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ZILLA OUT 03.02.17

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Editor: Stephen Ackroyd stephen@readdork.com Deputy Editor: Victoria Sinden viki@readdork.com Assistant Editor: Ali Shutler ali@readdork.com

Contributors: Ben Jolley, Corinne Cumming, Jamie Muir, Jenn Five, Jessica Goodman, Martyn Young, Rob Mesure, Sam Taylor, Sarah Louise Bennett, Steven Loftin, Tony Woolliscroft 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. P U B L I S H E D F RO M

THE BUNKER W E LCO M E TOT H E B U N K E R.CO M

THIS MONTH...

THIS MONTH, WE’VE

U P D AT E

L I STE N I N G TO...

0 4 . C I R C A W AV E S 0 7. C I T Y G U I D E S … M E N A C E B E AC H 0 7. M A R I K A H A C K M A N 08. METRONOMY 0 9. L U C Y R O S E 10. BA N G E RS HYPE 12. CA B BAG E 13. KING NUN

22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 28. 2 9.

SPRING KING L E T ’ S E AT G R A N D M A G LASS ANIMALS M YST E RY J E TS BLOSSOMS BANG ERS OF THE YEAR R E A D E R S ’ P O L L R E S U LT S

N E W WAV E O F 2 0 1 7 30. 35. 3 7. 38. 41.

I N H E AV E N DECLAN MCKENNA MURA MASA GET INUIT ESTRONS

BEST OF 2016 14. T H E 1975 21. ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

20 QUESTIONS WITH... 42. F R A N K CA RT E R

B E E N M O S T LY

Toothless - The Pace Of The Passing Former Bombay Bicycle Club man Ed Nash’s debut solo effort is everything you’d hope for.

Menace Beach - Lemon Memory Leeds’ finest scuzz poppers evolve again on LP2, but remain one of the UK’s sparkliest gems.

UPDATE

CIRCA WAVES AREN’T STANDING ABOUT AND WAITING FOR THE WORLD TO COME TO THEM. WITH THEIR SECOND ALBUM ‘DIFFERENT CREATURES’ COMING NEXT YEAR, THEY’RE AIMING FOR THE VERY TOP. WORDS: JAMIE MUIR.

weaty gigs, summer sing-alongs and anthems the size of the pyramids. Circa Waves know more than most about all of them - they’ve lived it ever since they first unpacked their indisputable box of bangers. It”s less than 24 hours after the Liverpudlian indie-heroes rip through an explosive comeback show at the tiny Omeara in London, where the band truly kick in a new era - one filled with the confidence, swagger and ambition. It”s the signalling of something far greater than just some new tracks, and frontman Kieran Shudall knows it. “I’m happy that finally people are starting to hear it,” he explains. “I wrote ‘Wake Up’ in like December last year, and as soon as that riff came out I thought, ‘Ohh, this is heavy - I wonder if people will like it?’” He needn’t worry. That leading charge ‘Wake Up’ is the call to arms that takes Circa Waves into a whole ‘nother league, not only returning but bursting back into frame and reaching higher than they’ve ever done before. Like a ferociously wrapped nugget of life changing importance, it”s the statement of intent that comes when facing what to do next after sold-out shows around the world, enough summer playlist inclusions to make Spotify seem obsolete and a connection to thousands that runs through everything they do. Reflecting back on it all and the band”s debut album ‘Young Chasers’, Kieran sees those songs as a snapshot of who he was, looking back and reminiscing like a scrapbook of summer thrills. “For me, it was such a small segment of my life,” he contemplates. “They were written in such a short space of time, like they all came together in three months and it covered exactly what I was into at the time. When I wrote those first songs for ‘Young Chasers’ I thought nobody was going to hear them. Nobody was paying attention to the music I wrote - I’d been writing songs for twelve years, and nobody gave a fuck. Then it went everywhere and I’m massively proud of that record, there are some amazing pop songs on there.” “But then you play it solidly for two or three years and you”re really in a different place now,” he continues. “It’s a strange thing about being in a band; I think a lot of bands suffer from that - playing songs that are maybe not entirely their mindset anymore. A lot of ‘Young Chasers’ was looking back on the past, while this record is more present-day and what’s going on in my head and the country’s head I think.” Laying down their marker and packed with an intensity that’ll shake venues around like a rag doll, that second album ‘Different Creatures’ is bristling with a drive that grabs you on the first listen. Beefier and packed with bigger hooks than any boxer could dream of, it’s the sound of a band not settling for the status quo, but coming back harder than anyone could have imagined. Shaping into life straight after the end of their mammoth ‘Young Chasers’ world tour, Kieran was ready to hit the ground running.

“People talk about the difficult second record. That’s a load of bollocks.”

“When we came back from those amazing American shows with Foals last December, I just had so many things I wanted to record. I do all the demos at home, so I just gorged on my own songs. Like, I wrote about 150 songs in four months, just letting it all out and then cherry picking the best bits. There was a lot of shit in there, don’t get me wrong, but easily some of the best stuff I’ve ever written too. “People talk about the difficult second record. That’s a load of bollocks.” While ‘Young Chasers’ sprung like a sun-soaked drive with bright and shimmering indie goodness, ‘Different Creatures’ stands as a different beast altogether (if you’ll, y’know, pardon the pun). Taking

a dip into the dark corridors and chilly streets that litter the world around us, it’s a record that thrives within the shadows - of defiantly taking on what the world is chucking at you and launching it right back. It”s not only a huge record, but a vital one. “I wanted this album to be based in the night,” elaborates Kieran. “This record feels gritty, like you’re in a bar, it’s dark, and your head’s down in a whisky glass. I’ve always been really into heavier guitar music; that’s why ‘Young Chasers’ really represents only a small phase of my life. “I think people needs something like this now; I don’t think there”s anything else like it out there.” For Circa Waves there’s a larger story to tell, searing with the confidence of thousands waiting for their next step. You can hear it surge in new numbers such as ‘Goodbye’ (that sounds like a cut lifted straight from the desert that Queens Of The Stone Age call home) and ‘Stuck’, a ferocious festival-ready punch that finds Circa Waves heading to the darkest corners of The Strokes’ psyche with skyscraper results. It’s a sound that demands attention, born in the here and now and bold enough to tackle not only the dreams of many but the realities of a modern age that’s more divided than ever. From reality TV to the current refugee crisis, Circa Waves aren’t afraid to take them on. “It all just kinda came out,” explains Kieran. “Like, I wrote the title track when everything was going on with the Syrian refugees, and there was this decision made to let exactly 20,000 refugees into the country - and I found it bizarre that this round number could be placed on human life. The idea that you couldn’t have one more - that this was the end of the queue. Now, I don’t have the political answer to this but from a purely human standpoint what the fuck is going on? “People are dying, and there are other people kicking off about them trying to survive - why do we need to go against another human? It pissed me off, and I guess a lot of people were and still are pissed off too. “Maybe there’s something subconscious about the way I write now, where I know there is an audience out there who are going to listen to what we say. I hope people will take something from it when they listen.“ There may not be a band as primed for 2017 than Circa Waves. If you thought you knew exactly what they stood for, what they want to be and who they are - then ‘Different Creatures’ is about to change things up. Throwing off those summer-day restraints, it’s the counter-punch record that’ll catapult them up festival bills, send them back on the road to those live nights of joyous abandon and onto the biggest stages - but more than that, it’s one that means something. With ‘Different Creatures’ there”s only one destination for Circa Waves. “I’m so ambitious now,” exclaims Kieran, his face lighting up with pure adrenaline and passion when thinking of what’s ahead. “When I started it was very much like, ‘Oh, this is cool’ - but now, once you’ve reached that step, you just want more. “I wanna be headlining Reading & Leeds. I wanna be headlining - why the fuck not! Kings Of Leon and The Killers can’t headline them forever, so bands like us need to step up - and with this record, I think we’ve got a point to prove that we are that next generation. “And the record does that completely! I’ve got massive confidence in it, and I think people will see that and believe in us.” Just like the rest of the world, Circa Waves are restless, pissed off and ready to fight back. The summer’s over, but the climate’s about to take one hell of a swing. P Circa Waves’ album ‘Different Creatures’ is out 10th March.

HYPE ESSENTIAL NEW BANDS

“THE WORLD NEEDS PEOPLE TO B E OUTSPOKEN.”

A BU N C H OF DRU N K BASTARDS F ROM M OSSL EY W ITH SONGS ABOUT WA N KI N G I N QU I C HE, AND J I MMY SAVI L L E. Y ES, RE A LLY. WORDS: J ESSI CA GOOD MAN.

CA B BAG E

‘‘I

am waffling shit, aren’t I?” Lee Broadbent asks. Waiting backstage having warmed up for a headline show miles away from their hometown, Cabbage are raring to demonstrate exactly how much they’re capable of. “I think what we’re doing is tapping into what a lot of people talk about,” the frontman ponders. “I recently watched a documentary that explains the internet’s algorithms…” he begins. Delving into an in-depth description of media echo chambers, Cabbage aren’t ones to shy away from challenging the status quo. Having made their name with songs about everything from wanking in quiche to Communism in North Korea, that much has been evident right from the start. “What the western world needs right now is for people to be outspoken,” Lee declares. “Musicians and artists alike should team up, really open the world up. Instead of living in this trapped Facebook entity, we should be breaking free.” Sure, they may be idealistic, but their determination is part of what makes Cabbage such a dynamic act. They might have only been creating and performing together for a year, but the hotly tipped outfit have rocketed to the forefront of attentions. The band, however, remain unfazed by the excitement as it

continues to build around them. “The only idea we wanted to do when we started was record an EP,” Lee recalls. Twelve months and four EPs down the line, the group were quick to say the project was something worth sticking to. “We’ve been completely taken aback by the sales, and even more so, the attitudes of the crowds,” they marvel. “To get out in places that we’ve never headlined is a fucking elated feeling. You don’t really expect it, do you?” Lee quizzes. “Especially when you’re just a bunch of drunk bastards from Mossley recording songs about Jimmy Saville and Tony Blair.” Put like that, the whole thing might almost seem like a joke, but presented with such a raw integrity, there’s no shirking from the fact that every move Cabbage make is one they firmly believe in. “A lot of people refer to us as a breath of fresh air,” Lee depicts. “I guess it seems important to everyone else, but to me it’s just a creative output. This has always been my life. It’s just how I put it into an art form.” Driven by dissatisfaction, Cabbage’s music is a rallying cry for purpose built to shake the masses into motion. “We basically get our Aleister Crowley on,” the frontman alludes towards their inspiration. “We get the occult table out,

and one of us has to cut each other up and find hidden gems inside our souls.” Right then. “It all comes out into a beautiful song at the end of it,” he assures, laughing. “We spend so much time on tour that when we finally get to the practice room it’s like there’s this sombre existential pain to get rid of,” Lee offers, more seriously. “That’s where the songs come from.” Using all their spare moments on the road to scrap together demos, it’s when faced with the sobering glare of the day-to-day that Cabbage’s sound takes its shape. “For me to have this message and to become a bit of a poverty-stricken artist, to spend my life on the road conversing with people...” Lee trails off in amazement. “That’s where the essence of Cabbage is, I think,” he concludes. While the band are quick to acknowledge there’s a certain romanticism in the struggle for success, they’re accustomed to the reality of where they find themselves. “If we made a load of money in the future, God knows what kind of shit we’d be putting out,” they laugh, before stating that they’re “just a band that want to bring fucking joy.” “I don’t know whether life’s testing me and just putting me in this situation where it’s forcing us into being this essence of what Cabbage believe,” Lee mulls. “The essence of Cabbage is nothing

more than that non-conformist message.” It’s that active nature that Cabbage want to spread. “If you hear our music, you should take that and go do something else in your own art form,” Lee enthuses. “Not that I believe that art is the answer to all the issues of the world,” he adds. “I just think that if you’re involved in any form of creative output, that’s a good place to start.” With four EPs under their collective belt, this is only the beginning. “Our intent as a band is to write an album’s worth of music a year,” Lee reveals. “Expect it,” he grins. As convicted by their own drive and proficiency as they are their beliefs, the outfit are ready to face the next year head on. “Hopefully, come February, we’ll come off tour in December,” the frontman laughs. “I hope so anyway.” With the promise of more material built from “the emotions of how we feel about the western world at the minute,” and an abundance of live shows that combine “an element of disgust” with “a lot of violent nudity,” Cabbage are keeping everything turned up to eleven. They might be brazen, but there’s no shirking the conviction they carry. “I’m happy to rub people up the wrong way because I believe it’s for the better of man,” Lee proclaims. Sure enough, you won’t find another wake-up call quite like them. P

ON THE GRAPEVINE

“ W E ’ V E WA I T E D SO LONG FOR THIS.

KING NUN

THIS IS FUCKING I T, M A N ! ”

WO RDS: JA M I E M U I R.

eminiscing about early shows on a freezing winter evening, King Nun frontman Theo remembers a novel way to get people’s interest at the local boozer in West London. “We got so annoyed at being asked to quieten down, that the introduction to every song we did would be the intro to ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. People thought we were that type of band, so each time they thought we were about to burst into it, we’d end up cutting it and jumping into ‘Tulip’. Slowly they got more and more annoyed with us.” The George’s loss is without a doubt the globe’s gain. King Nun are the type of band who don’t need comparisons, over-the-top hyperbole or a name-check from rock royalty - they have that key ingredient in abundance which makes a band an immediate hit after one listen: a hunger for what they do, a rabid need to play music and get it out into the world and on those stages. “I think the overarching thing is, you want to shoot people with that feeling you get when listening to the bands you love,” details Theo. “Like that ferocity in Richard Hell’s music that just charges you up for some reason, I inspire to that passion and the ability to just shoot energy into people with what we do.” If there’s ever a way to describe what King Nun do best, then a high-powered shot to the chest is probably not too far off. Bursting with youthful energy, they’re the injection of adrenaline needed to kick new life into the world. Like a triple-sized trifle, they shake you about and grab your attention on first taste, unveiling a delectable core of hookworthy anthems that brim like the Pixies in their prime. Meeting while all were at secondary school, King Nun was born out of necessity and boredom, something to do during the dull lunch hours between Maths and English Lit. We’ve all been there, but instead of playing football on the field, King Nun were laying the groundwork for something greater - even if they didn’t realise it at the time. “We were like 16,” explains bassist Nathan,

“so we didn’t expect anything to come from it, but we started playing together and having fun. It was just something to do at the time and then we realised that actually, this is something we really enjoy doing.” Bristling with energy, and after meeting drummer Caius through friends, King Nun became an entity that together stands as something far greater than any of them could put into practice themselves. Yet, for a band that surge with a vigour that announces from the first note that they were born to be experienced live - those formative years were spent away from an audience. Mainly because they had no other choice. “We would send like 10 or 15 emails a day out to venues, asking them to play,” recalls James. “And they’d like the demos we’d send over - but would ask how old we were.” “Our manager would have to trick venues into letting us play,” jumps in Theo. “We would turn up to these blues pubs and sit through two hours of people covering ‘Hey Joe’ and then jump in for two or three songs.” “If we did a gig, which was extremely rare, we always had this thing where it would only be originals - we wouldn’t cover anything.” Why would you, when you have certified screamers such as ‘Tulip’ and ‘Speakerface’ - the two opening gambits to the King Nun party that whisk effortlessly with true nuggets of pop crunch drenched in a wall of sound that buries you quicker than a demolition. It’s an introduction out into the world that grabs you by the throat and pulls you in, and in some way - the tracks had the same effect on the band themselves. That moment where it all clicked is something Theo recognises clearly. “I think that came with ‘Speakerface’, which was one of the first songs we ever wrote together. It’s so rhythmic-based and when we started clicking into that we realised that we were sorted. I feel like who we are now has been sculpted around that song.” “I think that song is good for us,” notes Nathan. “Like in terms of having a lot of space to, not mess about but have a bit of fun with it. We spent so long writing it, changing it, reshaping it and finding out how

Here’s something worth cheering and leaping around the room about – Toothless has confirmed details of his debut album ‘The Pace Of Passing’, set for release on 27th January.

EST RO N S P LOT F E B TO U R

N OTH IN G I S STA N DI N G I N THE WAY OF THESE NOI SY YOU NG ‘U N S.

TO OT H L ESS A N N O U N C ES D E BU T A L BU M

“The original Batman theme is fucking sick”

Estrons have confirmed a tour for early next year. The group – who’ve not long released new EP ‘She’s Here Now’ – will play several dates, kicking off on 8th February in Sheffield. “We’re going back out on the road in February and can’t wait to see you all,” they say.

King Nun know a banging hit when they see one - and the Batman theme song has certainly struck a chord. “It sounds like The B-52’s,” Theo elaborates. “We like to play it for like ten minutes straight in the studio, and then we just start all over again. So we might as well say we’re influenced by the Batman theme.”

it feels - all those little details.” It’s seemed to of been a lifetime for the band, but now they’re ready to show the world the soul of who they are and what they do. Finally, a band born to play live can take their anthems out to the masses, and realise what they’ve been destined to become. Theo realises just how vital that stage is for them. “We’re in it all to play in front of people, I have no idea what the psychology is in it, but it’s just like an inherent need when you start playing music that people need to hear it in the moment you play it.”

S LØT FAC E C O N F I RM U K H E A D L I N E S H OWS If you’ve been blaring the new Sløtface EP half as much as we have over here at Dork HQ, then you’ll be bouncing all over the show with the news that the Norwegan hit-rattlers are set to return to the UK next year. The band are set to kick things off on 13th February at The Castle in Manchester before calling into Leeds, Glasgow, London and Brighton.

For King Nun, the horizon is here - there are huge shows, landmark moments, breathtaking trips and more to be had, and the ride is already primed for an explosion that’ll shake thousands into life. It’s an energy that bounces ‘round each of them, and one that’s headed only one way. “We’ve waited so long for this,” details Theo. “Like - this is fucking it, man!” “When you wait so long for something, you kinda doubt whether or not it’s a good idea,” reflects Nathan. “It’s nice after putting up with, well - being miserable at times, to get such a positive reaction. It’s so rewarding. We don’t want to waste any more time now, we want to do it.” “Yeah this is it, man,” exclaims Theo. “It’s the way it’s got to be.” Their time is now. There’s before King Nun and after King Nun - we know where we’d rather be. P

LOY L E CA RN E R REV E A LS D E BU T, ‘ Y EST E RDAY ’S GONE’ How shall we kick off the new year? With an album full of uncompromising and stunning British hip-hop? Well that’s a reality now, with Loyle Carner confirming that his debut album ‘Yesterday’s Gone’ will land on 20th January.

THE BeST of

2016

E HA D ITS SU RE, 201 6 MAY HAV WH AT A YEA R, EH? T OU T BU , ERY MIS D AST ER AN FAI R SH AR E OF DIS JO INT ED DIS ED, ENT GM A FRA OF TH E FLA ME S OF ’S BEE N TH E YIN G WO RLD TH ERE RIF TER TEN OF D AN E LAS T R LIN ING TO O. TH SPA RK LE OF SILVE A BU MP ER RED IVE DEL E HAV TW ELV E MO NT HS T BA ND S ALB UM S, BR ILL IAN BATCH OF AM AZ ING TH E NEX T ER T OF BA NG ERS . OV AN D TH E BA NG IES H SO ME UG RO GO NN A RU N TH FEW PAG ES, WE ’RE T. OF TH E VE RY BES

THIS YEAR, ONE BAND H AS STO O D O U T A BOV E A L L OT H E RS . B RI N G I N G PEO PL E TO G ETH E R I N A D I VI D E D WO RL D, T H E Y â€™ V E B E C O M E T H E V O I C E O F A G E N E R AT I O N . THE BAND OF THE YEAR

WORDS: ALI SHUTLER

“

he trouble with real life is that there’s no danger music,” quips Jim Carrey as he climbs a satellite dish at the climax of ‘The Cable Guy’. Yeah, the film’s pretty shitty but a young Matt Healy, perhaps six or seven years old, heard this and it resonated. Suddenly everything made sense; life would be better with musical accompaniment. “When I was younger, music was a portal,” he explains. That line from The Cable Guy was the first time that idea had occurred to him. “I soundtracked my life. My wish was that in all of those moments where I felt certain things, they were viewed with a musical memory. That’s why The 1975 became so cinematic.” Documenting his life in song, “you can see the inspiration from John Hughes and the cinematic portrayal of youth and that apocalyptic feeling of being young,” across both albums. “That all comes from me wanting to live my life soundtracked.” Based in the everyday grime of reality but treasured like it’s the only thing that’s ever mattered, The 1975 tackle it all. Singing about loss, acceptance and a devil-may-care abandon, they capture very real moments. For Matty, the band has always sung ‘The Ballad Of Me And My Brain’. It just so happens that with ‘I Like It When You Sleep, For You Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It’, he’s written a soundtrack for an entire generation. Not that he’s buying into that idea just yet. In a Toronto hotel, Matty speaks a million words a minute. He’s just woken up, and he talks a lot in mornings. Ideas are born and die over the course of a sentence; there’s a temptation to make facetious jokes about drugs and there’s a constant worry about misrepresenting himself. He uses Marc Bolan as his yardstick for glam rock star excess. He quotes Thom Yorke, Noel Gallagher, Ricky Gervais and he hears what he’s saying in real time. Halfway through a sentence, he stops and laughs: “Don’t write me up to sound pretentious or over-inflated,” because he knows what’s coming next. He avoids the comment section but will read interviews with himself because he’s interested in how his words translate. He’s a writer after all. Every detail of a story is important, and despite the gruelling year The 1975 have had, he never complains. That’s an “element of being English”: “Get over yourself. What would you rather be doing, washing dishes at the fucking Plough and Flail in Alderley Edge? Get up. Go and fucking do it. “ his year, The 1975 have indeed gone and fucking done it. They’ve had a couple of big years behind them, but 2016 has been bigger still. They’ve gone from a weird cult band with a Number One album to a weird not-really-thatcult-anymore band with two Number One albums. With their selftitled debut, people struggled to place them in the larger musical landscape, but with the follow-up, they’ve got a space all of their own. Matty and the boys (George Daniel, Adam Hann and Ross Macdonald)

haven’t had much time for that, though. After all, it’s hard to be objective; they’ve become immersed in their world. “Touring is almost the foundation for my life now,” explains Matty. “I get to go out most nights and see thousands of people who want to come and see us, so that’s incredibly humbling, rewarding and a big change from the majority of the time I’ve spent in this band.” Formed in 2002, The 1975 have spent most of their existence being ignored. They’ve struggled to sell ten tickets in Manchester and “couldn’t get fucking arrested” until they were 24. “All the labels came down to meet us. We were a known band in the industry, but nobody wanted to sign us.” Apparently, they were just too eclectic. It shaped who and how they are today. “We got used to being this insular band that just operated in and around Manchester and Cheshire. There was a lot of safety in that. All those songs that are on the first album were written in that time, and when it came out and became so successful, especially amongst so many young people, I was like, ‘Woah, woah, woah, woah! That’s not all I’ve got to say.’ The whole thing just happened so fast. For me, that album was quite confusing, so I don’t know what it was like for other people. “In my mind, that record is tied to the idea of becoming known. Not a desire to be famous but wanting people to know who my band is. There’s an element of ego involved in that, an element of jostling for position and for people to take you seriously or think you’re cool.” With the release of ‘The 1975’, people started listening. And looking. The band had a position. They were known, and they were cool. Suddenly, the insular group had to deal with the world as a whole. When it came to making album two, they had to pretend it wasn’t there. “We had to not care to make the album that we did in the end. We made a really, really honest record; a record we wanted to make, and for us, it was really uncompromising. I know we make pop music but we just wanted to make a really free record and that was the record that, in turn, went on to be our most commercially successful and globally accepted. My only intention was to show what we do. To be these ambassadors for this generation of millennials who consume music in a certain type of way. It’s been amazing for us. When you stop trying so hard, it kinda works.” Looking back at the creation of ‘I Like It When You Sleep…’, Matty has convinced himself that “at no point did I think about the critics or being objectified or worried. I think I’ve idealised that album recording process as me just creatively gallivanting around the studio, doing whatever I wanted. I’d convinced myself I didn’t really care. ‘I don’t give a fuck about awards; I just want to make records. I’m going to be a pop outsider, don’t include me in anything. Oh, Mercury nomination, that does feel quite nice.’ Maybe I do care about these things.” Not that the reaction has been that much of a surprise. “I live these records. I do a show, go to a hotel room, work on music and document my psyche. But it makes me think, if somebody does put as much heart into what they do as we did with that record, then it should be commercially successful. So, I have been a bit surprised, but I have been a bit, ‘Yeah, too fucking right’, too. I worked really hard and I can

tell that song connects with people. What I’ve done now is start to accept the fact that The 1975 is more accepted in different worlds.” ‘I Like It When You Sleep…’ is - in its own way - a bizarre album. It covers so much ground and deals in everything from acceptance to loss, ranging from delicate minimalism to commanding blow-out. As big as the record reaches, though, The 1975 never use that scale to hide or distract. The band deals in the blunt truth. “It’s interesting when you talk about hiding behind something because I would rather lacerate the pomposity in front of you. As much as there’s that ‘Love Me’ rock star, post-Marc Bolan, ridiculous cliché part of my performance, there’s an insecurity there. When I perform live, I’m never thinking I’m actually Mick Jagger. There’s a fragility there and I think it’s the same in the record. When things get too much for me, in regards to it feeling faux or slightly contrived, then I have to reference it or change it. I think the problem is the self-awareness of it. You can’t be a proper rock star anymore because everybody else has everyone’s number. Everybody knows being cool is just referencing stuff. It was way harder to be cool ten or twenty years ago because you had to have seen that film or been to that bookshop or been at that show, whereas now everybody’s got a computer in their pockets so you can reference things at a million miles an hour. Now my generation’s first response when they see something cool is to be suspicious of that. They think that’s probably not real, or they’ve learnt that from somewhere else, and that’s the way that people act now. There’s an element

of that in my identity, so there’s an element of that in my music. It’s calling myself out before people get a chance to do it. I even do it musically, the number of times I call myself a cliché, it’s all part of the way that I hope I become relatable.” Whichever way you look at it, The 1975 connect. Self-aware and tuned in, everything they say feels real. The more the band have opened up, the more the world has taken to them. “You know what I hate, though,” asks Matty, answering instantly: “People who say, ‘Oh, I just say it like it is’. Yeah but that doesn’t mean you’re not a dickhead. It doesn’t stop you from just saying things that make you a dick. But what I am very aware of is when people are really honest, respectful and they’re frank and they say how they’re feeling, even if talking about part of themselves that’s quite distasteful, it can be quite endearing having someone saying it how it is. Loads of people come up and talk to me about ‘Nana’. Of course, if you write a song about the death of a loved one, it’s going to connect with loads of people, ‘cause people die. The specific thing that people talk to me about with that song is its lack of metaphor because death is the ultimate context of metaphor. I’m not that good at metaphor and when I had to write about it, there’s a line in it that goes ‘I don’t like it now that you’re dead’. When there are things that make me feel blunt, it provokes me to be blunt. And I think that’s what we’re talking about in terms of that openness; there’s something about me being frank about something that maybe you’d be less frank about.” Matty has yet to push that frankness too far. He’s yet to draw a line because he doesn’t need to, “because I’ve got the

“When you stop trying so harD it Kinda works.”

boys. We’re obviously so close and we’ve been together for so long, everything I write has to be true because one of them, at least, is with me all day. I can’t make up some narrative about some girl I was in love with. If I went too far, one of them would say, ‘Listen, man, you don’t need to be putting that shit out there. That’s too heavy. That’s just indulgent’. There’s a time for it to be harrowing - I adore Antony and The Johnsons - but music is still an escape for people and I only want to write about stuff that’s cathartic for me but also helpful for other people. I don’t want to cross into the aggressively indulgent. There’s no time for that with me.” As intricate, winding and horizonstretching as ‘I Like It When You Sleep…’ is, the line in ‘Paris’ “Hey kids, we’re all just the same. What a shame” sums it all up. “You can’t be objective to what your favourite lyric is but in regards to when we do it live, when I hear it, when I remember writing it, when I remember the feeling, it sums up the album now. When I wrote that line and I had that song ‘Paris’, I felt like I knew what the album was. That inspired ‘Loving Someone’ which inspired the

whole glue of the knowledge of us all being a witness to this madness. I know in The 1975 we use the paradigm of my life to look at the world and talk about it, but most young people’s desire is for everybody to be caramel and queer. I think that line sums up the whole record. Our shows are so multi-everything. When you’ve got white kids, Sikh kids, black kids, all these kids at your show all singing that line and it resonating in such a literal way, it’s hard to get away from.“ Despite the crowds growing, it just makes Matty feel way more a part of it. People spend a lot of time asking him how crowds from different countries compare to one another but that’s a tricky one to answer, ‘cause touring the world has taught him something else. “You realise that it’s not the differences you notice, it’s the consistencies. Whether that’s unique to The 1975 shows, I’m not sure but I’m telling you, we play to the same group of people, the same group of kids every night. Bangladesh, Alaska, Hackney. It’s the same type of people and sure, their hair might be a different colour over here or they might look slightly different over there. The thing is, people seem to notice the differences but for me, you have

THE BeST of

2016

THEY’RE OUR BAND OF THE YEAR,

The greatness of The 1975

BUT WHAT’S SO SPECIAL ABOUT THE 1975?

hink of The 1975 this year and what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Is it the numerous bangers and heartbreaking slow jams? Is it Matty’s ever more outlandish stage outfits? Is it that pic with the glasses? (If you’re a fan you’ll know the one.) Or is it that distinctive shade of light pink that has coloured everything they’ve done this year? Then think of Prince and what comes to mind? - Bangers, ridiculous outfits and the colour purple. Think of Bowie and what comes to mind? A striking visual identity, showmanship and theatricality. Notice a theme developing? Now, we’re not saying that The 1975 are on the same level as those two dearly departed icons (well, maybe), but it’s an odd and heartbreaking coincidence that their departures this year coincided with The 1975’s stratospheric imperial year. Their success has been inspired by an unmatched visual identity and clever cultivation of a unique aesthetic, two things that those two late legends pioneered.

is incredibly simple and direct. They make a little go a very long way. In frontman Matty, of course, they have the grand showman. Someone who is both aware of his idol status yet totally lacking in self-awareness at the same time. He’s a mass of contradictions, naivety, brilliance and messed up curly hair and that’s what makes him such a compelling character. This year has been one of the outstanding moments for the band befitting an album bursting with ambition. It’s easy to forget among the bangers just what a staggering 15 minutes of music the middle instrumental section of the album is, but they brought that to life with the help of the BBC concert orchestra for a stunning performance in Blackpool. This emphasised the peak of their gift: to create a moment and a magical memory. To make something that’s more than just the music and the band playing their album: this was The 1975 making a statement that they’re more than just a regular band.

The visual look has always been If music is about anything, key to The 1975. Every little it’s about being brave, true to detail counts. This year with the yourself and sticking to your release of their second album ‘I principals - and that’s what The Like It When You Sleep, For You 1975 have done this year. P Are So Beautiful Yet So Unaware Of It’, they took things to the next level with a stage show that looks unbelievably THE JAPANESE HOUSE slick and stylish yet

ON THE 1975...

You work a lot with the guys from The 1975, what makes them such a special band do you think? I work with George, the drummer of The 1975. But I’ve known them all for about 4 years now and they’re all lovely guys. I think what makes them a special band is their ability to create such varied and topical pop music which is unashamedly bluntly reflective. That’s why so many people connect with them. Their production is also incredible. And their live show. And their devoted fans.

EVERY YEAR IS THE SAME. AS THE START OF ANOTHER TWELVE MONTH CYCLE COMES AROUND, THE NEW BAND TIPS BEGIN. WHO WILL SHIFT THE MOST UNITS? WHO IS THE ‘PRIORITY ACT’? WHO HAS THE BIGGEST BUDGET? BUT THIS YEAR, THIS YEAR MIGHT BE A BIT DIFFERENT. A GROUP OF YOUNG BANDS AND ARTISTS HAVE BEEN GAINING MOMENTUM OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS. 2017 IS WHEN THEY’RE SET TO COME OF AGE. PREPARE FOR SOMETHING SPECIAL. PREPARE FOR...

THE NEW WAVE OF 2017

INHEAVEN

WORDS: JAMIE MUIR.

“There’s not been so many great new bands around for a long time.”

his year has been filled with far too many lows, far too many moments that beggar belief in a terrifying manner, and far too many moments of regret. What we need now is a band willing to drown out everything we’ve seen - to distil all that pent up emotion, frustration and fear into a mixture that’ll take on the world. For that, we’ve got INHEAVEN. If 2016 has been a plunge into darkness, then INHEAVEN are certainly the beacon of light burrowing through the mess. Colouring in the shades of life with a rainbow sculpted vision of life, love and vibrant energy, INHEAVEN are the band that aren’t just packed with bangers but vital for here and now. “We wanna make people feel something, we want people to live and die by us,” explains co-frontman, James Taylor. “We want kids to have the same feeling we had when we were younger when we went to gigs, that feeling that you can do anything. There’s definitely a message behind everything we

do, I think it’s important to - especially now in this day and age, it’s a mental time to be alive and I think if no one else is going to fucking speak out then y’know, we should.” What’s hit over the past twelve months is more than any words could put to paper. It’s been the seeding and origin of a band brimming with confidence, aiming for the stars and refusing to look down. Combining the sounds of decades past into one conjoined library of immediate anthems and swinging live sermons, INHEAVEN have built the foundations for what a band should and have to be in the modern world - and they’re reaping the rewards. Sold out shows, hysterical scenes and a cult following has seen them become the next great phenomenon, and we can’t wait to see it flourish. “We’ve basically just been in the back of a van haven’t we really?” notes James, looking around at his bandmates as they savour a rare night away from the stage in South London. “2016 has been a lot of touring, a lot of gigs and well, the rise of the mosh at our gigs which is amazing. There’s been a lot more chaos at our shows which has just been the best feeling ever.” 2016 has certainly been the moment the

band became more than a blog-based fantasy. It’s the moment where they took the dreams and visions they’d been morphing in flats and studios, and placed them firmly in the live world. When you see a band live and they change your life it’s something truly magical, and that feeling is the essential ingredient for any INHEAVEN show. It’s not just a band in a room playing away, but a band aiming to take your mind and throw it right down the field for a touchdown and scoring every time. Headlining their own shows, touring with the likes of Jamie T and Yak and playing these festivals they grew up admiring from afar, it’s been a landmark year. “We’ve really learnt our craft from playing gigs, this year we’ve really got the momentum and seen those kids jumping around and going crazy,” recalls James. “We just love touring, if we could tour for the rest of our lives then we’d be happy - it’s one of the best things being able to go to all these places. There’s nothing better than that for us.” It’s been a journey that’s organically sprouted from lives dedicated to creating music, art and independent dreams, kicking into life when co-vocalists and band leaders James Taylor and Chloe Little took the mantle, building on their own creativity and

birthing not only a band but an outlet for their own thoughts and creations. “It started off with me and Chloe,” James tells. “Chloe made this little clip, before anything, and she left me at home with this clip, and the whole aesthetic of it was something that we loved, and it led to the first track that we ever made which was ‘Regeneration’. “Chloe came back and thought, ‘What the fuck is this?’ And so we then put the track over the video and that became the first INHEAVEN video, if you will. From then we put up a video a week on this weird website…” “Which then had secret videos hidden within it,” interjects Chloe. “It had alternate versions of the songs we had, which I don’t think anyone saw.” “Well, someone saw I guess,” replies James. “We ended up taking the website down and thought nothing of it, but then we got an email a few months later from Rory Atwell, who mixed the track, who forwarded this email from Cult Records who were saying: ‘Me and Julian [Casablancas] love the track, where is it, who is this band, we need to release this!’”

THE JAPANESE HOUSE

CATHOLIC ACTION

HER HOUSE. HER RULES.

Hiya Amber, do you have any resolutions for 2017? Maybe drink less. Read more. What song would you crown banger of the year? Robbie Williams’ ‘Party Like a Russian’ because it is the single most insane song I’ve ever heard. And how has 2016 been for you? 2016 has been great. Lots of touring at the beginning of the year; I’ve played so many memorable shows, but I think the most exciting thing has been either our Reading set, or playing a sold out Heaven.

CREEPER

What’s the most exciting thing about being an up-and-coming musician right now? Having the opportunity to tour around the world. Especially touring with my friends. Wahoo! This time next year, what would you most like to have achieved that you haven’t already? I’d like to have made an album. I will have done.

A SCOTTISH FOUR PIECE WITH MORE THAN A TOUCH OF STARDUST. Glasgow’s Catholic Action have already got their share of famous fans. From Alex Kapranos’ personal invite to support FFS in their hometown, through to Carl Barat’s insistence they open for The Libertines a month later, it’s easy to see why the indie A list is so enamoured with the four-piece. And that’s before they started writing songs like ‘Rita Ora’. Some of us just move in illustrious circles. “We never say exactly where we want to go, it just tends to happen,” the band told Dork earlier in 2016. “We just follow what excites us.” We get it, lads. We’ll just follow wherever you end up heading.

RAT BOY

IN 2017, THE CREEPER CULT BREAKS COVER. EXPECT, WELL, EVERYTHING. Ian! How was your 2016? Has it been a good ‘un? 2016 has been wild, it’s hard to fully comprehend everything because it’s all happened so quickly.

“Punk is about expressing yourself.”

2017 WILL SEE RAT BOY FINALLY LET RIP. LOOK FOR COVER NOW. The enfant terrible of the indie scene, Rat Boy knows how to play it to perfection. The mayhem of his live shows fast became a thing of legend, but it’s the undeniable shiny bangers that really prove our Jordan is a talent beyond his force of nature persona. Like a pop magpie gathering from across the last 25 years, he’s had a bit of Beastie Boys here, a touch of Beck there. Together, it makes a glorious din.

CLEAN CUT KID

Your debut is wrapped up in a super theatrical, complex story - what sparked the idea to give fans more than ‘just’ an album? For a while the alternative music scene seems to have thrived on a stripped back/no frills approach, which to us seems strange. Punk has always been about expressing yourself so we wanted Creeper to be a bit more bombastic and theatrical similar to the likes of T.S.O.L, the Misfits, The Nerve Agents but at the same time have a nod to the glam of Bowie. PACKED WITH VITAMIN C. This Liverpool four piece look pre-destined for those sunny, middle of the day festival slots this summer that win over legions of fans. They’ve been at it for a while now, but with every new track the banger count ramps up another gear. With work on a debut album underway for release ‘early’ in 2017, expect a lot more to follow very soon indeed.

Are there any other elements you’d like to bring in down the line? A few albums have been turned into musicals, for example… Will would love to be involved in making a musical, in fact he was working on a musical involving aliens before we got back together for Creeper...