CONTENTS MAY 2017
upsetmagazine.com
EDITOR’S NOTE
Editor: Stephen Ackroyd (stephen@upsetmagazine.com) Deputy Editor: Victoria Sinden (viki@upsetmagazine.com) Assistant Editor: Ali Shutler (ali@upsetmagazine.com) Contributors: Christopher Jones, Corinne Cumming, Danny Randon, Jake Richardson, Jasleen Dhindsa, Jessica Goodman, Phil Smithies, Sam Taylor, Sammy Maine, 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 The Bunker Publishing Ltd. 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
IN THIS ISSUE... RIOT!
4 WHILE SHE S L E E PS 8 2000T RE ES 9 SLAM DUNK 10 N O RT H L A N E 12 G N A RWO LV ES 14 RO C K DJ : LOS CA M P ES I N OS ! VS M U N C I E G I RLS 16 C H A RLY B L I SS 18 TO N I G H T A L I V E
ABOUT TO BREAK
20 B LO O D YO U T H
22 C O U R AG E M Y LOV E
FEATURES
24 L I N K I N PA RK 32 H O 99 O 9 36 N E W FO U N D G LO RY
RATED
40 AT T H E D RI V E I N 41 W E I RDS 42 F L AT L I N E RS 44 C RE E P E R 45 A L L T I M E LOW
When a band gets to a certain size, they can stop trying to change things up. After all, they know full well whatever they do will shift the required units. They’re sure to be able to play massive shows all around the world. Why on earth would they ever risk that? Ask Linkin Park. That’s why they’re on this month’s cover, after all. When they dropped ‘Heavy’ last month, everything went off. While they’ve always been comfortable in the mainstream, this was y’know - pop. Actual pop. And it’s not a one off either. They’ve been playing with new toys with their forthcoming album, and the results could change everything. You might notice we’ve had a bit of a refresh too. Nearly two years in we’re always evolving. Expect more ‘soon’.
Sx
E V E RY T H I N G H A P P E N I N G I N RO C K
FED UP WITH THE MAJOR LABEL MACHINE, WHILE SHE SLEEPS DECIDED TO DO THINGS THEIR OWN WAY ON NEW ALBUM, ‘YOU ARE WE’. CO-VOCALISTS LOZ TAYLOR AND MAT WELSH DISCUSS THE UNITY THAT CAME FROM STEPPING OUT INTO THE UNKNOWN. WORDS: JAKE RICHARDSON.
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t seemed like the right time to go independent.” While She Sleeps’ frontman, Loz Taylor, is reflecting on the Sheffield metalcore band’s decision to leave major label Sony following the conclusion of their last album, 2015’s ‘Brainwashed’. “We’d had a few hiccups with the label,” the vocalist explains. “We’d question why something had leaked at 4am with no hype and no push behind it. We had that realisation that we were a small fish in a big pond, and we had to put up with silly things that we didn’t need to.” It sounds like a scenario we’ve heard many times before: rock band does well, signs to major label; major label fucks rock band around, rock band tell
major label to fuck off. But Mat Welsh (guitar/vocals), despite not speaking in glowing terms of their experience, suggests that the decision to leave was amicable, and that band and label parted on good terms. “We weren’t angry at each other, we both just decided to stop,” he says. “We’d realised over the last two years that the beliefs of the band weren’t conducive to us enjoying our time with Sony. They were alright, but to us, this music and this band is the be all and end all of our lives.” The realisation that those around them didn’t share the same belief in the band that the members themselves did, led to the Yorkshire quintet taking the bold decision to release their new album, ‘You Are We’, independently. “We had a conversation
together where we talked about how if we didn’t go independent now, we’d end up doing another three records with someone and bitch for three more years about how we don’t like it,” Mat recalls. “So we decided to make a change, no matter how scary that might be. We just threw ourselves in the deep end with it.” “I didn’t want people to think that getting a label is the be all and end all of your musical career,” he states. “We thought that before we got one, and then we got one and realised that it wasn’t right for us. It might be alright for some people, but for us, it’s definitely not. The music industry is changing, the way people get music is changing, and I like to think that by us doing this, we’re encouraging other musicians and creatives to realise that 5
DUE NORTH
NORTHLANE SURPRISED EVERYONE WITH A NEW ALBUM, DROPPING ‘MESMER’ OUT OF THE BLUE. WHILE THE BAND STICK TO THEIR NORM OF NOT PLAYING BY THE RULES, THEIR LATEST RECORD SEES THEM FINDING NEW INFLUENCES, AND EXPLORING NEW THEMES, AS FRONTMAN MARCUS BRIDGE EXPLAINS. WORDS: SAM TAYLOR
So Marcus, what made you decide to surprise release your new album? Northlane have always done things a little differently when it comes to releasing music. Whether it was the countdown to ‘Quantum Flux’ and ‘Singularity’ being announced, or sending ‘Ra’ as a gift to those subscribed to our mailing list. This time we wanted to give something back to everyone who’s stuck by Northlane through thick and thin. Was it difficult keeping the secret for so long? There were a few close friends I had told, but besides that, it’s been four to five months of silence! Which has been very hard, as I’m so proud of it!
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Has releasing this way presented any new challenges? Obviously, it’s a bit risky releasing an album out of nowhere, but we have already been so overwhelmed by the
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response we’ve received. We didn’t want to worry about first week sales or anything like that; this is a gift to the fans.
Do you think you’ll continue to use different-from-the-norm release methods in future? Northlane have always messed around with different ways of marketing; we’re always trying to do something new. How did you find the reception to lead track ‘Intuition’? Was it received as you’d hoped? We got to debut ‘Intuition’ at Unify gathering earlier this year, and the response was wild! When you play a new song for the first time, it’s not unusual for people to just stand there and watch, whether they like it or not. They’re just trying to take it in. But at Unify, there was a crazy energy as soon as this kicked in and it was possibly my highlight of the weekend.
What were your major influences during the album’s creation? I draw inspiration from all sorts of music, but I couldn’t pinpoint any specific influences for ‘Mesmer’, at least for me that is. I draw inspiration from bands like Underoath and Slipknot, but then Panic! At The Disco and Bruno Mars were getting spun a lot during the making of this album.
Do you have big plans for the rest of the year? The rest of the year will see us touring quite extensively! We’ve just announced a whole lot of stuff including playing the Main Stage at Download, and a bunch of other European summer festivals followed by a run of shows in Canada! There’s a lot more in the works, but I can’t wait to get back on the road! P Northlane’s album ‘Mesmer’ is out now.
ROCK
DJ
veryone thinks they could be a superstar DJ. Everyone. Even your nan reckons she’s in with a chance of having it large behind the wheels of steel. But not everyone has what it takes. We’re putting some of your favourite bands to the test. We’ve given two musicians five categories. They pick a song for each, we decide who wins each round, and who takes home the trophy overall. There can only be one victor. This month, Gareth from Los Campesinos! takes on tour buddy Lande from Muncie Girls. Let battle commence... ROUND ONE T H E S O N G Y O U ’ D P L AY I F T H E W O R L D WA S A B O U T TO E N D.
Gareth: ‘Four Minute Warning’ by Mark Owen. Mark went to the effort of recording this song for this very specific purpose and it would be ungrateful not to use it in such a scenario. Lande: This is a different way of asking for my favourite song! Or am I playing it to other people and we’re all going to die? If it was in my headphones, it’d be ‘Modern Girl’ by Sleater-Kinney. If I was playing a song of my choosing to hundreds of people for them to dance away their last moments to, I’d play ‘Come On Eileen’ by Dexys Midnight Runners.
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WINNER
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In literally any other
GA RETH F RO M LOS CA M PES I N OS !
VS VS VS
LANDE FROM MUNCIE GIRLS
situation, a Sleater-Kinney track would be an automatic win, but Gareth is right. It would be rude to ignore little Mark Owen, even if he is a taxdodging bastard. Can’t believe we’re doing this but, Gareth, 1-0. ROUND TWO T H E S O N G Y O U ’ D P L AY AT A 9 0 S T H E M E D PA R T Y.
Gareth: I know I can rely on someone else to take care of the pop bangers and R&B slow jams, so I am here to ensure you still take some time to emote, with Alanis Morrisette’s ‘You Oughta Know’. Lande: Presumably at a 90s themed party, I’d be DJing a very early slot on account of the fact that I was 7 when the millennium happened, so my enjoyment of the decade’s music is almost second hand. So - nothing too huge - I’d play ‘My Sister’ by Juliana Hatfield. W I N N E R OK, so on account of making us feel dead old, and that Alanis Morrisette is pure fire emoji, 2-0. Gareth’s round again. ROUND THREE T H E S O N G Y O U ’ D P L AY F O R M O T I VA T I O N .
Lande: This sounds like a song that could only be relevant for someone ten or more years my junior, so I’ll revisit my thirteen year old Windows Media Player library. My mum was never bothered by it, but I imagine ‘Chop Suey!’ by System of a Down upset a few parents. It probably upset a few children as well. W I N N E R He’s thrown it! He’s actually thrown it! 2-2. ROUND FIVE T H E S O N G Y O U ’ D P L AY F O R S H OW I N G O F F YO U R DA N C E M OV E S .
Gareth: Three Lions 98. The roar of the crowd, the goosebumps, hairs standing on the back of my neck. I am ready. Not sure if for success or failure, but I am ready.
Gareth: Granted, I’m not as good a dancer as Bruno Mars, but to see me move to ‘Treasure’ really does make you wonder how much better a dancer Mars would be if he had my longer limbs.
Lande: Anything by Le Tigre. But I’m supposed to choose one song so I’ll pick ‘Hot Topic’ for inspiration, for its apt lyrics and great groove.
Lande: My dance moves are well showcased through many, many songs but if I had to choose the real jive generator, it’d have to be ‘You Can Call Me Al’ by Paul Simon. What a massive tune that is.
W I N N E R We all knew that Gareth was going to go Three Lions here, but ‘98? That’s a brave move, especially when up against Le Tigre. 2-1, Lande pulls one back. ROUND FOUR T H E S O N G Y O U ’ D P L AY T O W I N D U P YO U R PA R E N T S .
Gareth: My parents are both incredibly mild-mannered and open-minded, I do not wish to annoy them, I forfeit the point.
W I N N E R And there you have it. By sacrificing Round Four, Gareth leaves himself open to the counter attack. And what a break it is! ‘You Can Call Me Al’ - the sonic equivalent of Manchester United’s swashbuckling goal at Arsenal in ‘09. 2-3, Lande taps it home. AND THE WINNER IS... W H AT A C O M E B A C K ! L A N D E TA K E S I T 3 R O U N D S T O 2 .
JEFF ROSENSTOCK “ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FIGURES IN MODERN PUNK”
–
HEADLINING TOUR WITH DOE OUT NOW!
SIDEONEDUMMY.COM
t’s been just over a year since Tonight Alive let us into the world of ‘Limitless’, all positive force and celebrated acceptance, but that hasn’t stopped the revolution continuing. They’re back with wide eyes, a clearer view of the world and a shiny new song. They were “just ready” to start the next chapter, explains Jenna McDougall. After a conversation with their manager came with the realisation that they didn’t have to stick to the standard two-year cycle. They could let excitement lead, and the group figured, “if we’re going to be a band that’s on the road nine months out of the year, it felt exciting for us to keep refreshing and stay in a creative flow.” “In June that conversation scared me because I wasn’t ready,” Jenna reflects. “It took until January to be ready to write a record or even think about new music because ‘Limitless’ had only been out for a few months.”
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Change inspires change, though, and things have shifted with Tonight Alive. “We’ve changed record labels. We’ve signed to Hopeless Records worldwide and UNFD in Australia and New Zealand. Having our contracts finish with Sony and Fearless inspired us. We felt excited to be around fresh teams with new eyes and new ears.
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“Those teams, they really connect with our mission and our message and our vision. That’s something I’ve had to fight for in the past, just getting people to understand it. I do feel it’s something that had to be compromised in the past because the teams we were working with were not completely onboard. We felt inspired by the change and this song, ‘World Away’ reflects that in how it sounds and what it says.” “It just felt really natural when we were writing it,” Jenna continues. “We were home for three months, from January through March after we toured Australia with A Day To Remember, and Whak [Taahi, guitar] and I were set up in a studio in my house. We wrote every day. It was cool because we saw the seasons change, it went from blistering hot with absolutely no air to just raining for three weeks solid. “‘World Away’ is one of the last songs we wrote from that batch. The
sound of it is a representation of the flow we were in during that writing period. We took the lid off a little bit more. It’s probably exactly what we said we were doing with ‘Limitless’ as well, just how there are no rules but I think this is going in the other direction.” Exploring the idea of “no rules”, they spent time “asking what that means and staying fearless in our creative expression. The chorus talks about the fact that the life you want isn’t so far away, it’s not so impossible. It already exists, it’s just a matter of touching it and making it a physical thing. “I’m reading a book about The Quantum Field, and I’ve never used that language before, but The Quantum Field is a place where all possibility exists. ‘World Away’ is reflecting on the fact that that place exists within you. It doesn’t have to be something that’s external or a year away; it’s about reaching your ideal and ultimate experience and self within you. It’s about tapping into that and using your struggles, fear, pain and suffering as fuel for that change, as a catalyst for growth. “I have a fear of speaking negatively in music. I know from personal experience that just one lyric in a song can resonate on such a deep level, that you can believe what that person says to you. I’ve been very conscience of not writing lyrics that could leave that taste in someone’s mouth like, ‘This is it for me, this is the end of my hope’, but the verses go to that place for a moment. They talk about those insecurities and complexes, but I love the silver lining in life. I always look for it, and that’s reflected in our songs. “I don’t like the word ‘hope’ because it’s not emotive at all for me. This is a song about taking action. It’s about leaning into that pain and fear and seeing what’s on the other side of it. To me, ‘hope’ sounds as if you’re waiting for something to happen, whereas ‘World Away is about taking action. All possibilities are totally real; you just need to grasp them.” Matching the unveiling of ‘World Away’ to the band kicking off their first live shows of the year, “it just seemed fitting to bring something new to the new year.” The song represents the next step of their journey. Constantly facing forward, time away to reflect hasn’t quelled their self-belief or splintered their vision. “My life is what I make it.”
“I think people can be overly humble sometimes and they would never say ‘I want my band to be big’ or ‘I want success’ and it’s not something I say all the time, but I do. It’s something I do want for Tonight Alive, to play the biggest shows possible because I just love the rush of unity with a mass of people singing or moving or feeling the same thing at the same time. That excites me. “I just want to play music, jump around on stage and talk about things I care about. It felt like hibernating a little bit being back in Sydney; it was a really good time of not wearing makeup, not socialising and just being creative and turning in. It was so nice and such a rare opportunity, but now I get to explode again in front of heaps of people,” Jenna laughs. “I love doing that.” P Tonight Alive’s single ‘World Away’ is out now.
ACTION STATIONS TONIGHT ALIVE ARE BACK! ALREADY! LITTLE MORE THAN A YEAR AFTER ‘LIMITLESS’, THEY’VE A NEW RECORD LABEL, RENEWED CONFIDENCE, AND A NEW SINGLE TO BOOT. WORDS: ALI SHUTLER.
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ABOUT TO
BREAK THE BEST NEW BANDS TH E H OT TEST NEW MUSIC
BLOOD YOUTH
aya Tarsus is thinking back to his life before Blood Youth. “I’d quit music onehundred percent,” the vocalist explains. “I was in a band from when I was 15 to when
I was 20, and at every show we would play to two people. It gets to a point where if it was going to happen, it’d have happened by now.” But just as Kaya’s band was disintegrating, the rest of his life began to unravel, too. “In the space of three months everything bad that could happen, happened; I quit my job, I lost my girlfriend and my band broke-up.”
At a loss as to where his life was headed,
BEFORE BLOOD YOUTH, KAYA TARSUS WAS DOWN AND OUT. NOW, AS THE HARDCORE TRIO PREPARE TO UNLEASH THEIR DEBUT LP, THE VOCALIST REVEALS HOW HE’S BATTLED BACK FROM ADVERSITY. WORDS: JAKE RICHARDSON.
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the Harrogate native made the bold, and what he now considers to be naïve decision, to emigrate. “I decided to go to Spain,” Kaya states. “I quit music, I quit everything, and I decided I was going to go and live there forever. And this is what I mean about naivety; I went and moved to Spain, I did a few different jobs, but I very much didn’t know what I was doing. I was pretending I did. So I was in Spain like ‘Yeah, I’ve got this telemarketing job. That’s me now’. But
deep down I felt so shit, I was thinking ‘What am I doing cold-calling people?!’ I was miserable, and I had no idea what I was going to do. I was just waiting, day by day, still in Spain, still doing this, and then Blood Youth just fell into my lap.” Out of the blue, Kaya got a call from an old friend with whom he used to play shows, and was offered a way out of the rut he’d found himself in. “I got a call from Chris [Pritchard, guitar],” recalls Kaya. “I’d been in Spain for six months at that point, and he asked me if I wanted to come back and try out for a band he was putting together, and I was done with working in offices, so I was like ‘Ok, I’ll give it one more go…’ and here we are! Me and Chris hadn’t talked for ages, but it was almost, as cheesy as it sounds, meant to be.” With this new project giving him a new lease of life, Kaya and the band immediately started work on the first Blood Youth songs, but the frontman had unintentionally been preparing for such a scenario some time before. “I came back and we started writing the first EP [2015’s ‘Inside My Head’] straight away. We have a song called ‘Failure’ on that record, and I actually wrote the lyrics for that in my notebook when I was at my job in Spain, and it wasn’t for any band or any song, it was just me writing, and that became the first single we released as Blood Youth!” From the outside, however, it looked like all wasn’t well in the Blood Youth camp from the outset. The band have suffered several line-up changes over the last two years, the most high-profile being guitarist Sam Bowden’s departure for Neck Deep. Although Kaya insists that internally, the band have actually felt quite settled. “The thing is, the three of us have been the main formula since the start of Blood Youth,” says Kaya. “So writing-wise, nothing has changed at all, even though from the outside it does look like that! But this is what being in a band is about; you’re going to have line-up changes, and that’s just life and growing up. You adapt, and you go forward. The spine and the heart of Blood Youth is still there.” Much of this “heart” that Kaya speaks of in the band stems from their shared experiences as members of Yorkshire’s alternative music scene as teenagers. “Chris is from Harrogate like me,” Kaya outlines. “We’d played in bars together when we were younger; his old band had supported my old band. So we’d always known of each other, because Harrogate is such a small town. There’s no ‘scene’ or anything here, so if anyone
likes heavy music, you’re aware of them!” Harrogate might not be a hot-bed of heavy music, but just up the road is Leeds, a city renowned for its embrace of metal and punk, and it was there that Kaya cut his teeth as a musician. “There was this place called Rio’s in Leeds, and when we were 15, in my old band, we would lie about our age to get in and play shows. We were playing to no-one, and no-one cared about us, but we didn’t give a shit about that; we had school the next day and were like ‘fuck it, let’s play a show!’ But Kaya isn’t playing to empty rooms in Leeds anymore. “Whenever Blood Youth play in Leeds it’s a sold-out show, and I say on-stage every time we play there that it’s mental how I used to just play to a man and a dog in the same city! The hardcore and pop-punk scene in Yorkshire is so strong now.” Blood Youth have now established a strong following in the U.K., but with such notoriety comes the pressure to produce the music to back it up. The trio’s debut album, ‘Beyond Repair’, is one that could’ve seen Kaya, Chris and drummer Sam Hallett feeling the heat. Kaya, however, insists that such pressure only comes from the band themselves. “It was more us putting pressure on ourselves, because we were used to doing EPs and none of us had ever written an album before. Personally, I don’t really enjoy recording anyway, because of that pressure you put on yourself. You can listen to a piece of music for so long and it just becomes white noise, and you begin to question whether it’s any good. Fortunately, we’ve put out some tracks from the new album and people are enjoying it!” Kaya might not have enjoyed the recording of ‘Beyond Repair’ so much, but it’s his contribution to the band that’s perhaps the most striking aspect of Blood Youth. With lyrics that deal more with “anger in the modern age” than the broken-hearted shtick often associated with young bands, Blood Youth’s new music manages to stand-out in an increasingly saccharine scene. “The two EPs [‘Inside My Head’ and 2016’s ‘Closure’] were just about a break-up I had, and I was getting tired of writing about the same sort of thing,” confesses Kaya. But in the build-up to the album I met so many strange people; people that were dealing with something, and it made me think about how everyone has a vice, and how we all deal with anger in our own way. For example, some people go out and get really drunk; it’s like everybody has their own thing, and I think we’re in an
age where we’re a little scared to put out how we feel, and we take it out on ourselves. I’ve done it myself in the past. So that’s really the main point of the album; it’s about where we take ourselves when we’re really mad.” When describing the sound of ‘Beyond Repair’, Kaya turns to each band member’s different influences in an attempt to explain the Blood Youth brand of melodic hardcore. “Chris loves ‘Iowa’-era Slipknot,” explains Kaya. “He’s always been really fascinated by that album, and he will listen to it non-stop; I think you can hear that in the riffs of Blood Youth. I’m very much into the more hardcore side of things. I’m a huge fan of Every Time I Die; they were my number one band that I used to listen to when I was growing up, so when we supported them that was insane! Sam… he listens to everything! His favourite band is the 1975, and he’s really into R&B as well. We’re all so varied and so different, and it all comes together in one pot to create Blood Youth!” The joy with which Kaya speaks of touring with Every Time I Die is a poignant reminder that even celebrated musicians have their idols, and looking to the future, the vocalist is determined to echo the attitude of bands like the New York hardcore heroes as Blood Youth continue to climb the rock ‘n roll ladder. “Everyone we’ve ever supported has just been so cool with us,” Kaya gushes. “When we supported Every Time I Die, I remember talking to Keith [Buckley, vocals] and saying ‘I went to this show and this show’, and him being like ‘Yeah, I remember!’ And I was requesting songs that they could play, and they were all loving it! Similarly, we were supporting Architects, and everyone was chill. None of those bands get too ahead of themselves, even though they’re colossal. Same with the While She Sleeps guys; they’re from Sheffield, and we’re from Harrogate, so it was like going out on tour with a big group of friends… we all had the same accent! What we’ve learnt from those bands is to stay grounded. Those bands are all really normal guys; there’s no egos, so that’s really cool.” They may not be at that same “colossal” stage of their career just yet, but armed with an ambitious new album and a desire to do things the right way, 2017 could well be the year Blood Youth join the ranks of modern metal’s elite. P Blood Youth’s album ‘Beyond Repair’ is out now. 21
POP WILL E AT I T S E L F_ P 24
LINKIN PARK ARE ONE OF THE BIGGEST BANDS IN THE WORLD, AND YET THEY’RE NOT SITTING BACK AND RELYING ON THAT SURE FIRE SUCCESS. INSTEAD, THEY’VE TAKEN THEIR SOUND AND PUSHED IT INTO THE PLACE WHERE FEW ROCK BANDS TRULY DARE. LINKIN PARK HAVE GONE POP. WORDS: ALI SHUTLER. PHOTOS: PHIL SMITHIES.
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ere we go again,” grins Mike Shinoda. “Let’s see what they say about this one.” Linkin Park have a long history of rolling the dice. Of taking chances. Of mixing things up. They used to be called Hybrid Theory, and it’s an idea that’s stuck. Their six-album deep legacy is full of musical leaps, revolutionary blends and an unwavering desire to do what they want. No record sounds the same, and each step could have taken it too far. “The last four, maybe even five records, we’ve had that conversation, but I’m not afraid of taking a risk and failing.” Ultimately the idea of pushing it too far is “for other people to decide. On the last album, we released a six-minute metal song with Rakim on the bridge - suck on that, everybody. At a certain point, you feel like you’re being contrary or crazy just for the sake of getting a rise out of people, but it was different with this record. It didn’t feel like we were trying
worked on, so it’s not so surprising or strange for me” - every cut feels like something entirely new. And that’s exciting in a way few bands can ever manage after their debut. That excitement is the heart of Linkin Park. They’re stoked to talk about music, to be around music, to be making music. You can hear the giddiness in Chester’s voice as he recalls that Brian May said in an interview that not many groups take risks like Linkin Park do. “It was very cool to be seen that way by someone I admire, that was also in a band that took risks and was not afraid to do what they wanted to do or be who they were. I feel like I’ve succeeded on this record just from that one comment.” And you just know that Mike’s holding back from spending all his time talking about all the new music he’s discovered. When you put them together in a room, it’s bubbling, hyperactive chaos. You can feel the enjoyment throughout ‘One More Light’. From the opening glitch of ‘Nobody Can Save Me’, the band relish their newfound space. “It’s a bit of a rebirth. We felt that one once or
role in blending genres,” Mike explained while the band were still on the road for their last album. “That’s what our music has been about since day one. We never felt like we carried a flag for nu-metal but we definitely carried a flag for people who loved many types of music.” Now, alongside the obvious calling cards of rock and hip hop, Linkin Park can add pop to the list. And they were deliberate with the sort of pop record they wanted to make. “If you’re super into a niche, like hip hop or metal, you’re very in tune to the varieties of that lane,” reasons Mike. “If you like metal, you can say you like doom or black metal. It’s very specific, and the same thing is true in hip-hop. There’s a huge difference between Future and Action Bronson but someone who doesn’t listen to hip-hop, they won’t know the difference. Believe it or not but I listen to a lot of pop. There are styles of pop I like, and there are styles that I don’t like. The kind of pop record that we didn’t make is the one that goes ‘Oh girl, baby, I love you’, and we didn’t make the kind of pop record that goes ‘I want to see you dance, I want to see
“I just don’t want it to be boring.”_P to get a rise out of people, really, truly.” Album seven sees the band do what they’ve always done: exactly as they please. To hell with the consequences. “I want people to think that creatively, as artists, these guys have balls,” smiles Chester Bennington. “They go where they want. They’re not bound by the rules of what they’re supposed to be in the eyes of onlookers or anything outside. We are Linkin Park, and therefore the music that we make is Linkin Park. That, to me, is very risky. I’d like people to like listening to the record but also appreciate the danger, in some ways, of what we’re doing and how willing we are to go there without being afraid of it.” There’s no way to side-step it. Linkin Park’s new album ‘One More Light’ is drastically different to anything the band have released before. From the front to the back, it’s a pop record. It’s the “polar opposite” to 2014’s ‘The Hunting Party’, and - while Chester reasons that “being in Linkin Park, I’ve heard thousands of demos that we’ve
twice before in our career,” starts Mike. “The most obvious reference point being our third album ‘Minutes To Midnight’. The first two were pretty similar to each other, and then the third one was a risk, a real step outside of what people were expecting. At that point we were questioning, ‘Do we have to do what we’re known for, or what people expect?’ and we put out this album that was this extreme patchwork of sounds, with every song very different from the last. We intentionally sequenced it that way, so it exaggerated the differences between the songs. This album is much less of a patchwork; it’s much more a blend of styles where there is a core sound to the record. To invent a new style and sound and do it consistently across the record, it takes time. We probably spent somewhere between 12 or 18 months on it. You know when you listen to some albums, and it’s about a thing or a moment, this one isn’t that way. It’s about a lot of different things, and part of it is because we were all going through different things.” “I like to think our music has had some
you shake’. There are certain topics and styles that we’d choose to do or choose not to do, regardless of genre.” It’s what gives the record its authenticity. At no point does ‘One More Light’ feel like a band doing something half-heartedly. Or scraping the barrel. Or following a trend. There are a lot of rock bands taking influence from pop, but this isn’t that. More than an echo, this is a band celebrating the nuances of a genre and getting involved in the conversation. On ‘One More Light’ Linkin Park do what they’ve always done, take the things they like and put them together. Teaming up with Stormzy for ‘Good Goodbye’ isn’t Linkin Park trying to grab onto the coattails of Grime’s success. “We’re not that smart,” grins Chester. Mike’s just been a fan for a few years and wanted to see what happened. “I feel like when some artists explore some territory outside their core thing, it feels like they’re a tourist or it’s a hobby or a whim. For me, the difference is that when I want to put something in a song, 27
HO99O9 AREN’T IMPRESSED WITH THE STATE OF THE WORLD, AND WITH THEIR NEW ALBUM ‘UNITED STATES OF HORROR’. THEY DOCUMENT WHY. WORDS: SAMMY MAINE.
fter a multitude of EPs and a ‘Dead Bodies In The Lake’ mixtape, Ho99o9 are finally releasing their debut album. The L.A. by way of New Jersey hip hop/punk duo have been pushing out a kind of pandemonium over the past few years, by way of performances that have deafened, destroyed and dismantled pretty much anything in their wake. Made up of friends theOGM and Yeti Bones, Ho99o9 are a force of artistry; meticulous in their execution, the group is an amalgamation of hip-hop, hardcore, punk and everything in between, crafting an ever-bending sound that demands attention. The pair are currently taking part in their third SXSW, and theOGM is not lost on the significance of the album’s announcement. “My whole life has been building up to this moment. I’d say it was a perfect time; we could’ve dropped an album any time, but the timing on this is the right move. It feels fucking phenomenal,” he says. “It’s like your newborn baby that you’ve been teaching things and feeding, and it’s like finally ready to go off to college or like middle school or something. Off into the
world, the scary, scary world.” ‘Scary’ is a word that some would attribute to Ho99o9’s style – after all, they are called ‘Horror’ – but there’s more to them than unnerving stage make-up or the ability to scream into a mic until the hair on your skin stands on end. Perhaps the ‘scariest’ part of the band is their uncompromising, relentless energy – it’s straight-up alarming. When you go to a Ho99o9 show, you go to a different dimension; a dimension free from the constraints of the everyday, free from expectations or self-restraint. A Ho99o9 show is resolutely and uniquely theirs – a place that’s freaky and unapologetic and basically, bad-ass. As theOGM continues, it’s clear that this sort of ruthless performance is something that runs through their blood. “The [performance] is natural. That’s the easy part. That’s like waking up and brushing our teeth and putting our boxers on,” he says as the pair laugh together. “Recording the music was the easy part, but performing is what pulls your energy and focus. We’ve got to be healthy, and we’ve got to move a certain way because performing it, you have to bring the intensity. Recording it is the easy part, but performing it? That’s the fun part.” The debut album is titled ‘United States of Horror’, which could easily prompt a political evocation, but the band are adamant that they’re not a ‘political band’
per se. Instead, theOGM explains that they write about real life – the life that they and so many others know about growing up, of being black men in America in a post-Trump world, of being a person and a human being with anxiety and anger. “We don’t want to be labelled as a political band – we just want to be a band that has a voice. A band that speaks up for fun things, bad things, good things, everything,” Yeti Bones says. theOGM adds, “Ho99o9 is not political at all. We just speak on what we see and what we know of, and we don’t have that much money, so we don’t talk about driving Benz’s and fucking mansions. So we’ve got to talk about the real shit that we see on the news and what we hear about and go through. The things that people talk about. Reality.” With such a platform, a lot of fans are looking to their favourite artists for inspiration in what to do in these uncertain times. Bands are championing messages of love and empathy and empowerment in between songs, but as to whether the band could be seen as role models for some, theOGM is quick to counteract the notion. “I ain’t got responsibility for nobody – I’m not a role model,” he says resolutely, adding that they write about what they “feel, see and deal.” “And that’s just it,” he continues. “Our only responsibility is to be the best at what 33
SICK SCENES
NEW FOUND GLORY ARE CELEBRATING TWENTY YEARS AS ONE OF POP PUNK’S MOST ENDURING BANDS WITH A BUNCH OF ANNIVERSARY SHOWS, AND A NEW RECORD. WORDS: STEVEN LOFTIN. PHOTOS: CORINNE CUMMING.
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ew Found Glory have always known how to have fun. If you ever find yourself feeling down, the opening riff to mega-hit ‘My Friends Over You’ is the perfect pick-me-up. It’s something the band have always been good at; they’re pop punk at its very core. This year marks the band’s twentieth anniversary, and it sees them celebrating with new material and landmark live shows in support of A Day To Remember. Ahead of the band’s first ever foray into Wembley Arena, drummer Cyrus Bolooki doesn’t seem particularly fazed by playing such a fabled stage. However, the importance certainly isn’t lost on him. “Back in 2004-5 we supported Green Day [on their ‘American Idiot’ tour], so we did play a few of these places, but it’s an iconic one here. You check it off the list.” While the rest of the band are trying to stay warm in an increasingly cold dressing room, Cyrus considers their impressive feat of lasting an incredible twenty years. “It’s pretty amazing to get
to this point; it’s not something that we thought about when we first started our band, and it’s very important for us to be able to point it out and celebrate with everybody. The fact that we are still here - that is a huge thing, but we are still an active band, and we have a new record coming out.” Heading into the studio to record their ninth full-length, the band were still as in-tune as ever, relishing those hard to predict moments when their songs suddenly clicked into place. “There are different ways to look at it,” Cyrus muses. “We all definitely still enjoy what we do, and with all of our new material, I think we find that it happens at different parts of the process. Sometimes it’s early on when writing, sometimes it’s after you finish the record, but there are always these moments where the songs hit you, and they just take on a meaning with you. “Just like, it’s defined, and we’re still having that happen with these records. I think we’re very proud of our newest record, but it’s going to be very fun being in the twentieth year playing those old records all the way through. We’re going to be playing songs we’ve never played before live, and putting ourselves back in those situations from when we recorded them.”
The band have a legion of fans who’ve followed them since the (relatively) early days of ‘New Found Glory’ and ‘Sticks & Stones’, which feature some of pop punk’s most treasured hits. However, such is their omnipresence they also have a knack for picking up new listeners without even trying. “There might also be some people who quite honestly could’ve been seven or eight years old when these records came out,” laughs Cyrus, “but that’s a great thing for us.” The challenge of digging through their back catalogue - “literally putting on an iPod and listening to it again” - is one he’s looking forward to. “It’s going to be very interesting and fun for us to figure them out quite honestly, and also how to make them translate live. Even if people don’t really know the songs, it’ll be more fun for us to finally get them out there because they deserve to be heard like that.” Twenty years as a band has resulted in a hefty repertoire - helpfully Cyrus has already done the maths. “This is our ninth record coming out which means that there’s one-hundred-and-sixty plus New Found Glory songs. You can’t play one-hundred-and-sixty songs live. We physically cannot do that!” It’s a fair point, 37
RATED GALLOPS
BRONZE MYSTIC
Blood and Biscuits
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AT THE DRIVE IN
IN·TER A·LI·A
Rise Records
ee e e here’s a lot riding on this album for At The Drive In. Seventeen years away from their defining work, ‘Relationship of Command’, there are questions to answer. Down what many consider to be a vital member in guitarist Jim Ward, and with questions to answer from an initial live comeback that, according to some, didn’t have that incendiary spark it should, it could even be said that ATDI have an uphill struggle ahead of them to convince the cynics. But uphill isn’t impossible. It’s barely improbable. At The Drive In have never felt like a band willing to let gravity do the work, and with ‘in-ter a-lila’ they’ve 40
found a forceful shove that proves there’s still momentum those old legs yet. Obviously it goes without saying that there’s no comparing the band’s first full-length in getting on for two decades with ‘Relationship...’, and that’s no judgement on quality, either. A thing of legend that set a whole scene, only hindsight can make those kind of judgements. It doesn’t show itself up in that company though - which is a victory in itself. That first track back, ‘Governed By Contagions’, still has sharp teeth, while opener ‘No Wolf Like The Present’ has its claws firmly sharpened. There’s a demanding immediacy to ATDI v2.0 that’s every bit as insistent as first time round, launching themselves kicking and screaming at a world that’s left without option but to clear the way. To suggest ‘in-ter a-li-a’ will quieten all corners would be a stretch too far, but it’s more than enough to show that At The Drive In’s return is more than just a cash grab. That fire still burns, and with fuel like this, we all might just catch light yet. Stephen Ackroyd
Marrying electronic elements with experimental guitar playing, Gallops are creating a breed of their own. The most impressive aspect of comeback release ‘Bronze Mystic’ is perhaps its use of space; there’s the wonderful feeling of being entrenched in a sci-fi thriller. The wandering soundscapes make it hard to pull out a favourite track as they almost don’t make sense in isolation; they come to form their own, magical world. It’s a rare gift of a release. Steven Loftin
NEW FOUND GLORY
MAKES ME SICK
Hopeless Records
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Twenty years in and the energy of New Found Glory remains: ‘Makes Me Sick’ has everything you’d expect from the foursome and is a solid celebration of their two decades of pop punk leadership. Wasting no time, opener ‘Your Jokes Aren’t Funny Anymore’ proves their mindset is much the same as ever; the tracklisting reading like the notebook of a snot-nosed teenager. Their uplifting, youthful spit is still there. Steven Loftin
WEIRDS
SWARMCULTURE
Alcopop! Records
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‘Swarmculture’ is the brainmelting debut from Leeds’ Weirds. Creeping in with ‘Things That Crawl’, the band are quick to explode with twanging guitars and dream pop vocals creating an ethereal feeling straight from the get go. Lead single ‘Valley of Vision’ is enormous; Weirds have made it clear there’s no room for mediocrity here. They’ve declared themselves exceptional in their world of blistering otherworldly rock. ‘Swarmculture’ is a phenomenal debut that stands out from the rest. Jasleen Dhindsa
BLOOD YOUTH
BEYOND REPAIR
Rude Records
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Harrogate trio Blood Youth have enjoyed a rapid rise, despite line-up changes, such as losing guitarist Sam Bowden to Neck Deep, threatening to knock their momentum. ‘Beyond Repair’, their first full-length, takes the promise of their previous releases and streamlines their sound into a more coherent proposition. It’s a fine metalcore record. With a bit of fine-tuning, this could be something special. Jake Richardson
HO99O9
UNITED STATES OF HORROR
Toys Have Powers
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HO99O9 aren’t your usual band. And, let’s be bloody clear from the off, they don’t want to be either. They’re the force of nature that makes the elements lose sleep, a visceral, blood curdling assault that doesn’t just rattle the senses, but leaves them smashed on the floor in a million tiny pieces. Unforgiving, answering to nobody and punk as fuck, they’re rewriting a rule book then burning it for good measure. More than essential. Christopher Jones
A SHORT Q&A WITH...
WEIRDS
W E I R D S V O C A L I S T A I D A N R A Z Z A L L TA K E S A B R E A K F R O M T O U R P R E P A R AT I O N T O D I S H T H E D I R T O N H I S B A N D ’ S N E W A L B U M .
How are you guys at the moment? Is everything okay in camp Weirds? We’re feeling really good- we’re itching to play the new record live and for people to hear it. It’s a feeling of excitement at how things will turn out! You’ve a hectic few weeks coming up, with the album release and The Wytches’ support tour - are you looking forward to it all? How do you prepare for busy periods like this? It’s always super hectic when you’ve got a lot coming up, but I think we’re handling it okay. We generally try to keep stuff as relaxed as possible and stay on top of the whole admin side of being in a band as that can get on top of you quite quickly. We can’t wait to tour with The Wytches, they’re super nice guys and a band that we’ve always looked up to musically. It’s gonna be a lot of fun onstage and off. How did you find recording the album at The Nave? Was it an obvious choice for you? We’d recorded a couple of things there before with Matt Peel, so we already felt comfortable in that space. It was the only choice really, as we’d forged a relationship with Matt where we could all be as open as possible about the process. Matt and the other guys at the Nave have created an amazing space: it’s in an old converted church, and many of the original features are still there, round the table in the dining area are old church pews, and the live
room has these monolithic beams jutting out through the ceiling. Are there any notable themes across the record? I guess in a general sense, there’s an overarching theme of darkness across ‘Swarmculture’, that we were certainly aware of when writing it. We like dark music and wanted to create our own weird little creepy niche. The lyrics revolve around themes of fatherhood, violence, family, religion and reptiles. How did you come to sign with Alcopop? We sent Alcopop the album after we recorded it and Jack was super into us. We met up in London and instantly felt comfortable working with him, he’s got a positive attitude and works extremely hard for all of his bands. We’ve always respected the way Alcopop release records in unusual ways, and one of the first things we talked about with them was our love of vinyl and weird rarities. Do you have much else in the works for 2017? Where can we find you at festivals? So, we’ve got a few of our own tours coming up, then we’re hitting festivals over the summer, which we’re very excited for. So far we’ve announced Camden Rocks, 2000trees, Live at Leeds, and Truck Festival. 2000trees is one of those festivals we’ve always wanted to play, so that one in particular should be a highlight for us. P
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