** Plus ** Neck Deep Bob Vylan Silverbacks In Hearts Wake Hockey Dad Broadside + loads more
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upsetmagazine.com
Stand Atlantic Fontaines D.C. Wargasm
BIFFY CLYRO “We’re at a moment to stand up for what we believe in”
AUGUST 2020 Issue 57
HELLO.
It must be strange to be one of the biggest bands on the planet right now - especially one with a big album release on the books. This month, we’re delighted to welcome stadiumfilling, festival-headlining, 00s rock legends Biffy Clyro to the cover of Upset for the first time, as they prepare to deliver a brand new record into the eye of a cultural storm. There are no shows to play, no communal gatherings to soundtrack, and yet still the Biff have that winning energy you know will cut through no matter what. If anyone is looking for an anthem, you can be sure you’ll find one here.
S tephen
Editor / @stephenackroyd
Upset Editor Stephen Ackroyd Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden Associate Editor Ali Shutler Scribblers Alexander Bradley, Dan Harrison, Dillon Eastoe, Jack Press, Jamie MacMillan, Jessica Goodman, Josh Williams, Sam Taylor, Steven Loftin Snappers Ash Roberts, Ellius Grace, Iain Laidlaw, Jamie MacMillan, Jude Palmer, Kat Nijmeddin, Maddie Ross, Phil Smithies, Raf Chlapinski, Sally Patti, Steve Gullick P U B L I S H E D F RO M
W E LCO M E TOT H E B U N K E R.CO M
RIOT 4. BROADSIDE 7. ILLUMINATI HOTTIES 8. HOCKEY DAD 10. REWS 14. IN HEARTS WAKE ABOUT TO BREAK 18. SILVERBACKS 22. YEAR OF THE KNIFE FEATURES 24. BIFFY CLYRO 34. WARGASM 40. NECK DEEP 44. BOB VYLAN 48. FONTAINES DC 52. STAND ATLANTIC REVIEWS 56. BIFFY CLYRO 56. CREEPER 57. PROTOMARTYR TEENAGE KICKS 58. SLEEPING WITH SIRENS
U N I T 10, 23 G RA N G E RO A D, H A S T I N G S, T N34 2R L
All material copyright (c). All rights reserved.
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THIS MONTH IN ROCK
Australian duo Hockey Dad are embracing their early-20s with talk of growing up. p.8
EVERYTHING HAPPENING IN ROCK
AN AWESOM WAVE
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ME
REWS lead-vocalist and frontwoman Shauna Tohill is a force of nature. p.10
In Hearts Wake have a planet to save, and they’re doing it in style. p.14
Newly signed to SharpTone Records, Virginia poppunks Broadside are forging ahead with their third album, ‘Into The Raging Sea’.
How have you been occupying yourself during lockdown?
Just as the tumultuous title suggests, it’s been a rough few years for the group. Since 2017’s ‘Paradise’ they’ve undergone yet more line-up changes (most recently losing guitarist/vocalist Dorian Cooke to his new project, NeverKept), struggled through industry nonsense, and now, of course, there’s a pandemic to contend with. “[It’s] an album about learning to swim against the pressures of the world,” frontman
I’m a big fan of reading, and so this lockdown has privileged me with more of an excuse to isolate myself in various books. I’m currently reading a book called Sapiens by Yuvsl Noah Harari and started a Zoom book club discussing it once a week. It’s blowing my mind. It’s about the evolution of humans and essentially, the destruction that we’ve caused to our fellow species and to ourselves over time. Aside from that, I’ve actually become a big runner. Never thought I’d
Ollie Baxxter starts. “Some would argue that it’s too late once you’ve already stepped forward blindly, but those people still pace the beach, wondering, what if?”
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THIS MEANS WAR Photo: Jude Palmer.
REWS lead-vocalist and frontwoman Shauna Tohill is a force of nature. A whirlwind of positivity, her powerful second album ‘Warriors’, due this summer via Marshall Records, is set to be a much-needed boost during a particularly difficult year.
“Each song on the album is a journey through a tough situation,” she explains; “all different; and I want it to show people that no matter what they are going through, together, through the spirit of music, we can strengthen, we know that we belong and we CAN do this… Today, we’re warriors!”
How have you been spending your time lately? Have you been stuck at home?
Initially, I was based at home, and my motivation was to create something that would keep everyone’s spirits high, including my own! So I made a schedule and put together some online shows, started teaching online lessons and taking more’ me time’ with yoga. Then about eight weeks ago, I started working temporarily at the hospital! It’s been such an amazing,
humbling experience.
How’s everything been since the release of your debut? Are you doing well?
Things have changed a lot since the release of the debut album, so there has been a lot of growth, many highs, some lows, as life tends to go - but overall, feeling really positive and, yes, I’m doing really well, thank you!
Were there any lessons you took away from ‘Pyro’ that helped inform ‘Warriors’?
The main thing was to be certain about what you want things to sound like, and to focus energies on the right thing at the right time.
Was putting your second album together a different process from your first? It was similar from a writing perspective as not much has changed from that perspective, but very different from a producer / recording and drummer perspective. The producers this time around were keen to really get the best out of the songs, and we spent a lot of time doing preproduction on the tracks which we didn’t do with the first album. We also had a different drummer, Scott Hislop, for most of the album bar ‘Birdsong’ and ‘Monsters’ where Chris Steele jumped to help me
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Photos: Sally Patti.
Before the global pandemic hit, and muchneeded protests sprung up all over the world, the environment was a topic that dominated many a conversation. Over the past few years, it’s become increasingly apparent that merely putting your milk carton in the recycling and re-wearing your socks [Erm?! - Ed] just won’t cut it, as we hurtle towards potentially irreversible disaster. In amongst those looking for solutions, artists have been embracing carbon offsetting, trying to balance out the toll touring, recording and putting music to plastic takes. Australian metalcore band In Hearts Wake are one such act, and they’ve taken huge strides to make their new album ‘KALIYUGA’ their greenest yet. Bassist and clean singer Kyle Erich fills us in. Hi Kyle, how’s it going?
I’m doing well, just got married
two days ago so still on a bit of a high from that!
Congrats! Carbon-offsetting your new album is an exciting idea. You’ve touched on similar themes with your previous records, right? What sparked your passion for the environment?
We have since our release of ‘Earthwalker’ back in 2014. We grew up on the east coast of Australia specifically around the Byron shire. There are incredible beaches, mountain ranges and rainforests all around us, which played a massive part in our love for the environment and passion to conserve it.
Have you dabbled in environmental activism before?
Over the years we have planted trees, raised money for not-forprofit grassroots indigenous organisations, and we have helped plan marine debris cleanups in multiple countries. It’s definitely something we are passionate about, and we all want In Hearts Wake to be a positive force for the world.
Are these subjects carried through to the music? What themes does ‘KALIYUGA’ cover?
A good chunk of our lyrics/ songs have an emphasis on environmental/political issues. These themes are still very present throughout the new album. KALIYUGA in Hinduism is the fourth cycle the world goes through and it is depicted
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They’re one of the biggest British bands of their generation - capable of filling stadiums and headlining festivals - but as they prepare to drop a new album in the middle of a global pandemic, Biffy Clyro are ready to stand up and be counted. Words: Alexander Bradley. Photos: Ash Roberts.
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London duo Milkie Way and Sam Matlock are rapidly breaking through with their own urgent blend of rap and nu-metal that’s soon going to take them on the road with sceneicons Creeper and Yungblud. Are you ready for Wargasm? Words and Photos: Jamie MacMillan.
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Words: Steven Loftin. Photos: Raf Chlapinski.
This year has been a whirlwind for change - from the outbreak of a global pandemic, to vital protests pushing for positive change in racial inequality - and one of the bands leading the charge are punk duo Bob Vylan. The pair’s new EP, ‘We Live Here’ sees them deftly confront racism, police brutality and injustice head-on across a rapid-fire eight tracks. Upset 45
A HERO’S A post-punk band going Top 10, then getting a Mercury Prize nod? With their debut album, Fontaines D.C. broke out in a way no one expected. Now it’s time for round two. Words: Jessica Goodman. Photos: Ellius Grace.
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“There’s a really innocent beauty in no one caring about the name of your band, or no one knowing the name of your band,” guitarist Conor Curley reflects.
DEATH
“We were the only five people kind of propping that up.” A lot has changed for Fontaines D.C. in the three-and-a-bit years since they started releasing music together. Hell, a lot has changed for them in the one-and-a-bit year since they released their first record. Top 10 charting, Mercury Prize-nominated, and album of the year lauded, it’s hard to imagine a time when no one knew the group’s name.
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New album at the ready, and Stand Atlantic are back to reclaim their crown as one of the most interesting bands in pop-punk. Words: Jack Press. When you think of pop-punk, you think of college parties and pizza, beer bongs and teenage angst, snapbacks and skateboards. It’s
an image we’ve seen a thousand times, from Blink-182 and Green Day in the nineties, to Sum 41 and New Found Glory in the noughties, and again with the uprising of All Time Low and State Champs in the tens. Along with a handful of fellow Australians, Sydney pop-punkers Stand Atlantic are ripping up the rulebook, throwing the codes and conventions in the proverbial bin, and bringing a whole new flavour to the genre with their strikingly vibrant second album, ‘Pink Elephant’. From its pop-sensible arena-ready sing-alongs to its explosion-of-colour cover, vocalist and guitarist Bonnie Fraser, guitarist David Potter, drummer Jonno Panichi and bassist Miki Rich are done with being down as ‘just another pop-punk band’. “We wanted to show that it’s so easy to just stick a label on a band from a certain scene. We wanted to prove that we’re more than that. Genres don’t exist anymore, and people just do what they want,” says Bonnie defiantly, not letting the confines of her hotel room during self-isolation following her return to Australia stop her from taking a stand against the old guard. “We wanted to prove to ourselves that we’re not one-trick ponies, and we like writing songs no matter what style that is.” One trick ponies and one-hit wonders, they are not. While 2018’s ‘Skinny Dipping’ was a dazzling
debut of pumped-up pop-punk, ‘Pink Elephant’ rearranges and reinvents their sound. They’ve spent some time slipping, sliding, and shapeshifting through genres, resulting in experiments in earlyera PVRIS electro-rock (‘Shh!’), synth-pop (‘Blurry’), singersongwriter acoustics (‘Drink to Drown’) and late-night laid-back R’n’B-meets-pop-punk vibes (‘Silk & Satin’). Like a sponge, they’ve soaked up the suds of the washing bowl of popular music. “Music is always changing in terms of trends, and that’s not to say that we set out to follow any trend, but there’s so much music coming in that it’s hard not to get inspired by new sounds and new things. “I wouldn’t say there was any ‘we want to sound like this band’, it was kind of like, ‘yo, this song by this band is really cool’. That song itself might not even sound like the rest of that band; it was just the process of taking little factors of different sounds we’ve heard. It’s just a big conglomeration of everything.” While Stand Atlantic were working on their sound, they were also writing a record in realtime, drawing off of the day-to-day experiences and emotions they were working through. As a result, Pink Elephant is at once a collection of perfectionate, polished pop-punk and a riveting, raw expose of their struggles. “The whole album is about having tough conversations, whether that’s with yourself or somebody else. It’s fucking scary
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