Big Album Guide
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Your ultimate guide to all the big releases you need to know for the rest of 2018!
Deaf Havana. One of British rock’s biggest bands is rewriting the rules.
Index.
Dork’s Big Album Guide Q3/Q4 2018
Ed’s letter.
Depending on which way up you’ve decided to hold this special edition of Dork, this could be your introduction to our fi rst Big Album Guide. With so much happening in the second half of 2018, we’ve put together this guide to all the big releases you can expect over the next few months. Our two cover stars represent two poles of what’s to come - an established band trying something new (Deaf Havana) and a new act aiming to hit the big time (Bad Sounds). It doesn’t stop there, though. Dive in!
S tephen
Editor / @stephenackroyd
DORK
Editor Stephen Ackroyd Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden Associate Editor Ali Shutler Contributing Editors Jamie Muir, Martyn Young Events Liam James Ward Scribblers Alexander Bradley, Ben Jolley, Cal Cashin, Chris Taylor, Ciaran Steward, Dominic Allum, Janessa Williams, Jessica Goodman, Liam Konemann, Steven Loftin Snappers Isha Shah, Jennifer McCord, Niall Lee, Patrick Gunning, Sarah Louise Bennett Cover photo: Sarah Louise Bennett P U B L I S H E D F RO M
W E LCO M E TOT H E B U N K E R.CO M U N I T 10, 23 G RA N G E RO A D, H A S T I N G S, T N34 2R L
SIDE A 4. DEAF HAVANA 11. TWENTY ONE PILOTS 12. THE 1975 14. SPRING KING 16. IDLES 17. MØ 18. BASTILLE 19. DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE 20. PLUS… 24. AND MAYBE…
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Need to know
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’ S BIG AL BUM GUIDE
Deaf Havana’s new album isn’t what you’re expecting from the previously rock focused five piece - ‘Rituals’ is an explosion of pop colour. Words: Ali Shutler. Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett.
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ith last year’s ‘All These Countless Nights’, Deaf Havana finally became the band they wanted to be. They found
peace in their struggles, sounded comfortable in who they were and laid their demons to rest. The band had been through a lot, and you could tell. Their debut album saw them as a screaming, hardcore mob until their then lead singer left. ‘Fools and Worthless Liars’, their first with James Veck-Gilodi upfront, was a fizzying mix of
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frustrated storytelling and britrock enthusiasm, while ‘Old Souls’ had more in common with Bruce Springsteen than Lower Than Atlantis or You Me At Six. After triumphing on the Main Stage of Reading & Leeds in 2014, they disappeared. In the silence, they almost broke up. Two years later and the roar of ‘All These Countless Nights’ saved them. What happened next, “was just the best year we’ve ever had as a band,” beams James. “It was just incredible. We toured more than we’ve ever had.” “But they were worthwhile
Evil
Powers.
Bad Sounds make bangers. As they prepare to drop their debut album ‘Get Better’, we meet the brothers sitting on 2018’s alt-pop motherlode. Words: Liam Konemann. Photos: Isha Shah.
B
ad Sounds are here to help. Really, they are. Chuck out your crystals and your positive affirmations, because Ewan and Callum Merrett have the solution for what ails you. Well, -ish. Maybe. A bit. Their debut album ‘Get Better’ opens with Ewan trying out his hypnotherapist voice, urging the listener to ‘take a deep breath, stop what you’re doing, and get better.’ Throughout the ensuing forty-six minute ‘sonic self-help guide’ (more on that in a second), Bad Sounds riff on disappointing paychecks, luck and conspicuously not-sulking, among other things. Everything falls loosely under the ‘Get Better’ theme, the title forming a uniting thread. “The last thing we did before the album was ‘Mixtape One’, which was our second EP, and it was the first time we’d written something to be a cohesive piece of work. So we really went in hard on that, about wanting the whole thing to feel like it belonged together,” Ewan says. “Rather than just, you know, eleven songs that we liked, we were looking for the songs that worked together and trying to see what was in there that could come out as a theme. Weirdly, it wasn’t an intentional thing, but we noticed a lot of the lyrics were based on poking fun at... I don’t know how to say it, but I guess that overthe-top, ‘self-help’ thing.” He’s quick to clarify. “Not in like a derogatory way of the issue, but more about the industry, I guess,” he says. “When we had that we started to tailor a few of the things too so that it all came together. I think we were looking for something that could tie it all together and that showed itself.” “The whole writing and recording the album was such a process of learning and literally getting better as songwriters and producers; I felt like it applied to so many aspects of what was happening to us,” Callum points out. “It just became really fun to riff off the whole selfhelp thing and ‘get better’.” At the time, the online positivity campaign waged by laptop spiritualists felt relentless, they say. “When we were doing it, all I was seeing on social media was shit about improving yourself, you know? Those Insta-quotes. And I really couldn’t give a fuck about that,” Ewan laughs. “I’m happy with my flaws.” As a matter of fact, as album track ‘Another Man’ claims, Bad Sounds reckon they’ve “got more flaws than the ceiling sees”. If they were different, the track implies, if they were each ‘Another Man’ maybe, things would come more easily. But, they’re quick to point out, despite the title the track isn’t meant to be strictly gender-based or focussed on masculinity.
THE DEBUT ALBUM st SEPTEMBER 21st PRE-ORDER NOW
LONDON - ELECTRIC BALLROOM th OCTOBER 24th WWW.SONGKICK.COM
Dork’s Big Album Guide Q3/Q4 2018
Ed’s letter.
Depending on which way up you’ ve decided to hold this special edition of Dork, this could be your introduction to our fi rst Big Album Guide. With so much happening in the second half of 2018, we’ve put together this guide to all the big releases you can expect over the next few months. Our two cover stars represent two poles of what’s to come - an established band trying something new (Deaf Havana) and a new act aiming to hit the big time (Bad Sounds). It doesn’t stop there, though. Dive in!
Index.
S tephen
Editor / @stephenackroyd
DORK
Editor Stephen Ackroyd Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden Associate Editor Ali Shutler Contributing Editors Jamie Muir, Martyn Young Events Liam James Ward Scribblers Alexander Bradley, Ben Jolley, Cal Cashin, Chris Taylor, Ciaran Steward, Dominic Allum, Janessa Williams, Jessica Goodman, Liam Konemann, Steven Loftin Snappers Isha Shah, Jennifer McCord, Niall Lee, Patrick Gunning, Sarah Louise Bennett Cover photo: Isha Shah P U B L I S H E D F RO M
W E LCO M E TOT H E B U N K E R.CO M
SIDE B 4. BAD SOUNDS 9. PALE WAVES 11. BLACK HONEY 12. DIZZY 13. OUR GIRL 14. HER’S 14. BEN KHAN 14. ESTRONS 15. ALBUMS OF THE YEAR (SO FAR)
U N I T 10, 23 G RA N G E RO A D, H A S T I N G S, T N34 2R L
All material copyright (c). All rights reserved.
3
DORK
READDORK . COM
Big Album Guide
REA
DDO
RK.
COM
Q3/
Q4
201
8
Your ultimate guide to all the big releases you need to know for the rest of 2018!
Bad Sounds and the debuts still to come in 2018.