As we enter, what feels like, the first full festival season in a few years, this issue serves as an entry point to some bands who will be gracing those famous tents this summer and maybe more importantly, those who will have high hopes to be there next year. On the cover of Issue ThirtyEight are Just Mustard, a group who with new album, ‘Heart Under’, have created an immaculate, shoegaze drenched soundscape and are quite simply, every band’s favourite band right now. They should probably be yours too. Viagra Boys are gearing up for the release of album number three. One in which, we, and maybe they, thought would never come. In the midst of touring, frontman, Sebastian Murphy talks us through his change of lifestyle, comic relief (not that one), and self loathing for the sake of the art. Before heading back to the UK, Chicago’s Horsegirl have released their debut album via Matador. The three-piece have been balancing school alongside the hype, but now, with the help of a close knit community, they’re ready to celebrate. Via Zoom, we catch up on the importance of Chicago, moving to New York and coping with talented friends watching the show. In London, Fat Dog have been wowing, terrifying and making crowds cry since live shows returned last year. Once the green light was given to ditch the chairs and have full capacity audiences again, Fat Dog have been filling rooms with their Techno-Donk-Klezmer hybrid electronica. Additional respect goes to Fat Dog’s drummer, Johnny, who played the whole of their Great Escape 2am set in an alsation mask. We caught up on the beginnings of Fat Dog and their upcoming taxi service. Staying in the capital via Texas, Tummyache, the latest project from Soren Bryce, have released their new album ‘SOAK’.
We spoke for the first time during a recording session in Devon, and discussed their dynamic blend of DIY punk, shoegaze and bedroom pop. Opus Kink have a formula for bangers and a thing for insects. The former is making more and more people buy tickets. With a sold out 100 Club to their name already, we touched base at the pub to see how it all comes together. Heartworms have signed to Speedy Wunderground, and although there’s not too much to hear just now, the vision is strong and control is intact. Ahead of an inevitably busy 12 months for Jojo and co, we caught up on all things Heartworms and how passions such as the military have seeped into the project. Glasgow’s Medicine Cabinet have been in these pages before - but that was way back, when all you could find was a distorted live video on YouTube. With their first single proper under their belt, we thought now was the right time to dig into the direction of the band and get a hint of what’s to come. In Norwich, and soon to be Leeds, are Bug Teeth. Led by PJ, the newbies have shared ‘Ice-9’, their first single since 2019. Excited by the single, we reached out to and chatted through why it’s taken so long and the impact of Kurt Vonnegut. Rounding off the music are Nottingham’s Divorce. Big chorus’ and hooks aplenty, make this new group, formed of Do Nothing and Megatrain members, very exciting. Eager to know the ins and outs, we gave them a call and even helped them form a new name. Lastly, this issue’s illustration-focused feature looks at the playful work of Molly Fairhurst (opposite).
4 Heartworms What Can I Do
31 Divorce Services
8 Just Mustard Heart Under
35 P.A.M. Poetry and Motion
14 Horsegirl Versions of Modern Performance
39 Tummyache SOAK
17 Viagra Boys Cave World
44 Bug Teeth Ice-9
21 Medicine Cabinet The Signs
50 Opus Kink ‘Til the Stream Runs Dry
25 Molly Fairhurst Illustration Feature
53 Fat Dog Taxi Service
And everyone came for free and brought a bunch of
How was it working with your producer John Agnello
cool stuff. And you just know that being here, in this
compared to those earlier DIY recordings?
community, anything you need, you could just call up someone. I feel like if we’re playing a show in Chicago
It was really nice – he was a person who made us feel
and a guitar broke, someone would drive up, you know
very comfortable in such a new space because none of
what I mean, to show up for each other in a very real way?
us had really been in a professional studio. He would set
Yeah, yeah it’s the best.
everything up and then he would just let us work out our times and stuff. He would make it so we can just play and
When you started playing gigs away from that familiar
get the most natural or raw tape.
scene was it daunting to face a room of strangers? So were the tracks on the albums quite early takes? I honestly feel way more nervous playing in front of people I know. I think maybe that actually makes sense,
It depends on the song – like ‘Live and Ski’, we wanted
but even if it’s a bigger crowd that’s a bunch of strangers.
it to be scrappy so we were doing it in like two takes. But
I feel confident that we can deliver something that they
‘Anti-glory’ took so long, it was horrible staying in time
will enjoy. But when we played a show in New York, at
for the whole song and I would get so tired.
this venue all my friends frequently go to I was so nervous to play in front of all my friends - but it was an awesome
Do you think that experience working in a professional
show.
studio will affect the way you write music going forwards?
I sometimes feel like our friends’ bands are so good that to play in front of them is very scary. Because I know that
‘The Fall of Horsegirl’ was the only song we came in with
they’re really good musicians and obviously there’s a lot
that wasn’t fully written and didn’t have a rigid structure.
of respect among us. But I feel like we like to have it to
We thought we could figure that out in the studio and we
keep up with, it’s a good motivator I think to have friends
tried to do that and ended up thinking this isn’t working
who are musicians go to your shows.
and went back to Penelope’s basement, which is where we write and rehearse everything, and there it kind of just fell
You said in your previous interviews that you are
into place. Part of me wonders if once we’re all in New
really obsessed with the suburbs and basing your
York, will we even be able to write in New York, or will
songs around characters rather than yourselves.
we have to come back to [Penelope’s] childhood home,
Could you go into why you’ve sort of found that a
because that’s the only place we can write. A part of you is
useful tool? And if you still find it, personally sort of
like oh man what if we get there and we’re like “gotta go
cathartic to use characters rather than sort of personal
back to Chicago, it’s the only place we can do it.”
experiences? Do you find people are surprised to find people your age making this kind of music?
I guess we tend to shy away from expressing intense emotions or melodrama in a way. But it’s nice to be able to use these fictional characters to get across images or
I love our older fans so much, because they’re very sweet.
things that make you feel something but isn’t an explicit
And I feel like they feel very passionately about it. But it
sort of message or expression of emotion. It’s nice to talk
can be kind of funny, because to us, it’s like, we’re just
about a bunch of different characters and make them up
doing our thing. And then people come up to us like, oh
and relate them. Some of my favourite music – like today
my god, like, it’s just like, I’m back in the 90s. Like, this
I’ve been listening to so much Belle and Sebastian – and I
is amazing –and we’re like, we weren’t alive in the 90s.
feel like those lyrics hit me harder than anything else even
But it’s, it’s very sweet that we’re able to like have the
though they’re storytelling. I think that’s an interesting
impact on anyone you know?
form of lyric writing that we find helpful.
15
Horsegirl
Artists Editors Sam Ford
Josh Whettingsteel
Writers Sam Ford
Poppy Richler Al Mills
Eve Boothroyd Dan Pare
Laura Pegler
Josh Whettingsteel Charlie Brown Reuben Cross Callum Gray
Elvis Thirlwell
Printed By Ex Why Zed
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Josh Whettingsteel Molly Fairhurst Janik Söllner
Eija Vehviläinen Emil Wikström Harry Wyld
Dulcie Brown Xinyue Song
Imogen Baron Aran Quinn REN
Cover Photo Olof Grind
Photos for Collage Kristen Thoen
Berhnard Deckert Tom Marshak Olof Grind
Sean Hawkey
Wildblanket Photography
Art Direction
www.joshwhettingsteel.com
Special Thanks Al Mills
Jamie Ford
Cameron JL West Jack Reynolds