Upset, March 2021

** Plus ** Tigers Jaw Cloud Nothings Glitterer Wild Pink Yonaka Teenage Wrist Deap Vally + loads more

upsetmagazine.com

nothing,nowhere.

Chase Atlantic

Weezer

MARCH 2021 Issue 63

RIOT 4. WEEZER 8. WILD PINK 12. YONAKA 14. CLOUD NOTHINGS 18. GLITTERER 22. TEENAGE WRIST ABOUT TO BREAK 24. DEAD POET SOCIETY 26. ANOTHER MICHAEL FEATURES 28. ROYAL BLOOD 36. CHASE ATLANTIC 42. TIGERS JAW 46. NOTHING,NOWHERE. REVIEWS 50. ARCHITECTS TEENAGE KICKS 54. DEAP VALLY

Upset Editor Stephen Ackroyd Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden Associate Editor Ali Shutler Scribblers Alexander Bradley, Connor Fenton, Dan Harrison, Dillon Eastoe, Jack Press, Jasleen Dhindsa, Kaz Shaw, Kelsey McClure, Linsey Teggert, Melissa Darragh, Rob Mair, Steven Loftin Snappers Dan Brown, Daniel Topete, Farrah Skeiky, Jade Jackman, Jordan Knight, Julia Leiby, Mads Perch, Mitchell Wojcik, Lindsey Nico Mann, Rebecca Lader, 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. This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of The Bunker Publishing Ltd. Disclaimer: While every effort is made to ensure the information in this magazine is correct, changes can occur which affect the accuracy of copy, for which The Bunker Publishing Ltd holds no responsibility. The opinions of the contributors do not necessarily bear a relation to those of Dork or its staff and we disclaim liability for those impressions. Distributed nationally.

HELLO. When it comes to rock success stories, it’s hard to think of any in recent years much bigger than that of Royal Blood.

Ever since dropping their self-titled debut album, they’ve continued that most wholesome tradition of two pieces that make a noise far, far louder than their diminutive numbers have any right to demand. As they stand on the brink of their third record, the much anticipated ‘Typhoons’, we’re delighted to welcome them to the cover of Upset for the first

time. With a new outlook, a new sense of purpose and some difficult times behind them, they’re landing at just the right time to deliver a much needed shock to the system. Welcome back, lads.

S tephen

Editor / @stephenackroyd Upset 3

Riot_ EVERYTHING HAPPENING IN ROCK

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THIS MONTH IN ROCK

Cult faves Wild Pink are unleashing their most ambitious record yet, third album ‘A Billion Little Lights’. p.8

Striding into 2021 with urgent new single ‘Seize The Power’, and the promise of more ‘on the way’, Yonaka are back and kicking up an almighty noise. p.12

It’s second album time for former Title Fight man Ned Russin, aka Glitterer. p.18

OK HUMAN Words: Dillon Eastoe.

Back with a surprise new album, ‘OK Human’ - their first of two to be released in 2021 - Weezer remain that band that everyone has an opinion on. They’re not slowing down now.

“N

ot everyone knows what the La Brea Tar Pits are? OK, yeah, I mean they’re quite well known here in LA, but I guess it makes sense that they wouldn’t be elsewhere.” Rivers Cuomo, the driving force behind rock legends Weezer, is giving Upset a quick California history lesson before talking through the final track on ‘OK Human’, the band’s fully orchestral new album. “There are sabre-tooths and woolly mammoths, and all

“I’M VERY ANXIOUS RIGHT NOW ABOUT WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HUMAN” RIVERS CUOMO

kinds of animals got trapped in the tar and starved to death. And in some cases, a woolly mammoth would get stuck there, and the sabre-tooth would come along and say, ‘Oh great, I’m gonna go eat this guy’, and he wades in, and then he gets stuck, and they both die together.”

“All those animals ended up extinct,” Cuomo continues. “So I think it was a metaphor for me feeling like the world has evolved beyond me and I’m going extinct, and no matter what I try to do, I’m just stuck here in this tar.”

Music has changed enormously since Weezer’s Happy Daysspoofing video for ‘Buddy Holly’ reached the masses through its inclusion on Microsoft’s Windows ‘95 CD-ROM, downloading Cuomo’s melodic loser-rock into

millions of households. Since then, Weezer have both delighted and divided their fanbase with their plentiful and often baffling output, hit singles ‘Island in the Sun’ and the sarcastic jock-rock of ‘Beverly Hills’ bothering radio stations and keeping the quartet in demand on the live circuit. So far, rather than sinking into the tar, Weezer have kept their heads above the surface by finding new angles to deliver the catchy melodies and crunching guitars that brought them fame.

In that time, Weezer have survived their industry changing beyond recognition as improving technology, and increasingly advanced algorithms continue to race away from human control like a runaway train. “When we started it was pre-internet, and you’d Upset 5

get fan mail, and you’d see people screaming out in the crowd every night. Maybe you’d see them outside the hotel or something.

But there was like this real separation between us as artists and the audience.

There was really very little communication,” Cuomo reminisces. “And then as the internet started to become more popular, our second album [1996’s ‘Pinkerton’] comes out and then, wow, people are commenting on our album on Amazon.com, and they’re leaving ratings.

A lot of this is not flattering, it’s more critical. How do we integrate this? And then within the next few years, there are lots of message boards and forums and, wow, suddenly we’re getting tons of unfiltered feedback direct from peoples brainstems.

How can I even survive as an artist as I’m hearing everyone’s thoughts?”

For their part, Weezer embraced the opportunities of the early internet, with Rivers sharing demo mp3s for their 2002 hard-rock album ‘Maladroit’ on their website, and getting a telling off from label Geffen for their troubles.

With their love-letter to 80s hair-metal, ‘Van Weezer’, postponed until spring in the hope of shredding it onstage at the Hella Mega Tour alongside Green Day and Fall Out Boy, Cuomo, guitarist Brian Bell, drummer Pat Wilson and bassist Scott Shriner turned their attention to finishing what could well be their latecareer masterpiece. Teased since 2019, then released with just two weeks notice in January, ‘OK Human’ is a beguiling album that finds the band putting down their heavy metal guitars and enlisting a 38-piece orchestra as Cuomo explores the meaning of human connection in a social world increasingly dominated by 6 Upset

technology.

“I was just going to explore my inner emotions and anxieties, and I found that I’m very anxious right now about what it means to be human, or what it means to live a meaningful life in an age where we’ve all split ourselves off on to our personal devices.”

Cutting an almost zen-like picture of calmness up this point, having recently returned from a ten-day meditation retreat, Cuomo, bespectacled as ever and now sporting a fetching moustache, begins to hit his stride. “Soon we’ll be editing our genes, and most music you hear is performed by machines now and no longer by humans. And so, as a human myself and a musician, it’s like starting to feel pretty sidelined and unsure if… like, where is the dignity in being alive if all I’m doing all day is sitting in front of the screen like typing this, tapping on these little buttons? Not just me, but I look around me and guarantee you go to any house around here or any of the rooms in my house and you’ll see a human sitting down looking at a screen tapping buttons.

“The original seed idea was to make an album of me at the piano with the string section that was recorded at Abbey Road. We started out that way and did the strings and put the other band members on.”

With the original idea for a string section to complement Rivers on piano, when Weezer returned to work on ‘OK Human’ last year, the band realised something was missing. “It was stunning. Amazing,” Cuomo says of that original Abbey Road session. “But the more we listened to it, the more we realised we wanted the full orchestra - everything from flutes to trombones, clarinets. So we

went back again, and this time it is mid-pandemic.

I wasn’t invited to this session. You can’t have people there unless they’re necessary. I don’t know how they did it,” Rivers admits.

Drawing inspiration from legendary Beach Boys record ‘Pet Sounds’, where Brian Wilson’s iconic band pivoted from jangling surf rock to classical instrumentation, ‘OK Human’ is the first Weezer album to feature no power chords and not a single guitar solo.

Instead fluttering strings, delicate piano and jolly horns adorn one of Cuomo’s most solid clutch of songs this decade. “I remember when we played these little clubs here in LA. Before every show, I would put on ‘Pet Sounds’, and I would just sing along to it,” Cuomo

remembers. “It warmed up my voice and expanded my range and just got me into this mode of thinking very in terms of very romantic, broad melodies. And that innocent and pure lyrical persona, exploring inner emotions of how much of a summertime hit it could be.”

It’s testament to how well ‘OK Human’ hits the mark that Cuomo could just as well have been describing Weezer’s own new album.

From opener ‘All My Favorite Songs’, with its spot-on skewering of living life through the internet (“All my favourite people make me mad / Everything that feels so good is bad”), to the final gorgeous orchestral flourish of ‘La Brea Tar Pits’, Rivers and co. combine some of their most engaging lyrics in years with memorable tunes

as well as a remarkable consistency across the twelve songs that Weezer aren’t always renowned for.

The serene orchestration and bright melodies on ‘Aloo Gobi’ jarring against some of the more anxious lyrics create a dreamlike ‘Truman Show’ eeriness, while ‘Grapes of Wrath’ describes the duality of our technology addiction at once a source of stress and an escape from reality, with Rivers losing himself in the Audible version of the classic John Steinbeck novel. On the more sombre ‘Numbers’, Cuomo laments the different metrics we allow to dominate our lives, from social media likes affecting our self-esteem to test scores defining what arts and subjects children can explore at school,

before a soaring chorus that would make Chris Martin weep (then wish he’d written it himself).

“I was reminded of Radiohead’s amazing seminal album ‘OK Computer’, and I’m really no music historian or critic but from my perspective, it kind of felt like they were exploring the human/ technology relationship at a time when technology was... It was menacing, but it was still kind of like this futuristic threat,” Cuomo explains. “Whereas now it feels more like technology has taken over and it’s the medium in which we’re trying to exist, and community is becoming this afterthought.”

“I’m writing from this perspective where we’re kind of looking back on what it was like to be a human when humans really mattered,” Cuomo continues, a stately piano visible over his shoulder in his LA home. “There’s very little in the way of technology on the record, all the instruments of the orchestra have been around for centuries and obviously no synthesisers or loops or computer-generated sounds, and in fact, there’s not even an electric guitar.”

Guitar-nerds hankering for more wiggy solos on the signature Gibson SG, despair not, ‘Van Weezer’ is arriving in May to fulfil all your finger-tapping rockriffing needs. Conceived to give them the oomph to compete with two of rock’s heavyweights on the upcoming tour, ‘Van Weezer’ finds the band returning once more Back to the Shack, indulging the classic rock dreams of their childhoods in what can best be described as Maximum Weezer. “’OK Human’ is a very introverted, introspective, quirky, personal, noncommercial

“I’LL TELL YOU MY IDEA, BUT I CAN’T GUARANTEE ANYONE’S GONNA LIKE IT...”

RIVERS CUOMO

album, and it’s basically the worst type of record you could put out for a stadium rock heavy metal tour with Green Day,” Rivers jokes.

“So we’re like, OK, let’s put that on hold for a minute and go back and make like a stadium-crushing heavy metal album.”

With the quite brilliant ‘OK Human’ already out in the world and ‘Van Weezer’ out soon, it might seem churlish to ask ‘what next?’, but this isn’t any normal band we’re talking about. This is Weezer, and you just know there’s probably got more projects already being cooked up behind the scenes. “Well, I have an idea I emailed to Jake [Sinclair, the band’s producer] a few days ago.

I haven’t heard back. I’ll tell you my idea, but I can’t guarantee anyone’s gonna like it or that we will pursue it,” Cuomo pauses before going ahead and spilling the beans. “OK, the next project is a bundle of albums called Seasons, Weezer Seasons.

It’s obviously spring, summer, fall, winter and each album comes out on the first day of the relevant season. And each album would have a very distinct pallet of instrumentation and production and lyrical themes. And for example, ‘Spring’ could be like a very breezy, very positive, lighthearted collection of

more acoustic songs like ‘Island in the Sun’. I was thinking ‘Fall’ could be a dance-rock album like Franz Ferdinand. That would be tricky for Weezer to pull off, but it could be cool. And then ‘Winter’ could be like a 90s singer-songwriter like Elliott Smith, songs of loss and despair and more acoustic again. So that’s the idea.” So just a small undertaking then? “[Jake] might give me a thumbs down,” Rivers chuckles in sheepish style.

Whether or not Weezer Seasons materialises next, or a few years down the line, or never at all, the quartet are clearly enjoying being in the studio, picking an idea, running with it, then setting it down and picking up a new thread and repeating the process.

Of their recent output, ‘OK Human’ is the most startling, affecting music Weezer have released in the 21st Century, showcasing a timeless musicality without losing the quirky lyrical idiosyncrasies that define them. Buoyed by orchestral arrangements, it is a breath of fresh air from a band approaching their third decade. Far from sinking into the La Brea Tar Pits like some doomed prehistoric beast, Weezer continue to defy the odds to survive and thrive. P Weezer’s album ‘OK Human’ is out now.

Upset 7

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WILD AT HEART

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Cult faves Wild Pink are unleashing their most ambitious record yet, third album ‘A Billion Little Lights’.

Words: Rob Mair.

Photos: Mitchell Wojcik.

I

n 2017 film A Ghost Story, writer and director David Lowery’s quiet rumination on grief, time takes centre stage. Whether that’s making the audience sit through five uninterrupted minutes of a grief-stricken Rooney Mara gorging on chocolate cake, or a whistlestop tour through the ages with Casey Affleck’s sheetcovered ghost, time – and the passage of time – is used as a device by the director.

And it raises some important questions – most notably, how can time both move at a glacial pace one moment, and then cover thousands of years in a blink of an eye?

It’s a similar trick to that employed well by Wild Pink’s John Ross on the New York group’s third full-length outing, ‘A Billion Little Lights’.

The lights in question might refer to the stars in the cosmos – as set out on ‘Bigger Than Christmas’ – or they might refer to the minuscule bioluminescent phytoplankton illuminating the sea on ‘The Shining But Tropical’. “Why can’t both things be true?” he questions cryptically on ‘Oversharers

Upset 9

Riot_ Anonymous’, bringing things full circle.

Smart and literate indierockers Wild Pink have never been afraid of asking such big questions, but here, such ambition is writ large in brilliant neon. It also means ‘A Billion Little Lights’ is an album best enjoyed outdoors, where there’s no ceiling on hand to stifle the sounds and ideas.

“Out in the country, that’s the perfect place to be listening [to the record],” says Ross. “And the talk of the scales, both large and small from our perspective – that’s absolutely spot on about the album.

“But it also extends to the music too. Even

Dan Keegan and bassist T.C. Brownell) have produced an indie-rock monolith that more than lives up to Ross’ lofty aims.

Yet we could have been listening to a very different record had Ross followed through with his original plan to make a double album inspired by acclaimed documentary maker Ken Burns’ series The West.

While elements of this desire – certainly in the musicality and sensibilities – remain, ‘A Billion Little Lights’ does not wander too far down the concept album route. Nor is it a bladder-busting double album.

“Nobody wants to hear a double album,” laughs

“A GOAL OF MINE WAS TO ALWAYS TRY AND MOVE BEYOND DIY AND EMO” JOHN ROSS

aesthetically, with the sounds, I wanted there to be so much detail sonically, even that would feel like a billion little lights.”

Ross isn’t wrong. Having defined their sound with 2017’s self-titled and 2018’s breakthrough ‘Yolk In The Fur’, Wild Pink have been on this sonically ambitious journey for the past four years, embellishing and building their delicate and dextrous brand of indierock with each subsequent release.

Here, with accompanying fiddles, saxophones and pedal steels – as well as backing vocals by Ratboys’ Julia Steiner – Wild Pink (completed by drummer 10 Upset

Ross, when asked about this creative departure. “That idea came and went. In fact, I can’t imagine making a double album, ever.

“But I did still want to make something big in scope. I wanted to make something that was very lush and cohesive and full.

So I set out to accomplish that, and I think I did. But the double album thing, I moved past it. There’s still some of The West influence in there.

I guess I learned to call my shot two years in advance.”

While Ross may joke about calling his shots two years in advance, two years is an awfully long time between records for a group as prolific as Wild Pink.

Between 2015 and 2018, they dropped two EPs and two full-lengths, growing from scratchy indie-punks with two-minute-long songs on the ‘Good Life’ EP to writing an entire half of an album which flowed seamlessly from one song to another, like an orchestral movement.

Equally, it’s easy to see the similar themes that run through all three fulllengths, the pop-culture asides which mask profound

ideas, the occasional moment of pointed sarcasm, and the love of big questions. While the process has remained the same throughout, there’s no doubt the vision behind ‘A Billion Little Lights’ has helped make a record sound as enormous as the thoughts behind it.

“When I think of these three records – self-titled, ‘Yolk in the Fur’ and ‘A Billion Little Lights’ – they feel like a direct continuation of each

other,” says Ross. They’re all coming from the same place.

In that time though, I think I’ve grown as a producer and engineer, and that’s what’s been changing; but the songs – and the process behind the songs – that’s stayed the same.

“Also, I think the songs have progressively gotten longer. I wanted to let ideas germinate – like I really wanted them to have room to grow.”

This idea of giving songs

room to grow – and the difference in time between records – means the songs on ‘A Billion Little Lights’ have been allowed to stew far longer than in the past, with often stunning results.

Wild Pink of 2021 are a world away from the direct and poppy indie punks of 2015, and this is clear on the meandering ‘Track Mud’ or the triumphant transition between ‘Bigger Than Christmas’ and ‘The Shining But Tropical’.

Not that all this percolating was necessarily Wild Pink’s idea, however.

Label issues added a further delay, complicating an already tricky period for the band as they looked to emerge from the DIY underground.

Previously, Wild Pink were signed to Tiny Engines, a label with an emo aesthetic that launched The Hotelier, Adult Mom and Illuminati Hotties. When the label imploded thanks to a

fallout over royalties, Wild Pink were forced to look for a new home – something already mooted thanks to the growth of the band’s profile.

“Being on a label that is so entrenched in emo and DIY, it’s tough to move past that in the eyes of others,” considers Ross. “It kind of sticks with you. A goal of mine was to always try and move beyond DIY and emo.

“Royal Mountain has been nothing but awesome to work with. With Tiny Engines, I think their mission statement was for them to be an incubator for small bands – like, just put your record on vinyl and send you on your way – which is great – for some amount of time.”

Now, following the jump to Royal Mountain (home to Alvvays, Mac Demarco and US Girls), the group has been able to make music videos for the first time, including one starring and storyboarded by Emmy Award Winner Annie Murphy (Schitt’s Creek’s Alexis Rose) and filmed – appropriately enough – in her family’s supposedly haunted cabin in rural Ontario. “It was surreal,” laughs Ross, when asked about the project. “I’m so grateful to Annie. That video was her vision, and she did such an amazing job.”

It feels like the appropriate exclamation point and a statement of intent for a band on the up. Not every act has the pleasure of working with a celebrated actor at the peak of their powers – and fewer still are on the receiving end of pitches from said actors.

But then there’s a certain bravery to Wild Pink’s high concept indie-rock that sets them apart from the pack.

A polished star in a sea of little lights, if you will. P Wild Pink’s album ‘A Billion Little Lights’ is out 19th February.

Upset 11

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“THIS CHAPTER IS ABOUT OWNING YOUR SHIT AND TAKING THE POWER”

Striding into 2021 with urgent new single ‘Seize The Power’, and the promise of more ‘on the way’, Yonaka are back and kicking up an almighty noise.

Words: Kaz Shaw.

Photos: Jade Jackman.

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I

t’s an exciting time for Brighton band YONAKA. With barely any downtime following the release of debut album ‘Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrow’, they spent the immediate aftermath touring their socks off and collaborating with the likes of Bring Me The Horizon, and then last year’s washout writing pretty much non-stop. The results of those sessions are about to hit full-force, starting with comeback single ‘Seize The Power’ - a typically assertive, ambitious outing that could have only come from YONAKA. Lead vocalist Theresa Jarvis explains how it came to be.

Hi Theresa! What are you up to today?

Currently sitting in our studio (aka my living room) right now, with Rob and Alex. We’re just doing some more writing. Feeling really good considering how the world is right now. Feels really good to go into a new year with lots of music and visuals to release.

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from you guys, your last release was the Bring Me The Horizon collaboration, wasn’t it? That must’ve been fun to do.

Yeah, it’s been too long!

Over a year and a half since we released any new material, so we are for a better word gagging to get the new stuff out. I love the song ‘Tapes’ I did with Bring Me. I still listen to it often; it’s so pretty and strange, and I just love it, that was really fun to do! It’s sick when you collab with another artist because it takes you to spaces where you wouldn’t usually think of and go doing it yourself, so we have a few collabs coming in future stuff.

Have you managed to take some time off since then? How was your 2020?

2020 we just knuckled down and wrote every day, and I mean every day. We had an insane run before we started to flake creatively, which was December time. We also recorded and produced the new music, and shot the video for ‘Seize The Power’.

I think we also recorded and released the stripped EP as well, that was a weird one dipping back into old stuff and re-releasing, especially when we had all this new energy and ideas. It could have not been busy for us, but we weren’t just going to sit around and do nothing.

Now we’ve got our best material yet and had time to really sit and plan it all out.

Your new song ‘Seize The Power’ is great, can you tell us a bit about what inspired it?

It’s about taking control, being the power that you really are. I feel like we are always told to be quiet, you’re not good enough, and that beats us down over the years to become quite vulnerable. This song is a big NO to that. You are amazing, and this strong, powerful being, so find it and live it, breath it. Because when you realise your potential, you grow wings and you become you, and you and that’s beautiful.

To what extent did the reaction to your debut album inform the kind of music you wanted to go on to make next?

I guess it got that story out of my system, you know the constant battle of mental health. If we didn’t make that album, we wouldn’t have made the type of music we have made now. It’s all growth and learning. Like

“WE WEREN’T JUST GOING TO SIT AROUND AND DO NOTHING - NOW WE’VE GOT OUR BEST MATERIAL YET” THERESA JARVIS

the production on our latest work is so much better along with the writing etc. but like I said it’s growing and learning along the journey.

This chapter is more about owning your shit and taking the power, whereas the last one was almost about having it stolen from you and not having control.

Do you have a lot of new material raring to go?

How have you found writing and recording during the pandemic?

Have you had to change the way you work much?

What’s your plan for this year? Do you have much in the diary, or are you playing it by ear a bit?

I would say we have done really well with it. We write and produce all our stuff, and the studio is in mine and Alex’s living room, so we have still been able to do everything whilst in lockdown luckily. We went to Distiller Studios in the middle of last year to record the drums and guitar and then did all the vox, bass and everything else in my living room. We are always

writing apart from when we are recording/producing, so we never stopped.

Yes, it’s all finished and ready to be released, and we have been writing a lot again, so more to come after that.

So far this year is going to be full of lots of new releases, a new era of YONAKA. We have shows in the pipeline, but it all depends on what goes on with the world to whether we can start playing again.

OMG we miss playing, miss the people, the energy, everything. P

YONAKA’s single ‘Seize The Power’ is out now.

Upset 13

CLOUD CONTRO

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Back in the first studio they recorded in together, and with their old mate and previous producer Steve Albini, Cloud Nothings’ new album sees them on solid ground to push forward.

OL

Words: Linsey Teggert.

Photos: Daniel Topete.

“THE PERFECT POP SONG NEEDS THAT ELEMENT OF CHAOS TO IT” DYLAN BALDI

D

ylan Baldi is always searching for the perfect pop song.

As part of his quest, the Cloud Nothings frontman has been writing a new song every single day for the last year and a half. This would seem like an enormous undertaking to most, but not for someone whose name is rarely mentioned without the word ‘prolific’ cropping up alongside it in a sentence.

“It’s a weird, ephemeral thing being a musician, I felt like I needed to have an actual representation of me doing something every day, so at the end of the day I can say, ‘this is what I did today’. Now that we’ve had touring stripped away too, it’s nice to have evidence that I existed today.”

Since Cloud Nothings’ beginnings a decade ago as a scrappy, lo-fi solo project, Dylan seemingly has limitless musical energy, always plugging away, determined to keep moving forward - you just need to look at the band’s ever-expanding discography for evidence. As they prepare to release their new record ‘The Shadow I Remember’, Dylan himself has trouble recalling how many albums the band have produced, with numerous EPs, splits and compilations peppering the timeline. (According to their label Carpark Records, it’s their fifth studio album as a full band and ninth under the project name.)

“We’ve also screwed with the timeline for putting out records before this one even comes out,” laughs Dylan, referring to the surprise internet release of the dreamy and more delicate ‘The Black Hole Understands’ in 2020, recorded via email between drummer Jayson Gerycz

and himself while quarantining separately.

“I doubt ‘The Black Hole Understands’ would have existed if it wasn’t for the lockdown situation.

The plan was always for ‘The Shadow I Remember’ to come out in February 2021, so we were still going to have a year of essentially nothing to do after recording it in February 2020, though I’m sure we would have done something, but it probably wouldn’t have been a record like that. It’s hard to make something intense when you’re not physically with another person and when you’re doing it in a sort of sterile way with a guitar plugged into the computer, so those tracks came out a lot cleaner and poppier.”

This element of spontaneity has always been a characteristic of Cloud Nothings’ approach to creating music, with Dylan stating in the past that nothing the band does is on purpose; that everything is off-the-cuff and reflected upon after. He admits, somewhat ruefully, that things tend to be more considered these days.

“For a while, the band was our collective life, we really couldn’t do anything outside of it, it took up so much of our energy and our time. Now it’s harder to have that connection as we live in different places so we have to take advantage of the time we get. The songs are a little more thought out before we play them, everything is a little more ordered and deliberate.”

“I think that it’s something I’m almost starting to resent in a way - well maybe not resent, that’s a strong word. Whenever we get the chance to do something again, when we’re all vaccinated and ready to go, I would like to switch it Upset 15

Riot_ up a little more drastically. I suppose alternating between the slightly chaotic and more measured reflects my two states of mind, they’re always at war in my head.

Subsequently, I think the perfect pop song also needs that element of chaos to it, like it’s always about to fall apart.”

For someone who is keen to keep pressing ahead, it’s interesting that ‘The Shadow I Remember’ saw Cloud Nothings return to Electrical Audio in Chicago to work with Steve Albini, who recorded their first studio album as a full band, ‘Attack on Memory’, in 2012.

“We’ve done every record with somebody different up to this point, but so far, Steve has seemed like the person who has most accurately captured what I think the band sounds like. When we practice in a basement, that’s what I think of as ‘the sound’ of this band. We can play on a big stage, but that feels kind of foreign to me, I always want our records to be accurate depictions of

16 Upset

what I’m hearing when I’m standing in a room playing with these guys. No one seems to be able to do it exactly like him.”

Whether it’s the comfort of recording with someone they have worked with in the past or the benefit of having more time and experience compared to the first time around, ‘The Shadow I Remember’ captures Cloud Nothings at their best, taking the thrashy, pummelling punk the band have perfected and blending it with Dylan’s talent for creating indie-pop hooks. It’s very much a Cloud Nothings record, but Cloud Nothings at their most accomplished and assured.

“One of the things I’m most proud of about this band is that there’s a through-line from album to album. The producer may change and the sound of the songs changes, but there’s a core element there that carries through no matter the particular style of an album we make. When you’re trying to sell an album,

people are always looking for a story. For us, there isn’t a story, in fact, the story is, ‘hey we’re still doing this ten years down the line, isn’t that crazy?!’

Something that’s always been present throughout each Cloud Nothings record is Dylan’s tendency to veer towards life’s more existential questions. “Am I something? Do you see me? Does anybody living out there really need me?” he asks in his signature growl on ‘The Shadow I Remember’’s lead single ‘Am I Something.’ Given his existential leanings, it makes sense that Dylan is always searching, always seeking better. His desire to constantly keep pushing forward is almost Sisyphean, though he jokes he’s pushing a Garage rock band up the hill, rather than a boulder.

“I’m always obsessed with being able to learn from the past and being able to always move on and keep the good things and throw away the bad things, kind of working towards some

idea of yourself that will never exist but it’s always the goal. That’s why I make these songs: everything I do is working towards the ideal song, the ideal album. It’s all just refinements to this core thing that I think exists out there somewhere. I don’t know if I’ll ever get to it, but the fun is of searching for it.”

So how is that search coming along? Many would argue that Dylan has already come close to crafting perfect pop, but in his typical modest fashion, he’s not quite so sure.

“Well, I always think I’ll make a song, and think it’s a great song, but then the next day I’ll listen to it and be like ‘urgh, why did I think this is good?’ so I’ll start over again.

That’s another reason why it’s so easy for me to write a song every day, because every day I think I’ve got to improve on the last one.”

P Cloud Nothings’ album ‘The Shadow I Remember’ is out 26th February.

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LIFE IS NOT A LESSON It’s second album time for Ned Russin, aka Glitterer.

Words: Sam Taylor. Photos: Farrah Skeiky.

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N

ed Russin, formerly of hardcore-punk favourites Title Fight, continues his foray into fuzzier waters with his second Glitterer album, ‘Life Is Not A Lesson’. This time taking on production duties himself, it’s a step up into big, punchy tunes that reckon with wanting both answers and reassurance.

Tell us about your new record - when did you begin work on it, and what was your starting point?

I started writing what would become ‘Life Is Not A Lesson’ in late-2019. I was touring a lot, and the last record had just come out a few months beforehand, but I wanted to just keep working on new stuff. I didn’t really have a specific starting point, but the first song that I wrote was actually ‘Didn’t Want It’, and I think that provided a good foundation for what the rest of the actual album would become.

Were you able to spend much time in studios, or working with others? How did the pandemic impact your process?

Before the pandemic hit, I had actually booked a series of sessions to record the album. The first was supposed to be at the end of March in Paris. I was doing a European tour and was going to just stay for a week after it wrapped up to work on the first batch of songs. That tour was cancelled partway through,

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and we returned home into lockdown. So after that, I had to completely alter my recording plans. I ended up recording in my practice space, except for the drums which were recorded in Kingston, PA. Did you come up against any other unexpected challenges during the record’s creation?

Yeah, beyond the logistical challenges, I also had to deal with the mental and emotional challenges. I came home from Europe believing that the lockdown would only last two weeks and the pandemic would end. That obviously didn’t happen. The severity of the situation unfurled in real-time while making the record. So I was trying to focus on creating something while also trying to make sense of, and peace with the world seemingly fall apart around me. Those aren’t the best conditions to try and make a record under, especially one that you’re making on your own.

‘Life Is Not A Lesson’ feels like a reassuring title, what was the inspiration there?

The title of the record comes from the title of a song which is from a lyric in that song. The lyric was saved from a scrapped idea I was working on earlier, and it just felt like it offered a solution to a lot of the questions I was trying to work out while working on the album. I’m not particularly interested

in defining what life IS or IS NOT about, that’s too big a task, but beyond the meaning of life, the goal of the song is to say that it is too valuable to be used as an example or explanation.

You’ve said that the major theme in ‘Life Is Not A Lesson’ is desire, how does that play out?

I don’t ever set out on a batch of songs with a roadmap or anything, I try to allow myself room

to just freely explore what’s going on somewhat subconsciously. The word “want” kept coming up over and over again in lyrics, and after putting it down so many times, I tried to assess the reasoning behind it. A lot of the songs explicitly deal with wanting something, and a lot of it boils down to a certain kind of driving intangible desire.

In what ways does the album progress what

“A LOT OF IT BOILS DOWN TO A CERTAIN KIND OF DRIVING INTANGIBLE DESIRE” NED RUSSIN

you were doing on your debut?

It’s hard to say because I’m so close to everything, I feel like I don’t have the ability to be completely objective about the changes in the band. This album is definitely more electric guitar-driven than the records in the past, but overall to me, it just feels like a logical extension of the Glitterer songs that I’ve written.

Do you know where you want to go from here?

The only goal is to just play more music.

What’ve you got coming up over the next few months?

Going to work 9-5, eating salads for lunch, reading, and releasing a record and a book in February. P

Glitterer’s album ‘Life Is Not A Lesson’ is out 26th February.

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Photo: Lindsey Nico Mann.

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TEENAGE WRIST’S Everything you need to know about

new album

‘EARTH IS A BLACK HOLE’ LA duo Teenage Wrist are putting out a message of hope with their deceptively-titled second album.

PEOPLE WERE HARMED IN THE MAKING OF THIS RECORD. Ok not really, but there were some obstacles.

Some of us took trips to the hospital, Colin’s computer got hacked, and Kevin had to rebuild the entire system, we took at least a month-long break directly in the middle of the recording process when COVID hit, someone who will not be named screamed so hard on “wear u down” that there was an awful sharp pain in his balls afterwards… it was quite the journey. Hopefully, the literal physical and mental anguish is palpable.

WE WENT A LITTLE OFF THE RAILS MUSICALLY. Maybe had a little too much fun playing with odd time, drum solos, synth layers, chasing tones from “moving pictures”. There is a very annoying, very nerdy “music school guy” in each of us, and we decided to bring him out for a few songs. But then there’s also the side of us that wants to be tom petty and the heartbreakers, and oasis, and green day, and every other four-chord radio smash band out there. So we did that too.

THERE WERE A NUMBER OF SECRET WEAPONS ON THIS RECORD. NONE OF THEM EXCEED $500. We spent a lot of time crafting tones, and there may be one boutique pedal that makes an appearance, but for the most part, the source material was pretty simple and

cheap, in some cases scrappy.

WE CAME INTO THE WRITING PROCESS FULLY READY TO DEPART FROM “NU-GAZE”. Sure there’s plenty of reverb and fuzzy guitars, that’s never going away. Staying true to our shoegaze side was important, but we wanted it to be a flavour and not the whole dish.

We had the opportunity to try things we never had before as a band, like working with outside writers. And there were a lot of times where we felt apprehensive about a move and ended up just saying “fuck it, let’s go”. As a result, there’s a sense of humility and joy in the record that feels refreshing, and hopefully, that allows it to bob around on the surface for a while without being drowned by all the other “throwback” stuff that’s out there.

Overall it feels like a step towards a more sincere version of ourselves.

“EARTH IS A BLACK HOLE” MAY SOUND LIKE A NON-STOP BUMMER - but it’s actually very reflective of what we were trying to do in each of our personal lives, and it shouldn’t be seen as lamenting or apathetic. We were letting go of a lot of expectations, a lot of negativity and doubt. We would encourage anyone listening to read between the lines a little, to find the gold nugget in the shit mound. The whole thing is more of a release, and also a call to ourselves (and everyone else) to savour the beautiful moments in their lives, to do some good. To pause for a second, accept all the madness that’s going on around you and try to access the love and strength within. Obviously, we’ve both been meditating. P Teenage Wrist’s album ‘Earth Is A Black Hole’ is out now.

Fever 333 have teamed up with Travis Barker for their new ‘Wrong Generation’ video.

Jason Aalon Butler explains: “We were hoping to make a video that offered a similar energy and excitement to the live element of this FEVER 333 project. I also wanted to give a nod to ‘Song 2’, one of the coolest music videos ever made.” Check it out on upsetmagazine.com.

Adult Mom have announced their third studio album, ‘Driver’. The record will arrive on 5th March via Epitaph, preceded by new single ‘Sober’, a track which examines how people’s perception of each other changes and deteriorates over time.

Citizen’s fourth album ‘Life In Your Glass World’ is due for release on 26th March via Run For Cover Records. The news arrives alongside their punchy new single ‘I Want To Kill You’.

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About Break_ to

Photo: Julia Leiby.

EVERYTHING HAPPENING IN ROCK

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ISAAC DUNBAR Making a name for himself in the realms of alt-pop, Isaac Dunbar’s new EP ‘evil twin’ features an absolute monster of a track in single ‘pink party’.

BULL York’s alt-rockers Bull have just announced their debut album ‘Discover Effortless Living’, due 26th March via EMI, in conjunction with Young Thugs.

DEAD POET SOCIETY

Formed while attending college in Boston, LA-based four-piece Dead Poet Society are gearing up to release their debut album, the enigmatically-titled ‘-!-’. Frontman Jack Underkofler tells us more.

How long have you been working on your debut album for, what was the timeline like?

Two whole years. It took a lot longer than I thought it would, but it’s also our first real full-length album, so it was quite the learning experience. We like to (or rather just make ourselves) set unrealistic timelines, so we’re always working, and even then it took a while. It’s kind of a process that never seems like it’s ending or even real until it’s over, but it was worth the effort and we’re super excited to finally get it out!

How do you pronounce the title? What was the inspiration there?

We really want to leave it up to the fans to create a verbal way of expressing it, but for

“IT’S IMPORTANT TO ME TO BE HONEST; THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE IS BOTH TOTALLY UNIQUE AND NOT AT ALL” JACK UNDERKOFLER

the time being, you could call it ‘the exclamation album’.

The visual of the name evokes a visceral feeling that lends itself to the music and the album as a whole. It represents what we are and what we sound like without you ever hearing the music.

It makes you pay attention.

How did you approach structuring the record?

The interludes are interesting.

We always have voice memos going when we write so that we don’t forget what we just did in case something cool happens in the room.

Our guitarist, also named Jack, went through his vm’s and came out with those snippets. We wanted to have a way of setting the mood for what’s to come and also to show people who we are.

What do you most enjoy writing songs about?

Are there any particular themes you’re drawn to?

My particular style is to write from what you know. It’s very important to me to be honest. The human experience is both totally unique and not at all. What you experience going through life feels very personal and defines you, but at the same time what you experience has also been experienced by billions throughout time.

By writing from a personal and honest place, you find a lot of connection with others through that shared experience. I draw a lot from my struggle with anxiety and depression. It is therapeutic to write about it, and I know others feel the same.

What are the key things that make for a good debut album, do you think?

To be honest, I have no idea hahaha. I think just putting everything you have to offer in it and doing it for yourself.

You write music because you love to write music. If you’re not doing it for that, you’re doing it for the wrong reasons.

What are you up to over the next few months? Are you able to plan much at the moment?

Getting this album ready to release and starting on album two ASAP. Don’t want to waste any time! You can’t plan too much for the road right now, but everything else is full steam ahead.

Dead Poet Society’s debut album ‘-!-’ is out 12th March.

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ANOTHER MICHAEL

Philadelphia-based, Run For Cover-signed upstarts Another Michael are a charming prospect, making bright, endlessly endearing guitar-pop tunes full of colourful hooks, intimate tales of heartbreak and swathes of joy. Vocalist/ guitarist Michael Doherty, bassist Nick Sebastiano, and guitarist/keyboardist Alenni Davis introduce their band, and their debut album, ‘New Music and Big Pop’.

How did you meet and decide to form a band?

Michael: We met around the end of 2014 through playing in bands with mutual friends around Albany. Nick and Alenni were students at the College of Saint Rose, and I was working at an instrument rental shop and focusing on playing the drums. We hit it off quick, bonded a lot over the venn diagram of our musical experiences, over board games, late-night food and driving around town. Also, the city’s local music scene was really taking off in a way I’d never seen before, and there were all these house show spaces bringing in more diverse and exciting touring bands. All these things combined inspired 26 Upset

me to really reshape the way I approach songwriting and band arrangement and led to focusing on creating a live band first and studio project second. I’ve been so lucky to have them.

Do you all still live together?

Alenni: When we first moved to Philly, we all lived together in the same house for three years, but we, unfortunately, had to part ways amidst COVID and other lifestyle changes. It was really awesome while it lasted and we made a ton of music and memories together in that space. Mike and Nick live together with our friend Noah, and I live with my senior rescue dachshund Wormy about a 10 minute walk away.

What’ve been the highlights of your time together so far?

Alenni: Where to begin! I feel like every tour we’ve been on has been a highlight, and we’re very grateful to have had the opportunity to play alongside some of our favourite musicians.

We played SXSW in 2019, which was a blast. One of my favourite shows we’ve ever played was on Halloween in 2019 - we opened a sold-out show with Prince Daddy and the Hyena and Beach Bunny at Thalia Hall in Chicago.

It was amazing seeing hundreds of people moshing in costume. This album, ‘New

“WE ARE WORKING ON A FEW THINGS; SURVIVING A PANDEMIC IN THE POLITICAL HELLSCAPE OF AMERICA BEING THE MAIN ONE” NICK SEBASTIANO

Music and Big Pop’, is also a huge highlight for us! We’re really proud of what we’ve created.

If Another Michael had a mission statement, what would it be?

Michael: We’d like to provide an artistic landscape that flows with the present for better or worse, and to try and assess music through our most authentic lenses.

What was the process of putting together your debut album like? Has the pandemic got in the way much?

Alenni: The album itself was thankfully recorded pre-pandemic, but working out what to do in terms of releasing and promoting a debut album during a pandemic has been a long series of hurdles. Thankfully we’ve been up for the

challenge! We’re trying our best to get creative with music video ideas and other content we can create during these times, though we have come up with a lot of music video concepts that we immediately realised were impossible, but maybe we’ll come back to them when they are possible.

What else are you lot working on at the moment?

Nick: We are working on a few things; surviving a pandemic in the political hellscape of America being the main one. But we have some new music in progress that we are excited about and that we hope the world can hear not long after they’ve had their fill of ‘New Music and Big Pop’. P Another Michael’s debut album ‘New Music and Big Pop’ is out 19th February.

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TROU Back for album three, and sounding bigger than ever, Royal Blood are a band reborn.

Words: Ali Shutler.

Portraits: Mads Perch.

Live photos: Sarah Louise Bennett.

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COMI

BLE’S

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“T

ouring with Queens of The Stone Age nearly killed us,” Mike Kerr told The Evening Standard at the end of 2017, recounting a run of shows where he and drummer Ben Thatcher tried to keep up with the party boys of rock’n’roll.

After being hailed the saviours of the scene before they’d even released their 2014 self-titled debut, Royal Blood had quickly become accustomed to that feeling of trying to keep up. Second album ‘How Did We Get So Dark?’ was written with the live show in mind (anything

that work on ‘Boilermaker’ as “the catalyst to get this record going”. Not only does the self-produced album three embrace a love for groove but in the middle of recording, Mike made the decision to get sober. The story goes that he made the call while sat in a Las Vegas bar, waiting for the espresso martini that would become his last drink. “I think he felt like he couldn’t go on,” says Ben. “You know when you’ve gone too far.”

Mike is still “pinning down the reasons why my drinking got so bad. The music industry runs on alcohol, and I was caught up in a certain lifestyle,” he tells us. “I totally respect

“I JUST TAPPED OUT. THE PARTY WAS OVER” MIKE KERR

to keep the party going) but as the pair headed into the studio with QOTSA leader Josh Homme to start work on album three, things didn’t quite go to plan.

“I saw Josh in his producer role when I went out to do The Desert Sessions. I had ‘Boilermaker’ up my sleeve, and it felt like a very natural decision to go and cut that track at his studio,” says Mike.

The rumbling track, a live favourite from the moment it was played during their 2019 festival run, “is such an exciting song, but we didn’t have enough material to make the record.”

Their brief trip wasn’t a complete waste, though.

“Josh is such a strong-willed character. He gave us such confidence in ourselves,” continues Mike, who credits 30 Upset

that some people want to live that life, but for me, I just tapped out. The party was over.” He knows what inspired him to make that change, though.

“In the studio, Josh knows what he wants, and he knows exactly how to get it. I wanted that confidence for myself, but I knew I just wasn’t in the right place in my life. I knew I had to work on myself, I knew I had to go and get my shit together before I wrote or recorded any more music.”

Months later, Mike felt ready to try making Royal Blood 3 again.

However, soon after they started work in the studio, countries started banning international travel and imposing mandatory lockdowns to stop the spread of coronavirus. In a

bid to protect themselves and the studio staff, Royal Blood decided to return home.

Bored, they continued to write, and their third album changed shape. It’s in those extra months that ‘Typhoons’, the title-track to the record, was written alongside a few more of the album’s bigger tracks. Full of lyrics like “My thoughts becoming parasites that live to keep me terrified. I tell myself I’ll be alright” and “I’m doomed, and I’m waiting for light in my sky,” it’s a song that cradles hope.

“The whole album revolves around that track,” explains Ben, despite it being one of the last to be written. “We didn’t want to write music about what’s going on at the moment because, let’s face it, it is shit.” So alongside driving disco-rock songs, Mike got introspective.

“I didn’t want this album to be ‘woe me’. That isn’t really the point. It’s more just me being honest.”

Talking about it now, “I feel like we’ve made a really miserable record, but it’s probably the most fun, energetic and vivacious album we’ve ever made,” says Mike. “It’s just strange timing that while the world fell apart, I finally got my world together.”

FORMED IN 2011, Mike and Ben didn’t expect Royal Blood to ever be the festival headlining goliath it is today.

After various teenage bands fizzled away, both men were still involved in music but on a part-time basis. “I totally abandoned those rock star dreams, to be honest,” says Ben. “You need to make money, and hopefully, you can find a way of doing that while doing something that you love. In music, that’s becoming a teacher or playing in a covers band [Ben did both]. So while the rise of the Royal Blood

was quick, we had actually had a lot of training in our 50 other bands that toured shitty venues around the UK for raisins. We knew what that was like, and that’s kind of why I gave up on being in bands for a while.”

“We didn’t plan for any success whatsoever,” continues Mike who preRoyal Blood played music on the rare evenings off from his day job of being a chef.

“We didn’t think anyone other than our mates would hear our record and we didn’t anticipate playing anything larger than an open mic night.” Instead, the pair did it to fulfil a creative itch. There’s not a hint of ego to either Ben or Mike. Polite, they still carry themselves with the gratitude that anyone is even listening to their music. “For it to go as far as it went and to still be here, it just feels miraculous.”

But that self-titled record was heard around the world. Topping the UK album chart, it also got nominated for the Mercury Prize, picked up a bunch of very famous fans and saw the band play third on the Reading & Leeds main stage below Metallica and Bring Me The Horizon.

Visceral, noisy and tothe-point, it’s easy to see why the pair were hailed the saviours of rock’n’roll, even if it’s a title the band themselves have never been comfortable accepting. “I take stuff like that with a pinch of salt,” Mike says.

“You can’t think you’re the saviours of rock’n’roll when bands like Queens of The Stone Age, Foo Fighters and The Dead Weather are still going. Get in line, bro.”

Instead of leaning into the hype, Royal Blood “just let the live performance do all the talking. When we came out the gates, I’m sure we angered or confused a lot of people,” says Mike.

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Not only had they achieved the sort of overnight success that most bands spend decades working towards but Royal Blood refused to pretend that every day was a fairytale come true or that their meat and potatoes rock’n’roll was going to take over the world.

“I guess we didn’t act the way we were supposed to,” he shrugs. “We looked like

a couple of roadies, but the one thing we were confident in was that as soon as we started playing in front of people, we would have their attention. That’s the most important thing to us.”

“We’re cool to some people. I love that my sister, who is a bit older than me, loves our new song, but that’s not cool, is it?” asks Ben. “Then my nephew will

text me and say how much he and his mates love our new tune. Instantly my cool factor is back up.”

“I have no interest in being cool as a person,” starts Mike. “But I think our music should make you feel like you’re the most fucking badass motherfucker in the world. I hope that someone can listen to it on their way home from school and know

“YOU CAN’T THINK YOU’RE THE SAVIOURS OF ROCK’N’ROLL WHEN BANDS LIKE QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE, FOO FIGHTERS AND THE DEAD WEATHER ARE STILL GOING. GET IN LINE, BRO” MIKE KERR

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that if anyone picks him up, they can fucking win that fight.”

AFTER THAT SNARLING debut made Royal Blood the most exciting thing in rock and the most dangerous thing in music, three years later they released ‘How Did We Get So Dark?’. A half-step forward, it felt like more of the same than anything revolutionary especially sandwiched between that debut and the neon evolution found on ‘Typhoons’. “The second record was really difficult and making it wasn’t that enjoyable,” says Ben. “I think we did play it safe to an extent. We were overwhelmed by the whole experience of that first album. It was such a special thing we did at the beginning, and then you’re told, ‘you’ve got to do that again but better this time’.

You can’t recreate that.”

For the first time, Royal Blood had people expecting

things from them, which they both admit was really daunting. “Suddenly, everyone was watching and waiting. It was stressful, and it’s much more difficult to make music for ourselves, knowing people are going to hear it,” Mike says, before Ben adds: “We tried to just do the best we could. I am really proud of that second record, there are some great songs on it, and without it, we wouldn’t have been able to push ourselves to do what we’ve done on ‘Typhoons’.”

The album, a snarling blend of their thrashing, guttural rock blended with a relentless disco groove, sees the band recapture whatever magic they stumbled upon with that first record and takes it someplace new. “If we had tried to attempt what we’re doing now back then, it wouldn’t have been very good. We weren’t experienced enough to take it as far as we have on this record,” says Mike, who also doesn’t think the fans would have been ready for what he calls “the most exciting record we’ve ever made. It’s so colourful, so powerful; it’s Royal Blood: The Luxury Package.”

Part of ‘Typhoons’’ progression comes from Royal Blood’s ability to now deal with the pressures of being a critically acclaimed, globally adored band.

“You need to be able to shut out the world,” says Mike. “With this record, I genuinely didn’t care what anyone thought, even if it was positive. I had to come to a place in my own mind where anyone else’s opinion was respected, but irrelevant to me.” Last night, the band finally released the title track to their third record. “It was such a joyous moment when the track ‘Typhoons’ was finished because I knew it was great.

We put it out yesterday, and if the world thought it was shit, it wouldn’t have changed how I felt about it.

It’s taken me a long time to manage my emotions in that way. I think at the beginning I cared about what other people thought of our music, but now I don’t.”

“If I’m being honest, we don’t really think about satisfying anyone,” he continues. “That’s just such a dangerous game to play, and it usually results in poor material.”

“If your last record was

a success, it’s a safe bet to do more of the same, but artistically and creatively, you want to create something different. That’s what we’ve done with this new album,” says Ben who describes ‘Typhoons’ as “a bold step into doing what you believe in. If people like it, then they’ll follow you, and you’ve totally won. If they don’t, that’s fine as well. We’ve got two other records, and you can go and listen to other rock music. We’ve just tried to do something a bit different.”

But the trick isn’t just to ignore the outside world.

You also need to believe in your own decisions. It’s something Mike saw when working with Josh Homme and getting sober allowed him the self-confidence to do that. “If you’re gonna do something progressive, and do something someone’s never heard you do before, you’ve really got to be on your own team first,” he says.

“Getting sober had a massive impact on the sound of the record.

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Suddenly clarity descended upon me in the most profound way. Part of being creative is trusting yourself, and for the first time in a long time, I really knew who I was. I knew what I was capable of, and I could trust what was good, what was terrible, and what was amazing. I felt like I just had this kind of accuracy, and as a result, it allowed us to go further forward than ever before.”

‘Typhoons’ might be “a different beast” to what’s come before and Royal Blood may feel “like a different band”, but like everything they’ve done before, all the tracks started with bass, drums and vocals.

“A lot of the time when we added more backing vocals, extra keyboard parts and bits like that, it made the song sound worse,” Mike says. “It’s about maintaining that chemistry and making sure that if we were adding things, they weren’t taking away. I feel like we could do anything as long as you can hear the chemistry between Ben and me. It was important for us not to lose that edge.”

That trust in their chemical reaction means Royal Blood can spread their wings within their own band, and on collaborations with the likes of Run The Jewels. Their remix of ‘RTJ4’ track ‘The Ground Below’ has their sticky fingerprints all over it. “Us riffing over those guys rapping? It’s just fun, isn’t it?” asks Ben, with Mike adding how “it was just a no brainer. It sounded so good. We’re all really excited about the idea of doing some more stuff together.”

Royal Blood are a band that offer escapism with their music, while Run The Jewels are far more political and outspoken. “We do stay away from that stuff,” starts Ben. “But that doesn’t mean we don’t have our 34 Upset

“I HAVE NO INTEREST IN BEING COOL AS A PERSON, BUT OUR MUSIC SHOULD MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE THE MOST FUCKING BADASS MOTHERFUCKER IN THE WORLD” MIKE KERR

own opinions or are afraid to support people speaking up.”

IT’S COMING UP to 18 months since Royal Blood last played a live show, with no end in sight. The complete shutdown of gigs “put a healthy pressure on making this record that much more immersive,” says Mike. “For the first time, we fully accepted the idea that the record and the live show are different.

They can communicate with each other, but ultimately when you put your headphones on, it is going to be a different experience than being at a gig. This pandemic has highlighted tremendously that the live experience cannot be emulated. There have been noble attempts to keep it going, and I don’t criticise that whatsoever (the band are hoping to do their own livestream in the near future), but I think we can all admit it’s not the same.”

That realisation opened the

door to making ‘Typhoons’ a more versatile record.

Live, it’s going to sound incredible, but it’s also got something to say for itself.

“It’s a strange irony where I had to get sober in order to write about being incredibly fucked up,” says Mike. “It’s a record that’s really about feelings and thoughts taking over.

There can be times in your life where you can be completely consumed by your thoughts,” he continues, before admitting that ‘Typhoons “is a very personal album.” It explores the idea that “nothing is permanent, nothing lasts forever, and those consuming thoughts will pass. It’s just about holding on. I know those feelings will come again, but when they do, I know they’re not going to last forever. That’s why I think, ultimately, this record has a positive sound to it.”

“I don’t think I would have been able to sing about it as openly as I have, if the music wasn’t so

upbeat. It would have been a real bummer.” At times the lyrics are full of self-hatred and loathing but, as Mike reasons, “that voice in your head is brutal as well. You wouldn’t talk to anyone else the way you talk to yourself.

For some reason, we struggle to give ourselves a break though so I just wanted to be open about how brutal that voice is because I know I’m not alone.”

Getting sober meant Mike had to ask for help. “It means calling on your friends, your family because no one should be on their own.” Even famed booze-hound Josh Homme was incredibly supportive of Mike’s decision. “The truth is, no one’s alone. It’s an illusion you sometimes tell yourself.”

Royal Blood have no high hopes about what this disco-rock album of turbulent mental health will mean to others but for Mike, “It changed my life really.

I had to change my life to make it, and then once I made it, I changed it again.

I’ve played it down in the past but being in this band, and the responsibilities that come with it, it’s something that I’ve always secretly dreamed of. After this album, I can see more records being made now and with joy.”

For the first time in a long time, Royal Blood aren’t just trying to keep up. “I see a way forwards. We don’t really want to get caught up in ambitions for anything else,” says Mike.

“We don’t think about trying to be the biggest band around, we just want to push ourselves to be the best that we can be and do stuff that makes us feel good,” says Ben. “It’s always nice to be liked, isn’t it? But I’m really not worried about what other people think about our music.

There are better things to care about.” P Royal Blood’s album ‘Typhoons’ is out 30th April.

Upset 35

THE THR THE

36 Upset

HRILL OF CHASE Newly signed to Fearless Records, LA-based, Australianborn trio Chase Atlantic are taking a confident stride forward with their third album.

Words: Steven Loftin.

Photos: Jordan Knight.

Upset 37

C

hase Atlantic want to be better. They’re the kind of band who, while the world has been completing Netflix, baking sourdough bread and exploring every corner of their rooms, have been honing their craft, and it’s all on the quest to be all they can be.

“There was no agenda.

We were just like, let’s make some music that we fucking really believe is cool,” vocalist Mitchel Cave eagerly starts. “I can say hands down that this is the first album that we’re all very confident in. I’m not sure if that came from the fact that we didn’t have

beats may all sound familiar, in fact, if you dig beneath the surface, you’ll find a world that towers high, and burrows low.

“I’ve never felt more confident, which is a great feeling because it just doesn’t feel scary, it feels like it’s getting easier and even though the expectations are higher,” Mitchel says. “We keep raising the bar…I’m already thinking about a fourth album!”

It could be argued that a band feeling confident, all the while things seem to be getting easier could represent a plateau. But Mitchel bats this away with an enthusing declaration

“IF YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE TAKING A STEP BACK, YOU’RE NOT DOING THE RIGHT THING” MITCHEL CAVE

any distractions in terms of touring, and being on the road.”

The Australian trio Mitchel, along with Christian and Clinton - have been whetting their musical chops. Not just via the physical act of production - they’re a predominantly self-produced band, after all - their expansion is also woven deep into the honesty that they’ve let bleed throughout their third album, ‘Beauty In Death’.

A collection of tracks that kick the doors wide open on this band of youthful exuberance - while their airy, ethereal, trap-laden 38 Upset

of: “You can’t take a step backwards. If you feel like you’re taking a step back, you’re not doing the right thing.”

‘Beauty In Death’ is certainly Chase Atlantic pushing themselves forward while literally and logistically stationary - a fact that, if anything, helped elevate them to their desired new level. Philosophising on the striking words that make up the album title, Mitchel says the band “do believe that there is beauty in death.”

“I feel like you can look at that in two ways you can look at it as tragedy - which it is - and you can be very

heartbroken, and it can be devastating, but if you can find the beauty in death then that’s kind of the cycle of life and energy.

“You can appreciate if a tree dies in autumn, and then comes back the next season, and the flowers bloom - you find beauty in that.” He continues. “You can also find beauty in death when it comes to family members that have passed away - just from personal experience - it brings families together.

Something good always comes out of death, no matter how terrible death is, you can always find the good and the bad.”

Rumination on the lifecycle aside, Chase Atlantic’s confident strides into, and out of, this project all come from fear, or there lack of. “There’s no fear of people not understanding because we’ve written two

albums,” Mitchel says. “It sounds narcissistic of me, but... I don’t know, it’s a weird feeling. There was so much hardship last year, and we’re proud to have made the album like we could have given up so easily because of all the things that happened. But the fact that we did it and the fact that the songs are what they are - it’s kind of a self inspiring thing.”

No one is more inspired

by Chase Atlantic than Mitchel. His air exudes straight up pride in what he and his brothers have achieved. The dream is certainly being lived, but as with every dream, there always comes that waiting nightmare, which can rear its ugly head in the form of anxiety, addiction or depression. Mitchel acknowledges the past year came with a lot of personal

things happening “some good, some bad...nothing too detrimental,” he’s quick to clarify, but the rumination of whatever’s happened can be found dotted throughout ‘Beauty In Death’.

“Yeah, those deeper, darker things are our psyches, and that’s a little scary, but it’s also very liberating,” he smiles. “I feel like this is the most honest album we’ve ever released.

[Second album] ‘Phases’ was very emotional; fluid and ambient, and poppy, but this one... I mean, ‘Out The Roof’ was the first single so you wouldn’t expect this album to be that personal.”

Indeed, the bravado of Chase Atlantic is just that, a bravado. Admitting that they’re “very kind of reclusive, shy and quiet people”, you could be forgiven for thinking the opposite given their penners

of lines such as “I got fifty rackies on me hangin’ out my pants” and “bitch, I’m bulletproof” (‘Out The Roof’), while alongside the dedicating of a song to MDMA, and the struggles of addiction that come with (‘Molly’) - there’s certainly more than meets the eye when it comes to the trio.

“Every single person has a different story, and that’s that’s the main thing,” Mitchel affirms. “Everyone has their stories, and I’m sure they can find something to relate to within our stories. It’s an honesty thing; it doesn’t feel disingenuous.”

Chase Atlantic are a band whose only choice, without completely subverting themselves, was to dig deeper inward. “We don’t have a lot to say politically, I mean we’re not a political band, we still have our own thoughts and conversations

and things but that kind of stays private,” Mitchel admits.

But truthfully, that’s not what people want from them.

There are indeed bands who give political action a voice, but there are those that need to give the darker thoughts in their head a voice - all the way down to the sinful actions of a party-hard, roaring-twenties rock band.

Which makes for an important aspect of Chase Atlantic, and one that comes coated in the tripping beats positivity. 2020, a year to be mused on for a long time yet, played into Chase Atlantic’s plan. After setting up camp in L.A. just before things went wild, there they stayed to bring ‘Beauty In Death’ to life, and it’s there they battened down the hatches and cracked on with taking things to the next level.

“I was happy to be isolated and working on music, and being computer nerds at heart and producers,” Mitchel enthuses. Noting that they’ve been fortunate for finding themselves in the ideal position of being able to indulge their inner gear-geek, the Chase Atlantic sound itself doesn’t entirely break through their barriers as much as it builds deftly into something more cinematic and developed.

“To be honest with you we joke about it a lot. I think we always try and go left-field, and we end up in that nice little sweet spot in the middle,” he says on any intentions to properly shakeup the Chase Atlantic sound that’s become synonymous over the past few years.

“We like to talk about going so left-field that it’ll throw everyone off, but we always Upset 39

40 Upset

“WE LIKE TO TALK ABOUT GOING SO LEFTFIELD THAT IT’LL THROW EVERYONE OFF, BUT WE ALWAYS COME BACK TO OUR ROOTS” MITCHEL CAVE

come back to our roots of sensibility, and what we would want to hear from our favourite artists is what we make.”

“There’s always progress to be to had and as long as we don’t take our eyes off the ball I feel our work can never really be done,” he mentions. “Like it doesn’t ever feel like ‘Wow, the album’s done, finished, feel good - I’m gonna take a vacay’. No. It’s just like, that’s an album done, but we need to work more, and we need to do more things.”

“Truly I don’t feel like there’s an end line, it feels like it’s a marathon, but it’s a good marathon, but I don’t see the end in sight which is a good thing, because I don’t want to see the end.”

Mitchel urges. “I don’t want to become lazy, I don’t want to become complacent, and it’s very easy - especially with the last year - to become complacent, and just not want to do any work whatsoever. But the beauty of the music is that it’s not really work, it’s kind of therapy.”

With the therapy session for ‘Beauty In Death’ wrapped up, and everyone ready for it to roll out into

the world, even including that fourth album in the near-distant pipeline, Mitchel mentions something that he’s been holding in the back of his mind for a few years now.

“My favourite thing to reference is; I remember we’d just finished making our first album, and then started making our second, and I saw - when I was still using Twitter actively - a tweet from Matt Healy. He wrote this massive thing about how the third album is the hardest in a band’s career because it really is the difference between whether the artist can kind of follow through with what they’ve been doing or they crumble.”

Crumble, Chase Atlantic shall not. They’re a band with faith in themselves and their art, and how far they’ve come - from leaning into their poster boy look, to their step into the alternative world after signing to a major label - with their eyes always set on the horizon, means the future is theirs for the taking. P Chase Atlantic’s album ‘Beauty In Death’ is out 5th March.

Upset 41

REME -MBER REME -MBER Well over a decade deep, and Tigers Jaw are throwing off the weight of expectation with their new album, ‘I Won’t Care How You Remember Me’.

Words: Alexander Bradley.

Photos: Rebecca Lader.

42 Upset

T

he stars aligned when Tigers Jaw released their self-titled second effort back in 2008.

Through the small cracks of light, word of mouth and an unusually potent music scene in north-east Pennsylvania, that album became a cult classic that unified acclaim between punks, indie-rockers and the re-emerging emo scene alike.

The magic of the album was the straightforward tone, it was the truth of teenagers struggling to find their place in the world.

For those who lived through that album when it was first released almost 13 years ago, nostalgia for teenage angst and for trepidation of the unknown comes quickly whenever it is revisited. And for those still discovering it, it remains a great accompaniment for navigating those insecurities.

Now comes Tigers Jaw newest Upset 43

album, ‘I Won’t Care How You Remember Me’. That same straightforward tone rings clear, but it’s older and wiser, and it makes for the most complete, fullyrealised and self-assured record they’ve ever made.

Ben Walsh, one of only two mainstays from those early days along with Brianna Collins, declares the album’s title as “an anthemic statement about living in the now, being present in the moment, not getting so tied up on stuff that you have no control over but instead, taking accountability for what you do have control over.”

He is quick to add that “there’s always going to be those anxieties,” but that the aim is “to build up as much self-confidence as I can” and this album shines with that positive change.

The personal growth that is charted in the album is down to a similar level of honesty and authenticity that made the album which traversed their teenage years so easy to relate to.

Between the points of then and now, 2014’s ‘Charmer’ and 2017’s ‘Spin’, it becomes more clear of the transition that was happening within Tigers Jaw. Referencing their previous album ‘Spin’, Ben notes that “I played most of the instruments on that record, so I was just constantly feeling a little in over my head.”

And, by comparison, “This record I was able to just focus on writing the best lyrics and melodies that I could without worrying about guitar stuff and letting everybody else take control of their own station and trusting them.”

So, at the destination that is ‘I Don’t Care How You Remember Me’ there is a new era for Tiger’s Jaw. In terms of personnel, Ben and Brianna are joined by 44 Upset

“WE’VE ALWAYS FELT LIKE THE UNDERDOG; WE STILL HAVE A LOT TO PROVE” BEN WALSH

Teddy Roberts on drums, and Colin Gorman on bass (with Ben flipping back to guitar) and Tiger’s Jaw feels like a real band again.

“It feels like leading up to this record we had gone through some changes and had gone from a very very part-time band into a fulltime touring band, while also just trying to figure out who we were as a band.

This record feels like we’ve figured that out and we’re ready to embrace that and step confidently forward,” Ben beams.

Glaringly obvious but easily overlooked, by doubling their numbers, it meant Tigers Jaw could figure out this album like any band would. “We had the luxury of being in a room, going back to the roots of the band just hashing everything out over band practice and playing it until it feels good,” Ben details after years of him and Brianna running between and tracking every instrument themselves.

As a result, this album shifts away from the lush soundscapes of ‘Spin’ and instead allowing fewer elements to shine brighter.

Ben justifies the move as “using as few layers as possible it brings it closer to how we perform live, and it captures more energy, and we just wanted that sort of energy to be reflected in the recording in

a way that maybe previous records haven’t been able to capture it in the same way.”

The band’s additions go completely against the belief that “less is more” and, instead, ‘I Don’t Care How You Remember Me’ hangs like a mirrorball cascading beams of light in every direction. The 11 tracks demand attention and maintain it thanks to the array of approaches and ideas which decorate the album. The criteria for each track was “every song has its own energy and has its own sonic purpose on the record,” according to Ben who, unfazed by the scope of such a diverse offering, adds “we’re stepping a little bit more out of our comfort zone and just trying some new things, and I think it really paid off.”

Outlining the album, the strong opening trio features the title-track (including some guest backing vocals from Manchester Orchestra’s Andy Hull) followed by the singles ‘Cat’s Cradle’ and ‘Hesitation’. It’s a bold and defiant opening trilogy where “those three songs, in particular, do definitely address that sort of taking ownership, putting the toxicity behind you and learning how to grow from it,” Ben explains.

With such a feisty opening, it’s evident the

extra level of design and time taken into making ‘I Don’t Care How You Remember Me’ into a dynamic body of work. Ben describes it best as, “The first half starts off with the slow build and then it’s a lot of big energy and you get a little bit of a break during ‘New Detroit’ which is just a really organic and new sound for us.”

“Then it builds back up to end on a pretty high energy song ‘Can’t Wait Forever’, and it’s got this big outro and then coming from the settling dust of that outro, you get the drum intro for ‘Lemon Mouth’.

This big outro ends the first movement of Side A, and then this drum beat comes from the ashes to start Side B. “And Side B is a little bit more dynamic, it’s got some higher highs and lower lows in terms of mood, so it was really fun working on that sequencing. ‘Anniversary’ was kind of the perfect song to tie everything together and end it on a positive, optimistic note.”

Again, it all seems to be down to what Tiger’s Jaw can create with more people in the room. The consideration given to the flow of the album acts like a string connecting each of the tracks and, even when they trail off to explore uncharted waters, there is still a conscious feeling of how this album works as a whole.

That “new sound” in ‘New Detroit’, for instance, is laid back but purposeful featuring “a different sonic palette than we’ve used on our other songs” according to the singer. The album is then snapped back into focus thanks to the driving power (and nod to fellow to Scrantonites Captain, We’re Sinking and The Menzingers) in ‘Can’t Wait Forever’.

And that’s not the only deviations either with numbers like ‘Commit’ showing off a more bubblegum sound or the textured dream-pop of ‘Heaven Apart’ which are counteracted by more focused numbers like ‘Body Language’ as Tiger’s Jaw swing between the pillars on what they’ve built their reputation.

It’s an album Tiger’s Jaw have taken seriously.

Ben and Brianna have trusted new people to come in and help realise the potential of a part-time project. With time at their disposal, the vision of how to finesse a complete album and a lot of talent, they’ve made ‘I Don’t Care How You Remember Me’ into their finest work yet.

Like their ever-important self-titled work, this album is a commentary but now to people discovering their worth and making positive change with it.

And, faced with the new era of Tiger’s Jaw, Ben seems to relish the challenge of proving themselves once again.

“I think we’ve always felt like the underdog, I don’t think that necessarily correlates with feeling young anymore,” he laughs.

“But we still have a lot to prove, and we still have a lot of stuff that we want to accomplish. We’ve known from the start that we’re in this for the long haul and we’ll take these little victories as they come.

We would love to be the biggest band in the world, and hopefully, we get there someday, but for the meantime, we’re gonna just keep climbing and just keep doing things in a way that feels authentic and feels like us.” P Tigers Jaw’s album ‘I Won’t Care How You Remember Me’ is out 5th March.

Upset 45

“NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE IN LIFE, YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO FACE YOUR INNER DEMONS; YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO FACE THE PERSON IN THE MIRROR” 46 Upset

nothing,nowhere. has spent the past few years wrestling with his mental health, and the result is an album that’s both filled with honesty and hope.

Words: Steven Loftin.

Photos: Dan Brown.

“I

grew up the shy kid. You know, quiet,” nothing,nowhere. brainchild Joe Mulherin begins. “I liked skateboarding and music, so it’s been a real challenge coming out of my shell. A lot of the methodology behind that was being thrown in front of 15,000 people, opening up for Fall Out Boy.” It’s these sink or swim moments that have led Joe, and his nothing,nowhere. moniker, into the realms of success and splendour.

Noting that he’s even managed to buy a house through his musical earnings (“That is so cool, I never thought I’d be able to do that!”), Joe’s confidence in not only himself but where he can feasibly go has grown exponentially.

“I was thrown into the deep end, and thankfully I made it out in one piece - or, almost one piece,” he says with a wry smirk visible in his eyes. He’s currently in the middle of a wintery-forest, coated in warming clothes, surrounded by barren trees and pure white snow. Quite the world away from an arena rammed with people, then.

“Yeah, there’s no Reddit forum for playing in front of 15,000 people, it’s not a normal thing surprisingly,” he chuckles. “I just remember shitting my pants backstage, walking out and just seeing ants essentially and being like, ‘Okay, well I guess this life is an illusion.’”

A statement that might seem surface-level odd, but as Joe carries on, it turns out it comes from his Buddhist learning. Getting to this point of retrospective serenity, however, wasn’t easy.

Both this perspective and the coming out of his shell involved Joe needing to retreat into it for a bit. After the release of his third album

48 Upset

‘Ruiner’ back in 2018, Joe decided to take a six-month hiatus - cancelling tours, festivals - to generally focus himself inward, tending to his mental health after finding himself cornered by a realisation.

“At that point, I didn’t have a choice. I was having a panic attack every day, and I was going through almost like a period of psychosis,” he remembers. “It took a lot of hard work. I went to Buddhist temples, and I went to psychiatrists and therapists. I spent every day meditating and trying herbal remedies - finally taking medication which I never wanted to do. And then, the first thing back was that Fall Out Boy concert with 15,000 people. And now here we are, finally getting to put out another record!”

Much like that fabled stage, with ‘Trauma Factory’ - Joe’s fourth album in the nothing,nowhere. canon he’s now front and centre of his world. Not bad for someone who barely two years ago was hiding behind a tattooed hand in press photographs, or lurking beneath the shadows in his videos - even rarely doing interviews.

“That changed when I went on tour, and I met a bunch of different people from around the world, and they shared their stories with me,” he says. “They [were] being raw and honest and real with me, and there was a sort of liberation.

“So, one day, I posted pictures of myself and said ‘hey this is me. I’m nothing,nowhere. - I’m Joe’.

And that’s a liberating thing!

I’ve gotten better with that, in having an attitude of ‘this is me, I’m an artist, I make music - take it or leave it’.”

A momentous step for someone who admits that when he was younger, his mind was taken up with being worried about what

“IT’S BEEN A REAL CHALLENGE COMING OUT OF MY SHELL” JOE MULHERIN

other people thought of him and feeling like he didn’t fit in. As he’s gotten older, Joe attributes this growth “through meditation, doing interviews, and forcing myself to be uncomfortable and being on stage - which I never thought I’d be able to do - I think I’ve pushed through it.”

It’s also meant that he’s had the life-saving realisation of how important it is to live in the moment.

“It makes you realise how fragile life is. I never realised how vulnerable I was until [I was] sitting in meditation every day and realising how insane my idling mind was when sitting in silence - they call it monkey mind in Buddhism. [When] your neurones are just firing, and you’re having thousands of thoughts every minute.

“Subconsciously it’s manifesting itself within me, and it’s creating all this anxiety and if this goes unaddressed for so long which is what happened to me - it’s gonna catch up to you, which it did. It was a very traumatic experience for me, but it taught me that it was like hey, you need to keep yourself in check and you need to address these things.”

It’s this need that that led to Joe stepping inside the ‘Trauma Factory’ - an expansive facility where you’ll be met by a space filled with the motion of ideas and psychological

understanding. Machines rapturously pressing the essence of human emotion into tracks that delicately build to fierce choruses, with the occasional incinerator raging out the heat of dealing with anxiety. ’Trauma Factory’ is a snapshot of where I am at life right now, and I think it’s a bit less vague. In the past, I’d write ‘Oh, I’m anxious or I’m sad’ and I never really delved into details, whereas ‘Trauma Factory’ has a track

called ‘real’, which is very specific in talking about exactly where I am right now.

It’s about meeting a fan with my logo tattooed on them and me driving home, really grappling with that and realising that people look up to me and having to be some sort of like role model, knowing very well that I, myself, am extremely flawed.

“I’m not perfect, and every day is a struggle, so ‘Trauma Factory’ is like this ultimate breathe in, I could say what I meant. It was a nice thing to be able to come back to music, especially after what I went through.

Coming back to music felt so right.”

Even ‘Buck’ sees Joe taking a soapbox of sorts. Using two points of view - the verses “personifying someone from my hometown”, while the choruses are Joe responding to their marvelling of his success. “The grass isn’t

always greener,” he explains, “because no matter where you are in life, you always have to face your inner demons; you always have to face the person in the mirror.”

Noting that ‘Trauma Factory’ is “reflective” of who he is as a person, not just through the mirroring of his experience, but also he’s “not cut one certain way, I have hundreds of influences,” he mentions. “I have hundreds of different hobbies that I like to do; like Thai boxing, baking sourdough bread. I like doing bushcraft!” He says nodding to the wilderness beyond him.

“They say variety is the spice of life, and I do carry that philosophy into my music as well. And I think in 2021 people are digesting albums in a very different way. People aren’t listening to albums in their entirety, which is a bummer, but I

mean it is what it is at this point, people save songs to their Spotify playlist, and in some ways, I feel like ‘Trauma Factory’ plays like a Spotify playlist.”

“I’ve always loved experimenting with different genres and stuff and with Trauma Factory, it’s just me taking that and putting it to the maximum level, like, why not make an R&B song, a nu-metal song, a rap song and a post-punk song on the same album, you know - why not?”

For someone who pours so much of himself into what he writes, with every lyric scratched into paper expelling some aspect of his reflective workings - and our readied introspection putting them to something other than that eerily spacious, thunder-rumbling, delicately prowling music of Soundcloud old, does the bouncing use of genres offer something else, something more?

“Yeah, that’s a great question,” he begins pondering. “I do think that [with] each different genre, I am serving a [different] piece of myself. When I made ‘death’, I was channelling 10-year-old me, listening to Limp Bizkit or Linkin Park, something like that.

And when I made ‘barely breathing’ I was definitely channelling 13-14-year-old me, listening to Underoath or Thursday.

“With something like ‘lights’, it was like, ‘Okay, I’m here in the present moment doing what I look like now’. So yeah, that’s a really cool question because I do think that, as a whole, music is a catharsis and it is a meditative and positive experience for me. Being able to weave throughout different genres is kind of like checking in with the different pockets of my psyche.”

Given the zen nature Joe

is now exploring and living as an artist, the success that’s enabled him these opportunities - from being able to take six months to recover from the strain it put him under, to coming out and facing a crowd of 15,000 head-on - needs to be acknowledged. It’s one that can provide riches but can as easily keep you hounding for more. “[I’ll be in my house and] you’re just like, okay, well now what?” He questions.

“And that ‘now what?’ philosophy or thought process is so toxic because you’ll just dance hopelessly into your grave, just wanting more and getting it, and never appreciating what you have.”

So, would Joe say he’s satisfied with where he’s at then?

“I’d say hell, no!” He bursts out laughing. “No. I’ve read so much. I’m really into Taoism and Buddhism, and they say, you know, ‘the middle way is you don’t need much, you just need the present moment; you need yourself. You need friends and family’. That’s it. And I know this to be true.

“I’m a work in progress as so many of us are. I wake up days where I feel empty, and I feel like something’s missing, but I do at least now know that any amount of fame, recognition, critical acclaim, those things will not ultimately bring me happiness,” he concludes.

“The only thing that will bring me happiness is the stillness of the present moment and the people that I surround myself with.

If there’s any type of clarity that I’ve learned throughout this journey and making ‘Trauma Factory’, it’s to appreciate the present moment and don’t take things for granted.” P nothing,nowhere.’s album ‘Trauma Factory’ is out 19th February.

Upset 49

Rated_ THE OFFICIAL VERDICT ON EVERYTHING

Architects For Those That Wish To Exist

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‘FOR THOSE THAT WISH TO EXIST’ IS THEIR MAGNUM OPUS 50 Upset

Imagine spending nearly two decades paying your dues in the depths of Britain’s underground metalcore scene, only to ascend to unchartered territory for a straight-up heavy metal act, headlining arenas and charting in the UK Top 20 following the death of your principal songwriter and founding member. It would break through the barriers of even the bravest of bands and hang them out to dry.

For Architects, they’ve lived to tell the tale, and on their first album without any involvement from their late guitarist and songwriter Tom Searle, they’ve ventured down the road less travelled, embracing an industrial wonderland of glitchy synths, soul-crushingly solemn lo-fi, and brain haemorrhaging breakdowns that bleed their heavy metal roots into their most accessible album yet.

‘For Those That Wish To Exist’ occupies the soundscapes’ Holy Hell’

wasn’t confident enough to conquer. ‘Discourse Is Dead’ dances around ‘Take To The Skies’-era Enter Shikari, as pulverising post-hardcore pits itself against vehemently exhilarating electronicore whilst the ‘Mike from Royal Blood’-featuring’ Little Wonder’ flirts apoplectically with ‘That’s The Spirit’ era Bring Me The Horizon, as much an alt-metal anthem as it is a call to the mainstream arms.

On lead single ‘Animals’, they venture into a postapocalyptic industrial wasteland that is as reminiscent of the synthpunk noise-rock of HEALTH as it is an anthemic alt-pop extravaganza; meanwhile the goosebump-inducing string-laden lo-fi dream-pop of closer ‘Dying Is Absolutely Safe’ will leave you in tears.

Whilst musically it’s a melting pot of never-ending influences, ‘For Those That Wish To Exist’ is the sound of Architects navigating a

lyrical labyrinth of moral compasses. Their longtime association with inspiring change in relation to our earth’s ever-growing environmental issues is omnipresent here, however, it’s imbued with conflicting concepts as they question whether we can be hopeful of our generation or bury ourselves in despair for those that follow. They may be wrestling with hope; however, it ultimately gives way to despair, as Carter screams on ‘Black Lungs’: “When will we wrestle the world from the fools and their gold, and their fucking covenant?”

If ‘Holy Hell’ was Architects shining a spotlight on their story so far, ‘For Those That Wish To Exist’ is their magnum opus. This is the sound of Architects once again ascending the ladder on their journey to becoming the scene leaders of British heavy metal. Jack Press

ANOTHER MICHAEL

NEW MUSIC AND BIG POP

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’New Music and Big Pop’ ducks and weaves between folk, pop and alternative indie genres to craft sincere tracks about insecurities, difficult memories and the profound joy of music. The serene tone of falsetto Michael Doherty takes centre stage, slotting effortlessly into jumping tracks like ‘Big Pop’ or solemn folk dirge ‘Not Home’. The versatility of these tracks is easily the most impressive feat of the album that has clearly been inspired by a number of broad spanning influences. In this album, we hear Another Michael say they “want to make something timeless” and with such obvious talent for writing relatable music in a wide range of genres and tones, it’s not hard to imagine that they will get exactly what they want. Connor Fenton

CHASE ATLANTIC

BEAUTY IN DEATH

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It’s hard to deny that - when it comes to the bleeding edges of what constitutes rock music - Chase Atlantic are some of the slickest operators. Their third album - and first for new label home Fearless Records - ‘Beauty In Death’ sees them embrace those pop-slash-R&B influences even further, resulting in a record that sounds like it was born within the zeitgeist itself. What it lacks in immediate standout

smash hits, it makes up to with a bewitching, all encompassing vibe. While others are content to thrash through the same old tired moves time and time again, Chase Atlantic continue to push forwards at all costs.

That’s something to celebrate. Stephen Ackroyd

CLOUD NOTHINGS THE SHADOW I REMEMBER

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Delving deep into pop territory, in their own ramshackle way of course, Cloud Nothings’ ‘The Shadow I Remember’ has a decent arsenal for attacking the sonic sense including the soaring melodic lamenting of ‘Nothing Without You’, and the sickly howl during ‘The Spirit Of’. As the brashness of Cloud Nothings melding with the melodic envelope that pop so treasures comes a distinct vulnerability, with a wry comforting smile. Sure, if you’re unaccustomed to the rattling way Cloud Nothings do things, you might find the pill hard to swallow, but once you edge past the clatter you find a band who’re truly, madly, deeply themselves.

‘The Shadow I Remember’ feels like a nod to where they’ve been, but more importantly a big, open arms gesture to where they’re going. Steven Loftin

DEAD POET SOCIETY -!-

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The thundering debut from LA rockers Dead Poet Society contains all of the angst and thoughtfulness you would

expect. Spanning an immense 16 tracks, it’s a journey of emotions through spoken interludes and highenergy anthems. The album explores toxic relationships and frustrations of our modern times, without ever really fully committing to a genre - or a grammar structure. It’s clear that the band are not afraid to poke fun at themselves either, making the album all the more relatable. From the absolute winner of a lead single ‘.CoDA.’ to the open and honest reflection of ‘.haunted.’, there’s a lot to unpack here. A stunning vocal display from frontman Jack Underkofler is the cherry on top of what is a promising debut from a band brimming with energy and potential. Melissa Darragh

DOHNY JEP

SMILE, IT MIGHT NEVER HAPPEN EP

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When the world stops, as an artist, you create, and that’s what Kent band Dohny Jep have gone and done.

Knuckling down after the release of their debut last year, the four-piece have cobbled together another handful of tracks that bottle up that frenzied frustrated feeling that feels fit to burst.

The determination and thunder explodes readily throughout ‘Smile, It Might Never Happen’, most aptly in the rapturous choruses. It’s an all killer no filler affair that at times can end up feeling a bit familiar, however, it’s the energy and gusto Dohny Jep bring that keeps the freshness alive. By sweeping away the stale, they’re ready to pile this energy into a call to arms, and get you singing like it might never happen.

Steven Loftin

DRONES

OUR HELL IS RIGHT HERE

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There’s something cathartic about a good old belter, especially in a time of wall to wall misery and struggle.

That’s something Drones can help out on with second album ‘Our Hell Is Right Here’. Mixing melody with aggression, this is a record for cathartic release rather than radical reinvention. The album’s title track, featuring a welcome guest appearance from Petrol Girls’ Ren Aldridge, is a rattling, scream along affair, while the excellent ‘Epitaph’ provides a crunchier alternative. A welcome relief. Stephen Ackroyd

GLITTERER

LIFE IS NOT A LESSON

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Glitterer’s second full-length record turns the dial down on the gleaming synths of its predecessor, but at no expense to the cathartic garage punk that the project has made its name from.

Predominantly self-produced, the songs are still short, sharp emotional blows, this time yearning with blazing desire, most notably on the lyrically tender ‘I Made The Call’ and’ Fire’, amped up by sonic chaos.

Though this album is far more to the point compared to the project’s 2019 debut, squelching synths on ‘How A Song Should Go’ bring the listener back into the unorthodox realm of Glitterer, with ‘The End’ reimagining 80s synth-heavy post-punk.

With most songs averaging on 1.5 minutes long, you could Upset 51

probably wish that ‘Life Is Not A Lesson’ would be a bit longer, but in doing so you’d be compromising on the gritty magic that makes Glitterer so compelling. Life’s perfect just the way it is.

Jasleen Dhindsa

NORMANDIE DARK & BEAUTIFUL SECRETS

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Sweden’s Normandie are a band who like to go big.

Matching their native county’s natural talent for a pop banger with a sense of thumping rock bombast. Opener ‘Babylon’ punches through with a showmaster’s flourish, while ‘Mission Control’ packs an almost disco beat. If there’s a criticism to be had, it’s that with polish so thick it’s hard to really feel the emotion that so clearly lies beneath, but regardless - Normandie remain a whole heap of fun.

Dan Harrison

NOTHING, NOWHERE.

TRAUMA FACTORY

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On, ‘Ruiner’, Joe Mulherin, aka nothing, nowhere. explored his Soundcloud beginnings with the vast openness echoing mercifully while the anxiety and lamenting flowed forward as if his life depended on it.

‘Trauma Factory’ is Joe taking things to the next level because his life does depend on it - he’s someone now.

He’s raging (‘death’), longing (‘love or chemistry’) and introspective (‘buck’), but most of all he wants more.

‘Trauma Factory’ finds nothing,nowhere. walking the same corridors that

52 Upset

have made him a beacon for those in need of help, while along the way finding a new perspective that erupts out of the potent mixture gritty R&B, crashing nu-metal, or straight-up post-punk.

This is a new level that not only builds upon ‘Ruiner’’s beginnings but leaves them, sincerely and apologetically behind on the quest to figure this whole life thing out.

Steven Loftin

TEENAGE WRIST

EARTH IS A BLACK HOLE

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Following their fivestar debut ‘Chrome Neon Jesus’, Teenage Wrist underwent some major changes - the departure of vocalist/bassist Kamtin Mohager and guitarist Chase Barham being the most notable. In need of a new frontman, Marshall Gallagher stepped up to the plate and with their second album, ‘Earth Is A Black Hole’, has hit a home run. The band have kept momentum and maintained their hold on shoegaze, but while their first album had a distinct 90s tint, this one has a more 00s vibe similar to classic pop-punk bands. In fact at points, Gallagher’s vocals are reminiscent of All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth, with a much brighter tone than his predecessor’s grungier tenor.

The pair have produced a solid album. Kelsey McClure

THE PRETTY RECKLESS DEATH BY ROCK AND ROLL

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Four albums deep, Taylor Momsen’s The Pretty

Reckless are pretty much veterans of their scene by now, but there’s little of the bloated, stand-still laziness that tends to plague bands after they reach a certain vintage. Working with Matt Cameron of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, there’s no shortage of experience to go round - more so when you count the appearance of Rage Against The Machine’s iconic guitarist Tom Morello on the riotous ‘And So It Went’ A stomping ten tonne weight, it’s matched by the wailing call of the album’s title track. Momsen has long since cast aside any of the snobbish doubt that came alongside her earliest moves to become a legitimately great focal point for a band who continue to stand tall.

Stephen Ackroyd

TIGERS JAW

I WON’T CARE HOW YOU REMEMBER ME

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As the title suggests, ‘I Won’t Care How You Remember Me’ sees Tigers Jaw at their most defiant and self-assured.

The journey with the indiepunk misfits began angstriddled and insecure over 15 years ago but their 6th album finds them flourishing. This time, tunes like ‘Cat’s Cradle’ take confrontation head-on while ‘Can’t-Wait Forever’ has the kind of drive that screams of a band fully realised and let loose. That confidence allows this album to bloom with many different shades, from the robust rock moments like in ‘Hesitation’, the shimmery ‘After Laugher’-esque pop sadness of ‘Commit’ and the tenderness of ‘Heaven Apart’ to make this Tigers Jaw’s most complete album yet. Alex Bradley

WEEZER OK HUMAN

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New Weezer records often come with a sense of trepidation, and rightly so.

It’s hard to think of a band with a more uneven discography, but in recent years they’ve shown the shoots of something better.

2016’s ‘White Album’ was genuinely good - at least by the standards of modern Weezer - and ‘OK Human’ is most certainly their strongest offering since.

With plenty of warmth and little of Rivers Cuomo’s tendency to fly off on a flight of fancy, even the sort of ridiculous ‘Grapes Of Wrath’ is genuinely endearing. A touch less polish, and some might even be suggesting Weezer were back on form.

Stephen Ackroyd

WILD PINK A BILLION LITTLE LIGHTS

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”The desire to reach the stars is ambitious, the desire to reach hearts is wise,” goes the quote by celebrated author and poet Maya Angelou. It’s also an appropriate mission statement for Wild Pink’s gorgeous third full-length, ‘A Billion Little Lights’. While there’s an evident preoccupation with the universe at large and our place in it, Wild Pink also find beauty in nature and hope in the mundane. These are not new themes for the New York trio, but never has their ambition matched the execution quite as well as it does here. The result is an album for the ages. Rob Mair

2020 releases

laura jane grace

jamie lenman

orchards

illuminati hotties

stay alive

king of clubs

lovecore

free i.h: this is not the one you’ve been waiting for

ME REX

i am the avalanche

oceanator

the winter passing

triceratops/stegosaurus

dive

things i never said

new ways of living

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EVERYONE HAS THOSE FORMATIVE BANDS AND TRACKS THAT FIRST GOT THEM INTO MUSIC AND HELPED SHAPE THEIR VERY BEING. THIS MONTH, DEAP VALLY TAKE US THROUGH SOME OF THE SONGS THAT MEANT THE MOST TO THEM DURING THEIR TEENAGE YEARS.

WITH... DEAP VALLY DAVID BOWIE Space Oddity Julie: Before I had ever even known what a ‘psychedelic’ experience was, whenever ‘Space Oddity’ would come on oldies radio when I was 12 or 13, I would turn off all the lights in my room and lay in my bed with my eyes closed, just going on the adventure of the music. Somehow I knew that that was the way to experience this song going to the outer space inside my brain.

SMASHING PUMPKINS Obscured Julie: Actually, you can hear a little vibe nod to this song at the very end of ‘Look Away’. Obscured is on Gish, which is by far my favourite Smashing Pumpkins record, but also in my general top 10.

In the 90s before social media or smartphones or memes, I would listen to this song on repeat for hours on end just letting it resonate in my bones. Beautiful song.

BEATLES Her Majesty Julie: I used to stalk my exboyfriend who dumped me to ‘date younger women’ (we were 18 so wtf) but anyway, for some reason I thought it would be really edgy and get his attention if I called his answering machine and sang this song on it a cappella. In retrospect, I was being pretty creepy, but also I’m proud of myself about it because he deserved it. This song is short and sweet and bizarre and stupid and awesome. Like life.

NINE INCH NAILS Closer Julie: The first time I heard 54 Upset

this song, I was scared.

Terrified. So, of course, I had to get way closer to the music that terrified my previouslymusic-theater-obsessed brain and go way too deep, resulting in a total loyalty to and worship of Trent Reznor which continues to this day.

NIN helped me connect to the angst I had been suppressing.

I used to burn myself in effigy while listening to ‘Downward Spiral’. I was a faux goth.

FIONA APPLE Not About Love Lindsey: From her album ‘Extraordinary Machine’. ‘Not About Love’ feels like LIFE. It makes me feel all the feelings in the best possible. It takes me back to such a specific time in my life, when I had moved out of my parents’ house and moved to LA, I was living in my first apartment in Silverlake. I was working the graveyard shift as a waitress at Mel’s Drive Inn in Hollywood. I would get come home covered in ketchup and mustard, and would try to beat the sun and fall asleep

before dawn, which usually didn’t happen. This song was the perfect soundtrack to that era.

ELLIOTT SMITH A Distorted Reality is Now a Necessity to be Free Lindsey: Elliott Smith was the most heavily played artist in my late teenage years. I was very fucking lost and having a very hard time figuring out how to be a functioning human adult.

I thought Elliott was my soulmate that I never met. I had spiritual experiences on my bed listening to his songs.

His music just always feels like comfort food for the ears and soul.

PEACHES Fuck the Pain Away Lindsey: I was first introduced to Peaches’ music in high school by my good friend Nina. Nina was a German exchange student who was a thousand times cooler and hotter than anyone else at our school. I saw her and instantly knew I wanted to be

her friend. I’d never heard rap music like Peaches before.

Her music really resonated with me because she very clearly a badass bitch and she had HEAVY GUITAR riffs in her music. I just thought she was the dopest most unapologetic woman who made the sexiest music.

There was a lot of underage drinking and partying done to this song.

HOLE

Violet Lindsey: I fucking IDOLIZED Courtney. I read her biographies. I copied her fashion. She was just THE coolest. I bought some very intense vintage baby doll dresses that I wore to high school with my bleached yellow hair, and let me tell you, that was not the style during this time. But I adored her and still adore this song so much.

It’s so raw, powerful, and guttural. That raspy voice is everything. The 90s 4 eva. P Deap Vally’s ‘Digital Dream’ EP is out 26th February.

DARK GREEN COLOURED VINYL LP

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