were in Austria two nights because I had to deal for a lot of the writing process. with some super urgent legal stuff It was challenging to approach a while we were travelling. We were lot of it vocally - I kept joking that all a bit of a state really! it was like throwing my feelings I’m telling you all this for two into giant walls of math! Most of reasons. Firstly it gives some the interludes, all of ‘Rootless’ background to the lyrics of a few and parts of other tracks were songs. ‘Weather Warning’ is one written in the studio, which isn’t of the last tracks that I put vocals something we’ve ever done before. down for - and those lyrics were It’s always interesting to write literally me dragging my sinking from different directions. mind out of its hole and back into action. ‘Rootless’ is about craving You’ve described ‘Cut & Stitch’ a home and a community but not as a patchwork, how did you go knowing where to go next. I was about taking complex, disparate trying really hard with this record ideas and crafting them into a to be a bit more open and allow cohesive record? some vulnerability. I think you Honestly, I’m not really sure can hear my voice breaking a bit, if it is cohesive or if it needs to which I’m pretty embarrassed be. I guess musically it ends up about now because I struggle somehow coherent because each with showing vulnerability. But band member has a distinctive I’m trying to do this because style, and however we end up I’m sick of being treated like a bringing songs together they one-dimensional rage whirlwind always have our fingerprints on

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them. Personally, I write vocals quite intuitively and emotionally so it’s only once I step back that I can see how it all fits together.

Politically I think it ends up being coherent because capitalism tends to be the root of most of the issues that we touch on.

But one thing I love about the idea of patchwork is that it’s a way of bringing together very different things without requiring them to lose that difference. It resists homogeneity, and I think this is a useful way of thinking about solidarity - especially in feminist struggles. We don’t need to all be the same to work together.

Have any of the lyrical themes you touch on become more pertinent since you penned them?

This is such a great question! I was actually given the opportunity to keep expanding on the lyrics in a pamphlet for Rough Trade Books,

AVA SHARE ‘REBEL GIRL’ Angels & Airwaves are back with their first song in three years.

‘Rebel Girl’ - the follow-up to 2016’s ‘Chasing Shadows’ EP - is the lead track from an upcoming album and feature film project.

It’s a “space-age love song”, says Tom DeLonge.

which is coming out in May alongside the album. I feel like there’s so much more to say on the ideas and points that came up in that. It’s frustrating, actually. I’ve just submitted the final text, and there’s already so much I want to add to the chapters on Sweatshops and the Environment.

‘Tangle of Lives’, the second track on the record, is about the ways that we are connected with, and dependent on, so many of the other species on the planet, and how the individualist mindset that’s catalysed by neoliberalism, alongside the entitlement of rich neocolonialist capitalist wankers is destroying the Earth. I just started watching Our Planet, and I’m as upset as anyone about the walruses, as well as the completely mind-blowing statistics that I’m relieved Attenborough is no longer glossing over. There’s also a video doing the rounds online of George

Monbiot telling Frankie Boyle on mainstream TV that the answer to the climate crisis and ecological devastation is overthrowing capitalism and rewilding the land wherever possible. I couldn’t agree more. I saw an article this morning with the headline that half of England is owned by less than 1% of the population. It’s fucking archaic. There’s so much land that could be rewilded - we need natural forests to soak up the catastrophic levels of carbon in the atmosphere. We also need affordable housing that’s environmentally sustainable and actually decent enough for people to live in. It’s all possible. If the rich can throw billions of pounds at a fucking cathedral, then they can give over land and money to save the fucking planet. P

Petrol Girls’ album ‘Cut & Stitch’ is out 24th May.

BLEACHED HAVE A NEW ALBUM Bleached have announced their new album, ‘Don’t You Think You’ve Had Enough?’. Out on 12th July via Dead Oceans, the news arrives with a video for lead single ‘Hard to Kill’ - watch it at upsetmagazine.com now.

SUM 41 ARE COMING Sum 41’s seventh full-length ‘Order In Decline’ will arrive on 19th July via Hopeless Records, accompanied by a UK tour that visits Exeter (23rd June), Leicester (24th), Glasgow (25th) and Manchester (26th).

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PALE WAVES VS MUSE Pale Waves are going to support Muse at their trio of UK stadium shows. Heather and co. will perform with the band at London Stadium (1st June), Bristol Ashton Gate Stadium (5th), and Manchester Etihad Stadium (8th).

DEAF HAVANA SHOW Deaf Havana are playing a new homecoming show before 2000trees. The band will perform at the Corn Exchange in King’s Lynn on 11th July. “It has been nearly 10 years since we last played in the town where we met,” they explain.

SWS JOIN ALL POINTS EAST Sleeping With Sirens have joined the line-up for Bring Me The Horizon’s day (31st May) at this year’s All Points East. They join Architects, While She Sleeps, Employed To Serve, Run The Jewels, Idles, Yonaka and more.

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FIND OUT WHAT YOUR FAVE BANDS TAKE ON THE ROAD. THIS MONTH...

PRESS CLUB

Ever had to pack for a tour? You’re gonna be spending weeks in a small, intimate space with several other smelly people and - for hours a day, not a lot to do. You’re gonna need to be prepared. That’s why we’ve asked our fave musicians for tips. This month, Nat Foster from Press Club lets us inside her tour suitcase.

Frank Green insulated keep cup.

This cup is the best. It’ll keep a coffee hot (or cold) for hours, so I don’t have to suffer through a truck stop caffeine hit!

Water bottle.

I don’t pretend that I never use plastic water bottles (it’s inevitable on stage a lot of the time cause I’ll drink a litre or two of water!), but I like to minimise my footprint where I can.

Press Club play Reading & Leeds from 23rd-25th August.

Gig shoes. I go through a pair of vans or cons every few months if we’re playing lots of shows. I’ll be ceremoniously throwing out this pair at the end of this run of dates in Europe!

or in a hotel room.

Aeropress/ coffee. I’m not a fan of spending money on shitty coffee when I can make better stuff at home

Film camera.

I find I never look back on photos I’ve taken on a phone so I like to capture things on film. This one doesn’t need any batteries, so it is great for travelling.

Report

PUP-PY POWER PUP are a force for good at The Garage in London.

Words: Ali Shutler Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett

“A

lot of things suck right now,” admits Stefan before PUP launch into the annihilation anthem of ‘Dark Days’. The band have always flirted with destruction, standing on the edge and wondering what next, and who can blame them.

You’ve seen The News, right?

But new album ‘Morbid Stuff’ carries a heavier weight than most. It’s very aware how much things suck, and the band never shy away from the bleak. But tonight’s show at London’s The Garage is anything but.

The album has been out for a

matter of days, but already, the very sold-out room knows every word intimately. It’s because PUP have a way of vocalizing unspoken fears, celebrating shared defeats and bringing people together to shelter against the ongoing storm.

From the opening rattle of ‘Morbid Stuff’ that lunges into the unknown before collapsing in on itself, the room unites.

‘Kids’ whirs with a resilient grin, the hurriedly spoken word rants echoed across the space, before the carnage parade of ‘My Life Is Over And I Couldn’t Be Happier’ erupts and shines.

‘Scorpion Hill’ finds them “down and out”, but standing back up before ‘Free At Last’

rages with a communal heart.

Fists in the air, Pup refuse to give in to defeat. And that’s the sort of inspirational example we need in 2019.

From the heartbreak and loss of ‘Sleep In The Heat’, through the broken promise of ‘Reservoir’ until the frustrated anger of ‘DVP’, PUP deal with the everyday when it feels like the last day. Making space for common ground, tonight shines a light into the dark.

“It’s also so important to take all the positivity and love that’s in here tonight, and spread that out into the world,” reasons Steve. “It’s so, so important right now,” and PUP are leading the charge. P

Upset 23

24 Upset

Cover story.

As their much-anticipated debut album finally arrives, Yonaka are ready to fly high.

Words: Jamie MacMillan Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett

S

inging “I just wanna be a rock star baby” on ‘Caught Dreaming’, Theresa Jarvis is drawn to the same fantasy world that many dream of, one that only a lucky few ever get to enjoy for real. For her and her band Yonaka however, it’s one that’s about to become a reality.

Upset 25

Ever since ‘Ignorance’ exploded onto the airwaves in 2016, Yonaka have been anything but ignorable. Taking no easy short cuts, they have set about stealthily increasing their notoriety, and fanbase, through a series of phenomenal live shows and support slots with some of the biggest names in rock. Part of a new generation of bands set to sweep the old guard aside, the group - named after the Japanese word for ‘dead of night’ - are about to see the sun rise on their thrilling debut ‘Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow’. No longer a mere fantasy, it’s all falling into place for the Brighton group.

Some people are born to be rock stars. Even in their earliest days, few who saw Yonaka in full flow would have doubted that this moment would arrive one day.

Sitting outside the Barbican on a day that aptly feels like it’s on the cusp of exploding into summer, Theresa isn’t so sure that they even fit the tag though.

“People say we’re in a rock band, and I’m like… are we?”

There are many artists that can claim to be above pigeonhole, but few that blur genres like Yonaka, the foursome taking great pleasure in smashing pop hooks into big guitar riffs and mashing hip hop rhythms with synth breakdowns. Flitting between musical worlds, they seem able to slot into any line-up on any stage with ease. Carefully evolving their sound since their formation in 2015, a series of single and EP releases have gradually zeroed in on the genre-straddling beast that we see today.

Despite making it all look easy, merging all these influences and inspirations into a cohesive sound has been a painstaking process. Most important of all, however, the band wanted to wait until they knew exactly what they wanted to say. That moment arrived in the autumn of last year.

Having resisted the temptation

26 Upset

“IF YOU FIND SOMEONE WHO CAN STILL LOVE YOU THROUGH THE BAD TIMES, THEN THAT’S REAL” THERESA JARVIS

to jump into recording a debut in their earlier years, Theresa admits that she was unsure whether she even wanted to record an album at all, but a turbulent period for the lyricist and singer resulted in her realising that she finally knew exactly what she wanted to say.

“I was in a weird place, not sleeping and stuff, and there was this constant wave of people taking their lives. All my family and friends, they’ve all gone through these different situations with either depression or anxiety affecting them, and I was just writing about mental health a lot.”

A door opened, and the more she wrote, the more it came. “It was so, so present in me, it was almost like vomit. I just thought, I have to talk about this.”

Even the album title itself comes with a clarion-like urgency, a call to reach out.

With a knowledge that ‘the time is now’, the record carries a message of acting before it’s too late. Aware of the downsides of emotionally baring all like this, all her fears and hopes on full display, there is still a slight nervousness at points.

“Sometimes if I overthink it I’m like, I don’t wanna talk about it too much. But then I realise that is exactly what I’m telling people not to do.”

The others, all listening intently as she speaks, nod in support.

“So now, I talk about it quite

a lot, I’m open about it, and I think it’s important for other people to know that they’re not the only ones to feel a certain way sometimes. Other people are experiencing the same things, and I feel like it’s nice when you know you’re not the only one.

That brought some comfort to me, anyway.”

After years of people suffering in silence until it was too late, the times seem to be changing.

“It’s the only way the message keeps going,” guitarist George Edwards adds quietly. “The more people open up, that’s how messages like this stick around

and become permanent.”

Suitably for a band with those nocturnal origins to their name, themes of dreams and wakefulness are also prevalent to much of the record. Digging into the differences between an idealised Facebook version of perfect relationships versus the imperfect reality, there is much here about love too - but all viewed through a filter of honesty.

“If you can find someone who can tolerate you in your worst moments, when I’m ugly and low and stuff, it’s just fucking cool,” explains Theresa. “I’ve been in

Upset 27

relationships where people just see the outside of it, and it’s all kissing and lovely and being nice.

But it’s not just that, you’ve got the underlying bits when people go through bad patches. If you find someone who can still love you through the bad times, then that’s real.”

These are not fluffy sentiments, but instead a big statement from an act and a singer who feel they have delivered a defining debut.

Discussing other iconic first records, some seriously big guns are thrown into the mix by the four - the likes of Arctic Monkeys, The Strokes, Jeff Buckley amongst those picked out. In an impatient world, Theresa fully understands the need to make the right impact the first time.

“Right now, I think this album defines us completely. There are some special messages in there; this isn’t a throwaway album.”

There is a familial sense about Yonaka that is apparent immediately; each member tripping over themselves during the interview to finish each other’s sentence. Every anecdote ends in all of them laughing and speaking over each other, ripping lovingly into someone (usually Theresa), a fierce bond that comes from a closeness that is far more than just musical. It’s clear that a spark burns deeply inside all of them, a self-contained drive and gang mentality that extends to the music too.

Admitting that there were plenty of people offering advice before recording, they felt unerring confidence in their own vision and abilities. Having self-produced their previous EP, ‘Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow’ was again produced entirely in-house, bassist Alex Crosby pulling the strings during and after an exhausting recording session in a cottage near Milton Keynes.

As drummer Rob Mason

28 Upset

“I DON’T LIKE IT WHEN BANDS FILL AN ALBUM WITH OLD STUFF, IT’S A BIT OF A COP-OUT” ROB MASON

explains: “We’d worked with loads of other producers before, that’s always good to do. But ultimately with this album, we got it sounding exactly how we wanted and had complete creative control.”

“We didn’t have to compromise at all” nods Alex.

Aware of just how rare and lucky they were to be in that position of total power for their debut album, the pressure came from within.

“It felt like we were locked away for a while, but it was the best thing that could have happened,” ponders Theresa, the prospect of self-imposed

deadlines inspiring the band to deliver more, faster.

“You’re always looking at the clock in a big studio, with a set amount of time to get it done. It can be good to have that amount of stress sometimes,” nods George.

Spending what felt like every waking moment in the studio, they’re honest about the stresses that eventually resulted in gold.

“At points, we were all like, we’re never gonna do this,” admits Theresa, while Rob, the permanent voice of calm during the interview, proclaims: “It’s good to have that mini-meltdown and let it all out, and then go cool,

that’s done. Let’s get back on it.”

Trial and error it may have been at certain points in the recording process, but the results reflect a group of musicians sure of foot and certain of purpose.

“No-one got that uptight because we all just knew that there was no point, you’re never gonna get anywhere if you get all sassy about it,” says Theresa.

“That’s how we kept moving forward.”

‘Fresh’ was Theresa’s buzzword for each song, a desire to not sound like anybody else, either now or in the past.

“You want people to be like, who’s that? You don’t want them just to be, oh that sounds like so-and-so, or that sounds like something from the eighties. We don’t want that at all.”

Guitars and synths may have been mashed together for decades, but it’s rarely with as much, well,

freshness as this.

“Music is just post-genre anyway now,” they say, proving it with a diversity of early musical influences such as Amy Winehouse, funk and Motown, even joking that they will invite neo-soul legend Erykah Badu in for album number two - but they quickly began to lean more into one specific direction.

“We’re way more open to the ideas of a more electronic influence than most bands, we’ve just been more experimental,” says Rob, while the fact that they write largely on a computer brings its own unique touches.

“You go to places you wouldn’t naturally go, even if it’s through accident or design,” explains Alex, as Theresa elaborates: “You hear a sound on its own, and it’s a bit weird, but then you put it in, and it sounds perfect. We can experiment a lot that way.”

Keeping things fresh, all bar a handful of older songs were discarded for the debut. Early single ‘Ignorance’ has morphed and undergone an evolution into ‘Awake’, joined only by older favourites ‘Fired Up’ and ‘Creature’ on the record.

“I don’t like it when bands fill an album with old stuff, I feel like it’s a bit of a cop-out really,” admits Rob. Theresa meanwhile, is open about her feelings that much of their earlier work now doesn’t speak to her personally. “I’m not in that place anymore, and stuff like ‘Heavy’ is not something that I would release today.”

The songwriting process was kept lean, with barely any offcuts or extras kept back.

“I don’t think there are many songs that we started writing that we didn’t use, we’re quite particular. We only had a couple more songs that didn’t make it; one was called ‘Girl’, but it just didn’t fit,” she shrugs.

George is more blunt: “We have to love every song,” he states firmly. “We’re quite protective that way.”

YONAKA’S FAVE DEBUT ALBUMS ARCTIC MONKEYS

Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not

“It’s just legendary, in the way it sounded, the songwriting style. It was just sick. There was nothing like it, and then everyone was chasing it.”

THE STROKES

Is This It? “C’mon, the one with the glove! Amazing.

Really cool”

AMY WINEHOUSE

Frank “This was crazy because she was like, jazz, but in a completely fucking modern way. It was nuts.”

JEFF BUCKLEY

Grace “That’s a listen-toat-any-time record; it stands the test of time. It’s so fucking good; it puts my heart in my stomach every time I hear it.”

Upset 29

Making the bold choice to disregard much of the material that got them to this point is yet another confident decision from a band who seemed to suddenly hit the booster button following last year’s festival season.

“I felt that change in myself,” agrees Theresa about the rapid acceleration. “It took me a while to find it in myself; I would always ask myself what I wanted to say or do.”

At the same time that her songwriting evolved, she feels that the others took massive strides too. “It was like they found this way of matching the

30 Upset

music to my words, matching the same emotion as my lyrics.”

Everyone noticed the same upgrade. “It’s always weird when people tell you that you won’t notice when your moment arrives,” says George, “but a couple of months ago, that’s when you knew it had clicked in.”

Theresa describes it in even stronger terms: “It was only a few months ago that I felt we actually became Yonaka for real.”

‘Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow’ comes out during an interesting time for rock, where a new breed of artist is pushing against a very traditional history. Are the old

guard about to be swept away?

“I love it right now, personally,” says Theresa. “Rock getting mixed with hip hop influences and electronic stuff, I think it sounds wicked. Because it’s new, isn’t it?”

They all nearly leap to their feet with excitement at this topic.

“It’s the only logical way for rock to go, blending and mashing stuff up,” says Rob, while Alex points out that “even bands like IDLES, they don’t have any sort of electronic edge but it’s still fresh, they’re still pushing what they can do within their genre.”

Fresh. Always fresh.

“Their lyrics are amazing; they have real messages in them. I feel like there was a patch where no-one cared much lyrically. It all used to be, ‘I’m at a party, I’m drinking Henny, I’m doing drugs, I’m getting laid’,” sings Theresa in a perfect impression of much of early-00s music. “But now, if you have this platform, you do need to be saying something with it.”

That’s not to say that they have anything but love for some of the elder statesmen of rock. Killing Joke, who Yonaka played with in 2017, are credited by Theresa as inspiring them to find a bigger message to the world. “Jaz and Youth [from the band] kept asking us, ‘What’s your fucking manifesto?’, and I was like errr…

I’m just gonna go get some food.”

So do they have one now?

“Yeah. It’s about being powerful, sticking up for yourself, about not feeling like you’re alone in this world, and about reaching out to other people. I just want people to feel strong and know that they have a place here.”

Jaz and Youth would approve.

As anecdotes roll about Dave Grohl minesweeping the tables and stealing Rob’s beer at last year’s Kerrang! Awards, (“I gave it to him,” claims the drummer to widespread disbelief), talk turns to the annual online moanfest about Reading & Leeds’ line-up,

“IF YOU HAVE THIS PLATFORM, YOU NEED TO BE SAYING SOMETHING WITH IT” THERESA JARVIS

which has the Foos at the top of the bill alongside The 1975, Twenty One Pilots and Post Malone.

“If they had the internet back in the 80s, they’d have still been moaning about Reading then!” points out George, before adding “Music is always a revolution.”

In this way, Yonaka are the perfect representation of the current state of guitar music and its rapid evolution. Noticing a slow shift towards gender equality, Theresa is optimistic about the current state of affairs.

Though still admitting that she is often the only woman on a bill, there is a sense that a shift is starting to occur slowly.

“I’m seeing more women on line-ups, so it is getting better.

But what I think is cool is the number of young girls I get coming up to me after a show saying that they feel like they can go and do this now. That’s when it’s sick, when I feel like this is really doing something.”

Before their debut is even out, they are already looking to the next steps. Admitting that album number two will soon be in their sights, they chat amiably about potential topics. With their rock star dreams hopefully being realised, will it all be big cars and burning money?

“Yeah, totally!” laughs Theresa as the interview dissolves into chaos, their PR suddenly looking panicked on a neighbouring table as potential headlines of burning £50 notes undoubtedly flash through his mind. In reality, though, there is a sense that they could go literally anywhere from here. The only certainty is that wherever they do go, it won’t be boring. No more dreaming, it’s time to wake up and leap into Yonaka’s world. P Yonaka’s

debut album ‘Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow’ is out 31st May.

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There are loads of brilliant new bands around pages, we’ll introduce you to more.

Australia is a hotbed for new talent, and Eat Your Heart Out are perfect for soundtracking sunny days and road trips.

Words: Sam Taylor

E

at Your Heart Out are every bit as heart-onsleeve as you’d expect; their debut album sees them channel vulnerable and often angry coming-of-age lyrics through an onslaught of passionate emo-pop. Vocalist Caitlin Henry introduces her band.

How are you feeling about your debut’s release, excited?

Nervous? What do you think people will make of it?

It’s always nerve-wracking to put new music out in the world and release something you’ve worked so hard on and are so

32 Upset

emotionally invested in, but mostly we are just very excited for it to be out there. It’s hard to know how it will be received when you’re so close to it, but all we can do is hope it resonates with people!

result possible. Emotions can definitely run high in the studio because writing and recording is such a personal thing to do and puts you in quite a vulnerable emotional state, but I think overall it was a cool experience.

Where did you record, and how was your time in the studio?

What do you most enjoy writing songs about?

We recorded with Zach Tuch in LA. The studio time is kind of a blur if I’m honest! We worked from the morning to late at night every day for five and a half weeks, some days it felt like groundhog day, but we wanted to make sure we maximised our time to hopefully get the best end

The easiest songs on the album to write were the angry ones, the lyrics just flowed super fast when I think back to how upset I was in a certain situation. It’s just enjoyable to write a song about anything that means something to you. I used to struggle with writing lyrics on our earlier EPs

this summer. Over the next few

THE MURDER CAPITAL

FFO Idles, Shame and Slaves, The Murder Capital are quickly marking themselves out as one of Ireland’s best new rock bands. Catch them on tour in July.

HOT MILK because I didn’t know how to tap into my feelings and express them properly, but this time around I started to learn how to revisit those feelings and find words to channel how certain people and situations and experiences made me feel.

What are the biggest challenges facing new bands at the mo, do you think?

Social media is hard. It’s such an important tool to connect with listeners, but it can be easy to accidentally just forget about it for a few days or feel like nothing is worth posting. I also think it’s a huge challenge for bands to try and create a sound that’s fresh and new but still accessible when there are so many bands absolutely killing it right now.

Have you spent much time outside of Australia yet? Will we

see you in the UK soon?

We toured the USA in the fall 2018, and so far that has been our only international trip as a band! If the album is well received hopefully, we’ll have to opportunity to visit the US again and of course visit the UK for the first time. We would love to get to the UK as soon as possible because the music scene there seems amazing!

It feels like there are a lot of good new bands coming out of Australia, who would you recommend?

Some of my favourites at the moment are Ambleside, Endless Heights, Yours Truly, Reside and The Beautiful Monument.

Definitely check all of them out if you haven’t already! P

Eat Your Heart Out’s debut album ‘Florescence’ is out now.

Fresh from playing Upset’s stages at both Live At Leeds and The Great Escape, emo power-poppers Hot Milk have just dropped debut EP ‘Are You Feeling Alive?’.

THE REGRETTES Long-time faves The Regrettes are cooler than 99% of everyone ever. Often found on tour with SWMRS, they’re bringing their absurdly catchy punk back to the UK in August.

Upset 33

T

hese are cynical times. Every day we’re overloaded with news and opinions, trying to decipher who’s speaking the truth, all while negativity slides into being the new norm.

Weatherstate’s debut album ‘Born A Cynic’ is here not to reflect upon society’s miseries, but to highlight our current state of mind - or at least that of vocalist and guitarist Henry Hoskins.

Ever since they appeared back in 2016 with debut EP ‘Dumbstruck’, they’ve been a frenetic, energised cathartic instrument for Henry to pummel his negativity through, often enhancing it for effect.

“I’ve always found the songs, and the band in general, to be a way of me expressing that,” he begins, his Bristolian accent far less angst-ridden than his vocals.

“It’s just I take the bad bits that I’m currently feeling and put them under a magnifying glass and just ramp it up by ten and get as angry as possible or get as happy as possible, or as sad as possible just to really emphasise that and let it come out in the songs.”

Brewing it all to this point was not a forced affair. Henry, along with guitarists Joe Hogan and Callan Milward, and drummer Toby Wrobel, are an outfit that only pull from the real, from that which resides within.

“For me, it’s an outlet,” he says.

“It’s all completely legit and true, but I wouldn’t go around day to day life just being bad company

and constantly frowning, for example. It’s my way of dealing with those bad bits, so rather than necessarily taking it out on other people that’s my way of getting that out of my system.”

One listen through to ‘Born A Cynic’, and you can hear this nature of Henry’s. On ‘Sympathy’, he calls out: “Collate my thoughts around my head and beat them out instead.” It’s a method that’s rife across their debut.

“A lot of the lyrical themes were inspired by Saves The Day,” he explains. “Often you’d find they would have really positive sounding songs, but the lyrical content would be comically negative; references about hating someone so much that you want them to take a toaster in the bath, or just really ridiculous over the top ways of expressing that.

“I remember at the time listening to it and thinking that resonates with me. They’re a summery pop-punk band but with such negative lyrics. For me, that clicked, and that’s something I can relate to which comes out in some of the content on this record.”

Bringing the building blocks they explored on the ‘Dumbstruck’ EP it was far from a rinse repeat; Weatherstate make sure every moment is meticulously constructed.

“We had some songs in the works after that EP, but it was only ever a couple of songs. [A debut] is obviously a big jump in maintaining that level of intensity,” he explains. “You can’t just have eleven identical tracks.

It’s about trying to find that pace, the right song for the right moment - that was a real learning

“WE CAN’T FUCK THIS UP, THIS IS IT: THE MOMENT” HENRY HOSKINS

curve for us, [but] I feel like we managed to adapt alright in the end, but it just took hours and hours and hours!”

The hours they spent toiling away brought both raw, punk goodness and frustration, with Henry citing the writing as “a very stressful time”.

“Myself and Callan used to spend nights writing because of our outside work commitments,” he explains. “He would work in the evening as a chef, and I would work in an office in finance so we wouldn’t actually be able to work together and demo until he finished at 10.30 pm. Often our demoing wouldn’t start until then, and it’d go on until 2 am.

We were just pissed off with each other at times, but it’s healthy. “[We were also] just stressed with the focus of thinking we can’t fuck this up, this is it, the moment. If I blow my voice out one day, then we’re done. Those type of stresses makes it a lot more intense.”

The band are keen to keep alive something that’s been the soundtrack to countless generations: the sound of a bunch of people in a garage just making noise for fun, as Henry states.

“It sounds so corny, but you can’t recreate that energy and rawness of a band just plugging in and playing.” P Weatherstate’s

debut album ‘Born A Cynic’ is out now.

Weatherstate specialise in optimistic pop punk with super dark lyrics.

Words: Steven Loftin 34 Upset

Upset 35

DREAM STATE

O

ne of the hottest breakthrough bands around right now, Dream State are preparing for a defining year. Hot on the heels of last year’s ‘Recovery’ EP, and an epic Linkin Park cover for Hopeless Records’ ‘Songs That Saved My Life’ charity compilation, the five-piece are hard at work on their debut fulllength proper - it’s a “long and intensive process”, guitarist Rhys Wilcox explains.

Hey Rhys, how’s it going?

Enjoying your time on the road?

Hey Upset! I’m doing great,

thanks. Our UK tour came to a close in Cardiff last night, so I feel like there’s this haze of euphoria and exhaustion surrounding me at the moment. The response has been completely overwhelming in the best possible way, and I can’t wait to get going again!

We hear you’ve been writing lots of new music lately, can you tell us what you’re up to?

The secret is out, and I can say that we’re officially working on our debut album! We’ve been completely immersed in our art for the last twelve months, reaching a potential that we didn’t know we were capable of.

It honestly feels like we’re on to something special and thanks to the help of producer Dan Weller, our vision for this album is falling into place. While I can’t go into specifics, you can expect a release via UNFD later this year!

How far along are you?

I’d say that what we’ve done so far is just the tip of the iceberg, haha!

Making an album is a long and intensive process which is only limited by how much energy we can physically and mentally put into it. That being said, we don’t want our listeners to be waiting too long for new music either, so this is when deadlines can be a blessing in disguise!

Do you have any favourite new songs we should be watching out for over the summer?

Absolutely! We’ve been giving a sneak peek of new material across the tour, and it’s been amazing to see the crowd’s reactions every night. It’ll carry through to our upcoming shows, so make sure you watch this space!

‘Hand In Hand’ is great, is it a good example of what you’ve been working on lately?

Thank you so much! We’re glad you like it!! I see ‘Hand In Hand’ like a good movie trailer; there are snippets of the action throughout, but it’s not too revealing. We’ve really pushed the boat out with a load of abstract conceptual stuff, so there’s guaranteed to be surprises, twists and turns to keep you on your toes!

How have you guys gone about deciding what to include on your debut and what to leave 36 Upset

off, has it been a tough process?

The last year has been insanely hectic with touring, jobs, festivals and holidays being regular obstacles to overcome. We have to be ruthless and concise with decision making if we want to get the best possible result under the circumstances.

Choosing songs felt a bit like natural selection - survival of the fittest - which was definitely frustrating at times, but there have been moments in this process that brought out some real magic which might not have happened otherwise. Looking back over what we’ve done so far, I like to think we made the right call!

What tips would you give other bands approaching their debut album?

Fail to prepare, prepare to fail.

It’s been a lifelong dream of mine to work on a full-length album, but it’s an incredibly rare experience which needs to be lived to the fullest. Time in the studio is brief and expensive, so it’s essential to get the foundations down and be well rehearsed ahead of time. It’s not always possible, but having options and finer details in mind as part of the writing process can make all the difference!

What are you lot up to over the summer, lots of festivals and stuff?

Lots of festivals, lots of album work and if we’re lucky, a little bit of downtime too!

Currently in the pipeline are Groezrock (Belgium), Teddy Rocks, Handmade, 2000trees, Reading & Leeds and Burn It Down. So many great stages and bands to watch - I can’t wait! P

PAGAN

Melbourne four-piece Pagan are super underrated. Last year’s debut album ‘Black Wash’ largely flew under the radar, but with the group in the midst of a massive UK tour - including Slam Dunk - that’s all about to change.

PARTING GIFT

WOES

VALERAS

ZUZU

Across their new EP ‘Ensom’ (out now via their new label, Fearless Records), Manchester alt-rockers Parting Gift offer up emotional tunes of an epic, wide-screen proportions.

Fresh from touring with Drenge, Reading fivepiece Valeras sing about sexuality, displacement, sacrifice and loss against a backdrop of retro guitarpop. Place them next to Black Honey in your summer playlist.

Over the past few years, Woes have built their way up from low-key shows to packed-out festival sets and loads of buzzy support slots. Their debut album ’Awful Truth’ finally arrives on 28th June.

A self-confessed vintage guitar nerd, Liverpool’s Zuzu is one of the most fun singer-songwriters around. Her catchy alt-pop tunes are packed full of references to comic books, cartoons and sci-fi. Find her at Reading & Leeds.

Upset 37

“I

don’t feel like the same person as before,” admits Frank Iero.

First, there was the period of steady growth and spotlight acceptance that came alongside his debut solo album, ‘Stomachaches’. A record made in basements for no one but himself, it quickly became so much more. Touring the world and sharing those fears with an audience who were just as afraid, he slowly became comfortable as a leader.

Next came the soul-searching, blood-letting, visceral exploration of ‘Parachutes’. An album of loss, despair and salvation, recording it was the hardest thing Frank had ever done, but that struggle created majesty.

However, before it was released, Frank, his brother-in-law and bandmate Evan Nestor, and their manager Paul Clegg were involved in a traffic accident that very nearly killed them. They survived, but things were changed forever.

“The cycle for ‘Parachutes’ was so stunted,”

38 Upset

Cover story.

Frank Iero has been through the ringer.

Following a bus accident in 2016, he’s focussed on moving on.

Words: Ali Shutler Upset 39

starts Frank. “To record a record like that, to be ready to finally release it, and then to have something swiftly come in and take everything from you, that was heartbreaking.”

By the time the band were back on the road some four months later, “I felt like a completely different person. When you have a near-death experience like that, when you basically meet the end and are then plopped back in, your DNA changes. I feel like every cell in my body is completely different. I interpret things differently.

I think of things differently. Things taste differently to me. I’m not the same person I was.”

The Patience played their last show on 30th December 2017.

Frank wouldn’t appear onstage again for fifteen months; the longest he’s ever gone without playing live since he was thirteen. Stepping away from the familiar patterns of life on the road freaked him out, but he needed the change.

And now he’s back.

New person, new band, new album.

‘Barriers’ takes the excitement of a new beginning and runs with it. Aware of the past but not tethered to it, it’s a record of honesty, urgency and action. During his time away, he crafted songs as well as building a new band.

“I was trying to figure out what life is. I was trying to spend time

40 Upset

with my children, my wife, and enjoy the now. I had to heal my body and my mind, and it took some time.”

He used those months away from the spotlight “to just get back to what makes everything worthwhile,” he explains. For so long, Frank had lived out of suitcases, and now: “I don’t know if this new person can do that anymore.”

With dates looming in the diary, he started to worry.

“It’s been a weird range of emotion and fears. Do I know how to not do it? Am I able to survive in the real world without this? Am I able to go do it again after all this time? It’s weird, forcing yourself to face all these different fears and scaring yourself into hopefully doing something amazing.”

“That’s why ‘Barriers’ was such a tremendous undertaking for me,” he continues. “It felt like the first time again. In my past life, this is what I did. But living in this new skin, and breathing this new air, do I know how to do this?

“And of course, you have a new band at this point. Everything was so new and strange and unproven.

It was the first record I’d written since that accident. It was a time I had to address, without the words to describe it. How do I even attempt to address the feelings that I feel when nothing feels big enough to cover these emotions?

There’s this varied spectrum of emotions that I’m dealing with, that I still haven’t made sense of just yet, but ‘Barriers’ is helping me do that.”

“I know I don’t have to explain myself to you,” he sings during the floor-quaking collapse of ‘Six Feet Down Under, “but I might feel better if I try.”

Now he’s emerging out the other side, Frank is determined to help others through the mire.

For years, he’s has been sharing his own insecurities and being viewed as a role model by those that have seen themselves in those admissions. ‘Barriers’ is

“WHEN YOU HAVE A NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE LIKE THAT, YOUR DNA CHANGES; I’M NOT THE SAME PERSON I WAS” FRANK IERO

different though; it’s written to connect. It’s meant to start a movement. Frank Iero and The Future Violents are deliberate in what, and how, they want to inspire.

The name was an accident.

An air steward misheard ‘The Patience’ as the band flew to Sydney, but Frank fell in love and wrote it down.

“Maybe it could be a song title or something, but along the way, I started to think more and more about that collection of words and what they meant. I started to think about the scope of the band, the things we had gone through and how life felt a lot like a pane of glass or a pristine lake. You can stare into it and passively live, or you can reach out, pick up a stone, throw it into the pond and actively participate.”

You can watch things change, or you can change things.

“It’s a very deliberate, abrupt and violent act but I don’t think it’s necessarily a negative one. It’s a way to actively smash things up and to leave a footprint.”

The idea behind this record and the name of the band is inclusive.

“The Future Violents isn’t just the five of us; it’s the people that are listening: they’ll be the ones that will actively participate, disrupt things and leave a mark.”

“I feel like things have changed,” Frank continues, talking about the personal before switching to the global; the same agile shift that happens throughout ‘Barriers’. “I’m ready for something new. I need that. I feel like, everything that we have done in the past needs to be wiped away, and there needs to be a new spark.

“Hopefully, if I can contribute some fuel to that fire, that’s the point of this. To scare the hell out of each other so we can attempt the things we never thought we could attempt before.”

There’s nothing left to lose.

Still, Frank, front and centre, fearlessly gives a lot of himself away on this record.

“That’s the scourge of the creative person, trying to figure out how much you give, how much you veil and when you do decide to relinquish all of it, what are people going to think? Are they going to get it? That’s a hard pill to have to swallow, but we do it every time. I’ve always felt like the biggest fear of many artists is for them to find out, ‘Oh I’m crazy’.

“The one thing we’re all desperately holding onto is our sanity. When you push that envelope, how far you chase those songs and the ideas that you have, sometimes you’re walking along the brink. It’s hard to know if you’ve fallen off the edge.”

Frank’s always spoken for the many, for the voiceless, for those who don’t quite know how to put into words the battle raging

Upset 41

“WILL I EVER MAKE ANOTHER RECORD AGAIN? WHO FUCKING KNOWS” FRANK IERO

behind their eyes.

“I’d like to say that you don’t need it, but I truly feel like that’s the end result. That’s the final stage of any art. I used to think when you were done with it; you were done. The art was finished.

The older I get, the more I realise that the first step is releasing it.

The last step is having people take it in and then do what they will with it. To be inspired and create other things from there.

“When people get it, when they truly understand where you’re coming from, that’s a real wonderful feeling. When you’re playing those shows, and people are singing along, and it’s coming from the heart and not just because they read it in the liner note, but they feel it. What you’re feeling, they feel as well. That’s all we ever wanted. As humans, we just wanna be understood.”

“It’s funny man, I’ve always thought the stuff I wrote was very hopeful and almost celebratory,” he considers, “but other people have told me I’m wrong. But I don’t feel that. I’ll put out a song or an album, and people will ask, ‘Why is this so dark and depressing?’ I don’t think it is.”

The threatening, gnarled stare of ‘Police Police’ is a political one and it dances in the grey.

“You have things that we can all see to be inherently bad. The idea is that we need to remember that humanity is key. It’s not about right and wrong; it’s about your

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fellow men and looking out for one another. It’s not about rules; it’s about love.”

Full of deliberate tension and everyday horror, it sees the band at breaking point. “No more silence while children scream, locked in cages built overseas,” it rages. “Every time we condone another version of hate, we get farther from God,” it continues, but the power is given to the listener, hope for a brighter future and the insistence to take action now.

“It’s a song that I felt like I needed to write. I couldn’t see the things that were going on around me and not address something,” Frank explains.

“The pursuit of happiness is a fucking right,” comes the golden belief. “It’s not just words on a piece of paper. I’d like to think that light comes from dark. If it doesn’t, then what’s the point? I’d

like to believe we are truly coming through the worst of it.

“The negativity is so loud right now because fear sells papers and it makes me people click links, but I do think there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and we are going to see it as awareness takes shape. We’re going to start to hold each other up as opposed to break each other down. The majority of people are good and are trying to make things better. I do have hope, cos that’s all you can have.”

And it starts from the off.

Following on from the sense of finality that came with finally releasing Death Spells’ “Nothing Above, Nothing Below’ as well as clearing the slate with ‘Keep The Coffins Coming’, ‘Barriers’ starts with the promise of ‘A New Day Is Coming.’

“It wasn’t the first song written for this project. It was a song that I’d been singing to my kids, but it

wasn’t a real boy yet.”

Eventually, it grew into something without strings.

“When we heard it recorded back and playing over the speakers, it was like, oh man; this is the pallet cleanse. This is the wash. You can introduce anything at this point.”

And it had to be the first song, all resilient hope, new beginnings and anything-can-happen dare.

It’s not Frank’s typical opening number though. That can be found halfway through the album, with the end of the world, party romp of ‘Moto-Pop’, snarling with the promise of “we create a new sound to kill the old sound.

We open old wounds to flood the room.”

Elsewhere there’s the whispered bounce of ‘Medicine Square Garden’, the fuzzy build of ‘Ode To Destruction and the thrash of ‘Basement Eyes’, that

pleads “I just want something to believe in.” And Frank’s found a few.

“Love and my family are the most prevalent. My kids, they give me that hope on a daily basis. That song’s about being in a basement with your friends and creating something. It’s about holding onto the things that made you want to do this, that light in your eyes and that spark. It’s not fully inspiration, and it’s not a desire for fame and fortune. It’s something different.

It’s something so much more pure.

Over the years, you see that light flicker and fade in some of the people that you started out with, and you hope they find their way back.

“That song doesn’t have to be about being in a band; it could be about anything in your life that you care about or are inspired by.

That flame, that’s what makes us, us. Finding that thing to believe in, that’s important. If you were to ask me ‘What’s the meaning of everything? What’s the meaning of life?’ It’s definitely that pursuit of happiness. Finding that thing, that purpose, that makes you want to get up and go through all this. The thing that makes everything worthwhile.

“When you’re working towards that goal, when you’re doing the thing that you love, time flies by, and you have a smile on your face, and it makes you feel good. It’s that high you can chase and never stop,” he smiles, before thinking back to his time away from the road.

“I don’t think I can completely shut off the creative side, the touring side or the part of me that needs to be out there playing music, but I don’t think I need to be on full throttle as much as I did.”

Since ‘going solo’, every record has had a different flavour, a different band name. It’s always felt like a moment in time, but The Future Violents feels like it’s deliberately building something.

It’s a new beginning, and it feels like there’s more to come.

“It’s weird, man; you’re not the first person to say that to me. It’s very early on in this project but here’s the thing, the fact you’re not the first person to say that, means something. This does feel like something different.

“I like that I set up the rule that it’s going to be different every time, and that the personnel and the name will change, but rules are meant to be broken. I have no idea what happens next, but I do know that this feels good. I know that this record feels amazing.

It’s something I feel incredibly proud of.

“When I first started writing this record, I couldn’t fathom it.

I couldn’t picture myself doing it. And now that I’ve done it, I can’t imagine my life without this record. I can’t imagine not writing these songs and have it be a part of my life. It’s an amazing feeling.

Will this continue? Who knows.

Will I ever make another record again? Who fucking knows.”

What’s important is now. The rest can wait.

“My main goal is to inspire people to do the thing they think they can’t do. To push it beyond their comfort zone. To be scared.”

Frank’s lived it, time and time again. He knows how powerful it is.

“It’s important to do the things that scare the shit out of us. I’ve been there. A lot. It would have been very easy for me to say, ‘nah, I’m not going to do that. I’ve got all these grand plans, but I’m never going to execute them’.

“That feeling of not being able to do something, that statement of ‘I can’t’, I want to attack that.

Really succeeding in something that you thought you couldn’t do, that’s the big bang. That’s what we need more of.”

Breaking down those barriers, that’s how we make the difference.

P Frank Iero and the Future

Violents’ album ‘Barriers’ is out 31st May.

Upset 43

H

eavy metal is a genre stuck between a rock and a hard place in the evolutionary process. Legacy acts remain as poster boys years on from their golden days as fans stare at change with a face of fear while newer, experimental bands languish in potential purgatory.

As heavy metal reaches its breaking point, Woking’s Employed To Serve look to lead the charge in metal’s next evolution.

“Look at Metallica, they’re dads; they’re pushing almost sixty! They’re going to have to retire at some point, and we have to come to terms with that.”

Frontwoman Justine Jones preaches the words no metal fan wishes to hear, but for the genre to continue to evolve, it must accept it and rediscover the passion that brought those old bands to new heights once more.

“Who wants metal to die? No one does – it’s so special, it’s such a unifying genre of music because it’s like supporting the underdog football team, it’s the fifth division team that does well. People have so much passion for it; I think people are cottoning on to the fact that they need to champion these young bands to go through the ranks and replace the legacy acts.”

It’s more than just holding on to the past glories of a genre that fuels the fire in Employed To Serve’s bellies; the maintenance

44 Upset

of the authenticity that metal has built itself on for decades plays a part.

“I feel like if artists continue to do it past their sell-by date, in terms of if they’re not enjoying it or fulfilling themselves anymore, people see through that,” she explains. “They know when it’s not your 100% album; they know you’re not feeling it because they’re not stupid. They have a lot of context and other artists that they listen to.

“I’m not bringing age into it, because there are plenty of older artists who are bringing out amazing music, but there are a lot who aren’t as young and as angry as they were, and people see it when it becomes like more of a career, more of an agenda than pure passion.”

Passion and evolution are two of Employed To Serve’s key ingredients. Throw in some technical death metal and alt-metal vibes a la Gojira, Meshuggah and Deftones, and you’ve got one of Britain’s heaviest bands in years, and on their third album ‘Eternal Forward Motion’, they’re using the natural process of evolution as a person to evolve as a band.

“As people we’re still finding our way in life,” reflects Justine.

“I’m at this age where you believe you’re not finished growing up until your midthirties; I’m in a constant internal struggle with who I want to be, and it reflects in how we want to be as a band. We’ve been finding our sound.”

Cover story.

One of metal’s brightest lights, Employed To Serve are leaders of the new class.

Words: Jack Press, Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett Upset 45

2017’s ‘Warmth Of A Dying Sun’ was a critically-acclaimed album-of-the-year second effort that catapulted Justine, guitarists Sammy Urwin and James Jackson, bassist Jamie Venning and drummer Robbie Back to the front of the new breed of British metal’s pack.

‘Eternal Forward Motion’ takes their nasty hardcore formula, upscales the technical wizardry we’ve come to expect from them and opened the floodgates with songs that are at once their heaviest yet their most accessible.

“At the end of the day, the goal is to have more people listening to you, and it wasn’t in a contrived way where we set out to write a song everyone can listen to, it was just an entirely natural thing.

“When you have a straighter, chorusoriented song, like ‘Harsh Truth’, it helps achieve that, and it’s the direction we’re going in as a band; we’re becoming more accessible. All of the songs I love have strong choruses – we wanted to write a song like ‘My Own Summer’ by Deftones. That’s the impact we want to have.”

As a wise comicstrip superhero was once told, with great power comes great responsibility, and the pressure put on the band in the wake of critical acclaim meant their songwriting practices were put under a microscope

46 Upset

for thorough analysis and investigation. It’s a process which paid off tenfold in producing ‘Eternal Forward Motion’’s high impact hardcore.

“As a band, we’re quite good at being insular and concentrating on what we can do better in ourselves rather than attempt to meet everyone else’s expectations – we’re very self-aware of when we’re cutting things short.

“We’ve spent a lot more time vetting our songs on this album; we were a lot more cut-throat.

There were certain songs that we literally cut in half and took aspects of and put them into other songs. We had a Frankenstein thing going on.”

‘Eternal Forward Motion’ is born not only out of passion, but out of pain. Rising from the ashes of a year of personal hell, Employed To Serve reincarnate the negatives of their personal lives into messages of positivity, channelling their out-of-thestudio anger into on-record aggression. The resulting force is as a band at their most visceral.

That aggression, as Justine explains, comes from a place of reflection rather than resentment.

“Sure, professionally, I’ve had the best year of my life but at the same time a lot of personal stuff happened, and I just haven’t been in a good place, and it’s been the same for a couple of other band members.

“It’s definitely shown through in the songs. Everyone always thinks we’re having a really good time and everything’s going great, and yeah, you’re right, it is, but it’s not without its struggles, and it’s not without its bad times.”

Single ‘Harsh Truth’, like much of ‘Eternal Forward Motion’’s sonic makeup, is defined by its dynamics. Built around Justine’s aggressive vocals, the band slowly blends in bit-by-bit, like puzzle pieces connecting to form a bigger picture. A bigger picture brought about by the band’s own personal experiences that are as much a

reflection of their lives as they are a social commentary of the state of modern Britain.

Encapsulating the struggles we face as humans every single day, a struggle we often choose to run away from, hiding behind a fake veil of positivity, is a thought process Justine echoes. “’There’s a harsh truth in plain view’ – it’s this elephant in the room that

“WHO WANTS METAL TO DIE? NO ONE DOES – IT’S SO SPECIAL” JUSTINE JONES

nobody is talking about that everyone is struggling, but they’re shrouding it behind big nights out, positive PMA social media posts.

“No one wants to be the downer. We’re trying to highlight the fact that it’s okay to not be feeling great – it’s a normal human feeling to not feel great all of the time.”

‘Eternal Forward Motion’ is Employed To Serve’s call-to-arms, a blistering attack of positivity on the negativity of our society,

brought about, but not dictated, by the everchanging perils of social media.

“This album isn’t about social media as such, but I feel like it touches upon the fact that anything like it disconnects people from each other. This sounds really lame, but this record exists to bring people together.”

The concept our society has developed of it not being okay to admit you’re not okay is becoming a detriment to what is otherwise a forward-thinking generation, and inadvertently it’s become something Employed To Serve simply can’t sit silently about any longer.

“It’s one of those things everyone is thinking where everyone is hiding behind this veil of bravado. It’s this social media bravado that everything is great and if you’re negative, it’s your fault, and everyone has to be happy all of the time.

“As much as I love social media - it’s an amazing tool, and I’ve discovered a lot of brilliant bands because of it - at the end of the day, it’s harming people’s actual feelings. Social media, for a lot of people, is quite new, and people are still adapting how to use it, and they’re so intent on appearing as the person they want to be rather than being realistic about their lives.”

From the vivid and imaginative artwork to the music itself, ‘Eternal Forward Motion’ is an album with cavernous levels of depth that’ll require your undivided attention on more than one occasion. Every aspect of it has layers which represent the very meaning of the album itself.

“So each of the cogs are different aspects of your life that keep you moving forward, and all of the biological plant-life are all of the beautiful aspects that keep you moving through. It’s this idea of constantly moving forward and that you’re like a machine in the sense that you’re a conveyor belt

because time does move forward, and life does go on. That’s the positive message of this album: through negative events can positive outcomes be reached.”

“We try to be as metaphorical as possible – we don’t want to outwardly say this is the torment of my life right now because that’s just too personal. At the same time, we wanted something that people from all walks of life could relate to.”

As much as ‘Eternal Forward Motion’ acts as Employed To Serve’s secret weapon, a statement of intent armed with incendiary social and political bullets, Justine hopes it’ll be received with a more personal touch.

“I’d like to think that there are different friends for every situation in your life and I feel like there are different albums for every situation in your life. For me, Hatebreed’s ‘Perseverance’ is my go-to when I need to light a fire to get me going to do something active, and I’d love to think that ‘Eternal Forward Motion’ is that fire that someone needs to take action, that urgency to change something for the positive.”

The process of change and evolution is a necessary process,

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and as both the frontwoman of Employed To Serve and a Label Manager for Holy Roar Records, Justine has been thrust into pole position as an advocate, flagbearer and role model in the ongoing struggle for evolution within the industry. While lesser personalities would crumble with such responsibility, Justine is humbled however honest in admitting that she’s never done anything in her life for anyone else and never will, role model or otherwise.

“In a very selfish way, I do everything for me. If you’re doing it for anyone else, it’s a very dangerous territory to get in. At the end of the day, you need to look out for your own health. If things aren’t going the way you want them to be or you’re not ‘vibing it’ anymore, then I think you should start winding it down.

“It’s not very healthy, this 100% gunning it attitude of ‘I’m going to tour, then work full-time, then tour again’. It has to come from a place of really wanting to do it, and I definitely check myself. I don’t want to constantly be negative on social media because that’s the last thing people need right now; they need positive people to be around but it’s definitely a selfish view of enjoying it and living it, and if it

gets to the point where it isn’t, I probably wouldn’t do it.”

While being a role model has never been part of the plan, being a comfort for others has. Much like Deftones and Hatebreed have for them, Employed To Serve are beginning to come accustomed to their fans finding solace in their music.

“As much as I say I do things for myself, inadvertently it does a lot of things for other people. So many artists that I’ve listened to have always done it for themselves, but it’s ended up helping me, too.

“It started with a few people,

“NO ONE WANTS TO BE THE DOWNER; WE’RE TRYING TO HIGHLIGHT THE FACT THAT IT’S OKAY TO NOT BE FEELING GREAT” JUSTINE JONES

but now at shows, we seem to have really struck a chord with people – it’s like this self-fulfilling prophecy of paying back all of the artists who’ve helped me by helping out other people by just being selfish and being me.”

Progression is and will always be at the heart of Employed To Serve’s mission. Since the moment Justine was a part of Employed To Serve, her life with the band and her life as a Label Manager at Holy Roar have always been intertwined. As both the band and the label increased in popularity and size throughout 2018, it was time for the two to be pulled apart to ensure the survival and sanity of both, especially when Spinefarm Records came calling.

“Holy Roar has been doing really well, and I’m really proud of it and so have the band. It’s got to the point where I wanted separate time to channel my energy into both. I’d put unnecessary pressure on myself; I started to disregard ETS things for Holy Roar bands because I love our bands and I want them to do well, so I wouldn’t post about ETS on Holy Roar social media so that we didn’t seem bias. Splitting the two has allowed me to put my full energy into both aspects at different times. Spinefarm has a bigger general reach than Holy Roar currently. It makes sense logically, but I was very nervous at first as it felt like I was leaving home for the first time.”

It wasn’t as simple for Justine as it was for her bandmates to take Employed To Serve to the next logical step, even though she knew it was the only move to make in their evolutionary game of chess.

“I have a big issue with trusting people with things that I love.

This entire time I’ve been in this band we’ve been on Holy Roar, I’ve been my own label manager, and I’ve just gone and had discussions in the mirror about things. That’s been really easy because I can just make decisions and go and

do things immediately, but it’s something I’ve struggled with.

Moving labels has helped me develop as a person.”

The decision took a lot of soul-searching, but ultimately comes at a time when Employed To Serve are poised to break from underground heroes to the face of British metal’s next generation.

With festival slots at this year’s Glastonbury and Bring Me The Horizon’s crossover All Points East bill, they’re part of a wider invasion of alternative music on the mainstream, they’re the ones breaking the barriers and boundaries of musical influence.

“I listen to a lot of hip-hop and a lot of pop music, but metal will always number one for me, and combining all three of those into this massive festival where a lot of people are potentially going to watch metal for the first time, I’m

a massive advocate for that.

“The idea of some younger version of me stumbling across this really chaotic band and falling in love with them for the first time brings me so much joy, because that’s what happened to me, I accidentally fell in love with this kind of music, and us playing Glastonbury allows that process of discovery and evolution to continue.”

‘Eternal Forward Motion’ is a metaphorical collection of monologues on evolution set across a backdrop of social media, human interaction, and mental health. Employed To Serve, as creators, are ready to progress through their next phase of evolution with an album that’s the heaviest and most honest they’ve ever been. P Employed To

Serve’s album ‘Eternal Forward Motion’ is out now.

Upset 49

50 Upset

MALLORY KNOX Coming up.

I

f you were in a band and your frontman left, what on earth would you do?

Flail around a bit for sure, right? For Mallory Knox, when vocalist Mikey Chapman departed last year, they just got on with it. “I don’t think people know what to expect from us anymore,” says Sam Douglas as they gear up for a new record.

It felt like you really cracked on after the line-up change last year, how have you found adjusting to being a four-piece?

From a writing point of view, nothing really changed. I knew there would be no issue there.

It’s when we had to revisit the old songs and rework them to enable me to be able to sing them that took some adjusting to. It was almost a case of having to rewrite some of them and strip the songs back to where they were when we first wrote them. I’ve always written the songs, but once it was written, we then tweaked it here and there to get the best out of our old singer. It took a few rehearsals to get them where they needed to be, but I think we proved over last year that we can still do this.

Did Mikey leaving change how you approached your new record?

No, not at all. We all wanted to do something different and, if

After nearly nine years together, Mallory Knox underwent a pretty significant line-up change, but they’re not letting it slow them down.

Words: Sam Taylor

anything, Mikey leaving helped us embrace that even more. I don’t think people know what to expect from us anymore and truthfully; we aren’t that bothered if people aren’t gonna like where we’ve taken Mallory.

This is the record that we wanted to write at this specific moment in time, and perhaps we were a little guilty of not doing that on our last record, so it was important to me, anyway, to make sure that didn’t happen again.

Have you guys had any other significant life changes, band related or otherwise, since ‘Wired’?

We’re all at an age now where we aren’t really young guys anymore, and it’s become more important to look at our futures.

‘Wired’ came out in early 2017 and so much has changed since then. I’d say between that record and this one it’s the most I’ve changed as a person, and I think what happened with the band played a part in that. We all felt burnt out, and we needed a break.

There were a few moments where I questioned if I still had the passion to leave home and travel and tour. My love for music never went, but it’s all the other bullshit that makes you question if this is for you anymore.

What can you tell us about the

album, are there any recurring lyrical themes?

There was never an intention to. I just write what I feel at the time and what suits the song, or sometimes what the song brings out in me. I’m not gonna sit here and say that writing a song is cathartic and takes me to a magical place and all that, but it can bring out emotions you didn’t know that were there and sometimes that can even surprise me. I’m absolutely fed up with the majority of society, that’s for sure. That might make me sound miserable and bitter but having to realise every day that I exist with some of these people has made me become that way. With social media being how it is now it’s pretty hard to get away from.

Where would you like this new record to take you?

I don’t have an end goal for this album. Honestly, I don’t. I’m just very thankful that we were given the opportunity to do another record after all the shit we went through. It’s been very frustrating to be in Mallory at times, but this record was the driving force to keep us all going.

When you think that you may have written your last song for a band you’ve spent the majority of your life in then it doesn’t matter about what this album can or can’t do for us, the fact that it even exists is enough for me. P

Upset 51

52 Upset

They’re headlining Slam Dunk before heading away to work on something new.

We caught up with All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth to get the low-down.

Words: Ali Shutler Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett

A

ll Time Low are planning on having a pretty quiet year as they regroup following the release of latest album ‘Last Young Renegade’: but they’re not disappearing completely. The Baltimore band are coming out of the woodwork for a bill-topping set at Slam Dunk (25th-26th May), and, according to frontman Alex Gaskarth, they can’t wait.

Hey Alex. Last year was super busy for All Time Low, right?

The last two years have been pretty crazy and pretty fun. We’ve been slammed. The ‘Last Young Renegade’ cycle was a good one. We went pretty deep. We circled the world twice. It was good to get it all in.

What’s 2019 got in store for you?

We don’t have a whole lot of plans. Obviously, we’re coming over for Slam Dunk, but that’s the only thing we’ve got on the calendar right now which is definitely weird for us.

Is that break to work on new music?

The starting point is just to step away. There’s always new music in mind. We’re always asking ‘What’s the next thing going to be?’, but as of right now, there’s nothing official. We just want to take a step back, reflect, look at what we’ve

accomplished and basically take stock in what we’ve got and figure out where we go from here.

‘What’s the logical next step for All Time Low?’ To do that, we need to step away from it.

So you never feel like you have to take a break because it’s getting too much?

Honestly, no. We had a really rad record cycle, and we’re gluttons for punishment. We love being on the road. I hear all kinds of stories from other bands about how they get tired or burnt out, but we love being out there. We love playing shows, whether they’re massive shows or club shows or festivals. We just like getting in front of people. It never felt like it was taking a toll. It is super nice to get home and have a minute to yourself, but we’ve never felt like we need to call time on it. It’s more a well-earned break, at this point.

So, Slam Dunk.

It’s going to be a blast. Last time we did it was 2013. It’s exciting to come back and do it again, especially headlining. There’s such a good lineup, and it’s a really cool, straight-up punk rock show, which I think is the best thing. We do lots of festivals, and they run the gambit from being very eclectic to this one, being much more in the wheelhouse of the world we came up in. That’ll be a really fun way to come back to the UK. Last time we were there, we were headlining arenas,

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and it was very much our own thing.

It feels like a lot has changed for the band since you last played.

Playing Slam Dunk in 2013 was a big step up for us. It let us spread our wings, especially in the UK. Since then we’ve put out, two or three more albums. We’ve been around the world a thousand more times and had a lot more experience under our belts at this point. It’s a much more realised version of All Time Low coming back now, to what we were doing back then. We were still finding our way back then. It’s always been this slow growth for us. Now we’re coming back as a much more realised version of ourselves.

You’ve gone from being a big band, to being one of the biggest.

We’ve been very fortunate to continue to grow and be able to pull off what we have done. It’s incredible to me that people are still finding out about us and still spreading the word. At the same time, we’ve always stayed true to All Time Low. From record to record, we’ve done enough to grow, change our style a little bit, make tweaks and make adjustments and do things that keep the project exciting for people, even though we’re many years into a career now, but it’s never gone so far off the rails that we’ve lost everybody. We’ve been really lucky to find that perfect balance and find that really cool niche in music where people still feel connected after all these years. That’s what allows us to come back time and time again, and put on bigger and better shows.

It’s all about picking how you

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come back. And coming back and doing Slam Dunk felt like exactly the right thing to do.

Coming and doing a punk rock festival is going to be really fucking fun. I’m looking forward to it.

You released the singles ‘Everything Is Fine’ and ‘Birthday’ last year, which sorta show the two sides of All Time Low. There’s this boyish sense of humour, but also this vulnerability.

I think that’s always been the dynamic of All Time Low. Looking back, some people see it; some people don’t. Some people take one thing away; others take another. That’s part of what’s kept All Time Low interesting for people. It’s a layered experience. There are songs that are straight up, face-value fun but there are dimensions to it. We’ve always tried to have some depth and vulnerability in even our most brash, abrasive, lyrics. It’s served us well. I don’t know if we necessarily set out to do this, but ‘Everything is Fine’ and ‘Birthday’ do have both sides of that coin, which made for a fun mid-cycle release.

Is it tough to balance the silly with the serious, without diluting them?

We’ve always toed the line.

It’s tricky though, every now or then, I’ll get in a mindset where I’ll want to make serious music, so we’ll do that, and it alienates half our fanbase. Then we respond to that by making something that’s way more tongue in cheek, and a little bit looser, and we alienate the other half.

It’s this dynamic that we’ve had to learn how to navigate.

You have to find the sweet spot. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t. That’s the magic of music. You’ve got

to have the energy and let it speak for itself, and the other things will fall into place. At the end of the day, what it has always come down to is that as long as we’re having fun doing it, and as long as it feels good to us, then it’s always worked out. It’s a learning experience, and you feel that out as you go.

Live, it feels like over the past few years there’s been less emphasis on being funny, and more emphasis on everyone having fun.

We’ve changed. We’re thirty.

When we were acting that way, making those jokes, we were kids. We didn’t know better, and it was par for the course, but we’re different people now. That shit is still funny as hell to me, we’re six-year-olds at heart, all four of us and I don’t think that’s ever going to go away, but part of it is that we’re changing with the times. We’re trying to create a safe, inviting environment for everyone. In the past, some of that stuff has contributed to some people feeling uncomfortable, and that’s the last thing we want to do. All of it, at least in the context of this band, was done with the best intentions at heart. We were never out to bum anyone out, so it’s something that we’ve looked at and re-evaluated.

The biggest thing was focusing on putting on a sick, energetic show and adapting the songs to fit live and feel great. The banter has always been secondary, but now, it’s done with a little more care.

It’s really important that we go out and make sure everyone in the room is feeling fucking awesome, because That’s all that matters when it comes to going to shows.

You’re going to listen to music, feel great and connect with people.” P

“WE JUST WANT TO TAKE A STEP BACK AND FIGURE OUT WHERE WE GO FROM HERE” ALEX GASKARTH

FESTIVAL GUIDE Here’s what you can catch, and where, this year.

RAW POWER FESTIVAL Location: The Dome, London Date: 24th-26th May Line-up: Gnod, JK Flesh, Big Brave, My Disco, Hibushibire, Dead Otter, USA Nails, Mai Mai Mai, Teleplasmiste, The Ex

Cheltenham Date: 11th-13th July Line-up: Frank Turner, You Me At Six, Deaf Havana, While She Sleeps, Every Time I Die, Frank Iero, Jamie Lenman, Indoor Pets, Milk Teeth, Puppy

ALL POINTS EAST Location: Victoria Park, London Date: 31st May Line-up: Bring Me The Horizon, Architects, Run the Jewels, Idles, Employed to Serve, While She Sleeps, Sleeping With Sirens, Yonaka

TRUCK

SLAM DUNK Location: Leeds, Hatfield Date: 25th-26th May Line-up: All Time Low, Bullet For My Valentine, The Bronx, Gallows, New Found Glory, Simple Plan, The Menzingers, Waterparks, iDKHOW CAMDEN ROCKS Location: Various Venues, Camden Date: 1st-2nd June Line-up: Frank Turner, Deaf Havana, Ash, Rat Boy, New Model Army, Wheatus, Carl Barat, Ginger Wildheart, Milk Teeth, Pretty Vicious DOWNLOAD Location: Donington Park, Donington Date: 14th-16th June Line-up: Def Leppard, Slipknot, Tool, Slash, Smashing Pumpkins, Rob Zombie, Trivium, Amon Amarth, Halestorm, Fever 333, Beartooth, Slayer, Simple Creatures

2000trees

Location: Upcote Farm,

Location: Hill Farm, Steventon Date: 25th-28th July Line-up: Wolf Alice, Foals, Puppy, Slaves, Milk Teeth, You Me At Six, Idles, Yonaka, Shame, Fontaines D.C., Mallory Knox, Hot Milk BLOODSTOCK OPEN AIR Location: Catton Hall, Walton- on-Trent Date: 8th-11th August Line-up: Sabaton, Scorpions, Parkway Drive, Children Of Bodom, Powerwolf, Dimmu Borgir, Code Orange, Cradle of Filth, Queensryche ARCTANGENT Location: Fernhill Farm, Compton Martin Date: 15th-17th August Line-up: Meshuggah, Battles, Cult of Luna, Zeal & Ardor, 65daysofstatic, The Black Queen, Daughters, Caspian, Pigs x7, Conjurer READING & LEEDS Location: Bramham Park, Leeds; Little Johns Farm, Reading Date: 23rd-25th August Line-up: Foo Fighters, The 1975, Twenty One Pilots, Post Malone, Royal Blood, The Distillers, You Me At Six, Pale Waves, Enter Shikari Upset 55

Dinosaur Pile-Up are back with what’s set to be one of the albums of the summer.

Words: Jake Hawkes Photos: Patrick Gunning

I

t’s been a long old road for Dinosaur Pile-Up. Twelve years long, to be exact. In that time they’ve been through line-up changes, released three studio albums and toured America in the back of an RV for far longer than three grown men should spend living in what is essentially a big campervan. “We did about 140,000 miles in it in the end!” laughs lead singer and guitarist Matt Bigland.

After the release of last album ‘Eleven Eleven’ in 2015, the band toured almost non-stop, taking in “the US, Japan, India,

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Cover story.

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Europe and the UK, and some of those more than once.” After a well-earned break and some time in the studio, we caught up with them in a South London pub that was blasting Little Mix on a Wednesday afternoon to discuss the new album, signing to a major label and which bottled water is best (Evian wins, “the champagne of bottled water brands”, apparently).

“It’s been over a year since we toured last, I think?” starts Mike Sheils, the drummer. “There was a tour in Germany, but I can’t remember if that was this February or last. We’ve been all over the place, basically, but we did manage to squeeze in some time off.”

“We had this staggered release for our last album, which absolutely wasn’t intended, but it meant the touring schedule was so much longer than usual.

By the end of it, we were giving literally the worst interviews.” The band laugh as he mimics the format: “We’d get people saying ‘So tell me about the album’. And it was just all of us screaming ‘Oh my god, it’s four years old!’

So we’re definitely stoked that this one’s getting a worldwide release without a six-month delay.”

Not only is the new album getting a bettertimed release, but it’s also the band’s first on a major label, after signing with Parlophone. “Twelve years in and we’re on a major, it feels awesome!” Matt enthuses. “We didn’t write the album signed to one, and there was probably the least amount of certainty we’ve ever had while writing something.

We had management and So Records, who are an absolutely incredible independent label, and we could bounce stuff off of them, but in terms of money and where we were gonna put the record,

who was gonna release it – none of that existed at all.

“We toured ourselves into the ground in America and decided to go and make this record of songs we’d been fucking with for three years, but even management was just like...” He crosses his fingers and grins. “They just basically said ‘Don’t know what’s gonna happen here, have fun!’ It was cool in one way to not have any expectations there, but it was also horrible because we genuinely thought it could be our last album.”

Mike nods in agreement. “It was like floating in a rubber ring away from this tiny boat wondering what’s going to happen to you and then hearing this

made the record and thought it was great and loved it was all that mattered, we were just glad we did it. But then the head of Parlophone turned up and said, ‘Hey, this is sick, want us to release it?’ It’s wild, really wild.”

Not being signed until after the record had been made had an effect on the content, as well as the decision to go as hard as they could, just in case they didn’t get another shot. “The ‘we’re never gonna make it’ theme that runs through the album isn’t ironic or anything,” Matt explains. “We really did think this might be it, I’ve been in this band twelve years, Mike’s been here for nine years, even Jim [Cratchley, the band’s bassist] has been here for five years, it’s a long time. We’ve done a lot with that time, had a lot of experiences and tours and songs, but at no point have we ever taken stock and thought ‘oh fuck yeah, we’re alright, we’ve made it’. So there was a definite feeling of excitement about the songs on the new album, but I feel like if we’re honest, there was a feeling of it being a last hurrah too. You can’t do it forever if you aren’t making any money and the numbers aren’t growing, you know? When you’re eating shit and doing small venues for a long time, it can get quite daunting, and you do start to wonder if it’s ever gonna happen.”

He pauses, before adding with a laugh: “Not that I’m saying it’s happened now just because we’ve signed to a major, absolutely not.

None of us have our own houses yet...” “...or Celebrity Mansions,” jokes Mike, leaning into the mic and adding “That’s the name of the record, that’s the joke, it was a tie in. This major label media training is really paying off.”

Dreams of mansion-ownership

“THE WHOLE SCENARIO COULD SEEM REALLY BLEAK; WE WERE FUCKING SCRAPING BY” MATT BIGLAND

massive horn, turning around and a major label just scoops you up on deck. I remember thinking, ‘Fuck, we might actually be alright!’”

“That’s it exactly,” says Matt.

“But this period of floating lasted for quite a while, and we were making the album with Larry Hibbert in his studio, which is this dark room in Brixton. The whole scenario could seem really bleak; we were fucking scraping by.

“So to me the fact that we

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aside, it really has been an uphill struggle for Dinosaur Pile-Up to get to where they are today, not least because of numerous line-up changes in the first few years of the band. Matt recorded the first two albums on his own, with Mike and Jim only getting involved with the release of ‘Eleven Eleven’.

“When I was doing the records on my own, it was just through circumstances really,” Matt reflects. “I just got on and did it because I knew what record I wanted to make. Through touring that first record I met Mike and then Jim, who was in Tribes at the time, but it didn’t really come together until a few years after that.

“It’s way easier recording with all of us,” he adds. “It’s way more fun, and just way less sad in general. We were a set band that had been touring together, and that meant I didn’t need to make the record on my own – why would I not use the boys?”

He takes a sip of his beer before continuing: “Recording together is really turned on its head versus doing it on your own; I still write the songs in the same way, but then we can each just learn our own bits and fucking nail them in recording. It’s a lot less stressful and a hell of a lot quicker, I love it.”

And does that period before ‘Eleven Eleven’ feel like a different era for the band? Matt thinks for a while, before answering.

“I personally see it as this whole period of starting the band. So even though it was a long time before Mike and Jim were on board, it feels like that was the point where I was just working everything out.”

“A lot of bands do that before they even release anything,” Mike adds. “Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, it happened to coincide with Dinosaur Pile-Up getting a lot of attention and hype

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because Matt’s early stuff was so good.”

“It definitely feels like a long journey for me,” Matt says. “I was just getting on with it, but there was a lot of change and solidification happening in the public eye – but now we’ve been the same band for years and that in itself has been a long journey, except this time it’s long for three of us, not just me.”

“There’s a continuity about it, too,” he continues. “Our influences – my influences at least

– have stayed pretty constant.

I feel without a doubt that this record is the best record we’ve written, but most of the influences on it are the same, I just feel like I’ve managed to translate it better.

I think all of our influences are American too; all the bands at least.”

“Matt always says that when he was growing up, he got hold of his brother’s record collection, listened to Blur and Oasis and just didn’t like it at all,” Mike explains. “Then he listened to Foo

fighters and Nirvana and loved it. I think that applies to us all, we all grew up with American influences in pop culture and TV, and all the rad bands were American: Deftones, Foo Fighters, Rage Against the Machine, all American.

“Smashing Pumpkins, too,” Matt chips in. “All the movies you’re watching as a kid as well... I dunno, I definitely felt hugely influenced by American pop culture, and I think that translates heavily into the music we make. At no point have I wanted to be really English on a record, because I don’t give a fuck.

I just relate to all that American stuff I grew up with.”

Mike and Jim both nod along, and Jim adds.: “We also basically lived in America when we were touring our last album, so obviously that has an effect.

We were there for two summers, living the American dream.

Bought an RV, drove ourselves around, got hammered while

wearing shorts and baseball caps – the whole lot. Although everyone in America thinks we’re Australian,” he laughs.

“So it clearly isn’t all American influences.”

“The one thing I do think is different this time around,” Matt says, steering back on topic.

“Is that I started listening to old-school hip-hop again, which I hadn’t done for a while. Stuff like Eminem and Run DMC. Not loads of it, just a couple of tracks – obviously the album we’ve written isn’t a hip-hop album, but it has these fun moments which weren’t in the other albums.”

“You’ve just terrified half our audience!” Mike quickly jumps in. “They’re all reading this going

“WE REALLY DID THINK THIS MIGHT BE IT” MATT BIGLAND

‘What?! Hip-hop?!’ Don’t worry, those Weezer and Rage Against the Machine influences are still there, please don’t run away. If anything, I’d say they’re there more so than on the last album.

‘Eleven Eleven’ was quite dark, and this one isn’t so much, it’s really upbeat in a way that Weezer is, quite sunny and happy. Rage Against The Machine obviously aren’t always happy, but there’s a positive feeling there.”

Matt nods in agreement, adding: “I don’t know how to put it, but the danger of all of those RV tours influenced the album too.

The dirtiness of it, the no-fucksgiven attitude, the late nights, the heat, just all of it. We dealt with these crazy scenarios all the time, and to me, that experience directly translates into songs like ‘Thrash Metal Cassette’.

“We were actually soundchecking in Orlando when I wrote the main riff to that song – someone had just seen a massive fucking alligator out the window

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“IF YOU’RE ALWAYS SAD ABOUT NOT MAKING IT TO THE BIG TIME, YOU’RE NOT GONNA HAVE MUCH FUN”

“Even now, we’ve frontloaded the album a lot more than usual, because you want the singles to be in the hotel, and I went top of the streaming list,” down to the soundcheck Matt explains. “Luckily all with that on my mind the songs are great, but the and just started noodling first few are the ones we around. I did this riff, and want people to engage with this stagehand dude was instantly. I genuinely love just so into it, so that was a every song, which is a great definite ‘better record this!’ feeling – but it did make Moment. Maybe that’s a working out the order of the bigger influence, the stuff album quite tough. we do or the things people “But then ‘Thrash Metal MATT BIGLAND say to us, because I really Cassette’ wasn’t really a don’t listen to a lot of new single in the traditional music, I just like what I like, sense, and the response has been absolutely you know?” incredible. It’s great to still get a massive “One of the biggest influences for me, reaction when we’re playing old stuff live, but come to think of it, was a chat I had with also getting it from a brand new song? That’s Andy [Ghosh] from Turbowolf,” he continues. special. We’ve had people messaging us just “It was a year or so before we recorded the to say how much they love the track and album and he asked how it was all going. I explaining exactly why, it’s incredible. started talking about how I had no idea what “‘Back Foot’ was the first proper single, to put on it, because all of the songs were so and we picked it because it sums up that different – some of them were really fun and shift from ‘Eleven Eleven’, which had dorky, some were really sad, some were mad an underlying feeling of ‘shit, we might heavy... I loved them all individually, but I not make it as a band, that’s depressing’. didn’t think they’d gel on one record. Andy ‘Celebrity Mansions’ and ‘Back Foot’ in just looked at me and said ‘put whichever particular still has that vibe, but it’s more ‘we songs are the best ones on the record; it might not make it, but who cares?’” doesn’t even matter’.

Mike plays the role of re-assuring the fans “We’ve followed that advice, and that’s again, clarifying: “But please buy the record, why I think this album is the best one we’ve we do care, we love you all.” ever done. I think we went wrong with ‘Eleven Matt laughs. “Obviously it matters to Eleven’ because I felt it had to all be the same us, I’m just saying that if you’re always sad picture, and all that meant is we ended up about not making it to the big time, you’re with a bummer of a record. I love it, but it’s all not gonna have much fun. We just wanted to so moody! It’s an unhappy record, whereas enjoy ourselves a bit more, and I think that this one isn’t, because I started to not care shows.” about the theme and just write whatever the A final question, and clearly the most fuck I wanted to write, it was great.” important one: Which dinosaur would “People consume music differently now be most likely to cause a pile-up? There’s anyway,” Jim adds. “It matters less these days a pause as the band think (more deeply if the record doesn’t sound like it was thought than expected). “Definitely a big one,” out coherently and planned for years, we’re Matt ventures. “Clumsy, quite a long neck, not making ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ here. It Brontosaurus maybe?” isn’t a concept album; it’s just a collection “It’s gotta be a vegetarian one,” Jim adds, of killer songs tied together with some topconfidently. “All the meat eaters are pretty notch production.” nimble; they aren’t gonna be falling over. A “This is making us sound old; we aren’t Brontosaurus has small legs, so it’d be easy old!” Mike protests. “Can you open each to topple.” sentence with ‘young and relevant band Matt and Mike look at him, clearly Dinosaur Pile-Up...’ please?” he laughs. impressed. “If that were an essay question, “Seriously though, we were leaning away you would’ve won,” Mike says, raising a glass from an album for a while. We thought we in his honour. P Dinosaur Pile-Up’s album might just drop a few songs here and there, disregard an album entirely.”

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‘Celebrity Mansions’ is out 7th June.

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F

ew new bands have as much hype as I Don’t Know How But They Found Me. With an army of fans following their every move, the duo have snowballed in a way they never thought possible - and there’s plenty more where that came from.

Creative force Dallon Weekes fills us in.

How’s life now the ball is fully rolling for you guys?

Oh it’s crazy busy! It seems like its non-stop, it’s hard to find a moment to you know, enjoy a movie, but you know it’s been a good problem to have, being as busy as we are.

And there’s a lot being thrown at us and coming our way, but our mentality is bring it on. This is what we love to do so anything that does get thrown our way we want to jump on board and tackle it.

Not to mention you also just released an acoustic version of ‘Choke’.

Yeah, that was recorded at my kitchen table!

I’ve been slowly learning how to record on my own. I’m still learning and probably will be forever because there is so much to it, but I think I’ve gotten to the point now where I can get by, but usually, at some point, I have to rely on people to do a little more than I do.

But yeah I think it turned out really great!

Being able to do things at your kitchen table opens the door for you to do more between the larger projects?

I’m trying to get a space in my home built, like a more proper space for me to work and record. I feel like the more things I can learn how to do on my own will be better for me, and not just creatively speaking but also saving money and for budgets - I’m trying to be practical and to have a little bit of fun with it while being fiscally conservative.

How has the idea of IDK gone since the release of the EP last year?

I wish I could say it was according to plan, but we didn’t really have a plan once we first started. It was just something that we wanted to do for fun and to have a creative outlet. We started this thing not only in secret but with zero expectations as well, so everything that’s happened to us so far has just been incredible. We haven’t expected

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anything to happen to us, everything else on top of it has just been an incredible bonus. We’re stoked.

How has it developed in your head since?

I have a little plan that comes and develops this conceptual storyline that we made, because it’s not something that I want to have do forever, to present us as a band from thirty-something years ago. It’s a fun concept, and it’s been something that’s been fun to do, and it still is fun, but we never want to have to do the same thing twice. The plan is to develop that storyline.

I don’t want to give too much of it away, but there is a plan! We just have to wait for the green light from the right people to get it underway.

Ultimately there are no confinements for you since everything began with no plan.

Yeah, and that was one of the big reasons we ended up signing with Fearless Records.

They, of all the people that came and met us at certain points, they were the ones that offered us 100% creative control over everything, and that was the most important thing to me. Because that’s why I do this. Not because I’m trying to be a star or a billionaire or something, I just have to make music; I have to be creative.

What has the journey so far taught you?

If you’re a creative person, the takeaway is to treat it like a job.

I guess you have to once it takes over your life like it has.

Yeah, I think anyone who’s wanting to be in the music business, you definitely increase your chances of luck by working hard, and everyone still sort of depends on that same bit of luck to happen. The basic notion of why you do this is because you have to, or because you love it.

Speaking of love, your fandom has certainly grown. How is that for you?

They’re extremely clever, and sometimes that can be frustrating trying to keep things a secret. I don’t even know how they do it, but they discover what we’re up to or what we’re doing, sometimes even before I know, which is kinda surprising! P

Dallon Weekes’ new band iDKHOW are about to land back in the UK. Words: Steven Loftin Upset 65

Rated_ THE OFFICIAL VERDICT ON EVERYTHING

feral and ferocious offering.

Taking their roots in hardcore as a familiar starting point, ‘Eternal Forward Motion’ lives up to its name by propelling the Woking band into exciting new soundscapes.

EMPLOYED TO SERVE

ETERNAL FORWARD MOTION e eeee

S

till basking in the glow of the criticallyacclaimed ‘The Warmth Of A Dying Sun’, Employed To Serve return with another

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The title track, and opener, sets the template and lights the touchpaper.

Even more brutal, even more bludgeoning, new textures are added to an already intoxicating mix. Striding through the maelstrom is singer Justine Jones, her distinctive raspy growl driving home messages of struggle and anxiety. ‘Harsh Truth’ pulls back the curtain on social media, a track that dials down the mania yet still ramps up the intensity.

There are moments of relative calm that punctuate the cataclysmic riffs. ‘We

Forgot You’ subtly changes its form midway through, magnifying the power of its crescendo. The band each take their turn in the limelight, drummer Robbie Back in particular putting in a masterclass - the sheer damage meted out during ‘Suspended In Emptiness’ is sensational. ‘Force Fed’ is simply devastating, yet more evidence that when it comes to it, there are very few bands that hit this hard.

As the record climaxes with ‘Bare Bones On A Blue Sky’, a track that could almost be shoegaze as it begins in a fuzzy haze, it becomes apparent that this is a band still exploring its own potential. Still pushing forward, still exploring new possibilities, refusing to look back when the future is brighter. Jamie MacMillan

ALEX LAHEY

THE BEST OF LUCK CLUB e eee As angsty pop-punk goes, you’ll be hard pressed to find too many better examples than ‘The Best of Luck Club’; Aussie vocalist Alex Lahey is at her best, rocking out with ruminations about love, mental health and vibrators. She makes the everyday feel like something to belt out at the top of your lungs, and on this second album she’s added a directness to her sound that pushes the songs further without diminishing their fighting spirit.

The piece de resistance is lead single ‘Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself’, packing so much awesome into its four minutes. The most fun is to be had with Alex’s energetic, in-your-face punk shoutalongs, and there are plenty of those to go around. P Dillon Eastoe

ALLUSINLOVE IT’S OK TO TALK e ee

‘It’s OK To Talk’ is quite far removed from allusinlove’s previous incarnation, offering more palatable anthemic rock than the weirdo sludgy grunge their fans are used to, which is cemented with the whirring, frantic glam rock guitars of opener ‘Full Circle’. This new, studio-ready image feels too cliché on the Stones carbon copy ‘All My Love’, but is saved swiftly by ‘Lucky You’, which wraps you up in 90s stoner psych nostalgia, reminiscent of The Charlatans and The Stone Roses. The statement rock with melodramatic guitar solos, while impressive, feels a little gimmicky, but the echoes of what truly made allusinlove special in the first place are still intact in the psychedelic and darker notes, even if they’re not as apparent as they once were. You can only hope they remember their roots and why they originally stood

out from the rest on their future releases. P Jasleen Dhindsa

AMYL & THE SNIFFERS

repeat’ record from a band who are bursting into greatness before our eyes. Unmuzzled, untethered, untamed. Glorious. P Jamie

MacMillan

AMYL & THE SNIFFERS eeee

CHARLY BLISS

Long known as one of the best, and most intense, live bands around, Melbourne’s Amyl & The Sniffers easily live up to the challenge of transferring it to record on a sensational debut. If seeing them in the flesh is like being strapped inside a washing machine, then this near as dammit matches it.

Kicking the doors down with the sleazy AC/DC-style riffs of ‘Starfire 500’, Amy Taylor’s drawl is egging the band on. They may seem to be possessed by the spirit of classic seventies rock, but on the likes of the stomping glampunk ‘Gacked On Anger’ it is met with a very relevant rage as a story scraped from the bottom of life’s barrel is told.

Eleven songs are ripped through in just 29 minutes, and when the album closes in scenes of pure devastation at long-time favourite ‘Some Mutts (Can’t Be Muzzled)’, there is a desperate need for more. This is a real ‘keep-it-on-

Charly Bliss could light up a black hole like Blackpool’s illuminations at Christmas. It’s not that they’re the only band that takes the darkness in their lyrics and turns it to tropical fire with their music, but rather the fact that they do it with a punch and panache unrivalled by their peers. Opening track ‘Blown To Bits’ thumps down the doors - it’s quite literally a banger - before letting an unstoppable wave of pure pop blow through. Sugary sweet with a salty edge, there’s something undeniably moreish about each bite-sized offering.

‘Under You’ finds an earworm melody that’ll stick around for days, while title-track ‘Young Enough’ smoulders with ambition and promise. Bliss by name, and all that. P Stephen

YOUNG ENOUGH eeee

Ackroyd

Upset 67

Rated_ down and watching the freedom of endless possibility flood in. P

Stephen Ackroyd

THE GET UP KIDS PROBLEMS eee

The Get Up Kids may have gotten older, but against all the odds they are still showing plenty of their initial spark. A short acoustic intro quickly bursts into life on opener ‘Satellite’, and from there we are thrust back into a world of swirling guitars and ear-worm choruses as Matt Pryor reflects on the passing of time and life on the edges. As you’d expect from a record called ‘Problems’ from an emo band, it’s steeped in self-doubt and melancholy sentiments and worries. Only on the closing ‘Your Ghost Is Gone’ does it seem to overwhelm briefly, before a thunderous roar at its climax that would wake the dead. These kids may still have problems, but they’re doing alright. P Jamie

MacMillan

DINOSAUR PILE-UP CELEBRITY MANSIONS eeee

Chances are even Dinosaur Pile-Up didn’t expect to deliver one of the most attentiongrabbing albums of 2019, and yet here we are. To suggest ‘Celebrity Mansions’ is a bolt out of the blue would be more than unkind - DPU have been a constantly solid prospect for years now - but it’s also much more than a simple shift up the gears. ‘Back Foot’ has a surefooted swagger that kicks out hard, spitting verses and slamming the chorus with a glint in its evil eye.

‘Thrash Metal Cassette’, meanwhile, rumbles with an ominous threat, before breaking character to thrust forth a killer last third. Less a pileup, more a riot. P Stephen Ackroyd

68 Upset

FRANK IERO AND THE FUTURE VIOLENTS BARRIERS eeee

Truth be told, you’d have forgiven Frank Iero for making a very different record.

After a much publicised near scrape while touring, frustration, anger or base fear would all have been understandable reactions. But that’s not what ‘Barriers’ represents. Instead, it’s quite probably the most ambitious of all post-MCR musical projects. From the siren song of ‘A New Day’s Coming’ onwards to sprawling closer ‘24k Lush’, it’s the sound of letting those boundaries crash

HONEYBLOOD IN PLAIN SIGHT eee

Now a solo vehicle for Stina Tweeddale, Honeyblood returns with another release steeped in darkness. One thing that hasn’t reduced with the line-up change is the ambition: ‘In Plain Sight’ finds Honeyblood shifting through genres like an apparition moving through walls. Album highlight ‘The Third Degree’ for example takes the sound of classic sixties girl groups, even down to a classic Phil Spector beat, and runs it through a fuzzy filter. Never anything less than catchy, some of the inventiveness slowly fades away with the banger-to-mash ratio in particular suffering during the final third. Still, these are new

realms that Honeyblood are exploring and there is enough here to keep most up at night for a while still. P Jamie MacMillan

NEW FOUND GLORY FROM THE SCREEN TO YOUR STEREO III ee

A New Found Glory covers album is as welcome as a Grandma’s Christmas present; never wanted, never needed, but always appreciated.

‘From The Screen To Your Stereo III’ is their third movie-themed covers collection, arriving twelve years after the last, and much like the previous effort, there’s not much substance to grip onto bar for some much-needed comic relief. Having fallen on a path of career resurgence following their best-in-a-decade performance on 2017’s ‘Make Me Sick’, it’s disheartening to see the pop-punk pioneers playing it safe. It’s no secret that a New Found Glory cover is a formulaic power-pop affair where every single note of the song is amped up in American chick flick gloss. After an entire album was dedicated to the chart-topping world-stealing musical The Greatest Showman, was a pop-punk cover of its superhit ‘This Is Me’ needed? It’s a shame that a band as prestigious as New Found Glory spend their time trickling out movie soundtrack covers when they’ve got a reputation for making some of pop-punk’s finest tunes. P Jack Press

PETROL GIRLS CUT AND STITCH e eee

On their new album ‘Cut & Stitch’, Petrol Girls are as raw and ballsy as they have ever been, and experiment with a new range of different artistic expressions. From the start of the record on monologue ‘Intro’, the band’s second LP cements itself as one that has an animalistic, tribal

quality at its core. ‘Cut & Stitch’ isn’t a normal hardcore record, nor is it explicitly political, instead feeling more experimental, introspective, and personal (bar the satirical kazoo rendition of ‘God Save The Queen’, which adds a needed moment of humour).

‘The Sound’ is charged and unconventional, ‘Monstrous’ is manic, and ‘Big Mouth’ consumes all in its path with a feminist rage, where high pitched shouts are contrasted with guttural vocals to a driving beat. Industrial elements trickle through too, most captivatingly on ‘Interlude (They Say)’; a sonic illustration of the cogs working in Petrol Girls’ mind.

The poetic drive is the commendable life force of ‘Cut & Stitch’. As on ‘Rootless’, the delivery of the vocals and lyrics are executed with poise, which makes the album feel in parts a piece of art, rather than ‘just’ a bunch of punk songs. P Jasleen Dhindsa

RAMMSTEIN UNTITLED eeee

When you’ve relied on nothing but a pyromaniac’s sandbox of a stage show for ten long years between albums to maintain your presence, you’d be forgiven for thinking industrial metal titans Rammstein were playing it safe on ‘Deutschland’, ‘Untitled’’s bombastic lead single.

Rammstein’s live show has always been a pyromaniac’s playground: from frontman Till Lindemann blowing himself up to shooting firework-flares at sound-towers.

Rammstein thrive on the theatrical and for the first time in a long time, the Germans inject the creativity of their live show into their studio performance. A newfound sense of range lends itself well to their usual shtick, upping the ante on harmonies throughout. ‘Untitled’ isn’t a ground-breaking masterpiece; it doesn’t need to be.

It’s the sound of a band at the peak

of their creative powers, using the freedom of a ten-year recording gap to explore the very essence of Rammstein. ‘Untitled’ injects life into a band who would rather be out on-stage, and that’s exactly what we want. P Jack Press

WEATHERSTATE BORN A CYNIC eeee

Sometimes, it can feel like rock music has its head stuck so firmly up the backside of ‘the past’, that it’s incapable of matching its former glories. And then we get new bands like Weatherstate. From the first blast of ‘Ghost’, there’s an energy to the Bristol gang that both respects its 90s punk roots but strives to carve out its own legend too. ‘Brain Dead’ in particular feels like a genuine moment, matching the sticky sweet with a chrunching breakdown that shifts perception.

‘Born A Cynic’ is anything but what its title suggests. There’s no room for doomsayers here - Weatherstate are raiding the past to be part of the future. P Stephen Ackroyd

YONAKA

DON’T WAIT ‘TIL TOMORROW eeee It’s been a couple of years in the making, but finally Yonaka feel like genuine rock mega-stars in waiting. ‘Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow’ is nothing if not bombastic - a record full of big moments designed to punch through the paper thin attention span of modern life. It works, too. Tracks like ‘Lose Our Heads’ manage to fall just the right side of overwrought or obvious, and while there’s clearly more to come from the Brighton four-piece, there’s every suggestion they’re more than capable of delivering with a swagger in their stride. P Stephen

Ackroyd

Upset 69

EVERYONE HAS THOSE FORMATIVE BANDS AND TRACKS THAT FIRST GOT THEM INTO MUSIC AND HELPED SHAPE THEIR VERY BEING. THIS MONTH, JAMIE LENMAN TAKES US THROUGH SOME THE SONGS THAT MEANT THE MOST TO HIM DURING HIS TEENAGE YEARS. WITH... JAMIE LENMAN ALANIS MORISSETTE Ironic

I think I was thirteen when this came out, and it was a real turning point for me; I’d never been obsessed with a song like I was with this one.

GARBAGE Stupid Girl

This one came quickly after Alanis as I got deeper into rock.

Most of the time listening to this one was spent trying to work out what the drums and bass were doing so we could cover it in our band – we failed miserably.

NIRVANA Smells Like Teen Spirit

I missed grunge by a few years, but it was still just as exciting when I got around to it circa 95/96. I even wrote about it in my song ‘Crushed Under The Weight Of The Enormous Bullshit’.

GREEN DAY Basket Case

I know this track and ‘Teen Spirit’ came out before the first two, but I’m doing these in the order I found them. Again, I was a little behind on the pop-punk thing, but it didn’t mean any less to me.

GUN Word Up

This was the first song I ever played live as part of a real band, the first song I ever rehearsed with Reuben’s bass player Jon; it goes all through my career.

COAL CHAMBER Loco

My music teacher got this on a

70 Upset

sampler CD from some guitar techniques magazine, and he put it on tape for me along with the exercises I was supposed to be learning. I’d never heard screaming on a track, and I was equal parts fascinated and frightened.

MARILYN MANSON The Beautiful People

If I’d missed grunge and even pop punk to an extent, I was right on time for nu-metal and Marilyn Manson. Say what you will about him or his act, the richness of the production and the visuals make this a deep, deep well for any teenager to fall down and I still love those early records. I shared a moment with the big man at last year’s Download, and he complimented my suit. Imagine!

STRAPPING YOUNG LAD All Hail The New Flesh

A new level of heaviness for the

kid from the home counties – to this day, almost unfathomably heavy. Wall-to-wall blast beats, barely audible vocals, it’s a masterpiece. I sort of hated it, but something drew me back to it again and again until one day I realised I was quietly praying it would never end. And it never has!

AT THE DRIVE IN One Armed Scissor

This track, along with records from Glassjaw and Far, completed my journey through indie to metal to post-hardcore, where I firmly settled by the time I turned nineteen. Long, complex song structures, intricate instrumental parts and all that combustible energy seemed the perfect mix to me, and to be honest, it still does! P

Jamie Lenman’s album ‘Shuffle’ is out 5th July.

26-28 JULY 2019 • HILL FARM, OXFORDSHIRE, OX13 6AB

Y SDA S UR ER THADLIN HE

PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING IDLES • KATE NASH • SHAME • LEWIS CAPALDI presents

MACKY GEE NOTION TURNO

PALM CITY

MY NU LENG W/ DREAD MC

EMERALD

OCEAN WISDOM

K MOTIONZ W/ MC SKIBADEE SWITCH DJS

THE FUTUREHEADS • HOT 8 BRASS BAND • PALACE • DODIE • SUNSET SONS THE JAPANESE HOUSE • MALLORY KNOX • SEA GIRLS • YONAKA TEN TONNES • FONTAINES D.C. • SPECTOR • CLEAN CUT KID SHE DREW THE GUN • EASY LIFE • CASSIA • FATHERSON • WHENYOUNG SPORTS TEAM • PSYCHEDELIC PORN CRUMPETS • MILK TEETH • PUPPY ONLY THE POETS • ISLAND • PIP BLOM INDOOR PETS* • HEAVY LUNGS • VISTAS • SALTWATER SUN • THE MURDER CAPITAL • GURR • ANTEROS FEET • LUCIA • LADY BIRD* • SWIMMING GIRLS • PRESS TO MECO • SEAN MCGOWAN • HOT MILK MARTHA • GAFFA TAPE SANDY • APRE MARSICANS • ALFIE TEMPLEMAN • HAZE • DEVON • THE MYSTERINES • KAGOULE • ZUZU ANNABEL ALLUM • FUR • DECO • INHALER • SPINN • CASSELS • CHEERBLEEDERZ SUNSHINE FRISBEE LASER BEAM • LACUNA COMMON • SELF HELP* • FALSE ADVERTISING RED RUM CLUB • SAINT AGNES • SUGARTHIEF • THE VAN T'S • BLACK DOLDRUMS • PLANET THE ESTEVANS • AIRWAYS • THE KICKLIPS • LACUNA BLOOME • LATENIGHT HONEYMOON RATS • YOUNG GARBO • THE OXFORD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA • MR MOTIVATOR * THURSDAY ARTISTS

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