Dork, December 2018 / January 2019

De c e mb e r 201 8/J anua ry 20 19 ork.c om read d

Modernity has failed us...

The 1975

on the making of a masterpiece

With Very Special Guests to be Announced

2019 UK Tour . 02 April - Barrowland Ballroom Glasgow . 04 April - Rock City Nottingham . 06 April - O2 Victoria Warehouse Manchester . 08 April - O2 Academy Bristol . 09 April - O2 Academy Sheffield . 10 April - O2 Institute Birmingham . 12 April - O2 Guildhall Southampton . 13 April - O2 Academy Brixton London Sundarakarma.com A Live Nation, DF Concerts, DHP & Friends presentation by arrangement with Primary Talent International

December 2018 / January 2019 Issue 28

Ed’s letter.

It’s finally time.

With their new album ‘A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships’ here, we’ve been keeping you on edge when it comes to The 1975. A remarkable record that defies expectation but delivers emphatically, we wanted to wait until you’d have a chance to listen yourself to bring them back to the cover of Dork. With the release due as this issue hits the streets, we went round to Matty Healy’s gaff to drill deep into the world surrounding the most anticipated full-length of 2018.

As a new year comes round, we’ve got all the expected band admin to do, too. In this issue, you’ll find the results of your 2018 Readers’ Poll (yes, you could have predicted the outcome), as well as the first edition of Dork’s Hype List - an annual directory of the new acts you need to swot up on for the year ahead. Should keep you busy. See you in 2019, Dear Reader! Merry Xmas!

S tephen

Editor / @stephenackroyd

Index.

UPDATE 4. THE JAPANESE HOUSE 6. BAD SOUNDS 8. CIRCA WAVES 12. DRENGE 14. WARMDUSCHER 16. BANGERS FEATURES 18. IDLES 22. THE 1975 34. READERS’ POLL 2018 HYPE LIST 2019 38. BILLIE EILISH 43. SEA GIRLS 44. INDOOR PETS 46. THYLA 48. SAM FENDER

50. WHENYOUNG 52. QUEEN ZEE 53. STEREO HONEY 54. SPORTS TEAM 58. IDER 59. RINA SAWAYAMA

60. PIZZAGIRL 61. THE FAIM 62. NO ROME 66. ANTEROS 68. EASY LIFE 69. LUCIA 70. YONAKA 73. ZUZU

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INCOMING 74. THE 1975

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Editor Stephen Ackroyd Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden Associate Editor Ali Shutler Contributing Editors Jamie Muir, Martyn Young Events Liam James Ward Scribblers Abigail Firth, Ashley Morris, Jake Hawkes, Jamie MacMillan, Jessica Goodman, Josh Williams, Liam James Ward, Rob Mesure, Sam Daly, Sam Taylor Snappers Isha Shah, Jamie MacMillan, Jordan Hughes, Niall Lea, Patrick Gunning, Ryan Johnston, Sarah Louise Bennett Doodlers Russell Taysom 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

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. Message sent with concern that will never be addressed.

GET OUT 76. SIGRID 78. BLACK HONEY 79. ALT-J 80. THE GUIDE BACK PAGE 82. DJANGO DJANGO 82. DORKSVILLE

On The Stereo The 1975 A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships You’ll find our full review of the most anticipated album of 2018 later this issue, but it’ll shock nobody to find out we’ve

been hammering it hard in the build-up to this issue.

If we had a quid for every time we’d stuck closing track ‘I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)’ on repeat, we’d be rich.

FIDLAR have evolved.

They’re still the same ride-ordie punx, but their universe feels to have exploded in scope. We’d whisper it quietly, but there’s a touch of Beastie Boys to be found.

FIDLAR Almost Free

Wham!

Last Christmas

For their third album,

You can’t have Christmas

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without Wham! Seriously, Dear Reader - if anyone tries to tell you there’s a better festive banger than George and Andrew’s ultimate anthem for the season. It’s no shock that, when we asked Bad Sounds to tell us their favourite Yuletide tracks before playing our Xmas Party, it was the first on their list.

If it’s not in here, it’s not happening.

Or we forgot. One or the other.

House Rules

We’ve been waiting for a debut full-length from The Japanese House for what seems like forever. In 2019, we’re finally getting it. Amber Bain tells us more. Words: Jamie Muir.

“L

et’s record this GameBoy,” jokes Amber Bain. “I mean, we didn’t do that - I was just trying to think of something weird!”

That sort of exploration and freedom has rung through The Japanese House over the past year - a feeling that if you want to try something, then why not muck about and see what happens?

It’s how the very best of albums are made and with 2019 now careering into view, now is the time The Japanese House steps up to the plate with something special. More so, with something that sounds unlike anything you will have heard from her before.

“It’s hard for me to listen to,” Amber admits candidly. “I know how I was feeling when I wrote certain songs and I know how I feel now, and it’s usually quite a lot different. It’s nice to have that comparison. This documentary of my brain from the last two or three years.”

Flash back, and the journey remains quite stunning. One that started with mysterious tracks and questions about who on earth The Japanese House is blossomed into an artist full of exciting development, where each EP was different to the last, and those larger rooms became home.

There were arenas, headline tours around the globe and that feeling that anything could be possible.

Now feels different, though.

“I’ve never felt so healthy about releasing music and touring. The past year, my life has changed, and I’ve changed more than I’ve ever done before. I’ve broken myself down and then built myself up, and now I’m excited about sharing music and excited to go on tour, and I’m not anxious about anything. That’s greatly helped by making an album that I’m proud of and I have no doubts within

myself,” Amber explains. “At the moment, anyway,” she cracks.

Taking that change in her own life, she made a conscious decision that to make the album she wanted she needed to step away.

“We were maybe going to do this big American tour, and then I said no - I can’t push this out on tour,” Amber details. “I can’t make this album half-heartedly on tour. I need to sit and well, that’s what I did.”

Moving to Wisconsin and teaming up with producer BJ Burton, Amber found herself in the same cabin and rural hideout that Bon Iver first crafted the start of his raw-ripped era, and there’s something about that place that left its mark on Amber.

Free of any distractions (“I have probably the worst attention span in the entire world,” she laughs) it was all about Amber and BJ working away and opening up to what she wanted to say and do.

With similarities and differences abound, it was exactly what Amber needed.

“It was so immersive, very intense but also very chilled there.

It wasn’t like having a studio for a week and having to record everything very quickly. It was more like, ‘Well, what do you want to do today, shall we just fuck around with these synths for three hours?’ It was very creative and relaxed, which I think it a cool way to do a record.”

The result is stunning, with the tracks heard so far signalling a bolder and more ambitious Japanese House that isn’t just set on serenading, but owning the moment. They’re songs “probably inspired by playing live a lot”, coupled with the unique surroundings where the foundations of the record joined into place.

“That was where I started changing my brain a bit because before I’d always associated

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“I’ve never felt so healthy about releasing music and touring” making music with staying up ridiculously late and smoking loads and drinking loads,” notes Amber. “We had a little health kick there!”

Taking time to meditate in the middle of Wisconsin woods, “it helped me open up a bit,” she confesses. “It’s a self-reflective environment, being in this dark cube in the middle of nowhere.

Literally, all you could do is think about stuff. There’s no internet, no signal; it’s just you and your thoughts, which is quite intense.”

It’s an openness you can hear radiating from the resultant tracks, all of these elements morphing into the perfect moment for Amber to lay out the thoughts and feelings flowing through her own life.

“The lyrics are far more blatant and blunt, and I hope not in an aggressive or ugly way but in a sort of honest way. Less brutal and more just like… open, and that’s how I’m feeling in general, in my actual self. I’ve become a lot more open and honest, and I think that’s just part of growing up and getting older. I feel comfortable talking about what’s going on in my life in quite a lot of detail, and I think that reflects in the songs.

They talk about really personal things in quite an open way, and I’m down with that.”

“Also, a lot of the songs feel quite prophetic,” points out Amber. “Things have happened that I wrote songs about, but RE AD D O RK. CO M

after I wrote the songs. It always happens, which is annoying.”

Coupled with recording time in Brussels and Oxford (and teaming up with longtime collaborator George Daniel of The 1975 fame), those tracks thrive off a freshness that develops on the magically raw sound that captivated from the very first moment The Japanese House stepped into the world.

Yet now, there’s no holding back.

Bouncing from synth-pop bops to deep glitchy grooves, almost War On Drugs-esque warmth and blending electronica, this could very well be one of the best albums of 2019 in waiting - not that we’d want to lay all our cards on the table at this stage, right?!

“Obviously it’s really important to me, I mean of course it is, that people like the album and like the songs and connect to them in some way,” admits Amber.

“Otherwise I wouldn’t have made it.

I’d be lying to myself and everyone around me if I said I didn’t care.

And that doesn’t necessarily mean that I want it. That’s not necessarily connecting to how many copies it sells or whatever or streams; it’s just the people that do hear it - I want them to like it and to connect to it because it gives you a purpose.”

As the countdown clock ticks down, know one thing. 2019 is the year The Japanese House calls the shots. P The Japanese House’s

debut album ‘Good at Falling’ is out 1st March.

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G E T R E A DY F O R D O R K ’ S X M A S PA R T Y W I T H

BAD SOUNDS’ Dork faves Bad Sounds run through their top festive tunes ahead of this year’s Xmas bash.

H

o ho ho, it’s that time of year again - don your best tinsel scrunchie and naff festive nits for Dork’s Christmas Party!

We’re back at the Old Blue Last in London on Saturday 15th December for a night of top bands, top tunes, and - most top of all - FREE fun.

Joining us will be banger factory Bad Sounds, who with their debut album ‘Get Better’ and ridiculously buzzy live sets were hands down one of the highlights of 2018.

They’ll be supported by two of our faves for 2019, too - Liverpool cheeky chaps SPINN, and Brum fuzz-poppers Violet.

Get in the mood with Bad Sounds’ ultimate Xmas bangers.

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WHAM! - LAST CHRISTMAS

Sam: The video is hilarious, y’know when they go into that little ski lodge, and it’s all bloody lovely? The melodies are great and that dusty synth line brings a cold warmth that I can only describe as Xmas.

PAUL MCCARTNEY - WONDERFUL CHRISTMASTIME

Ewan: Synthesizer, out of time delays - what’s not to love?

U LT I M A T E X M A S B A N G E R S

SHAKIN’ STEVENS - MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE Callum: Someone once told me

that Shakin’ Stevens was the most successful recording artist of the 80s. Now, I don’t know how true that is, but I have an irrational affection for this song. It is so trash, but I can’t get enough of it.

THE DARKNESS CHRISTMAS TIME (DON’T LET THE BELLS END) Olivia: I like the high vocals. I

don’t know why, it’s just good.

Callum: That bit in the video where they both play the same guitar is not a million miles away from the dumb stuff that Ewan and I used to do when we were in a metal band.

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN

Charlie: Clarence Clemons (RIP)

makes this. His “Ho ho ho”s and saxophone solo are the epitome of Christmas. Springsteen was yet another of those artists that my Dad tried for years to get me into.

Like olives and wine, it comes with age.

DARLENE LOVE CHRISTMAS (BABY PLEASE COME HOME) Callum: Ewan and I got REALLY

into Phil Spector a few years ago.

Regardless of what you think of him (I would recommend a Google - he’s a convicted murderer, kept his wife and kids hostage, and he (in Paul McCartney’s eyes) ruined the last Beatles album), ‘A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector’ is probably the best “Christmas album” ever made.

This is (I think) the biggest track

from that iconic album.

LOUIS ARMSTRONG - ‘ZAT YOU, SANTA CLAUS? Callum: When I worked in a suit

shop I accidentally broke the music system, and it got stuck on the Christmas playlist in August.

My manager was scared to tell head office, so he just left it all the way running up to Christmas.

I’ve heard those 20 or so songs too many times to like them anymore.

This song is the only one on it that I still like. I love it, actually.

CHRIS REA - DRIVING HOME FOR CHRISTMAS Callum: This is just a genuinely

beautiful song that perfectly captures the feeling of looking forward to getting home to your family. His voice is like a Werther’s original. If candied butterscotch could record Christmas songs this is what it would sound like.

VINCE GUARALDI TRIO CHRISTMAS TIME IS HERE Callum: The album that this

is from is SO FUCKING GOOD. I discovered it last year from binge-watching What’s In My Bag, a YouTube series put together by Amoeba Records in LA, where musicians and celebrities talk about the records they bought in their store. I find quite a lot of new stuff through that show. This song (two songs technically) is absolutely sublime. P

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DORK

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IN THE STUDIO WITH

Circa Waves Circa Waves aren’t faffing about - it’s less that two years since the release of their second album ‘Different Creatures’, and there’s already another imminent. Watch out 2019, they’re coming for you.

Words: Jamie Muir

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A

s 2018 wraps up, Circa Waves’ Kieran Shudall is in a reflective mood. In the past 18 months, they’ve taken on a whole new chapter with packed out shows from America to Korea, an album that took them above the scrappy indie roots and laid out their ambitions for the world to see. For most bands, you’d argue that some time off is pretty much the standard after that. From recording to album launch, from UK tours to worldwide nights and festival big-ones; it’s a pretty busy time.

Circa Waves aren’t like most bands though.

“We didn’t want to go away for too long,” states frontman Kieran. “The way the industry works now is so quick; there’s this constant demand. We want to be releasing music more often.

We want to keep playing those big festivals, and the only way to keep doing that is by releasing new records, so we just want to stay on this high that we’re currently on.”

It’s why 2018 has not just been another victory lap for Liverpool’s blazing sons, but the

start of what comes next. With ‘Different Creatures’ now in their rear-view mirror, it’s given Circa Waves a chance to build on the breakthroughs played out in front of them from show to show.

“It felt like an important stepping stone for us,” notes Kieran when thinking about how their second album introduced something different to the party.

“Putting ourselves out there as a bigger sounding band, I suppose there’s a lot more ambition in that record than there is on the first record. That was us wanting to set the tone for people going forward. We consider ourselves a future festival headliner and the only way we can do that is by releasing records that sound big. It was a bit of a statement of intent - this is what we’re going to be doing going forward. It’s songs for big venues and big festivals.”

Searing ambition has never been as bright as with Circa Waves. You can practically feel it bouncing off them whenever they step on stage, something that’s only emboldened them to try something new.

“Playing in front of 40,000 people at Reading & Leeds is fucking addictive,” laughs

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“We want to be releasing music more often” Kieran. “You get given that drug of playing on those main stages, and then you play Glastonbury, and then you play TRNSMT… We’re hooked now, and we don’t want to stop doing that.” After those stages, it’d be pretty simple to try and just repeat what has come before, but that’s not the sort of thing that sits well with Circa Waves.

Continuing an almost vital necessity of each and every day, Kieran had the tracks and direction already laid out, and it’s coming to fruition on their upcoming third album. 2019 doesn’t know what’s about to hit it.

“I’ve always enjoyed bands who’ve changed over records like The Beatles and Fleetwood Mac and all these bands who progress and grow,” he notes. “That’s what we’ve always really wanted to do, and I think we‘re doing that.”

With a newfound hunger for even bigger stages, the tracks crafted in the studio have taken RE AD D O RK. CO M

9

on a whole new life, leaving no time for any doubts or questions.

Circa Waves are firing on all cylinders, and the choices are endless.

“It comes from, like, unbridled ambition,” explains Kieran, thinking back to what inspired them to truly push the boundaries. “Just the incentive of playing those big stages and seeing big bands play those stages and wanting to make music that can connect with more than 10,000 people but with a million people - really it’s as simple as that.”

“The more we’ve gone along, the more we’ve realised that we love creating music that connects in such a wide way,” he continues, “that’s sort of inspired the way the album sounds.”

What Dork has heard so far certainly suggests that. This is Circa Waves as you’ve never heard them before, taking those universal sounds and locking them together into pianosingalongs, swelling orchestras, fuzzy rock and arena-baiting marvels. If you had written down on a piece of paper what you thought Circa Waves would do next, it’s guaranteed to be

TEN TONNES has announced his debut album, and it’s coming early next year. The selftitled record has been in the works for a while now, and will be released on 5th April via Warner Bros.

Records. It features recent singles ‘G.I.V.E.’, ‘Cracks Between’, and ‘Lay It On Me’. “My only ambition was to have an album out, so it feels quite strange that it’s happening,” he says. “I’m super fucking happy about it, and I can’t wait to hold it in my hands.”

THE HORRORS have announced a super fancy anniversary gig. They’ll play Royal Albert Hall in London on 9th May to celebrate the tenth birthday of their 2009 album ‘Primary Colours’, which they’ll play in its entirety. “Primary Colours was a pivotal album for us and we are excited to give it a deserved celebration as it reaches its tenth year,” the band explain. “We welcome with open arms our friends, fans and supporters from throughout the universe to come to the Royal Albert Hall, one of the most beautiful venues in London, to enjoy this very special evening with us.”

“I have no idea how the fuck we’re going to play it live” different.

“We used this old organ thing, which you put these discs into and they played some old 1920s entertainment which is all this fucking dead weird, hurdy-gurdy type of thing.”

No fear and no restraints, it’s an undeniably freeing new direction that plots a path for Circa Waves to become something even bigger.

Not even the worry of taking that out on the road was brought into the mix.

“I remember it was the third Vampire Weekend record and they were saying they just used what they wanted in the studio and worried later about how they were going to recreate it live,” Kieran remembers. “That was quite inspiring, what a cool way to do it - don’t worry about it, you’ll find

a way to do things live so don’t let it dictate how you make your songs.

“I mean, I have no idea how the fuck we’re going to play it live because there’s so much stuff on there. There’s like 50 instruments on each track; it’s going to be an interesting one.”

Circa Waves live in exciting times. In the best place they’ve been as a band for a long time, now is the time to expand into something far greater than themselves. Going for gold with bare-chested honesty, things are about to get quite interesting.

“It really is exciting,” agrees Kieran. “There’s this potential new audience that haven’t listened to us before that may hear these tracks, wondering who that is.”

Gather round; Circa Waves aren’t waiting around any longer. P

A NEW LONDON MUSIC VENUE is currently in the works, with plans to open in summer 2019. Magazine London was conceived by Venue Lab, the folk behind Printworks London and Landing Forty Two, and will be located in Greenwich.

Alongside the 3000 capacity venue space will be an adjoining Showground – “a landscaped environment on the banks of the Thames boasting a capacity of 7,000 – delivering a combined capacity of 10,000 opening up the potential for festivals.”

** THIS IS HAPPENING ** THIS IS HAPPENING ** THIS IS HAPPENING ** THIS IS HAPPENING ** THIS IS HAPPENING ** THIS IS HAPPENING ** THIS IS HAPPENING **

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different to this.

“It’s almost a genre-less record in a way; it doesn’t cater to one side - it’s not a rock record, it’s not a pop record, it’s kinda a bit of everything.”

Working once again with Alan Moulder (“He’s almost like a surgeon more than a producer, he can just go into my brain and make the album sound exactly like it does in my head - which is a scary place to be, inside my head,” notes Kieran) and recorded over threefour weeks, it was a completely new experience for the band.

“We weren’t afraid to pick up a different instrument,” divulges Kieran. “We had songs written on piano, so Sam’s had to learn the piano in order to play it live! We just didn’t stop ourselves from being unshackled in the studio, and in the past we have.

“That thinking of, ‘We can’t do that, we’re a rock band’; ‘We can’t do that, we’re a garage indie band’ now we’re like, fuck it, we’re a band who wants to make great music and that’s all that matters.”

As Kieran puts it, “why be scared of making a kinda hip-hop beat with a piano? People will say Circa Waves can’t do that, but I think no, we can do whatever we want.

The way music is going, genres are becoming more unidentifiable, and that’s the way I see Circa Waves as well, as a band you can’t quite put your finger on and you never really know what the next record will hold. That’s more exciting than just being that rock band who does the rock record every time.”

That idea of convention and doing songs by numbers went right out the window. Sampling sounds, bringing in a whole feast of different instruments and quite simply pushing at the boxes and preconceptions people may have put around them - things got wild.

Kieran laughs as he recalls a particular memory. “There was a moment when me and Colin were doing tribal drums in the studio, two of us just losing our minds smashing these drums. We thought we could never do this live because it’d look so ridiculous. It’s so far away from that small garage sound on the first record. This big epic thing, I was like, if I could send a video back to myself doing this, I’d have thought, ‘Oh shit, I’ve lost my mind - it’s all gone a bit Tusk’.”

Yet it’s the sort of track that’ll sit pride of place on daytime radio, that reach into the bigger world and call to those who may not have heard what Circa Waves are about to come and try something

PLUS SPECIAL GUESTS

APRIL 2019

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** THIS IS HAPPENING ** THIS IS HAPPENING ** THIS IS HAPPENING ** ** THIS IS HAPPENING ** THIS IS HAPPENING ** THIS IS HAPPENING **

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ALL POINTS EAST have made their first few announcements for 2019.

The Chemical Brothers will headline London’s Victoria Park on 24th May, with Hot Chip, Primal Scream, Spiritualized, Little Dragon, Danny Brown, Little Simz and Ibibio Sound Machine.

Bon Iver meanwhile will top the bill on 2nd June, alongside Mac DeMarco, First Aid Kit, John Grant, Tallest Man On Earth, Julien Baker, Snail Mail and KOKOKO!. The full ten-day event will run from 24th May to 2nd June.

MUSE are taking their new album on the road early next year. The band have confirmed a massive world tour which will take them from February through to July, with two nights in the UK. They’ll play London Stadium on 1st June, and Manchester’s Etihad Stadium on the 8th, with tickets going on general sale from Friday 16th November. Muse are also going to play The Royal Albert Hall this winter. Taking place on Monday 3rd December, the gig marks their first performance in the UK since headlining Reading & Leeds in 2017, and will raise money for The Prince’s Trust.

CREEPER may or may not be splitting up.

The band - who are no strangers to weaving a little mystery among their fans - announced on stage at KOKO, London last night that “not only is it the last show of this album campaign, but it’s the last show we’ll ever do.”Will and co. originally announced the gig by asking: “One more callous night in the city?”, so it’s long been thought they were probably going away for a bit after this one.

With their new album arriving in February, Drenge are getting in there early with what’s no doubt set to be an Albums of 2019-list contender.

No pressure, lads.

Words: Jessica Goodman

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D OWN WI T H BO RI N G

D

renge have never been ones to do things by halves.

From taking to the stage at Reading in 2014 wearing dresses, to strolling around the streets of Sheffield dressed as a robot for the ‘Fade To Black’ and ‘Outside’ music videos (it’s almost enough to make you question if they own any sensible attire), Eoin and Rory Loveless have always done things their own way – and with a new album imminent, there’s plenty more of that to come.

Making their return to the live circuit dressed in boiler suits and cutting ceremonial ribbons on stages up and down the country, it’s clear that the band – now a four-piece, completed by Rob Graham and Ed Crisp – have lost none of their flair. “It was so good to go out on the road and indulge ourselves,” Eoin recalls. “Play some new songs, play some old songs... We had a lot of fun.”

“We were quite good as well,” drummer Rory enthuses (not at all biased). “Sometimes you can be a bit surprised by it,” he adds.

“Night after night I was like ‘oh, this is quite good - I’d go and see this’.” Sure, watching your own band’s gig might be just slightly beyond the realm of possibility, but the group came pretty close with a karaoke show in Sheffield, where they invited the audience to perform Drenge songs with the band themselves as backing.

“We just thought it’d be funny - and maybe a bit scary - to see other people possibly better us at our own songs,” Rory explains. “There were some great renditions, a particularly brave version of ‘Fuckabout’,” he grins.

“We made the instrumental quite sparse, but he really carried it through, this guy. I think afterwards he told me that he’d actually - and I don’t know if this is true, but I really hope it is - been in a Drenge tribute band. I, personally, feel that’s the epitome of making it. I’ve been beaming with pride ever since.”

“The epitome of making it is when you’ve got a tribute band that can make a living off your songs,” Eoin agrees. “That’s the epitome of success.”

“We can’t remember what it was called,” Rory admits. “It might have been something similar to ‘Drenge’... Something like ‘Dungeon’?” he guesses. “If it isn’t, ‘Dungeon’ is a great name for a band – if you’re reading this and looking for inspiration” (sadly, that name has already taken by an Australian metal band).

Inspiration is something Drenge have had no shortage of.

It’s been three and a half years

since they released ‘Undertow’, and while they may have spent a lot that time out of the spotlight, they certainly haven’t been idle. This year’s ‘Autonomy’ EP sparked excitement and slightly sated ever-growing appetites for new music from the outfit, and now, at last, their long-awaited third album is right around the corner.

“We knew we were going to release an album after we put the EP out. We were just waiting to announce the record, really,” Eoin states. “That’s not to say that the EP is to be ignored,” he quickly interjects. “It’s a nice amuse-bouche to whet peoples’ appetites for the record.”

The electronic-tinged EP, promoted in style by dustbinbuilt robot DR3-NG3, marked a new direction from the band, and one the brothers are thrilled for people to hear expand with the release of ‘Strange Creatures’ in February.

“I thought it would sound good in like, a regional album awards ceremony,” Eoin explains of the title, “like ‘Best Yorkshire Album Of The Year’.”

“It looks good written down underneath 6/10,” Rory offers (prompting a startled “…what?” from his brother), “which is what I’m thinking it’s probably gonna get,” he laughs.

Regardless of how the record fairs in ratings, Drenge couldn’t be more excited to share it with the world. Making ‘Strange Creatures’ allowed them to explore their creativity in a way they haven’t been able to up until now. Well, sort of.

“We have never really played a song live much and gotten confident with it before we’ve gone into the studio,” Rory details. “It’s always been that we’ve sort of learned the song after we’ve done it in the studio.”

He pauses, thinking over his words. “Apart from the first album,” he clarifies, “which actually makes up a third of our output, so that’s a slightly misleading statement.”

“Have you thought about the question, Rory?” Eoin taunts.

What ‘Strange Creatures’ did allow is for the band to really experiment with and hone their sound in a way they haven’t in the past. “It was an interesting experience being allowed to mess around with our songs so much,” Eoin portrays. “We’d have the bare bones of a song, and then when it kind of gets to that bit where production steps in we’d try something out. If it sounded good, we’d continue down that path, and if it sounded rubbish, we’d kind of strip it back to what we had.

“The songwriting’s a bit more

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“The songwriting’s a bit more mature, we’ve written things like choruses” mature as well,” Rory portrays.

“Eoin has gotten into the craft of songwriting, and we’ve written things like choruses,” he enthuses, “which on the first album we didn’t really do. It was all about being an angry man!!!!” he mimics, “and doing things quickly and without a lot of thought.”

“It was nice to think about the songs and make them sound the best they can possibly sound,” Eoin states. So when ‘Strange Creatures’ arrives in February, that’s what there is to look forward to: Drenge at the best they can possibly sound.

“I think it’s sonically diverse.

Isn’t it, Rory?” Eoin describes (with an affirmative “hmm,” from his brother). “It’s got pace.

It’s got emotion. It’s got a bit of narrative. It’s got some slow, moody songs. It’s got some fast, angry songs.”

“I think there’s, like on the last album, a lot of emphasis on imagery in the lyrics,” Rory details. “We’ve just tried to experiment a little bit more with the sound and production, working with Ross [Orton] again, as we have done for our other two albums. We just got really interested in trying out different instruments, and ways of playing instruments differently, and doing more different things.”

Summing up their approach to the new record as “different is good” (with a quick amendment to “well, different is more exciting,”), what the new year holds for the band – and, indeed, for the record they’ve made – looks set to be something of a surprise for even the band themselves.

“Your relationship with a song changes once it’s out there and other people are listening to it and interpreting it,” Eoin illustrates. “When the song is yours and yours alone, it’s yours to discover and understand, and it means something to you. When

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it’s out there, it’s like it’s not your deal any more, it belongs to other people.”

From Drenge, to you, with love: the group will be taking ‘Strange Creatures’ on tour across the UK following its release. “It’ll be a few stressful weeks trying to piece it all together, but right now it seems like it’s going to be a pretty joyful time,” Eoin laughs.

“I think we’ll be looking forward to going on tour,” Rory agrees. “We’ll probably be doing some more writing, going out on the road a bit, cracking on, just doing the band thing.”

As the artist Natasha Bedingfield once sang, “the rest is still unwritten.” When it comes to what they’d like to see happen, Drenge have no shortage of ideas.

“First gig on the moon,” Rory states, the idea quickly being contested by Eoin. “We watched The Thing the other night, and I think playing on Antarctica would be quite good.” “Or the first gig in the centre of the Earth,” Rory counters, before deciding that’d be “too hot.”

“It’s the 50th anniversary of Woodstock next year. Maybe we could headline that,” Eoin suggests. “Drenge at Woodstock, that’d be good. Hendrix, ten years after.”

It all might sound a little out there, but with ABBA planning a tour of the world as holograms, never say never to anything.

“Just two tickets to ABBA then, please,” Rory asks.

Wherever this next year takes them, you can be sure they’re going to have a damn good time making it there. As the band themselves sang on their second album, “we can do, we can do, we can do what we want.” With a brand new album of material ahead of them, and more besides, Drenge aren’t letting anything stand in their way. P Drenge’s

album ‘Strange Creatures’ is out 22nd February.

13

Grab a pizza the action with

14

Warmduscher

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ake room in your Christmas diary, Dork’s teaming up with Leeds promoters Pizza For The People for their annual Christmas Indie Banquet.

The gig will take place at Wharf Chambers in Leeds on Saturday 15th December, with five top new bands and some mouth-watering grub from local vegan fried chicken pop up, VFC. Playing are Fat White Family offshoot Warmduscher, South London quintet Hotel Lux, Hull up-andcomers Lumer, and super newbies Wilted and Polevaulter.

We tackled Warmduscher’s Lightnin’ Jack Everett to find out more about his band.

Hey Lightnin’ Jack Everett, you guys have just got back off tour haven’t you, how did it go? It looks like you’ve been all over the place this summer?

It went really well, everyone’s still speaking to each other, and no one

got bottled. We’ve been to a few festivals in Europe and the UK and done two UK tours. We’re going to SXSW next year and possibly more, but it’s a secret. We just want to experience as many time zones as we can and sample the tap water in bars all over the world.

How are you all feeling following the release of your second album, happy with how it’s been received?

Has everything gone to plan?

I can’t speak for everyone, but I think it’s gone pretty well.

Everything is going to plan, we’ve already started on the next one.

What’s your favourite thing about the record, have your feelings towards it changed since you finished it?

The recording process, that was a lot of fun. It was great working with Dan Carey and his style of recording/producing worked really well with us, so we’re gonna work with him again in the future. It’s one of the only albums that I can listen to without getting bored

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after a few repeats, so that probably counts for something.

You guys are playing Pizza To The People’s Indie Banquet this December, if Warmduscher were a pizza, what would your toppings be?

LIVE AT LEEDS returns in 2019 for another day of top bands, and the first few names are out. The spring all-dayer will host headline sets from Sundara Karma, Metronomy and Tom Grennan, alongside the likes of Swim Deep, Dream Wife, Black Honey, Sports Team, Goat Girl, Gengahr, Marsicans, Easy Life, Gently Tender, Thyla, Another Sky, Swimming Girls, Fuzzy Sun, Zuzu, Saltwater Sun, Heavy Lungs, Squid and more.

The main event takes place on 4th May at various venues across Leeds.

Fentanyl, sand and a little bit of PCP.

What’s the best thing about a Warmduscher live show?

The tantric release. A lot of people come up to me afterwards with a renewed sense of well-being and enhanced virility. Some have compared our live shows to an audience with the Bhagwan.

What else do you have coming up?

The new album will be ready in the near future; apart from that, many, many exciting secrets, shows and surprises. My lawyer has advised me to make no further comments.

P For more info, visit pizzaforthepeople.co.uk.

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PANDA BEAR has announced his new album ‘Buoys’. The record marks Noah Lennox’s sixth solo album and is out on 8th February, preceded by lead single ‘Dolphin’.

“The last three records felt like a chapter to me, and this feels like the beginning of something new,” he explains of the release. ‘Buoys’ was co-produced and comixed by collaborator Rusty Santos in Lennox’s adopted home of Lisbon, Portugal.

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THE CELLAR in Oxford - a favourite of local bands like Foals, pictured - is once again under threat of closure. Having narrowly avoided redevelopment this time last year, it now needs to raise funds for renovations necessary to comply with new fire regulations. “Sadly, with the extent of the renovations we’ve been asked to make, we simply don’t have the money to pay for them,” explains venue manager Tim Hopkins. “Which is why we’re calling on people power again with this crowdfunding campaign.

As well as our own passion to keep going, we owe it to all our amazing supporters to give this one last try.”

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15

The best new tracks.

16 Sundara Karma One Last Night On This Earth

Evolution - that’s the golden chalice most bands strive to grasp. A progression between records that’s enough to keep them feeling fresh, but never so drastic it leaves the fanbase they worked so hard to cultivate behind.

With ‘One Last Night On This Earth’, Sundara Karma have not evolved. There’s nothing gradual about the changes wrapped within its spangly, spandex-clad soul.

A revolution in platform shoes, it’s nothing short of transformative.

The Candescents Drink To Paradise

The Candescents have got this pop lark well and truly nailed. ‘Drink To Paradise’ is yet another solid gold chunk of melodic goodness from Dirty Hit’s US stars. The band succeed in making what is really quite difficult sound positively effortless. Breezy to the point where we absolutely must hang our washing outside on the line, it’s the sort of indie pop track that echoes in our dreams.

These New Puritans Into The Fire

Girl’ is the latest evolution of an artist operating on levels her peers can only dream of. Riding the breeze, but with genuine depth, it’s an immersive embrace of modern pop.

These New Puritans have gone back to the future on their return track ‘Into The Fire’.

Embracing their most primitive and primal urges, the Barnett brothers are sounding a lot different than when we last heard them on 2013’s ‘Field Of Reeds’. Where that record was ornately beautifully and filled with classical leanings, this is a proper banger.

Sunflower Bean Come For Me

It feels like only five minutes since Sunflower Bean dropped a stonking second record, and already they’re back with a brand new EP. Lead cut ‘Come For Me’ might be their greatest charge yet - a strutting, timeless pop banger that sounds like a modern classic from the first spin. Sprouting the greenest of shoots at a most unseasonal time, these New Yorkers feel prepped to bloom.

Fontaines D.C. Too Real

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Get the latest bangers at readdork.com, or follow our Brand New Bangers playlist on Spotify.

Check out all these tracks and more on Dork Radio now at readdork.com/ radio.

The Japanese House Follow My Girl

The second cut from Amber Bain’s much (much, much) anticipated debut full length ‘Good at Falling’, ‘Follow My

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If there’s a formula to the pleasingly acerbic, cacophonous punk rock that’s dominated 2018’s underground agenda, Fontaines D.C. have definitely nabbed a copy.

That’s not to say their latest megabanger is generic far from it - but rather its distorted, self-propelling assault is so effective it should be bottled and sold. Vocalist Grian Chatten’s thick Irish drawl spits across waves of noise, begging the titular question - “is it too real for ya?”

Drenge Bonfire of the City Boys

Following up their ‘Autonomy’ EP with the quick-fire announce of a new album, ‘Bonfire of the City Boys’ proves what Drenge were up to during their absence. Firing off with the white-hot realism of Idles at their righteous best, the Loveless brothers are baring their teeth. Take cover.

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COMMUNITY has announced the first few acts for 2019’s festival.

The London event will host a headline set from The Kooks, along with special guests Blossoms, and Kate Nash, The Amazons, Gerry Cinnamon, The Night Cafe, Bloxx, Sea Girls, and The Academic. “It’ll be 15 years since we first formed as a band next year,” says Luke Kook, “and I can’t think of any better way to celebrate than headlining our biggest show to date at Community 2019.”

Community takes place on 30th June at Finsbury Park.

BLOSSOMS have announced a huge show for next summer.

The band - who also hit the road this November for a headline tour - will perform at Stockport County’s Edgeley Park Stadium on 22nd June.

Blossoms released their second album ‘Cool Like You’ earlier this year, and recently debuted new material at a show in Paris.

** THIS IS HAPPENING ** THIS IS HAPPENING ** THIS IS HAPPENING ** THIS IS HAPPENING ** THIS IS HAPPENING ** THIS IS HAPPENING ** THIS IS HAPPENING **

INDOOR PETS’ tour van was robbed in Manchester.

“It’s been a rough 24 hours,” they explained from the road. “It has only started to sink in that thousands of pounds worth of equipment that we’ve been upgrading over the last 10 years seem to be gone forever.”

“We didn’t want to start a fundraising campaign without being able to give you something in return,” they add. “Introducing the “I HELPED INDOOR PETS BUY THEIR GEAR BACK, INDOOR PETS HELPED ME DRY THIS SOAPY STACK” tea towel.” You can pick up the tea towel now; it’s pay what you want, with a minimum donation of £5.

Or you could just donate a few quid without getting the tea towel, it’s up to you.

Subscribe to Dork readdork.com

17

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DORK

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THE BAND OF THE YEAR?

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2018 has been a landmark year for Idles. With a Top 5 album under their belts and more buzz than a bag of bees, where do they go from here?

Words: Jessica Goodman Photos: Jamie MacMillan, Sarah Louise Bennett

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he whirlwind of adoration that surrounds the nation’s favoured Bristol punk quintet has been on an unshakable rise since the release of their debut album ‘Brutalism’ in March last year. With that album, the world was introduced to a band disillusioned with everything around them but determined not to be beaten down by it.

This year, that whirlwind has hit fever pitch. Scoring a Top 5 album in the UK charts, performing on ‘Later... with Jools Holland’, selling out a headline tour of the UK, playing festivals and maxed out venues around the world… Honestly, it’s tiring just thinking about how much activity the group have managed to squeeze into the space of twelve months.

With the release of ‘Joy As An Act Of Resistance’ this

summer, Idles stood at the crest of a wave of earnest positivity, their anthems of acceptance, empowerment, and validation celebrated in a way that surpassed even their wildest imaginations.

“I don’t pay attention to the charts. I haven’t done since I was about ten,” frontman Joe Talbot laughs. “We didn’t think about charting. It wasn’t in our discourse.” It might not have been something that entered the group’s minds on the run-up to the release, but when the news broke that ‘Joy As An Act Of Resistance’ had reached Number 2 in the mid-week charts, it was met with a sense of triumph and resolve. It sparked an outpouring of support with fans spreading the word far and wide, pushing the positive energy of the record to reach as many people as possible.

“It wasn’t through streaming.

It wasn’t ‘cause we did some

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surprise album at the last minute,” Joe details. “We haven’t got that sort of rooting in the industry. What we have is a good, old-fashioned fan base, based on word of mouth.” Mention Idles in conversation and chances are you’ll see it: what this band inspire is an enthusiasm and an excitement that just has to be shared.

“It’s writing about something we believe in, and people believing in us when we sing it and play it. It’s going out there and playing shows and getting people to bring their friends next time, buying our t-shirt, making things that all align with our artistic language, that people can believe in and invest in,” Joe expresses. “To get to Number 5 in the charts, that means that there are people out there that believe it and want to be part of it,” he continues. “In that sense, it’s huge.”

It’s a moment that felt

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like it was meant to be: all the frustration and fear and the drive for openness and acceptance that fuels the album recognised as an achievement, a celebration of life in all of its wonderful variety. With their hearts on their sleeves, Idles have never stood taller. It’s their unabashed nature and their unapologetic drive to be anything other than what they believe in that make Idles a band worth believing in.

“The producer [of Jools Holland] turned to us, and she said ‘Whatever you do, don’t cater for the cameras. Just be yourselves. We’ve asked you to be here because we want you to be you. You’re here for a reason’,” Joe recalls. “I doubt whether she had that conversation with Jess Glynne,” he laughs. “So we did it, and it just felt right. It made us feel like, ‘Yeah, we’re here because we fucking built this ourselves’, and it feels good.”

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Theirs is a revolution of positivity – and indeed, joy.

Night by night, city by city, crowd by crowd, Idles are making that energy felt. Go to one of the band’s live shows, and it’s impossible not to get caught up in the throes of it all. “We’re in love with it,” Joe exclaims.

“We’re in love with what we do. Everything about what we’re doing now feels good and fruitful like we’re part of something bigger than ourselves,” he describes, “which is great. The whole breadth of what’s happening is beyond our control, really. All we can do is so much.

The people have spoken in a way that we weren’t expecting, and it’s magic.”

Magic is something that Idles possess by the bucket load. Speaking in the middle of their sold out UK tour, there’s little in which the outfit don’t find magic. The shows are magic. The crowds are magic. Tour mates Heavy Lungs are magic. Even the chocolate milk the band are drinking is magic. “I like being fun with things you love, and I love chocolate milk,” Joe grins.

“So I started doing little reviews. Now we get free chocolate milk all the time; it’s fucking great. Very grateful.” He pauses for a moment. “Haven’t done one in a while ‘cause I haven’t had any new chocolate milks” (is that a hint?).

The real magic, however, Idles are quick to insist doesn’t come from the band (or even from chocolate milk). It comes from the people who have bought into their music. It comes from the fans who pack out their live shows. It comes from everyone who shares in the experience the group facilitate around them. It’s something that’s perhaps most evident through the AF Gang (pronounced like Afghan): a community set up by fans, drawing people together through their shared enthusiasm so they can share in that energy collectively.

“It’s a beautiful thing. It’s nothing to do with us,” Joe states. “We haven’t built that. That is a congregation of active-minded, proactive, wonderful, caring human beings that want to look after each other, and have used our music as a catalyst to connect on a level that’s way more important and way more interesting than Idles.”

Attending one of Idles’ raucous live shows, that wonder and care is evident everywhere you look.

During the band’s show at The Institute in Birmingham, any lull between songs is filled by the crowd making sure whoever is stood around them is okay, conversation between strangers abuzz with excitement for the group on the stage and the experience they’re all sharing in.

“It relinquishes some faith I didn’t have in people,” Joe gratefully expresses. “People did want positivity.

They did want people who wanted to work hard for what they love, and show that they love it, instead of pretending they don’t care and that it’s cool.”

“We’re the antithesis of all of that bollocks that runs rife in this fucking industry,” he proclaims. “We’re tearing it down, day by day, show by show, Jools Holland by Jools Holland. Soon the narrative will have shifted and there’ll be lots of bands out there getting paid money to do magic music and actually show they give a shit again, about people, and the world, and music.”

And really, that’s all Idles want. Whether it’s something they create through their own music, something they promote through releases on Joe and manager Mark Bent’s Balley Records, or simply something they enthuse about when they encounter it, Idles are here to inspire, to encourage, and to seek out hope – and they don’t plan on slowing down for a moment.

Looking ahead over the next year, Joe is fast to rattle off the group’s plans. “Album three. Festivals. Bigger tour. Album three release. Retirement,” he grins (don’t worry: he assure us that his last notion “was a joke”).

With work already in progress on the group’s third record (“it’s called ‘Chocolate Milk’” Joe teases), theirs is a spirit that refuses to die out. “Bigger and better,” Joe excitedly promises. “It feels good.” P

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COVER STORY

Modern

life is 22

THE 1975 are on the eve of releasing their third album, ‘A BRIEF INQUIRY INTO ONLINE RELATIONSHIPS’ - the first of two new records set to arrive over the next year. A staggering work of shifting expectations, it’s quite probably their masterpiece. To find out more, Dork headed round to frontman MATTY HEALY’s house to quiz him on what life’s currently like in the most exciting band on the planet.

Words: Ali Shutler.

Photographer: Jordan Hughes Creative: Matthew Healy & Warren Fu

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T

he 1975 tell big stories of little moments.

Kaleidoscopic, full of heart and with an eye for detail, both their wide-eyed self-titled debut and the attention-grabbing ‘I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It’ soundtrack a Peter Pan sense of adventure in a world that’s heavy with the everyday. They find the strange, beautiful and the beautiful, undeniable.

For a hot second, their imminent third album ‘A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships’ was going to be their last. The final chapter in a story about growing up and finding yourself, that grand conclusion was soon postponed as the band realised they weren’t done yet.

Instead, ‘A Brief Inquiry’ finds The 1975 facing the end of the decade, on the cusp of their thirties, and still asking questions. It’s Bonfire Night, and we’re at Matty’s house doing the same. “It’s a weird time for me,” he admits.

The band have been out of the spotlight since they headlined Latitude on 1st June 2017 but they’ve not exactly been taking it easy. If following up their world-reaching second album wasn’t enough of a challenge, the band also had to contend with Matty taking himself to rehab to deal with opiate addiction.

It’s one of the many things he wrestles with across ‘A Brief Inquiry’. Mortality, technology, growing older and breaking dawn hope are also looked at with an open mind and a tilted head.

Finished in September, five years to the day since they released their debut, the band have spent their time since working on fourth album ‘Notes On A Conditional Form’, which also makes up the second part of this Music For Cars era.

It sounds hectic because it is. There’s an urgency racing through The 1975 now that inhabits everything they do. Every decision is fearless. Change is always an option, but the band are dedicated to growth, not fresh starts. If you thought The 1975 were big before, brace yourself.

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COVER STORY

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“IT NEEDS TO BE LIKE THE 1975 ON CRACK, BUT NOT ACTUALLY ON CRACK”

25

- Matty Healy, The 1975 Things are about to get massive.

“I

’m really excited,” Matty admits, but that’s always been obvious. The 1975 bubble with excitement in everything they do. The release of ‘A Brief Inquiry...’ is part one of the vision. ‘Notes...’, though still under construction, is another. Live is where it’ll all become real though. Face to face, that’s where it counts.

“I’m not scared; I’m not hiding from anybody. I don’t give a fuck,” he beams. That stance is one he repeatedly takes on record. “I’m excited for these live shows. We’re going to be so much better than we’ve ever been. We’re so much fitter and wiser. We’re better players; the songs are better, the show is better.

“It needs to be like The 1975 on crack, but not actually on crack. It’s a good vibe. I’m really excited,” he repeats. ‘The 1975’ was about wanting to be known. ‘I like it when you sleep…’ was about proving they had more to say. “Because that second record was critically acclaimed, you naturally feel like you need to play all the critically acclaimed stuff live.” Now, the band are beyond that. They’ve proved their point. It’s time to play.

“Of course I’m self-aware, and now, I’m just so excited to play loads of first album shit, lots of EP shit, and making it about what everyone loves about The 1975.”

Which is, anything goes. The 1975 do whatever they want, and it’s an attitude they’ve poured into ‘A Brief Inquiry...’.

“It’s become about trusting our instinct,” he reasons. “It’s become about doing what feels right. We all know that, like a magpie, it just has to be pretty for me. It just has to be beautiful. A magpie will pick up a diamond, a piece of foil or a bit of glass, as long as it’s shiny. As long as it’s shiny, it doesn’t matter.”

And this record dazzles. Across the fifteen tracks, The 1975 dabble in everything.

“I just love beautiful sounding stuff. That’s my only barometer for what passes,” he declares. “It happens like that because that’s how I listen to music. That’s how I consume things,” so why would The 1975 be any different? This band is how they see the world.

“I don’t have a filter on it. The idea of it being the record we wanted to make, I think that would speak of some sort of intention. There were moments that I wanted. Real, sincere moments or outward moments like ‘Love It If We Made It’. I just wanted great songs over everything.

Style, genre, all that sort of stuff doesn’t matter anymore.”

They might draw from the ever-growing, always-accessible catalogue of inspiration that is art in the streaming age, but ‘A Brief Inquiry...’ never feels like a playlist on shuffle. It bounces giddily, recklessly between what you’d expect

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from The 1975, and what you wouldn’t. Always from the heart, it’s deliberate and accidental.

But it all feels connected. It’s all part of the same story. See, this band, they build worlds.

“You want the record to have a life. We just keep going until it feels dynamic. You wouldn’t think to put ‘How To Draw/Petrichor’ there, right? That’s the point. The juxtaposition of form. When it delineates who I am, that’s when it feels complete. When it’s got enough scope to have a personality” - that’s when it’s finished.

“Personality is a very dynamic thing,” he explains.

That’s especially true when you’re Matty Healy.

He asks lots of questions and answers most of them himself. He makes grand, outrageous statements that make for great headlines, but they’re never in isolation. He changes his mind.

He gets distracted. He’s excitable and shares secrets. There’s always more. All of him is in his music.

“I have to live records. I have to be the person in that record. I have to be that version of me; I have to dress like it.”

Right now though, Matty is in a strange place.

He has to try and put ‘A Brief Inquiry...’ out of his mind. It’s unlike him, “but I haven’t been thinking about it that intensely. It was such a relief when it was done; I’ve been revelling in that. I was so quickly onto ‘Notes...’; I haven’t been thinking about ‘A Brief Inquiry...’ since we finished it. I had to crack on. I had to forget about

COVER STORY

26

it because I didn’t save anything for the next record.”

There was no, ‘oh this is good, better hold it back because we’ll need something good later’.

“You climb the mountain, bobsled down as fast as you can, then start climbing again. I’m back in self-loathing mode and all that, but not really. I’m certainly not in rest-on-my-laurels, celebrate-my-art mode. I’m more in do-better mode.”

After a split second to think about it, Matty admits he’s desperate for people to hear ‘A Brief Inquiry...’.

“I wouldn’t change it,” he declares before checking. “Would I change it? I wouldn’t change it. I can’t,” he concludes. “It’s definitely our best record.”

It’s a bold thing for an artist with a beloved back catalogue to say. It’s even bolder when that artist is in the midst of making their next album.

“It is scary, man. I’m not doing a double album, so that’s one thing.” “‘A Brief Inquiry’ is the truth of where we are.

Musically, philosophically, that’s where we’re at. And the next record will be where we’re at then. I don’t know what it’ll be like. Maybe it’ll be more exhausted. It’ll be different, but they’re all so different.

“Is this record better than the first record?”

Matty asks himself, thinking out loud. “It depends. It depends what your gauge is. My intention was always to soundtrack the lives of young people, or myself and by proxy the lives of young people. So, if your barometer of success or quality is how much it’s done that, then the first album is better. The first album is more nostalgic and wrapped up in peoples adolescence and journey, so it is kinda silly of me to sit here and boringly say ‘this is our best record’ because it’s a bit of a cop-out. It’s just an easy answer to sound confident.”

The young people who first got into The 1975 with ‘The 1975’ are older now. Matty is older, and their known world is bigger than Manchester. Things are very different. ‘A Brief Inquiry’ embraces that.

“If you start making decisions based on fear, you’re going to fail,” he continues. “Of course it’s scary, but being bold is scary. Sincerity is

scary. Everything is scary. All those things around being a grown up are scary,” so ‘A Brief Inquiry’ tries to make sense of them. “It feels like the records are becoming more organic.

They’re getting a bit more deconstructed,” he starts, before asking, “what would you say?”

Well, ‘A Brief Inquiry...’ feels like The 1975 if they started to fall apart. It’s jagged, all exposed edges and frayed ends. “But in a good way?” he asks. Of course. “All of the sounds and sonics had to be sincere and believable. That’s the same with ‘Notes...’, but I don’t know that much about ‘Notes...’ yet. But that’s fun,” he promises. “I’ve got a while to make that record.

I’m just going to make a record I want to listen to.” Right now, it’s still taking shape. “’Notes...’ is very raw. There are a lot of demos.

It’s not like there was stuff that didn’t make ‘A Brief Inquiry...’. ‘A Brief Inquiry...’ just became what it was, and other songs just weren’t for that record. So there are loads of different ideas.

Lyrics come very late anyway, so I try and not stress myself that much about it.

“There are a few lyrics. There are ideas,” he promises, “but there’s a bunch of music. It’s deconstructed. It’s quite English. We’re always going back to a time in our life and referencing certain bits of music from there, and I think this is referencing a lot of UK garage and the feeling of driving on the M25 at night.” Music for cars, right?

“Of course some people are going to regard it as not as good, and some people are going to regard it as our masterpiece. It’s like, is ‘Amnesiac’ worse than ‘OK Computer’? Yes and no. That’s not a question. It’s a different time, and it’s a different thing.” All The 1975 can do is capture the moment and have fun with it.

“Culturally, six months down the line now is like 18 months down the line ten years ago. That’s why we’re doing two records.

The consumer’s desire for the pace of the consumption has changed. Mine has as well.

I want music faster. You can watch a whole series on Netflix; you can watch someone’s masterpiece and as soon as you’re finished, next. Who is going to tour an album for two years?”

The idea of living in one moment for so long doesn’t make sense.

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“IF YOU CAN’T MAKE AN ALBUM IN SIX MONTHS AND YOU’RE IN ONE OF THE BIGGEST BANDS IN THE WORLD, WHAT ARE YOU FUCKING PLAYING AT?” - Matty Healy, The 1975

MODERNITY HAS

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“I DON’T HAVE A MORAL HIGH GROUND ON ANYTHING” - Matty Healy, The 1975 “I want to make a difference in live pop shows, and I want to tour for two years. You can’t do that with one album. Luckily, I live for making music.

I don’t live for being in a band, or being cool or popular, I live for making music. If you can’t make an album in six months and you’re in one of the biggest bands in the world, what are you fucking playing at?”

The bravado quickly shifts into sincerity, as it always does.

“It is difficult,” he admits, “and it requires you not to have a life. It’s just about being bold, isn’t it? The number of times I just sigh at my own decisions or sit there and go ‘for fuck’s sake’.”

That was his first reaction when he and the band’s manager, Jamie Oborne first started talking about two albums. Matty was walking to drummer George Daniel’s, talking to Jamie on the phone about culture, the times and how things work within that.

“We were joking about how people get six months into a record and then take the first single and put Stormzy on it, and redirect you back to the album.”

They were talking business, but this is The 1975. They never really talk business.

“We talk about what we want to do culturally.

Everything that we do is to super serve the fans.

It’s putting art first, putting truth first. Don’t make commercially-minded decisions; that ethos is ingrained in us. You can analyse the world of streaming, or you can think about what people love. Music is their release.”

So every decision is led by the heart. Two albums was also their way of course correction.

“For a while, I’d been thinking that this would be our last album. The reason I did that is that when you’re a writer, you want a good ending. It would have been at the end of the decade, and it would have been this whole decade-long thing, and stylistically I love that.”

The only thing is, Matty loves being in The 1975 more.

“It doesn’t stop being what you get up for in the morning, regardless of whether you made a cool decision or not. That’s what ‘I Couldn’t Be

More In Love’ is about. I also thought we’re not good enough to quit yet. Have we actually done anything?”

So, of course, their first thought was “Let’s do two albums.” On the phone, Jamie went silent before he started to laugh, and that’s when Matty knew it was the only way.

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usic For Cars is their most ambitious creation yet. ‘Brief Inquiry...’ was announced before it was finished. The result is breathtaking.

‘Notes...’ was given a pencilled release date before they’d really started. “[We have] no regrets; you’ve just got to do it,” Matty smiles. “You’ve got to set yourself some standards, or you won’t achieve the things you think you could be capable of, and you’ll always

EACH 1975 ALBUM STARTS WITH A SELF TITLED TRACK, BUT THIS YEAR’S VERSION WAS ALMOST ENTIRELY DIFFERENT. AS MATTY EXPLAINS...

“There was a lot of anxiety to me in the early days of making this record. The intro to the record was written on the very last day and it turned out to be one of my favourite things on the record but it was created through necessity. We had a different piece of music, we had an orchestra record it and everything, it was this fast paced, intense, beautiful but anxiety inducing thing that was supposed to link into ‘Give Yourself A Try’. There’s always been an element of confidence or bravado with the beginning of both our records and I wanted to replace that with this angular, opposite thing. Not being sarcastic but just being really intense and on edge.”

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wonder.”

That determined dreamer who refused to give up on his band despite being turned down again and again by labels way back in The 1975’s early history, is still looking up at the sky and wishing.

“Anyway, what’s the worst that could happen?

I make a shit record?” Matty asks. “This is the thing,” he continues, before admitting: “It’s not actually relevant, [but talking about regrets] made me think about the safety of art. People will make an assumption, and they’re fair, astute assumptions, about someone like Pete Doherty who lives the way his music is, but the majority of artists don’t.

“The reason for that is because when you have a creative outlet, that’s this huge environment and a vast part of your life where you can take immeasurable risks. You do things that are so bold; you could never bring yourself to do them in your real life.

“Exercising that is good because you’re taking risks, but you’re not going to fucking hurt anyone.

I might as well go balls to the wall because philosophically, it doesn’t actually matter. I’ve always got that,” he smiles, either as a reminder or a way to clear himself some space. “That belief doesn’t stop me from making a good record though. It just means, just do it.”

Make two albums. Promise them to people.

“And not just because I said I was going to do it, but because it’s the right thing to do. Lots of things add up to why it’s the right thing to do, but it’s the right thing to do.”

“It sounds lame when you write it down,” he continues, “but you know what it’s like when you’ve got mates, and you all work at a company?

Of course you believe in what you do, and of course, you hype yourselves up.”

Hype, belief and excitement, it’s what The 1975 live for. Whenever they’re faced with a decision, they ask themselves ‘What would The 1975 do?’

“When we’ve been at our proudest, it’s when we’ve been at our boldest. It’s when we stand by ourselves and think of ourselves as The 1975.

What would that band do? What would the band that scares us a little bit do?

“It doesn’t matter that we get played next to Rita Ora on the radio, we’re still an alternative band that comes from a small town. We make pop music. We make all types of music, but our ethos is from punk. We’re snot-nosed little fuckers from up north. That’ll never change.”

On their first two albums, The 1975 wore their hearts on their sleeves and hoped other people would relate. ‘A Brief Inquiry...’ sees the band just as bare and open, but this time around, they know they’re not the only ones feeling this way.

“As you grow older and grow as an artist, you become more of a global citizen through touring, meeting more people and just learning about the world. It just becomes a more natural thing to do.”

There’s a slant to this record, it’s political, and of-the-time but the band never tell you what to think. It’s about conversations and connections, not party politics or us against them.

“I’m not in the business of being like a pope.

I’m the opposite of an evangelist. I’m not selling anything. I’m not selling a moral ideology or a leftist perspective or anything like that. I don’t have a moral high ground on anything, this record was so sincere and personal and led from the felt.”

When he felt something in his chest, he reached for the guitar.

“It was a very experiential thing. ‘Love It If We Made It’ feels like several big political statements;

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30 it’s shouted, and it’s delivered with passion, belief and sentiment - but there’s no opinion. I’m not really saying anything apart from quoting things or referencing things that have happened.

Just like a newspaper, it’s a list of things.”

But within that, the frustrated idea that “we’re just left to decay, modernity has failed us’ gives it a purpose. They’re not sitting on the fence; they want to be involved. They’re asking questions of everyone.

“When I’m talking about The Internet” - which is going to happen when you call your record ‘A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships’ - “people ask do you like it, or are you scared of it? The fact you haven’t been able to draw that conclusion is the whole point. I’m posing questions. I’m asking, is this weird? Are we all fucking doomed? It’s not we are doomed! This is weird! I’m part of the conversation.

“The fact that the subject matter is more outwards is one thing, it’s more inclusive in that way, but it’s still very ‘am I getting this right? Are these theories correct?’ I’m always questioning myself.” The thing that is special to me about ‘Love It If We Made It’, is that I speak about things, but I don’t judge anybody. Is that true? I was thinking ‘oh, you judge Donald Trump’, but I didn’t. I just said what he said; I didn’t judge anybody.”

The lines “’I moved on her like a bitch’. Excited to be indicted. Unrequited house with seven pools.”Thank you Kanye, very cool”. The war has been incited and guess what? You’re all invited,” speak for themselves. Their inclusion is deliberate. It’s never explicit, but The 1975 know what the enemy is. Rather than ‘Vote for this’ or

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‘Fuck that’, ‘A Brief Inquiry’ paints with broader strokes.

“The things that I am standing up for are things like the idea of being sincere, being true, being soppy in front of being sarcastic.

“I’ll stand by those, but I’m not going to start telling people which way they should be leaning politically. Well, I suppose I do that a little bit, but not in my songs so much. The fact that ‘Love It If We Made It’ comes from me tells you, regardless of whether or not I’m saying I believe in social democracy, it’s obvious that’s what I’m doing.

“It’s just about being outward instead of being introspective, speaking more broadly and including people in the same narrative that I’ve been talking about for the whole time. And the rest of the record is just about how I see the world, and I’m not judging anyone.”

“You shouldn’t listen to artists that much.

Artists get asked about so much stuff, but artists should be utopians. They should be idealists.

They should become part of the cog that turns to move a progressive movement into reality. You shouldn’t get the most self-obsessed subset of humanity and ask them ‘how should we run the world?’ Artists shouldn’t be answering this kind of question, but they should be talking about the subject cleverly, wittily and idealistically.

Newspapers and stuff can get boring, but music is never boring.”

With a title like ‘A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships’, the fact the world around them is all rubble and brimstone and because it stretches so far, it would be easy for The 1975 to be cynical on this record. They never are, not even for a second.

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“You can present brilliant ideas but sometimes these ideas can be challenging so you can’t be cynical, because who wants cynical art? There are enough mediums to be cynical in.”

Instead, ‘A Brief Inquiry’ manages to find an optimism in everything. They’d love it if we made it. Go on, give yourself a try. It’s encouraging people to believe and be bold, but it’s what The 1975 do best.

“The idea of making music for 16-year-old me, in a bedroom with headphones on, has always been such a vivid image for me. It’s probably so innate now; it’s not what I’m drawing from consciously. I’m not thinking about the John Hughesy thing, but I’m still doing it because it’s who I am. When I was 16, the idea of music was so experienced and so carnally felt, and it was so personal. Of course, there are people who experience music for parties and as part of the world, but for me, it was the world.”

The 1975 want connection. It means they’re not alone in this.

“It’s special to me to think that people could have a relationship with my music in the way that I did. The fact it will soundtrack lives just humbles me. I don’t necessarily mean profound moments either. It could be on in a car when someone is having an argument or in the background of Coronation Street. I love that. I love when it’s in the background of Coronation Street because Morrissey would have loved that I reckon, bleeding into culture in that way.”

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he 1975 still make music for themselves though and ‘A Brief Inquiry...’ is them making sense of THE

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- Matty Healy, The 1975

Elsewhere, there’s the spoken word peace of ‘The Man Who Married A Robot/Love Theme’, which is somehow over the top, funny, sad and poignant with every spin. The slow burn beauty of ‘I Couldn’t Be More In Love’ which dances with a surrender to emotions. The end of the world endurance of ‘I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)’, which is perhaps the most vulnerable and powerful The 1975 have ever sounded.

“My music is the best place for me to think about those things, talk about those things and try to get answers but I think about loads of things. I have mental health issues and all sorts of things, but I’m not a misery guts. There’s some good stuff out there in the ol’ world.”

“I wanted to be constantly excited and challenged by what I was doing. I wanted to denounce the majority of the stylistic things we’ve done before. Even though we were making a record, we treated each moment so delicately and wanted it to be perfect in its essence.

“I tend not to write a song about the same thing twice, just because it’s such a personal pursuit and I do it to make myself feel better and have a purpose, so I need to do other things. The main ethos of the record is profound to me, and not profound at all, at exactly the same time. The idea that all of our communication outside of face to face is mediated through The Internet is not even an interesting thing to make an analysis of.

“The iMessage you sent to find the house, the Deliveroo I’m going to get later, the Uber to the photo shoot, all communication is done on the internet. So what, right? Tell someone that 15 years ago and it’s very weird. It’s the softening of these realities.

“If you look at ‘The Man Who Married A Robot’, all I’m doing is telling a very banal story, but the fact it’s read by somebody that isn’t human feels weird and eerie. Why does it feel weird and eerie?” It’s not just because it’s a story of disconnect and loneliness, or that it reminds you that after you die, your Facebook account will still be there. “The difference between ‘Fitter Happier’ on ‘OK Computer’ when the computer talks and ‘The Man Who Married A Robot’ is that ‘The Man Who Married A Robot’ is a more realistic voice. That voice on ‘OK Computer’ was dead weird, but when you hear Siri, you don’t react anymore. They put those voices in the fucking kitchen and get them to get eggs now. If Siri had appeared on that Radiohead album, it would have been even more sinister and weird, but we’re just used to it. We’re used to all this shit. “’A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships’ is all relationships. I’m talking about all relationships that are mediated online. What does reality mean in 15 years, if this is our base reality?”

Matty is delicate about being objective because “I’m the same as everyone,” he

“FUCK YEAH WE’RE IMPORTANT. OF COURSE WE FUCKING ARE, WE’RE THE 1975”

their world. ‘How To Draw/Petrichor’ starts like raindrops in a meadow before glitching into a black mirrored rave, “love yourself, don’t take any of my advice,” it sings through distortion and technical difficulties.

‘I Like America and America Likes Me’ is just hyper-charged. “I’m scared of dying,” it starts, crystal clear and open before thoughts build up and overlap. “Being young in the city, belief and say something,” it repeats. “Would you please listen.

Say something,” it implores. There are questions about gun violence, the refugee crisis, racism, oppression, hope, protest, addiction, mortality and survival.

explains. “As soon as somebody starts going on about people being addicted to their phones, everyone’s first reaction is that it’s boring. ‘I don’t want to hear that, granddad’.

“It’s annoying to break discourse and say ‘yeah, but look you’re on your phone now’ only to be met with a fuck off. Being defensive when someone brings it up, or if someone makes a joke about it and you don’t find it funny, and it annoys you because it hits you deeply. I get it because that’s the behaviour of a heroin addict.”

“I’m never preachy. I’m never judging. I’m never going to tell people to get off their phones at my show. I remind them that if they put them down, the memory of that moment will be far more potent than a video on an iPhone, but that’s different than getting pissed off about it. I’m not pissed off at the modern world.

“There’s anger in ‘A Brief Inquiry...’, but there’s everything in there. It needs to be hopeful; it needs to be fearful, it needs to be everything I am. Insecure, cocky, fragile. I’m a modernist.

I’m not about retrogressive ideas. I love moving things forward; I love technology. I love robots.

I’m all about the future, if we get one.”

He’s hopeful though. And that’s because of you.

“I spend so much time living in my own world

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and doing my own thing; I don’t think about hope that much. I think about what I’m doing and what I can provide in an artistic context, but when I speak to young people, and especially our fans, I think if there is any hope, it’s the progressive, empowering mentality of a lot of young people that I meet.

“That’s why I feel at one with our fans. If they were 15 when that first record came out, they’re 21 now. I’ve had the opportunity to be part of these young people’s’ adolescence and apprenticeship into adulthood, and now I get to learn from them. And their attention is on me because they love me, because I was there when they were a kid. I love it. It becomes this dialogue, this exchange of ideas rather than this zero-sum thing. That’s when I feel hopeful.”

And like everything Matty feels, it’s poured into ‘A Brief Inquiry’.

“It’s all we’ve got, isn’t it? You’re into denialism or cynicism otherwise. I came out of quite a dark place and time as well writing this record, so there’s an element of hope within that, in songs like ‘It’s Not Living If It’s Not With You’. I do have hope for the resilience of humankind. I’m just not sure where we’ll end up.

“People always want to go back to things, but we need to go forward into something different,

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MATTY AND GEORGE AREN’T JUST MEMBERS OF ONE OF THE BIGGEST BANDS ON THE PLANET. THEY PLAY A BIG PART IN THEIR LABEL, DIRTY HIT, TOO. FINDING BANDS, WORKING WITH THEM AND PRODUCING THEIR RECORDS, THEY’RE AT THE CUTTING EDGE OF ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING INCUBATORS OF NEW TALENT AROUND. HERE’S WHAT MATTY RECKONS ABOUT SOME OF THEIR BEST AND BRIGHTEST...

NO ROME “He’s a genius. I found him on the internet, and within a couple of weeks, we’d moved him over. He lived with me for most of the year, working on the record. He’s just been in LA with us working away doing his stuff, too. I’m just a big fan of his music.

He has such an interesting perspective, and he’s so informed on art. It’s amazing.

I didn’t have chops like that at his age.

Being able to do everything, dress like that, sing like that, play like that, produce his whole record. We produced it with him, but the kid’s doing his own thing. He’s just an amazing artist. The fact he’s from the Philipines gives him such an interesting perspective on American and British culture. Its a really interesting, real thing and I’m honoured to be working with him.

He’s coming on tour with us. There’s so much cool stuff.”

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BEABADOOBEE “She’s this new girl, and she’s fucking amazing. She reminds me of Pavement meets The Moldy Peaches. Its all about women - the female perspective is just more interesting. These forms of hip-hop and punk and garage music, they’ve all been done before - but the female perspective hasnt. It’s why our label is like 85% women. The female perspective is so interesting to me.”

THE JAPANESE HOUSE “I discovered Amber, I bought her into the label, and me and George made her first EP. George has produced everything with her since, I’ve just Exec Produced and overseen. Her album is... she has no right making an album like that at twenty-two years old. It’s fucking heartbreaking and amazing. You see people making records of that standard way later in their life. I’m so proud. I try not to take any credit or get in the way of artists; they’re their own thing. I’m just really humbled by the artists that have come into the label.”

PALE WAVES “Me and George were involved in the first two Pale Waves songs. I love Pale Waves.

I love the purity of the John Hughes thing.

I think they’re great live and they’re really fun. The parallels are there - it’s a visual thing - but they’re probably the act we’ve been least involved with past year and a half. Not because we didn’t want to be involved, but they wanted to do their own thing, produce their own record.”

and there’s hope there because, with the unknown, there’s the unknown. We could create some utopian society if everyone got their act together. It’s not on the onus of the individual though; it’s on the onus of the powerful. If the powerful reassess what it means to be powerful, then we have a chance.

If that doesn’t happen, it’s very difficult because things are set up in the interest of the powerful. Social movements are great if they don’t interrupt that. Things like climate change and looking at green emissions, that’s all great unless it hurts the powerful.”

The 1975 ask questions through stories. ‘Give Yourself A Try’ starts by sharing some of the answers they’ve found: “Friends don’t lie. The only apparatus required for happiness is your pain and fucking going outside. Getting STDs at 27 really isn’t the vibe. Growing a beard is quite hard. Whiskey never starts to taste nice. You’ll make a lot of money, and it’s funny ‘Cause you’ll move somewhere sunny and get addicted to drugs.”

The most important lesson is to give yourself a try. Across ‘A Brief Inquiry’, the band encourages openness and connection. They don’t want divides.

“All that I know is that the only thing that’s ever going to happen is your engagement with other human beings. Everything else is just idea-based stuff. Your communication with physical beings in the real world is the only thing that’s ever going to happen. To not make that as positive, beautiful, romantic, artistic, interesting as possible, is a proper waste.

“That’s a lofty thing to say from someone who watches a lot of Netflix and loves doing fuck all and is smoking a joint during this conversation, I’m not trying to make it like a scene from ‘Gone With The Wind’, but do you know what I mean?

This is everything we’ve got, so we should celebrate that. That’s where the optimism comes from. We don’t have anything else apart from this exchange, and I’m fine with that. But we shouldn’t waste it, and we shouldn’t limit it with fear or the idea of exposing yourself.”

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rom the outside, The 1975 look like they’ve got it all figured out.

There’s precision, there are bold statements, and there’s unwavering belief in themselves. A band with such style must have some sort of master plan, but in reality, they’re making it up as they go along. They’re doing what feels right.

They’re constantly asking questions of themselves, and they trust the answers.

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as there’s a happy accident, you fucking run with it. The first thing that you need to learn if you want to be an artist is to get rid of any fear of getting it wrong. You have to get it wrong to get it right. You have to get it wrong so much.

Getting it wrong is most of it.”

Fearless, flawed and proud, The 1975 want others to be just as open. Just as vulnerable.

Just as ok with making mistakes.

“The way we’ve got to work is that inspiration won’t come looking for you. Ideas are three hours into playing the same thing on a keyboard. One thing goes wrong, or one thing slightly different happens, and that becomes your route to everything. You’ve got to look for it yourself. You’ve got to be working. Some days, you’ve just got to turn up. If you don’t turn up, it’s not going to happen.

“It’s about being there and being ready when it happens. Intellectualising and thinking will only take you so far. It’s not about making it happen, it’s about being prepared and

We’ve made an impact on young people. I see it. It’s important to me, it’s a massive part of my life, and if I didn’t believe it, I wouldn’t act accordingly. Music and bands, they were important to me so when I see that replicated in a young person, it’s immediately validated.

“If you want a more ego-based quote, fuck yeah we’re important. Of course we fucking are, we’re The 1975. We’re very important. But that’s how you have to be, right? Behind closed doors or not, you have to believe because that’s what it requires. There’s that indie mentality of acting like you don’t care so you don’t get judged for being shit, but I’ll tell you what: judge me, but I’m not going to pretend that I don’t fucking care or that I don’t love what I do.

“Of course we’re fucking important and ‘A Brief Inquiry...’ is an important pop record for now. It’s going to be an amazing moment for the label. It’s an important record for us all.”

Few bands capture the today like The 1975 do. Forward thinking but with one eye on why

and who they do this for, the band aren’t just important. They’re relevant. They’re cool. They mean something real. And they’re not done yet.

“Because of Dirty Hit, and what we’ve set up, that’s what my future is,” Matty states. “Not just making records, but working them and producing them, doing what I do now really, that’s my future. The 1975 happens when The 1975 happens.”

But their story is far from finished.

“By the time a lot of bands get to their third or fourth record, you’ve got four people trying to make four solo records. The best thing about The 1975 is that our roles are so defined, and are about facilitation and love, that I can make a solo record and it can be The 1975. With The 1975, I can do whatever the fuck I want, and we can always do it as The 1975. I don’t have any creative limitations, and I have an amazing label. The 1975 aren’t going anywhere.” P The

1975’s album ‘A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships’ is out 30th November.

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perceptive enough to know where the magic is, and then run with that because that’ll take you all the way through the night.”

The 1975 tell stories of the magical everyday.

They’ve become one of the biggest bands in the world by being honest and unafraid. ‘A Brief Inquiry’ is the next step. Every magpied piece of inspiration is fully embraced, every bold decision is celebrated, and every song explores something real. It’s a masterpiece with a lot to say. It’s why The 1975 are such an important band.

“That’s not an opinion. You can objectively quantify something like importance. It’s not like being relevant or cool. The question is if you go on the internet and you look at the amount that is said, and how emotionally led it is, if you look at the proportion of tattoos and you look through the history of the past couple of years visually with music, we’re there.

“You don’t have to like a band to admit that they’re important. We’ve made an impact.

READERS’ POLL 2018

INDIE DEMOCRACY IN ACTION! IT’S THE RESULTS OF THE

OR, ‘YES, YOU DO ALL LOVE THE 1975’

THE GREATEST BAND-SLASH-ARTIST IN THE WORLD TODAY

THE 1975

The Let’s get this on the table early on, Dear Reader. You lot love 1975. Not just a bit, either. They swamped voting for this year’s Dork Readers’ Poll across every category they were able to win - and a few they weren’t too (seriously, guys - you can’t be the best live band of 2018 if you’ve not played a show for over a year). in It’s a strong pack, though. Dork’s Band of the Year Idles come for second, while Pale Waves make up the top three. Big gold star Let’s Eat Grandma cracking the top 10 too. Nice one.

WE ASKED YOU WHAT YOUR FAVOURITE STUFF FROM THE LAST TWELVE MONTHS WAS, AND YOU TOLD US IN YOUR THOUSANDS. MOSTLY, THAT YOU REALLY LIKE A CERTAIN BAND. HERE ARE ‘THE RESULTS’.

DORK

RUNNERS UP 2. IDLES 3. PALE WAVES 4. PARAMORE 5. ARCTIC MONKEYS 6. WOLF ALICE 7. TWENTY ONE PILOTS 8. LET’S EAT GRANDMA 9. CHVRCHES 10. CHRISTINE AND THE QUEENS

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THE 1975

BANGER OF THE YEAR

LOVE IT IF WE MADE IT

Could it be anything else? The 1975’s soon-to-be-defining banger stands out as one of 2018’s greatest moments. A stream of cultural consciousness, over time it only seems to become more effective. The band’s current muse, No Rome, also makes the top three with the first track from his debut EP, ‘Do It Again’.

Somebody has their finger on the zeitgeist.

RUNNERS UP 2. LET’S EAT GRANDMA - HOT PINK 3. NO ROME - DO IT AGAIN

BEST HAIRCUT

THE 1975

VIDEO OF THE YEAR

TTY HEALY MA1975 THE

LOVE IT IF WE MADE IT

If the song wasn’t enough, the video scoops a big prize too. While Childish Gambino’s staggeringly effective cultural moment ‘This Is America’ may feel aggrieved to lose out, there’s something A genuinely affecting about the video for ‘Love It If We Made It’. it succession of recent clips from news coverage ‘and the like’, does all the talking for itself. Depressing but able to inspire the fight, it’s a video that feels viscerally alive.

Is it cheating if, over the course of twelve months, you have every hair colour imaginable? Cycling through what feels like all the hues featured on the cover of new album ‘A Brief Inquiry Into in Online Relationships’, we even set up an informal Hairwatch gthese very pages to keep track of Matty’s 50 shades of not-goin grey. Heather Pale Waves’ impressive mop holds genuine goth power, so it’s no shock to see her in second, while we presume Alex Turner’s third place is a triumph for his new closer cut effort, and not that fucking beard. Just no, Alex.

RUNNERS UP 2. THE 1975 - TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME 3. CHILDISH GAMBINO - THIS IS AMERICA

RUNNERS UP 2. HEATHER BARON-GRACIE, PALE WAVES 3. ALEX TURNER, ARCTIC MONKEYS

THE 1975

BEST LYRIC

“POISON ME DADDY”

MOST ANTICIPATED ALBUM OF 2019

NOTES ON A CONDITIONAL FORM

THE 1975 - LOVE IT IF WE MADE IT

No shocks here, then. At the time of press, those of you voting have only heard the singles from The 1975’s first instalment from Music For Cars, ‘A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationship’.

The full thing is a record so diverse and full of ideas, our mind boggles about what could possibly come next. Good luck, everyone else.

There’s no point even suggesting runners up for this one.

Before even setting the categories, we knew it would win. The provocative, spunky, so-very-now offhand quip from your banger of the year, The 1975’s ‘Love It If We Made It’ is so cheeky it’s quite possibly the most notable lyrical flourish since Alt-J wanted to lick us all like an empty packet of Wotsits. Special mention from Dork HQ for ‘It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)’’s Danny, though, who works in a petrol station (selling petrol).

We’d have thought that Bastille gig would pay better.

RUNNERS UP 2. FOALS 3. VAMPIRE WEEKEND 4. LANA DEL REY 5. SUNDARA KARMA

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ALBUM OF THE YEAR

ES AV W LE PA MY MIND MAKES NOISES Pale Waves’ pop masterpiece is a worthy winner of 2018’s Readers’ Poll - after we’d disqualified all votes for a 1975 record none of you had heard at the time of press, you tykes.

In truth, any of the top picks would have had our approval.

Let’s Eat Grandma’s ‘I’m All Ears’ felt like a redefining of the y pop boundaries, while Idles’ second full-length was genuinel capital-I-Important. Good work, crew.

READERS’ POLL 2018

RUNNERS UP 2. LET’S EAT GRANDMA - I’M ALL EARS 3. IDLES - JOY AS AN ACT OF RESISTANCE 4. ARCTIC MONKEYS - TRANQUILITY BASE HOTEL & CASINO 5. DREAM WIFE - DREAM WIFE

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BEST FESTIVAL OF 2018

READING + LEEDS

In a year with no Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds was always year. going to have the inside track on taking home festival of the A strong first showing for East London’s All Points East in its g debut year is no shock either - if you can have Lorde headlinin a second stage, you’re doing alright, we reckon. Truck is always maximum fun times - at least when the mud stays at bay - while End Of The Road deserves a special mention for the most exciting headline booking of the season, a returning Vampire Weekend.

BIGGEST SHOCK OF 2018

KANYE. GENERALLY.

Where do you start? Perhaps it’s better to not start at all. Kanye has had a, shall we say, challenging time of late. At times, it’s felt beyond the pale to even joke about. Far from ‘very cool’, his recent comments that he’s going to step back from political discourse may well be for the best, eh?

RUNNERS UP 2. ALL POINTS EAST 3. TRUCK 4. TRNSMT 5. END OF THE ROAD

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BEST NEW ACT

SPORTS TEAM We’re Really Very Happy that you, Dear Readers, agree with our assessment that Sports Team are fucking awesome. In fact, we couldn’t be prouder of a top ten that features most of Dork’s musical squad. 2019 looks good from here.

RUNNERS UP 2. NO ROME 3. THE JAPANESE HOUSE 4. INDOOR PETS 5. ANTEROS 6. BILLIE EILISH 7. SIGRID 8. KING NUN 9. YONAKA 10. WHENYOUNG

BEST LIVE ACT

ARCTIC MONKEYS

Little proved more divisive in 2018 than Arctic Monkeys’ return as lounge lizard spacemen, yet to discover the catchy indie hooks that made them one of the biggest bands on the planet. Time, though, made Alex and co’s stylistic leap make more and more sense, with their recent tour proving a triumph. Four out of five might be a bit stingy, eh?

RUNNERS UP 2. IDLES 3. PALE WAVES 4. WOLF ALICE 5. PARAMORE

FRIENDLY FIRES

BEST COMEBACK

A true comeback needs some time away - and it’s safe to say Friendly Fires took that. Firmly reaching “where the fuck are...” territory, whispers of a return were already doing the rounds back in 2016. First came the live dates, then megabanger ‘Love Like Waves’ and a summer of festival headliners. Taking it slowly, they’re a band writing the textbook on how to return without ever feeling remotely stuffy or tired.

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HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE LIST HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE

HYPE HYPE T HE HYPE HYPE

HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE

HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE

HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE

HYPE HYPE HYPE With a new year, comes the weight of expectation on a new batch of artists, thrust into the spotlight and expected to set the agenda for the twelve months ahead.

At Dork, we pride ourselves in supporting the freshest talent.

Here’s who we think will be making a noise in 2019.

DORK

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HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE 2019 HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE HYPE

BILLIE EILISH Pop prodigy Billie Eilish isn’t heading for stardom, she’s already there.

Words: Abigail Firth

W

e’re told to give Billie Eilish’s mum a ring to get in touch with her for this interview.

Pop’s latest wunderkind is on tour in the US when we grab her to say “you’re the best thing that’s gonna happen next year”, and yep, her parents are there too. Don’t be fooled by her age though; there’s a reason she’s our top tip. She sings about murdering her mates and cries black ink in her videos, and if that creeps you out, you better close your eyes for all of 2019.

What’s happening in the world of Billie Eilish?

Pretty much at the moment, it’s just tour, shows, not as much press as I’ve had before which is dope. But the shows have been really fun; we changed up the set because we only have like 12 songs out, there’s only so much you can do. I wanted to do even more, so I just wanted to make it as insane as possible, so now it’s crazy. We have this big ass spider on the stage that lights up and stuff, so it’s really dope.

That’s so cool. You’re coming to the UK next year, right?

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Mhm. I’m so hype; it’s gonna be so sick.

So how’s your 2018 been?

My year has been crazy dude, oh my god. It’s so weird it’s been like over a year since my first tour, which is insane to me. But this year has been incredible.

Horrifying, but also great. It was kind of everything, but as much as possible of everything, you know? Not like a little bit of everything, but like everything everything everything at once.

Any highlights?

A lot of the shows have been really dope. I love playing shows; I love performing. I don’t know what highlights there’ve been; there’s been so many, but so many that aren’t. I feel like what was a highlight was – my dad just shouted it from the back of the car – was Music Midtown Atlanta, which was this festival I played there which was insane, it was like 40,000 people or something. It was so much fun; it was like such a moment.

It seems like you’ve blown up more this year than in 2017.

How’s that been?

For sure. I’m still figuring it out.

It totally went over my head the first year and this year’s been like me actually getting to grips with it and seeing it for what it is, but only a little bit. It’s hard to see things for what they actually

are when it’s your life; you know what I’m saying? It’s easier to understand from another point of view, so I’m just like figuring it out man, trying to figure out what the hell I’m doing.

dream. He like moulded me into what I am. So I’ve always loved Tyler, and Childish Gambino.

There are so many, but those two – if I got to work with them it’d be over.

It feels like the way people have taken to you is kind of similar to how they reacted to Lorde when she first came out. Like everything was about how young she was, but y’know, teenage girls are good at stuff.

So some of the singles you’ve been putting out, are they part of a wider project or are they just random singles?

Hahaha true. I totally agree with that, aye aye aye. Everybody thinks it’s really impressive, and sure it is, but also like, bro there’s are some talented fucks out here at young ages, and it’s weird when it comes as a surprise to people. I don’t know – basically what I’m trying to say is, I agree with you.

Because you come from a pretty artistic family right?

Yeah, my family’s really creative, always has been pretty much.

And you’ve always written with your brother?

Yeah, we’re four years apart. He started writing when he was 12, and then I started writing when I was 12, four years later, and it was sort of like the beginning of 2015, we started writing together. We were like, we live three feet away from each other, what’s the harm? We just did it, no expectations, no ‘let’s do this to get this’ or ‘let’s get famous’, whatever the fuck. Ours was just that we wanted to, we loved it, so we did. But yeah, we’re still going, recording in my brother’s tiny ass bedroom and I love it.

He’s my best friend, so it works out pretty well.

Is there anyone else you’re working with?

To be honest, with music, it’s just my brother. The album that I’m working on doesn’t even have any features; it’s just me and my brother’s work. Just our brains. No other producers, no other writers, no anything, just us. Which I think makes it more raw.

You did stuff with Khalid and Vince Staples in the past, is there anyone else you’re desperate to collaborate with?

Dude, I have so many artists I would love to create with, but I feel like some of my favourite artists right now are actually some of the friends I’ve made, which is crazy because I get the pleasure to become friends or acquaintances with people I really look up to or like. Since I was younger, I’ve just really looked up to Tyler, the Creator, so that’d be a 12-year-old me

DORK

You’ll have to see. I’m not even gonna give it away right now.

You’ll know eventually, yes and no is the answer, I guess.

You’ve said you write in characters before – do you reckon you have alter egos?

I mean, kinda. Not outspokenly or whatever the word is. I like to write in characters a lot; it’s cool to write from the perspective of somebody or an experience that you would otherwise never be able to understand, or just to put yourself in a character. Cause it’s like creating. ‘Bellyache’ is about being a fuckin’ murderer, and obviously, I don’t kill people but to write from that perspective, to give you a little taste, it’s fun.

You’ve mentioned you dress the way you do because you like being judged…

Yes ma’am.

Do you think that idea slips into other aspects of your artistry?

Kinda. Especially with the visuals. The position I’m at right now is like, ‘how can I scare people more?’ I wanna freak people out to an extent, so I put spiders in my mouth, I put them all over me. I put black liquid in my eyes and cry it out and drink it. The stuff I’m thinking about right now and what I wanna create is like, crazy. It’s a challenge with myself, how can I freak people out more in an artistic way, that also looks dope?

You put the pictures up on your Instagram and said it was actually ink in your eyes.

That’s crazy. How did you do that, like how did you even get it to stay there?

We’re working on a behind-thescenes of that, so you’ll figure it out. It does look really fucking confusing but that shit was hella real, that shit was really in my eyes man.

It’s cool that that video was entirely inspired by a fan drawing.

I know, right? Uh man, they’re just talented kids man, I wanted to incorporate it as much as possible. And also like, that idea just blew up in my brain when I saw that picture. Immediately I

D OWN WI T H BO RI N G

was like, I need to do this.

How do you feel about all your Twitter stans?

Hahaha, it’s beautiful, dude. It’s crazy though. I don’t even have Twitter; I deleted that in fucking February, but Instagram, ever since the beginning I’ve tried my best to interact with them as much as possible and try to respond to some DMs and comment and like the stuff that they post, cause it’s like a family.

I wanna keep in touch with my family. At shows I go out and talk to them because they’re there to support you, it’s like your friends going to support you at a show, you wanna see them and talk to them and hug them and stuff, so, I love it. They keep me doing what I do.

Do you ever feel any sort of pressure, like is it weird that people your age look up to you?

No dude, I love it! Honestly, I will say like, being 16, people my age coming to my shows is so dope, like I don’t know why but it feels so right. I see older artists, and they have fans that are 14, 15, 16, and it’s kinda weird. It’s an age gap, and they’re not interested in the same kind of things, they don’t think the same things. But I’m literally growing up with these kids, and we’re all this big family, and I love it dude, I think it’s so sick.

So what’s coming for you next year?

Obviously, you’ll see next year, but I’m working on an album right now and making it as good as I can right now, but you’ll just have to wait and see. I’m on tour right now, so I’m kinda focused on that, we’re just finishing shit up.

Any favourite releases from this year?

I really liked ‘Aromanticism’

by Moses Sumney, that album was insane. ‘Whack World’ by Tierra Whack was fucking crazy, Smino is really dope. ‘Down To Earth’ is cool, this artist Crooks is sick, he has this song called ‘Dream’, and ‘Woof’, and they’re both dope. He’s so fire. I dunno dude, I listen to so much music.

Is there anything in particular you’re looking forward to for next year?

Next year is gonna be in. sane.

I can just feel it. And I turn 18 next year, so that’ll be insane too, hahaha. I’m so excited, it’s gonna be so fun, and I’m so excited to put out this album.

Ugh, I cannot wait. I’m hyped. P

k a e r f a n n “I wa ” t u o e l p o pe

- Billie Eilish

E WHAT IS TH ?

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WHY SO MANY ?

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ALASKALASKA Dreamy grooves and spiralling hooks make Alaskalaska a band perfect to soundtrack twinkle-eyed nights. After a run of unmissable live shows, the party is well and truly open for business, with the sort of experimenation in their back pocket for big stages to come.

Check out: ‘Maneater’ SELF ESTEEM After Slow Club, you wondered what Rebecca Lucy Taylor might have left to say? Turns out, there were more thrilling sounds in her backpocket than ever thought, searing with a confidence and

modern pop power that makes the next few months utterly unmissable.

Check out: ‘Rollout’

BLOSSOM CALDARONE

Witty doo-wop charm fills the sound of 2019’s rightful successor to Lily Allen’s pop crown. Expect to be clicking that play button again and again.

Check out: ‘Life Again’

SISTERTALK With no music

out, but a endless list of unbelieve live sets with a sound that smashes early 80s electronica with powerful punk - this is a reveal you need to see.

Check out: You can’t, yet. Yep, this tip is that new.

LICE Practically overflowing with intensity and vigour, these Bristolians light a fire under most - onece you click go, there’s no stopping them. Signed to Joe from IDLES label, it’s practically a certainty they’ll be knocking down doors all over next year.

Check out: ‘Little John Waynes’

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ALFIE TEMPLEMAN

Slacker-pop from a 15-yearold already doing much more than simply passing his GCSEs; young life in the suburbs has never sounded so wistful - with a distinctive voice he’s sure to delight a nation of fans.

Check out: ‘Like An Animal’

FUZZY SUN Blossoms-

approved and crafting their own sun-kissed indie-jangle that bursts with carefree abandon.

Check out: ‘Want Love’

MILK DISCO The sound of

dancing and shuffling in late-city streets, LCD Soundsystem meets South London for a band already packing a sound to truly take over.

Check out: ‘Welcome To The Milk Disco’

CLAIRO

While we were all fannying about in front of Netflix this summer, overachieving newcomer Claire Cottrill - aka Clairo - toured North American with Dua Lipa. She’s also racked up literally millions of views and listens for her various pop hits.

Check out: ‘Flaming Hot Cheetos’

THE NINTH WAVE Stadiumsized goth-pop that grabs you by the nexk and throws you into another world, these Glasweigans are the art visionairies tearing things up.

Check out: ‘New Kind of Ego’

N I LU F E R YANYA After a run of breathtaking singles, Nilufer Yanya’s take on raw and wrapping guitar-bops sets her aside from the rest.

Fusing genres together into a sound all of her own, it’s obvious why the likes of Interpol and Sharon Van Etten have snapped her up for support slots.

Constantly evolving, 2019 is set to be an unmissable one.

Check out: ‘Heavyweight Champion Of The Year’

ITALIA 90 A throwback to

decades past in one instant but uncompromisingly focused on the issues of today, their gnarly punk bite is one that refuses to let up. Expect them to be shaking down the foundations at every opportunity.

Check out: ‘Competition’

CHAI

CHAI are a four-piece from Japan who sing about female empowerment, challenging “kawai-ness” (the Japanese concept of ‘cuteness’), dumplings and fried chicken. Count us in.

They’ve just dropped their debut album ‘PINK’, and supported Superorganism on tour.

Check out: ‘N.E.O.’

C R E WE L I NTE NTI O N S

Channelling Nick Cave and cinema soundtracks, Chilli Jenson is carving his own fresh world post-Palma Violets.

Soaring punk spirit remains, but their early rich tracks suggest something altogether much warmer is in the works.

Check out: ‘Youth In Overload’

FO NTAI N E S D.C .

While much has been said about a new wave of post-punk bands lately, there’s some undeniably authentic about Fontaines D.C. Packing an Irish spit and runaway train-like momentum this is a band you have to see in 2019.

Check out: ‘Boys In The Better Land’

SEA GIRLS Indie newcomers Sea Girls were a standout from last summer’s festivals, often playing to crowds so unfathomably packed you wondered if they’d arrived in the right tent. Next up, a top 2019.

Hey Oli, how have you found 2018, then? Have you had many “woah, how did we get here?” moments?

2018 has been constant ‘How did we get here?’ moments! Playing Omeara [in London] really set the pace, and to then be playing Scala by the end of the year felt incredibly special. I don’t think when we started this band we expected to be playing 22 festivals for our first festival season.

How far along are you with your debut album?

I’d say we’re at the most exciting stage right now - we’re bouncing ideas around, and there’s so much potential in everyone’s new songs we’re just having a great time exploring them! There’ll definitely be some favourites on there too so that’s a decision we’ll be making at some point. In terms of a concrete number I’d say we’re nearly there, but maybe today we’ll write ten amazing songs and start again!

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Can you let us in on any potential titles or the like? When do you reckon it’ll be out?

A gentleman never tells... though I

can say that we’re hoping to have it out by the middle of next year.

Has working on your first fulllength thrown up any surprises, or unexpected challenges?

The main challenge is to represent where you’ve come from and to show where you’re going as well.

Our first album will set the tone for what’s to come, and we’re aware we’ve got to get it right. We want to paint a picture of Sea Girls right now but with a tickle of Sea Girls future.

YELLOW DAYS Yellow Days may have dropped a significant collection of material back in 2017 in the form of ‘Is Everything Okay In Your World’, but he’s still an artist on the rise. With a line in indie-rock that recalls the likes of King Krule, 2019 looks bright.

Check out: ‘The Way Things Change’

J OAN

Nobody does pop perfection quite like joan.

The Arkansas duo serve up tight and immediate gems, with a kinship to 80s neon-pop that beats from their very hearts. joan are a shimmering band fizzing into the future.

Check out: ‘All The Way’

Debut album aside, what’s top of your bucket list for the next twelve months or so?

“We mean business”

We want to play even bigger shows, write even bigger songs and show everyone that we mean business. P

Sea Girls tour the UK from 25th February.

- Oli Khan

R O O IND S T E P

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A L Y TH

l. it to a new leve ke ta em th e se is set to zz all year; 2019 u b g Young in ild u b n e bee Words: Martyn av . h re o la y m h s T u ch lls n te u Brighton b illie Duthie Frontwoman M

46

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D OWN WI T H BO RI N G

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KWAYE A creative powerhouse - the modern R&B tones and effortless presense KWAYE exudes makes him an artist practically demanding to be art-pop king of 2019.

Check out: ‘Sweetest Life’

DAMA SCO UT

Dame Scout are a Glasgow-viaLondon threesome who make quirky alt-pop hits while taking inspiration from high-style cult faves like Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, 80s tropes and weird late-night TV. Check out: ‘Milky Milk’

IMBIBE If Parcels opened the door to jammed-out bliss, then these lot are the next step. A glorious summer band if we ever did hear one.

Check out: ‘Touchdown’ MALLRAT Delivering straight

takes on everyday life and merging rolling streams of consciousness with subtle light pop grooves, there’s an evolution that means Mallrat’s next move is sure to be unmissable.

Check out: ‘Groceries’

HOTEL LUX Prowling with the sort of menacing outlook on life that dives right into its darkest moments, Hotel Lux shine a spotlight in their own maudeville manner.

Check out: ‘The Last Hangman’

VI O LET

The moment we heard Violet, we knew this was a band who had a punch and a half. A scuzzfilled celebration packed into four-minute wonders, there’s something truly fresh about everything they do - with more than a touch of B-Town Sound returning with a bang.

Check out: ‘Feel’

APRE London duo APRE channel some of the very best indie bands think Everything Everything, Foals - across their catchy hook-laden bops. You’ll be nodding your head and tapping your feet in no time.

Check out: ‘All Yours’ BEABADOOBEE Inking with

scene stealing kingpins Dirty Hit earlier this year, Beabadoobee - real name Bea Regner - was

TEN TONNES

H E AV Y LU N G S

Described just a few pages ago as “magic” by their best buds Idles (frontman Danny Nedelko even provided the inspiration for their tune of the same name, ‘FYI’), Bristol punks Heavy Lungs are making a racket that’s hard to miss. Top stuff.

Check out: ‘Blood Brother’

Chart topping megastar George Ezra’s little brother doesn’t need to rely on nepotism to make an impact. After a couple of years casually dropping indie bangers, 2019 will see the release of Ethan’s debut album. Working with indie royalty on the record - former Maccabees, Kaiser Chiefs and the frontman from mid 90s titans The Longpigs (ask yr parents Ed) all contributed - expect big things.

Check out: ‘Better Than Me’

BAKAR

Scrappy indie at one moment, tight clubsprinkled jams the other - what binds it all together is Bakar’s unmistakable character. It’s a spotlight on a world of clicked tapes and DIY rawness, and once you’re in, you’re hooked.

Check out: ‘BADlands’

already packing a significant online following before signing up.

Making noise with her first song ‘Coffee’, recorded in her friends bedroom, it was the first song she ever wrote on guitar. With more experience under her belt, expect big things.

Check out: ‘Coffee’

WOOZE Korean-slash-British, London based duo Wooze deal in glorious alt-pop. Part of Brixton’s Muddy Yard Collective, working from a studio in a disused builders’ depot, they’re constructing something of note.

Check out: ‘Hello Can You Go’

THE MURDER CAPITAL

While steaming with punk velocity, what makes this lot special is that four to the floor hype of danceinspired flavour. Like a blast of Irish thunder, it’s not just a band primed to rip your head off, but make you throw shapes.

Check out: ‘More Is Less’

FAR CASPIAN Far Caspian’s

dreamy indie evocations are filled with tenderness and a classic approach that elevates their songs to a distinctly special place. The Leeds trio have already supported Dork faves Indoor Pets and Whenyoung and 2019 should see them further mastering their craft and making songs to last a lifetime.

Check out: ‘The Place’

HIMALAYAS Cardiff up-andcomers Himalayas combine glam indie-pop with rock riffs to create something quite unlike anyone else around right now. They’re loads of fun, and a highlight of Dork’s First Fifty showcase precursor to 2019’s Great Escape Festival.

Check out: ‘If I Tell You’ JOJI Japan-born singer and producer Joji is really into both modern R&B, and, judging by his song titles, capital letters. Super prolific, his debut EP landed at the end of 2017, and his more recent album features buzzy collabs with producers Shlohmo, Clams Casino, RL Grime, Patrick Wimberly, and Jam City.

Check out: ‘SLOW DANCING IN THE DARK’ PSYCHADELIC PORN CRUMPETS Beaming out of Perth with big riffs and an even bigger energy, this Aussie outfit have mastered the craft of sonics that’ll leave you swooning. Think Wand or Post Animal on overdrive, and you come close to the melodic calamity this band are capable of. They even have a song about being a vegetable.

What’s not to love?

Check out: ‘Social Candy’

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F LO H I O

Steaming with vitality, South London’s Flohio is the urgent new sound of UK hip-hop.

Practically shaking down the boundaries around her, if there’s someone you’re going to see absolutely everywhere in 2019, then look no further. Visceral and bold, it’s not a case of if, but when.

Check out: ‘Wild Yout’

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YAS SAS S I N

With tunes like ‘Citizen’, ‘Social Politics’ and ‘Wreckless’, Londoners Yassassin are unafraid to tackle uncomfortable themes of self-doubt, our messed up world, and, well, social politics, with charm, confidence and enviable style.

Check out: ‘Citizen’

North Shields singer-songwriter Sam Fender pens tunes fit for the radio A-list, while raising awareness of difficult subjects like male suicide and toxic masculinity.

Words: Jamie MacMillan

S

am Fender’s had quite the year. Named on the BBC Sound of 2018 list, he has enjoyed a whirlwind twelve months that have included a successful festival season, being signed to Polydor, and appearances on both Jools and FIFA 19.

Now, the ‘Dead Boys’ EP heralds the start of another exciting chapter. All this for an artist who, in his own words, “has only been on the scene for a year and a half”.

The heartfelt truthfulness of Fender’s lyrics have struck a chord at a time where all the accepted norms of masculinity are being questioned and challenged, his tales of life in a coastal town in the North-East of England sparking countless comparisons with a certain Bruce Springsteen. But these are early days, and its clear from the very start of any conversation with him, that he is his own man.

Hi Sam, how are you?

I’m great, cheers! I was at the IDLES show last night [in Newcastle], they were superb.

You guys share a lot of similarities in what you write about?

Yeah, I got a call from the New York Times yesterday, and they were saying the same thing. Trying to probe us and go into detail, asking why I think everyone’s talking about toxic masculinity. Because it’s there, that’s why! I’m not gonna claim to be some sort of expert in this stuff; I’m a 22-year-old who’s just writing songs about things I see.

BAY WAVE S

Pals with fellow Madrid natives Hinds and The Parrots, Baywaves make tunes that are bursting with sun and good times. 2018 saw them release new EP ‘It’s Been Like’ via top indie label, Art Is Hard Records.

Check out: ‘Time Is Passing U By’

How has 2018 been for you?

It’s been fucking incredible and terrifying.

We’ve only been around for a short while, but I’ve been working at this for years now.

If someone had said to you this time last year, you’d do everything you have done, what would you have thought?

I’d be terrified. I feel like we haven’t missed a step on the ladder though, one step follows the next. It’s been overwhelming, but

DORK

D OWN WI T H BO RI N G

nothing that I haven’t been able to take in my stride. Jools was my highlight. We were on with Toots! I love that song [‘54-46 Was My Number’]. We used to sing that all the time when I was a teenager.

It felt like nobody was surprised to see you on Jools, like you’d earned it. How was the festival season?

I think we might have gigged the most out of all the bands on the planet this year. I think we did 160 shows, by the end of the year it’ll be close to 200.

How have you managed to a) have a life and b) record stuff?

Well, I haven’t! At all. I have no life. But it’s tremendous; we’ve grafted hard. I’ve cut my teeth this year, and now I know what I’m in for, it’s been good training for next year.

You’ve got some big dates to come?

It’s gonna be hectic. We’ve just put on Electric Brixton for next year, Gorilla in Manchester too. That should be fun. Australia, New Zealand and I think we’re doing Tokyo as well. Fucking crackers.

Where are you with the album?

The album’s done. I wrote too many songs; there were fifty, now there’s 17 or 18 that I need to get down to 13 or 14.

When is it likely to be out?

End of the summer, hopefully!

Will the EP tracks join it or stay separate?

Most of it will be its own thing, apart from the singles. ‘Dead Boys’ is a very important song, ‘Leave Fast’ is a personal song from back home, and it’s a solo song; I want that flavour on the album. It’s for everyone who’s not from London or other big cities. I feel like it’s the first song that really connected.

Can you tell us anything about the album?

It’s an observational album. A few more personal tracks. I haven’t really done any love songs, and I’m kinda getting worried because

everybody’s like, “Sam Fender doesn’t write love songs, because he’s fucking cool.” I have a couple; I just haven’t brought them out yet!

I haven’t got ‘love’ songs anyway; mine are about things that surround relationships, more about mental health and the damage you can do when you’re not a full person. I actually wrote a love song the other day called ‘I Don’t Write Love Songs’, but I’m not gonna release it on this album. Maybe somewhere down the line.

What about some of your other tracks?

‘Poundshop Kardashian’ is me having an existentialist crisis, we idolise people just for being famous. I used to think you got famous for either having a talent or for robbing a bank. People are genuinely becoming famous for becoming influencers. Influencers? What the fuck even is an influencer? It’s mental.

I’m not claiming to be some sort of expert who knows the answer; I don’t. I’m not smart enough. I’m not an influencer.

49

You’re obviously passionate about politics, how much of it comes out in your music?

Probably not enough. I was appalling at writing at school, horrific. But my English teacher was a total inspiration, she piled loads of time and work into me after school, and got my writing to a good standard. But I still feel like I live in this constant fear that what I have up here [taps head] isn’t getting into my songs. I feel like a load of writers are flowery with words, trying to be overly clever for no reason.

Do you feel different from other artists right now?

In my genre of classic indie music, which is what people seem to put me in, then I probably am. But I see myself as a singersongwriter like Springsteen, Jeff Buckley or even Bowie - I like to be able to have that freedom to move. In rap music, there are loads of people talking about drug addiction; there’s stuff going on in a lot of cool alternative stuff. IDLES do, but they’re a lot more hardcore. I don’t feel enough questions get asked in standard indie guitar music.

Can you believe where you are now?

No! I love it. I’m from a fucking fishing town in Newcastle. My Grandma used to get homesick when she walked a mile from the house. That’s the level of progression that my family has made. Tokyo. Fucking crackers. P

, e f i l o n e v a h “I ” s u o d n e m e but it’s tr

- Sam Fender

WHENYOUNG It’s all-go for Irish indie-poppers whenyoung. 2018 saw them play Shane MacGowan’s 60th birthday bash, tour the globe, and be tipped by U2. They’re taking it all in their stride. Words: Josh Williams.

W

henyoung are one of the buzziest bands around right now, the Irish trio’s infectious indie is ridiculously catchy, and it’s easy to see why they’re in for a massive 2019. We caught up with guitarist Niall Burns as the trio were heading for Amsterdam to play a big old show with The Vaccines.

How does it feel to have your first EP finally out?

50

Yeah, good. We’ve been so busy, and we recorded it a few months ago, so we haven’t really thought about it, but we’re excited to get a body of work out there. We’ve just been releasing singles so far, but it’s kinda good to get it out of our heads.

When the band first started, did you ever think it would actually get to this point?

Yes and no, we’ve always had a belief in the songs we were writing, we always really liked them, but we were playing to no people for a while, you know? Things in the last year really kicked off and picked up, so I think we always did have a belief but the way it’s gone recently has been crazy!

Going into 2019, what’s the number one thing you want to do?

Get our album out! We’re on tour with The Vaccines at the moment, and then we do a little Irish tour and then get back in November.

We go straight into recording our album which we’re really excited about. All the last minute preparations of songs and artwork is happening at the moment, and then that will be out March or April, a springtime release. We’re excited to get that out there, and we’re really excited about the songs. Half of it we’ve probably never played before live, we’re just super excited to get it out there.

That sounds great. If money wasn’t an object and you could do any one thing next year apart from the album, what would it be and why?

Does it have to be with the band?!

I can think of lots of things… I’m looking for back up! Andrew would go to the moon, but me and Aoife would be too scared to go. Me and Aoife would headline Glastonbury.

Andrew would be on the moon, and we’d just get a drum machine and headline Glastonbury, which we might do in the future anyway!

That’s certainly something! You mentioned the album, what else can we expect from you in 2019?

We’re touring, and there’ll be loads of festivals. We’ll have a headline tour earlyish in the year, and it hasn’t been announced yet, but we’ll be going overseas again to places we’ve never been before.

Then hopefully when the album comes out just lots more touring because we’ve done a lot of touring this year and we’re really enjoying it. We love being on the road and stuff like that and we just really want to travel as far as we can and hope people like it.

What would you consider to be the wildest moment in your career so far?

Signing a record deal was not something we expected. We always strived for it, but we always wanted to be able to do this for a living and not have to worry about working day jobs. We did it for such a long time, having to go to the studio at like 10pm after work and staying there until 3am then waking up early the next morning.

Considering the amount of buzz around you at the moment, is it hard not to get caught up in it all?

We don’t really take any notice of it, to be honest! It happens every couple of months doesn’t it, with a new band? It’s really nice people are writing about it, but when you’re in it, you don’t really notice.

We’re just concentrating on playing the best shows we can play, and

DORK

people do keep turning up which is really nice.

We just wanna get more music out there. We don’t concentrate on the buzz or anything like that; we’re doing exactly what we’ve always done when there was like literally four people at the show.

Playing enormous shows like Alexandra Palace was a bit… I dunno. It’s always been the three of us in a studio writing songs that we like and other people seem to as well, so at the moment it’s just really nice, but we’re not swept into trying to create songs that live off the buzz or anything. We’re just doing what we’ve always done.

What is the one question you’ve always wanted to be asked but never have?

Somebody said to me yesterday, I didn’t really know what he was talking about, to be honest, but he asked me what my first experience of bread was like. Now that I think about it, I would never want to be asked that! I don’t think anyone’s probably ever been asked that before and I have no answer for it either. He was French and philosophical, so I guess he had a reason for asking that I just have absolutely no idea what it was. Is that a really stupid answer?

That’s stumped us, honestly!

I’m just as confused as you probably are!

Looking into 2019, you’ve got the album, the headline tour and everything else, is there anything else coming up that you’re really excited about?

Yes! We’ve got some shows in America next year which we’re excited about and a headline tour again. I don’t know; I can’t predict what will happen next year because if you’d asked me this question at the end of last year, I probably would have said release a single if possible. This year has been insane. Hopefully it continues, and the album will pick up even more. Just going to new places and stuff is such a buzz and we did have like ambitions as a band but actually when you stop and think about it, I never really thought about like going to Paris and playing a show like we did last night. Just going to new places and meeting new people it’s just fun, it’s really nice. P

D OWN WI T H BO RI N G

STE LL A DO N N E LLY

Hilarious. Important. Ace. There are many words to describe Stella Donnelly, whose honest and captivating tales make her the sort of voice that’ll emerge to lead something huge in 2019.

Not just a marvellous songwriter, but a defiant voice needed right now - sets earlier this year suggested the beginnings about to bloom.

Check out: ‘Boys Will Be Boys’

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t u o e b l l i w “The album a , l i r p A r o h c r Ma ” e s a e l e r e m i t g sprin

H M LTD

What can be said about HMLTD that hasn’t been said before?

Reinventing and evolving on each track, their unpredictability is only matched by the guarantee that whatever they turn their hands to, it’ll be stunning. We can’t predict what’s next, but it’s gonna be magic.

Check out: ‘Death Drive’

- Niall Burns VALE R AS

Reading five-piece Valeras have been one of the buzziest support bands of recent times, notching up billings with the Wombats, Spring King, The Amazons, Fickle Friends and King Nun. They also put in an appearance at Dork’s Etc. series back in July, marking out their alt-rock tunes as ones to keep an eye out for over the year ahead.

Check out: ‘Painkiller’

DORK

RE AD D O RK. CO M

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a I went to se e of it, I th in k. hn ny Depp The volu me Jo r Fo y Ga nd ca lle d e ha rdcore ba ch an intens and it wa s su So w ith my da , y at tent ion. m d be ab gr it e perfor mance t that give s m ar s rd wa to oked is th is? ” ck I’ve always lo fu e th at “Wow, wh at I that si m ila r in spire d wh that ’s ki nd of e. moment and lik t ac n creations to wa nt my ow

w songs like, band’s first fe What were the your repertoire? are they still in y that Queen Zee ha s had

pp e I’m always ha fir st song s ar grow up, ou r ill op en s the st the chance to s st Fi y ss ayed. Si e’re st ill gett in’ pl sa me time. W ts , but at the Queen d an g set mos t nigh in rit w ith ou r song mov ing on w

S P I NbaNck a sense of playful

Bringing N are the band indie fun, SPIN row your pint to th to nt you’d wa a life-affirming in the midst of rs basement. ai set in a downst g for the stars, in m ai ly ss tle Effor of sun-laden it’s a real snap only a matter s sounds, and it’ e doors start th re fo be es tim of e weight of th th wi g lin buck jump onboard. to g in ok lo people e Me’ tic No ‘ Check out:

t exciting ink is the mos Who do you th n around right now? ia band or music the underg round is

ad s; rm s There are lo ac e. But in te onto the su rf “W hat at over flow in’ th e m n that ’s give say of somet hi ng I’d probably is? ” moment, r The fo en op the fuck is th em oked to se e th st I’m 9.

9o Ho9 Prod ig y.

What are you

working on at

the mo?

st ill albu m one is even thou gh st ar t on th is Albu m two, ad he a ’ in tt e’re ge on its way. W next ye ar. Or two re cord s one so maybe . th re e. Or four

What’s on your

bucket list for

2019?

is ye ar n. My one th a, go to Japa it. Ever y ne do Go to Amer ic e ’v we rope, and fore I wa s to tour Eu e of Ea rt h be se e a bit mor a nn wa I ar ye it. P have to le ave

lf-titled debu Queen Zee’s se .

8th February

DORK

D OWN WI T H BO RI N G

t album is out

LS IN G G IRds S W IMedM 80s wonder stan

Wide-ey who Swimming at the heart of doing that st Girls are, not ju t mastering it. bu ll, we op -p neon supporting Pale After a big run ashed sparkling ab un Waves, that th something magic fizzes wi es will be ey r ou ns ea m that eir next move. transfixed on th eath You’ en ‘B Check out:

STEREO HONEY W ith tunes taking inspiration from the lofty ideals of poetry, through to hot topics such as toxic masculinity, London foursome Stereo Honey are heading into 2019 with some top-notch indie crooning.

Hey Stereo Honey, how’s it going? Have you had a good 2018?

We’re good! 2018 has been pretty epic. We’ve done some amazing shows and got to play in some incredible places along the way.

The year’s been a bit of a mad blur.

Your ‘What Makes A Man’ EP is great, how did it come together?

We’re really proud of the EP. We spent a long time writing and putting tracks together that we felt worked well alongside one another. We found ourselves exploring ideas and themes that were quite personal and initially quite intimidating to talk about, but we’re really proud of the

result.

Do you have much new music in your locker at the mo?

We’re in hermit mode at the moment, holed away writing for next year. Expect new tunes on the horizon!

Is an album on the agenda for 2019?

Hopefully! We’re focused on demoing and writing and putting something really special together.

SALTWATER SUN

Is there anything else you’re especially looking forward to doing next year?

From the moment we first saw Saltwater Sun, we knew there was something different about them. A full-on force that comes right from the gut, they’ll guarantee an amazing show to talk about to all your mates, even if you’ve never heard of them before. With a huge yer of shows under their belt, 2019 is when the gears truly shift Check out: ‘Hot Mess’

It’s got to be festival season for sure. Can’t beat it.

What do you think will be music’s most important job over the next twelve months or so?

Music brings people together. As long as it keeps doing that, then it’s doing its job properly.

Anything else we should know?

We read online yesterday that bees can smell with their knees.

Just thought we should share. P

DORK

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S T R SPO M A E T lity big enough a n o rs e p a h it dw ec t tic on record an s ta n fa , ll be 2019’s perf e e v w li t ld n u o c m Brillia a e T y space, Sports illan s: Jamie MacM to dominate an to o h p + s rd o awaits. W band. Wembley s.

54

,” he procla im ju st be soaked er ing, and at one who iv th sh S, s BT wa e of e “H r to M aybe on e? ” get hi s brot he m to ith ey n w th Be st n g Li he be gg in is on the Hot interje ct s, s Al nd ,” ba at g r co bi he a a ot play fetch hi m hi m There may be t Ol i rem inds t few are like gig, some wh ile ba ssis in s gr e on the lis t, bu Th . ue ed bl of the bands that he tu rn W hi le much s . is ce f fa th ’ el rs its membe splash out ic sc ene finds on the ba nd cu rrent mus n’t ever ate do st e ey y th th nc at at fa h th a on te et su gges t su ffer gr indi ng its s, se ei ng Alex ts Te am are re al ly m ind be some flower ay e world, Sp or m th , ht of op ig dr br e ck th ba to lo ok on to o much. more items on determ ined ala. perhaps a few Team built gonna And then, Sc e. “I f you’re lif ts of or e Sp . sid er ay the rid s incred ible, to music, and pl k wa d t ar an “I sh t ar hé e âc ak m lif ting,” a papier-m how the nt it to be up I now know ng out Scala. If gigs , you wa celebrate selli ify their spot fe el,” “It ne ed s a t it. us m es n se ee ex Qu st is how Al that doesn’t ju of 2019, then wa s t “I , .” ex or Al ct says st fe el-goo d fa of on our Hype Li coronation. ng a bu sload a ki e ta lik e nc Si ? a day what does se ei ng ju st M ar gate for For us , af ter ng rele as ed fa ns dow n to De spite havi ame nd, su m mer, it Sh ha e is re th lik fo e s id be nd s as ba song by the se t’ ove the ba nd. a ha nd fu l of r en m fo D om op LT ‘m st M er nH and a prop ha s be en no C end e BB it cons tit uted t e th bu s th wa on nd t up, th is London ba A he ad line slo & for the Wes t d of play ing e at Re ad ing y to ag el rio st pe lik g s a in of em uc se Introd or t it is one that on d, before supp pubs .” eppi ng stone Le ed s followe ng and be a mere st Ga If s. ic ht ag ig M e he r Th te ea ith w gr ts to er slo th gh pa hi thei r or ts d them even ye ar that Sp H inds grante , 2018 wa s the een, of cour se unce d tw no be an ly In . nt le profi Te am confide s it al l? rld, wa w wo er ho id So w a. e to th wa s Sc al them selves shou ld amaz ing, we the ye ar that “Readi ng felt then 2019 is d,” is Alex ’ d. ou is e fu lfi lle were re al ly pr se e the prom r dr um mer Al fo in ile nd wh ba t, e ic verd Meeting th u pt it wa s like “a , om e) pr tiv im na s r an (a Le ed Greenw ich fo The si nger g l”. lin tt va se vi before te enage re photosho ot , at e set, af ter ch th a e r se ca l pub fo wa s luck y to g dow n in a lo n w su do says) fferin ex Rice gets (bravely, he frontman Al tia l final day “A re . en ay rr to aw e ht th ig h ra th roug to bu si ne ss st of Re ad ing. hy pe d ba nd dow np ou r at t, then we the mos t ?” rs gonna get we ot he re e u’ er yo th f e “I ar 2019? Or o wh t na mes of Th row ing ou gly, on the lis t (U be ld ou sh se el i, id M k ac en, Bl Squid, Su nk ei r p Blom are th Sorr y and Pi point out do ey th gh tip s - thou e 19 75 nd ca lle d Th that some ba lk Ta . g) in m ar co have a big ye as y ba nd s nt fa to s rn then tu g go od-lo ok in - “W ho’s the d, ee St t No e? one in Sham , e,” says Alex the fu nny on r five put thei r he ot e th wh ile nd s. ha in s ad he colle ct ive a Va n ne from Gret “Plu s someo t fu n. ea gr e lik ok Fleet, they lo

W

55

s.” rate tour bu se travel on sepa a sepa rate ve ha ia to u ed yo m the so cial “We’d love .

Dom inat ing ark, the Al in st antly ta le s of the sh one,” repl ie s g on ith w es av e M rw ai et ta lk of putt in ‘L ’s en ie ev bb e’s Ro er Th ent in g on to a two- day ev r , ba nd com in ei al th iv st ed fe ifi n thei r ow u’, it solid t es Entert ai n Yo gh . hi on e an ac t of th cent ra l Lond br ing reputation as gly, 2019 w ill Ju st as excitin rd. co re l. t ia bu nt de te at po wa s music and th y and night w da ne e of l ol ny wh vi e “T he le -A sid n,” laug hs sold Fi rs tly, a doub ic, so much fu t Along’, on ly fuck ing mag s at one poin and ‘We Get r’ ou pe rv as ne y ‘C el Hol m Front n e ow th r t ei ou Al. Genu in th ll on se r they could at live show s nt side ab out whet he ent a di ffere a di fferent time, it wa s bel, w ill pres la ow rent ly sh pa by ap e, r venu The latte to the ba nd. , wh ile the ss ce ra stor y. rg offi x pe bo Su e g w ith th sounds like melod ic “I wa s ar gu in s off a more time, we former show before st age es ut in m e fiv says qu al ity. ever yone in!” superne d at couldn’t get t a we ek w ith g gs , st ill st un ag Hav ing sp en Kn b Ro t ey are work in th id gu ita ris Re e rk cc es s. produc er Bu e for thei r as “I . le re on the show ’s su er ed m ck m the pa rt y ki towa rd s a su they are Af terwards , m itt ing that ys st ra ig ht bu m, Rob ad t for th re e da al ou e. It is s ag wa st I s k he th in the ba nd ng touc ar, at the fin ishi laug hs Alex , the ry exciting ye r ve fo af terwards ,” a ne be La to k shaping up mp on Br ic ere is no sig n th , at th sett ing up ca nd yo and even be tisfie d. du ration. e tions being sa d at 2019, th of thei r ambi us sion sc di us Lo ok ing ahea serio a UK “We’ve had a nt inue s w ith ey for th re e e bl th excitement co em of W lf g ha in st in the fir ab out bo ok e wa nt to he ad line tour says Alex . “W e ba nd make ye ar s’ time,” as se ei ng th rt h.” wo eb Kn ly g ite in ye ar, as well fin ie do SX SW. “It’s de be like Robb g tape at in t ck bu ba de a r ei th e,” ead of r us to be ther Perhap s in st fo w ith e up tim d en ht the rig d, they ’ll m mer of th is time roun fore a bu sy su pp or t slot. su a says Rob, be in lf se s off. the man hi m w ith th is fe st ival s kick we do, su rpris e you th ing would anchor s what No I’d “Playi ng live houg h .P ile s Alex . “T Sp or ts Te am and we love it,” sm ke s one day ro St ll fu go love us to

DORK

D OWN WI T H BO RI N G

rious e s a d a h e ’v e W “ ut discussion abo for y le b m e W g in k boo ” e im t ’ s r a e y e e thr - Alex Rice

Sports Team’s

bands to watch in 2019

U G LY

With crooning vocals not miles from King Krule, here’s a band building on a scene around them. Packing variety across guitar-swept tracks, Ugly have the potential to write their own place.

Check out: ‘Emphysemea’

SQ U I D

Wobbly punk doesn’t sound like a good description, but Squid are exactly that.

Like the mad professors, they can jump between screaming refrains and fuzzy synth jams in no time.

Check out: ‘The Dial’

HAI KU HAN DS

Cherry-picking from the best in pop sounds, Haiku Hands can’t be pinned down. Like a jukebox full of styles, it’s an eclectic pop party we’ll all be having a ball with next year.

Check out: ‘Squat’

57 SO R RY S U N KE N

Popsters Sunken - led by teen singer Poppy Billingham accompanied by two Finns and a Jonah - made waves earlier this year with their woozy single ‘Swoon’ picking up buzz in all the right places.

Check out: ‘Swoon’

B L AC K M I D I

Rightfully one of the most talked about new bands in the country, Black Midi rail against what’s expected with furious live shows and scratching math-punk.

Check out: ‘bmbmbm’

Pushing at the boundaries of what a band can be, the Londoners’ sound feels like they’re embracing where a generation sits in 2019. Offkilter and distinctly individual, expect to be surprised as they follow up two superb mixtapes with a hotly anticipated debut album.

Check out: ‘Starstruck’

TH E N I G HT CAF E PI P B LO M

Weaving together walls of sound while keeping an undeniable lo-fi hook, there’s a lot more lurking ready to spring into action. Pip Blom’s gritty yet refined catalogue is ready to dazzle.

Check out: ‘I Think I’m In Love’

TH E 1 975

Never heard of them, mate.

Check out: Are they they ones that did that ‘woah-oh woah-oh’ song?

DORK

RE AD D O RK. CO M

The Night Cafe have been building up to their debut album for what feels like forever, but 2019 should see it finally arrive.

With indie pedigree not up for debate, the Liverpudlian four piece seem intent to prove it was worth the length wait.

Check out: ‘Felicity’

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O

n Rina Sawayama’s debut EP, released little over a year ago, she fused the joy of early 2000s pop with a more political and future-forward outlook. We caught her at the end of her first tour, and with almost all of this year’s wishes coming true, she’s prepping for a massive 2019. She’s no ordinary superstar.

Hiya Rina, how’s life?

I just finished tour, so I’m knackered. I feel like I’ve been touring a lot, but I love it, I love it so much, it’s like my favourite part of it, so I like instantly miss it, but I’m really tired.

How’s 2018 treated you?

It’s been absolutely crazy; it’s been really mad. It’s gone so quickly.

Even compared to the beginning of this year – it’s only been a year since I released my EP and I’ve

Words: Abigail Firth. done so much, I don’t even know where to start.

What’s been the biggest change for you since that came out?

I guess I was able to do music full time. Before I was doing two part-time jobs and making ends meet, but now I’m able to focus on the music and really fine-tune my songwriting and collaborate with some exciting people, like cool people who’ve got in touch directly. And because I’m doing this without a label, like the tour and everything I haven’t received label support, it’s just been me and my team killing it. Every single person on the team has just smashed it; they’ve been working so hard.

You funded the EP yourself, right?

Yeah, I saved up. I didn’t receive any help from my mum or anything either, haha. I had to prove to my family that I was taking this seriously so I didn’t

DORK

wanna ask them for help, I just did it all myself, I worked my butt off and saved up. Just kind of beg, borrow, steal in the beginning, did everything on the cheap. I recorded everything in my bedroom, and now I’m kind of annoyed because now I’ve been in sessions and stuff I know how you record stuff properly. My room isn’t treated for vocals so I can’t mix it properly. I love my EP still, I’ve just learned a lot since then.

A lot of your lyrical concepts are super fresh, is it important to you to do something different to the usual in pop?

I just really want my identity to be there in the songs, and to me like a lot of things are still political, and I find it hard to write a straightforward love song, still. So my next single is about – hate the word, but – it’s about empowerment, and it’s taken from when my primary school teacher couldn’t say my surname.

I remember when she was taking

D OWN WI T H BO RI N G

the register, and I remember being so embarrassed I asked them to just say my first name when they said the register, because they’d just butcher my second name. I only remembered that recently and it is a conscious decision to put my surname in my stage name, I mean it is my real name obviously, but I didn’t wanna just call myself Rina. It was important that that part of my identity was always present, so I wrote a song about that. But it’s also a wider message of remembering who you are, even though for me it’s specifically about my name.

Do you think the influx of, say, more queer pop artists is making it easier for those lyrical themes to come through?

It’s just reflecting what the kids are like these days. When I was young, just the understanding of LGBT people was completely different, and of course, gender is so, so different. Artists have always reflected what’s going on

“I’m doing this without a label, it’s just been m me and my tea killing it”

a - Rina Sawayam

grassroots, and I do think it’s to do with trends as well. The whole world’s not the most welcoming place for LGBT people, or any marginalised group really, and artists always respond to that to facilitate, to create a safe space for people who are marginalised.

In a similar vein – you’ve mentioned before that some of the reason you went independent was because labels didn’t have another Asian pop star to model you as – do you think the popularity of K-Pop is changing that?

In a weird way it’s all sprung up at the same time. I’ve followed BTS since about 2013, right, and they’ve just in the last year exploded worldwide. But that coinciding with Crazy Rich Asians coming out in the same year and Sandra Oh getting an Emmy for Killing Eve, the representation is just going up.

It seems like it’s all at the same time, but everyone’s been struggling. When one sprouts, another one starts sprouting.

The industry’s not just there to be like ‘lol’, it takes a lot of people to invest in you financially, and as a fan, so they wanna see a prior example of someone like you succeeding, and now there are so many people like me succeeding, which is fantastic.

The understanding of what I’m trying to do as an artist has become much better. The fact that BTS can sell out two nights at The O2, and all their songs are in Korean; it’s massive. It is all changing at the same time; I just happen to be part of it. I was watching an interview I did a year ago, and I was like wow all of these things have kind of come true in the past year – obviously there’s still a lot to go.

So who were some of your favourite artists growing up?

I loved Kylie; I loved Aliyah. I was even watching Atomic Kitten a minute ago. I loved the Sugababes; they’re like the UK ones. I was so obsessed with Kylie, I still am. Just the way she was able to combine fashion and music together was incredible.

I loved Avril Lavigne and The Bravery and stuff. Obviously, I was into Japanese music, like J-Pop. But yeah I was like obsessed with Kylie, and Britney and Justin Timberlake, all that.

Just pop. Anything produced by Max Martin and Neptunes as a child, I was obsessed with.

So glad you mentioned Sugababes. Everyone talks about the Spice Girls, but Girls Aloud and the Sugababes like, changed music in the 2000s.

Yeah, they’re so good. Sugababes especially, like the fact that Mutya, who’s an Asian woman, was like the lead singer is like incredible, she’s so rad.

What were some of your favourites from this year?

Ooh, I loved ‘1999’ by Charli XCX. Christine and the Queens – I just love everything she’s doing, I’m trying to get to her gig when she comes. I really love RM’s new mixtape – he’s like the lead singer of BTS, who’s releasing like more niche indie stuff. Troye Sivan’s album I loved, Mitski’s ‘Nobody’ was such a great record.

She shouted me out as well, I literally died. She tweeted me like “this is incredible”, and I was like omg I’m gonna die. Did ‘Pop 2’ come out this year? No, that was last year. Oh the A Star is Born soundtrack! I haven’t seen it yet, so it’s probably like a spoiler.

Oh and ‘Sweetener’. The Carters’ album was insane; they released it like the day I saw them. I really liked Dua Lipa’s ‘Electricity’ as well. So good. So much good music this year. P

IDER

Smooth pop sensations, IDER are set to bless 2019 with an album to soothe all woes.

L

ondon duo IDER have spent 2018 working on their debut album, a record that will no doubt be full of vibrant, take-onthe-world bangers, unafraid to challenge both ‘the state of things’, and the band themselves.

Hey Lily and Meg, what are you up to today?

We’re sitting in our kitchen talking about tuna. We just got back from Paris having played Pitchfork Festival last night.

We hear you’re working on your debut album, how’s it going?

You heard right. It’s going well, thank you! We’re very much absorbed in the creative process at the moment, mostly at home in North London where we live together. Also, love being in and out of the studio - we’re working with some great producers who are bringing so much life to the process. We’re challenging ourselves, and it’s both tough and invigorating.

Is your new single ‘Mirror’ a good representation of what you’re working on at the mo?

Absolutely! In terms of our songwriting and our identity as a band - it’s very much part of this chapter.

What would you most like to achieve with the album?

We want the album to be honest, vulnerable, empowering and to connect with people all over the world.

In what ways do you think the record will encapsulate 2019?

We are writing our album from the very honest perspective of two young women in their twenties right now - we talk about everything with each other... growing up, heartbreak, mental health, love, sex, friendship, families, the world we’re living in etc. We want to share these conversations with the world, and we think this is what 2019 should sound like.

Do you have a ballpark idea of when you’d like it out?

Spring.

Who else do you think will be ‘ones to watch’ over the next year or so?

Grand Pax and Suzi Wu are great female artists that we are excited for!

Anything else we should know?

We are doing our first headline UK and EU tour in February / March 2019 - can’t wait! You should know that you should get tickets. P

PIZZAGIRL He’s not a pizza. He’s not a girl. He is rather good at this ‘music’ thing.

P

izzagirl isn’t a pizza. Or a girl. Instead, he’s Liverpool bedroom popster Liam Brown, a lovely chap who is dropping his second EP ‘season 2’ on 30th November.

We caught up with him to find out more about what to expect.

Hi Pizzagirl, how’s it going? Had a good 2018 so far?

Hey my guys! I’m doing very well tysm! I’ve had a pretty cool 2018 so far, I had a chance to play a lot of steamy and special gigs in the ol’ UK and Europe and released some of my bedroom beats into the world! I made some juicy friends along the way, I also shaved all my hair off and ate a lot of pizza pie.

What or who inspired you to get into music?

When I was a Pizzachild I always had a strange love for the music in adverts (especially car adverts) and that coupled with the 80s soundtracks I used to listen to on the way to school in the car with my mamasita would maybe make an expert therapist say that it planted the seed for me to want to make some beats of my own! I also just really like music too which probably helps!

What was the music scene like in Liverpool while you were growing up?

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Growing up in Liverpool you can’t help but be drowned in Beatles music most of your childhood/teen life by family and friends etc. so I think that may have rubbed off on many of the creative people who make music in today’s scene. The music landscape is a lot broader now.

How did you go about putting together ‘season 2’?

‘season 2’ is a bit of an ode to all the sonically cheesy and tacky flavours from 80s/90s films that I’m into! I sent a lot of music to my label masters, and we filtered them down to a collection of tracks that had a nice blend of throwback sounds with some modern electronic twists in there! It’s worked out quite nicely.

What else are you working on at the mo?

I’m trying to keep my lanky body as active and as shredded as possible! I’m working on some festive musical treats for the Christmas season for y’all and also working on making the live shows as fun as they can be in time for the December tour rock star shows which I am extremely keen on playing!!!

You utilise a lot of 80s/90s imagery, do you think you’ll eventually move on to a different aesthetic or is this ‘the one’ for you?

As much as I love the 80s/90s imagery, it’s healthy to always be on the lookout for new roads to cruise down creatively. It keeps it fresh for everyone if there’s a nice evolution to the aesthetic of Pizzagirl, I’m always down for changing looks and styles and trying out new beats and eras, why not!!

TH E R EG R ET TE S

Los Angeles trio The Regrettes are top purveyors of punky, hookfilled bangers. Former touring pals of SWMRS and Sleigh Bells, they made their debut turn on Reading & Leeds’ Main Stage earlier this summer.

Check out: ‘Come Through’

What’s on your bucket list for 2019?

I’m looking forward to flop into another year as Pizzagirl and hopefully make some new friends and travel to different countries and play some rock star shows to new faces in new cities and maybe serve out some more tunes too! Trying some new exotic pizza flavours and dying my hair blonde could be a bonus box to tick off! P

Pizzagirl’s EP ‘season 2’ is out 30th November.

DORK

D OWN WI T H BO RI N G

TO UTS

Derry’s TOUTS have spent their short time together supporting the likes of laddish legends Liam Gallagher and Kasabian, releasing pissed-off-at-theworld tunes like ‘Go Fuck Yourself’ and ‘Rip It Off Me’. Their new EP ‘Analysis Paralysis’ is out now.

Check out: ‘Go Fuck Yourself’

M I A F THE Pop rock’s

T

19. ake a noise in 20 m to y ad re e ar next big thing

t he Faim are se to become one of the biggest new names in rock over the next year. The have already Aussie group e likes of Pete th ith w d worke their debut EP Wentz, and withrse’ having just Cu ‘Summer is a huge headline landed, and a r the new fo d ne an tour pl em in the UK year (catch th ary), they’re nu from 25th Ja to keep an eye definitely ones sh Raven fills Jo on . Frontman us in . ’s it going?

Hey Josh, how your debut EP ve ha to d Excite out? great than ks

it’s great e song s and to he ar thes and we ed en pp ha ly that it’s final tion. ac re od ch a go have had su

s going Hey guys , it’ fin itely, I’m De . ng ki as r fo have te d to final ly ci ex y el ex trem e’ve be en W t. ou EP t ou r debu r pe ople long time fo wa iti ng for a

ic ts of new mus Do you have lo the mo? in the works at y we do. We’re

to sa I’m plea se d usic ing on new m always work the in be d ul whet her it wo ve ju st the road. We’ st ud io or on LA in s ek we le of sp ent a coup ing, and we’re rd co re d an w rit ing at ’s cite d ab out wh ex tremely ex . re tu fu e to come in th

g any of it on Will be you airintour? g in m your upco be. The new

w ill We defin itely be en w rit ten have ve ha we s song nd, ba e th r ut ion fo anot her evol ng we hi et m so e and they ar t. ssionate ab ou re al ly fe el pa

pe with How do you co a long time on ch su spending the road? d ng fr iend s an I th in k ca lli ju st al ly help, or re n ca fa m ily lk and wa ul ef ac pe ta ki ng a e time doing enjoyi ng alon the fferent from di ng hi et m so

DORK

ine is a ever yd ay rout sa ne. ay st to y wa nice , I live st ne ho But to be road e th for being on show s and play ing so it’s ever y night, ther ra g in more liv . than copi ng

re Is there anywhe g in m co up on your tour you’re ing especially look g? tin si vi to d ar rw fo d to

“An album is in the works, it’s looking promising for 2019”

cite I’m re al ly ex rmany. go back to Ge we have The supp or t e ha s re ceived ther vable, lie be un be en and it to go back and I ca n’t wa more ns fa e th ve hopefu lly gi t. ssionate ab ou song s to be pa

- Josh Raven

g plans for Do you have bi 2019? et ty rld tour is pr r fir st ever wo

Ou y that we’re so happ y hu ge for us; d we ca n’t sa an is th do we get to enou gh ns fa r ou to than k you , an po ssible. Al so for mak ing it s it’ d an s, rk e wo albu m is in th for 2019. P g in is om pr lo ok ing

RE AD D O RK. CO M

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rmind, Rome te s a m e v ti a re c t Dirty Hit’s lates debut EP and is h g in p p ro d 018 e’ll Gomez spent 2 1975. In 2019, h e h T s te a m l e helping lab Firth. d. Words: Abigail rl o w e th r e v o take

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M

atty Healy’s protégé/righthand man/ newborn son of has had a hell ng ki Ta . ar ye a handle his Instagram wide) literally, ld (@noromewor g about all over in tt je en be his he’s ting music and the place crea erse. He’s in LA iv un al own visu e e 1975 when w helping out Th ’s working on he catch him, but o, and there’s way his own stuff to e EP coming. on more than the out in LA? What’s going on ing-wise with cord Currently, re been ne, but I have the EP, not do ot her EP an g in do recording. I’m some yna get out at which I’m tr point.

xt year?

This year or ne ar. I don’t think

xt ye Hopef ully ne ish it up gh time to fin ou en ve I’ll ha for this year.

First things fir for you?

st, how’s 2018

r you gs changed fo How have thin e out? m since the EP ca st to know,

ys the la Well, I’m alwa s doing found out it’ e I’v w no t bu cept ion of The kind re pret ty great. ly inspiring st ne ho s wa that I got ing a ore like mak as well; it’s m just a t no , le op r pe statement fo people e lik , ic og raph certain dem e craf t. And th y jo en st ju who ca n to doing ing forward now I’m look t work ing ar st to d an e more and mor proper on it ng d putti the album an s like el fe EP r me, the plat forms. Fo fore going be nd ou gr a bit of a play sually ue s. Even vi to the big leag to a t ge to e tr ying now, its mor e I wa s able us ca be e, ac certain pl s met hing I wa to deliver y so IP ‘R ith w d fie tis thorough ly sa so I thin k it’s i’, sh isa H Indo nt a be a stag na always gonn ally su vi g in ow proces s, gr ly as well. and musical

been

t. It’s s been a blas Honestly, it’ ting out ar st e m e lik just kind of and I’m out some ar t, and putting ar and ye xt ne ard to look ing forw nd ki l al is g. This what ’s comin od place in go a to up g of buildin alms of rms in the re certain plat fo I’m at th t tis ar of being the kind ing. h is a good th ic wh , be to tr ying w ith Dirt y t ou e m ca The first EP s st ill wa s great, it’ Hit, and that ich is wh es ac pl ng to kind of getti e. exciting for m

rd the You got to reco ad as Ro y EP at Abbe that well, what was like?

ended It all kind of these up just having felt tracks that we if we od go be d ul wo of e ac sp a did it in e Abbey somet hing lik s luck y Road, and I wa well. t in there as ge to gh ou en orge ea ly] and Ge [H ty at M g d Hav in lp produce le he to nd ou [Daniel] ar e we were lik ow kn u yo to that point, d that we a certain soun tr yna get to it ended w ho ’s at . So th all ag reed on

DORK

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up in Abbey Road. I recorded most of the final pieces there, while everything else was done in my old bedroom in London or Matty’s kitchen. It’s kind of me accepting a process, and I can do these things, and I can sit down in a studio and finish it how it’s supposed to be, while I like being in certain spaces and designing the sound in places that I feel comfortable in.

Do you find it easier to work in a studio or your own home? Or is it just a different experience?

Honestly, I love working in creative spaces. I love the studio because you get hardware equipment, that’s the best part, but I love being in my own creative space because it’s much more honest to be able to make and write music that way, and it feels sort of like, it doesn’t wear you down to thinking like ‘ugh I’m working’, and you get tired of being in the studio. As long as it makes you feel comfortable, that’s how the honest art comes out.

Last time we spoke, you were off to Japan to film a video.

Which one did that end up being?

That was for ‘Do It Again’.

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How do you come up with all the ideas for your visuals?

I write with the intention of seeing the visuals along with it. While I’m producing the instrumental, I’m already thinking about what part of the day it would be to listen to the song, so it kind of starts off like that and it progresses as I write the song. As I finish the song I probably have an idea of what the song would feel like visually. That’s kind of how it worked out with ‘Narcissist’. I had ideas already of what I wanted it to be, but as much as it was a collaborative thing, I still, of course, wanted to give Matty his part of the visual side too. We were able to create that tiny universe with the design for the video.

Totally rate the boyband dance routines in that one BTW.

It was fun to just recreate and commemorate all these boyband ideas, especially the very 90s style, like the dancers in the back and me and Matty performing in front of the camera. It just felt like a natural thing, living the pop dream.

Do you reckon you’d do a visual album?

That’s what the album is gonna be. That’s why I’m not trying to force myself to finish it yet, because it would have to take a bit of time, especially with

the ambition of what I’d like to achieve. I feel like with that comes a bit of time and practice so I’ll be able to nail it the way I want it to be.

Have you heard of synaesthesia?

You mean the thing that you like, acquire mentally?

Yeah, artists like Lorde and Pharrell have talked about having it; like when they’re making music they see it as colour.

Yeah, as I was growing up someone had to point it out to me, because I didn’t know what it was, and when I got to high school, that’s when people started being like, ‘oh have you heard of synaesthesia, where people hear colours?’, but I don’t know. I guess some people actually suffer from it, and I’ve heard it can amplify peoples’ OCD – which is really common but underestimated disorder – but I’ve been in a lot of relationships with people who have it who’ve spoken about synaesthesia, and I guess that’s why I don’t claim to have it.

Have you ever listened to records just because you’ve liked the visuals?

that. I keep saying I’m excited but that’s just how I feel about stuff coming together. I’m about to head back to London now to start rehearsing, so it’s gonna be me actually playing stuff and just dancing on stage, being myself as much as I can.

Take it you’ll be debuting some new material then?

Yeah, for sure. And I’ll probably be playing some old songs as well, some old stuff that I had that’s probably around on the internet.

It’ll be fun.

Someone said ‘TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME’ is ‘Narcissist’ sped up – is that true?

It’s not ‘Narcissist’ sped up, but there’s a bit of a part from ‘Narcissist’ that’s used, because I kind of love making my own sounds, so I used a bit of a tail from ‘Narcissist’ to get the sound that’s in ‘TOOTIME’, and it worked. If you can hear the part, that’s a good ear!

What were some of your favourite releases this year?

Honestly, Hereditary was amazing, but that’s a movie release. Right now I’m

Yeah, that’s pretty much how I discover my own music outside of like friends telling me ‘check this band out’. On a more personal level it’s like ‘oh this looks like it could be a good album’, and if it’s not a good album, I’ll just have it in my room to show my friends like ‘this could’ve been a good album, but the album art is better than the music’.

So, you’re touring next year, opening for The 1975. How are you feeling?

Quite excited really. Looking forward to it. Next year is gonna be really fun, plus The 1975’s album is gonna be great as well.

It’s gonna be a big first for me.

Is this your first ever tour?

Yeah, I’ve played shows, but I’ve never toured before.

Jumping in at the deep end, straight in with the arena shows.

Yeah, it’s big! But it’s gonna be exciting. I’m kind of excited to see some people who love my craft, in the flesh.

The whole Dirty Hit family are out – you, The 1975 and Pale Waves. How’s the live show shaping up?

I’ve started working on it. It’s gonna be great because I’ll be bringing something with me to signify No Rome as an art project, so I’m really excited to unveil

DORK

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buzzing about King Nun, and it’s not because we’re on the same label, Theo’s a good writer, he’s excellent. Looking forward to the stuff that I’ve been working on with The 1975 to come out, that’s gonna be a good release. ‘RIP Indo Hisashi’ was a good release – nah, that’s a joke. Lil Uzi Vert album was pretty good. Did it come out this year? ‘Luv Is Rage 2’. And the Chief Keef album that came out, ‘Mansion Musick’.

What are you most looking forward to next year?

I’m excited for tour, I’m excited for merchandise, because I’m also hands-on with merchandise, started that about two months ago. EPs dropping next year.

Proper peace in politics, because right now everything’s at stake.

Brazil, Philippines, UK, America, so it needs to come to a stop. P

JAD E B I R D

Having already popped up on TV screens both here and in the US, there’s no question that Jade Bird is about to become the ‘next big thing’. Roaring with ease, that earnest storytelling dealing with big themes and even bigger choruses mean that your parents will be asking in no time about her.

Check out: ‘Uh Huh’

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e h t g n i v “Li ” m a e r d p po

GENTLY TENDER

Combining members of Palma Violets, The Big Moon and more - Gentley Tender have the expansive sounds and technicolour pedigree to shine brighter than most. Early results point to a band delivering a much-needed shot in the arm for swooning indie.

Check out: ‘2 Chords Good’

- No Rome G I R LI

There’s nobody quite like Girli.

Saying it as it is and laying out her PC-blended sound in huge pink writing for the world to see, it’s a vibrant glass of punch that goes down ever so smoothly.

We’re drunk off what 2019 has to offer already.

Check out: ‘Day Month Second’

66 L ADY B I R D

Rolling off state of the union observations, this Kent trio have already been knocking over signs and grabbing attention - most notably with longstanding supporters Slaves.

Like the duo, it’s a fireball rocket of energy that’ll become live favourites over the next 12 months. That, or we’ll give you your money back.

Check out: ‘Reprisal’

I D KH OW

Cult faves iDKHOW - or I Don’t Know How But They Found Me, if you’re trying to fill up column inches - is the new project from Panic! At The Disco’s Dallon Weekes. Initially shrouded in mystery, they made their live debut at Reading & Leeds this summer, and recently offered up a taster what’s to come with their first EP, ‘1981 Extended Play’.

Check out: ‘Choke’

Words: Ashley Morris.

You’ve performed at loads of festivals this summer - Citadel, Y NOT, Truck, Barn On The Farm, Kendal Calling... Which was your favourite?

ANTEROS

There’s something classic and something new to Another Sky, a melding of intricate yet playful tracks that build into cinematic crescendos.

Grippingly raw on modern observations, they should be on the silver screen in no time (after all, they’ve already nailed the telly).

Check out: ‘Chillers’

Alt-poppers Anteros talk future aspirations as they prepare for a debut album focussed on coping through your 20s.

AN OTH E R S K Y

I

t’s been a few months since we last spoke to Anteros; they’ve had a hell of a year.

Each EP has proven to be better than the last, with every project showcasing new elements of their quirky personalities and interesting sounds.

Having toured and performed sold-out gigs alongside the likes of Two Door Cinema Club, Sundara Karma and Blaenavon, the four-piece London band are finally ready to release their full-length debut album ‘When We Land’.

Anteros are flying at the speed of light and are showing no signs of landing any time soon.

DORK

Truck is probably our favourite gig of the summer.

It was just one of those days where everything falls into place: the sun was out, the crowds were great, we had friends with us, and friends in other bands playing...a great summer festival experience all around.

What was it like to work with Bella Howard on your recent video for ‘Call Your Mother’, tell us more about the creative process?

Laura [Hayden, vocals] wanted a story that ran from one video into the next, so she and Bella worked on the concept together over the summer. Bella has amazing energy and is so much fun to work with. It was a great creative combination.

Since then, you’ve also released another desertthemed video for ‘Ordinary Girl’. What made you decide to turn your music videos into a series of short films, and why did you choose Morocco for the location?

We recorded the album as a whole, so we wanted the visuals to accompany the music. We didn’t want it to look disjointed.

Laura was hoping to film them somewhere close to her hometown in Spain.

Unfortunately the permits were going to take too long, so we opted for Morocco. It turned out for the best - as none of us had been there before - so we got to be tourists on the last day. For the actual shoot (we show

D OWN WI T H BO RI N G

three videos in three days) we stayed in yurts in the middle of the desert. It was exhausting, but so much fun... and the food was incredible!

Stay tuned for part three.

All of this is ahead of your debut ‘Where We Land’.

You must be super excited, what can people expect from the album, and what do you want the record to say about you as a band?

While the subjects on the album may vary, the theme is the same: turning 21 and realising you know next to nothing. Nothing you’ve been taught prepares you for becoming an adult, but you have the pressure of making all sorts of decisions that will shape your future.

What are each of your favourite tracks on the album?

Jackson’s is ‘Honey’, Josh’s is ‘Wrong Side’, Harry’s is ‘Fool Moon’, Laura’s keeps changing (it’s currently ‘Drive On’).

Who are you all listening to right now, is there any emerging talent that you have your eye on?

Some of the new artists we’ve been listening to are Chappaqua Wrestling, Rosalia, Boygenius, and Whenyoung.

You’ve come a long way since forming four years ago - where do you want to be and what do you hope to achieve four years from now?

We love what we do, and we would like to work towards doing this for as long as we can. We can’t wait to take the album on tour, in and outside the UK.

What advice would you give other bands that are just starting out? Are you still learning lessons yourselves?

We’re learning all the time.

Probably the biggest thing to remember is that you’re not in a competition: this isn’t a race, and you are free to move at your own pace.

So stay in charge, and - as cheesy as it sounds - stay true to you, because when all is said and done you want to be left with something you can be proud of. P

Anteros’ debut album ‘Where We Land’ is out 1st March.

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68

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D OWN WI T H BO RI N G

st ud We’re in the sly from pret ty rigorou r tour until be m ve No r ou e m ig ht rele as Ch ris tmas , we not su re I’m t bu , ic some mus w ill be in. I’m what form it it’s ith it; I th in k w g in go st ju ke ep being to t an rt po ju st im ic gett ing mus prol ific and out there.

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69

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A K A YON Ps behind r of storming E ai p a h it w d utler. an time. Words: Ali Sh e The Horizon M ig b g n e ri th B r h fo it w es r On tou ed themselv naka have prim o Y , 18 d 20 in , them g Br ing Me an

chin to grow. “Wat . It’s mishmash ergy is insa ne us en io e or th gl r, a s ve Fe me eavy ’ wa es ey ‘H ak th m at it tch; ing w ith wh so good to wa reature’ is the of a ba nd play as well.” On ch Me er ea ka rd ‘T , na ha ith Yo go w ay wa nt to third EP out on could get aw she mig ht stand in he change,” paper Yona ka have released Fight’ wa s “t ems to se To e we on at ry wh , ve “e e all knew this bill, but just over a year ur e ex plains. “W ys Theresa. “O ly ore. ‘Teach M loving it,” sa t be and they’re on doing a bit m re we ve u’ different, bu Yo t . bi rs d. se tle te lit po ar t a st is ou music getting To Fight’ is ab at rent genres. th ffe lf; di l se al ur , of tz yo s up for in Chemni it ha s tone ts got to stand Today they ’re ng ot her ar tis t that, and te of “I love watchi . On e EP wa s abou the four th da ng r ol fo .” iri wh y at sp an th in t rm so Ge it’s e t w rite abou play because Br ing Me Th love. I ca n’t no lear nt to sleep nd so their tour w ith ba al ’re e e ey Th I’v Th e’. ur this to Fever 333. tle For ‘Creat ur , Hor izon and d to make lit have g different ly in the va n an ows the ba nd ta ke on to star ted w rit in t as r kf he ea ot the biggest sh br g es in lunche s from ee se ng themselv “It’s so fuck in ch tti g ed pu tin ay ea pl g er en ev be ok in shoe s and lo the road, I’ve ger Theresa ’s le sin s op pe am s, y.” be area cool,” ever y da a year of gets da rk in sa ndw iche s they cap off inwa rds. “It that things Ja rv is - and ‘big ge st icked. It’s all ite the speed w sp en ds De be un e’s so er it d nt to go an wa ed ka nt y na big things. Th kl wa Yo un quic are mov ing, t an xiet y and e shows that ou een lin ab irt ad th he ’ in er s y ev EP ve wa d feelings.” fa ster. Three , is big as they ga thoughts an ing not even fa st sw t’s didn’t feel so e d ha ar lin “T tw ad s? he ou month ge st ever’ Across the very fa st to e th em d se an t to ot her ‘big t’ n’ op es gh st nTo Fi it? That do e’s been a no e ba nd of ‘Teach Me shows. Ther ar w ill see th ing ‘Creat ure’, me.” Next ye st ivals, a grow la r w re st le of itload fe su sh of in a e. er ay ic m pl vo m , r su ei tour a head out on have found th e group and ka th album. na nd an Yo ou e ar ly as tual rele noise fe st ivals and e to know I ac finding their us of ’re ’t e ey dn th th r di at fo “I n we w rit ing sense th ng to say. W he “We’ve been t a few had somet hi go e to e’v in W . ng groove. ly tti s s just ge album recent y,” cont inue ing to star ted, I wa “It’s been craz and we’re go g a song, but k, songs ready, ing of w rit in ha s been sic 8 t it. sw 01 e go “2 e th ’v a. ow es we kn Ther until .” The mfortable. I keep w rit ing a big step up now I feel co t what you go ea n, ou m I ab we’ve ta ken at st ch ju wh y ea y, nl to sa It’s mai t wa s their ‘T ts you. what I wa nt just turning poin and how it hi EP. it now. That throug h. Life Me To Fight’ d love. d how to say an an ss ne ill l ta W hile grow ing.”

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ba nd are using ever y as opport unity a chance

DORK

D OWN WI T H BO RI N G

the end of 2018, and it’s well-worth giving a spin.

Check out: ‘Thingamajig’

THE RHYTHM METHOD

DYL AN CARTLI DG E

Multi-instrumentalist, rapper and singer Dylan Cartlidge was recently tipped on these very pages by tour pals Bad Sounds, and the Middlesbrough native’s debut EP ‘Scratch, Sniff’ features a duet with Jamie T no less. Buzz buzz.

Check out: ‘Wishing Well’

BILK Essex lads Bilk are a

raucous bunch renowned for their messy live shows and brutally honest tunes taking notes from the likes of The Streets, Arctic Monkeys and Dizzy Rascal.

Apparently there’s “madddddd shit coming soon”, so watch this space.

Check out: ‘Spiked’

WALT DISCO Walt Disco

are a band who like to make a statement. Whether it’s in their shimmering 80s indebted post-punk indie pop or in their flamboyant and slightly menacing live shows the Glasgow five piece always leave an impression.

Check out: ‘Danube’

BONIFACE Winnipeg musician Micah Visser - aka Boniface takes fresh, electro-tinged pop and somehow manages to make it sound both intimate and huge.

You probably caught him on the road recently with tour buds and label mates Blaenavon, right?

Check out: ‘Fumbling’ DAN D’LION Songwriter and producer Dan Bartlett (he’s previously worked with Little Mix, ‘FYI’) has ventured out from behind the desk for Jamiroquai, Tame Impala and N.E.R.Dinfluenced debut single, ‘Give What You Take’. Smooth.

Check out: ‘Give What You Take’ BREATHE PANEL Breathe Panel find their forte in mashing together shoegaze, dream-

Indie pop’s premier duo have spent 2018 plotting their debut album as well as valiantly cheering on England in their bid for World Cup glory, ‘Chin Up’ boys, there’s always 2022. As we head into 2019 Joey n Rowan are ready to bring their unique brand of Methodism to the masses.

Check out: ‘Something For The Weekend’

F E ET

Kimonos on stage sum up a fun-filled band blending punk and melodic indie’s finest. A live favourite for 2019 indeed, and the best thing out of Coventry since... well, ever?

Check out: ‘Back Seat Driver’

PARK HOTEL Kind-of-aduo-and-kind-of-a-five-piece, Park Hotel is led by the creative twosome of London’s Tim Abbey and Barcelona’s Rebeca Marcos Roca. The pair pack in a disco punch with electro vibes, a bit like if LCD Soundsystem and Confidence Man collaborated on a glittery dance floor baby.

Check out: ‘Nothing To Lose’

pop and psychedelia to create relentlessly hopeful guitar-pop.

Their self-titled debut album came out earlier this year via FatCat Records.

Check out: ‘On My Way’

HONEY LUNG Londoners Honey Lung dabble in grunge and shoegaze for a comfortingly retro sound full of warm hooks and fuzzy guitars. Having bubbled under the radar for the past few years, 2019 could well be their time to shine.

Check out: ‘Export The Family’ SICK JOY Brighton punk rockers Sick Joy are heavy, dirty and full of aggression. A welcome blast of power and energy, the trio make the sort of music that leaves you on the edge of your seat ringing with nervous tension but unable to tear yourself away.

Check out: ‘Dissolve Me’ KAWALA London duo KAWALA aren’t afraid to crack out an acoustic guitar on occasion for their jaunty harmony-laden indiefolk tunes. They recently set out their stall with debut EP ‘D.I.L.Y.D’ offering up a taste of what’s to come.

Check out: ‘Do It Like You Do’ MIYA FOLICK Tour buds with Dork faves Pale Waves, Los Angeles-based songwriter Miya Folick makes similarly affecting stripped-back pop tunes that pack a punch in their starkness and warmth. Her debut album ‘Premonitions’ came out towards

DORK

ISAAC DUNBAR Isaac Dunbar

shouldn’t be all over buzzy lists in magazines, he should be in school learning useful facts about how volcanoes work and wondering what’s for tea, but here we are. The fifteen-year-old arrives with an absurdly accomplished, fresh take on youthful, utterly charming pop.

Check out: ‘Freshman Year’

SUZI WU Suzi Wu is pals with

Girli, and caries the same largerthan-life swagger that’ll see her dominate any room she enters.

‘Teenage Witch’ was an early highlight, and ‘Grim Reaper’ is an attitude-packed teaser (from new EP ‘Error 404’, due in January) that sees her front up to death.

Check out: ‘Grim Reaper’

PUPPY 2019 will be the year where perpetual newcomers (such is the way of rock) Puppy finally unleash a debut album and cement their place as one of the UK’s most well-liked alt prospects.

With nods to Weezer, Smashing Pumpkins and AC/DC littering ‘The Goat’ (due in January), it’s time to get onboard.

Check out: ‘World Stands Still’ KRUSH PUPPIES Super

newbies Krush Puppies take the infectious rough-around-theedges enthusiasm of bands like Hinds and work it into a more lo-fi grungy aesthetic. Debut single ‘PetalHead’ was written for singer Jenny’s sister, who was feeling a bit down - nice, huh?

Check out: ‘PetalHead’

RE AD D O RK. CO M

KI N G PR I N C E S S

Reportedly offered a record deal at 11 and co-signed by the likes of Harry Styles and Halsey, King Princess - aka Mikaela Strauss spent 2018 on the rise. From the release of breakthrough track ‘1950’ on Mark Ronson’s Zelig Recordings label, it’s been a buzzy ascent for an artist set to make a genuine impact.

Check out: ‘1950’

71 BOY PAB LO

Taking off thanks to the viral success of ‘Everytime’, everything about Boy Pablo feels like perfection. Wonderful indiepop gleams meet with stories of lost love and teenage dreaming to form a chap capturing a moment in time for so many. A glint in the eye and a cheeky smile, he’s essential for the year ahead Check out: ‘Losing You’

M E LL AH

Few people are quite as ‘South London’ as our king-of-trendyjumpers Mellah. Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Liam Ramsden has previously worked on film and TV sets, including Black Mirror, can frequently be found in his own self-built studio in Peckham, and has not long signed to Columbia Records.

Check out: ‘What It Is’

BODY TYPE One of the best new bands coming out of Australia right now, Sydney’s Body Type make utterly charming, playful pop a bit like if The Big Moon were really into lo-fi garage rock and somehow found themselves in the 90s.

Check out: ‘Palms’ FREE MONEY Mates with Wolf Alice and Slaves, signed to a new label started by Dan from Tribes and Blaine from Mystery Jets, and fans of using ‘U’ in song titles, Free Money tick a lot of boxes.

They also makes bloody catchy, rollicking indie tunes.

Check out: ‘U Got Me’ PENELOPE ISLES Brighton

based and signed to Bella Union, Penelope Isles make woozy, distorted music with just a hint of edge in the centre of it all. A bit like eating a flying saucer and not realising they’re full of sherbet, but in band form.

Check out: ‘Cut Your Hair’

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FUR Brighton-based FUR are self-releasing no more, having just inked a deal with indie faves Nice Swan Records. Their first few singles have been swoonsome indie odes to love and life, full of a retro goodness straight off an 80s teen flick soundtrack, and they look set to carry that torch into 2019, with big plans afoot.

Check out: ‘Angel Eyes’ BLOODY KNEES Bloody

Knees were originally making a racket back in 2013/14; then they

dropped off the radar.

In 2017 they returned with a whole new sound; shedding their previous alt-rock vibes, they finetuned their grittiness with melodies and massive, addictive choruses and it’s been wall-to-wall bangers since then. .

Check out: ‘Maybe It’s Easy’

SUNSHINE FRISBEE LASERBEAM With over 100

songs to their (ridiculous) name even before the release of their ‘Blackout Cowboy’ album this year, this Birmingham outfit aren’t ones to be idle. Their chant-a-long brand of garage rock has already landed them on the line up for festivals next summer.

The future’s bright - the future’s Sunshine..

Check out: ‘Blackout Cowboy’

PARA ALTA Newly minted East

Londoners (they’re originally from Hartlepool - good luck affording a pint now, lads), Para Alta spin tales of failing relationships and, well, failing relationships.

Their indie-crooning is top notch however, and there are plans to release a debut album next spring.

Check out: ‘Dusk’

WESTERMAN West London’s

BLOODY KNEES

Westerman weaves intricate tales with his alt-pop magic, and frequent collaborator Bullion, showcased most recently on his hastily-penned ‘Ark’ EP, written in snatched moments of free time.

Check out: ‘Outside Sublime’

VINYL STAIRCASE With their

irresistible punk vibes and knack for a bloody catchy hook, Vinyl Staircase are picking up new fans all over the show. Recent single ‘Feel It’ was co-produced by Dom Ganderton from Superfood, too.

Check out: ‘Feel It’

WHITE ROOM Brighton fivesome White Room offer up warbley psychedelic guitar pop with pizazz. They’ve spent a chunk of this year holed up working on new material, so expect them to come into 2019 all-guns-blazing.

Check out: ‘Shoot’ SPIELBERGS Oslo’s Spielbergs take influence from 90s indie-rock and alt-rock while simultaneously offering up tunes so pummelling you’ll need a sit down and a nice cup of tea afterwards. Debut album ‘This Is Not The End’ arrives in February.

Check out: ‘Distant Star’ RACHEL CHINOURIRI

B LOX X

From the first kick, Bloxx are on a mission.

Underneath the sizzing sounds are some of the biggest hooks about, and after a year of playing big rooms with Everything Everything, Sundara Karma and more - they’re a band primed for the big stages Check out: ‘Monday’

MAR S I CAN S

Managing to be both nostalgic and refreshingly new, Marsicans are the definition of an indie band bringing the fun and wonder back into frame.

Pogoing adoration and blissfully joyous anthems are the order of the day.

Check out: ‘Pop-Ups (Sunny At The Weekend)’

DORK

Croydon singer-songwriter Rachel Chinouriri is so new she hasn’t even played a festival yet, but that won’t last long - she arrives with a new, self-taught take on R&Bfused alt-pop that marks her out as one to watch.

Check out: ‘So My Darling’

ZOEE A frequent collaborator of The Rhythm Method (that’s her on standout track ‘Cruel’), Zoee’s solo work encompasses highly stylised electro-tinged pop in a similar vein to Charli XCX, SOPHIE et al.

Read more about her new EP ‘My Body Knows You’ in a few pages’ time.

Check out: ‘Curse’

D OWN WI T H BO RI N G

TH E CAN D E SC E NTS

A stunning addition to the Dirty Hit family, The Candescents reach across both sides of the Atlantic for influences, which come together to form an insatiable band doing everything right.

Ambition prime and centre, it’s a glorious, dazzling package - and with a debut EP already out in the world, things are about to get quite exciting.

Check out: ‘Drink To Paradise’

S E LF E STE E M

After Slow Club, you wondered what Rebecca Lucy Taylor might have left up her sleeve. Turns out, there were more thrilling sounds in her backpocket than ever thought, searing with a confidence and modern pop power that makes the next few months utterly unmissable.

Check out: ‘Rollout’

G R AN D PA X

There may be only one EP out, but that mixture of spectral electronic production and raw songwriting makes the world of Grand Pax one bound to deliver more delights in the year ahead.

One for chilly winter nights.

Check out: ‘Comet’

touch of joyous If you’re after a your indie-pop creativity with your gal. bangers, Zuzu’s

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ble of the ake a league ta f we were to m ts going into 2019, Zuzu ac most fun new there near the top. up be f de ld nces to wou n weaves refere The Liverpudlia iens and all sorts into al comics, films, catchy indie-pop tunes. y her ridiculousl . up Beam us ing ready for it going? Gett ’s ow H ! zu Zu Hey y Christmas yet? re ady, al re ad od! I’m 10 0% !

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73

Incoming.

Your New Music Fridays, sorted.

The Wave Pictures

The 1975 A Brief Inquiry Into

Online Relationships The first part of their Music For Cars era, The 1975’s third album is a generation defining masterpiece.

eeeee LABEL: DIRTY HIT / POLYDOR RELEASED: 30TH NOVEMBER LISTEN TO: LOVE IT IF WE MADE IT, INSIDE MY MIND, IT’S NOT LIVING (IF IT’S NOT WITH YOU), I ALWAYS WANNA DIE (SOMETIMES)

T

he 1975 don’t lack in ambition. While their self-titled debut album may have received the odd mauling from a music press unprepared for what the band would go on to become, it built the devoted following that propelled its follow up - 2016’s ‘I like it when you sleep, for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it’ - into the stratosphere. With a 180 degree flip on the wider perceptions of the group, it was a revelation that challenged those previous judgements and won.

When it comes to a third fulllength, nobody would blame The 1975 if they took the obvious route.

‘I like it when you sleep...’ had a defining vibe running through its core - much copied but rarely perfected by their peers. While they experimented around the edges, to replicate what worked so well last time around would be met with little complaint, either commercially or critically.

The fact that ‘A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships’ never once takes the easy way out is exactly why The 1975 are a band impossible to ape. The first of two records under the ‘Music For Cars’ umbrella, it isn’t just a great album - it’s a generation-defining masterpiece. Refusing to succumb

to expectations, it’d be obvious to label it part poptimist contender to Radiohead’s ‘Kid A’, part millennial ‘OK Computer’. In truth, though, it’s both, and yet so much more.

Skipping through the dial, each track has its own rulebook, but against all odds, they hang together effortlessly. Never difficult without cause, nor so simplistic it runs out of new avenues to explore, it’s an exposition on the modern condition, every moment revealing something telling about the world around us.

But then, from the first glimpse, ‘A Brief Inquiry...’ has been more than just a simple collection of songs. Introduced over a monthlong period of posters, social media teasers and hidden online puzzles, nothing about it seems to be without logic or reason. A celebration of the genre-bled mixing bowl of youth culture in 2018, it’s a record that steadfastly refuses to stick in a single lane.

‘TOOTIMETOOTIMETOOTIME’’s tropical bop is a million miles from their expected turf, and yet when placed against the atmospheric stabs of ‘How To Draw / Petrichor’, that juxtaposition only becomes even more stark. Glitching and tripping like Thom Yorke interfacing with Kanye’s rogue autotuner, it lends further stock to frontman Matty Healy’s claim that no other arena-sized band currently dare be as musically interesting as The 1975. That so much of that fascination comes from the rolling, eclectic soundboards of drummer and production mastermind George Daniel only furthers their brilliance.

Those deliberately diverse, constant shifts are one of the cornerstones of what makes ‘A Brief Inquiry...’ such a remarkable listen.

‘Be My Mistake’ is a slow-burning acoustic heartbreaker, while ‘I Like America & America Likes Me’ is a slice of modern, urban R&B pop that drips with nighttime

DORK

chill. ‘Mine’ is crooning lounge jazz, a tale of fighting crime online recounted in a silk dressing gown, while ‘I Couldn’t Be More In Love’ is a lighters-in-the-air ballad for the ages. On the one track where the band revert to type - the brilliantly addictive ‘It’s Not Living (If It’s Not With You)’ - they sound fresher and more exciting than ever before, holding back that expected big pay off for maximum effect.

As with all great records, though, there’s a spine running through ‘A Brief Inquiry’ that provides the framework upon which these individual moments hang. ‘The Man Who Married A Robot’, narrated by Apple’s Siri, is a modern parable about oversharing, confirmation bias and pictures of penises, full of flourishes that no other band of this scale would even think to include. Followed by the epic rawness of ‘Inside Your Mind’, it’s a one-two that plays on every thought and emotion.

When it comes to heart, closer ‘I Always Wanna Die (Sometimes)’ has it in spades. While much of ‘A Brief Inquiry’ draws on unexpected influences, the album’s last moments are unashamed stadiumsized guitar pop. Twinkling on the verses, rising on the chorus, by the time it reaches its final, climactic key change there’s nothing left in reserve.

Above and beyond everything else, though, is ‘A Brief Inquiry...’’s undeniable soul. ‘Love It If We Made It’ isn’t so much an album highlight as an anthem for the ages. A running consciousness of political and cultural breakdown delivered over an empowered stab of sweeping, stabbing synths, what could have seemed trite becomes almost shockingly powerful. More than that, it could only have come from The 1975.

‘A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships’ is an album of disparate, daring parts. A record that rewards repeated listens, and yet is immediate enough to make an impact on the first play-through; even its rare flaws become winning moments. But beyond that, it’s also a work that’s so much more than its individual elements. The sparks between those genre shifts generate an energy of their own - a jukebox of ideas that feels fresher and more essential than it has any right to be. In many ways, ‘A Brief Inquiry...’ is the ultimate endgame of playlist culture moulded to the strengths of the album format. In itself, it’s remarkable. To think that there’s a second instalment to come in double quick time is almost obscene. It’s a good job The 1975 don’t lack in ambition, because right now, it feels like they could do anything. P Stephen Ackroyd

RE AD D O RK. CO M

Look Inside Your Heart RELEASED: 23RD NOVEMBER

eeeee Those wellacquainted with The Wave Pictures will know what to expect from ‘Look Inside...’: the title-track’s shades of ‘The Modern Lovers’, ‘Brian’’s bluesy shuffle, the high-fretted, knotty, West African melodies of ‘Roosevelt Sykes’ - as sweet as a song named after a bluesman they called The Honeydripper should be. Lyrics both poetically daft, and pithily doleful. It’s an album full of ramshackle charm and freewheeling poetry. P Rob

Mesure

Art Brut

Wham! Bang! Pow! Let’s Rock Out! RELEASED: 23RD NOVEMBER

eeeee Starting as a break-up album before turning into what the band describe as an ‘in-love record’, Art Brut are back. Seven years since their last full-length, they’re a band with one brash, bombastic setting, and ‘Wham! Bang! Pow! Let’s Rock Out!’ has no designs on changing that channel. Eddie Argos is still a force of nature, spitting forth post-pop-punk bangers at a rapid rate. Growing old disgracefully, lock the doors Art Brut are about to rock out. P

Stephen Ackroyd

Zoee

My Body Knows You EP RELEASED: 27TH NOVEMBER

eeeee Zoee has been making waves with her dark future pop sounds, and latest EP ‘My Body Knows You’ shows her flourishing. Here, she impeccably melds her airy, instantly recognisable vocals with electro-pop that morphs from beatific and blissed out to intense and punishing. 2018 has been a year that has featured idiosyncratic artists like Sophie, Charli XCX and Let’s Eat Grandma redefining what it means to make pop in this new age, and Zoee has a sonic kinship with all of them. P

Martyn Young

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If it’s on stage, it’s in here.

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Sigrid taking on Brixton Academy is both a celebration, and a point towards the future

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Words: Jamie Muir. Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett.

igs can be really bloody special places. It feels like such an obvious statement; the months of build-up, that excitement as it draws nearer, the moment you turn the corner and see your favourite’s name up in lights. Tonight is all about one thing, and that’s the show ahead. A feeling of real life melting away and dancing in the puddles left behind perfectly captures why Sigrid never fails to disappoint. It’s also why there really is no stopping the rise of the next worldwide pop sensation.

On paper, headlining Brixton Academy is quite something for where Sigrid is today. Two EPs out, a succession of mammoth singles but yet no album (watch this space) - it’s a testament to the power of pure pop perfection that she stands in front of a sold-out room at one of the capital’s most significant venues. Big hooks and a personality that welcomes you in, the journey from topping polls earlier in the year makes perfect sense. For Sigrid, there’s never been any doubt.

Bounding on stage with the sort of energy that could knock down a train, there’s a palpable feeling in the air of a fresh new voice. Throughout an hour and a bit, Sigrid puts on the sort of display that most acts can only dream of - crowning a night full of sizzling highs and immediate warmth. Opener ‘Sucker Punch’ is a line in the sand for what’s to come, a brave set that isn’t afraid to show off the full flairs of an artist redefining how marvellous pop can be, and with a knack for making the biggest moments feel even bigger.

From ‘Schedules’ to ‘Plot Twist’, Sigrid has a remarkable portfolio already nestled in her back pocket, not just an underground blog sensation but a crossover superstar. Energy radiating off the grand stage she finds

herself on, it’s in Sigrid remaining true to herself that the show really elevates. Yes, there are pop hooks all over the place and wondrous moments of collective jubilation, but it still feels like you’re hanging out with a mate; one that can both gather everyone up into a bouncing mass, and silence a room with awe (as shown when ‘Dynamite’ slices through like a click in a pin-drop service). It never feels like she’s reaching, but rather a natural manifestation of the person she is.

Each song pulsates with something new. ‘Go To War’ is a tribal pound that you could probably hear knocking down the street by Brixton station; ‘High Five’ rips through the room triggering smiles on every single face, and ‘Fake Friends’ is drowned out with fans singing along. An encore ode in the form of ‘Focus’ finds Sigrid alone on stage, the room lighting up in front of her. This is no one hit wonder, but an artist who refuses to bow to expectations or settle for average.

That’s abundantly clear when ‘Don’t Kill My Vibe’ triggers an eruption in sound that feels like a festival Main Stage coronation rather than another show for an act only just getting started, and closer ‘Strangers’ throbs and kicks with enough force to make this grand building practically move under its weight.

It’s in that world where tonight not only feels like a celebration but a point towards the future. New tracks yet to drop like the darkness-tinged ‘Savage In Our Blood’ and the punchy ‘Credit’ fit like a glove into the set, an extension of everything that makes Sigrid stand out from the pack - while ‘Haunted’ swoons its way into view like an anthem ready to take on radio airplay.

This isn’t the peak of the mountain, but just another stop on the way to a top still not yet clear, and that’s what’s so exciting. P

DORK

RE AD D O RK. CO M

FESTIVALS

Here are the best 3 bands we saw at 2Q Festival 2018 Words: Liam James Ward.

Inner-city festivals are popping up all over the place at the mo; while they may lack the ‘authentic festival experience’ of rainy fields and wet wipe showers, a cheap and cheerful ‘spoons trumps extortionate beer tents any day. Headlined by Public Service Broadcasting, this year’s 2Q Festival in Lincoln had a line-up that boastfully mirrors any indie poppers’ wishlist. We’re not going to rank our favourite acts from tippy top to rocky bottom; instead, here are Dork’s Top 3 bands from 2018’s festival. #3 LUCIA Every inner-city festival has at least one venue that you know definitely isn’t usually a venue, whether it’s a Toby Carvery that’s moved a few tables and chairs around or a nightclub that has reserved a VIP booth to house a dodgy-looking PA system. None of this seems to phase Scottish up-and-comers Lucia, who find themselves in the corner of a nightclub’s upstairs mezzanine. No introductions, the quartet steam ahead into their ‘Cheap Talk’ EP, which acts like a conch horn as an energetic and bouncy crowd suddenly materialises from the sticky dancefloor. The band take the unusual setting in their stride as the eponymous frontwoman, Lucia Fairfull, revels in holding the silent drop of ‘Saturday Is Dead’ for as long as nailbitingly possible. #2 HUSKY LOOPS Husky Loops are a band you’ve probably seen all over summer festivals. The hip-hop infused noise-rock trio have had their sound compared to stadium rock for as long as they’ve been around, and 2Q puts this under a microscope by giving the band the mammoth task of playing the 1500-capacity Engine Shed before most people have had the opportunity to sink their first pint. While some would crack at the thought alone, the band triumph, uniting the very mixed crowd in a choreography of head bobbing and hip swaying. #1 ANTEROS Any self-respecting Anteros fan should know to eagerly wait for their acclaimed track ‘Bonnie’ in their live show. This is the point where frontwoman Laura Hayden would usually invite the female members of the crowd to join her on stage, and a karaoke roulette ensues - but, oh no, Laura informs the crowd that the pesky healthy and safety team have prewarned her that this can’t go ahead. Before you’ve even had a chance to process what she’s said, however, Laura launches herself into the audience and makes her way around every last part of the venue handing the microphone over to willing fans - with a special cameo from The Orielles. P

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Get Out.

B

lack Honey’s debut album felt like a long time coming and the jump from the prickly indie cinema of ‘Spinning Wheel’ and ‘Somebody Better’ to the neon tinged adventureland of that self-titled record was jarring. It’s been a winding, surprising path these last few years. Live though, they’ve been building this world from the very start and tonight, at London’s Electric Ballroom, the curtains come down as the band unveil their masterplan.

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Opening with the runaway defiance of ‘I Only Hurt The Ones I Love’ and instantly tumbling into a diamond tipped tear through of ‘Madonna’, there’s no gentle introduction or plan to keep the past from the present. Everything Black Honey are is thrust into the spotlight.

And they’re not the only ones with change beneath their feet. We don’t know what’s got into PINS lately but tonight, they cut a fierce shape across the stage.

Sounding like a giddy collision of basement fury, arena pomp and never-say-die party spirit, the band sound formidable. They sound so good that frontperson Faith Vern climbs off the stage during the last song, stands on the barrier and watches the rest of the band bring their set to a dizzying, excitable conclusion.

Four years ago Black Honey played this venue for the first time supporting The Cribs and their first thought was “fuck me, this is the biggest room ever.” Tonight, it’s their playground but their first thought is still the same. “You blow our fucking minds,” laughs Izzy before the gleeful romp of ‘Somebody Better’. Elsewhere the glam thunder of ‘Into The Nightmare’ sees the band haunted and doused in emerald green while ‘Whatever Happened To You’ flirts with stadium rock, winking and wide eyed.

Every track sees the band burn it down and start over. Every track sees Black Honey add new shades of brilliance to this electric landscape.

Izzy climbs atop the barrier for ‘Corinne’, all beauty, poise and shared voices before lighting something and watching it explode with sparking wonder. It’s the closing stomp of ‘Midnight’ that sees Black Honey bring everything full circle though.

Unpredictable, reckless and dancing with danger. it might be the furthest they’ve travelled from the ramshackle glitter and glue of old, but as Izzy writhes about the stage before the support bands invade, it feels as exciting as ever. “This is basically the start,” promise the band. “Welcome aboard.” P

Black Honey make London’s Electric Ballroom their playground Words: Ali Shutler. Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett.

DORK

D OWN WI T H BO RI N G

alt-J put on a magical, panoramic show at London’s Royal Albert Hall

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Words: Jamie Muir. Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett.

obody has ever been able to pin alt-J down. It’s been that way from the very beginning when tracks crafted in student halls merged into a cohesive, yet vibrantly unique debut album.

When they scooped the Mercury Prize, some people called them nerds, some were simply dumbfounded, but alt-J knew what they were doing. Instead of bowing to expectations and attempting to play to a newfound crowd, they delved deeper into experimentation with their second album ‘This Is All Yours’. With a click of time, they were headlining festivals across the globe, a grandstand act with a platform. This wasn’t meant to happen.

Coming to grips with what comes next and how to be that band should have been their next move, but instead, with ‘Relaxer’, they came back with a record that proudly puffs its chest out and blooms every brighter than ever before. A second night headlining The O2, more festival headline slots, even greater acclaim

and adoration. This wasn’t meant to happen. Through that whole journey, alt-J have been discovering and thriving with who they are as a band, no longer having question marks put after their name but not becoming short-hand for a band creating their own path. With the past 18 months signalling their most commanding and confident to date, it comes down to tonight at the Royal Albert Hall - gracing its prestigious stage not as outsiders, but as an act standing away from the competition. It’s not so much they reached to play the Royal Albert Hall, but the Royal Albert Hall reached to have them.

It results in what can only be described as a magical evening from a band crafting their own spells.

That end of tour freedom is there in abundance. The choreographed lights and stunning multimedia show that plays out makes the Royal Albert Hall feels like the largest cinema in the country. A panoramic show that spans across their career - from ‘Something Good’ to the swelling hymns of ‘Pleader’; from the choir-like calls of ‘3WW’

DORK

to ‘Tesselate’ and back through to ‘Every Other Freckle’. It’s a masterclass in showing their breadth and evolution. The setting they find themselves adds a whole new level, a surround sound like approach where chiming edges and kicks move in from the back of the hall, the sides and then from the front - perfectly displayed with the chant-like hypnosis of ‘Hunger Of The Pine’.

While they’ve played bigger stages, it feels like the Royal Albert Hall finally gives alt-J the chance to play around with it all, and put on the sort of show that they’ve been meaning to display for years.

Then again, this is a band who’ve made music throughout their career from the sound of pushing against convention and genre. Take their latest remix album ‘Reduxer’, laying a groundwork for reinterpretations of ‘Relaxer’ with hip-hop and seething electronica. Tonight it works on a grand scale, flashes of Danny Brown and Pusha T popping on stage screens to ‘Deadcrush’ and ‘In Cold Blood’ respectively pinpoint their influence - while a mid-set version of ‘Adeline’ grows into a soaring

RE AD D O RK. CO M

emotional standout (with added special guest appearances from Paigey Cakey and Hex). With scattered screens lining the backdrop, everything entwines in one of the most impressive stage shows of the year. A crowd in awe, they light up for a crooning rendition of ‘Matilda’ the perfect summary for a show full of warmth and artistic flair.

That’s not to say things don’t get a bit loose as they ring into the encore. ‘Fitzpleasure’ has the sold-out hall on its feet and throws away any notion that alt-J can’t be a band engulfing these huge stages because of how left-field things may get. Arms are raised, thousands pour their lungs out to ‘Left Hand Free’ and closer ‘Breezeblocks’ and the evidence is there. Yes, on paper this should never have happened - but the fact it’s happening and feeling like nothing else in music at the moment makes it that more vital.

For now, alt-J can take a rest and look to what comes next. On tonight’s evidence, we’re still going to be trying to pin them down for decades and decades to come. P

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The Guide.

All the shows you need to see this month, and some you probably don’t.

1st December

3 December

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Glasgow, Blossoms, O2 Academy London, Muse, Royal Albert Hall London, You Me At Six, O2 Academy Brixton Sheffield, Hinds, Leadmill

4 December th

Leeds, Self Esteem, Headrow House London, Spector, The Dome London, The Good The Band And The Queen, EartH Newcastle, Hinds, Riverside Newcastle, Young Fathers, Boiler Shop Sheffield, Blossoms, O2 Academy

5 December th

Bristol, Young Fathers, O2 Academy London, Fontaines D.C., The Lexington London, The Good The Band And The Queen, EartH Nottingham, Blossoms, Rock City

6th December Bournemouth, You Me At Six, O2 Academy Brighton, Fontaines D.C., The Albert Brighton, Muncie Girls, Green Door Store Cardiff, Estrons, The Globe London, The Good The Band And The Queen, EartH

7th December Birmingham, Blossoms, O2

19 January

28th January

London, Architects, SSE Arena Wembley London, Ben Howard, O2 Academy Brixton London, Spring King, O2 Forum London, The 1975, The O2

Blackburn, The Vaccines, King George’s Hall Glasgow, Cloud Nothings, Saint Luke’s Lincoln, Kaiser Chiefs, The Engine Shed Newport, The Wombats, Centre Nottingham, Death Cab For Cutie, Rock City Oxford, Dilly Dally, The Bullingdon

21st January Birmingham, Ben Howard, Symphony Hall Exeter, The 1975, Westpoint Arena

2nd December

rd

Nothings, Band on the Wall

th

Birmingham, Sunflower Bean, The Castle & Falcon Blackpool, The Good The Band And The Queen, North Pier Theatre Cardiff, You Me At Six, University SU Leeds, Mumford & Sons, First Direct Arena Leeds, Young Fathers, University Union London, Hinds, EartH

Brighton, Gently Tender, Sticky Mike’s Brighton, Self Esteem, The Hope & Ruin Glasgow, The Good The Band And The Queen, SWG3 London, You Me At Six, O2 Academy Brixton Manchester, Young Fathers, Albert Hall

London, The 1975, The O2

.The Wombats. S .

Academy Glasgow, Ben Howard, The SSE Hydro Liverpool, The Orielles, The Invisible Wind Factory London, Deaf Havana, O2 Academy Brixton Manchester, Fontaines D.C., Night People Sheffield, You Me At Six, O2 Academy

8 December th

Bristol, Muncie Girls, Exchange Cardiff, Ben Howard, Motorpoint Arena Cardiff Manchester, Blossoms, O2 Victoria Warehouse Norwich, You Me At Six, UEA

9th December Cardiff, Fontaines D.C., The Moon Huddersfield, Boy Azooga, The Parish Manchester, Blossoms, O2 Victoria Warehouse Nottingham, You Me At Six, Rock City

10th December London, Orlando Weeks, Union Chapel Manchester, Ben Howard, O2 Apollo

11th December London, Orlando Weeks, Union Chapel London, Young Fathers, O2 Academy Brixton Manchester, Ben Howard, O2 Apollo Southampton, Blossoms, Guildhall

23rd January Manchester, Orlando Weeks, Albert Hall

13th December Glasow, Lily Allen, Barrowland London, MGMT, Eventim Apollo London, The War on Drugs, The O2

14th December Birmingham, Lily Allen, O2 Institute

Manchester, Boy Azooga, YES

31 December st

Edinburgh, Franz Ferdinand, Princes Street Gardens Manchester, Everything Everything, O2 Victoria Warehouse

9th January Belfast, The 1975, SSE Arena

15th December Glasow, MGMT, SWG3 Leeds, Indie Banquet, Wharf Chambers London, Dork Christmas Party, The Old Blue Last

16th December Leeds, MGMT,O2 Academy & Underground Manchester, Lily Allen, Albert Hall

17th December London, Lily Allen, The Roundhouse

18th December London, Lily Allen, The Roundhouse Manchester, Wolf Alice, O2 Victoria Warehouse

19th December London, Wolf Alice, O2 Academy Brixton

12 December

20 December

Bristol, Blossoms, O2 Academy

London, Wolf Alice, O2 Academy Brixton

th

21st December

12th January Glasgow, The 1975, SSE Hydro

14th January Cardiff, The 1975, Motorpoint Arena

15th January

24th January Aylesbury, The Vaccines, Waterside Theatre Dublin, Death Cab For Cutie, Olympia Theatre Glasgow, Kaiser Chiefs, Barrowland Glasgow, The Wombats, O2 Academy Manchester, The 1975, Arena

25th January Birmingham, The Hunna, O2 Institute Brighton, Cloud Nothings, Patterns Brighton, The Vaccines, Dome Dublin, Ben Howard, 3Arena Glasgow, The Wombats, O2 Academy Leicester, Dilly Dally, The Cookie Manchester, Death Cab For Cutie, Albert Hall Newcastle, Kaiser Chiefs, O2 Academy Sheffield, The 1975, FlyDSA Arena

Manchester, Architects, O2 Victoria Warehouse

26th January

16th January

Birmingham, Cloud Nothings, The Castle & Falcon Glasgow, Death Cab For Cutie, O2 Academy Leeds, The Wombats, First Direct Arena Liverpool, Kaiser Chiefs, Guild of Students London, Blood Red Shoes, The Borderline Manchester, Dilly Dally, Night & Day Cafe Manchester, Spring King, O2 Ritz Oxford, The Vaccines, O2 Academy

Brighton, The 1975, Centre London, Ben Howard, O2 Academy Brixton

17th January Glasgow, Architects, O2 Academy London, Ben Howard, O2 Academy Brixton

18th January

th

DORK

Birmingham, The 1975, Arena

Cardiff, Architects, Motorpoint Arena London, Ben Howard, O2 Academy Brixton

D OWN WI T H BO RI N G

27th January Manchester, Cloud

29th January Birmingham, Dilly Dally, Hare & Hounds Bournemouth, The Wombats, O2 Academy Carlisle, Kaiser Chiefs, The Sands Centre Guildford, Her’s, The Boileroom Leeds, Death Cab For Cutie, O2 Academy & Underground London, Swearin’, MOTH Club Newcastle, The Vaccines, O2 Academy

30th January Brighton, Swearin’, Green Door Store Bristol, Cloud Nothings, Thekla Bristol, Death Cab For Cutie, O2 Academy Cambridge, Estrons, The Portland Arms Glasgow, Ten Tonnes, King Tut’s Leeds, John Grant, O2 Academy & Underground London, Dilly Dally, The Garage London, The Neighbourhood, O2 Academy Brixton Manchester, Blood Red Shoes, Soup Kitchen Motherwell, The Vaccines, Civic Centre Southampton, Her’s, Heartbreakers

31st January Birmingham, The Wombats, O2 Academy Blackburn, Kaiser Chiefs, King George’s Hall Brighton, Dilly Dally, The Hope & Ruin Bristol, Her’s, Exchange Gateshead, John Grant, Sage Glasgow, Blood Red Shoes, Stereo Huddersfield, Estrons, The Parish London, Cloud Nothings, EartH Manchester, Swearin’, YES Manchester, Ten Tonnes, Deaf Institute

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ANY OTHER QUESTIONS?

DJANGO DJANGO Asking about the usual stuff is so boring. Why would you want to do that, when you could ask about superpowers and One Direction?

was mental, and B) I’ll change my mind on the whole thing soon I’m sure.

What was the first record you bought?

If you could have a superpower of your choosing, what would it be?

It was either ‘Yellow Submarine’ on LP or a 7” of ‘Do the Bartman’, I’m not sure now. I’ll go with the Beatles though I think.

Do you believe in aliens?

Yes. If you were to ask me if I believe that aliens have / are visiting us, that’s a much more complicated question. I researched this stuff for years and years, and I went down the rabbit hole so deep that I was totally lost in the end.

There’s a lot of disinformation out there. I’d tell you what I think is happening, but: A) you’d think I

What strength Nandos sauce do you order?

I’ve only been there a couple of times, but I think I’d have had the hottest cos I love a bit o’ chilli heat.

To be able to fly is surely a big one.

But then Do you need some extra powers to go with that like being immune to altitude sickness? I’d have to see someone about my vertigo... must be stressful being a superhero. Someone should make a comic about a therapist who only works with superheroes. They have a lot of hang-ups I’m sure.

Have you ever fallen off a skateboard?

How punk are you out of ten?

Not being punk is the most punk, isn’t it? To me, the rave scene in the 90s when I was growing up was our version of punk. For me, It’s about a way of doing things yourself with the resources to hand more than anything. When punk meets politics things become tricky. The most punk people are the ones who properly drop off the grid and live off the land. I’d like to do that one day, but for now, I’m too happy record shopping.

What is your earliest memory?

Playing with Star Wars figures as a toddler. I had some good ones passed down from older siblings.

If you were on Mastermind, what would your specialist subject be?

It’d be Mastermind - I’d learn everything about the show.

Yep. I used to skate, and I smashed my front tooth in half in Amsterdam a long time ago.

What’s the most showbiz party you’ve been to?

Ah god knows. I’ve never been

82

DORK

D OWN WI T H BO RI N G

fussed about all that. I like old men’s pubs that smell of scampi fries and ale farts.

What’s the best part of a roast dinner?

Roast tatties 100%. When done well they’re a wonderful thing.

Proper gravy, too.

Have you ever sold your own CD or merch on eBay?

Ha, no. But come to think of it, I have some old test pressings here, so...

Who is your favourite member of One Direction?

I’m gonna say Harry because he’s the only one I know and also he had some great songs I heard from his last record.

Have the police ever told you off?

Eh, yeah... P

Django Django’s EP ‘Winter’s Beach’ is out now.

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