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THIS MONTH...
THIS MONTH, WE’VE
U P D AT E
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4 LOY L E CA R N E R
26 F R A N K CA RT E R 28 M E N AC E B E AC H 30 TO OTH L ESS
Editor: Stephen Ackroyd stephen@readdork.com Deputy Editor: Victoria Sinden viki@readdork.com Assistant Editor: Ali Shutler ali@readdork.com
8 A L L I SO N C RUTC H F I E L D
Contributors: Alexander Bradley, Ben Jolley, Christopher Jones, Heather McDaid, Jake Richardson, Jamie Muir, Jasleen Dhindsa, Josh Williams, Marc West, Martyn Young, Richard Brabin, Rob Mesure, Phil Smithies, Sam Taylor, Sarah Louise Bennett, Steven Loftin
16 SHAME
3 6 C H E R RY G L A Z E R R
17 QT Y
3 7 F OXYG E N
F E AT U R E S
20 QUESTIONS WITH...
18 S U N DA R A K A RM A
38. HONEYBLOOD
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
10 CITY GUIDES… AUSTRA 11 BANG ERS 12 C LOU D N OTH I N G S 1 4 D E A F H AVA N A HYPE
B E E N M O S T LY
REVI E WS 32 S U N DA R A K A RM A 33 THE XX 34 T H E 1975 35 SURFER BLOOD
VANT - Dumb Blood Not quite as brilliantly vitriolic as Mattie’s occasional Twitter outbursts against The Man, but close.
Los Campesinos! - Sick Scnes Another Los Campesinos! album. Another solid gold winner.
UPDATE Yesterday Yesterday Went Went Too Too Soon Soon WITH AN APPEARANCE FROM HIS MUM AND DAD, AND AN ALL-STAR CAST OF FRIENDS, LOYLE CARNER’S DEBUT IS A FAMILY AFFAIR. WORDS: BEN JOLLEY.
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L
oyle Carner is the most down to earth and openly honest rapper in the game. The 22-year-old South Londoner, real name Benjamin Coyle-Larner, fuses jazz, East Coast hip-hop and laid-back pop to tell poetically intense soul-bearing stories. Growing up in West Norwood, Loyle experienced different cultures, lots of music – “but mainly a lot of rap,” he says. “I grew up in the age of Channel U and MTV Bass back when they were good. When I was younger, I was so obsessed by rap. It was the first thing that I found an identity with… then a couple of years later I thought, ‘Cool, maybe I can do this myself.” Getting into music wasn’t a “conscious decision” though; “it was just happening while I was growing up,” Loyle remembers. “I was making a lot of music for fun just to listen to and chill with my friends because we were all up on the same stuff. It just spiralled out of control from there…” There was one artist in particular who inspired him: Kanye West. Seeing him on the College Dropout tour at the Brixton Academy and “being around people that were up on the same stuff,” inspired him at the show. “It was the first time I realised there were so many people listening to the same stuff as me. Rap was a big, big thing in America but it didn’t seem like it was over here... Everyone was just going crazy over The Libertines,” he recalls. “What blew my mind was how many hip-hop heads there were out and about on a day to day basis.” Going to a Roots Manuva show, as well, was inspiring to Loyle; not least for his musical style, but because “he looked a lot like my biological dad. I though he was for a while… quite jokes.” Less inspiring was when he was taken to see Jamie Cullum at the Royal Albert Hall with his school; “it was so dead,” he remembers. Loyle’s biggest influence, though, is his family. Growing up in a musical home with talented musicians and songwriters for parents, the music playing in their house shows a different style of artist. “There was a lot of David Bowie flying around, Bob Dylan and… All Saints (“they’re wavy, though, man”), he laughs.
And it’s family that’s at the heart of his debut album, ‘Yesterday’s Gone’. “My dad made an album before he passed and nobody knew about it,” Loyle reveals. “We found it, and it was beautiful. ‘Yesterday’s Gone’ was my favourite track off of it, It’s like he’s chatting to me again. I had it on my iPod forever, but when I finally listened back I thought ‘this is the one for me’. It meant a lot, so it made sense.” “I wanted to get my dad back involved. I spent a lot of time missing him, and I always do, but the album is also about trying to find some new love and happiness to latch onto as opposed to just focusing on the tough stuff,” Loyle suggests of the album’s message. “The most important thing to me was to make sure it was all honest and wasn’t made up or trying to be something that it wasn’t. Ultimately, I’ve got to live with this record for my life which is quite a big and scary thing.” Writing the album was less of a process, more a diary about what was happening in his world. “I wasn’t thinking too much when I made it; there was enough happening that I didn’t have to stop and rationalise it. Something would kick off, and I’d go and write about it. When I’ve got nothing to write about, it’s a blessing because it means that nothing’s going wrong. I’m learning to enjoy the times I can’t write because it means I’m a bit content.” Reuniting his mum and dad on the final track, ‘Sun of Jean’, was massively important to Loyle. “At the end, that’s my dad playing the piano under my mum speaking. I wanted to sample my dad’s stuff a lot, but I didn’t know how possible it would be because I needed to make sure I was doing it justice. I guess I just wanted to immortalise them together for one last time; it means a lot to me for sure, it’s scary that it’s out there...” Loyle says he isn’t phased about whether or not the album is a commercial success. He’s just happy it’s almost out there and that it’s honest. “I don’t mind if [the album] doesn’t take me anywhere. I just had to get it out, because it’s stuff that’s been bubbling up in my head for ages,” he confesses. “I’ve never really finished a project before, a physical thing that I can hold, so it’s more for me - not to prove I could do it - but to make sense of what’s in my head,” he says proudly.
Rather than “big, flashy studios”, the album was recorded in various bedrooms across South London to make it “feel like home”. Across the record, Loyle welcomes a handful of rising producers and artists including Tom Misch, Kwes and Rebel Kleff. “It’s quite a large amount of luck that I’m friends with so many people that I respect as musicians. They helped me to step outside of the box... It wasn’t a cherry-picked thing at all.” Arguably his biggest breakthrough track, ‘Ain’t Nothing Changed’, was a response to the haters. “People were saying ‘all this guy ever talks about is to do with his dad or his mum, it’s all about family. It’s all the same’. But the reason it’s all the same, is because nothing is different,” Loyle ponders. “I don’t lie about what I write about; if it’s the same thing that’s happening for six months, then that’s what I’ll write about for six months. “And also, people just assumed because I’m making a tiny bit of money to be able to just about live off making music - with eBay transactions here and there to make it up,” he laughs, “that I thought I was this or that. But I really don’t,” he says defiantly. “It was getting to me because I was just like, ‘Fuck off’. I’d got into a couple of fights because of it, which I never do; so I thought, ‘I need to silence this before people keep talking’.”
show will be different. I feel like I need to step it up for this tour. It’s just me telling stories, some happy, some sad (mainly sad),” he laughs. “It’s very honest and almost like going to the pub and having a chat with the guy who talks too much and doesn’t let you get a word in edgeways... but with songs and lights.” The crowds at his shows are “always hyped-up”, he says, but very varied. “The young ones are at the front, and the further you get back are the older heads, which is cool. There’s never been a set type of person who listens to my music because why should there be? Crowds are just people - different walks of life, different shapes and sizes,” he ponders philosophically. “It does get a bit nuts on tour, especially in Europe,” Loyle continues; “It depends on every night whose at the front, who knows all the words? It’s an equal thing, sometimes I bounce off people, other times they bounce off me. But usually, it’s quite energetic.” One show that he’ll always remember is performing at Koko in London. “I got my first ever bra thrown at me onstage... and my mum was in the crowd. It was a very weird situation. The girl was like, ‘Can I have it back?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, but you threw it... I don’t know how this is supposed to work’.”
Although it started getting to him, Loyle stuck to his sound and persevered. “It was interesting because as much as it was winding me up, at no point did I ever want to change my sound or lose faith in what I was making. I was never really making music for anyone anyway; it’s always just been a bonus that people seem to, bit by bit, go ‘Ah actually, this seems quite cool’. I was just making tunes for myself.”
Aside from music, cooking is Loyle’s second biggest passion. “I found the most peace when I was cooking when I was younger. It’s been something that’s chilled me out all throughout my life, and I figured that if it worked for me, it could work for other kids in a similar situation. At school you get told you can’t do things or can’t focus, can’t read or write. But there’s no ‘can’s - I want to show children what they can do…”
Touring with Kate Tempest helped him progress as an artist. “That was wicked man; it was one big lesson. Whenever I go on tour or on a support tour, I’m trying to learn as much about the person I’m touring with and how it operates and to take as many notes as I can. Kate took me under her wing on that tour and taught me a lot about self-worth, selfbelief and self-value.”
Modestly, Loyle says he hasn’t felt a real ‘turning point’ regarding his music yet. “It’s weird, at 22 I don’t think there has been one yet – not that I could say. It’s kind of like getting fat. Every day you’re getting fatter, but you don’t notice until you stand in front of the mirror and go ‘Oh shit, I’m huge’. That hasn’t happened to me yet…”
In terms of his own live shows, Loyle is stepping up for a massive UK tour in February. “If you have seen me or you haven’t, this new
There’s no doubt that Loyle Carner is going to be huge in 2017. P Loyle Carner’s debut album ‘Yesterday’s Gone’ is out 20th January.
5
HYPE ESSENTIAL NEW BANDS
SHAME
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or everyone who’s heading to the next show, the coach is leaving RIGHT NOW,” announces Shame frontman Charlie Steen from the stage. It’s the first set of an evening that’ll see the band play three shows in four hours - travelling across London with their distinctive brand of high-octane melodic punk glory that takes a history of underground kicks and brings it rattling into 2017. From climbing up and balancing on ceilings, to finishing up the night in Peckham sporting full drag and a rapturous packed out crowd, it’s more of a coronation of one of the most exciting live bands in the country than a cross-city coach journey. When we say coach journey, we mean literally - not many new bands can pack out a coach across London like Shame do.
paid for in unrivalled and thrilling live arenas. It’s the sort of show that no matter where they go, will grab attention and force you to witness something that the next day you’ll be talking about to all your mates. In-your-face, visceral to the bone and a touchpoint for how to command a stage, it’s the platform which brought them into music and breathes through them each and every day. As Charlie explains, “we started off when we were doing our A-Levels
RE ADY OR N OT, SOUTH LON DO N FIVE-PIECE SH AME ARE TAKIN G OVE R. WORDS: JA M IE M U IR.
London are encapsulated in Shame, born and raised in the area and with an unmistakable connection to the DIY streets and bare-knuckle truths that form a part of everyday life. It’s a relationship between the five-piece that was seeded back when they were less than five years old and something which makes them such a formidable unit now. “Everyone in the band has known each other since we were in primary or nursery school, and with Sean, who plays guitar in the band, we used to write shitty acoustic songs together. I’d
“WE’VE GOT A LOT TO GEAR UP FOR.”
“It was fucking tiring,” explains Charlie, “but was an incredible experience. We just wanted to do something different for the first single launch, to show what it all meant and do something that was a complete experience instead of just playing one venue that we’d probably end up playing usually. It was a challenge to ourselves, we changed the setlist around, had to think about what to wear and how we would organise it - but it turned about to be a really good night.”
- we were at The Queen’s Head and knew a few people around there and at venues such as The Windmill. We just kinda decided that even when we had four songs, that we were going to play two gigs a week even if that was to two people a night. It’s all about the live environment, and that was our approach - we enjoy playing live, and we want it to be, for whoever comes down, a memorable experience and the best it can be.”
Everything Shame do is built and
The smell and sounds of South
want to write lyrics like Tom Waits or The Traveling Wilburys, but I was eight, so they were the worst lyrics in the world,” remembers Charlie. While most bands recall certain musical moments or other acts as inspiration, for Shame it’s apt that influence stems from South London itself and in particular, the Queen’s Head pub - a Brixton landmark and a world unto its own, a snapshot of a time and era in British culture. “We can’t express how much importance
it had, the characters that were in that pub who influenced us,” reminisces Charlie. “We were 16 when we first went there, and we met people like the Alabama 3 and Larry Love and that who all used to drink there. Me and Sean met the bassist of Stiff Little Fingers there and we would be listening to that band when we were six-years-old, so they were our heroes. They might have been an older generation, but that was what appealed to us.” “We kinda sort-of got more friends who were 50 years old than 19, but they were the characters that had a lot of advice to give, and we were always really interested to hear that. It’s easy to start out with so much optimism, but the reality is you’ve got to work hard all the time.” With the sound of a generation rustling through them, you wouldn’t bet against Shame being the most talked about band in the country by this time next year - a show not to be missed and a voice impossible to ignore. “Our dream from the beginning, being completely honest, was that one day we would headline Brixton Academy,” details Charlie. “We were 17 years old at The Queens Head so that dream was to have a drink at the pub and then walk two minutes down the road and then headline the gig. “Obviously The Queens Head is gone now but that’s still everything we could always dream of, we don’t want to stop in any way.” P
KEEP YOUR EYES ON...
LUC I A
20 year old Glaswegian LUCIA has shared a stage with the likes of The Big Moon, Black Honey and Honeyblood in the last year (yeah, she likes honey - Ed). She’s got a brand new EP, ‘Best Boy’, too. You can check out her reallyrather-brillo banger ‘Saturday Is Dead’ over on readdork. com now. With their first
release and debut show ticked off in December, Pillow Queens are at the very start of something brilliant. The rough edges show wisdom while their joyful push-back creates a space to dance in. Oh BOYS. Recorded and produced by Yuck’s Max Bloom, the band’s ‘American Dream’ EP is all wavy lines, gentle escapism and persistent dream pop bangers. Bones on show, it’s perfect for summer road trips or staring out of rain-soaked windows.
Cabbage have digitally released their new compilation, which features all three of their EPs thus far: ‘Terrorist Synthesizer’, ‘Uber Capitalist Death Trade’ and ‘Necroflat In The Palace’. . . . A N D SO H AV E S H E E R M AG
What new stuff are you into...
NEW YORK DUO AND NEW DIRTY HIT SIGNEES, QTY’S DAN AND ALEX TEAM UP TO INTRODUCE THEMSELVES, IN BETWEEN DOG SITTING DUTIES (AKA LIVING THE LIFE).
And how did you guys meet? What was your first impression of each other? We met when we were both 17 on Houston Street, we’d both just ended our high school bands and, despite not knowing much about
CA B BAG E H AV E C O M P I L E D T H E I R E PS
Sheer Mag are really great. Previously, though, we’ve only been able to experience Sheer Mag’s breathlessly exciting punk brilliance in small bite sized chunks. Helpfully, the Philadelphia quartet have now remastered and collected their three EPs from the past three years into one collection. It’s called ‘Compilation LP’ and is available digitally right now on the band’s Bandcamp page for $10 (just over 8 quid in U.K.) – bargain. If you like holding actual objects then a physical 12” is available through the band’s website.
QTY
Hey guys, what first sparked your enthusiasm for making music? We both got sucked pretty deep into music when we were tweens and started eating up all the classics, and whatever else we could get our hands on. By the time we were teenagers and in high school it had become most of our identities, we got jobs exclusively so we could afford records and guitar strings. For both of us it was David Bowie that transformed us from obsessive music fans to an obsessive desire to write our own songs. I [Dan] really, really wanted to be David Bowie and it devastated me and broke my heart to come to the realisation that I was not, and never would be Bowie, or any other of my idols. I [Alex] was also obsessed with glam rock, but I used it as a tool to learn guitar and learn about types of music.
ON ON THE THE GRAPEVINE GRAPEVINE
one another, started talking about starting a new project together. I never really thought about it but I guess our impression of each other must have been great and pretty spot on. We eventually hit up a Mr. Softee ice cream truck and split a cone and soon after that we started writing and playing together but since then there really hasn’t been a day that’s gone by without us at the very least texting. You’ve been recording with Bernard Butler - how did that come about, were you Suede fans beforehand? After our initial demos, and then a bunch more demos, Jamie and the dream team over at Dirty Hit were on a mission to find the perfect match for us to record our album with and Bernard is a literal dream come true. We were aware of Suede and that first album that Bernard plays on always came up, but we weren’t mega fans or anything. Now we’re big Bernard fans, the more time we’d spend with him and the more we spoke and played and worked together the more we’d fall in love.
What’s it like working with him in the studio? We loved working in the studio with Bernard. We would basically play him all of the songs in the beginning, and then we would unanimously decide which ones we were going to record as a full band. So we would do the drums and bass (which Bernard ended up playing) first and then do guitars and vocals, and then more guitars. I [Alex] got to spend so much time with Bernard’s amazing and historical guitar collection. I had never played guitars that nice before. A few of the guitars felt magical, it was definitely one of the best times in my life. What does 2017 look like for QTY? We’ve got our full-length that we just finished, we’re talking now about the next few 7”s and what the A and B sides will be and thinking about the tracklisting for the album that those 7”s will lead into. 2017 is going to be a year of growth and hard work for us. A lot of touring ideally up to and then around and after our various releases and the eventual debut QTY album. P
“I’ve been listening to this guy Tony Molina a lot lately. He writes amazing short pop songs that come across as effortless. He used to have a band called Ovens that are also great. We toured with a guy named Alex Calder last year, he’s been around for a while but his music is great, and he’s putting out new material constantly. It kind of sounds like the Beach Boys but more insane, and it creates a really cool/ eerie mood that’s hard to pin down. There’s a band called Gothic Tropic from LA. We’ve played with them before and they are amazing to watch live, last I heard they have a record coming out in early 2017. My friend just recorded an EP with his band Public Eye, really good classic punk music from Portland, OR. There’s a band called Boogarins from Brazil that I just started listening to and really like. - JOHN PAUL, SURFER BLOOD
WORDS: JAMIE MUIR. PHOTOS: PHIL SMITHIES.
SUNDARA KARMA ARE RIDING A WAVE.
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hen people say that a band capture youth perfectly, it’s usually the same old story. With Sundara Karma there’s much more behind the story, blending personal memories, raw observations and ancient storytelling. In frontman Oscar Pollock, they may have 2017’s true indie icon. In ancient Greek philosophy, the Allegory of the Cave is the sort of tale that’s been repeated and told for centuries. It’s not an old-wives tale of herbal medicine or how to cure a cold with a bamboo stick and a jug of sea water - but a foretelling of a world that even though has expanded still hasn’t learnt a thing. In the story, a group of prisoners are born and raised in a shackled cave; their necks fixed in place to look at a wall. Behind them, lies a raging fire and a another wall, behind which, people carry home-made puppets and figures which become the only reflections the prisoners see on the wall directly in front of them. For those prisoners, the reflections are all that they know and in turn, becomes their reality. The idea continues that once released from the shackles, a prisoner would turn and see the fire and be blinded by it, failing to believe what he sees after a lifetime of believing in something else and therefore would retreat to what he knows. It’s only when the prisoner is taken far from the cave and can gaze upon the place that he’s been held that they can truly see the real realities of the world they find themselves in. “It’s such a mind-fuck, and even now it’s still so relevant to what we’re going through in society,” exclaims Oscar Pollock, who even at 21-years-old could very well have the most refreshing outlook on society, love and growing up than any band have distilled together up to this point. Sundara Karma aren’t just gazing into the shadows; they’re bursting out of the shackles and staring straight into the realities of life in 2017, of everything that makes us the people we are today - and that makes them quite bloody important. It’s lead them to this point, to ‘Youth Is Only Ever Fun In Retrospect’. It’s the sort of album that examines a moment in time with the sort of precision that nails the exact emotion you’d be feeling at any given point and won’t sugar coat every up and down that life chucks at you. It’s a record about growing up, of not understanding what may be happening and that exact feeling being okay. “I don’t know how people will feel at the end of the record” explains Oscar. “It’s weird, but it’s a privilege to have these memories captured on a coherent body of tracks. It’s an opportunity that not a lot of people get because it’s a real documentation of where we’ve come from 14 years old to now.” It’s been a ride that has seen Sundara Karma go from band practice in Reading to the world, complete with the sort of universal spirit of an Arcade Fire in full groove, yet dripping with
the grit and wounds of Bruce Springsteen. It’s written in every lyric, heard on every blistering high and now ready to stamp itself down onto 2017 and beyond. In the space of twelve tracks, Sundara Karma are about to inspire so much more than many ever thought possible. As Oscar sips away in his label’s offices, looking back on the path that led him here - the album’s importance and relevance rings through. Each track is pivotal; each track is personal, and each track is a part of a much wider scrapbook that doesn’t just belong to him but all of us who have grown up and seen what the world is really about. “For me, you listen to it, and it takes you on that journey, you can listen to it and feel all of the emotions that you felt at certain points when you were young - and that’s condensed into however long the record is. You end up feeling, like, maybe it’s changed your perspective on it all.”
be, rather than what it was. “It was also this sunshine-laden hot place, like a paradise really - and I was there until I was seven, and then we moved back as a family with my Dad getting a job back here. Moving to Maidenhead was such a culture shock. My world was completely turned around on itself, and then my parents got divorced when I was 13 and what followed was a series of really just unfortunate events which meant I had to grow up, and grow up quick - at least quicker than my friends at the time. I think it all contributed and came together as this feeling of alienation which has stayed with me ever since and stems from that exact period of my life.” It’s in those struggles where ‘Youth...’ really was born. Examining those dark corridors of being young and struggling to understand or come to terms with what’s happening around you, it’s a personal history which has been shared and experienced through thousands around the country and world. It’s from those moments where songwriting and music acted as a beacon to express every emotion and feeling flowing through him, of taking those moments and turning them into something greater. There’s hope in every second of Oscar’s words, whether it’s talking to him face to face or listening to him on record and it helped him navigate the world going on around him. He looks at songwriting now as such as necessary part of his life, one that shaped him ever since he picked up a guitar at eight years old and began to strum away at the same three chords. “Luckily I had that because if I didn’t, I probably would have ended up a lot more mixed up individual than I am, so it was there as my therapy - to channel all the angst and how I was feeling at the time into music. That’s what I’ve always used it for, to express everything inside me and get it out.
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he story of ‘Youth...’ begins in Singapore. 1995 to be precise. A place Oscar was born and spent his formative years in soaking in a vibrancy that seeps through the bright lights and even brighter mornings. It’s a world he remembers fondly, one that without him even knowing it - set him on a path that he continues to step forward into even now. “What’s cool about Singapore is that it’s so multi-cultural,” gazes Oscar. “One of the biggest things that I took away from that place was how everyone gets on with everyone like there’s no reason not to.” That rainbow-soaked introduction to the world, gave Oscar a glimpse of what a warm and welcoming society could offer, one fuelled by an acceptance of one another. A look into the world for what it could
“I also think, school and that mid-teen era was tricky for me, and a lot of inspiration lyrically, which I’ve drawn upon for this album has come from those days. Like especially in ‘She Said’ where I’m talking about a night out between two people, and it was a night-out that summed up the feelings I had or the ones I wished I could have expressed when I was that age. When I’m sitting down to write, the emotions I’m addressing aren’t necessarily the emotions I’m feeling at the time. It’s emotions that I know I’ve felt and can talk about honestly, with a clarity after looking back on them.” At a stage where music was firmly set in the forefront of everything he wanted to dream of, Oscar glimpsed at the iconic figures of bands such as Thin Lizzy and The Doors - with Jim Morrison’s distinctive aura of approaching the stage and performance as an inspiring touch point towards where he belonged. Reading a biography of the man himself, in Oscar’s words it “made me want to share the singer path in a similar way to how he had done early on. It was clear that being in a band was such an important thing to him, so it was inspiring for me to learn about that.” Growing up in Maidenhead, with a lifetime of
“ T H E RE ’S
SO M ET H I N G S P EC I A L H E RE .”
GET
CARTER FRANK CARTER IS A MAN OF MANY TALENTS, AND MANY BANDS. HIS LATEST ALBUM WITH THE RATTLESNAKES AIMS TO KEEP FANS ON THEIR TOES. WORDS: HEATHER MCDAID. PHOTO: BELLA HOWARD.
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hen bands finish their debut album, they likely take a moment to bask in the achievement, tour it around a little, see how it goes and then start to think of a follow-up. Not Frank Carter. Fresh from laying down ‘Blossom’ he and the Rattlesnakes jumped straight back in. The result? ‘Modern Ruin’. “We’ve been sat on this record now for almost a year,” says Frank. “At this point, I’m just desperate for it to get out!” The difference in the two albums is stark; the first feels more a capturing of a frantic moment in time, the latter a more explorative project. “Most bands they go in and they spend a long time labouring over this debut album like it’s the important thing,” he explains. “In a sense, it is. It’s supposed to give your fans an idea of your band, the full scope of your band, but then what always happens is that you enter album two or album three and the band is trying to explore and challenge themselves and people get upset. “So what we wanted to do was write two albums very closely together and explore as many avenues as we can early on so that people know that we are a band who are going to continually challenge ourselves, that we’ll never feel truly satisfied. We always want to be finding new things, new excitement, and we want to be trying to constantly better ourselves as musicians, as players, as performers and make the best music we can make.” Over the course of writing, they amassed over 40 songs, as the legend goes. Along the way, they found themselves being surprised at where they found themselves, and the last song on the album ‘Neon Rust’ is one such detour that made the final cut. “That came to us very late in the game. It was not anything
that any of us expected that we would write, but when we had written it, it just felt perfect. It felt very much us. It made a lot of sense. I think that was the last song we wrote and when we finished recording it in the studio we had a better understanding of ourselves as a band and the future that we could have, the potential that we had going forwards and it was really exciting.”
since had time to live with the album and get to know it before anyone else can too, which gives him more confidence in where he can take it. “Whenever I’m playing and writing a record, I’m always trying to challenge myself because I think that naturally, I get the best stuff when I’m at my most uncomfortable. That’s when I’m really reaching and trying to find a new place.
Looking for that potential going forward is key to Frank. He doesn’t have time for looking back or threading a line between Gallows or Pure Love, and the music he makes today. “People will always reference my past, but for me, Rattlesnakes is just a different thing,” he says. “I don’t think there’s anything particularly reminiscent of Pure Love or Gallows in ‘Modern Ruin’, but I think it really is the definitive album of my career. It’s the one album that you can give to anybody, and you could say, ‘This is a really good example of Frank Carter.’ He’s singing, he’s screaming, but beyond those two very basic approaches to performing, there’s some really incredible songwriting, there’s some great musicianship, and there’s an album that has a lot of depth and complexity.
“The good thing about this record is that we wrote it and we’ve had a few months to be practicing the songs so I’ve got a really good grip on them. Performing them live is really fun and quite enjoyable whereas before it was kind of hard work because we wrote ‘Blossom’ and we were touring it before we released the album. So yeah, I’ve definitely found my voice. I’m understanding its limits a lot better than I ever have in the past. My problem is that I always want to keep challenging that, just as I get into my place with it I try some new ways to shake myself up.”
“I think for me, it’s never really been about the past; it’s always been about the future. Obviously, the past plays a very integral role in how you move forward. I’ve done hardcore, and I’ve made the poppier side of rock with Pure Love - even though that record is not a pop rock record at all, but that’s what everyone believed it was, so that’s where it kind of sits - but with Rattlesnakes it’s always been about having no boundaries, not allowing ourselves to feel trapped and just trying to write as expansively as we can so that no one can ever pin us down, you know? Just when our fans think they’re understanding our band, we want to throw them a few curveballs to keep them on our toes.” Those curveballs come in many forms, and in their sophomore album shows Frank starting to understand the capabilities of his voice. He’s
Many things may have been shaken up in the world of the Rattlesnakes, but one thing that won’t change is their affinity for the road. The album drops in January and then they’re on tour with Biffy Clyro, sure to be testing the pit capacity of rather large venues. Then it’s their headline tour, which has had a number of dates sell out months in advance. Years into his career and the feeling still leaves him both stunned and fairly chuffed. “It’s crazy,” he beams. “Even when the tour is months away and it’s fucking selling out already, that’s mad.” They may have some breathing room after this album comes out in terms of creating, but in all other aspects it’s full steam ahead for Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes, and you’d be wise to join him for the ride. P Frank Carter’s album ‘Modern Ruin’ is out 20th January.
REVIEWS
Sundara Karma
Youth Is Only Ever Fun In Retrospect
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or most bands, a debut album is an opening gambit that in the space of 10-12 tracks manages to summarise the various corners of what that band is about. ‘Youth Is Only Ever Fun In Retrospect’ is something more than that, a collection of tracks that not only unveils Sundara Karma to the world but summarises the collective depths and highs of growing up. Its flourishing corners and crooks are what make it such an essential album, combining the best of modern indie into a delectable mix that’ll be sampled in headphones and headline shows in no time. There’s an instant hit to the album that doesn’t just limit itself to one lane. The glorious bubblegum-
catchiness of ‘She Said’ is the sort of direct indie-punch that would land its mark no matter what era it was born in, whilst the high-octane sheens of ‘Loveblood’, ‘Vivienne’ and ‘Olympia’ sound ready-made for the destined monumental live moments that’ll live with this band from here on out. It’s coated in such richness that it truly defines what an album is meant to be, a statement of who this band is and what they’re ready to accomplish. Its personal tales of youthful struggle glisten into such heady heights that you’re left listening again and again. ‘Happy Family’ lifts with an early-Kings Of Leon urgency that delves right into family heartbreak with an unfaltering honesty, the chilling refrains of ‘Be Nobody’ twists
with shadowy beats and echofilled dreams and ‘Flame’ lives in a dazzling swagger of its own combining Greek philosophy with 2017 in one deft swoop. This is a band with the vision of something bigger, and the ability to create a world that houses every corner of their imagination. Expansive and painting its own picture of 2017 already, ‘Youth Is Only Ever Fun In Retrospect’ is a record that bursts away from the very idea of a debut album. Surging to get out the gates, it’s full of refreshing honesty and picturesque landscapes that’ll have you hooked on the very first listen. It signals Sundara Karma as a band who not only are destined to hit the biggest lights, but more importantly are needed there. Jamie Muir
WSTR
Red, Green or Inbetween No Sleep Records
The xx
eeee WSTR are UK pop punk’s hottest property right now. Their debut full-length makes no attempt to hide this band’s ambition; ‘Red, Green Or Inbetween’ is a polished, and potent pop punk record. The lyrics of dramatic closer ‘Punchline’ sum up the essence of the record nicely: “I miss being a kid… maybe I’m a fucking joke?” ponders vocalist Sammy Clifford. WSTR have produced the ideal soundtrack for reminiscing about the good times of summers past. They might just be the most exciting pop punk band on the planet. Jake Richardson
I See You
Loyle Carner
Lower Than Atlantis
Virgin EMI
Easy Life
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Loyle Carner is a man of many talents. Quite why you’d bother with making music if you were able to cook up a storm is beyond any sensible, hungry person, but nobody is going to hold that against him - such is the quality of his debut album. Homegrown, mixing spoken word and domesticated rap - there’s none of the grandiose, overblown largesse of Carner’s cross pond peers. That’s ‘Yesterday’s Gone’’s biggest strength. A refreshingly decent debut from a man to believe in. Christopher Jones
“I hate everyone that I meet, but I’m getting better, think before I speak because I know I’ve got a temper” Lower Than Atlantis frontman Mike Duce utters after a heavy and explosive whirring intro on opening track ‘Had Enough’. ‘Work For It’ is huge, and unarguably the best song the four piece have ever written. There’s anger, honesty and selfreflection that was missing on their previous self-titled effort, which felt more like a real mainstream push if anything. Jasleen Dhindsa
The Menzingers
Toothless
Menace Beach
Epitaph
Island
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Despite all the critical acclaim in the world over their past couple of albums, ‘After The Party’ feels like a record where we find The Menzingers on the verge of something special. Maybe it’s growing into their skin, perhaps it’s the world around them finally catching up, but with their punk-rock tales lovingly matured, they’ve found a sweet spot that it’s impossible to fake. With a scene of brilliant bands behind them, 2017 is the year when The Menzingers make a charge. Christopher Jones
People never seem to expect much of the bass player - which is near-on criminal, especially if they can unravel something quite as bountiful and encapsulating as ‘The Pace Of Passing’. While Ed Nash’s known job in Bombay Bicycle Club may resonate, his debut as Toothless is a breathtaking journey into a blossoming paradise. Free, engrossing and much more than the CV of one man - it’s a shimmering gateway into 2017. A record that’s not only incredible but needed to set us in the right direction. Jamie Muir
It’s hard to work out exactly what a fair level of appreciation would be for Menace Beach. Their debut, 2015’s ‘Ratworld’, was one of the best of the year - a nugget of solid dirty gold, capable of dazzling in the light. ‘Lemon Memory’ is no less special. Slightly odder, but equally confident in its delivery, its the sound of a band sure of their footing, knowing exactly who they want to be. Scuzzy, weird pop that manages to hit all corners, with two safely tucked in the top drawer, their star should only shine brighter from here. Stephen Ackroyd
After The Party
Yesterday’s Gone
The Pace of the Passing
Safe In Sound
Lemon Memory Memphis Industries
XL Recordings
eeeee Straight from the opening stabs of ‘Dangerous’ – it’s obvious The xx have gone in a different direction for new album ‘I See You’. Gone (mostly) is the ambience of their first two records, replaced with the bombast Jamie xx explored on his solo album ‘In Colour’. At times it may feel like its straying towards a continuation of that record, but it most definitely isn’t. Quite the opposite – it feels like a band renewed with a point to prove. The use of samples feels as if the band’s sound has gone in a completely different direction – particularly with single ‘On Hold’, and ‘Say Something Loving’. ‘A Violent Noise’ is a spectacular track bringing in Ibizan influences and mixing them perfectly with the vibe of The xx to the point where it may well be the best song they’ve ever written. ‘Performance’ is where the album gets closest to its two predecessors but still utilises the new sound perfectly while ‘I Dare You’ is a killer of a song with its beat steady throughout. The remarkable thing about ‘I See You’ is that it doesn’t tire – quite the opposite, it grows with every single listen. For a band that’s sold out seven nights at Brixton, it’s no surprise that they’re making a very early claim for album of the year. Josh Williams
TW ENTY QUESTI ON S WITH...
HONEYBLOOD YES. WE KNOW THIS ISN’T HOW 20 QUESTIONS REALLY WORKS, BUT STFU, OK? THIS MONTH, HONEYBLOOD RUN THE GAUNTLET OF OUR RANDOM, STUPID QUERIES.
1. HELLO. HOW ARE YOU? Hello, pretty good thank you! 2. WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO TODAY? Some Christmas shopping, although I ended up buying loads of Christmas cards and Sellotape … nothing else. 3. WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE THING ABOUT BEING A MUSICIAN? Songwriting. It’s always been my favourite thing. 4. WHAT DID YOU LAST DREAM ABOUT? This is actually ridiculous, but I dreamt about tiny cute puppies last night. I know… 5. HOW PUNCTUAL ARE YOU? Never. A set time gives me an hour window. 6. WHAT’S YOUR BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENT? Honeyblood’s current album. I really put all my heart and soul into this record and feel like that shows. 7. WHAT’S THE BEST THING ABOUT GLASGOW? The people! And the banter, there’s no where else with banter like Glasgow.
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8. HOW DO YOU RELAX? I love to cook and I’m a Netflix binger. I’m also a bit of a boring person who also likes to visit historic castles and stuff.
9. WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE SMELL? This is a weird one… my favourite smell since I’ve been a little girl is the smell of my dad’s amplifiers. It’s like a mixture of smoke and electricity. If I could smell that, it meant that my dad was home from touring. 10. WHAT STRENGTH NANDOS SAUCE DO YOU ORDER? I’ve never been to Nandos. 11. WHO’S YOUR FAVOURITE NEW BAND? A band called The Cut and at the moment I’m obsessed with The Lemon Twigs. 12. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU BROKE? It’s not really broken but I had to chuck out one of my favourite
plants cause it died while I was away on tour. I can’t keep stuff alive.
13. WHAT’S THE SCARIEST THING YOU’VE EVER DONE? Recently I went swimming in the sea and went into a cave, that was pretty scary but fun. We also ended up at a pro-Trump-esque bar in Wisconsin before the US election which was equally as frightening. 14. WHAT IS YOUR EARLIEST MEMORY? My grandmother’s cats in her garden. 15. WHO IS YOUR LEAST FAVOURITE MEMBER OF ONE DIRECTION? Hmmm, I honestly don’t know any of their names except from Harry! Saying that I don’t have much of an opinion on any of them to make a point of saying which one is my least favourite.
16. WHAT’S THE BEST MUSIC FESTIVAL IN THE WORLD? Pohoda Festival. We loved it big time and all festivals should take a leaf out of their book. 17. What’s your biggest pet peeve? People who change the music midway through a song at parties. 18. WHICH BAND DO YOU FEEL IS CRIMINALLY UNDERAPPRECIATED? A punk band called Hang On The Box from Beijing. Listen to ‘You Lost Everything But It’s Not My Fault’.
19. WHAT’S THE MOST IMPRESSIVE THING YOU CAN COOK? I’m not about impressive cooking, more about quantity. I made a cake shaped like a dick once that looked pretty impressive. 20. HOW PUNK ARE YOU OUT OF TEN? The girl who likes visiting castles and has dreams about cute puppies…?