DOWN WITH BORING
Big Dec energy. WELCOME BACK TO THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DECLAN MCKENNA
ISSUE 46 · AUGUST 2020 · READDORK.COM
August 2020. THIS MONTH...
34. Declan McKenna Back with a second album, Declan McKenna has always been a cut above. This time, though, he's ready to make us question everything.
42. Another Sky
Another Sky's debut album is a love letter to moving on from your hometown; to finding your own place in the world.
46. KennyHoopla With nods to many a cult mid-00s icon, KennyHoopla is enthusiastically dusting off and breathing fresh new life into some oft-overlooked faves.
50. Bloxx
It's time, guys. Bloxx are stepping up to the big leagues with their muchanticipated debut album, 'Lie Out Loud'.
54. Fontaines D.C.
Think you know Fontaines D.C.? The Dubliners' second album sees them not just rewrite their own rulebook, but tear it up and throw it away.
readdork.com 3.
Index.
** SUBSCRIBE TO DORK AND SAVE MORE THAN 30% A YEAR ** Subscribe at readdork.com now
August 2020 | readdork.com | Down With Boring
readdork.com
Editor Stephen Ackroyd Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden Associate Editor Ali Shutler Contributing Editors Jamie Muir, Martyn Young
Scribblers Abigail Firth, Alex Cabre, Aleksandra Brzezicka, Alexander Bradley, Blaise Radley, Chris Taylor, Ciaran Steward, Jack Press, Jake Hawkes, Jamie MacMillan, Laura Freyaldenhoven, Liam Konemann, Paris Fawcett, Sam Taylor, Sophie Williams Snappers Charlie Cummings, Daniel Dorsa, Daniel Parkopcyk, Hollie Fernando, Fiona Garden, Jamie MacMillan, Leeor Wild, Parri Thomas, Pooneh Ghana, Rachel Kiki, Richard Dumas, Sam Hiscox, Sarah Louise Bennett, Sodium Films, Sophie Hur, Tim Toda PUBLISHED FROM WELCOMETOTHEBUNKER.COM UNIT 10, 23 GRANGE ROAD, HASTINGS, TN34 2RL 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.
Ø6 Intro 26 Hype 34 Features 58 Incoming
Ed’s letter
Sports Team
26
Crack Cloud
28
Tate McRae
29
Michelle
Marsicans
3Ø
Fletcher
Willie J Healey
32
After going into battle with Lady Gaga, Sports Team aren’t planning on standing still. Album two, anyone?
1Ø
What have you been up to during lockdown, Dear Reader? Whatever it is, you can see some of the fruits of our summer of no festivals starting this month. More bands, more bangers, more nonsense we've been spending the time away from fields of fun levelling up. We hope you like it. There's much, much more to come. There's nobody who we'd rather have grace the cover of our spangly new issue than Declan McKenna. We've been besotted with our Deccy since the very first issue of Dork, and with his brand new album 'Zeros' he too is taking a giant leap into an exciting future. That's the vibe of the summer, really. Yes - the last few months have been impossibly hard. Yes, they continue to be a challenge. For more than one reason we've been forced to look at our lives and question if this is really how we want things to continue when the world returns to a sense of normality. But that doesn't mean there can't be a spark of something hopeful too. Y'know, or something.
S tephen
Ø6
12
Vancouver collective Crack Cloud were founded on community spirit, communal freedom, and storytelling.
Dizzy
London rapper Bree Runway is one of the most exciting upand-coming pop stars around.
Dizzy's second album sees them offering up a warm comfort blanket of lovely, lo-fi bops.
14
22
Willie J Healey has thrown off his major label ties to work with indie darlings Yala! Records on his second album, 'Twin Heavy'.
‘EDITOR’ @STEPHENACKROYD
Biffy Clyro
With their delayed ninth album now imminent, Biffy Clyro's 'A Celebration of Endings' has taken on new meaning.
Remi Wolf
Sea Girls
With their debut album finally arriving, Sea Girls run us through what to expect, track by track style.
HONNE are showing off their playful side, letting loose with new mixtape, 'no song without you'.
24
Get ready to see a lot more of New York collective Michelle, as they've just inked a deal with Transgressive Records.
You'll struggle to find an artist quite so assertively herself as Remi Wolf.
58
Honne
Two million YouTube subscribers, ten million monthly Spotify listeners. Our Tate could populate a small country with fans.
Purveyor of huuuuuge pop bops about partying, break-ups and the like, Fletcher is on the up and up.
Leeds indie boys Marsicans have arrived with their debut album, and they're having a blast.
18
Bree Runway
66
Arlo Parks
Random questions are much more interesting. That's why we've asked a bunch to Arlo.
ON THE DORK STEREO THIS MONTH... Declan McKenna
The Magic Gang
Everything Everything
Well, he's on the cover, so you can probably hazard a guess as to if we think Dec's second album is any 'cop'. It's obviously absolutely bloody fabulous - no shocks there, then, eh?
To our simple minds, the 'death' of the 'party' would probably come with a touch less melody, and perhaps not such a happy toot toot of brass. Apart from that, Le Gang Magique have nailed album two.
The latest track to be taken from the quartet's forthcoming album, it has synths that sound more than a bit Stranger Things-y. That's more than enough for us. Hurry up with season 4 please. Thanks
Zeros
Death Of The Party
Planets
Bully
Sugaregg
When you think about it, a sugaregg is probably quite similar to a Cadbury's Mini Egg, what with its sugary outer coating 'and that'. Therefore, we can conclude that Bully's new album is an ode to Easter based confectionery.
Can't wait for the song about Maltesers bunnies. Sure-fire banger, that one.
Anything we heard on TikTok
Seriously, fucking anything at all.
We're so basic. Is there a dance, too?
readdork.com 5.
Back with a second album, Declan McKenna has always been a cut above. This time, though, he's ready to make us question everything. By: Martyn Young. Photography: Rachel Kiki.
34. DORK
DECLAN MCKENNA
high. k S y Another Sky's debut album is a love letter to moving on from your hometown; to finding your own place in the world. By: Jamie Muir. Photography: Parri Thomas.
42. DORK
ANOTHER SKY
T
racy Chapman's 'Where You Live'. It's an album packed with social commentary and defiance in the face of darkness, unafraid to stare at the road and spot all the pimples and cracks forming in its skin. At ten years old, it was
that album that Catrin Vincent (vocalist/ lyricist) found herself drawn towards, played on repeat at home by her parents, subconsciously filtering into her mind. It's a memory that fascinates her, that even though time has passed and everything that comes with it, it still rings true. Its words and emotions perfectly distilled into who she is as a person now. Even through 'I Slept On The Floor', Another Sky's powerful opening statement to the world, its similarities and parallels stand together. "That was the album of my childhood‌ and now we're here." Reflection and the importance of words couldn't be more critical for Another Sky. It's only now that Catrin spots it, weaved into the sounds and lyrics they've created from years of bonding and finding solace in one another. This isn't just another band; it's their lives projected for all to hear. "It's funny, when we were in the process of making an album I just couldn't see," explains Catrin. It's another day making do with a global situation that bizarrely feels rather fitting to be releasing their debut album out into. "It's like in reallife situations where you can't see fully what's happening until you look back. Looking back at those lyrics, they're so metaphorical. I can see what I was actually trying to say, but I was too afraid to. You go in a trance, and you don't realise what you're writing about until years later. "It feels a bit of a stereotype as a woman lyricist, but what that translated to for me was that I wanted to get how I felt about the world out in the open so much, but I felt I had to hide it. To be so open, I can't imagine being any other way as a lyricist because, with lockdown as well, it's forced me to confront what music is to me and it's almost a compulsion. I only feel okay when I'm doing music." A deeply personal yet universal album that stares directly into darkness both in anger and hope, 'I Slept On The Floor' is a record of wounds and healing, both biting and anguished, setting the path for a band delivering something undeniably special. By speaking from one perspective of pain, it opens up the feelings of countless others. It was the only way it was going to be with Another Sky. "This album. There's that question of, I don't know who I am. I'm supposed to know who I am, and I'm supposed to talk about it, but I just don't know how. It's running away from a problem that will catch up with you because if you're constantly running away, you become part of the problem. You have to confront them." Catrin sighs and laughs. "I can't believe this album is all about my hometown because it's the one thing I don't want to talk about!"
Catrin's hometown is one both familiar and distant. A picket-fence town where
everyone stays locked into place, where the idea of leaving its familiar surroundings readdork.com 43.
With nods to many a cult mid00s icon, KennyHoopla is enthusiastically dusting off and breathing fresh new life into some oft-overlooked faves. By: Liam Konemann.
thinking 46. DORK
KENNYHOOPLA
goutloud readdork.com 47.
C N 50. DORK
C H A N G E S BLOXX
It's time, guys. Bloxx are stepping up to the big leagues with their muchanticipated debut album, 'Lie Out Loud'. By: Jack Press.
W
e've heard the story a thousand times before: outcasts become friends, friends become band, band become overnight sensations.
It's British indie's twisted take on the American Dream; everybody wants a piece of the proverbial pop pie, but only the privileged few pass the industry 'gatekeepers' standard and steal away with the goods. Next out of the blocks? Bloxx, of course. One of Britain's best upand-coming bands, Dork spends a virtual hour in the company of vocalist and guitarist Fee Booth ahead of the release of their debut album, 'Lie Out Loud'. "I feel like I blinked, and here I am now. The last three years have been a whirlwind of things I'd never assumed would happen," muses Fee. She's both bewildered and besotted by the success they've achieved in such a short time, from supporting The Wombats at Ally Pally with less than ten songs to their names, to opening up a stage at Reading & Leeds. It's an experience that's been utterly unexpected and refreshingly humbling.
readdork.com 51.
54. DORK
Think you know Fontaines D.C.? The Dubliners' second album sees them not just rewrite their own rulebook, but tear it up and throw it away. By: Jake Hawkes. Photography: Richard Dumas, .
F
ontaines D.C. went from playing pubs to Brixton Academy quick enough to give most bands whiplash, with debut album 'Dogrel' picking up well-deserved accolades left, right and centre. They capitalised on
this success with a relentless touring schedule which would grind anyone down even if it was meticulously planned, which was most definitely not the case. "There were nights of being allocated two hours on a plane as our time to sleep between gigs," says singer Grian with a wince. "It was a bit much." The words
may be understated, but the results weren't – a run of cancelled festival dates as the band crashed out from the exhaustion of burning the candle at both ends for months at a time. Fast forward a few months, and they were back touring and writing their second album before being forced to pump the brakes again – this time for that worldwide pandemic that cancelled literally everything. Despite what feels like a run of bad luck which would derail most bands, Grian is optimistic when we catch up with him ahead of the release of new readdork.com 55.
SEA GIRLS OPEN UP YOUR HEAD THE NEW ALBUM OUT AUGUST 14
FEATURING THE SINGLES ALL I WANT TO HEAR YOU SAY, DO YOU REALLY WANNA KNOW AND READY FOR MORE