WASH YOUR HANDS
ISSUE 42 APRIL 2020 READDORK.COM
LIFE
EASY
+
THE 1975 ON TOUR! ARLO PARKS! THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO THE STROKES! SORRY! THE SOUND OF THE (DOWN) UNDERGROUND! LOADS MORE!
INDEX
** BAND INDEX ** BAND INDEX **
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April 2020 | readdork.com | Down With Boring
34
Ø4 Intro 28 Hype 34 Features
Ø4
ED’S LETTER
EASY LIFE
With three mixtapes behind them - including one that cracked the UK Album Chart top 10 - 2020 could well be Easy Life’s.
5Ø
Are you ready for a new favourite band? Sorry are low-key cult faves with an immense banger-ratio, and a stonking debut album to boot.
52
THE STROKES
As New York’s iconic New Rock Revolutionists prepare to drop their first album in an age, we give you a complete guide to The Strokes.
THE 1975
On the road in the lead up to ‘Notes On A Conditional Form’, The 1975 have another megabanger up their sleeves.
Ø9
MYSTERY JETS After a six month delay, Mystery Jets are finally dropping their new album, back on track and ready to go.
1Ø
ALL TIME LOW A short break, a seminal album anniversary and a couple of side-projects later, and All Time Low are back.
ANNA CALVI
With a little help from her friends, Anna is reworking her last album.
28
ARLO PARKS
Fresh off a slew of 2020 tips lists, Arlo Parks is already gaining fans in all the right places.
4Ø
‘EDITOR’ @STEPHENACKROYD
TONES & I
From unknown busker to chart topping global star, Toni Watson has had quite the rise.
ON THE DORK STEREO THIS MONTH... Sports!
“Fuck sorry,” starts Dream Wife’s big comeback single. We’re assuming they don’t mean the band. There’s nothing apologetic about the trio’s return. Big, bombastic and
27
Lewis Capaldi
65
Alex The Astronaut
48
Loose Fit
32
Alfie Templeman
64
Lottery Winners
63
cooler than you, it’s great to have them back.
PVRIS
Gimme A Minute The opening track on PVRIS forthcoming album - it proves that Lynn Gunn is firmly not fucking about. Taking the limelight
and demanding all eyes turn her way, it’s absolutely massive.
DRIVE LIKE I DO
Shoot Out At The University Fair Look, maybe we did all think, for about 30 glorious minutes, that pre-The 1975
emo lords Drive Like I Do might be about to emerge like a grungy butterfly from the cocoon of their more polished evolution (isn’t that a moth?! - Ed). But still - it was long enough to remember that this one is a proper classic that never was.
6
All Time Low
Loyle Carner
65
Angie McMahon
49
Mallrat
48
Anna Burch
59
Marika Hackman
27
Anna Calvi
22
Marlin’s Dreaming
46
Anna Meredith
63
Marsicans
30
Apre
31
Matt Maltese
61
Arlo Parks
28
Merk
46
Ashnikko
13
Milk Teeth
Azure Ryder
46
Moaning
Bad//Dreems
49
Moses Sumney
14
Banoffee
49
Mura Masa
27
Beabadoobee
65
Mystery Jets
9
Bessie Turner
29
Nasty Cherry
64
Best Coast
24
Navvy
49
Biffy Clyro
19
Nova Twins
10, 59
64
27, 61
Odd Morris
32
Orlando Weeks
23
Blossoms Bombay Bicycle Club Boniface
27
24, 27, 58
16, 60 59
Oscar Lang
24, 32
Cable Ties
47
Perfume Genius
18
Camp Cope
49
Phoebe Bridgers
27
Car Seat Headrest
23
Pigs x7
60
Celeste
65
Pip Blom
63
Christine and the Queens
13
Porridge Radio
24
Conan Gray
59
Pottery
21
Creeper
24
Princess Nokia
18
Deap Lips
59
PVRIS
Diet Cig
26
Retro Video Club
Disclosure
13
Rina Sawayama
DMA’s
49
Dream Wife Drive Like I Do
22
S tephen
DREAM WIFE
Let’s Eat Grandma
49
A. Swayze & The Ghosts
3, 12 63 27, 60
Royal Blood
63
3
Sampa The Great
48
3
Sea Girls
6, 23
Dua Lipa
64
Self Esteem
61
Duna Rats
45
Sinead O’Brien
32
Easy Life
34
Soccer Mommy
Emily Burns
63
Sorry
Empress Of
12
Spector
Fat White Family
64
Sports Team
Feet
63
St. Vincent
Fontaines D.C.
65
Stormzy
Gaygirl
30
Sundara Karma
Gengahr
64
Swim Deep
Georgia
27
Talk Show
Glass Animals
14
Tame Impala
Haim
21
The 1975
Halloweens
23
The Academic
Halsey
20
The Aces
Happyness
12
The Big Moon
24
The Chats
Harry Styles Hayley Williams
19 19, 27, 58 17 8 62 17 18, 59 27 4, 60 24 27 13, 27, 66 24, 46, 60, 66
The Hunna
17
27
The Lemon Twigs
13
Hinds
58
The Magic Gang
Hockey Dad
46
The Mysterines
Hotel Lux
30
The Orielles
65
Interpol
54
The Slow Readers Club
59
Jack River
49
The Snuts
60
Jessie Ware
13
The Strokes
52
Joe & The Shitboys
32
The Weeknd
24
Joy Crookes
64
The Wombats
61
Kim Petras
23
Tones & I
40
L Devine
24
Two Tribes
30
Lady Gaga
27
Vukovi
Lauran Hibberd
24
Waxahatchee
Hazel English
Lauv
24, 60
27, 58 24, 27, 50, 59
25,58
27, 61 33
64 12, 58
Wens
31
Lazarus Kane
32
Working Men’s Club
32
LCD Soundsystem
54
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
54
Legss
32
You Me At Six
63
READDORK.COM
3
SORRY
In the first few months of a year, it’s totally normal for everyone to get a bit over-excited about new bands. Those names we’ve been nurturing for the past 18 months or so suddenly become impossibly exciting, as thoughts turn to a debut album, a big push and possible mainstream superstardom. Obviously, for most, it’s a dream that never fully realises. As a music scene, we’re very good at building up those that, in truth, we know might not quite have that magic ingredient to get them fully over the top. But that’s certainly not the case for this month’s cover stars. See, Easy Life haven’t released a first full-length yet, but they’ve still managed to crack the Top 10 of the UK Albums Chart. Their most recent mixtape ‘Junk Food’ hit Number 7 on release back in January, and since then, the only way is up. Selling out Camden’s Roundhouse already, every signal is they’re set to be huge. Hell, they already sort of are. Still, while some things seem certain, at the time of press many other things do not. As festivals and shows come under threat around the globe due to the coronavirus outbreak, we should all take a moment to consider not just the health of those around us, but how we can best support the things we love. There could be a lot of upheaval in the coming months. Let’s stick it out together, eh?
58 Incoming 61 Festivals
100 gecs
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eez -eh life Easy Life are a band on the rise. With three mixtapes behind them - one of which even cracked the UK Album Chart top 10 and a debut album on the horizon. 2020 could well be theirs. Words: Jamie Muir. Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett.
APRIL 2020
DORK
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h READDORK.COM
40 APRIL 2020
DORK
41 Tones and I is a name that has taken over radio airwaves since unexpected smash ‘Dance Monkey’ flew to the Number 1 spot around the world, and stuck there for bloody ages. However quick it felt for, well, everyone - for Aussie popster Toni Watson her journey from the busking unknown was really somethin’ else. Words: Steven Loftin. READDORK.COM
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ntinues to take While Tones & I co e’s just part of a over the world, sh ed with exciting music scene ramm w more acts from talent. Here’s a fe ed to check out Down Under you ne t sooner. immediately, if no
APRIL 2020
DORK
DUNE RATS Three albums deep, and Brisbane trio Dune Rats are still having a blast with their very own brand of raucous, anthemic skate-punk. . Words: Alex Bradley. Photo: Sarah Louise Bennett.
“T
their songs about smoking weed and drinking beers to almost every part of the world and found people just as willing to party. “When we went and played in Hong Kong, that was really weird. You go through like a fucking mechanics garage, up an elevator, through a commercial laundry and then a door and that’s where the show was. They kept it all on the down-low. But there were heaps of kids like us, and it was pretty sick to know anywhere in the world there are people like us.” Even in remote reaches of Penang, Malaysia, or on both their tours of South Africa, the trio have found folk with the same world view as them. And once they found that, all three of them quickly decided they’ll never give up on a life on the road. Whether people are listening are not, life in the van playing cards or dice, talking shit to one another and drinking a few beers is the goal for Danny, BC and Brett. “In the earlier years, no one had a house, and we’d all live on the road and try and go on tour as much [as possible]. It’s that happy place that would feel like a fishing trip. Drink beers in the car, have a laugh and play shows, so it’s still fucking super enjoyable,” says Brett. “It’s gonna last whether people tune in is another thing,” Danny continues. “We love bands like Cosmic Psychos where they’re like 55-year-old farmers and still playing shows and festivals. Whether as many people give a shit [remains to be seen], but they call it their fishing trip, and we see it like that. Old dudes probably go on fishing trips and jerk each other off in tents, but we just do it hotel rooms together!” he jokes. “We’ll be doing it until we’re silly old cunts and no one wants to hear it, but we’ll still be doing it.” P
READDORK.COM
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HE GENERAL attitude was if you don’t like it then fuck off,” beams BC Michaels, discussing how Dune Rats felt as their chart-topping album, ‘The Kids Will Know It’s Bullshit’ was released back in 2017. The sentiment remains the same for its follow-up, ‘Hurry Up And Wait’. They don’t care what you think about it. The Aussie trio have mastered that art of not giving a fuck and, despite scoring a domestic No. 1 in the album charts last time out, they didn’t feel any pressure in making the follow-up. Instead, they took a typically laid back, mellowed out, approach to the making of ‘Hurry Up And Wait’ and in turn crafted an album that both builds on its predecessor and takes strides into new territory too. After working with FIDLAR’s Zac Carper in the US on their second album, for their third, Dune Rats decided to switch it up and head back home to the sunshinedrenched Central Coast to the family farm of their good friend and Violent Soho guitarist James Tidswell. The band lived in the studio for a month, had BBQs, drank beers and occasionally hit golf balls at the ocean while carefully polishing this album to the point where it has become their masterpiece. “We wanted to do it like that,” explains bassist Brett Jansch. “At our own pace,
in our own time and not be worried about being on the clock or driving to a studio. It was sick for us to do it that way, and it was comfy for us taking the time to do it. I can’t imagine doing it in LA or somewhere where you have to commute every day and then can only be there for a certain amount of time.” Free from any restraints and with the opportunity to explore all the possibilities, Dunies turned ‘Hurry Up And Wait’ into more than just another punk record. From the summery sing-a-long of ‘No Plans’, the grungy anarchy of ‘Crazy’, the inclusion of US rapper K.Flay on ‘Stupid Is As Stupid Does’, the blissed-out ‘The Skids’ and the rampant and hilarious ‘If My Bong Could Talk’, they’ve stretched themselves in every direction. While the album’s eleven tracks boast a range of approaches and techniques, they all sound incredibly well-finessed, as Brett raves. “It’s cool to strive for a record that sounds loud and clean. It’s tasty to listen to and not too lo-fi, like a garage band. It’s rad to hear Dunies in this quality. It’s like getting a CD player when all you had was a record player in the 80s; it’s a lot better.” And it’s not only the sound that’s evolved on this album, with singer Danny Beus keen to state how important it is for the band to not write the same song a million times. BC adds: “It was conscious on this album not to just rest on gimmicks and drug references and make the songs speak for themselves and be good and not just have quick shock value gimmicky shit when you’ve heard the joke before. “We wanted to stretch ourselves in terms of songwriting and trying to make an album we could set our watches to and would like regardless of how it goes. If we are proud of the album, that’s the main thing. There would be nothing worse than trying to do an album you don’t like to try and appeal to people and it not working.” In the last few years, they have taken
a complete guide to the strokes
52
NEW YORK CITY BOPS
As New York’s iconic New Rock Revolution cool kids drop their first album in an age - The New Abnormal here’s your comprehensive guide to the music of The Strokes.
APRIL 2020
DORK
2001
THE MODERN AGE EP
Leading out a batch of acts that would go on to define a generation, Julian, Nick, Albert, Nikolai and Fab arrived to change a musical landscape more concerned with wallet chains and mosh pits than skinny jeans and good shoes. A shot in the arm to an indie scene on the back foot, they remain one of the most influential acts of their generation.
Words: Jamie MacMillan, Jamie Muir, Jenessa Williams, Liam Konemann, Martyn Young, Steven Loftin, Stephen Ackroyd.
READDORK.COM
Photo: Patrick Gunning.
Over the next few pages, we’ll run you through the band’s discography to date, leading up to their latest, much anticipated fulllength ‘The New Abnormal’, which arrives this April.
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Other bands may come and go, their peers fade away over time, but when it comes down to it, none of them are quite The Strokes.
Everything has to start somewhere, and for The Strokes, their storied buzz certainly finds an initial waypoint with their debut EP. ‘The Modern Age’ marks the place where everything turned up to eleven for the New Yorkers - cutting through a music scene almost entirely lacking in their effortless cool. Arriving first in the UK in the January of 2001, it kicked off a bidding war amongst labels like no other. Drawing comparisons to the Velvet Underground and television, the younger, quite probably hungrier versions of The Strokes felt like the real deal from the first step. Featuring versions of three songs - title cut ‘The Modern Age’, ‘Last Nite’ and ‘Barely Legal’ - that would go on to appear on debut album ‘Is This It’, this wasn’t some scratchy suggestion of potential to be found, but a statement of intent. But that flash-bang arrival to most doesn’t mean The Strokes were an overnight success. Julian, Fab and Nick had been messing around with music together since high-school age, playing together in a band called Just Pipe before Albert and Nikolai signed up. Yes, some of that initial fortitude did come from a famously privileged position - Hammond was a former Swiss boarding schoolmate of Julian’s who re-connected with the frontman after moving to New York and recognising the name of his father’s modelling agency - but the magic was undeniable. So the story goes, The Strokes played 100 shows with less than 100 people in attendence, all with no real recorded material to hand. Sure, they’d recorded a few demos, but nothing really captured their sound. They sent them out to labels, but all they got in return was rejection letters which Albert would frame and hang on his wall. The difference came when the quintet arrived at Gordon Raphael’s Transporterraum studio in New York’s East Village in the October of 2020. Downhearted but not throwing in the towel, the results of that session found their way to Rough Trade Records founder Geoff Travis, who, upon hearing the three tracks recorded, immediately made the band an offer and brought them to the UK. Those three songs were packaged as ‘The Modern Age’ EP, and the rest was history.P