MOOSE BLOOD
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upsetmagazine.com Editor: Stephen Ackroyd (stephen@upsetmagazine.com) Deputy Editor: Victoria Sinden (viki@upsetmagazine.com) Assistant Editor: Ali Shutler (ali@upsetmagazine.com)
EDITOR’S NOTE Occasionally a
band steps up a level. Crosses a new boundary. Moves into a gear previously untested and breaks through to fresh ground. Metaphors are all very well, but beating around the bush aside, Moose Blood’s new album ‘Blush’ does all those things and more. They’ve always been an exciting lot, full of promise. On album two, they’re realising it in spades, turning in one of the undoubted records of the year. With divides bridged, with any justice it’ll be huge, hence why we’ve put them on our cover this month. About time too. With company in this issue from Blink-182 and Good Charlotte, plus long time faves Johnny Foreigner, current crushes Charly Bliss and Cane Hill, and all the fun from Download and Slam Dunk, this summer is x looking like a scorcher.
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IN THIS ISSUE RIOT 4. SLAM DUNK ‘16 10. YOUNG GUNS 12. TOPSHELF RECORDS 14. HELLIONS ABOUT TO BREAK 18. CHARLY BLISS 20. CANE HILL FEATURES 22. MOOSE BLOOD 30. BLINK-182 34. JOHNNY FOREIGNER 38. GOOD CHARLOTTE
RATED 42. BLINK-182 43. BILLY TALENT 45. YOUTH MAN 46. BIFFY CLYRO 48. TRACKS OF THE MONTH 49. VANNA LIVE 50. DOWNLOAD 2016 56. ARCHITECTS 56. SWMRS VS THE INTERNET 58. LETLIVE.
Contributors: Amie Kingswell, Corinne Cumming, Danny Randon, Heather McDaid, Jack Glasscock, Jade Curson, Jasleen Dhindsa, Jessica Goodman, Kathryn Black, Kristy Diaz, Phil Smithies, Poppy Waring, Rob Barbour, Sam Taylor, Sarah Louise Bennett, Steven Loftin All material copyright (c). All rights reserved. This publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, in whole or in part, without the express written permission of Upset. Disclaimer: While every effort is made to ensure the information in this magazine is correct, changes can occur which affect the accuracy of copy, for which Upset holds no responsibility. The opinions of the contributors do not necessarily bear a relation to those of Upset or its staff and we disclaim liability for those impressions. Distributed nationally. P U B L I S H E D F RO M
THE BUNKER W E LCO M E TOT H E B U N K E R.CO M
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RIOT E V E RY T H I N G H A P P E N I N G I N RO C K
T H E B E S T O F. . .
SLAM DUNK ‘16 I T ’S S L A M D U N K . W E ’ V E C O M E TO E X P ECT A W H O L E BU N C H O F B RI L L I A N T BA N DS B E I N G B RI L L I A N T, A N D T H AT ’S J UST W H AT W E G OT. H E RE A RE T H E V E RY B EST B I TS . WO RDS : A L I S H U T L E R , DA N N Y R A N D O N . P H OTOS : SA R A H LO U I S E B E N N ET T, A M I E K I N G SW E L L
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ver the past decade, Slam Dunk has established itself as one of the most important, exciting dates in the calendar of UK rock music. From humble beginnings it’s grown into a three leg, multi-stage extravaganza, attracting some of the biggest names in the world and the most exciting bands on the scene.
is contradicted by a tiresome lack of punctuation; cues are missed, notes are snubbed, and both he and his cohorts sound rough around the edges in all the wrong ways. The Florida quartet have doubled their discography since their last Slam Dunk five years ago, but no matter how many hits they cram into this career-spanning set, it doesn’t defeat the fact that these are songs begging for a better performance.
As we decamped to Hatfield for Slam Dunk South to bring you the highlights of what was on offer, this year was no different. WITH CONFIDENCE
P A N I C ! AT THE DISCO M A I N S TA G E
It’s been on the cards for a few albums now but with ‘Death of a Bachelor’ it finally happened. Panic! at the Disco have moved past being the guys who did that goddamn door song. Tonight, as they close out Slam Dunk 2016, the band are very much forward facing. From the pointed ‘Don’t Threaten Me With A Good Time’ through the madcap shine of ‘Crazy=Genius’ until the dark theatrics of ‘Emperors New Clothes’, this really is the rebirth of Panic! At The Disco. And everyone present adores it. ‘LA Devotee’ is undeniably massive, all pulsating dreams and neon pride, while ‘Victorious’ is impossible to be anything but. Heroes always get remembered but nights like this are impossible to forget.
As the Shakespearean saying goes, ‘What’s in a name?’ – Well, in With Confidence’s case, it’s the way the Aussie four-piece bound on to the Fresh Blood Stage, and it pays off superbly. Kicking off their set with ‘Keeper’, these Sydney kids give it some welly with their shamelessly saccharine singles, and it doesn’t take long at all for the crowd to respond by bouncing the floor to buckling point. No matter how sickly sweet the whoa-oh-ing of ‘Take Me Away’ is, With Confidence play with a refreshing conviction which elevates them above the pit of by-thenumbers pop-punk. M AY D AY PA R A D E
Having celebrated their 10th anniversary last year, Mayday Parade have racked up a formidable arsenal of pop-rock bangers to wreak havoc with wherever they go. However, the tireless energy of frontman Derek Sanders as he bounces around the stage in a whirlwind of curly locks and plaid
W AT E R P A R K S
It doesn’t get much fresher on THE Fresh Blood Stage than Waterparks, who are making their debut European appearances at Slam Dunk. Such a sentiment is met in the only way possible for this Madden brothers-approved trio of Texan upstarts: with a playful attitude and adorably nervous stage patter. There are moments of serious potential in the synth-riddled choruses of ‘Crave’ and ‘Silver’ but there are just as many, if not more moments where the expansive power-pop choruses that erupt on their EP, ‘Cluster’, fizzle out into flatter pastures. It’s not worth skating over the bits where they sound like American Idiot-era Green Day produced by Skrillex though – Waterparks aren’t on a slippery slope just yet. REAL FRIENDS
Slam Dunk has never failed to hold a place in its heart (or on its bill) for the earnest, heart-on-sleeve sounds which have pinpointed the North-Eastern US states on the pop-punk globe. With a bit more pace and a box-fresh album, ‘The Home Inside My Head’, to boast, Real Friends shoo away any signs of a late afternoon lull.
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TO PSH E L F I S O N E O F U P S E T ’ S F AV O U R I T E LABELS. FROM RECORDS BY SO RO RI T Y N O I S E , N A I H A RV E ST A N D T H E WO R L D I S A B E AUT I F U L PL AC E …, TO TH E U P C O M I N G F I E L D MOUSE ALBUM, THEY’VE WORKED ON SOME PROPER
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOPSHELF! What first made you want to get into releasing records? I think if you could poll everyone who’s ever started a record label, the majority would say it’s not something they specifically set out to do — that they sorta just fell into it. The same applies to us. We started Topshelf as a means to release our own band’s music way back in 2005 and just continued doing it for our friends’ bands in our local music community in western Massachusetts — things sorta just grew from there and before we knew it we were releasing music for musicians around the world, which is still a completely bonkers thing to me. I don’t think we had a sense that this was a real thing until about our fifth release. Our logo was just a sketch that we weren’t intending to keep and our name was definitely just a placeholder until we thought of something better, but after a few releases we kinda realised it was a little late to start changing it all so it stuck. Were you a part of your local music scene before getting involved with/ starting the label? Yeah, for sure. Seth and I hosted 12 upsetmagazine.com
shows in various venues, VFW halls and basements across western Massachusetts, played in a couple bands ourselves and started a preMyspace/Facebook-era show listing / local musicians resource online… I think the URL was like, westernmass. cjb.net or something? Humble beginnings. Did you have a mentor when you started out in the music industry, to help show you the ropes? People have lent us invaluable advice and guidance along the way — which I think is a hugely overlooked component to the music industry in general: by and large, people help each other. Early on, Chris Wrenn at Bridge Nine Records took Seth on as an intern and eventually ended up hiring him. Seth peppered him with questions on a pretty much daily basis and was instrumental in helping us learn how to grow, scale and stay organised as a label. I also remember when we started taking things a lot more seriously, Seth sent out a few dozen emails to labels we liked and respected asking for advice on a few things. Matt Lunsford at Polyvinyl
CORKERS. THIS YEAR, T H E Y ’ R E C E L E B R AT I N G T H E I R T E N T H B I R T H D AY . T H E L A B E L’ S K E V I N D U Q U ET T E LO O KS BAC K AT T H E I R P A S T D E C A D E . W O R D S : S A M TAY L O R . PH OTO: H A N N A H C H A N.
Records was the only person to respond to us and has continued to be a supportive fixture as we continue to grow as a label. Polyvinyl is and always has been one of our favourite record labels so that’s incredibly humbling for us and we’re so thankful! Can you recall working on your first release? Yep. I designed the artwork myself on my 4GB hard drive Dell Desktop computer (lol). The art files were so big that I didn’t have the scratch disk space to save them. I actually couldn’t save the artwork. I forget how we got around this, but I remember that being a significant hurdle. I think we made and sold over 5,000 copies of that on CD. It’s absolutely hilarious to think about how much things have changed since then. I don’t think we’ve even sold that many CDs total of any other release since. CDs! Have you had a ‘wow’ moment while working at the label, where you were suddenly aware you were doing well? There are a lot of cool little anecdotes and memories that this question conjures up for me, but I think as far as the context of ’doing well’ goes, I think it’d be quitting my nine-to-five job
RIOT and starting Topshelf full-time. There’s something really cool (but also kinda funny) about getting your own pay cheque from yourself. Do you have a favourite anecdote from Topshelf’s first ten years? My memory is terrible. It’s abysmal. people are always telling me about things we did together and I’m like “cool, sounds like it was a nice time!” So, whenever I’m experiencing something really nice, sometimes I’ll write a little note in my iPhone notes about it just so I have it to look back on, like a short form diary entry or something, I dunno, like a faux Cam Jansen style memory preservation type thing. I find I’m usually doing this while watching one of the bands we work with perform, or riding in a van somewhere with friends or whatever. It all kind of just blurs together and I can’t believe we’ve been doing this for ten years. The whole thing feels like one big blur of a memory. If pressed, though, I think it might be watching toe’s first ever American show. They’re my all-time favourite band so getting to work with them is a wonderfully rewarding thing. The crowd was overflowing with excitement and I 100% definitely cried during their set. What’s the most exciting thing you’re currently working on? Field Mouse are a band that’s built up an immense amount of good will throughout the years. They’re all some of my favourite individual personalities and they’ve written one helluva new record. We’ll be releasing it on 19th August and I think it’s gonna be what finally garners them the attention of a broader audience that they so very much deserve. I also have to mention that we’re releasing Bellows’ new album ‘Fist & Palm’ on cassette (the always brilliant Double Double Whammy is handling the release of the album via other formats) and I cannot wait for people to hear it. It comes out 30th September and is pure pop magic. It’s my favourite record of the year so far! What do you think the biggest challenges are facing record labels today? I should know the answer to this. I should have an always-at-thetip-of-my-tongue complaint about what could be better. I don’t know, though. There’s a whole onslaught of things stacked against the idea of owning a record label in 2016 — too many. But, I think it’s all in how you
approach it, too. Because those same problems viewed in another light are essentially just new opportunities. So, that’s how I prefer to view things. It’s 2016. There are no rules. We can do whatever the fuck we want — and we do — and it is sick. Seth and I are both 30+ years old now, we’re done playing by other people’s arbitrary rules or doing what’s expected. If you were to give one tip to those wanting to start their own label, what would it be? If you don’t give a fuck, no one else will.
COMING UP
NO JOY - DROOL SUCKER EP Released: 15th July 2016 Noisy Montreal quartet No Joy’s new EP ‘Drool Sucker’ is the first in a series they’re releasing as a “fuck you” to everyone who’s told the band they should be something they’re not. HAPPY DIVING - ELECTRIC SOUL UNITY Released: 5th August 2016 Happy Diving’s fourth record in less than three years, the fuzzladen ’Electric Soul Unity’ tackles universal topics such as freedom, love and pain with hooks to spare. FIELD MOUSE - EPISODIC Released: 19th August 2016 Recorded with Hop Along’s Frances Quinlan, and with guest turns from Sadie Dupuis (Speedy Ortiz), Allison Crutchfield (Swearin’/Waxahatchee) and Joseph D’Agostino (Cymbals Eat Guitars), Field Mouse’s ‘Episodic’ is exactly as good as you’d expect. (Very.) BELLOWS - FIST & PALM Released: 30th September 2016 Started as the bedroom-recording project of songwriter and producer Oliver Kalb, and now touring with the likes of The Hotelier, Bellows specialise in delicate recordings that sound both huge and intimate all at once.
YELLOWCARD CALL IT A DAY
“We have decided that it is time for Yellowcard to come to an end,” say the band. “This will be our last album and our final world tour.” Their self-titled LP is due on 30th September, with a UK tour that kicks off on 11th December in Bristol.
TOUCHÉ AMORÉ EMBARK ON ‘STAGE FOUR’ Touché Amoré are set to release new album ‘Stage Four’ on 16th September via Epitaph. The news comes alongside new song ‘Palm Dreams’, which you can hear on upsetmagazine.com now.
DEATH SPELLS RETURN
Following a bit of teasing earlier this year, Death Spells – Frank Iero and James Dewees – are back, and they’ve announced a new album. ‘Nothing Above, Nothing Below’ is out on 29th July. The duo also have an August UK tour planned.
EVERY TIME I DIE CONFIRM LP Every Time I Die have announced they will release new album ‘Low Teens’ on 23rd September. The fulllength is previewed with the track ‘The Coin Has a Say’, which is streaming now on upsetmagazine.com.
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ABOU T TO
BREAK THE BEST NEW BANDS TH E H OT TEST NEW MUSIC
CHARLY BLISS
know if I would totally count it” (and consequently has vanished from their bandcamp), but it allowed the group to cut their teeth and take their first steps towards something truly great.
H I S N E W YO R K B U N C H J U ST
W A N T T O H AV E F U N . WO RDS : J ESS I CA G O O D M A N .
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e want to play the Weezer cruise!” Eva Grace Hendricks exclaims, bursting into a fit of excited laughter. “It sounds like the height of ridiculousness.” Driving from Portland to San Francisco on tour with PUP and Rozwell Kid, Charly Bliss are having the time of their lives – and that’s what it’s all about, really, isn’t it? “The essence of a Charly Bliss song is fun,” Eva
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affirms. “The more we’ve toured and played our songs, the more that’s been cemented as what we’re hoping to come across. We want people to have as much fun as possible. That’s really important to us.” If there’s anything to be gained from Charly Bliss’ music, it’s a sense of enjoyment. The band’s self-termed bubblegrunge sound brings infectious pop hooks to life in an addictively raw style. Larger than life guitars and driving rhythms resound with an all-encompassing energy, sugar sweet vocals and searing solos glimmering like a diamond in the rough. Debut EP ‘A Lot To Say’ might be “so far from what we sound like now that I don’t
Sounding stadium-ready from the outset, the expectations the quartet - completed by guitarist Spencer Fox, bassist Dan Shure, and drummer Sam Hendricks – had for themselves were decidedly more down to earth. “At the beginning we were so excited just to be making music at all,” Eva chuckles. “Then when we started playing shows we were ridiculously excited that anyone would let us play a show anywhere.” Landing national tour slots with the likes of Darwin Deez and Veruca Salt, the group are watching their dreams come true around them. “Our first show with Veruca Salt, I don’t think it fully registered with any of us what touring with them was going to mean, or how big of a leap that was going to feel,” Eva recalls. “It was a
“WE WANT PEOPLE TO HAVE AS MUCH FUN AS POSSIBLE.” huge venue, and there were tons of people, and everyone was dancing. I kept looking around and seeing everyone’s faces and we’re all just like ‘WHAT IS HAPPENING? THIS IS WHAT THIS CAN BE LIKE? HOLY CRAP!’” With a debut album “about 90% there,” moments like this one don’t look set to stop happening any time soon.
knew they were capable of creating better. So that’s exactly what they decided to do. “We wanted it to sound a lot like our live shows, and have a similar energy to our live shows,” Eva illustrates. “That was the biggest challenge in recording this. I feel like we achieved it well. I’m feeling really good about how it’s sounding.”
Initially recorded late last year, sessions for the band’s first full-length were quickly shelved as the four-piece (then recently joined by Dan on bass) began to flourish in the understanding of their ever-expanding possibilities. “I think that going into it, we really didn’t know what we wanted,” Eva explains. “We didn’t really know which route we wanted to go, or what aspects of our sound we wanted to highlight. When we heard the recordings back, we heard that from ourselves.”
With songs occupying the space “in between feeling really young and feeling older” and “relating to things in life changing,” the record-in-progress is the essence of who the band are. “Some of the songs make me feel nostalgic. Some of them I can hear myself grappling with things a little bit better,” Eva characterises. “More on that when they’re out,” she teases. And how long a wait that will be? “We’re dying to put it out!” she shouts. “It’s so important to us, now that we’ve been sitting on it for so long, for it to come out in a way that we’re all feeling very excited and good about. Hopefully as soon as possible.”
Having already been playing the songs on the road and started to work on yet more new material, the group
FACT FILE Band members: Eva, Spencer, Sam, Dan Hometown: New York (US) Formed: 2012 Did You Know? The band are influenced by marinara sauce.
Charly Bliss are on the verge of greatness, but they’re not in any hurry to get there. Savouring every moment on their roller-coaster thrill ride, travelling in a van from city to city, the band are bringing their excitement to light for as many people as possible – and word is already starting to spread like wildfire. “We love playing shows, we think that’s the best part of all this,” Eva enthuses. “We want to continue to do that with more and new bands that inspire us. If you have us, we will come.” P 19
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EP FEW YEARS DE M AY O N LY B E A MOOSE BLOOD SH’ U L B ‘ EW ALBUM ENTURE, BUT N I N TO T H I S A DV IKE T LY S O U N D S L AND BRILLIAN C O N F I D E N T LY UT O B HE THING A H E M . T H AT ’ S T N O B O DY B U T T T H E H E A R T. WRITING FROM UTLER. WORDS: ALI SH SMITHIES. PH OTOS: PH I L
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still say it to Eddy [Brewerton, frontman]. When is it alright for us to accept that we are a real band and this is what we do?” questions guitarist Mark Osborne. “And we still don’t. I think we’re all half expecting to have to go and look for a new job next week. But I guess it’s a good thing keeping that in the back of our mind because we never take anything for granted. We never get carried away. We all know full well that it could be over anytime, so let’s just make the most of it.” From the very beginning, Moose Blood have just rolled with it. And with their second album out soon, the band - Eddy, Mark, drummer Glenn Harvey and bassist Kyle Todd - are set to get even more to play with. Where debut ‘I’ll Keep You In Mind, From Time To Time’ declared “I don’t believe in growing up”, ‘Blush’ admits “I’m in no rush to slow down”. More self-accepting, but still cradling fragile emotion, Moose Blood’s new record is a consolidation of purpose rather than a planked evolution. ‘I’ll Keep You In Mind…’ wore its influences on its sleeve and in its lyrics, ‘Blush’ on the other hand, sounds like no one but Moose Blood. “We didn’t want a drastic change,” explains Eddy. “We were pretty happy with what we were doing and we enjoy the songs we were writing. We didn’t try to have a certain sound for the whole record. Us four people playing together just creates that sound.” “We did what we did before, we just tried to do it better,” adds Mark. “Hopefully it is that natural progression and not a mad change of genre or anything like that. We weren’t trying to come out with some sort of concept or make a statement.” Instead, their vision was: “Let’s just make a Moose Blood record and see what happens.” The band have been constantly rolling the dice and enjoying the outcome since the very beginning. Whether it was Glenn falling in love with Blink-182 and Nirvana, Kyle “being a rebellious teenager and just wanting to be loud”, Mark raised on a diet of Michael Jackson, Meatloaf, Def Leppard and Queen, or Eddy singing along to Celine Dion and Michael
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Bolton in the car with his mum (“that just got me to really enjoy music”), the four piece grew up around music but they never entertained any dreams about stardom. “It wasn’t about playing stadiums or whatever, but I just wanted to play music like that,” offers Glenn, as Kyle grins: “I learnt guitar and now I’m here… I’m not sure how that happened.” “I realised I wasn’t going to be a professional footballer, so why not try and be a musician?” starts Mark, before quickly adding: “I still ain’t, but that dream took over. Those teenage years kicked in and you want to be Kurt Cobain or whatever. That was that.” “It just happened without really thinking about it, it’s something I’ve always enjoyed,” summarises Eddy. Moose Blood’s introduction to music was as simple as that. From hanging out with mates making noise to acting as a bookmark in their own lives, the band are into music for music’s sake. “When I was a little kid, ’Hysteria’ by Def Leppard is something my dad would play religiously and now I’ve got that on vinyl,” shares Mark. “I still listen to it because it takes me back.” “It takes you back to growing up?” smirks Glenn. Moose Blood started life in Eddy’s bedroom, with songs written on a Macbook. “I knew straight away who I wanted to be in the band.” A year after messaging Glenn the first track, schedules and commitments had freed up and the group took shape. “We just had to roll with it and keep it going forward.” They haven’t stopped since. Once the band turned the Garageband songs into Actual Band songs “it was a case of ok, let’s go and record. We started practicing together at the end of August 2012. We did our first show in October and recorded the ‘Moving Home’ EP that month as well.” “I remember selling ‘Moving Home’ for £4 or something, thinking that maybe people will buy it ‘cause it’s really low. We were just up for getting it ‘round as many people as we could,” reflects Kyle. There was never a need to experiment or feel around in the darkness for a sound, because Moose Blood comes straight from the heart. They were just giving it a go, so why worry about a masterplan.
“I’d never sung in anything before other than just in my bedroom,” offers Eddy. “I still remember that first practice we had,” Mark reflects. “This was the first time he was singing into a microphone. You were bright red, properly giving it everything you had just trying to find a key from somewhere.” “It was terrible. I have no idea how I’m still doing it to be honest.” “It’s learning I guess. And progressing. The more you do it, the better you should become at it. That’s the plan anyway. And I remember that fondly mate.” “I just remember the massive headache afterwards.” “We were purely just giving it a go,” says Kyle of the band’s tentative steps. “It’s the same thing now,” adds Glenn. “We had no expectations going into it. We never thought we’d get here.” Instead, “We just wanted to put a little record out, have a bit of fun and play some shows,” explains Mark, before realising: “Which is still what we’re doing…” Before Moose Blood, the guys had been in and out of other bands for years previously. Mark and Glenn were part of a melodic hardcore punk band while Eddy and Mark had a noise hardcore band who played Hevy and a couple of local shows. “We really couldn’t be bothered to do it anymore. We couldn’t be bothered to practice.” From the off though, Moose Blood “felt different to anything we’d done before. People seemed to be responding to something we were doing and I’d never had that before. People paid attention to what we were doing,” ventures Mark. “When you spend a long time in shit bands, you notice that quite quickly.” They weren’t concerned with the reason, they just rolled with it. Following ‘Moving Home’, the ‘Boston/ Orlando’ single, a handful of tours and a split release with Departures, Moose Band unleashed their debut album at the close of 2014. Recorded with Beau Burchell in Los Angeles, walking into the studio with Blink-182 and New Found Glory records on the wall “was one of the most intimidating things ever.” Flying out the day after playing a tiny show in a coastal town where the band messed up a whole lot, “it was
“WE COU
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T H AT LD B IT E OV E R LET’S ANYT IME, MAK SO E TH E MO ST O F I T. ”
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’T DON 182? INKAND L F B R N OF E TU HOM ETUR R N O R OTH E BAC K T AN TRIO ABOU THE EES CA L I S N ’ Y A I C . FORN TURE CA L I E FU BE. ‘ R TH D FO . E R T I E UTL E XC LI SH DS: A WOR
THE
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L FAC E O F T H E D E AT T H E C O A A F T E R A D ECA ER HNNY FOREIGN UND SCENE, JO UK UNDERGRO L L I A N T. ARE STILL BRI CA G O O D M A N . WORDS: JESSI
“WE DO WHAT WE DO.”
G O O D C H A RLOT T E A RE BAC K , W I T H T H E I R … T H I RD BEST ALBUM? JOEL MADDEN PONDERS WHERE TH E BA N D SIT I N 2016. WORDS: JASLEEN DHINDSA.
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n November 2015, Good Charlotte announced to the world that they were back after a four year hiatus. With a sixth studio album ‘Youth Authority’ on the way, vocalist Joel Madden reflects on what the break did for his band, and where they stand twenty-odd years later. “I’m excited to get [the album] out, we all feel good about the record, we had a good time making it and I feel like we took enough time off,” Joel explains. “When we got back together, we all felt really great as a band and it was great to be together making music. We played a few shows, so it’s been great. We’re in a different place now.” Ready to get stuck into everything again after nearly half a decade off, the band acted as support for All Time Low on their UK arena tour back in February. “That was like the first tour we had done in a long time. Everything we’ve been doing so far, we’ve been taking our time and doing shit we feel good about. We’ve toured together before [with All Time Low] and we’ve always talked about touring more together, we get along really well with those guys, and they’re really good friends of ours. They were like, ‘If you guys wanna come and make your first show with us, we would be stoked’, and we were like that’s a great idea, that’s perfect and that’s gonna be so much fun, and it was, it was a really fun tour, a good way to shake the rust off. The UK is awesome, the shows are always really great there.” Playing to a new generation of pop punk fans didn’t unsettle them. “It is kind of like riding a bike, we do what we do, that’s not really going to change too much. We’ve always worked on being good live and got back into rehearsal before that tour and it came right together, but it did feel different ‘cause we’re older and we have families. It’s not the same kind of tour we used to do. When we used to tour our intentions were different, we were trying to have a good time, but it
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RATED BLINK-182 CALIFORNIA
BMG
eeee Worried about Blink-182 in 2016? Don’t be. They’re back. Like, properly, excitedly and whole-heartedly back. And they’re making no apologies for it. Self-aware but never stumbling too far down that rabbit hole, ‘California’ is smarter than blink have ever been given credit for but is also a whole heap of fun. From the tongue-firmly-in-cheek skits to that opening flourish from Travis Barker on ‘Cynical’, ‘California’ is grin-inducingly great. And not just for Blink in 2016, but for 2016 in general. With persistent questions about identity and belonging, ‘California’ takes the spirit 42 upsetmagazine.com
of reckless pop-punk abandon into adulthood without making it boring. The haunting ‘Home Is Such A Lonely Place’ wears its heart on its sleeve, ‘No Future’, all rough gang-vocals and scrappy battle cries, is a kneejerk reaction to years of unease and uncertainty while ‘Teenage Satellites’ looks inwards, trying to find a reason. The past thirteen years of Blink-182’s recorded output has been dominated by an ever-present space. ‘California’ couldn’t be more in your face. With the band jostling for the spotlight, trading musical blows and forcefully pushing each other on, it’s an intense, joyous listen. This isn’t just a return to form though, it’s Blink-182 taking the next step. More than a hopeful post-prom
pledge, the band have expanded on every one of their playful glances. ‘Los Angeles’ is bigger than blink have ever dared to dream while the gloom-laden title track finds a temporary peace. The sixteen tracks of ‘California’ are a reaction to what came before. It’s a constant and progressive conversation with no definitive answers, only comfort in their sound. ‘California’ is an album of late nights, escape by any means and the sobering fear of tomorrow but as ‘Left Alone’ wrestles with itself, its cry of “here’s to the sunrise” rings true. Blink-182 have made it this far so bring it all on. No future? As if. Ali Shutler
BILLY TALENT
JORDAN, HOW WAS IT FITTING IN WITH THE REST OF BILLY TALENT? Jordan: It was great, I’ve known these guys for a long time and obviously, Alexisonfire and Billy Talent toured all over F R O N T M A N B E N K O WA L E W I C Z the place together so it was fairly seamless. We’ve known each A N D S TA N D I N D R U M M E R other for so long, we’ve been doing this J O RDA N H AST I N G S RE F L ECT band thing for so long, we know how to O N T H E I N S P I R AT I O N B E H I N D do it. It was an amazing experience and THE BAND’S NEW ALBUM. the touring is just kicking off but we’re having a great time doing that as well SO, ‘AFRAID OF HEIGHTS’ IS OUT SOON... ‘AFRAID OF HEIGHTS’ IS AN Ben: I’m really excited to share it with EMPOWERING LISTEN BUT people and finally have it out. It feels IT ALSO ASKS QUESTIONS like we’ve been hiding this secret from OF THE LISTENER. WAS THAT everybody. When you work so hard on DELIBERATE? something for so long, you look forward Ben: Ian had a lot of ideas and when we to just going ‘here, fucking take it. It’s started working on the lyrics, we started yours’.” noticing a theme throughout the whole record. We talk about everything from AND WHAT INSPIRED THE gun control to personal relationships RECORD? to our relationship with the earth to Ben: Man, so much. Life, struggle, Donald Trump and how awful that would happiness and being a good human. be to have someone like that in power . Ian D’Sa [guitar] is the main songwriter We talk about empathy and compassion and producer of this record and it’s his to the refugee status and just keeping brainchild, it’s something he’s dedicated our eyes open and trying to see that, his whole life for the past two plus years as a species, as human beings we have to, so we definitely have to tip our hat to the potential to be so much better than his dedication and vision. Having Jordan where we’re at. To just try and have a Hastings, who plays in a band called little more love in our lives. To try and Alexisonfire, who has donated his time be the best person you can be within to play on the record and come out with your family, your community and with us while our drummer is recovering from your friends. his fight with MS. There’s a lot of good stories that have compacted themselves WAS THAT THE VISION GOING IN into this miraculous little thing of work. TO CREATING THIS RECORD?
Ben: I don’t think it’s a vision, it’s just the way it should be. You hear all these horrible stories, like that poor girl Christina Grimmie who got shot yesterday signing autographs after a show and then last night, in Orlando, Florida, a man walks into a gay club and shot 103 people and kills 49. There is something wrong with the way we think. We need to open our eyes. We need to educate and tell people, guns are not the way. The answer is not more guns. P
BILLY TALENT
AFRAID OF HEIGHTS
Atlantic
eeee ”They say that rock will never survive,” belts Ben Kowalewicz on ‘Louder than the DJ’. “It’s up to youth to keep her alive.” Billy Talent’s tongue-in-cheek defiance of the dilution of rock is just one part of an album that smacks you so hard around the face, there’s no doubt that their music remains very much alive. And their targets are clear. They still have a lot to say - whether it’s looking at the environment, or the pressure placed on mental health on the day-to-day - and they’re saying with an almighty bang. ‘Big Red Gun’ declares it’s going to “shoot, shoot, shoot” until the thrill is gone, where ‘This Is Our War’ looks at a nation with “seeds of intolerance” where “countless fools and reckless cowards rally the people in the quest for power”. With a certain billionaire playing on the fear they speak of just south of Canada’s border, it’s not a stretch to see where their confusion and ire is pointed. There’s nothing particularly speedy resting here, but it’s big - really big. Every song is a declaration, an anthem - between the topics they’re scrutinising, to the wallshuddering strength of what they’re creating, this is a band on a mission. While they look below the border, Ben says to stand for something more. As you’d expect, Billy Talent continue to do so, and do it with such a vengeance that ‘Afraid Of Heights’ has you hooked before you even hit repeat. Heather McDaid
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