So Young Issue Thirty-Eight

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

It took a few turns for Heartworms to arrive at its current

Your song ‘A Comforting Notion’ – the chorus line:

stage of electronic post-punk so carefully crafted by Jojo

“release the chains”

Danielle – the brains behind the project. Members have floated in and out, genres have been tried and tested, but

“My wrists are enstrained…”

Jojo has always known what she’s wanted. The result is a sound that emanates control but also the fear of losing it.

You recite this line whilst holding your palms up to

The live performances are packed with that tension and

your face. This gives an impression of pain, anger,

yearning, but also an off-kilter serenity that comes with

protest.

complete surrender.

I had just read a bit of the Communist Manifesto when I Paying respect to PJ Harvey, military planes and Interpol,

wrote that song, and immediately wanted to write a song

Heartworms, simply put, is Jojo in her many forms. Every

about it. But that’s not the whole inspiration. The song is

element of the songs and performances are there for a

about how I was brought up – working hard and not being

reason – from the DIY theremin to the simplest hand

able to afford anything. Something musicians talk about

movements that speak beyond the lyrics they mirror.

a lot. I like the story it tells in relation to Marxism. That

Heartworms are a striking force to be reckoned with, and

line – anyone can relate to it in a non-prescribed way. It’s

this has only been bolstered by their recent signing to

a powerful lyric, and my hand movements express those

Speedy Wunderground. There’s a sudden urge to move out

lyrics. I don’t know why I called it that, but I also love the

of the way for the Heartworms spitfire set to blaze through

line “so low on the food chain that you’re underground.”

imminently.

Hopefully when I release new music, I’ll also make a poetry book.

As it stands, Heartworms only have one track out online – ‘What Can I Do.’ This puts a lot of attention

So, you write your own poetry?

on live shows. Is there a difference between how the songs are played on recordings versus at gigs?

Definitely. I write a lot just in case I’ll need words for choruses etc. If I can’t think of anything I’ll look back

I recorded that song in lockdown. I remember recording

on the archives. Sense isn’t an issue – if I have the basis

the bassline on a Rickenbacker in a DIY studio, and the

of the song, I might use my poetry, I might not. The song

vocals in a clothing cupboard. That song doesn’t represent

‘Consistent Dedication’: “Ugly is the man//he’ll chew his

what Heartworms is currently making. I want to bring

eyes//tumble from his eyes//full of surprise.” I have NO

as much of the recording to the live, but when I play

idea what that’s about, but it still makes sense in relation

songs live they’re more energetic. People want the two

to the ugliness of mankind.

experiences to be different, right? When I see bands, I want the music to be a bit different. I love big dramatic sounds. That’s what I want Heartworms to be, both musically and visually.

Words by Poppy Richler, illustration by Janik Söllner

4

Are there poets you find yourself returning to?

The thing I love about the military, is that it encapsulates all the things I want to be – things I can show through my

I have so many favourites. Thomas Miller is one. Ezra

music. These passions will be accepted because they’re

Pound too, despite being controversial. He’s clearly a bad

artistic. The way I am on stage is how I want to be, but

person, but what intrigues me is how these people think.

can’t be in real-life. On stage I want to be in control.

His poetry is very dark, uncomfortable. I like that. With

That’s where military comes in – clothes, aesthetics. I

Heartworms I want to create an uncomfortable safeness. I

love aircrafts. They excite me, interest me, make me calm.

want humour but also darkness. It’s all a balance.

Heartworms is me to the core. But it’s another side of me.

In the past you’ve noted your affinity for The Shins,

I’ve built all these different characters in Heartworms. I

bringing their album ‘The Worm’s Heart’ to mind.

want to be like: “this is me, but this is also me.” I want

They create an interesting fusion of almost pop,

to carry this into music videos. Make them movies. I

almost electronic music, yet neither specifically. In a

love to act. Heartworms is everything I love, and that’s

different lane, your music does the same – it resists

the creative direction. If I’m interested in something, I’ll

pigeonholing.

bring it to life.

That Flipped album actually inspired the band name.

That relates to the protest punk of The Clash and the

Though the music is totally different, I’m inspired by

uniform aesthetics of the 80s new wave. Are there other

musicians that create a mix of electronic sounds.

sweet spots of music and militarism that resonate with you?

Like the theremin in your live shows?

Not really…all the artists I’m in love – Kraftwerk, PJ It’s a Heartworms USP, that’s for sure.

Harvey, Interpol, Radiohead – aren’t military per se, but all have their own strong aesthetic. Kraftwerk’s red shirt,

Speaking of electronic music, the track you did with

black tie – control. PJ Harvey – a female front woman

Dan Carey in lockdown for The Quarantine Series –

who writes everything herself. I want to do that – be in

‘Take One for The Family’ dives into the technological

control. I think the word control comes into a lot…It’s

world.

nice to be able to do everything and know that I did it.

That was such a strange time for me – it was right when

How does this control translate into the band setting?

my music was beginning to sound more gothic. The lyrics are very dystopian and that track inspired me to make the

I want to be involved in every part. And my band

music I’m making today.

understand that. And I let them know, I’m very honest with them. That’s why I love them so much – they

Can you expand on this dystopia?

understand my vision, who I am, and respect it. It’s very rare to find that.

That song explored what life was like in the postpandemic era – questions like will human-kind collapse?

And speaking of creative relationships, you recently

Dystopia is an aesthetic I’ve built myself on.

signed to Speedy Wunderground!

You’ve expressed a fascination for militarism – something dystopian itself, in terms of scale and incomprehensibility.

5

Heartworms

I made a list of tasks 3 years ago before I started uni –

I’m interested by the aesthetics of different bands. When

be on Speedy Wunderground, meet Dan Carey, live in

someone’s taking photos of me, I try not to be in control –

London comfortably. When it came to Dan Carey – we met

“maybe you could try this” (haha) – but the professional’s

a year before he knew who I was. If it hadn’t been for my

got to take the reins, don’t they?

friend Charlie who told me I had to send my demos to Dan Carey, I never would’ve done it. I’m crying a little bit…I

Now that you’ve achieved those goals, have you

can’t believe it’s happening.

replaced them with any others?

We’ve been talking a lot about Spitfires. Being in the

I’ll be the happiest person when I play the USA. To play

studio with him is going to be one of the best things ever.

anywhere in Europe too – I would be ecstatic. I always

I don’t even know what to expect…planes?

think about it and it makes me so happy.

You’re also a photographer. Has this lent anything to

As a parting gift, what’s one thing that interests you

Heartworms musically?

and want to share with readers?

I’ve taken a lot of photos – it’s a domino effect of support.

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a plane that completed

When I take promo photos – for bands like Automotion,

25 missions in World War II. It was the first of its kind in

Opus Kink, Cheap Teeth – this is how I get a lot of my

the US.

visions.

@janik_soellner

6

Three years post the release of their debut record

Gearing up for another bout of touring, there’s no better

‘Wednesday’, and with a US support stint with Fontaine’s

time, nor place, than the present to witness Just Mustard in

D.C under their belts, Just Mustard return with their

the flesh. A must see, hear, and perhaps most crucially, an

second album ‘Heart Under’; an instrumentally driven

essential act to embrace.

pool of craftsmanship, and the Dundalk hailing quintet’s Your album is fucking incredible; it’s stressing me out

first release, on Partisan Records.

a bit how good it is. Shouldn’t be allowed. You know Self-described as “driving through a tunnel with the

that feeling of hearing something for the first time, and

windows down”, ‘Heart Under’ is a liberating masterpiece

it just explains a sound you didn’t know you needed to

that howls to the hanging garden of gothic Eden up above,

hear, but it’s been subconsciously present for a really

and the submissive submerge of a watery subconscious

long time? That might not have made a lot of sense...

down below.

but that’s what I got from this.

A self-produced education in un-standardised creativity,

Katie: No that does make sense, I had that with Dean

with guitarist Mete Kalyoncuoglu garnering a violin-bow

Blunt. I heard him for the first-time last year and it just...

as a third limb in order to manifest maximum Jónsi, ‘Heart

I knew this sound existed somewhere, but I’d never heard

Under’s’ strength is its intrinsic ability to capture core

it before.

tonalities in all their forms. Building a sonic landscape where the colour blue takes aesthetic precedent in order to

David: Was that the ‘WALHALLA’ album?

create something explosively sensorial.

K: Yeah with Joanne Robertson. It’s so good.

Where My Bloody Valentine’s ‘Loveless’ was once defined as a “mermaid falling into a black hole”, Just

A big thing I took from reading the bio behind ‘Heart

Mustard’s lost city of alternative-Atlantis is a deep-dive

Under’, which, not entirely, but to an extent, correlated

into the cavernous world of Shoegaze-d electronica, and

with the way I felt when I first heard it, was this idea

experimentation at its most meticulous.

you presented of “forgetting what you know”. It feels familiar, yet there’s an element of unknown due to it

Simultaneously corrosive yet vivacious, beautiful but

being entirely new material.

nihilistically barren, this ten-track body of undisputed musicianship is about as purposefully pure as industrial

D: It’s cool. A lot of people seem to be getting our

etherealism gets. A boundary-pushing game of unsparing

intentions and arrangements behind making the record. We

physicality which unfurls lavishly with each and every

weren’t expecting it.

textural soar, vocalist Katie Ball beckons those who dare to divulge, in, with siren-esq cause and effect.

Words by Al Mills, illustration by Eija Vehviläinen

8

We’re not necessarily trying to progress, but we treat

A lot of the songs have had similar parts at various points.

every project like its own thing; to stand on its own,

We recycle ideas a lot.

instead of as part of a discography. When we were making it, it wasn’t related to anything else- but it formed its own

The intent is clear, but the manoeuvre is fluid?

identity.

D: I think so. It’s all individual parts which are K: Even singularly on this album, we treated each song

interchangeable at different points- and they present

as its own element until we got to the end of the writing

different moods too. When you’re working on those

process. Then we could see how to tie it all together, and

separate bits in the back of your mind, it’s us getting as

bring in motifs or lyrical ideas used in other songs. Once it

close to the source of intent as possible.

revealed itself to us, the more songs we wrote the more we Does that creative freedom come from the sound you’re

understood it as a full piece.

creating? Without trying to pigeonhole you, but leaning D: We wrote most of the album between May/June –

into that Shoegaze-y headspace, it is a soundscape that

September 2020. We were writing for five or six days a

lends itself to exploration.

week together.

K: We spend a lot of time working on textures; applying K: It was kinda the only thing happening, everything was

the same textures to a few different songs, in various

closed. We’d leave the house, go to the practice space,

ways. If you have a certain lyric, it limits what you can

then come back to the house.

put under it. We try and create a balance between my light and soft vocals, and the harshness of the guitars and sub-

D: The songs did slowly start to inform each other though

bass. We think about live a lot.

– as we were jumping between songs, instead of focusing on one project. We just wanted to see how far we could go

D: A lot of this record was led by vocals, and the emotions

with it.

of the vocals. Letting the vocals steer the dynamics, and that they were supported.

Were you writing with the intent of creating an album?

My Bloody Valentine played to kill their own songsK: Yeah, we definitely knew we were writing an album.

building a climax, or anti-climax, and tearing it back

We didn’t know the theme, or the end product, but we

down again; playing with extremes. I guess texturally

knew it wanted it to be an album.

you have a rise, in whatever direction it may be, which you then bring back to its core?

D: It informed itself, then we could refine ideas and let them influence each other. Stuff that sounded like it

D: We were definitely influenced by My Bloody

should go together, we started to lean into harder. We’d

Valentine’s song structures. They’re one of the best at

even take, like, the core song of one idea, and put a

applying electronic or dance structures to songs; how

drumbeat from a different song under it- swapping things

it rises, peaks, and unfolds. Holding that tension, and

around to see what would happen.

releasing it, was equally influenced by electronic music.

You don’t necessarily get that from more traditional

K: We came into it with a pool of ideas we’d created

guitar-based music.

separately- could be a folk song... a drum beat... bassline or vocal idea, and then we came into the writing space with all five of us having those ideas.

9

Just Mustard

It’s quite a physical way of approaching music.

K: Which I love. It’s great to be able to play these songs

Which I imagine for the player, is quite consummate?

live and create new memories with them.

There’s a soul to it. One which might not inherently be relatable, or the most traditional, or even have the

D: We definitely set boundaries for how much

most linear narrative and story-arch, but there’s a

instrumentation we use. We want to be able to play it

distinct physicality between the music and the lyrics?

all live. We also write outside of our abilities at times-

Perhaps a pretty straightforward example, but it takes

writing stuff we know we’ll never be able to play live.

me back to Blue Lines-era Massive Attack. It’s raw, but it’s meditative, and an experience as a whole.

Even with the recording of it, we stripped it back. There were parts in the earlier versions of the album, where we

D: We definitely wanted to build a world. Not just a

put too much into it; you couldn’t tell what was happening

collection of songs. We all love albums that you can just

as there were too many textures. We need space to be able

get into and explore the different corners of the sound for

to visualise what’s happening, instead of making a big

40 odd minutes.

brick of audio. Which can easily happen when you’re in the studio, where you have time to throw paint.

K: We’re trying to create a feeling.

I’d like to make something really minimal next... with Another really good example of world building is

loads of space.

Lykke Li. She made this album called ‘EYEYE’, which was accompanied by a film too. She had these seven

It sounds disciplined. Disciplined, but also liberating at

visual loops that all looped together to create a grander

the same time? Allowing yourselves to have both.

narrative. But there was no obvious beginning or end.

There was an order and track listing, but experientially

D: Playing live definitely informs that a lot. When we’re

it was a continual cycle of emotional reflection.

writing a song, and play it live... you can instantly tell if a part works or not. Or if a part is doing its job or not. We

D: Ahh that’s cool. We wanted to build a world you can

had to think about it a lot when writing, as we didn’t have

move around in. It’s not just one overriding mood, but

that reference point.

it’s a world with a general feeling. With our first album ‘Wednesday’, that was more of a production thing. We

K: We’ve had songs we’ve played live before and then

wanted it to sound like it was produced within the same

never played again. It’ll probably happen again. I like

world, even if the moods were different.

doing that.

How do you translate these worlds built in a studio to a

That must come from a core place of trust and self-

live setting? Taking it on the road for months on end...

awareness within the band? Picking and choosing songs to play, or to drop...

K: We try to limit ourselves whilst writing- we really enforced that with Wednesday, having no over-dub or

K: We tend to always strongly agree on the extremes.

anything. With ‘Heart Under’, because we weren’t playing live, we ended up stripping it back anyway to keep it

What’s it like bringing someone new into the mix then?

playable live.

Working with David Wrench…

We’ve had the same sound engineer since we started, so

K: He was number one on our list for mixing. When we

we thrive in a live setting.

were writing and making the album the way we were, we knew we wanted to get it to a certain point ourselves, and

D: Thrive in live.

then bring someone in to make it better.

@eijavehvilainen

10

With David, it wasn’t difficult at all. We had a call with

Compiling images, and thinking about the visuals fairly

him, then heard the first mixes back and they were so

early on; and let them influence the album.

good. Some songs took longer, but most of them were fairly easy- one mix and they were done.

D: When we started writing, there were different influences we were coming from, but then our bass player

D: He’s just so good at what he does. We learnt so much

Rob got this sub-bass pedal, which added a very watery

from hearing his mixes back. There were a couple of

sound.

things he did which were so simple- pulling something to the front of the mix, or the back, to create subtle space

K: Watery... and murky. We wanted people to feel

or feeling... It made such a massive difference to how the

submerged.

song played out overall.

D: Just darker yeah. The lyrics then all started to have I read that he has synaesthesia- which must enhance

references to water… and blue... once we started seeing

his working process too. With ‘Heart Under’, there

and hearing that, we leaned into it more. When you have

are very clear tones- both musically, and visually, that

something like that, you don’t really need to think about it

flows throughout the record. It feels very blue- and

too much. You just go with how it feels when it comes to

you’ve got a track called ‘Blue Chalk’.

you. Everything started to feel clear thematically.

K: Yeah that was a conscious decision. Not in a synaesthesia way, but we do make visual references a lot.

11

Just Mustard

Horsegirl are a band in the most classic sense, formed

We’ve always had a goal to make a record before we went

of a group of teenagers barely out of highschool (still

to college. So it has been in small ways in the works for a

in highschool in the case of vocalist and guitarist Nora

very long time.

Lowenstein) who started making music purely because they could. Emerging out of an underground DIY music

I was going to ask because you started in a very DIY,

scene in Chicago, their debut album ‘Versions of Modern

underground scene. Do you think that knowing you’re

Performance’ is a joyful exploration of unerring friendship

being received by a wider audience has shifted your

and teenage angst, bursting with bright moments of punky

perception of your music? Going from very intimate

guitar and oozing with sultry, fuzzy noise.

shows to a larger following?

As I speak to Horsegirl, I can’t help but be pulled into

I don’t feel like it has shifted my perception of our music,

their allure, they are so genuine and excited that you

especially since everything we’ve written so far was

immediately understand their music. Despite their debut

written in that phase of just us living in Chicago and not

album being so close to release, the trio feel unphased by

having much of a platform. But it’s definitely weird, and

the reception its release may bring. They bounce off and

for us seeing the sizes of shows that we play, grow. For

encourage each other, giddily reflecting their excitement

example, we’re playing a kind of big release show in

about the bands they love, their talented friends and the

Chicago and that feels totally bizarre. Because it’s just

surreal fact that what started as a hobby is gaining such

a big change for a record that was kind of written for a

traction.

small audience.

How would you describe your music to someone who’s

Do you think that emerging from such an intimate

never heard it – in a sentence.

scene has shaped you as a band or made you have a different perspective to other bands?

Normal, I would say.

I think that it has made us have a good perspective of how Like a noisy trio from the Chicago DIY.

to support other artists. We came from a community where everyone dropped everything for their friends but I think

Yeah, noisy trio.

we realised that is not exactly how everyone functions. So I think that set such a background for us to grow from.

Noisy but normal?

Is there a lot of overlap in bands and things like that?

Yeah!

Yeah, we have a music video [for ‘Dirtbag So the album is out now – what’s the story behind it

Transformations (Still Dirty)’] out on Tuesday and we

and how do you feel about it coming out?

didn’t have any time to put it together because we’ve all been super behind with school and stuff like that. So I

I mean the story behind the creation is the same as the

called up my elementary school two days before and was

story of Horsegirl – where it’s just everything we’ve been

like can we please shoot here. And then we texted like

working on since we’ve been together.

everyone we knew and all of the bands we know.

Words by Eve Boothroyd, illustration by Emil Wikström

14

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

It’s completely logic-defying that Viagra Boys are still

We caught up with Seb in the middle of a brutal European

around - and not just around, but one of the best bands on

tour to talk touring, the new album, and the importance of

the planet. When ‘Sports’ was released, we were gifted

self-loathing.

with an insight into the world of a speed-addled, facetattooed, hard livin’ group of genuine Swedish maniacs,

How’s tour been so far? As a band who’ve collectively

whose propensity for growling basslines and lyrics about

put in the hours sleeping on floors, is it still something

shrimp, erectile dysfunction and dog shows somehow

you can enjoy?

clicked with people. They’re a far cry from many of the other ultra-marketable guitar bands taking pride of place

It’s been good, it’s been a lot. Before the UK we did the

among the ‘6Music Dad’ approved collection, but the

US for a month, so we’ve been out for two months now.

world we’re living in is one that, thankfully, does defy

I’m getting tired of this now, and I wanna go home to my

logic.

girlfriend and my dog. Having said that, it’s no longer exclusively floors we sleep on, so it’s a little bit better.

Maybe it’s for that fact that on the verge of the release of

I’m doing good, better than ever I guess - except for

‘Cave World’ (album number three! Who’d have thunk

gaining about 20lbs.

it?) they feel more important than ever. To give them their dues, the Viagra Boys of the present day do seem different

Let’s talk ‘Cave World’ - could you run us through

to the red raw figures first emerging with ‘Street Worms’ -

some of the key themes or inspirations on the album?

they’re a more refined act, more aware of their strengths, When I first started writing the album, we recorded

and maybe - just maybe - more mature?

an entire album in a studio about a year ago and it had Having said that, there still remains a certain bug-eyed

a couple of good songs on it, but we didn’t feel the

mania pervasive to their music, even as it refines and

content was strong enough so we decided to re-record

retouches its more experimentational sides. Recent

everything, and only one song made it onto what became

triptych of album singles ‘Ain’t No Thief’, ‘Troglodyte’

‘Cave World’. I really didn’t want to write a Covid

and ‘Punk Rock Loser’ (the former and latter accompanied

album like everyone else, but it kind of ended up being

by fabulous music videos I encourage you to watch

like that as I started writing more about current events

immediately) explore very different avenues of subject

and what was going on around me, rather than the more

matter, yet carry the same strand of quasi-claustrophobic

personal ‘Welfare Jazz’. This album feels a lot more like

distorted realities which allows a listener to tap into the

a commentary about what’s going on, and my view that

source of desolate joy at the nexus of their sound, and

we’re all digressing into apes and cave people. The whole

ethos behind the band itself.

theme of the album is the absurdity of everyone, their political beliefs, everyone’s take on the pandemic, and

Even as the band seem suddenly quite aware of the

the polarities and ideas people have on what’s going on

possibilities that emerge when you don’t die as young as

around them.

you think you will, they remain one of the loosest, coolest groups around - being a fuck up has never seemed such a joy.

17

Words by Dan Pare, illustration by Harry Wyld

Something I enjoyed about the album was the increased

We’re pretty involved. The guy who made that video is the

implementation of synths, which I feel lends itself well

same guy who made the ‘ain’t nice’ video, and he showed

to those sort of driving, danceable rhythms you guys

me this idea of a feeling he wanted to capture. From there,

do so well. Do you feel a pressure to evolve and develop

I let him do all the directing and stuff like that. I definitely

your sound? Why do you think now was the time to do

don’t do too much in the video department, but it needs to

that?

be someone we can have a creative dialogue with before starting out.

We definitely make what we want. A few of the songs that ended up being more synth-y were originally recorded

Something you guys do really well is comment on

like a classic VB tune - the demos are all heavy bass and

the chaos of our era, but always with a splash of

distorted guitars, much more punk in their essence. But by

humour which means it never comes across preachy or

the time we went to record, we listened to them and felt

overbearing. Is that a difficult one to balance?

that was almost too easy, too obvious. We wanted to take more risks with the production of the songs, like ‘only

I don’t find it too hard actually, because I always try and

have synth bass on this track’ and ‘cut down the guitars’.

find something funny about what’s going on around me,

Experimenting with production is about ‘fuck this heavy

or funny in society. I’ll rarely sit down and try and write

rock thing, this track can still be heavy without running to

something sad or that really pisses me off, I don’t know

a formula’.

how to do that. There has to be some point of comic relief - of course shit pisses me off and depresses me, but my

Tracks like ‘Globe Earth’ and ‘Return to Monke’ are

view on life is to laugh it off, and just try to be a good

plucked straight from the online world. How influential

example for what you believe in. I want to be taken

is internet culture to the writing process?

seriously as a musician, but as for what I have to say, there’s always a truth behind every joke. If you can’t find

Definitely. Especially in the last couple of years, the

the truth in what we do, then that’s your fuckin’ problem.

internet - especially memes and YouTube, have become a massive part of how we receive news and information -

Running through the albums is the theme of being

there’s a lot of stuff that’s bled in from the internet. From

fucked up, and feeling like a fuck up. Three albums

touring, you just kind of sit and stare at your phone a lot,

in, touring the world, do you think there’ll be a point

so it’s kind of inevitable.

where that feels disingenuous? Or does that only come with a Rolls Royce?

I remember around the time of the last album, you spoke about feeling you needed to slow down on the old

I think it’ll always be a part of me. It’s what’s always

drugs n booze. How’s that going?

driven me in a way, that anxiety and self-hate. I think that’s where you get that kind of desperate feeling.

It’s going well, I’m healthier than ever. I have a fiance

Self-hate can lead to good art, as long as you don’t let

now and we don’t really party that much, just hang out at

it overtake you. I’ll always be questioning myself. I

home. If you’re going to last in this business, you gotta

think if you don’t do that, you stop taking risks, you get

take care of yourself.

comfortable, and the art suffers. I still find it weird at times - just this tattooed idiot with a beer belly standing

The video for ‘Ain’t No Thief’ is wicked, and sees you

on stage dancing like a dad - sometimes I wonder what the

fit the role of evangelist preacher - how involved /

fuck I’m doing, and can’t believe I’m getting paid to do it.

interested are you guys in the visual side of things? All of your videos are pretty left-field, but always somehow perfect for the track.

19

Viagra Boys

26.8.22 Pre Order Now

As pigeonholing may’ve once been in vogue, clinging

A: We feel really lucky to be operating in one of

desperately to the term of our egotistically chosen

these periods in Glasgow at the moment, where we’re

subgenre, the UK’s underground music scene is shifting in

surrounded by loads of amazing artists spanning a

a new direction. The direction of listening to whatever the

multitude of genres – particularly guitar bands and

fuck you want.

alternative pop. We formed in Edinburgh and were playing shows at great starter venues such as ‘Sneaky Pete’s’,

Champions of free thought, Glaswegian newcomers,

but after a while you find that there’s no middle ground

Medicine Cabinet are uninterested in fitting the pre-

between these smaller gigs and Edinburgh Castle. To build

shaped mould for guitar-led buzz bands. We caught up

up your career you’ve really got to move to Glasgow. I

with vocalist, Anna Acquroff and guitarist, Joshua Chakir

think because of the infrastructure and relatively low cost

to discuss run ins with Dave, writing with Spector and

of living here, it’s become a geographical epicentre for

running riot in Gillian Anderson’s former home.

Scottish music.

How has the Glaswegian music scene shaped the early

The grassroots scene sounds like it’s thriving! Existing

stages of your musical careers?

on the border between power pop and punk rock, from where do you draw your influences?

Anna: I think that every decade or so, Scotland ends up producing globally important music through these burst

A: There are crossovers, but we all have slightly different

periods of intense musical subcultures.

musical backgrounds which come together to make our overall sound. My coming-of-age music was punk and riot

Joshua: When you think ‘what are the famous Scottish

grrrl, but I’m also a big fan of famous pop artists like La

bands I know’ and start naming them, you’ll find that they

Roux, MARINA AND THE DIAMONDS and FKA twigs.

continue to roll off the tongue.

21

Words by Laura Pegler, illustration by Dulcie Brown

J: If you like that but also big, epic guitar sounds, slinky

What a story and you’ll now have Dave eternally

bass lines and gang vocal stuff then hopefully you like us

attached to the single. What’s next on your recorded

too. We just did a show at ‘King Tut’s’ where someone

release schedule?

said we sounded like Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Franz Ferdinand A: We just recorded our second single! It’s the track that

and Blondie all mixed up.

we usually open our set with. We say it’s a ‘sexy song A: On the one hand, the way we view taste is still

about sunburn’. We can’t reveal much more than that, but

informed by the music psychology of the 70’s - this idea

we recorded it at JBJ studio, again in London, which had

of having one narrow identifiable category. However,

an indoor slide.

because of societal shifts towards relativism and away from viewing discriminative tastes as being a positive,

J: I think it was Gillian Anderson’s old house, which was

we’re also starting to be more culturally omnivorous,

really funny as we’re all big fans so we kept repeating

working out how we, as individuals, navigate ourselves

‘what if she was in this room, what if she ate dinner at this

between different subsets.

table?!’ It was intense – good intense. It’s nice to be fully in the driving seat now of continually releasing music.

You can definitely hear these merged ideas on your

We’ve got a massive back catalogue of tracks to catch up

dream pop debut ‘Signs’. Can you tell us more about

on.

this high-energy single’?

Exciting times ahead! Whilst recording is underway, A: We wrote it in RAK studios in London which was way

you’re well known for your insane live sets. How was

above our paygrade!

the return of Brighton’s, The Great Escape Festival that you played last month?

J: It was amazing! You walk down the halls and there’s plaques on either side dedicated to Blur, Arctic Monkeys

A: It was so much fun *holds up backstage pass*! We

and Adele.

played at CHALK which was the biggest venue we’ve played to date. Also on the line-up was the lovely

A: As we were initially going down the stairs, there

Cassyette and Gallas, who’re another Scottish band. As we

seemed to be bodyguards stood around this guy. As I did

only had one song out, we didn’t expect anyone to attend

a fireman pole type spin off the bannister, I accidentally

and anyone that did would just be a bonus. But the room

stood on his toes and it turned out it was Dave the rapper!

was pretty much full, which was great! Then the next day

We were in London to mix writing with seeing new bands

we played One Church which was so beautiful too.

and had also been invited to a show at Paris Fashion Week at the same time as well, so we were in this kind of fantasy

I’m sure there were many tales of debauchery

dream bubble by the time we started making the track.

from that weekend. You’ve also supported indie heavyweights such as Sports Team, Spector and The

J: It was one of those great days in the room when you’d

Murder Capital – any firm favourites?

write a part and instantly the next one would flow. We A: We’d both have to say Spector! They were our first

were all in such a good headspace.

gigs outside of Scotland in 2019 and we got along with A: The opening sequence is so dramatic - it feels like

Fred Macpherson (frontman) like a house on fire. We’ve

you’re rising up from a platform. We love juxtaposition,

since written loads of songs with him, did writing sessions

so from there the song built itself up as trying to find

together over zoom during lockdown and we always say

meaning in the end of the world but in a really fun and

hello whenever we’re down in London. He’s such a good

epic way.

performer and his lyrics are so clever. My Omnichord is actually featured on their new album!

23

Medicine Cabinet

J: The sheer emotional attachment we have to that man is

J: I’d say if someone who shopped at charity shops got

ridiculous.

beamed up to space with their own suitcase, then the aliens gave you their suitcase and you incorporated the

As the band that cemented my love of guitar music

two, that would be your fashion sense. I’ve cycled through

back in 2012, this is music to my ears. Now that festival

all the eras and even if I try to dress a particular way, I

season is upon us, where can we see you playing this

always end up looking like a 90’s kid.

summer?

Finally, the all-important question from the Magic A: Next up is TRNSMT festival in July. That’s all we can

8 Ball – if you could bring one artist back from the

announce at the minute, but I promise there’s a few things

grave, who would it be?

coming up that we can’t wait to play!

A: Hildegard of Bingen! She was a mediaeval female I like that - leave us wanting more… From music

composer – she’s badass.

to fashion, it feels like the two are often closely intertwined. From which eras and styles do you take

J: I’d have to say Jimi Hendrix but not for the obvious

inspiration?

reasons. He was an otherworldly musician, so I’d love to show him a synth and see what insane things he could

A: I think that the first thing we have to credit is charity

conjure up with it.

shops, we love those. I’m personally influenced by the 70’s and retromania, being a modern synthesis of older styles. I probably channel ‘apocalypse-core’ if that’s a thing.

@dulcie_brown

24

Having grown up in the Yorkshire Dales, Molly Fairhurst has been illustrating since graduating in 2017, and started to explore animation in 2020. Molly studied Illustration at Leeds College of Art, but now resides in Bristol.

“I like the city, in my first years here I have felt pulls to give up and leave, to pursue Scotland, and maybe even the North again but recently I have felt more of a connection.

The city gives me surprises, and many sweet friends. And more blue skies than the foggy valley of home.”

Molly’s playful but established style has led to plenty of interesting commissions and an eclectic career within Illustration.

“I just finished a very intense animation project for a client so I’m taking some time off- until the next job comes along. I’ve been thinking about where I’d like to take my work next, not in a way of crisis and sudden change but thinking thoughtfully about what I’d like to do.

Well, really what I like to do is make things! Just make make make… I want to make things to hold. I just want to make something beautiful! I have ideas for books churning in the back of my mind. But mostly I just like drawing.”

We caught up with Molly to talk through her influences and the future.

25

Molly Fairhurst

How do you go about starting a piece of work?

Whose work do you admire and why?

I just draw really. I like the tactile nature of just putting

Zhong Xian’s playful animations dazzle my mind every

something on the page and finding out what it’s going to

time I see them. Such a distinct sense of character and

be. I do plan a bit, certainly so for client work. But I like

movement. So so so good. Every thing performed with a

to, as much as I can, let the image reveal itself through the

wink.

smudges and the slips.

Does music influence your work at all?

Tell us about a typical working day.

Yes, certainly. I spend most of my working day with It changes day to day as it has to. I like to maintain some

headphones on, trying to identify the mood, or just

discipline and be in the studio drawing even when I don’t

because I love listening. I do get distracted though, when

have to. The call of drawing goes far beyond “work”

I listen to something too interesting, or I’ll listen to

anyway. I share a studio with some of my closest friends

something that makes me want to get my own guitar or

every day. It’s a lark. I feel unbelievably lucky. I check

synthesiser out and then I’ll wander off, physically and/

my emails for as many hours as I am awake because most

or mentally. To avoid it, I’ll listen to something very

people I work with live in different time zones. That’s

antithetical to what I could ever make (perhaps very

fine. It’s mostly spam anyway.

poppy or glossy, or really intense and loud) or I’ll listen to something which flattens any brain waves right out.

How do you want people to feel when they see your

Recently - a lot of Éliane Radigue, and other slow moving

work?

drones. I love a hum, me.

Whatever comes to their minds and eyes! I have a large

Who’s your favourite new band?

drawing of horses I made in my studio, and multiple people have said “I love those running foxes”. It makes

I’m having a think and I know something from 2022 must

me laugh a lot. I’m not offended. They ARE very fox like

be escaping me. I really like the releases of Spivak and

horses. I think a lot of my work is quite daft. The act of

Reymour, from last year, which I think were debuts.

making it for me makes me feel peaceful. All I can hope is that my work could make someone feel good. My dream is

Finally, what can we expect to see from you in the near

that someone would feel it in their heart. Even if it is just

future?

a funny little drawing of a cat. Maybe especially.

A really really big drawing!

@molly.fairhurst

28

The band currently known as Divorce (they may have

Why did you want to remove yourself from the stuff

changed it by the time this gets to print) are sat in, what

you were working on before?

I can see via Zoom to be, a small garden in Nottingham.

This is their hometown, and where the band spent several

Tiger: We added Kasper and Adam so it was a different

years bringing their country indebted post-punk to the boil

band, we felt like it was only appropriate really to start

- all in different kitchens. As an amalgamation of members

again.

of Megatrain and Do Nothing, Divorce sound and act more like a convergence than a fracture. Headstrong with the

Felix: Lockdown had meant that obviously everything had

music they write (see singles ‘Services’ and ‘Pretty’), the

been paused, we wanted to make sure whatever we did

quartet seem to approach their responsibilities as a band

next was going to be something that we could connect all

with a layered stoicism, the sort gained from experience

our time to.

and confidence. Unfortunately Adam can not make the interview, but their family dynamic is upheld nonetheless.

Having recently finished a UK tour, what’s been your

In between sipping mugs shaped like a block of Cadburys

favourite place you’ve played at?

chocolate, and rolling cigarettes, they chat to me about touring, their first singles, and unwanted attention from

Felix: Hull was really satisfying, it was the only show

spell-casters.

we’ve played where we weren’t sure what the reception would be like because we didn’t know anyone there. We

How did you come up with the band name?

were a little apprehensive.

Tiger: It was lockdown, and me and Felix went on a walk

Tiger: I feel like we managed to pull them round. It

to ALDI from where we live in Sneinton. We wanted

was one of the nights that we actually had a good time

something darkly humorous, and just one word. I can’t

afterwards as well. Often one of us couldn’t drink, so

remember which one of us suggested ‘Divorce’, but it

when one of you can’t really let loose properly, all of you

didn’t land immediately.

don’t. But it was fun, Hull’s just a laugh.

Felix: I think it has different connotations for all of us.

Felix: And we got some really good Kurdish food

Tiger and Adam are children of divorce, whereas Kasper

beforehand.

and I, our parents are still happily married, somehow. We were kind of divorcing what we’d done before, splitting

Kasper: I really enjoyed Manchester, that was the first

away from our other project Megatrain.

show on the tour, and YES is a cool venue, there’s a nice dressing room and nice people. We got treated really well.

31

Words by Charlie Brown, illustration by Xinyue Song

Do you find that sometimes you aren’t treated that

Kasper: Yeah, because it’s in the middle of nowhere in

well?

North Wales they let you arrive the night before. It gives you time to get everything set up, then get straight into it

Felix: It’s kind of a novelty. We’ve all done a lot of

the morning of recording.

touring and gigging and the industry isn’t the best at accommodating the artists that are making the shows

How was it working with Bristol based production

happen. Sometimes, you play shows and it doesn’t feel

house Clump Collective for the music video for

like it’s anything to do with you, but we felt really

‘Services’? It looked like it was lots of fun to film.

satisfied on that tour. There was a lot of thought put into it by the promoters, they wanted us to be comfortable and

Kasper: Big time. I knew a lot of them personally from

have a nice time, and that makes the shows better.

living in Nottingham, they’re such amazing people themselves, but the amount of creativity they have as a

You guys are about to head down to The Great Escape,

collective is obscene.

and you’ll be playing on Friday the 13th. Are you worried about that?

Tiger: I really loved working with them because as a production house they’re so focused on the art department.

Tiger: Really fucking worried, I’m afraid we’ll all be

Everything is about the props, everything is about the set,

smited on stage by a great hand from the sky. Ghost,

the rest of it they just get their heads together and do.

ghouls, and goblins, they’ll be all around, like some kind Was the concept for the music video yours, or did it

of goblin parade.

come from someone within Clump Collective?

Kasper: Goblin Parade’s not a bad band name.

Felix: Clump as a whole had the vision for it. It wasn’t Tiger: We’re changing it, our name’s not Divorce

what any of us had in our heads when we were thinking

anymore, it’s Goblin Parade. Now I’m deeply concerned.

about the song, but it ended up being strangely fitting. It’s hard not to be too literal when you’ve written a song in

I wish you all the best. You recorded ‘Services’ in Foel

terms of the visual interpretation of it, so it was cool to

Studios in Wales, how was that?

put that into someone else’s hands.

Felix: It was the first thing we’d really done as a band,

Can you tell us a little bit about your latest single?

we wanted to go somewhere separate to where any of us really knew to all be on an equal footing, and all be

Felix: ‘Pretty’ is very much a love song. We wrote it in

strangers in a place.

the hope the listener can find some sort of catharsis in imperfect romance, that’s all I can say.

Tiger: They had a meerkat sanctuary and an aviary there, it really removed us from the way we’ve been doing music

Now that you have music released, how does it feel

before, and that really helped us. We had a day to record

playing it live? Has it lost any fluidity?

the single, with Jamie Davies and Becca Mercer producing the track.

Felix: ‘Services’ is one where weirdly, there have been people in the crowd singing along, and people feel like

Felix: We’ve worked with them for years and have such

they know that track. To a certain extent you want to

a familiarity with them, which makes it very easy to try

honour the song and the people that have listened to it.

stuff out without it feeling forced.

Because generally people will come to hear it played how it is on the record.

Did you stay in the studio’s residential cottage?

33

Divorce

Kasper: Gigging is useful for songs that haven’t been

Felix: There’s an element of theatre to the whole thing

recorded, you can add bits or take things away and get

really. People have said that they think the vocals come

away with it.

across as being tied into the band name, and it being a slightly theatrical thing of two people’s divorce becoming

The comments section of your TikTok seems to be a

very public. It’s nice that people are drawing their own

lot of spell-casters and love-gurus claiming they’re

conclusions about whether there are personas involved.

able to ‘fix your relationship’ and ‘bring peace to your marriage’. Have you guys ever been tempted to try that

We’re running out of time, but I’ve got one more

kind of thing?

question; Taylor Swift or Katy Perry?

Tiger: We’d pay a lot of money for that. It’s not just

Tiger: I used to listen to a lot of Katy Perry as a kid. I

TikTok, our Facebook’s particularly a hotbed for it. We’re

had ‘Teenage Dream’ on a candy-floss scented CD, after

waiting to really capitalise on it as PR.

a while it started to smell really strange. That album is incredible, especially ‘The One That Got Away’. But

Felix: I’d like to meet these love-gurus, I hope they come

Taylor Swift, I rate her as well.

to some shows.

Kasper: Let’s support Taylor on tour.

Do you feel like you’re different people onstage to offstage?

Tiger: She can support us, she’s a solo act.

Tiger: I think with the wig that I wear, it wasn’t really intended to be an alter-ego, it just made me let go a little bit more because I feel good in it. I didn’t realise how committed I’d have to be to it.

@xsong847

34

Introducing the P.A.M. family, friends and strangers of LA in a new, very limited edition zine, documenting a point in time in the amorphous city.

The shoot was conceived as a fun way to share the new P.A.M. SS22 collection, with an emphasis on portraiture. But where photographer & stylist Imogene Barron took it from there evolved into something much more substantial, too beautiful for the algorithmic terrain of social media, and… “zine-worthy”.

Shooting over 2 months, between 4 hotels and 5 rental cars, Barron captures the span of long-time P.A.M. friends and affiliates (including Cali Thornhill DeWitt, Mitsuhiro Kubo, Eddie Ruscha and Brendan Fowler), her friends (Kasper, Bambi, Staz), and others she met along the way.

“I wanted to somehow bottle up the sunshine, and the smog, and create some sort of tangible souvenir, or love letter to LA that could remind me of this weird and wonderful place. After all, Los Angeles is not the palm trees, the traffic, the botox, or the awfully high concentration of acoustic guitars, it’s all of the people that enjoy or suffer through these things alongside you and truly make another day in paradise, another day in paradise… I was beyond honoured to shoot friends both old and new and document our mutual community in LA.” — Imogene Barron Realising something natural and beautiful had happened, publishing was quickly arranged between P.A.M. and Innen (Zürich). Copies were distributed to everyone involved, a few were also shared with top-tier P.A.M. stockists, but with only 300 in circulation worldwide the chances of finding one are slim!

— Photos / direction / styling by Imogene Barron • @ imogenevonbarron • imogenebarron.com Clothes by P.A.M. • @perksandmini • perksandmini.com Published by P.A.M. and Innen • @innenbooks • innenzines.com

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The process of emotional healing is an incredibly personal

How do you look back on that time? Do the themes

thing and such a tricky tightrope to walk across when

still ring true and still mean a lot to you, or have you

sharing it in your art. This is the path that Soren Bryce

completely progressed on from it?

navigates on ‘SOAK’, her debut album as Tummyache; a dynamic blend of DIY punk, shoegaze and bedroom pop.

I don’t know if it’s just because I’m older, but in the past

Named for the knots one might get in their stomach during

I’d be pretty sick of my work after a year or two. Now, I

a bout of intense anxiety, there is that same palpable sense

feel happy knowing I’ll always have a soft spot for this

of unease that courses through Tummyache’s music, but

record, even though I know it could sound so much better.

also a sense of comfort in how open and frank it is.

At a certain point you have to decide when something is done, you can’t really work on it forever. I think it’s a nice

Raised in rural Texas and now residing in London, Bryce’s

snapshot of that period of my life, and it does still ring

journey to this point has been one of many sharp turns

true to me, just because I think I was going through such

and restlessness, but in this project she sounds at her most

an interesting phase.

mature and comfortable. Speaking at length about how she got here and where she intends to go with it confirm

It’s part of the healing process I suppose.

exactly that, and there’s no effort made to shy away from anything either – all is laid bare for the world.

Yeah, I think that’s very evident as you listen to this album, it’s me figuring out a lot of things about myself

Firstly, how are you?

and other people.

I’m recording down in Devon in a place called Middle

What were the sort of things that you were sort of

Farm Studios, kind of in the middle of nowhere.

trying to channel and what was influencing you at the time?

Is that for a new record or are you just trying out ideas?

I was listening to quite a lot of weird things because I was living at home for the first time since I was about 15. I was around my brothers and my parents and soaking in a

Next album, yeah.

lot of what they were listening to, so it was a lot of classic I suppose we ought to talk about ‘SOAK’ first.

country, and things that you wouldn’t think inspired this album.

[laughs] I’m always working one step ahead, really. It’s easy to forget that I finished ‘SOAK’ two years ago.

39

Words by Reuben Cross, illustration by Aran Quinn

I try, when I record, to not listen to the genre that I make

I think you’d laugh if you saw my actual setup, it’s pretty

just because I think it’s easy to homogenise everything if

grim. I’ve picked up quite a lot being around musicians

you’re just listening to the same things. I tried to listen

all the time, but it’s been nice to get a foundational

to nothing at all sometimes, because you just get super

understanding. Now that I’m here recording the next

bombarded with sound. My process was working on things

album, I feel super happy, because I can tell I’ve learned

eight hours a day, so it was nice when I wasn’t recording

from the previous one, and just had more access to nicer

to not really ingest any new media. I was reading a lot.

facilities and things. When I was recording at my parents there was only one microphone, so it’s a level up for me

Was the environment that you were in back at home

personally.

and in lockdown a big driving factor behind that album being able to be done or was it something that you

I mean, there’s nothing wrong with like the DIY sound,

always knew that you were going to be doing?

but there’s limitations I suppose. When you’ve got a full studio at your disposal, that’s when it can get exciting sometimes.

No, I was just looking for something to keep my hands busy. I was coming off quite a weird phase of my life where I was just a workaholic - I would be on the road

I have worked in studios before, I used to have a solo

for 10/11 months of the year. I really enjoyed it, but it

project when I was a teenager - that’s the stuff that I

was quite tiring and maybe not so good for my health.

cringe at. I was never engineering myself, this is the first

When I didn’t have that structure, I had to create my own,

time I’ve brought Tummyache to a studio setting.

otherwise I’m just aimless.

You mentioned the fact that you had stuff from before Did the period away from all of the chaos of doing

Tummyache - I suppose this represents another new

several different jobs at once allow you to just take it

chapter since then and being able to explore yourself in

all in for once and then plan your next move? When

a different way?

did you move to the UK? I wouldn’t change anything - everything lends itself to I moved here after I finished ‘Soak’, so it was in late

who you become now, it’s hard just growing in front of

2020 and it kind of gave me a deadline to finish it. Before

other people all the time. It’d be nice if I could have just

COVID happened, I had applied to go to university; I

done all of those things and then not really had a record

always wanted to go back to school because I just went

of it. Also, who doesn’t fucking change from the time

straight into working when I was 18. I’m very grateful for

between 18 and 25? That’s literally the biggest chunk of

it because I got to do cool things like touring, but I always

life where you’re just exponentially changing as a human

knew I wanted to go back. I’m studying audio engineering

being. Give it like another 10 years and I’ll probably be

- I didn’t necessarily really want to study music.

like, “so cute, little teenage Soren”.

I take it from the fact that you did the whole album

How have you grown accustomed to the differences

yourself, it’s always been a passion?

between the DIY scene in the US and the UK since moving?

41

Tummyache

In America, you have little individual pools in each city

I didn’t set out to leave them in, I just put them in as

and those are quite easy to infiltrate. Like, if you know

motivation to get me to finish. They were all just voice

one person who knows of a house show in St. Louis,

messages from that period that my friends had left me.

you go play it - it’s more of a slow build. It takes ages

The one that I did intend to keep in was the one from

to be able to do the whole country anyway, which I have

the hospital in ‘White Noise Machine’ because of the

done. Here, I feel like everyone’s super nice and really

significance of what I was going through health-wise at

connected. The scene in London seems really small and

the time was a lot of what that song was about.

easy to integrate into if you’re a nice person.

As you say, you’ve gone through that healing process London kind of terrifies me, but then you’ve had the

- how can we expect to hear this develop on this next

opposite of moving from the vastness of New York to

record?

London, which is slightly more manageable.

I think this record’s really insular and introspective, Once you’ve played a few venues in London, a lot of the

and a bit more political. It’s just influenced more by my

promoters from other venues start to ask if we could play

interactions with other people. I think I’ve also gotten

there. I found that quite cool.

better at guitar, so the parts I’m writing are more riffs and less wall of noise. I’m generally just growing as a human.

Another thing I wanted to ask you about the record is the constant theme of the recorded voice messages.

What’s the significance behind the people that feature?

@aranquinn

42

In 2018 Bug Teeth released their first single. After a

Did it change much adding a band?

chaotic pandemic which cut a significant chunk out of the group’s trajectory, they are now back with a brand-new

It really changed. When the boys first joined, I just wasn’t

mesmerically stunning single: ‘Ice-9’.

having a good time. It wasn’t because I didn’t enjoy making music with them, it just wasn’t how I wanted

Making a name initially with their astral, dreamlike

Bug Teeth to be. Alex joined first and he was just playing

ambient noise, the new single marks the first recorded

synths for me and that was amazing. As soon as it was a

music as a five-piece group. It’s added a whole new

whole band, it felt like it was running away from me a bit.

dimension to the sound and a real richness – it’s dreampop

It took a few practices for me to be like ‘ok, this is how I

immersed in krautrock-come-triphop rhythms. We caught

want it.’ They’re in a band themselves so they’re always

up with PJ, the architect of the project, to ask them about

bouncing off of each other in their own project.

their writing, Kurt Vonnegut and a particularly apocalyptic dream.

How long were you making music for?

Could you tell us a little bit about the Bug Teeth

I started making music in sixth form, so that would’ve

project?

been 2016, but it was just a secret. It was just for me. It was only a year and a half before I got the band, but I’d

I never intended for anything to come from making music.

cemented an image for my music, and it was very much

I started making music right before university then I

emotional dream-pop and ambient, and it still kind of is,

forgot about it. That was until I released my first ever

but now there’s more members it’s a bigger sound.

song on bandcamp, ‘Serotonin’, back in 2018.

You’ve been studying literature for a while. Has your I suppose the urge was always there to make music, but

music work been developed much by doing other

it became more of a compulsion. Making music was

things?

cemented when people started caring about it. Until 2019 it was just me on my own. As soon as I started to get

I think I couldn’t really have one without having the other.

actual interest, I knew I needed a band. Not necessarily to

People always ask me do you see yourself as a writer or

fulfil a musical direction, but to fulfil everything I needed

a musician, what do you see yourself doing in the future

for live shows. Before [the band] I was there looping and

and it’s always like I can’t exist without either one or they

trying to sample things at the same time. I never have

have to both be the same?

enough hands, so the boys became my extra hands.

Words by Callum Gray, illustration by REN

44

Kurt Vonnegut is your favourite author and he’s had

If you mean creating a space as an environment, I work

quite an impact on this upcoming EP. What is the draw

so well in my room. It’s my space and my time and I’m

toward him? Is it the strange, surreal nature of it?

just alone thinking about nothing else, and I can let myself wonder – whether that’s musically or prosaically, it takes

It’s mostly the surreal. There’s a whole backstory to ‘Ice-

me.

9’ and ‘Cat’s Cradle’ sparked it. I had this dream. [I] was What do you usually write with?

in this wide-open space. It was pitch black and the sky was red, and I looked down and I was standing on all of these blackened bodies, and I looked up and there was this

It’s nearly always guitar at the moment, but George

white hole in the sky, like the sun, but it was a hole. All of

[instruments] says I ‘shred on laptop’ and I think it’s true.

these bodies were floating up and going into this hole. In

Yeah, that’s how I started, I wrote songs before I had any

the dream I thought that it really looked like sperm going

kind of instrument, it was just on GarageBand. That was

toward the egg. I woke up and I [thought]: ‘I just dreamt

my whole first EP, so that’s something that feels very

the end of the world and it’s like conception, it’s like

fluid still. But I always enjoy guitar and I knew that it was

birth’ and that consumed me for a really long time. When

always going to be something I did when I was older.

the pandemic happened, that dream was so ingrained in me. Then I had this psychotic episode where I believed I

Are there any songs that you hear, and you think ‘I

caused the pandemic, and it was my fault because I had

wish I wrote that song’, or are there any songs you’re

that dream.

inspired particularly by?

Thinking back on it, it’s really funny, it’s hilarious.

Everything! Literally everything, I find something that

Releasing the single now is me looking back on it and

I love in every single thing. At the moment I’m inspired

saying, ‘it was a really bad time, but isn’t it funny to talk

by very electronic stuff. Most recently I’ve really loved

about now’. It’s been a wild few years. Everything that’s

‘REM Sleep Research’ by Ochre and ‘Battersea’ by

happened has kind of made it sound a certain way.

Hooverphonic. Also, trip-hop. I’ve always wanted to write proper trip-hop, and I haven’t got there yet. But it’s kind

What is that way?

of why I got the band. Also, krautrock. I really want to write a krautrock banger.

Panicky. Panic attack time.

You’ve got an EP coming out, could you tell us a bit When you sit down and write, do you have to create a

more about it and what to expect?

space?

More Vonnegut. It’s called ‘Lucky Me, Lucky Mud’. It’s I have the same routine every day. My mornings are

another Cat’s Cradle reference because I can’t stop! It’s 5

exactly the same, and then the rest of the day is however I

tracks. I’m working creatively with Hannah Woollam (who

want to spend it. Obviously because I’m a creative person

did the cover artwork for Ice-9) so it’s a bigger project

it always ends up as something creative so I’m always

than just music. A lot of it is early Bug Teeth stuff with the

writing. It’s been a while since I let myself fully focus on

ambience and dreaminess of what I used to make.

music because my degree has been so consuming. But as soon as I do it’s just the whole day.

45

Bug Teeth

All of the band don’t live in the same city as you. They

Are there any gigs you’ve done that really stick in your

live in Leeds, and you live in Norwich. What’s it like

mind?

having a long-distance band relationship? Is it nice because they leave you alone?

Probably Latitude. Every gig I play I have a very different reception. At some of them people are lying on the ground

I’m moving in with them imminently and we produced

to listen to it. Some of them, people are entranced. Then if

‘Ice-9’ and the start of the EP in the basement of their

it’s band stuff, people are actively enjoying it.

house. It’s just like we’ve relocated and it’s just taking a really long time for me to come down from my little

At Latitude, half of the people were laid down or sat down

bedroom and then go back up and come back down. It

and the other half were dancing. I think that was the first

doesn’t feel like a long-distance band relationship.

time I had people actually dance around and that felt so special. It was the most people I’ve ever seen watch me in

How did you find your time in Norwich as a musician?

one place. That kind of sticks in my mind.

Everyone knows who you are when you do things in

Where are Bug Teeth gonna be in 5 years?

Norwich, which is the loveliest thing about it. It was the best for being a very new musical artist, but I’m done now.

Probably in the North making Krautrock. I don’t know.

I love Norwich, but I’m ready to leave. It’s been 5 years.

I’m taking it one day at a time.

I’m packing my bags mentally. It made it very easy for me to release things because it’s a very musical city and a very supportive one.

@drawren

46

Opus Kink’s debut EP, ‘Til the Stream Runs Dry’, offers

Angus: It’s mining, dipping into a rich seam of symbols. A

a 7-song chronicle of all the iconoclastic, ‘jazz-punk’

lot of the time, the things that you’re trying to say, or the

travails the sextet have endured during their frenzied

things you don’t know you’re trying to say, are best fed

existence. Cresting on waves of woodwind and brass,

through well known symbols.

on cavalier, boot-bashing rhythms, their music charges forth with a frantic gusto that’s been honed during many a

Would you ever find inspiration in anything

feverish live spectacle - a sold out soiree at the 100 Club

contemporary?

ranks most proudly among these. With debonair theatrics, nostalgic twists of poetry, and a passion for a roistering

Everyone: Of course!

knees-up keeping them in good stead, Opus Kink have steadily crafted a world which seems theirs alone to

Angus: It’s all contemporary because it’s all things that

conquer.

we’re thinking, feeling, doing now. It just so happens that the way they’re said is through different times, ideas,

Ahead of the groups festival-brimming summer, I dutifully

cultures…

pilgrimed to their South London base for some suspect noontime drinks. Bundled around sun-drenched picnic

So you’ve set a precedent for yourselves you won’t be

tables in the Peckham Social beer garden, I sat with Angus

able to escape from?

(guitar/vox), Jazz (keys), Sam (bass), Finn (drums) and Jed (alto sax) - plus Jack (trumpet) and his cockapoo,

Angus: I think the only precedent we’re trying to escape

Sybil (barking) - and talked about insects, mostly.

from, that I keep on digging myself a deeper hole into, is wearing the fucking cowboy hat.

All your songs conjure old worlds- the tarantella, wartime. Where does this nostalgia come from?

Jed: and singing about insects…

Angus: It’s an easy place to hide, nostalgia. It’s all a lens

Angus: Yeah there’s a lot of insects. That’s the Franz

through which to filter the tedious present. It’s what’s

Kafka influence

interesting to us.

What’s your favourite insect?

Sam: We’re very nervous people so it’s better to look back into the past

Fin: Probably the ant.

For me, it’s the most distinctive part of your image.

What kind of influences feed into it?

Words by Elvis Thirlwell

50

Jack: We’ve had discussions about how many ants in

Jazz: The EP as a whole came together very nicely when

the world there are. It’s the most ridiculous amount. A

we were in the studio. A lot of old songs, some new songs.

hundred trillion ants or something.

Some songs were written a couple of weeks before the studio. Some actually written in the studio….

Angus: There’s something like three tons of ants for every

Angus: The process was kind of all over the place and

person. So I think the reason why we glorify the insect

chaotic until the last few months. Where half of it was

world so much is that, when the time comes, we’ll be on

written. And then the new addition of Jack on trumpet…

the right side of history. We’ll be swinging in a cage above the ant empire of London…

Jazz: We only knew you for two weeks before!

Jack: …ambassadors for the human race

Sam: You nearly didn’t make it!

Fin: I remember that the number was so big I couldn’t

Jack: I had a car crash on the motorway. I was stranded in

even say it. [laughter erupts]

a town just outside of Halifax in West Yorkshire, on the M62, on a freezing cold December.

As a band, what would you say your kinks are?

Jazz: We thought it was a bad excuse. “He just doesn’t [There’s a sharp, collective intake of breath]

want to come down to the studio to record with us!”

Jed: Insect kinks!

Jed: Imagine if you hadn’t made it, the EP would be completely different.

Angus: I just like to lie down in foliage and see what crawls over me; what crawls into me. I used to go into

Angus: We were starting to feel self-conscious about the

the woods near my house, and there were the foundations

‘jazz-punk’ label. But then Jack appeared very suddenly

of an old shed. It was like Blair Witch. And there was

on the scene, and now we have one sixth of a claim

a stump in the middle: the perfect executioner’s block.

towards that. Apart from Jack’s corner, we can’t play jazz.

I found a rusty spoke from a bike. I used to get worms,

And I don’t feel we’re very punk. But when you put them

dismember them, chop them up, both halves squirming,

together…jazz-punk baby!

and then sweep them off into the rancid puddle on the What was Rockfield Studios like? It’s quite a legendary

floor.

place!

Jazz: I used to do that as well. Watch [the halves] go off in different ways.

Jed: It allows you the space and the time…

You have a new EP. Any words of caution before we

Jazz: You start recording in the morning. Finish at 2am.

press play?

There’s no time restrictions there, in the middle of fucking nowhere in Wales. It’s a really nice place to explore

Angus: if you have a phobia of insects, do not listen!

creativity and come up with ideas.

Tell us about the process of making the EP, of putting this quite ambitious work together.

51

Opus Kink

Angus: It was nice to forget the prestige of the place.

So the lyrics would feed into the music in some abstract

We’d been there once before to record some singles. As

way?

a teenage superfan of the Stone Roses - they did both albums there - I used to watch home videos of them

Angus: More and more, the music dictates the lyrics

recording there. So that was a bucket list. But the second

through a certain mood or attitude.

time it was fucking business.

Jack: But then it gets reciprocated once the lyrics are Jack: I love that it still feels like it’s in the 70s though.

there. The music’s there, the content’s, and then the lyrics

You go into studios, and everything’s squeaky clean and

come along, and then it’s like “oh shitttt now we know

wiped down. [Rockfield] still had that grungey aesthetic

what the music’s about!”

which felt conducive to a good creative environment.

Angus: It’s a bit of a hall of mirrors situation. Constant Sam: I liked running around the farm looking for bits of

refraction! It’s all part of the ongoing experiment between

sheet metal to smack.

all of us. The lyrics mean one thing when I write them in my room. They mean another thing when we bring it to the

Angus: The farm machinery is good when you’re on the

demo. They mean another thing when we play it live. As

lookout for that different sound.

does the music.

Let’s talk about lyrics. I was reading the lyrics for the

Would you like to be perceived as a literary band?

EP yesterday and thinking, “these are really beautifully written!” But in a live setting especially, no one’s going

[Everyone muttering in unison]: no, no…

to hear them. I’m interested in what lyrics mean to you, Angus, as a vocalist.

Angus: It’s about finding the weight of a good line, which is not necessarily a lyrical or poetic line, and how it

Angus: Words came before music. So that was more

sounds phonetically. We’d much rather be perceived and

comfortable for me earlier on, writing stories and things

embraced as a musical project than a vehicle for literary

like that when I was quite young. The thing with lyrics

pretension.

that I enjoy, is my own little pathetic odyssey of learning what works. Poetry doesn’t necessarily make a good song,

Fin: You should run a masterclass!

and a good song doesn’t necessarily make good poetry.

But trying to reconcile the two, being different beasts

Anything else you want to say before I go?

as they are, is a fun thing for me, the process. Also, a narrative stamp is important to me, and becoming more

Angus: Break the chains of misery. Break them.

important to us. It’s not just the lyrics - the sound and the visual capacity goes with the lyrics. It comes back to what you were saying about the nostalgic approach to some of the songs. It’s all part of different sides of the same dice, the world-building thing.

@joshwhettingsteel

52

Fat Dog have a reputation for being one of the rowdiest

Joe: It’s the best we’ve ever sounded. After that, slowly

bands around. As it stands, the only way to fully watch

members joined – first the rhythm section. That structured

the spectacle unfold is at one of their live gigs. With just

it all out. The beats I made in my room sounded nothing

a few sets filmed at The Windmill and other small London

like they do now – they were too electronic.

haunts scattered across YouTube, Fat Dog are garnering a dedicated fan-base who turn up to the gigs, lyrics

At the time, did you expect the music to garner such

memorised to a tee. For such a new band, this is a surreal

immense crowd reaction?

feeling that the six piece wholly recognise. Though the project started off as a techno-two piece – Joe (vocals and

Joe: Honestly, no. Don’t get me wrong – I had a lot of

guitar), and Will (keys and clarinet), gradually spread their

faith, and thought a lot of the songs were banging.

wings, beckoning in Jazz’s cowbell, vocals and ultimate stage ownership, Johnny’s drums, Ben (and sometimes

Will: It was so weird playing seated gigs. It was like

Chris’) bass duties. The result? A totally entertaining

tumbleweed flowing...even when you play a good gig, you

assault on the senses.

start believing you’re awful. We view the standing gigs as our first real shows. It makes more sense for people to

Nothing is off the table for Fat Dog – from kicking the

move to our music.

doors down of Boomtown festival this summer, all the way to hypothetically shooting fireworks out of drum

Johnny: We have the energy on stage, the audience gives

kits and sorting out the licensing for their Fat Dog gig

us energy back – we’re playing catch with it.

taxi service (driven by dogs). The sky’s the limit and this comes across in their music. It would be easy to say it’s

Joe: Energy doesn’t necessarily mean packed out crowds –

electronica fused with live instrumentation, a bit of donk

we’ve played amazing gigs to a room of four people.

with a bit of Klezmer, but that would simplify the Fat Dog experience.

Jazz: I saw one of those seated gigs at The Windmill before I joined. People kept telling me to sit down. Now

How has Fat Dog evolved to create such a massive

I’m in…

sound?

Are there any live moments that have stuck with you?

Joe: Will and I started everything in lockdown, with me just making beats in my room.

Will: Our intro is so loud but when you hear people going “waaaaaa!!” it’s great to hear that shock. Also, it’s crazy

Will: I pretended to play synths, Joe was on guitar.

to see crowds singing our lyrics when we have no music out.

53

Words by Poppy Richler

Johnny: I love seeing people doing walls of death and

Joe: I used to listen to my sister’s music – 2006 was a

breaking them in the drops.

terrible time. So much Wombats. But our neighbour had this amazing techno collection – thousands of records.

Chris: I cried the first time I saw you guys. Fat Dog

He’d show me old school Jeff Mills, Richie Hawtin...then

provides emotional release.

I got into deadmau5. I’ve been making electronic music since I was 11. Stuff with a big kick drum.

You all have such incredible stage presence – you’re very laid back but are clearly zoned into the music.

Johnny: We also love Polysics. I was really into David

Do you ever feel yourself getting carried away by the

Holmes – the way he fused guitar music with 90s

surrounding mayhem?

electronic breakbeats. The trip hop scene too – Massive Attack and Portishead. I know we don’t sound like them,

Jazz: I don’t know what adjective I’d use…there’s an air

but they were putting real instruments into their music

of calm at the beginning, but in general, the experience

even though they were first and foremost electronic. They

provides a huge release of energy. It’s thrill-seeking with

did concerts with entire orchestras!

music, especially with the cowbell. Sometimes it’s calm, sometimes it’s fury. There’s wholesome moments in the

Joe: DEVO, Scooter, IROC…

set – it’s the contrast that makes it.

Will: Klezmer music too. The scales we use are influenced Will: I’m the most sedate. With Joe and Jazz, they’re both

by Balkan music. People mixing electronic and live stuff

natural performers. They get stuck into the crowd and I

seems like it’s just coming into play now – the first time

love seeing them enjoy themselves. That’s what gets me

I heard Joe’s music, most people’s set-up was just their

pumped.

laptops. The larger scale stuff wasn’t done a lot. Now there’s so much technology available, why not incorporate

Joe: Will always says: “no matter how many people are at

more tracks to make the music more layered?

a gig, you have to pretend you’re playing to Wembley.”

What is it about Klezmer scales that resonate with Will: If the crowd loves it, we love it.

you?

Joe: And if the crowd has more juice...

Will: I’ve always loved the scales of Arabic music, so when I heard Joe’s music which shared elements of that

Johnny: You’d never see us in Ronnie Scott’s, let’s put it

and Klezmer, I gravitated to it naturally.

that way...well I guess we do have elements of jazz…

Joe: It’s important to note that Klezmer is only one Jazz: We’re not saying no to the offer!

element of our music.

Chris: I can’t imagine people having a seated steak dinner,

Ben: I play flamenco guitar, and some of the patterns are

watching Fat Dog.

the same – the minor harmonics…

Will: Jazz-donk fusion.

Chris: As a Jewish person, I think that the scales within Klezmer to the average western ear – that slight

There are so many incredible bands like yourselves

dissonance compared to a melodic major – is unexpected

merging music you’d hear at gigs versus clubs. Take

and exciting.

Scalping, PVA, F.C. Malina – the ultimate mashup of electronica and live instrumentation. Have you always wanted to make music like this?

55

Fat Dog

So Joe writes the music. How does everyone else get

And what does the future hold for Fat Dog?

involved?

(Hypothetically or realistically)

Will: We put our spin on what Joe tells us to play.

Joe: Wembley, 100,000 cap.

Ben: Joe wrote all the parts, but over time they naturally

Will: Playing Tel Aviv on a hot beach day. Then we can

mould to how we play our own instruments. We know

end it.

what he likes, but we can do our own thing from there.

Johnny: One of my ultimate goals is to support the KLF, Joe: It’s not possible to control everyone – collaboration is

but I doubt they’re going to regroup. I guess they faded off

super important.

the grid after setting fire to that million quid…

Jazz: I just play cowbell ‘til the cows come home…

Jazz: I’d love to do an international tour.

Joe: Jazz is a true performer. People can be so sexist –

Ben: We want to headline clubs in London – places like

they see a girl playing percussion and assume it’s just

Fabric…

performance. She does the most in the band.

Joe: And have a single out in the next few months.

Jazz: I don’t – everyone does as much as each other.

But doing gigs has been amazing for rekindling my

Johnny: Vinyl.

confidence. I used to dance a lot, and now I have the freedom to do that on stage.

Jazz: Merch.

Joe: She keeps trying to get us to do group choreography.

Joe: Survival gear: umbrellas, fishing rods.

Jazz: It’s going to happen.

Johnny: I’m in the process of brewing our own Fat Dog lager.

Joe: Never.

Chris: Fat Dog taxi service.

Johnny: Joe brings us a chicken and we make the roast dinner.

Jazz: Only destination is our gig and the taxi’s driven by a dog.

What musical avenues do you want to explore next?

Johnny: The next time we do this I want to be like those Johnny: Baker Street? Sorry…

celebrities who answer questions surrounded by puppies.

I love dogs.

Will: More donk.

Joe: Making the music harder, but more melodic. More percussion.

Johnny: If we ever play a final gig, I’ll salute Keith Moon and set off fireworks from my drum-kit.

Photos by Wildblanket Photography

56

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