THE NEW ALBUM
OUT NOW FEATURES THE SINGLE
‘FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH’ LOCALNATIVES.COM
THIS MONTH, WE’VE B E E N M O S T LY L I STE N I N G TO...
Honeyblood - Babes Never Die Seriously though. What an album. This one won’t be off the stereo for the rest of the year.
JAWS - Simplicity Less a step up, and more a whole staircase. [Maybe that’s who Frank Ocean was building one for? - Ed]
THIS MONTH... U P D AT E
F E AT U R E S
04. 0 7. 0 7. 08. 11.
20. B L AC K H O N EY & D RE A M WIFE 26. KE RO KE RO BO N ITO 2 8 . J A G WA R M A 3 0 . H A M I LT O N L E I T H A U S E R + R O S TA M 32. GIRLI
TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB SOFT HAIR SUNFLOWER BEAN BANG ERS C I T Y G U I D ES … T H E M AG I C GANG 12. PUMAROSA 13. SOHN 14. THE GUIDE HYPE 16. 1 7. 18. 18. 1 9. 1 9.
KLOE NIMMO BISHOP BRIGGS DRONES CLUB PW R BT TM TUSKS
REVI E WS 34. 35. 36. 3 7.
THE LEMON TWIGS H O OTO N TE N N I S C LU B THE G ROWLERS G R E E N D AY
20 QUESTIONS WITH... 38. SPRING KING
DORK readdork.com
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, Heather McDaid, Jamie Muir, Jasleen Dhindsa, Jessica Goodman, Josh Williams, Martyn Young, Poppy Waring, Rob Mesure, Sam Taylor, Sammy Maine, Sarah Louise Bennett, Steven Loftin All material copyright (c). All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of The Bunker Publishing Ltd. 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
UPDATE
s e m Ga Masters
. Yet the cos t of guit ar-l ade n pop ban gers hea rts with two albu ms full ed seiz and ld wor the on Wit h Two Doo r Cine ma Club took tha t they cou ldn’ t get out of. gor trio hea d into an abyss Ban the saw ost alm hard ing so and rise of one of the mos t of pus hing , wor king and tour talk s thro ugh the stru ggle s mon th, bas sist Kev in Bair d this out ow’ esh ‘Gam m thei r thir d albu yea r. Wor ds: Jam ie Mui r. libe rati ng pop reco rds of the
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I
think we’ve learnt our lesson the hard way on how not to do things,” explains Two Door Cinema Club’s Kevin Baird. “Even when things were at their worst in the past we’ve always found things that we’ve really loved and enjoyed, but I think this time around we’re much better at being in the moment and enjoying what we’re doing.”
The past has an uncanny ability to haunt anyone who is troubled by it. Whether it’s that decision to go left instead of right, about giving up on a dream or simply not attempting at all, the past continues to linger and it always will. For Two Door Cinema Club, that history has never been more important - it’s made them one of the most celebrated bands of the past decade, memories of sun-kissed festival fields and sweaty bars continue to live whenever their records come on - it’s everything they would have dreamed of when they started it all together in frontman Alex Trimble’s parents’ garage all those years ago.
“We were
and we were that band who were always in those ‘Hardest Working Bands List’ every year, and I think we liked that idea that we were the ones who worked harder than anyone else - it almost gave us a little chip on our shoulders. “At the same time it was our first experience at seeing loads of countries around the world, I guess we had the great curse of people liking our band all over the place which meant we had to go everywhere. That lead to some amazing opportunities and experiences. We’d be sitting there and think, ‘Right, we really need to write and record this new record’, or take some time off, and then we’d get an offer to play a string of shows in like South Africa - of course we want to then go and do it! “We were our own worst enemy at the time, and we were definitely addicted to it.” Since their debut ‘Tourist History’ landed in 2010, Two Door have barely had a moment to breathe. Seismic tours around the UK, Europe, Asia, the US and South America meant they were the most in-demand live act on the planet. As 19/20-year-olds, it was an extraordinary turn of events, one that well and truly swept them up - refusing to let them down until that day almost four years later.
our own worst
enemy.”
Kevin Baird, bassist and an integral head in the Two Door mix, is on his way to the airport. In 2016, the trio are back with their third studio album ‘Gameshow’, their first in over four years, and the international travelling is already in full swing. Two days ago, the band played their first headline show in London since they headlined the O2 Arena in 2013. Yesterday, they were in Amsterdam for a string of promotional appearances. Today they’ve done the same, but this time in Paris. It’s the sort of fairytale story that musicians daydream about all the time, but this reality was also the very thing that brought Two Door Cinema Club, and in particular the band members themselves, to an incredibly dark crossroads. 18th July 2014 was set to be a seismic moment for Two Door Cinema Club. After becoming feverishly adored around the world, delivering two albums of high-octane indie-pop bangers and one of the most in-demand live shows of their time - it was set to be the crowning moment where they headlined their very first UK festival and rounded out the ‘Beacon’ era with a bang. But it wasn’t to be. Almost six years of touring, recording, living and breathing on top of each other had finally taken its toll. Illness, tension and the inability to deal with everything that was happening to them meant that their headline slot never happened, and their future became unclear. “I think the majority of the pressure at the time was from ourselves,” details Kevin. “I think you get addicted to that momentum
Reflecting on that time, Kevin barely remembers a moment which wasn’t focused on the next step, and one ultimately gripped by the fear of losing it all.
“There wasn’t much opportunity to sit back and take stock of what we’d done. What we’d achieved and what we still wanted to do, what expectations we had for the band and what we wanted to do musically. We were almost scared to take a break because we thought that was going to mean the end of our careers, the band finishing and nobody caring anymore.” Backed into a corner, Two Door knew they had to take some time away from each other, and more-so, the life of ‘being’ in a rock band. Retreating from the spotlight, it was a pretty bold and life-altering step. No longer living life in the diary of the band, the three of them (Kevin, Alex and guitarist Sam Halliday) replaced the deafening cheers and transatlantic flights for the solitude of ordinary life, which posed its own conflicts for three young men who’d dedicated their entire lives to their craft. “It’s like being at work and thinking, ‘I can’t wait for this to be done’. You start thinking of all the things that you’re going to do at the weekend or in your week off, and then you get there and just don’t know what to do with yourself,” contemplates Kevin. “You’re so used to having a purpose, and it took a while to adjust to the simple things - going to the shop, buying food, cooking it and then having that ingredient still there in the fridge a week later that you could use - that was something we’d never
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UPDATE
“I want people to fucking adore it.”
Pumarosa - Honey
I
sabel Muñoz-Newsome, the enigmatic frontwoman of Pumarosa, is gushing about her band’s forthcoming debut. “It’s been a really amazing few weeks,” she begins, on her commute home from the recording studio. “The last day is tomorrow so it’s all getting a bit intense.”
And it’s not just putting the finishing touches to their record that’s ‘intense’, either. Just days later, they’re jetting off to America to support Glass Animals on tour, then it’s back to the UK for their first headline run before heading to Europe again with the Oxford art-pop group. Admittedly, the nerves are starting to kick in. “I thought to myself today, ‘I’m slightly nervous about that’. But then I just sat down and had a beer and the nerves went,” Isabel laughs. “I think you get nervous because everything’s pounding on your door at once, kind of rushing you along,” she ponders. “Whereas if you look it in the face and have a real think about it, it’s great, it’s brilliant - it’s what you’ve always wanted to do.” The London five-piece, uniting under their ‘industrial spiritual’ ethos, are one of this year’s most important bands; defying genres at every turn and mesmerising crowds up and down
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the country with their bewitching blend of swirling guitars, sensual vocals and obscure compositions. Pumarosa’s early existence came while Isabel shared a yurt on the roof of a Tottenham warehouse with drummer Nick… and some chickens in the corner. “It was a beautiful, freeing - and pretty alternative - way to live in London. Apart from occasionally I’d get a bit scared,” Isabel confesses. “I could see the headlines: ‘Girl in Tent on Roof Dies a Horrible Death’. Soon after, Isabel met Pumarosa’s keys and saxophone player, a fully trained musician called Tamoya, when she was invited to The Jupiter Club as a songwriter. “It’s a really interesting night,” she begins. “They have a proper brass section and backing singers, and you rehearse with them a few times before doing a
On Tour OCTOBER 20 Brighton Green Door Store 21 Cardiff SWN Festival 22 Manchester White Hotel 23 Leeds Belgrave Music Hall 24 London Village Underground 27 Bristol Louisiana 31 Dublin Whelans
performance. It’s a sort of one-off big band version of a few of your songs… all in a weird punk pub.” Tamoya liked what he heard and approached Isabel, saying, “If you want to play more then give me a call.” The trio then met guitarist Neville at a private viewing under a railway arch gallery. “The floor was covered in water and we just started talking… And he’d heard of our band,” Isabel recalls, shocked at the time. “I was so flattered that I asked him to join,” she jokes. Bassist Henry joined not much later and Pumarosa – named after a ‘little pink tropical fruit’ and the mythical Puma – was formed and they haven’t looked back. But despite playing countless shows over the last year, hearing their music on daytime radio and racking up fans worldwide, Isabel remains humbly unaware of how big they’re becoming. “It’s quite an abstract thing for me that we’ve ‘broken through’,” she suggests. “I’m still doing the same thing, I just don’t get as much time to sit at home and play the piano. Instead I’m on a bus or a plane. It’s not glamorous enough yet to feel like we’ve broken through,” she laughs. As for the band’s releases so far, the songs are varied: in length, sound and style. Though they all have this “woozy thread” running through them, Isabel
Banger Alert!
touring with working on their debut. Coming soon to a venue near you: Pumaros a are juggling Words: Ben Jolley.
Few bands can bridge the gap between fun and assertively artistic. Then again, there’s nobody else quite like Pumarosa right now. ‘Honey’ has the slightest tinge of Savages’ awkward, uncompromising assault to its verses, but at no point does it feel like a challenge. Instead it soars high, delivering an anthemic chorus that’s never tied down. Whisper it quietly, but Pumarosa could well be the perfect band in waiting.
contemplates. “They’re all quite saturated in feeling; not necessarily tragedy or that kind of emotion but they’re definitely heavy.” Watching Isabel and the band perform live, their otherworldly creations are powerful and thrilling creatures, each one staring the audience dead in the eye. “I always hope people might be able to hear the words, because with certain sound-systems it all just turns into a wall of noise,” she reflects of shows passed. “It’s also quite nice, but when you’ve spent years thinking of these words...” she trails off. Studying their first three releases, Pumarosa’s creative thrill shines through. ‘Honey’ was inspired by Adam Curtis’ ‘Bitter Lake’. “It’s an incredible cross between an art piece and a documentary; it made me want to write and ‘Honey’ is what I wrote.”
‘Priestess’ is about “finding that strength to be free,” Isabel suggests; “especially in a city. And finding the space to be wild, be an animal and do what you want to do without being borne down upon by London...” Contemplating Pumarosa’s aim as a band, Isabel begins. “We want to move people, and for them to really listen and hear the words. Be a bit bewitched, perhaps.” That sort of ethereal aesthetic shone through during their mesmerising set at Latitude earlier this year. “That show was amazing,” she recalls, “I was like ‘why are you all here? It’s 12 in the afternoon’!” Another particularly memorable performance was playing in the midst of a gas leak. “It was our first little headline show and we did it in a sort of blown out house, with our friends, Sweat,” Isabel remembers. “We organised it to feel like a party or a rave; we wanted it to run late and we had a friend come and DJ. It was just really wild and actually quite dangerous. But I think, when there’s an edge, it makes it more exciting.
“It’s ridiculou s, funny and
brilliant time.” at the same
“The power cut just as we were about to start, then there was a gas leak. It was just ridiculous, and I smashed loads of equipment during the set and got up, carried on playing. “It got completely out of control, but somehow it carried on. We got to bed at ten in the morning - afterwards the guys from Sweat were so pumped... And we’re all still alive so that’s nice.” This time next year, Pumarosa’s debut album will have been out for some time. But where does Isabel see herself twelve months down the line? “The reality is, next summer we’ll play as many festivals as possible, so I’d like to be on holiday, relaxing somewhere nice. “In an ideal world I’d like to be in a strange, little house in the south of Spain with a piano in the room and no-one else,” she says, conjuring up a picturesque break away from band life. “I just want to keep writing; it’s quite hard when you’re always moving around.” Truthfully, though, Isabel’s got one goal in mind: “I want the album to come out and for people to fucking adore it!” Pumarosa tour the UK in October and Europe in November.
What’s going Sohn?
THIS IS HAPPENING
Buzzy live dates, a Milla Jovovich-directed video and an album release imminent - Sohn’s back with a bang.. Hello Sohn. You’re gearing up to release a new album, debuting material live - how’s it going? It’s been going incredibly well actually we’ve played Vienna and Berlin so far and the reaction to the new songs has been phenomenal. How finished is the album? It’s finished from my end and I’m just waiting for the final mixes, which I will get into once I get back to LA after these shows so I’m excited to get it done. You recently moved to LA - what’s it like? Is it a very different way of life? It’s been fantastic. California is a beautiful place to live and I have been very lucky to have been afforded the opportunity to live there. I feel like after living in Vienna for so long my brain has appreciated the shift back to English too, I feel totally relaxed and calm and healthy now I live in Los Angeles. Are you finding you’re presented with more opportunities for being out there? I guess, yeah - with the film and music industry really mainly in LA now, I guess the visibility of my work is growing as a result of being physically present and available there. Teaming up with Milla Jovovich for a video was unexpected. Yeah Milla commented on a few bits and bobs of mine online, and was recommending my music to her fans so I said thanks on Twitter. She hit me up straight away and we talked about what we were listening to etc, and I asked if
she’d like to hear a new song of mine. I sent her ‘Signal’ and she fell in love with it. We then jumped on the phone and it soon became apparent that we’d love to make this video together. She’s amazing to work with and considering she was both behind and in front of the camera she somehow was energising the whole crew and we ended up with something incredibly beautiful I think. I think it’s magic. Are there any other projects you’re currently working on? Right now I am working on not working for a few months as I am about to have two major releases in my life, one musical and one human, so I will dedicate a bit of time to my family while I can. P
Fall Out Boy’s new short film ‘Bloom’ has finally landed Fall Out Boy have been teasing their new ‘Bloom’ short film for a while now – and it’s finally here. “Sometimes you have to crack the pavement before you can BLOOM,” says Pete Wentz. Check it out on readdork.com.
Young Legionnaire announce new album, ‘Zero
Sohn - Signal
Banger Alert!
‘Cecile’, on the other hand, is less of a song – according to Isabel. “It’s more of a vibey track. It came out of a jam and it’s more about sensation, desire and sex. There’s a surreal landscape of desire... singing about the Black Lake, liquid and sex... and then there’s an explosion of energy at either end.”
With synths warm enough to heat a mid-sized caravan, and vibes smoother than silk sheets, Sohn’s comeback is nothing short of audio indulgence. All about the texture, ‘Signal’ isn’t a short, sharp dash for attention. Placing quality above quantity, it’s content with impressing in other ways. A late night slow burner, when it finally blooms into a soundscape of beats and pulses, the effect is nothing short of glorious. This is one ‘Signal’ that cuts through the noise.
Worship’ Paul Mullen and Gordon Moakes will follow up 2011’s ‘Crisis Works’ with ‘Zero Worship’, set to land on 25th November. “In a culture running out of ideas, the new Young Legionnaire album has something to say,” says Gordon, “even if it’s just goodbye.”
The Weeknd unveils new album ‘Starboy’ It’s been just over a year since The Weeknd unleashed his chartconquering third LP ‘Beauty Behind The Madness’, but he’s already back in the race again with new album ‘Starboy’. It’s set to land on 25th November.
Bon Iver is off on tour Bon Iver has a UK tour planned for February 2017, which features four dates in the capital: two at London’s Roundhouse, and a further two at the Eventim Apollo. The jaunt also visits Blackpool and Edinburgh. Get more news and updates as they happen on readdork.com, or via twitter @readdork.
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HYPE ESSENTIAL NEW BANDS
KLOE
‘‘I
was really uncool. Sorry!”
Glaswegian pop star in waiting, KLOE, is apologising for the confession that she’s about to make. “I loved whatever was in the Top 40: Ed Sheeran, the Jonas Brothers, Avril Lavigne and P!nk,” she says of her music icons as a teenager. Gradually, though, as she started getting a bit older, The Weeknd, Drake, Passion Pit and The 1975 - “Matthew Healy is just a fucking genius” – helped to form a cooler iPod shuffle [Oi, Avril is super cool - Ed]. Seeing Drake and J. Cole at the 02 Academy in her hometown, however, was “fucking lifechanging. It just made me fall in love with rap, hip-hop and R&B; I love the honesty,” says the 19-year-old. “I love pretty much everything that hits me right in the feels.” Now, having been described as one of the coolest teenagers on the planet, KLOE is making some of the most honest and addictive pop music around – or ‘Pop AF’ as she describes it. “I feel like I’ve just blagged my way in so far,” she jokes humbly, adding that on her days off “I literally just stuff my face and watch Netflix all day… I think if I was a serious pop star I’d go insane. I take my music seriously, but I don’t take myself seriously. I kind of just take the piss!” On ‘UDSM’, KLOE sings “heard that you’ve been fucking that girl Emily” - she doesn’t mince her words. “I thought I was being very
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“ I D O N ’ T TA K E M Y S E L F S E R I O U S LY , IT’S A LWAYS A PART Y WITH KLO E. WORDS: BE N JOLLEY
clever and a la Taylor Swift the day I wrote it. I remember thinking, ‘you’re gonna get in so much shit for that’.” It’s this type of frank and open lyricism that’s enabled her to build such a loyal and trusting fan base; “a girl travelled all the way from Slovakia just to see me in Berlin. I honestly could have cried!” she gushes. “I think because I do put myself out there in a very unapologetic way it’s easier for people to understand and bite into.” ‘UDSM’ is about when KLOE got pied by a guy she really fancied in a bar in London. “We’re actually friends now and he finds it funny, bless him. He must have been mortified,” she confesses. “Everybody knew it was about him!” ‘Liability’, on the other hand, is “me being, well, a liability - a full blown crazy bitch! It’s really upbeat, aggressive and even a little arrogant when you listen to it.” Underneath the energetic beats, however, is one of KLOE’s most personal songs. “I wrote it at a time where I was well and truly fucked; I don’t think people knew how bad it was. I was living up to being that crazy girl who’s the last one standing at parties,” she recalls. “It was me saying, ‘If you want me to be that girl then I’ll fucking be her x10000’. It was a weird time.” It’s those tracks, as well as early muchhyped single ‘Teenage Craze’, that have seen her perform all around the world. “Fucking weird,” is how she describes the experience over the last year… after a long pause. “I’ve
become more travelled than my mum and dad put together; it’s so crazy,” she reflects. In the last twelve months, KLOE has visited LA, New York, Canada, Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands – easily more places than most people get the chance to see in an entire lifetime. The trip that stands out most, though, is Milan Fashion Week. “It was incredible. I played a show for Diesel Black Gold and they gave us all this free shit. I honestly felt like Kim Kardashian the whole time; we had our own driver, got taken for fancy dinners… Then you go back home and you find yourself sitting in your flat not knowing how you’re going to afford to eat the next day. Life is mental. I’m very lucky.” That kind of pop star lifestyle is something that KLOE will have to become familiar with very quickly - especially as she’s already working on her debut record. “My entire album is a love letter to Glasgow,” she gushes of her hometown. “It’s the city where I fell in love, and the city where I had my heart broken. I owe everything to Glasgow. If you were to slice me open I’d bleed Glasgow.” In November, she’ll perform a homecoming show at St Luke’s, and it’s safe to say KLOE is excited. “I cannot fucking wait,” she enthuses, sounding like she’s just woken up on Christmas morning. “I honestly can’t. It’s one of my fans’ 18th birthdays the same night - so he’s coming up from Manchester to celebrate it at my gig! I think that’s so cool. I want to make it a big party, and, of
I KIND OF JUST TA K E T H E P I S S ! ” course, it’s a total dream come true to be headlining a show in my favourite city in the whole world.” But how does KLOE want her music to make people feel? “Like they’re out with me on a mental night out in Glasgow,” she enthuses. “Maybe there are a few tears along the way, and maybe one of us is sick onto our shoes - but we had a fucking great night and we’ll remember it forever!” P
KLOE’s fave places in Scotland
KING TUTS: “I practically lived there from when I was about 15. Whenever I go back home to Glasgow I still go there and catch whatever gigs are on. That place feels like home to me.” BROADCAST: “Broadcast on Sauchiehall Street is where you’ll find me and my friends at the weekend - and probably weekdays, too. It’s really dark - almost too dark - but it’s just always such a good atmosphere. I love the people who work there too. They’re like my drunken Saturday night pals.”
ON THE GRAPEVINE
“W E SE E M TO H AV E D O N E I T A L L
NIMMO TH E PA RT Y STA RTS N OW, AND YOU D ON’T WANT TO M I SS IT.
L
WO RDS: JA M I E M U I R.
ead by the effervescent duo of Sarah Nimmo and Riva Gauntlett, Nimmo was born out of a desire to play euphoric live shows and create something distinctively of their own, capturing the unadulterated bliss of late-night city life, the dazzling highs that are crammed full of gritty realities - transformed into pulsating pop anthems. It all began when the duo met at their induction day at secondary school, a meeting of minds and personalities that were destined to be together. “Riva was the first tomboy that I’d ever seen and I just thought, ‘Oh wow, there’s someone else out there like me and I’m not just an alien that landed on earth’,” remembers Sarah. “Yeah, now there are TWO aliens!” laughs Riva. “We both were really passionate about music, that was one of the first things that we realised we had in common. We were about 15 when we started really writing songs together and that was the main inspiration for starting a band. It was just to write songs.” After studying together at university in Brighton, Sarah and Riva returned to London determined to make it big, full of self-belief and a confidence that they were onto something special. Their dedication was fuelled by an independent spirit of putting on their own nights in pubs up and down Camden, constantly creating and ultimately honing the live pop spectacle that now sees them steal shows wherever they go. Whether that’s festival stages, support slots or another night down the pub, Nimmo turn venues into unique communes of celebration and freedom. “It comes from a very DIY place,” explains Riva. “We were about in Camden when everyone was doing that, putting on shows and making your own t-shirts, so it comes very naturally from that. It would be me and Sarah in a room doing some like screen printing or some shit, selling things on a weird website that we’d set up and asking our mums to lend us money to make like 100 badges or something.”
“I still owe so much money.” The stories continue to flow from their exploits, determined to make every show bigger and better than the one before. There’s the one where Sarah’s mum came home to find her holding a chainsaw in the back-garden, carving up a huge MDF board to hold up the spray painted banner they’d made on old bedsheets (“It was terrible,” recalls Sarah). There’s the many shows they held at the pub where they would book other bands to play alongside them (“I actually bumped into someone we booked at a wedding recently”). Yet ultimately, that passion for the live stage is where Nimmo well and truly breathe, inspiring not only the shows but the music they write too. “Growing up in London and going out, experiencing more, being a bit naughty that’s what always has stimulated us,” says Sarah. “We’re night-owl people, that’s just who we are. It’s slowly happened like that.” “And so the sound started to take that direction more, because that’s what we’re living and experiencing,” picks up Riva. “To marry the songs with that feeling of being grabbed by the shoulders and thrown around is just the fucking best thing ever.” That sound resonates through the singles Nimmo have put out so far, with ‘My Only Friend’ and ‘UnYoung’ full of hypnotic beats and catchy hooks that could turn any crowd into putty in their hands. ‘Dilute This’ is an ode to the waning stages of love in a relationship, bursting out of their core pop/ songwriting hearts made up of Fleetwood Mac and Carole King emotions with a layered electro kick. While inspired by those evenings of rapturous dance out in the city, it’s a tag that ultimately sells Nimmo short of what an exciting proposition they are. “It’s funny because we don’t think we make dance music, it’s more that we’ve taken those feelings that come with dance and worked them into our own music,” notes Sarah. “It’s very live and we don’t use any tracks - we quite like the clatter that comes along with playing live!” “Like, we’re a bit more aggy, if you get what I mean?” asks Riva. “There’s a real aggyness when we play live that I haven’t really
IN REVERSE.”
On tour
With the album done, Nimmo can now look ahead to their largest UK tour to date in October, returning to the live stage which they’ve called their second home for years now. It’s back doing what they love, in their natural habitat. “The tour signifies a lot,” explains Riva. “The album is done, we can get those tracks out to play them live. It’s taken a while to let go of the record, because you can always tweak this or that, but the next month is going to be the one.” “We have so much fun when we tour,” chimes in Sarah. “It’s just like being a kid again, and it’s okay to be like that.” “I was out with my friends last night and we were talking about how if we’ve been through something, it’s so lucky that we can then go into the studio or on the stage and jump around, sing it out. It’s really healthy and lucky to be able to do that, and we don’t take for granted just how cleansing it is.”
seen with anyone else. If anything, growing up with grime and hip-hop gives us that, getting that energy of people throwing themselves around the stage and just kicking off basically.” “Dance music can sometimes be quite tame, but it’s the grime mentality that lives through everything we do on stage. So it’s more an amalgamation of influences rather than a singular band or moment.” 2016 has already been a ridiculously busy year. Nimmo have been hard at work balancing a string of festival appearances alongside work in the studio on their debut album, transferring what they’ve learnt from living in the live world for years into a studio environment. Riva remembers the struggles and process well. “We’ve done it backwards really, as we were always the band who did it DIY and fucking making it up as we went along, but then we had to learn how to be a studio band. A lot of bands nail what its like to be in the studio and then have to work out how to do it all live, we’re the opposite - we didn’t know how to be a studio artist but
T H E G RE AT ESCA P E A N N O U N C E F I RST F I F T Y S E RI ES The Great Escape is holding a special, new event this year. Titled First Fifty, it will take place across five East London venues from 22nd-24th November – showcasing bands who will go on to play the main event next May, including Drones Club, Cabbage and Eat Fast.
VA M P I RE W E E K E N D D RU M M E R C H RI S TO M SO N A N N O U N C ES N E W P ROJ ECT Chris Tomson has announced a new solo project. Titled Dams of the West, he’ll release his debut solo album ‘Youngish American’ later this year. It was coproduced with the Black Keys’ Patrick Carney and Roger Moutnot.
H E A R ‘SW E ET D RE A M E R’, T H E N E W O N E F RO M W I L L J OS E P H C O O K The guy behind some of the sweetest pop hooks of the summer, Will Joseph Cook has laid out another undeniable groover in new single ‘Sweet Dreamer’. Check it out now on readdork.com.
A N T E ROS S H A RE N E W V I D EO FO R ‘ RI N G RI N G ’ ‘Ring Ring’ is the latest track to get the video treatment from Anteros’ new EP ‘Breakfast’. The new clip follows the band on the road over the summer, both on stage and in fields setting up tents. Watch on readdork.com.
knew how to fling ourselves around on stage and jump into it.” “Performing a track in a certain way was hard too,” continues Sarah. “We can change how we play a song every night when playing live. Like, when we were doing vocals we ended up just shouting, as we were used to doing that live!” “Yeah, shouting away as if we were in the pub in Camden all over again!” says Riva, immediately triggering a string of flashbacks. “We were listening back like, ‘Oh shit what is this?! We can’t put that on a CD!’” “It’s weird, we seem to have done it all in reverse like playing the pub circuit and doing it live - like before we’d write a song in ten minutes and play it that very night. It would be horse shit, out of key, strings falling off the guitar but we’d play it - and sell a t-shirt afterwards!” P
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D T
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TWO OF THE HOTTEST NEW BANDS IN THE COUNTRY, ON TOUR, TOGETHER. EVERYONE ELSE STAND DOWN - BLACK HONEY AND DREAM WIFE ARE IN CONTROL.
lickering with static, Black Honey make cinematic anthems of love, lust and heartbreak. Dream Wife find a theatre for the romance, all glitter and grit. Between them, the bands are flying a handcrafted flag for bucking expectation, living a life without limits and embracing the power that comes with it. Neither band have self-imposed rules and it’s been a long time since anyone else tried to box them in. “It’s just two cool bands going on tour together,” starts Black Honey leader Izzy B. Phillips as Dork rounds up the members of the two groups ahead of their UK jaunt together. Despite both bands forming in Brighton they’ve only met each other in passing before today so, in front of camera lenses and microphones, this is first contact. Black Honey drummer Tom Dewhurst quickly finds out the The Magic Gang have a poster of Dream Wife in their recording studio, and so spends the whole day trying to join the band. The closest he gets is being told he can be their Bez. Elsewhere, there’s talk of daily tarot card readings from Dream Wife bassist Bella Podpadec to get the vibe of the shows as well as yoga, pizza birthday parties and tape. Turns out Dream Wife and Black Honey guitarist Chris Ostler love tape. There’s a Black Honey tour initiation ceremony of the flaming pinky which involves fire and Sambuca but don’t expect the cheesy final night group song. “I don’t think we’ll be exchanging fans as much as sharing them,” Izzy continues. “They’re getting a double hit. Here you go, here are two really great bands.” “We’re just big fans of Dream Wife,” explains Black Honey bassist Tommy Taylor. It’s a feeling that’s reciprocated (luckily) with Dream Wife vocalist Rakel Mjöll pointing out: “It doesn’t make sense if you’re touring with someone you don’t like. What’s the point if you don’t like the music?”
WORDS: ALI SHUTLER. PHOTOS: SARAH LOUISE BENNETT.
Despite touring a lot, Dream Wife have always done it alone and via public transport. “We’ve missed a lot of coaches and spent many nights on a Megabus.” Black Honey are more versed in sharing the journey. They either tour with bands they’re already friends with or that they respect. It doesn’t matter how you set out though, “We’re now best friends with every band we’ve been on tour together with,” smiles Izzy. “So, we’re becoming best friends now,” asks Rakel. “It’ll be exciting to make some new best friends,” adds Bella. That invitation isn’t just reserved for those on stage though. More than just a run of excellent evenings up and down the country, the tour is set to capture a moment in time. Despite the relative infancy of both projects, Black Honey and Dream Wife have been a long time coming. There’s a lifetime of influence, experience, trial and error behind every layer of their already-assured vision. Neither band has committed more than four tracks to a release but there’s an art behind everything they do. They know exactly what they want and they embrace that ever-evolving idea of what they are.
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or Dream Wife, it started as an art project while the three members - Rakel, Bella and guitarist Alice Go - were at art school in Brighton. “It was about dreaming big and making stuff happen in a conceptual way, having an idea and seeing it through,” starts Bella, as Alice adds: ”and realising things in quite a realistic way.” However, two years on from the band returning from a DIY tour of Canada and realising it had become more than just a project, how the band first formed is now almost irrelevant. Dream Wife are very much The Real Thing - and have been for a long time. The band released their first record this spring, the to-thepoint titled ‘EP01’, that tied together four distinctive but darling songs that announced to the world what the band had been building during their live shows (no, we’re not talking about human pyramids, let it go). “We had tried other things going into the studio but it
wasn’t the same as the live show,” offers Rakel. “That raw freshness, that was the sound we wanted. And that’s why it was great to release this EP and to have something that was our live show and that was our sound out in the world. We ended up recording it off of the back of a two month DIY tour last autumn and we recorded it in Alice’s parents house.” “My dad’s playing drums on that record,” grins Alice. “Having the EP out was a major moment. People could finally understand what Dream Wife was about. People didn’t take it seriously, maybe because the aesthetic is a major consideration people assume the music’s not good, but it’s not just three girls dressing up. People’s impression of the band has been a lot more genuine since the release.” All four songs “went on journeys and it was really pivotal to understand what those journeys were and what we
GET TWO BANDS WHO ARE GOING ON TOUR TOGETHER, BUT HAVEN’T MET EACH OTHER PROPERLY. MAKE THEM TALK ABOUT EACH OTHER, IN FRONT OF EACH OTHER. ENJOY. BLACK HONEY ON DREAM WIFE Izzy: “A lot of it speaks to my love of riot grrl stuff but instead of it being typical, riot grrl is so dated. Bands now, if you’ve got strong women telling a story, it needs to be modernised and you guys are doing it the right way. There are two sides to that fence where it could land. It’s got a pop sensibility, the tone of your voice feels nostalgic and the art scene side of it, I guess is where you get the direction and the depth. I like the themes. ‘Lolita’ is a wicked idea for a song. DREAM WIFE ON BLACK HONEY Rakel: I think, lyrically, there are a lot of stories with the songs and a nostalgic looking back. Your song ‘Corrine’, looking back at a friendship and times you had together, which is the same idea as our song ‘Kids’. Both bands tell a story. Bella: I think they’re really classic songs that are very melodic with a rough and raw edge.
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“I WA N T T O B E A
JE L L Y F I S H
AN D F L OA T T H R O UG H T H E C O SMO S. ”
JAGWAR MA’S SECOND ALBUM IS A DREAMY IDYLL: ONE THEY CRAFTED IN THE DEPTHS OF THE FRENCH COUNTRYSIDE.
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WORDS: JESSICA GOODMAN. PHOTO: CORINNE CUMMING.
t’s the middle of a busy festival season, their second album is about to see release, and Jagwar Ma are in unshakeably high spirits.
“Would that it were so simple,” Jono Ma mulls in an attempt to describe the group’s new record. “That’s it! He’s done it there, you don’t need to elaborate,” Jack Freeman laughs. “It’s complicated,” Jono elaborates. “Can the band have a relationship status on Facebook?” Gabriel Winterfield questions. “We can have ‘It’s complicated.’” “Would that it were so simple,” Jono reaffirms. Recovering from a festival in France the weekend before, and readying for another couple of festival performances in Austria and Wales over the following weekend, the trio are certainly no strangers to the jet setting lifestyle. For the Sydneyformed, London-based outfit, returned from their studio in central France, every step is an adventure, and they’re determined to take it all in their stride. “It’s a nomadic lifestyle, for sure,” Gabriel states. “We want to do this, and we want to do it as best we can, so we just make it work.” In the three years since the release of debut album ‘Howlin’’, Jagwar Ma have travelled all around the world, bringing their baggy beats and psychedelic dance anthems to the masses. “We all love it,” the frontman expresses. “You’ve got to love it. How could you not? You’d be crazy not to.” Their lifestyle might seem like an endless adventure now, but three years ago, the outfit had barely performed together outside of a studio setting. “We started playing shows during the lead up to the first album release,” Jack recalls, “just to see how it would go. And it went alright!” Having spent the best part of their time since on the road, the group might still describe themselves as being “a studio band first,” but their live show has become an integral part of their identity. While the release of their debut album was what prompted the band to first take to the stage, the release of their second is “directly influenced” by the time they’ve spent there since. “One of the starting points for this record was basically a
catalogue of sketches that I’d made while we were on tour,” Jono describes. “Each beat or sketch was named after the place where it was made.” Drawing on their ever-changing surroundings as they travelled city to city, country to country, and continent to continent, the result is nothing short of stratospheric. Steadily amassing a body of work, when they were ready, the group decamped to a studio in rural France – the same studio that birthed their debut album. “It’s a studio that I’ve helped piece together,” Jono depicts. “It just made sense to go out there and do it at a place that kind of feels like ours.” “We had a pretty good routine there,” Gabriel adds. “It was fun to be fairly isolated. It was kind of a leisurely set up.” “The commercial studio route has really clearly defined steps for timing reasons and financial reasons,” Jono explains. Jagwar Ma have always created things their own way. “Our process is more free-flowing than that.” Set up in their own studio, the group had the freedom to blur the lines between writing, demoing, recording, and producing, and make new music in a self-sufficient way. “It’s a constant rotation of Jono and I working separately and then working together, and then splitting up and then working together,” Gabriel describes of their writing process. “You collect a body of work, so once you’ve got enough to look at, then you work out what works together, and where the groups of ideas are.” Continuing to compose as they filtered through the material they’d written on the road, the pair lay down the groundwork for what is now their second album. “I think our process is actually more akin to the way a lot of hip-hop is made than the way a lot of bands write,” Jono deliberates. “A lot of the band has come out of a product of us being sick of that world,” Gabriel agrees. The genres might be a fair distance apart, but taking on a set up that’s more similar to a producer and singer than a full band, the influence is evident in everything Jagwar Ma create. “Jono will be sat at the desk with the console, playing stuff, and I’ll stand at a mic with headphones on,” the frontman portrays. “We’ll riff on an idea for a while and it’ll either stick or it won’t.” With their new material taking shape, the group began to air some of the tracks while on tour with Tame Impala. “That definitely didn’t make things easy, but we
did it anyway,” Gabriel laughs. Debuting the songs in front of large audiences, the band were able to put their newly established live influence to the test. “New songs don’t have the privilege of familiarity,” Jono alludes, “but you can feel when you play them when it’s working and when it isn’t. You can feel awkwardness in the air.” “It stings,” Gabriel winces. “It almost stings, when you know what you’re doing is fucked.” Ever aware of the “dialogue between the two worlds,” it’s not just the music that was influenced by the bands time spent on stages. Sentiments of escapism flood the lyrics, running hand in hand with the album’s constant driving motion. “It takes a bit of courage, knowing that there’s a very high chance that a lot of people are going to hear that, but you’ve just got to be as honest as possible,” Gabriel states. “That’s something that I always aspire to. I don’t want to pretend that I’m something else, and I don’t want to lie. You’ve got to put that foot forwards.” “When Gab says ‘do the amoeba’ [on ‘Give Me A Reason’] he really feels like he is an amoeba,” Jono offers as an example. “I want to be an amoeba,” Gabriel responds. “I want to be a jellyfish and just float through the cosmos.” Sure, what Jagwar Ma sing about isn’t complex or particularly profound, but through sentiments of adoration, yearning, and downright ridiculous dance movements,
SHROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT Secluded in rural France, the group found their own unique methods of entertainment. “We did a lot of foraging for mushrooms,” Jono recounts. “The edible kind, not poisonous or the psychedelic.” “Dinner,” Gabriel clarifies. “There’s so many different types of mushrooms, and the only thing that we had to tell us whether you could eat them or not was this book where all the colours were just watercolours.” “The difference between life and death was an artist’s interpretation of what a deadly mushroom is and what an edible mushroom is,” Jono laughs. “I guess that’s just how you get your kicks in the French countryside,” Gabriel grins.
their words are open to whoever hears them. The ability to shift into a shape-changing organism might be slightly out of reach for the moment, but through their new record, Jagwar Ma have created the next best thing. With its characteristically contagious grooves, ‘Every Now & Then’ is an immediate escape along deep-set grooves into euphoric highs. “The working title was actually ‘Twelve Silver Dragons’, if I’m not mistaken,” Gabriel smirks. “Hey! We might need that one later…” Jack exclaims. “Keep it in the box.” Taken from the lyrics of ‘Loose Ends’, the album title is embedding the band firmly into social consciousness. “I remember someone was telling me about how Portishead adopted the ‘P’ for their logo, and the idea of every time someone sees a sign for ‘parking’ it then reminds them of Portishead,” the frontman enthuses. “I kind of liked the idea of people hearing the expression ‘every now and then’ and thinking of the record – if they know about the record.” The product of six months spent recording, picking mushrooms, and once driving up to Mick Jagger’s house “just because [they] found out where it was” (“we were with a photographer – she had this massive camera and we were in this small car just giggling, we looked like creeps”), the album is finally upon us. “I really don’t want to say it, because it’s a cliché, but sometimes the last few years do almost feel like this blur,” Gabriel summarises of everything that’s brought them here. “I just want as many people to hear it as possible,” he continues. “I don’t care about anything else. I just want the music to be heard.” Playing to bigger and bigger crowds on a regular basis, and with imminent plans to “tour as far as the eye can see,” Jagwar Ma aren’t going to rest until they’ve taken their music to as many people and places as possible. The future is an open road. Driven by their craft and fuelled by their passion, the adventure is only just beginning. “I reckon Jack’s going to be in a movie or something,” Gabriel speculates. “Jono will write a book about the history of production from 1950 onwards, and I’ll write some shit poetry book that no one will want to buy, and maybe a short play.” P Jagwar Ma’s album ‘Every Now & Then’ is out 14th October.
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REVIEWS Goat
Requiem
Rocket Recordings
eeee ‘Reqiuem’ is a joyous celebration. ‘Union of Sun And Moon’ opens in a wonderfully tribal fashion – doing that entirely Goat thing, blending coherent lyrics with that of the other, making for something that seems far more like a mystic chant. It’s a pattern that runs throughout, and it never ceases to impress that Goat have carved out a unique sound like the folk music of some outwardly, out of time nation. ‘Requiem’ is not just an incredible album, it’s an exercise in world creation. Poppy Waring
Kate Tempest Let Them Eat Chaos
The Lemon Twigs Do Hollywood eeeee
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reposterously clothed, preposterously young and apparently preposterously talented, ‘Do Hollywood’ is a fitting title for Brian and Michael D’Addario’s 4AD debut, and not just because they’ve both already acted. It suggests they’ve travelled from Long Island to LA, possibly in a time machine, and won’t go back till they’ve taken it all.
With production from Foxygen’s Jonathan Rado, the brothers split vocals, guitars, drums, keys, horns, strings and a fair bit of xylophone between them, and the results are a gleefully chaotic, tartan-trousered and sequinned joy. ‘I Wanna Prove To You’ rattles in, shifting from an ELO-esque vamp through swooning, echoey hints of ‘Pet Sounds’ to finger-clicking doo-wop in about a minute: they’re cramming ideas in, doing something, anything to grab our attention. And grabbed it is, only to be dragged away by the screwball skiffle of ‘Those Days Is Comin’ Soon’ and the chaotic, galloping carousel organ of ‘Haroomata’. As with ‘Hi+Lo’, it might trip over itself, piling on overdubs, but only out of enthusiastic experimentation. The scatter-shot, playful pastiche might not
be for everyone, but if you’re with them, you’ll forgive them anything, and the best moments here are stunning. ‘These Words’ and ‘As Long As We’re Together’ are two. The first switches from squelching synths via a plaintive verse to a huge, harmony-laden chorus and xylophone breakdown, while the second mashes ‘All The Young Dudes’ and baroque synths into cracked, swirling psychedelia. ‘How Lucky Am I?’, too, is unabashedly gorgeous, with lush piano chords and a chorus cooked up in some heavenly pop laboratory. “I have enough previous worlds, to know which one I’m in,” Brian sings on ‘These Words’, and we’re definitely in a previous one here. But the D’Addarios’ time sounds like now, and ‘Do Hollywood’ is a blast. Rob Mesure
Jagwar Ma Every Now & Then
Marathon Artists / Mom + Pop / Future Classic
eeee In the three years since they released their debut, Jagwar Ma have made the world their oyster. The Sydney outfit have brought their infectious dance floor fillers to life on seemingly every side of the world. Second album ‘Every Now & Then’ is a crowning document of that. It’s a vibrant, varied, and intensely textured tapestry Jagwar Ma weave through their music, a vehicle ready to transport them to brand new heights – along with anyone else who wants to cling on for the ride. Jess Goodman
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Fiction Records
eee e Kate Tempest has a way of creating vivid stories that broach realism with such ease, all the more apparent when her voice is the only thing to be heard. The nature of her art is to comment upon life as she sees it; from politics to more societal points. The recurring line of “It’s 4:18 am”, that appears in several songs is a connector that brings the album into its own universe. ‘Let Them Eat Chaos’ is a record that serves as a good documenter of life in the modern age. Steven Loftin
The Dillinger Escape Plan Dissociation
Party Smasher Inc / Cooking Vinyl
eeee Bands like Dillinger don’t come along every day, and that’s why when they say that dreaded word, “hiatus”, you know without doubt, that even if it might not be forever, it’s a potential farewell that comes with a blaze of bloody glory. Dillinger are one of a kind, and ‘Dissociation’ pummels every ounce of their energy, guts and ambition in, with surprises to boot. They’re vicious, sharp, and untouchable. Heather McDaid
White Lies Friends BMG
ee ee White Lies are a gloomy band. Or rather – they used to be. New album ‘Friends’ sees them depart from their Joy Division-like gloom and add shimmering synths. However, this doesn’t work as well as they might have hoped. Ultimately, ‘Friends’ sounds like a band running out of steam. It lacks cohesion and feels like a compilation of songs rather than an album – indeed it also lacks the indie anthems the band are known for. Josh Williams
The Radio Dept
Running Out Of Love Labrador Records
ee e The new effort from Sweden’s The Radio Dept., ‘Running Out Of Love’ is filled with sweeping electronic sounds, determined beats and emotive vocals that complement the arrangements perfectly. Creating soundscapes that encapsulate the genre that saw the 90s weird kids given an outlet, the magic lies in the intricacy of what they compose. ‘Thieves Of State’ uses samples to fuel the atmosphere; the pounding beat found in ‘Occupied’ is reminiscent of New Order; the title-track offers an instrumental moment, setting the framework for finale ‘Teach Me To Forget’ which builds and swirls to its climactic ending. There’s even a spot of Britpop within ‘Committed To The Cause’. ‘Running Out Of Love’ is nice throwback to a much loved era. Steven Loftin
Daniel Woolhouse What’s That Sound? 37 Adventures
ee e e ‘What’s That Sound?, the first album by songwriter and producer Daniel Woolhouse without his Deptford Goth persona, is a thing of subtle wonder. Setting aside his previous established tropes in favour of a wider and more expansive musical palette, the album finds Daniel blossoming as a singer, musician and lyricist. There’s an affecting honesty as he imbues his carefully layered musical patters into a graceful tapestry. You can immediately get a feeling of warmth and hidden depths on the gently exultant opening track ‘Crazy Water’, featuring backing vocals from Rebecca Taylor of Slow Club. ‘What’s That Sound’ is the work of an artist at peace with himself and his talent. Martyn Young
Seasick Steve
Keepin’ The Horse Between Me And The Ground
There’s A Dead Skunk Records
ee e No small effort, ‘Keepin’ The Horse...’ is a double album with one disc stripped-back, and the other full of dirty and vicious electric blues. The first half may feel like a long walk, but Seasick Steve shines is his ability to tell a story and there’s no better platform for this than a bare, acoustic guitar. There’s even a cover of the Harry Nilsson classic ‘Everybody’s Talkin’’. Disc two opens with the vicious title track; the savageness continuing through until ‘Bullseye’, which is a lot more reserved in its delivery. It’s perfect release for Seasick Steve to release ten years on from his UK breakthrough. Steven Loftin
Naked & Famous Simple Forms
Somewhat Damaged / Kobalt
eeeee ‘Simple Forms’ is an intriguing listen. ‘The Water Beneath You’ embraces EDM with a monstrous drop but feels distinctly indistinct. This is a problem which runs throughout, it doesn’t feel remotely unique. There are hundreds of different musicians that could have written these songs. The spark that gave rise to the Naked & Famous in the first place seems to have extinguished. Much of the album feels awkwardly put together – particularly ‘My Energy’ and ‘Laid Low’. It’s not a bad record by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s not going to shatter the world either. Josh Williams
Hooton Tennis Club Big Box Of Chocolates
Heavenly Recordings
eeee Hooton Tennis Club’s debut record ‘Highest Point In Cliff Town’ was a ramshackle, unadulterated ride through garage indie’s glorious roots. It jumped around like a box of frogs, so you can imagine what their ‘Big Box Of Chocolates’ holds - a matured and smooth record full of sweet highs and refined bursts of frantic energy that builds and rejigs ‘Highest Point’s’ most fruitful moments. It’s a vital release. Jamie Muir
Kaiser Chiefs
Empire Of The Sun
Fiction / Caroline
Virgin EMI
Stay Together
Two Vines
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Kaiser Chiefs and Xenomania may feel like an odd hook up, but really it makes perfect sense. Working with the production team behind chart royalty Girls Aloud, the combination reignites the same sharpand-shiny sparkle in the eyes that made the Leeds five-piece such an impressive prospect a decade or more ago. The tone may be slightly different, but stand out ‘Press Rewind’ proves that - however tastes and attitudes change - underneath it all Kaiser Chiefs know their way around a pop song. Stephen Ackroyd
When Empire of the Sun first arrived back in 2008, they seemed to be surfing the ripples of the zeitgeist as it bashed against the walls of the far future. Eight years on, and there’s little doubt they’re playing catch up. Since ‘Walking on a Dream’ - at least on the surface - little seems to have changed for the duo, but the world around them has. That’s not to say ‘Two Vines’ is a total dud it’s not. There’s more than enough within to occasionally pierce the fog of cynicism, but time waits for no man, even one dressed like a space lord. Stephen Ackroyd
Jimmy Eat World Integrity Blues Sony
eee There’s no denying that Jimmy Eat World have always been a little bit cheesy. On ‘Integrity Blues’, there are nostalgic moments from the likes of ‘It Matters’ and ‘Get Right’, which see the band hone in on their tried-and-trusted anthemic tendencies. Elsewhere, ‘Pass The Baby’ is a strange, stark electronic-focused track, while ‘Pretty Grids’ follows the same kind of formula, and ‘You Are Free’ which is straight-up classic JEW. Sammy Maine
Kero Kero Bonito Bonito Generation Double Denim
eee e Some things split opinion down the middle. Even that is probably too much for Kero Kero Bonito to hope for. Sitting on the bleeding edge of pop thinking, until PC Music have sewn up the charts it’s doubtful the masses will be catching up with them soon. Those that dig their brand of MIDI powered, cross-continental charm will find loads to love, though. Sugar sweet and packed with hooks, whether it’s genuine love or inquisitive wonder that draws you in, Kero Kero Bonito’s new generation could change it all. Stephen Ackroyd
A SHORT Q+A WITH HOOTON TENNIS CLUB Hello Hooton Tennis Club. Who are we speaking to? Hello Dork. You’re speaking to the collected and collated thoughts of Hooton Tennis Club. Written and edited in our Gmail drafts. That’s a bit strange, lads. What led you to record your second album with Edwyn Collins, and how was it? When we first started talking about the second album Jeff [from Heavenly Recordings] mentioned that he thought Edwyn would be a good fit. His new studio is set upon a hill in a small remote village in Scotland named Helmsdale which has a population of about 200 people. When we had free time from recording, Edwyn’s wife Grace would take us out in the car to explore these lands where we saw herds of 300+ deer! Their passion for the place is huge and made us feel very welcome. Was there anything specific you set out to achieve with this record? We collectively wanted it to sound more ‘pop’ and more coherent than our last record. Edwyn’s pop sensibility and mass of vintage / analog equipment really did lend a lot to this record. He kept things relatively minimal and kept us from leaning towards sounding too sloppy. Other than that, ticking the boxes of a minimum of 10 songs, 35 minutes all together. Oh, and don’t just add synths for no reason! Have you looked to any new influences, compared to your debut? We listened to A LOT of Beatles albums. We also really honed in on Americana country rock too; like The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Band, Lee Hazlewood, etc. Are there any songs on the release that you’re particularly proud of? Oh man, all of them. They’re like children, there’s no favourites (not officially anyway). Which do you think will go down best on your upcoming tour? Maybe the faster ones like ‘Statue Of The Greatest Woman I Know’ and ‘Lazers Linda’? They’re all going to go down really well because we are ‘going pro’. When you’re labelled as a sloppy ‘slacker’ band it’s too easy to keep things loose and lazy. So we’re putting in the effort this time! We’re actually practicing our instruments, we’ve bought good equipment, we’re turning up on time, we’re going to have change ready for the merch table, we’re going to eat fruit and veg, we are going pro. We’re coming to get you, Coldplay! P
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