Down with boring
Sam’s Town
Issue 35 August 2019 readdork.com
Awards, hype and a debut album. Sam Fender has arrived.
INDEX
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August 2019 | readdork.com | Down With Boring
28
Ø4 Intro 22 Hype
28 Features 48 Incoming
** BAND INDEX ** BAND INDEX ** Alex Lahey
13
Amyl & The Sniffers
8
ED’S LETTER Sam Fender
As Sam prepares to drop his debut album, we head to Newcastle to find out what all the buzz is about.
38
Marika Hackman
Honesty is the best policy, which explains why Marika’s new album is awesome.
42
Kim Petras
One of pop’s leading protagonists, Kim Petras is heading for superstardom.
Expectation is a wondrous thing, Dear Reader. No artist wants to be ignored - everyone is forever chasing the buzz. But, once that glare of the spotlight is fixed in place, the pressure is on. For Sam Fender, that’s a heavier force than most have to cope with. Already selling out live dates up and down the country, he’s even beaten bonafide sensation Lewis Capaldi to a Brit Award. Big, big things are expected. Big things that, truthfully, we expected to land this month. When we first started talking to Sam for this month’s cover feature, his debut album was due to arrive in early August. Then, medical issues struck him down, taking him out of the firing line for a prolonged period of time. A prime Glastonbury slot - the sort that can prove the launchpad for an entire career - had to be pulled. With that record moved to September, there are more eyes on him than ever before. But for all the expectation, there are few worries Sam can carry that weight. ‘Hypersonic Missiles’ already sounds like a huge album - packed with bangers. We’ve got a genuine star on our hands, people. Expect fireworks.
S tephen
Love Fame Tragedy
Murph is sans Wombats, but ‘with bangers’.
1Ø
Mini Mansions
They say their new album is blockbuster good, and we’re not disagreeing.
12
22
Mumford & Sons
36
Anteros
24
Banks
48
Marika Hackman
38, 52
Bat For Lashes
16
Marsicans
20
Black Belt Eagle Scout
24
Mini Mansions
Black Honey
16
Mosa Wild
Blaenavon
11
Mumford & Sons
12
Bleached
48
Nasty Cherry
22
Bon Iver
9
New Found Glory
13
Bring Me The Horizon
8
Ocean Wisdom
24
46
Back with a brand new record, they’re the coolest gang in town.
EDITOR @STEPHENACKROYD
9 10, 51 26
13
Of Monsters & Men
51
52
On Video
19
Busted
13
Oscar Lang
24
Carly Rae Jepsen
14
Pagan
13
Caroline Polachek
21
Palace
49
Chappaqua Wrestling
25
Penelope Isles
Charli XCX
21
PVRIS
16
Queen Zee
19
Christine + The Queens
8 51
Sam Fender
Dead Nature
18
Sheer Mag
Dry Cleaning
24
Easy Life
24
Eli Moon
24
Emily Burns
16
Ezra Furman
8
Fever 333
16
Friendly Fires
13
Frightened Rabbit
20
Gaffa Tape Sandy
52
Ghum
24
Grandson
13
Guru
19
Ider
36, 50
Idles
6, 9
Jay Som
16 9
27, 49
Run The Jewels
9
Courtney Barnett
Julien Baker
The Regrettes
Metronomy
Broken Hands
Nasty Cherry
With their debut album finally here, it’s time for a bit of ‘Emotional Education’.
48
Brittany Howard
Clairo
Ider
4
Mabel
We’re in Manchester to see how Mumford and co. make arenas more, erm, ‘intimate’.
They’re officially approved by both Charli XCX and Dork. What more do you want?
19
Love Fame Tragedy
26
Angie McMahon
4
Lorde
9 28 11
Shura
20
Skepta
6
Sleater-Kinney
19
Spector
16
Sports Team
16
Stand Atlantic
13
Sum 41
50
The Japanese House
24
The Libertines The Regrettes
6 46, 53
The S.L.P.
6
The Strokes
9
Thom Yorke
50
Vistas
19
Wallows
54
Walt Disco
26
Waterparks
13
WhoHurtYou
24
K. Flay
48
Kaiser Chiefs
51
Kim Petras
42
Kindness
14
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard
21
You Me At Six
24
Life
14
Youth Sector
24
Yak
14
Yellow Days
26
Yonaka
8, 24
ON THE DORK STEREO THIS MONTH... AMA Real The Dirty Hit signed newcomer continues to level up by the release. Her latest is pure fire.
METRONOMY Salted Caramel Ice Cream Metronomy are never
better than when they’ve got their phasers set to fun. The latest taster of their new album ‘Metronomy Forever’ is a riot.
EP that’s full of bangers. A supreme slice of glock-around-the-clock brilliance, this is one of the best.
GLOWIE
On A Roll Sorry Trent, but this is waaaay better than your ‘version’.
I’m Good Top pop newcomer Glowie just dropped an
ASHLEY O
NEW MUSIC. NO ALGORITHMS.
DORK radio TUNE IN 24/7/365 readdork.com/radio
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INTRO IF IT’S NOT IN HERE, IT’S NOT HAPPENING. OR WE FORGOT. ONE OR THE OTHER.
AUGUST 2019
DORK
THIS MONTH
MINI MANSIONS
MUMFORD & SONS
They’re back with a new album, which is like Terminator 2, apparently. Hasta la vista, and all that. p10
Dork heads to Manchester to see how Mumford and his titular sprogs ‘do’ intimate in an arena. p12
DEAD NATURE
Tarek’s back! Spring Kings leader returns with a brand new project. Find out everything you need to know. p18
TRAGIC The life of the big indie band frontman might seem glamorous, but if history shows us anything, it’s that there’s always one thing that tugs at the emotions of even the loftiest of names: the side project. Matthew ‘Murph’ Murphy from The Wombats is stepping out with a brand new project, Love Fame Tragedy, and he’s called up a few of his all-star mates to lend a hand. Steven Loftin grabbed a hot minute to find out more.
WE ALL KNOW MATTHEW
‘Murph’ Murphy as the frontman of indie-darlings The Wombats, but it would appear as if we have a new reason to love the man. After a couple of cryptic social media accounts appeared during the last month or so with the moniker ‘Love Fame Tragedy’, the game was afoot. With fans receiving further mysterious messages and images around the same title, things were finally unveiled to be none other than Murph dipping his toes into a new musical endeavour. “I was almost getting annoyed by all the cryptic tease that was going on at one point,” he says laughing. “So I’m glad that it’s all out in the open and that people know what it is.” Exactly what Love Fame Tragedy stands for becomes clear once you
delve into his debut EP, ‘I Don’t Want To Play The Victim, But I’m Good At It’ - a power-pop tour-deforce through the life and times of Murph and his new life out in LA, there’s a renewed sense of vigour that bounds outward. It also features some familiar names such as Pixies’ Joey Santiago, and Alt-J’s Gus UngerHamilton adding their flourishes - but this wasn’t an exercise in just name-dropping. “Why not utilise some of the really talented people I’ve met along this last fifteen-year journey? It was more, ‘Hey, do you want to come
round and have a bottle of wine and play on this?’” None of this is to say that The Wombats are done - far from it, especially given their triumphant date at London’s Wembley Arena last year - but when you’ve been a band for fifteen years, it’s nice to shake things up a bit, and for Murph that brings a whole new world of opportunity. “I just really wanted a project where I could do what I want with no politics attached and get music out as quick as I wanted,” he says. “If I wrote a song this afternoon, and I thought it was amazing, I want to be able
"I really wanted a project where I could do what I want"
to put that out the following day. Obviously, you can’t do that if you’ve been in a band for fifteen years, it’s just a slower process.” Now that Love Fame Tragedy is in motion, it’s all systems go. With one video and single lined up every month until the EP drops, it’s not only bold but a fresh statement for Murph who’s had his fair share of releases over the years. The Wombats have always contained a delicious dose of irony with their indie-bops that’ve evolved over the years into poppier bangers, but the lyrical content often deals with the darker side of life, including addiction, depression and depravity. Love Fame Tragedy is no different. “I don’t see it much darker than Wombats songs,” Murph says. “A couple of them were meant to be
READDORK.COM
5
KINGDOM
HYPE RSON IC FEELIN'
WORDS: JAMIE MACMILLAN. PHOTOS: SARAH LOUISE BENNETT.
Sam Fender is a man on a mission. Already beating current ‘biggest noise on the block’ Lewis Capaldi to a Brit Award, as his debut album nears its much-anticipated arrival, the sky really is the limit for an artist not short of stuff to say. It’s not all smooth sailing, though. As a medical issue knocks back the album’s release and forces the cancellation of a bunch of shows and festival appearances, Dork heads to Sam’s native Newcastle to get inside the mind of one of UK music’s biggest hopes.
AUGUST 2019
DORK
AUGUST 2019
DORK
Most people keep themselves to themselves. Maybe, if they’re open, they’ll share those deepest thoughts with a friend. With her third full-length, Marika Hackman is putting it all out there. Seriously, all of it. Unsurprisingly, it’s also one of the albums of the year so far. We caught up with her to find out exactly what makes a person want to play their parents songs about, y’know. Sex. WORDS: ABIGAIL FIRTH. PHOTOS: PATRICK GUNNING.
READDORK.COM
39
SHE'S THE ONE
42 AUGUST 2019
DORK
43
KIM POSS -IBLE Kim Petras is a banger machine. ‘Do Me’, ‘Heart To Break’, ‘Feeling of Falling’, ‘I Don’t Want It At All’ - it’s just pop hit after pop hit. With the release of her new project ‘Clarity’, she’s well and truly arrived. “I feel real confidence now,” she explains, “and that’s really amazing.” WORDS: ABIGAIL FIRTH.
READDORK.COM
Another music festival. Curated by
DORK
3rd July Too late!
Mosa Wild Blossom Caldarone Ed The Dog
10th July Already happened!
Apre + special guests
24th July
‘International Men of Misery’ Vistas On Video 31st July
Queen Zee Guru
+ special guests
The Old Blue Last, London.
Get free tickets now at Dice.com. (Please don’t bring your dog.)
*