Issue Thirteen
The Magic Gang Wolf Alice Childhood The Moonlandingz Black Lips Shame
Karen Lederer
Issue Thirteen marks our arrival to the middle of 2017 and the arrival of a magazine which travels the spectrum of guitar bands. We meet Wolf Alice in a North London pub to talk about how their comeback single chose them and the importance of writing songs to make people move. The Magic Gang have been away writing a debut album, we chat about moving on from DIY to cutting the fat from every track and making the most of each instrument. We then head to Sheffield to meet The Moonlandingz who boast one of the most exciting live shows in the UK, we discuss cling film and fleecing Guardian readers. We head back to South London for a debut interview with Sorry (FKA Fish) and stay in the area to bang heads with Shame, Matt Maltese and Childhood, who return with an exciting, soulful new energy. The Rhythm Method are turning heads up and down the country, we talk about the waiting game for success. From the states we talk to chief DIY’ers, Black Lips. Who Are You? also returns. Look out for introductions from Mōnk, QTY, Eat Fast and more.
3 The Magic Gang
25 Black Lips
6 Sorry
27 Instant Shit
7 Who Are You?
29 The Moonlandingz
9 The Rhythm Method
35 Shame
14 Wolf Alice
39 Truck Festival
19 Matt Maltese
40 The Great Escape
Your Love
Sorry, We Have No Fish
Get to Know
Party Politics
Visions of a Life
As the World Caves In
21 Childhood
Californian Light
Satan’s Graffiti or God’s Art?
Farewell One-Eighty
The Soundtrack to our Nuclear Winter
Visa Vulture
Legends of Indie Music
Jolly Boys Outing
Horsey Eat Fast
We are dogs in the sun. We have leather jowls. We drink saltwater and hold your gaze before offering you a sip. We
We are Adam, James, John and Mark. John and Mark
eat raw eggs. We are irrelevant. We are essential. Like a
became friends after John mistook Mark for Adrien Brody
jack- o’-lantern in a disco, we shine bright and small. We
on a drunken night out. James was already Mark’s bosom
are the wrong place and the right time.
buddy. Adam was a down and out poet in need of some care. Like Burt Bacharach crossed with Paddington Bear. We took him in, obviously. We’re nice.
Madonnatron We like the fact that there are still people out there with
Hoops
open ears and imagination, creating platforms for music and art. Labels like Trashmouth; bands like Meatraffle,
The band has existed in a couple of different incarnations
Sex Cells, Pit Ponies; landlords like Seamus and Kathleen
over the years, but the present one started in 2014 as a
(Windmill), Art collectives like Wild Fruit and Spleen
project of Drew’s. He wrote an album of stuff under the
Projects, photographers and filmmakers like Lou Smith and
name Hoops, and recruited us (Keagan and Kevin) and some
Trixie Malixie. Plus scotch eggs and Alan Partridge’s latex
other folks to play it.
dance.
7
QTY We are a lyrical guitar driven rock band with pop sensibilities. America has been in a pretty crazy time recently, is this something that effects you musically? How do you feel about home right now? It affects our lives more than our music. The man is a monster and monsters seem to be a growing trend world wide at the moment. My parents run the Marxist education project here in New York, it’s a non profit!
Show Boy The band started when we were at Goldsmiths Uni together, surrounded by a lot of ambient electronica. Unfortunately our laptops weren’t fast enough to keep up with the EDM, so we took all the abandoned genres that people secretly Milk Disco
loved and churned them into glam-pop hits.
You’ve recently put out your track ‘Welcome to the Milk Disco”. Can you tell us about it? The whole point of that song was to be as bare bones as possible and make something pointlessly simple. It started off in a rehearsal room with 1 bass note playing for 20 minutes and just the two of us playing drums and guitar.
Mōnk What do you aim to achieve with your music? Maybe to create music that has many different sides to it, like a cube. Or perhaps like soup; we all throw our different ingredients into the pot, some may not compliment the taste of another, but due to cooking for a while on a low heat, the flavours balance out and you end up with a tasty soup.
8
Ricardo Passaporte, opposite Bradley Kerl
Dave Singley, opposite Michael Cox
April Arabella
Karen Lederer, opposite Dave Singley
Truck Festival Legends of Indie Music
In July, annually, Hill Farm in rural Oxfordshire becomes a
and demonic stage presence makes for an invasively savage
haven for all kinds of guitars as Truck Festival commences.
live performance. Also from the capital are Dead Pretties,
Past headliners have included The Cribs, Manic Street
an off-the-way clusterfuck of screeching garage rock, as
Preachers, and The Horrors, but it seems this year they’ve
well as Husky Loops, a post-punk band whose angular
outdone themselves in securing the services of legends
rhythms and electronic breakdowns make them ones to
of indie music. The Libertines, The Vaccines and Franz
watch.
Ferdinand top this year’s bill, whilst the further you go down the bill, the more hidden treasures you see (Idris
Elsewhere, fast-rising post-punk five-piece Abattoir Blues
Elba’s name crops up too?), making Truck the must see
sound like successors of Eagulls or Iceage, with thudding
indie event of the year.
basslines intertwined with shoegazing guitars, whilst Superfood’s messy-haired, misty-eyed 90s revivalism is
The best set of the festival looks to come from semi-
eternally charming. LIFE rep Yorkshire’s incredibly vibrant
fictional Valhalla Dale ouija pop supergroup The
guitar scene, with politically-fuelled garage rock, whilst The
Moonlandingz, who’ve been tearing up the country as
Magic Gang represent the flourish of melodically perfect
they’ve been touring their debut album Interplanetary Class
indie bands from down south.
Classics. A combination of budget 70s Doctor Who dressup, bloodthirsty performances full of energy, and thick
Set to be one of the lineups of the year, Truck has proven
pulsating synthesisers makes them the band to see.
time and time again that there is a right way to do a small festival. Time and time again, we’ve been blessed by this
As well as that, the trio of London noiseniks known
small Oxford fest, and it should be no different this July.
as Yak come into their own in a live environment; frontman Oli Burslem’s concoction of home-made pedals
39
Words by Cal Cashin, illustration Words by Josh by Sophie Whettingsteel, Diver opposite words by Sam Ford
Brighton was home to all that had some noise to share.
Next up was the most exciting band in the country right
Whether you’re there for the social and the beer or there
now, HMLTD. The London group strive only for perfection,
for the incredible array of bands on show, there’s no better
in sound and performance. Possibly the only truly unique
home for a multi venue festival than Brighton. The Great
act at the festival, HMLTD electrified, shocked, disturbed
Escape 2017 boasted headliners such as Rag n Bone Man,
and challenged Brighton that night. What couldn’t be
Kano and Slaves (a band who’s raucous show put the
challenged was that they had made TGE 2017 there own
famous pier at risk due to stability concerns) but it was
with a show that will slot into conversations up and down
everything lying beneath that caught our attention. Friday
the country for many years. New track ‘Proxy Love’ was
delivered the return of Childhood, the London four piece
the perfect slice of 80’s pop, a track with true ambition and
returned with their fresh sound and had festival goers
the first time they’ve truly perfected a whole song. HMLTD
queueing around the venue. Latest single ‘Californian Light’
will always push the boundaries but it leaves you asking
really has done the business, an exciting turnaround for a
how far they can take it. We are excited to find out.
brilliant band now made for sunny days. Saturday, like for many, arrived too soon. A morning of For us at So Young it was off to The Haunt where we
self forgiveness and a spoons breakfast was followed by a
hosted our very first showcase with the festival. 20 minutes
stand out performance from The Rhythm Method. Komedia
before the openers King Nun took to the stage, the venue
welcomed one of the most talked about bands of the year
was already rammed. Dirty Hit Records’ young signings
and they welcomed us with the words, “June 8th, don’t be
have really caused a stir and plenty were there to get their
a prick”. A passionate band both politically and musically.
first taste. Following them, South London’s Dead Pretties
Their music makes people move and that can never be
upped the intensity and defined the hype behind the band.
underestimated. For an act that has built a reputation for wit
Frontman Jacob Slater is a passionate fellow and does all
and lyrics, the transition to live can be a tall ask. But they
he can to make people move during their 7.30pm slot. Beers
deliver with the genius of Rowan’s keys and performance
were flowing and he’d had plenty of them, the band played
of vocalist Joey Bradbury and special guest Zoee. It’s music
a song they “usually don’t play” and it was at that point the
from the pub for you and me, performed by the locals. The
movers came to the front. Play it more boys. Finishing up
formula seems within arms reach but you’d never be able
with their country infused classic ‘Take It Easy’, the four
to do it yourself. Track ‘Local, Girl’ was then sung by us
piece certainly left with plenty more fans.
for the duration of the festival. Sometimes even during other bands which we apologise for as that was probably annoying. Shout outs also go out to fave performances from Sorry, The Magic Gang and Matt Maltese. Thank you The Great Escape, until next time!
Editors Sam Ford
Josh Whettingsteel
Writers
Rhys Buchanan Rob Knaggs Sam Ford
Josh Whettingsteel Cal Cashin
Matthew Fogg
Georgie Jesson Dan Pare
Harley Cassidy
Printed By Ex Why Zed
info@soyoungmagazine.com
Artists
Josh Whettingsteel Karen Lederer
Gabriel Alcala
John Molesworth REN
Bradley Kerl
Ricardo Passaporte Alan Fears
Michael Cox
Dave Singley
Leesh Adamerovich Jamie Wolfe
Clay Hickson
April Arabella Grace Wilson
Photos for Collage Bolade Banjo
Matt Lief Anderson Holly Whitaker
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