Upset, February 2022

S A IT IS They’ve been to Hell and back...

FEBRUARY 2022 Issue 73

RIOT 4. UNDEROATH 10. PULLED APART BY HORSES 14. SOFTCULT 16. VENOM PRISON 20. BAD SUNS 24. ANXIOUS ABOUT TO BREAK 28. MODERN ERROR FEATURES 30. AS IT IS 42. TWIN ATLANTIC 48. ROLO TOMASSI 56. CASSYETTE

Upset Editor Stephen Ackroyd Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden Associate Editor Ali Shutler Scribblers Alexander Bradley, Connor Fenton, Dan Harrison, Jack Press, Linsey Teggert, Melissa Darragh, Sam Taylor, Steven Loftin Snappers Andy Ford, Ashlea Bea, Cameron Brisbane, Elizabeth Mirandą, Mark Howe, Mitch Wojcik, Sarah Louise Bennett 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 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. 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. 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 The Bunker Publishing Ltd holds no responsibility. The opinions of the contributors do not necessarily bear a relation to those of Dork or its staff and we disclaim liability for those impressions.

Distributed nationally.

HELLO. Sometimes we all need to take stock. Over the last few years, each and every one of us has been through a lot - some of it shared with the rest of the planet, some of it deeply personal.

That’s true of ‘the bands’ too. With their entire world put on pause, a lot has changed for pretty much every currently active musician on the planet. It’s no surprise that, two years into a period of turmoil, shutdown and introspection, we’re starting to see the fruits of that appear in recorded form.

This month’s cover stars As It Is have been through more than most. Pre-pandemic, they’d scored a Top 40 album. As they emerge again, they’re down to a three piece and with stories

to tell. ‘I Went To Hell And Back’ is a record that doesn’t just hook into what the band have experienced, but the changes in their listeners too. A shared catharsis to embrace.

It’s also a sign of hope, though. That 2022 can be about processing, but also thriving.

Here’s hoping for brighter days to come.

S tephen

Editor / @stephenackroyd

Riot.

THIS MONTH >>>

Now veterans of their scene, Pulled Apart By Horses will return in 2022 with a brand new album. Here’s what to expect... p.10

EVERYTHING HAPPENING IN ROCK

The Big Story

“Underoath has always been a rollercoaster” Over the past couple of years every band has been forced to adapt, but with a new album in tow, Underoath will always be Underoath, as Spencer Chamberlain explains.

Words: Steven Loftin.

4 Upset

Three albums in and Venom Prison sound more essential than ever. With new album ‘Erebos’ imminent, they’re embracing the chaos. p.16

Anxious have arrived with their debut album - and it’s already one of the early highlights of 2022. p.22

Upset 5

I

n the same way earthquakes manifest thanks to tectonic plates shifting in their cataclysmic way, Underoath require friction and crashing to reach their darkest depths.

“I’ve worked in music my whole life, and Underoath is definitely the trickiest,” vocalist Spencer Chamberlain begins. “There are a lot of personalities, and even the guy that pretends to be the toughest might be equally sensitive in a different way, you know? It’s tough.”

But when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

“While this awkwardness is constantly happening, it’s what makes it special.

You’ve got people crying and punching walls one day, and the next day they’re hugging each other and having the time of their lives. It’s like that; Underoath has just always been a rollercoaster.”

Since forming back in 1997, the band have undergone a few fractious changes. Their line-up has evolved, with founding drummer and vocalist Aaron Gillespie leaving in 2012, after which the band embarked on a farewell tour, which wrapped in 2013.

Resurfacing in 2015 with Aaron in tow, it took another three years for their eighth album ‘Erase Me’ to manifest. While it was indeed a massive proponent for their future, it didn’t quite strike the same sparks as their earlier material, with some fans claiming the album’s polished exterior diluted the experimental blend of light and dark. Quite simply, moving forward required a change.

“We went back to the way that it used to be, and not writing separately,” Spencer says of the approach to their ninth effort, ‘Voyeurist’. “On the last record, one person wrote this song, one person wrote that song, two guys wrote this song, three of us worked on that song, and four of us wrote A, B, and C. Then we mashed it all together and made a record because it was new, you know? We were recently reforming, and we had all done stuff separately.

“We were just at that spot

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“If it’s going to be Underoath, then it should always be the four of us together” Spencer Chamberlain in our lives, and I’m proud of that record,” he continues.

“But moving forward, the one thing we realised on touring [‘Erase Me’] is that if it’s going to be Underoath, and we’re going to work on Underoath, then it should always be the four of us together.”

It’s their relationship as a band that encourages the might. ‘Voyeurist’ is the step forward many had hoped ‘Erase Me’ would be. It’s as expansive as it is compact, breaths of Underoath past and present, inhaling and exhaling, proving that they’re more alive than ever. It’s learning from missteps that has strengthened the band through every chapter.

“We’ve learned on every record that we do,” Spencer tentatively reckons. “I think that was the major takeaway from the last one, that all four of us who are the writers could easily get to the finish line alone, but that’s not what makes Underoath Underoath.

There’s no like, superstar writer.

“There’s no one guy who makes Underoath what it is,” he continues. “With the four cooks in the kitchen coming together and finding a middle ground because we all like such different things, we all see the outcome of the song differently. And when we find that ground, that’s the special Underoath that

you hear, so without that, it’s good but maybe not Underoath.”

Having four cooks in the kitchen, as Spencer mentions, also means that there’s an understanding at play; mutual respect all wrapped up in a simple notion. “It’s about getting uncomfortable and pushing each other outside of their comfort zones.”

“Everyone in this band is constantly working on their craft and working with other people and doing different things,” Spencer explains.

“Every time we meet up, everyone’s better than they were the last time. No one’s lazy as far as the four main creatives in this band… I think we’re at that point where we could technically survive off nostalgia tours and just do shit like that for sure. You can just play, and people are going to come and celebrate those songs they love.”

But that’s not what Underoath are about. They’re driven by their abrasive natures, pushing forward to be the best they can be.

In allowing the tension to blister into something new and daring, Spencer readily admits that “Underoath stuff is not necessarily the most fun when it comes to recording.”

“I think that after every Underoath record, it feels like it’s victorious, and it’s celebratory. It almost feels like you went off to war when you come home. As far as that type of music goes, I don’t want to work on anything heavy until it’s time to work on Underoath. You kind of squeeze the lemon out.”

The hardest button to button for Spencer is the lyrics. Mentioning that “a lot of times the lyrics are a little bit more personal and they tend to be on the darker side,” just because the music lends itself that way. It’s a fair comment given ‘Voyeurist’ features a track titled ‘We’re All Gonna Die’.

“I think about people that write movies. Like, the guy that writes the movie that makes it a super dark, fucked up movie which makes everyone question their life,”

Upset 7

“Even my dad had texted me upset about the title; he thought it was a sexual thing” Spencer Chamberlain 8 Upset

Spencer laughs. “You do that every time you write a movie, it takes a lot out of you, compared to someone that might write a comedy that’s more light-hearted.

With Underoath, it’s like man, I love it. And I’m very thankful for everything we’ve done, but when you’re done with making a record, you need some recuperation time.”

Another motivator behind the band’s determination is life. With them all nearing middle-age, trying to be a youthful revolutionary is instead replaced by knowing that your family and quality of life is at stake with every move you make.

“If you’re gonna do it, you gotta think about it,” he says.

“Everyone’s got families and other stuff going on. Like, do you want to work on a record and spend two years of your life touring and supporting something you’re not 100% into? No one has time for that shit, you know? It’s definitely all or nothing.”

‘Voyeurist’ is undoubtedly Underoath giving it all or nothing. The fact they saw fit to first let it loose on the world via a livestream event, an idea carried on from their successful debut foray into that world with 2020’s

Observatory series is proof enough in their belief.

But with the thousands of eyes staring at screens projecting Underoath out into the world, so do they stare at others. “If you look it up, it isn’t even a real word!” Spencer says. “Voyeur is a real word, and it gets misconstrued. Even my dad had texted me upset about the title; he thought it was a sexual thing. I said it’s a misconception; look it up. It means about peering into others’ lives. And what do you do at least five times a day as you check your social media and when you look at your social media.”

That filter we all possess to make everything seem okay and awesome is a part of Spencer’s chagrin toward these forces. It also makes for rough riding when you’re creative, and everyone has an opinion. “Artists get it hard,” he admits. “Everything they post there is comments and fights and people ripping you apart.”

Spencer’s way around this is to simply not pay attention, which is always harder than it sounds. But having been around for a fair while now, and the circus surrounding bands just getting louder and

crazier, creating a doubleedged sword, his advice feels nurtured through having learned the hard way: “Hopefully you don’t have the time for it,” he shrugs.

“We’ve never felt this way about a record, at least since ‘Define the Great Line’ in my opinion, where I felt like we did something really special and we did it ourselves, and we did it alone, and we trusted each other. And if someone doesn’t like it, that’s fine. The old songs aren’t going anywhere. Or if you’re just a hater, that’s fine. That sucks that you’re like that; I don’t envy you.”

Underoath will always be Underoath, and they seem to be settling into this voyeuristic world with aplomb. Their livestreams are events that feel massive, they’re building and adapting around their output, but most of all, they’re rooted in Spencer’s parting words: “If you’re just doing what you love, and you’re proud of it, you feel good, and it’s an honest thing, then it shouldn’t matter.”

P Underoath’s album ‘Voyeurist’ is out now.

i Went tO hell And BACk

4th feBRUARy 2022 ASitiSOffiCiAl.COm

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AS it iS

AS it iS AS it iS

4th feBRUARy 2022

i Went tO hell And BACk

i Went tO hell And BACk

4th feBRUARy 2022

4th feBRUARy 2022

AS it iS

i Went tO hell And BACk

First World P

10 Upset

Problems Now veterans of their scene, Pulled Apart By Horses will return in 2022 with a brand new album.

Here’s what to expect...

Words: Sam Taylor.

Photos: Mark Howe.

Upset 11

A

fter a decade spent building a formidable live reputation, breaking onto mainstream radio playlists, and into the UK Albums Chart (very nearly hitting the Top 10 with their fourth album, ‘The Haze’, in fact), Pulled Apart By Horses have embarked on their fifth full-length. Newly signed to Alcopop! Records and due later this year, it’s the most ‘punk’ album they’ve ever made, bassist Rob Lee explains from his home in Yorkshire on a cold, rainy Sunday.

Hello Rob! We hear you have a new album coming how long has it been in the works for? Did you start on it straight after ‘The Haze’?

We didn’t start writing as a band straight after The Haze. We usually take a break from jamming and writing when we’ve finished an album, mainly because touring starts, and we want to commit to what we’ve just written and enjoy playing it in for a while so that it becomes part of the muscle memory. We started writing this new one in late 2018. But then, obviously, things got complicated.

What was your approach for this one, did you have anything specific you wanted to say or try?

Well, this was a classic example of how making a ‘plan’ never really works in rock and roll. We wanted to keep this one as live and raw and spontaneous as possible.

We wanted to get it done really quickly to capture all of that and not overthink things.

I honestly thought that we’d have the album finished and released and be touring it in early 2020. I already thought by that point that the process had taken a bit too long! After The Haze, life got complicated, and some of us had personal things we needed to deal with, but then coming back together and working on new material was really positive and inspiring.

A lot of that was going into the energy of the music, the songwriting and the lyrics.

But then the world changed.

12 Upset

Is the album all done and dusted now? What stage are you at?

Recording all the instruments for the album was pretty much finished at the end of 2019. We went into The Nave studio in Leeds straight after our UK tour and got to work on recording all the music as ‘live’ as possible. Then Tom [Hudson] and I would record our vocals in our own little studio that we’ve been developing over the years, where we practice.

Unfortunately, that got put on hold for a while because of the restrictions. The same applied to mixing. We had to do a lot of the finishing of the album in these stolen moments when restrictions would be eased. Tom and I went to Metropolis studio in July this year to get it mastered. So it’s done and ready to go in 2022.

How have you found writing and recording? It’s been a tumultuous few years.

It has! The original plan was to kind of do things the other way round this time. As I was saying before, the sequence usually goes; write and practice, record, then tour.

However, with that approach, you often find that that the songs get played in more and become tighter and even sometimes change or evolve when you’re playing them night after night. So this time we decided to go on tour first! We had the songs ready, which we’d been demoing at our own studio. For a while, we thought about recording it ourselves. Often when we are demoing, we catch these ‘lightning in a bottle’ moments which you can never really recreate in the studio, there’s always this raw magic with the demos; that’s why we’ve released some of them in the past. However, that usually involves me running back and forth between the control room, hitting record, checking levels and then running back in to pick the bass up.

So it can kind of detract from being in the moment with the band. Also, having your own place to record gives you the luxury of time

and experimenting, which wasn’t necessarily a good thing this time. I felt that we were maybe already starting to overcook things. So we decided to down recording tools and just get in the van and play some shows.

Then after the tour, we went straight in with Matt Peel (so that he could hit record and I could be in the band.) We set up all the gear the way we had it at the gigs, and Matt did an excellent job of capturing the band playing live. It felt like what I imagine it must have been like in the 60s and 70s, just banging it out in the same room together.

Then we took the stems away, and Tom and I holed up and got to work on the vocals.

That was a really fun process because there was no studio pressure, we weren’t on the clock, we could really explore what we were doing vocally, and we experimented with old tape echos and valve amp distortion. We were right next to each other, in

the same room, screaming into Dynamic microphones, which aren’t as sensitive as expensive studio condenser mics. They can take a knock, so you can hold them and move around and get into the performance and even listen back and sing along with the speakers blaring, without picking up too much bleed.

There was no need to be in a special studio booth or sound treated room, so we could both sit in front of the desk and talk about what we were doing and sort of ‘produce’ each other. It was very liberating to both be on the same side of the glass and in control of the faders; we’ve got to a point over the years where we really respect and trust each other’s opinions.

You’ve already shared the lead single ‘First World Problems’, is it a good representation of the overall record? How does it fit in?

It was the first one we wrote for this album; we kept calling

Led Zeppelin, Queen, The Ramones. If you get it right, it can be deadly. Don’t get me wrong, Tom is a great guitarist, but I think he just felt this was the right time, and he needed to put the guitar down to commit to this new role. So he doesn’t play guitar at all on the recording of this album. That must have taken some doing, to let go of that familiar role, so ‘First World Problems’ was one of a few tracks that he recorded the demos for on guitar at home and then willingly passed them over to us. The rest of the album we wrote by jamming them out and throwing ideas back and forth in the practice room, with this new set-up, like we did when we first started the band.

‘First World Problems’ is quite upbeat, melodic and jangly. Lyrically it almost has a ‘self-help’ feel to it, which is something that follows through the album, kind of a way of addressing and accepting that there’s a problem, but then finding a way to deal with it. However, there are also some darker face-melting moments on there.

“This is the most ‘punk’ album we’ve ever made” Rob Lee

it the ‘blueprint.’ Looking back, I think there’s more to that than just the style or how it sounds musically; there’s also a psychological element to that decision. Tom decided to put the guitar down on this album and just concentrate on singing and being the frontman. I really respect that decision, and I’ve secretly been hoping he would try that for years, but it had to be the right time, and it needed to be his decision. There were times in the early years of the band when we played a song called ‘I’ve Got Guest List To Rory O’Hara’s Suicide’. Tom would put the guitar down and jump in the crowd for that tune, and it was just a very different animal. It always reminded me of Iggy and the Stooges or The Jesus Lizard.

There’s also something very powerful about that kind of line-up, where the backline is basically a three-piece, power trio, and the vocalist is fully committing to their delivery. Bands like

Which song are you most excited for fans to hear?

Really, I’d say this is the most ‘punk’ album we’ve ever made. Mainly because of the live approach to recording, but also with the songwriting. We purposely made it quite stripped-back, so there is no clutter, and we can be confident about really hammering it home live; there’s no excessive tracking or studio trickery that we have to worry about recreating live. No prog epics with three different time signatures on this one. It’s very concise and to the point.

However, we always like to leave things a little bit openended because who knows what the future holds? So the last track on the album might just deliver something you weren’t quite expecting.

What makes for a good Pulled Apart By Horses album, do you think?

For me, it’s all about communication, trusting each

other and knowing when to let go of your own ego. That’s not an easy feat, even after all these years; I’m not saying that as if we’ve finally got it nailed. We’re still learning, still growing as people and as a band. Often life gets in the way. We’re not the kind of band that’s ever been so commercially successful that we can just forget about other responsibilities. We still have four lots of bills to pay and four different lives outside the band that need work and attention. The main thing is to remember and keep coming back to why we wanted to do this in the first place, and that’s simply because we love music.

We’re all just fans of music, and when we were oddball weirdos growing up, the bands we loved, learning to play our instruments, these were our reasons for living.

It’s an absolute privilege to be able to play in a band and make albums, and it’s so important to remember that, especially when you’re five albums deep. I think the day that you start feeling like it’s hard work, or you deserve more out of it, then that is the day you should quit. I think if you just find a way to keep doing it because you love it, then that is more than enough, and it will be good.

Anything else we should know?

Just that the album will be out very soon, we’ve got another single coming out before the album, and we will be out on tour and playing festivals as much as we possibly can in 2022.

I guess on a final note, and I’m not preaching here; it’s more of a reminder to myself.

It’s easy these days to want things instantly and to get frustrated when you feel things aren’t going the way they should, but after more than ten years of doing this and the way things have gone over the last couple of years, the only thing that is certain is that nothing is certain.

There is no final note. You just have to keep going, and we’ll see you on the way. P Pulled Apart By Horses’ new album is out in spring.

Upset 13

14 Upset

Softcult.

TRACK BY TRACK

Year Of The Snake EP

up one day, and the world will have Mercedes (vocals/guitar) wake changed for the better overnight. It takes and Phoenix Arn-Horn conscious effort and constant practice to unlearn toxic or bigoted behaviours. (vocals/drums) run us through one of the most Perfect Blue anticipated debut EPs of Mercedes: We wrote ‘Perfect Blue’ about a time in our lives when we felt like the year. nothing was in our control. In our previous

BWBB

Mercedes: We wrote ‘Boys Will Be Boys’ about gender violence and the double standard, hypocrisy and dissonance of the ‘bro code’. Covering up for your buddies after they’ve assaulted someone creates a dangerous environment, especially for women. We wrote the song the night we hear heard about what happened to Sarah Everard. We were so angry and frustrated… and you can totally hear that rage in the song. All of us need to be allies in this fight against gender violence and hold our circles accountable.

House Of Mirrors

Phoenix: ‘House Of Mirrors’ is about feeling as though you’ve wasted your potential and become a disappointment to the ones you love. It’s a common feeling I think we can all relate to in our midtwenties and beyond, wondering if you’ve done enough with your life or if you’ll ever accomplish the things you set out to do.

Being in this stage in our lives, it’s surreal watching friends we grew up with settle down and get married, have children, careers, move, and we’re here still grinding away at the same things we were doing as teenagers… We’re insanely happy for them and want the best for them, but most times, comparing the trajectory of our lives side by side makes us feel somewhat arrested in development.

Spit It Out

Phoenix: ‘Spit It Out’ is about rejecting the harmful norms and biases that lead to discrimination and injustice in our society, particularly towards marginalised communities. We’ve all grown up being taught the views and beliefs of previous generations, and now more than ever before, it’s becoming clear that these perspectives don’t properly advocate for everyone. It’s naive to think that we’ll

project, we were signed to a label that butted heads with us creatively and wasn’t allowing us to express ourselves authentically. They weren’t interested in the music we were creating at the time, so we became unhealthily obsessed with trying to please them in order to release anything at all. It felt as though we were putting on an act in order to survive.

There was a lot we wanted to say, but it was being stifled. We felt like we’d lost our integrity. The song is a reminder to empower yourself by standing up for what you believe in, or risk losing yourself altogether.

Gaslight

Mercedes: The title really says it all. We wrote this song about gaslighting and how it really messes with your head and your perception of reality. Being in a relationship that constantly makes you question your decisions and actions, your feelings and emotions, even your soundness of mind. It’s a tactic that many abusers and groomers will use to tear down your defences and make you easier to manipulate. There are a few toxic relationships that come to mind. A few people in the industry too. Basically, we wanted to raise awareness of this manipulation technique so that whoever hears the song will be able to recognise those red flags if they encounter that kind of behaviour.

Uzumaki

Mercedes: This song is about the cycle of abuse, and the trauma that it leaves behind. Even after you’ve escaped from an abusive situation, it can take years to recover. This song is about that struggle, assuring everyone you’re fine when you’re really not. It’s to let other survivors know that they aren’t alone. We took the song down last year almost exactly a year ago, and ever since we’ve had it in the back of

our minds. We knew there was something special there and that the song deserved to live, even if it had to change. In our hearts, we knew we’d have to re-write it.

‘Uzumaki’ had a very painful, hard birth and when we took it down, and it was suddenly gone, there really was never any closure or resolution for us. When we finally got around to re-writing it, it was the final piece of the puzzle to finishing ‘Year Of The Snake’. Sharing the new, rewritten version is going to be an emotional and cathartic experience for so many reasons.

Year Of The Snake Phoenix: The EP encompasses our feelings towards the cutthroat capitalist society we live in and the problems that need to be addressed. The snake is symbolic of deception and untrustworthiness. We’ve seen this time and time again from politicians that make grand promises and claim to care about marginalised people, climate change, poverty etc. but act differently when it comes to their policies. Our goal is to raise awareness with music that makes people think. We want to expose people to realities that they may not have ever been aware of before and speak out on issues that matter to us. Most of these songs are meant to challenge people’s perceptions but also come from very personal places based on our own experiences. If there are people out there that can relate to our lyrics, they’ll know that they aren’t alone. They are part of a movement that is demanding action. P Softcult’s new EP ‘Year Of The Snake’ is out 4th February.

Upset 15

Embrace the chaos.

16 Upset

Three albums in and Venom Prison sound more essential than ever. With new album ‘Erebos’ imminent, they’re embracing the chaos.

Words: Sam Taylor. Photos: Andy Ford.

Upset 17

T

hree albums deep, and Welsh metallers Venom Prison are really hitting their stride. With their new full-length ‘Erebos’ - which shares a name with the Greek god of darkness, a child of Chaos, ‘FYI’ - they’ve pulled out all the stops for a blistering level up. Guitarist Ash Gray fills us in.

Hello Ash! What are you up to today?

I am keeping busy, getting ready for the album campaign and sorting a bunch of stuff behind the scenes for the band.

You’ve had an eventful couple of years, with postponed live shows, new music and a new record deal - how have you found it all? Are you in a good place?

It’s been very constant if I’m honest. With all live shows being postponed, it was time to figure out what this band was going to do for the time being and make sure we stay active and creative and not just sit on this band. I’d say we and myself are in a good place at the moment, having our new album ‘Erebos’ on the horizon and future plans/creatives. We

have a clear indication of what we are heading for, feeling confident that people will be into everything.

“We weren’t afraid of trying new things”

At what point did you start working on the new album, was it before the pandemic kicked off? What was your headspace like going into it?

Myself and Ben [Thomas] are always writing, so it’s usually Ash Gray what song or songs kick start the idea for a record off. We had just come out of the studio in December 2019 after rerecording ‘Primeval’ - we added two new songs on that release - that would be the start of the pool of new songs we started collecting. Having more time for this record really helped us reflect and make the right decisions.

Headspace was certainly different, a lot more critical, figuring out how ‘Erebos’

would sound was difficult; we didn’t want to create a version two of previous records, each Venom Prison record we try to approach differently and give each album its own character and personality.

Once we found a clear idea, we just ran with it.

Did you come up against any (other) unexpected challenges during the record’s creation?

Not really, if I’m honest. We had a certain issue with a hard drive going into the studio; all the synth, electronics and so on were prepared, then AS SOON as we plugged it in at the studio ready to load into the session, it failed. We lost all the synths and electronics, but the positive side was Ben managed to have more time and perfect it even more next time round. These types of scenarios occur, but everyone’s going through something similar, I

imagine… I hope, or is it just us!?

Were there any topics you especially wanted to tackle with the release or any new tricks you wanted to try?

What were your initial goals?

The goal really was to create our most progressed record to date and understand what we as a band could do to take those steps forward without affecting the integrity of the band and making sure we maintained our roots. We wanted bigger, catchier, more structured songwriting, which I feel we achieved but adding all these additional layers such as synths, electronics, keys, strings, clean vocals, and just giving Venom Prison much more depth overall. We didn’t want to create the same record again, so carefully reflecting on each song off ‘Erebos’ and making sure it is truly how Venom Prison should be taking steps forward.

How did those first ideas and aims evolve once the record started coming together?

Usually, when we start pre-production,

we write a flood of songs. I think myself and Ben got to 20 songs between us.

Some songs were what I called ‘Animus’ or ‘Samsara’ Version 2, and they just weren’t the songs for ‘Erebos’. We kept going until we got to ‘Judges Of The Underworld’, which was the first song written, and once it carved a path for it to be a clear indication overall how we wanted ‘Erebos’ to sound, we just went from there - and making sure that each song of the record felt like it could be a single, we weren’t afraid of trying new things.

Which of the album’s songs have you been most excited for fans to hear?

I honestly couldn’t say, as when writing records, I see them as full play-throughs.

We try to make a record a full cycle with each song leading into one another, so the context of the record shines when it’s played in its entirety. We honestly took so much time with each song, and reflecting on the pool of songs we had on the side as well, to make sure nothing was overlooked. They all felt like singles.

During the process, we had our ten songs

in a folder ready which we believed to be ‘Erebos’ songs; when revisiting the pool of pre-produced songs, we noticed one or two that were, in fact, stronger and more “’Erebos’”. We’d switch songs out in the folder, work on them more and just come to the point where a full play-through of whatever songs were picked would all be its own character and personality.

Where would you like this album to take you?

I try not to get caught up in “oh, I want this to be very successful” - I just want it to be a progression, growth, and something new for the band and listeners. I believe ‘Erebos’ will start to open the door to the band’s more creative side, and already we have plans for what we’d like to do in the future in terms of creating, so as a whole, it’s made the band more creatively-minded. P Venom Prison’s debut album ‘Erebos’ is out 4th February.

Riot.

Everything you need to know about

Bad Suns’ new album

‘Apocalypse Whenever’

“short film” about the end of the world.

My friend’s dad suggested we call it ‘Apocalypse Whenever’, as a wink and a nod to Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece. Fast forward to January 2021. The working title for this album was ‘A Moment Of Reflection’. It rolls off the tongue and sounds quite elegant, but I was starting to have my doubts. It wasn’t as bold a title as the album we were making. I was taking a shower one morning, before heading to the studio, and this memory zapped into my head as if from nowhere. I just thought to myself, ‘Apocalypse Whenever’, and started laughing.

SOME OF THESE SONGS WERE WRITTEN OVER VIDEO CHAT.

It was a weird year, etc. Our creative juices were overflowing in the spring of 2020, and being inactive wasn’t an option. We decided to step outside of our comfort zone and write some songs together over video chat. We live in the future now, why not? Sometimes, those sessions would be disastrous. But we struck gold with ‘Heaven Is A Place In My Head’ and ‘Life Was Easier When I Only Cared About Me’ - both quite long titles. The juice is always worth the squeeze.

HIKING AND SURFING HELPED ME THROUGH THE WRITING PROCESS.

When I’m feeling inspired, I’m prepared to sit in the same space for days on end and create. On the flip side, when I’m forced to sit in the same space for days on end, the creativity is hard to access. If I’m ever at a standstill, I know it’s time to go outside. There are quite a few lyrics on this album that came to me right before diving beneath a massive incoming wave on my surfboard. I was struggling with lyrics for one of our songs, and then one day, while hiking through the sequoias in July 2020, the words to ‘Summer Lightning’ hit me like exactly that.

‘BABY BLUE SHADES’ WAS THE SONG THAT GOT THE BALL ROLLING. Bad Suns are brave, calling their new album ‘Apocalypse Whenever’ in the middle of what could quite easily be sold as the precursor to something far more imminent. We got vocalist Christo Bowman to run us through what we need to know.

wanted this album to sound, and the best way to communicate that, in the beginning, was through visuals. We love to communicate musical ideas in abstract ways, especially when we’re in the studio.

Sometimes a song needs to sound like you’re speeding through a tunnel at midnight as it’s pouring rain outside, and sometimes it needs to feel like you’re lying by a pool in Los Angeles overlooking the city. It’s a very cinematic album.

THIS ALBUM BEGAN WITH A MOOD BOARD.

THE ALBUM TITLE PREDATES THE BAND.

I had a clear idea in my head of how I

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In the summer of 2005, I made a comedic

Though it wasn’t the first song written for the album, the arrival of that song was the moment when everything clicked. It was the evening of Halloween 2019, and I was at home alone, feeling a bit dejected and lost. We all have those Halloweens… right?

After hours of punching underwater, an exciting musical idea finally arrived, and once we all played it together, we knew it was time to get in the studio and release that song as soon as possible… Even if it predated the album, it would appear on by more than a year. P Bad Suns’ album ‘Apocalypse Whenever’ is out 28th January.

14.01.22

G

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Going green.

Anxious have arrived with their debut album - and it’s already one of the early highlights of 2022.

Words: Sam Taylor. Photos: Mitch Wojcik.

C

onnecticut-based up-and-comers Anxious - frontman Grady Allen, guitarists Dante Melucci and Ryan Savitski, bassist Sam Allen, and drummer Jonny Camner - have arrived with their debut full-length, ‘Little Green House’. Over two years in the making, it’s been a long time coming for the Run For Cover Records signees.

Grady tells us more, during a trip back to Connecticut from seeing his grandparents in Florida (“the change in weather was very refreshing”).

Hi Grady! So your debut album then - how long has it been in the works for? What was your starting point, what was your headspace like going into it?

Oh man, it’s been in the works for a LONG time. We began writing it in fall 2019, shortly after our first 7” came out. We finished writing it around May 2020. Most of it was written during the early months of the pandemic; we spent weeks in the basement of our drummer’s house just writing and recording demos for the record that would become Little Green House. As far as our headspace, we just wanted to make a record that was completely unashamed in what we wanted to be. We consciously tried to not be bound by genre binary, to not be restrained by what we thought the record “had to sound like”. I think the group of songs we put together reflects that pretty well (or at least I’d like to think so). We just wanted to not feel tied down. We recorded the record in summer 2020. A year and a half later, here is the LP, hahaha.

To what extent did you achieve your initial ideas for what you wanted the record to be? Did they evolve much along the way?

I think we really achieved our hopes for the record.

Sound-wise, We were really meticulous with the recording and mixing process and spent a long time making sure everything laid out exactly like how we had hoped in our heads. My sincere apologies to our engineer, Chris Teti,

who had to constantly keep churning out mixes until we were happy, hahaha. Lyrically and thematically, I think the record touches upon all the things we were hoping to cover. The record has a strong emphasis on relationships and connections: romantic, familial, friendships and the lack thereof. I’m not sure if this overarching theme was initially intentional, but the final product definitely arrives at that.

How did you find recording, was it tough fitting in studio time during all the lockdowns?

Quite the opposite, actually.

The pandemic completely wiped out any and all plans we had had for the band, so it felt like the perfect time to hit the studio and record.

After some time and thought, we ended up choosing Silver Bullet Studios in Farmington, CT. I enjoyed the recording process, but it seriously is arduous. Vocally it’s exhausting to spend 2,3,4,5 days recording. I learned a lot of lessons about the importance of pacing yourself and making sure you are properly prepared to record, so you don’t blow your voice out. I think our guitarist Dante really enjoyed the creative process in the studio. He was glued to the board with Chris the entire two weeks.

I understand why; it really is interesting to see a song come together layer by layer.

Did the turmoil of the past couple of years impact how you wanted the record to sound at all?

Hmm, I think our personal experiences over the past year and a half definitely impacted the content and style of the record, but probably not in a direct reactionary way. If someone asked how the pandemic affected the record, I would say that it afforded us a lot of time to reflect on things - both within the band and personally. I think we were afforded a lot of time for evolution, and I think the record reflects that. I think the lyrics also reflect the isolation of the past couple of years.

We were allowed to step

“The record has a strong emphasis on relationships and connections: romantic, familial, friendships and the lack thereof” Grady Allen

back and think about things, places, and people in a way that you probably take for granted when life is “normal”.

I think the record’s lyrics realise this.

Which of the topics covered did you find the biggest challenge to unpick in order to write about?

There are a few songs on the record about my parents, which is always very hard to write about. They were going through a very tumultuous divorce throughout the entire writing, recording, and rollout process for the record and I think the disorientation and pain of that experience is reflected in those songs. My relationship with those songs is complicated. My parents are incredibly supportive of me and the band, so it feels strange (almost unfair) to write about them in such a public way. I would say that those songs were the biggest challenge from a writing standpoint.

Did you learn any new skills specifically for the record’s creation?

Through recording a record, I think you pick up a lot of skills. You learn about the process of recording and the elements it requires to be successful. You learn a lot of lessons in the realm of patience, hahaha. I think we all rose to another level as musicians on this record, too - so I guess those are new skills. Dante worked religiously on the guitar for writing and recording. Jonny spent forever making sure his drumming was perfect. I guess that I would say that we mainly learned new skills in the realm of patience and work ethic, hahaha.

What’s next for you lot?

Anxious has a lot in the works!

We are currently gearing up for a full US tour with our friends in Knuckle Puck, Hot Mulligan, & Meet Me @ The Altar. After that, we have a lot more plans to tour and hopefully will begin writing more music this summer. P Anxious’ debut album ‘Little Green House’ is out 21st January.

About Break. to

NEW TALENT YOU NEED TO KNOW

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AZIYA Drawing comparisons to Wolf Alice following the release of her debut EP, East London’s Aziya plays in the dark, sinister end of guitar-pop.

HIGHSCHOOL Melancholy goth-pop in a similar vein to The Cure (obviously), Melbourne trio HighSchool released their debut six-track EP at the tail end of last year.

CATCHER Sounding pretty much exactly as you’d hope post-punks from New York would (great), Catcher are about to release their debut album. Can’t wait.

MODERN ERROR

Peterborough’s Modern Error - led by Zak (vocals) and Kel Pinchin (guitar) make cinematic alt-rock about life’s big issues.

Words: Sam Taylor. Photo: Ashlea Bea.

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win brothers Zak and Kel Pinchin are an ambitious pair.

Launching their debut album proper with Modern Error, ‘Victim Of A Modern Age’ sees them explore ideas about the way we live our lives via a project that hinges on duality and bold juxtaposition, seeking inspiration from anything from philosophy to film.

It honestly felt like the beginning of self-discovery. We had an idea of what it should be and sound like - but we were in the pursuit of finding our voice. And from there, you simply lose yourself. I know I had a really tough year and was feeling quite lost. Losing myself in this process was everything I needed.

You write a lot about the state of the world - what drew you to these themes?

We created this band to be a mirror to our current way of life and to show the sign of the times. The album is an extension of the same kind of thing. I’ve always lent to other art that seemed to show what makes us all human in our own damaged glory or what motives us to be the people that we are. I’m simply looking at the world from my perspective. I feel it’s what great art is for; to show the world you know but not as you know it. We found ourselves in a pandemic, writing about someone falling victim to an isolated modern world and each of us reflecting on our purpose whilst we are on this earth - it wasn’t what initially struck us to write this record, but I feel that whole 18 months and represents everything that’s happening in the world in a condensed and heightened experience.

Hi Zak! Congrats on reaching your debut album, what was your starting point for the record?

Thank you ever so much, this is a pinnacle for any band, and for us, we have been waiting to create a body of work for such a long time; it’s incredible to be here.

‘Victim Of A Modern Age’ started with the intention to create a body of work that was a true representation of the name itself and the people writing If you could fix one Zak Pinchin it. We had the idea issue afflicting the of creating this dual modern age, what would it be? album concept within a single album It’s a tough one to articulate and to pick, format, playing with the idea of natural but I believe we have become too reliant synthetic and evolving across two worlds; on short win and gain based vices that we This gave us the chance and ability to don’t appreciate anything or understand explore concepts and sonics how we really anything with integrity or depth and are wanted. hopelessly desiring what’s next. I feel like it’s damaging the future of the human race What was your headspace like going as beings of progress, empathy and unity. into it?

Where fame trumps great, and speed of fix

“It felt like the beginning of selfdiscovery”

trumps genuine understanding or actual truth, and it’s like an addiction impossible to get out of.

The album’s blurb references both film director Stanley Kubrick and philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche did you have a lot of non-musical inspirations?

I believe Modern Error to be much more of a surreal experience. We input the world in any way possible to create something that means something and hopefully speaks to you, sonically, visually, philosophically.

I simply believe those two names hold the same morals as what Modern Error do.

What was the biggest challenge you came up against during the record’s creation?

I’d say the process of making it. We began our journey with what I consider to be a ‘standard way of construction’ - a monthlong session with a producer in a studio; at the end of it, the record would be mixed and then done. This was not the case. I felt we kind of had to figure out how Modern Error were meant to make a record and that learning curve was tricky. We realised to create it the way we wanted, we would have to produce it ourselves and do small sessions over time, so we could asses or record as we write until it felt right. To me, it’s how music should be made - producing and engineering during its expression - I found it so much more natural. We went away from that initial session with a full record of finished songs, but we simply started again to make it sound the way it was intended. There are so many things to overcome during the process of an album, including personal trauma - the way to overcome it is simply to use it as fuel. This album was our self-revolution, and I hope it speaks volumes. P Modern Error’s album ‘Victim Of A Modern Age’ is out 21st January.

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TO HELL TO HELL A As It Is have been through the lot since the release of their last album back in 2018.

Chart success, members lost and a global pandemic - their new album ‘I Went To Hell And Back’ is a record of change and revolution, if only because of what they’ve experienced along the way.

Words: Jack Press.

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AN BACK AND Upset 29

A

lot can happen in half a decade.

You can go to university, travel the world, and chase a career.

Maybe you can get married, start a family, and settle down.

Or you could write a record, crash the Top 40, and watch your world go up in flames; that’s the way the cookie crumbled for As It Is. 2018’s ‘The Great Depression’ sent the band skyrocketing into the UK Top 40. Armed with an album about the five stages of grief, they toured their messages to the masses with a singular mission: break the taboo and deglamorise depression.

They hopped on the rollercoaster and went for a ride, until the wheels fell off and the safety locks disengaged. Members left, a global pandemic arrived, and the depression they were singing about settled into their bones. So how did it feel when they finally got off? “[‘The Great Depression’] is that vehicle you take off the lot, all shiny and new, and everybody is in the vehicle and happy to be there,” enthuses guitarist Ronnie Ish, who joined during this time, from his front room in Indianapolis before quickly changing tune.

“By the end of that cycle, the car was in flames. It came to a screeching halt, and we’re looking around the vehicle, and we’re screaming, ‘everybody get the fuck out, the car is on fire’. We look around, and it’s just me, Patty and Ali.” Ronnie’s baptism of fire wasn’t over when the fearless five became a terrified trio.

As 2019 came to a close, they were picking up the pieces and putting themselves back together. Studio sessions and label meetings were in full swing. And then Covid-19 came calling, hellbent on conquering Ronnie, vocalist Patty Walters, and bassist Alistair Testo. Suddenly, they found themselves on different sides of the Atlantic.

“I think emotionally I undersell the toll that played on me during the pandemic.

Not being around my brothers and my friends and the people that I’ve built a life with, that I’ve focused my entire life on – that was tough,” he exclaims,

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burnt out and bogged down by the memories. “As much as I love FaceTime, fuck FaceTime, I want to hug my friend. Covid has given birth to some of the best records to ever exist, so we’re definitely privileged, but I would rather hug someone than speak to them on FaceTime forever.”

That desperate desire for the comfort blanket of touring life drove the band forward. While the world went on without them, they found themselves hurling towards a black hole. Where once they’d win wars together, they were now fighting their battles apart – with no idea when, or if, they’d be reunited.

“The persisting uncertainty of it all was really weird to navigate,” expresses Patty in the glow of his home studio in Brighton. “However, writing this record was the true salvation of it all. It was about not letting the landscape of the pandemic, and the departures of band members, blindside us.

We had a record to write, we had things to say, and we had life to give.”

The record in question is the aptly titled ‘I Went To Hell And Back’. Written almost entirely over Zoom calls, it’s a testament to the sheer tenacity As It Is possess. Of course, there was still the small matter of a black hole suddenly swallowing them up to deal with. Not only did it threaten to derail their plans, but it also took them on a neardeath experience.

“The uncertainty was always there; it was always looming,” Patty shares. “It wasn’t always about ‘do we want to continue doing this?’

– it was much more existential.

I was asking myself, ‘do I want to continue doing this, which is being alive and being a participant of Earth?’ The ominous, looming of shit just weighed heavy on you. ‘Do I want to wake up and get out of my bed?’ Most days, the answer was no in the Lord’s year of 2020.”

At the end of a touring cycle that had taken its toll, and driven apart by the pandemic, As It Is were a broken band.

No amount of bandages could stop the bleeding, but they persisted through the pain, finding peace in the panic and

“We had a record to write, we had things to say, and we had life to give” Patty Walters

thriving under pressure. In many ways, it was déjà vu.

“All you can do when you have those thoughts floating around in your skull is to put them onto paper, in front of a microphone, and turn them into really cool art,” Patty admits. “If you don’t, they’re going to eat you alive, and I’ve experienced that.”

“There were points when we thought ‘The Great Depression’ was going to be our last record too,” he continues. “It’s that finality and that desperation that births something really special. You just have all these emotions, and they’re really loud, they’re really acute, and there’s nowhere to put those things, so you channel them into art.

The thoughts were always there, some days louder than others, but that’s being a band in 2020/21.”

‘I Went To Hell And Back’ pulls no punches with its subject matter. It’s a diary of depression, a living, breathing microcosm of the physical and emotional suffering many have felt. While so much of it is Patty’s experiences deep in the trenches of his mental health, its nuances and layers come from Ali and Ronnie’s perspectives as outsiders looking in.

“There were moments where Patty disappeared off the face of the fucking Earth and suddenly came back, like he just came out of the fucking trenches,” says Ronnie. “Just imagine a guy that’s in torn and tattered clothing, and he’s filthy, hasn’t showered in a month, and we’re all like, ‘where the fuck have you been? You know there’s a missing report out on you, right?’” Patty looks on smiling, the pair able to find the funny side of it all looking back.

“He just goes, ‘hey, I had to go get this song, but here it is’. I’m like, ‘are you for real?

If you didn’t bring this banger, I would be so upset with you’.

When someone hands you a song like ‘I’d Rather Die’, you don’t scold them for ghosting you for a month; you just hug them and love them. In many ways, it’s like you went to war, and you came back, and that song is the letter you had to deliver.”

Despite claiming his

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“All you can do when you have those thoughts floating around in your skull is to put them onto paper” Patty Walters

‘analogies are so stupid,’ Ronnie is right about one thing: Patty went to war with his mind, and As It Is went to hell and back to make this record.

They dug their nails so deep into their own skin, every song is written with their own blood.

You can hear it in the post-hardcore angst of ‘Sick And Tired,’ the synth-pop cynicism of ‘I’d Rather Die’ and the anthemic electro-emo of ‘ILY, How Are You?’ – the latter of which explores the brotherhood between Ronnie and Patty, and how hard it can be when you’re watching those you love get lost in their own heads. It’s why ‘I Went To Hell And Back’ is so special. “’ILY, How Are You?’ is really special to me,” Ronnie explains.

“That was one of the moments Patty was really down, and we had these deep lyrics dressed up and decorated in really pretty sonics. All I could think about was this beautiful bright blue sky day, but you’ve got Patty walking around town with a black umbrella, and there’s a storm underneath, and it’s only happening to him.

That’s the only thing I could feel that day.”

‘ILY, How Are You?’ is a lesson we can all learn from.

It’s a song about checking in on your friends checking out.

In the age of doom-scrolling and picture-perfect social media, we could all do with taking a leaf out of the As It Is playbook.

It’s a playbook they ripped up and rewrote during the digital and physical sessions for ‘I Went To Hell And Back’.

They beat themselves black and blue to not only survive but to tell their story and shape their sound in a way that

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meant something to them. And it wasn’t easy.

“I don’t like to celebrate my victories; I like to be really hard on myself; you can compare it to sports – or maybe you can’t, I don’t know anything about sports,” Patty exclaims to roars of laughter from Ronnie.

“Some days you’re in the studio, and when it’s halftime, and you go to the locker room, you walk outside of the studio, and we’re like, ‘we’re losing this one, do we even bring it up? Do we talk about how today feels like a waste of everybody’s time?’ We’re super burned out, we’re here in body, but we’re not here in mind, and we’re going to go back on the field and get fucking crushed some more – is that a good use of our time?”

It’s a good question, does anyone like being beaten to a pulp by imposter syndrome?

Can As It Is call it a comeback, or were they stuck in the mud?

“Sometimes you drive home from the studio having lost the game, and all you need to do is make a better plan for tomorrow. Then you write ‘I Hate Me Too’ and there are just forces at play, and everything is right, and you leave the room, and the adrenaline is sky high, and you celebrate that good feeling for a while. When it’s something tangible like a song, you can just relive that over and over – it’s like watching a playback of your own highlight reel.”

‘I Went To Hell And Back’ is a highlight reel of As It Is 2.0. It never stays in the same lane long enough to be boxed in. Patty, Ronnie and Alistair shift gears quicker than Lewis Hamilton can say “Verstappen”. While some of

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‘The Great Depression’ remains – mid-noughties emo, post-hardcore grit – it’s a technicolour dream coat of genres.

Imagine Waterparks trashed a house party and hung out with De’Wayne listening to post-hardcore, pop-punk and emo before making an album. Throw in some synths and digital drum loops, and you’ve got ‘I Went To Hell And Back’. Rome wasn’t built in a day, though, and the band almost broke their backs turning a 2019 EP into a fulllength album.

“We had some really amazing sessions with some amazing creatives,” explains Ronnie, “but all I can remember is being in the car with Patty, getting in late, waking up early.

We’re both quiet, and we get our coffee, and we just look at each other and collectively, we’re like, ‘something’s wrong’.

We’re not communicating what we need to accomplish because all of this is cool, but it’s not saying what we want to say. It’s not sounding how we want to sound.”

With deadlines putting them under pressure, and imposter syndrome slicing them open, they had to think fast. Throwing themselves into sessions with Mike Pepe (Taking Back Sunday, Bayside), and later Zach Jones (Fever 333, Lil Lotus, We Came As Romans) – “he’s pretty much the fourth member of this band” – they suddenly struck gold with ‘IDGAF.’ “Suddenly we wrote this song, and that’s the moment we said ‘okay, we’re on to something’,” smiles Patty, still pleased with themselves for persevering. “It’s the greatest, loudest representation of what this record represents lyrically and sonically in equal measure. It was something so special; it was this out of body experience where it felt like none of us were driving the vehicle, none of us were writing this song, we were just this vessel for something else happening that singlehandedly shaped the rest of our record.”

If Mike Pepe was the gateway drug, Zach Jones was the Class A addiction.

Although his roots are in metalcore with the band’s

“Some days, it felt like our fucking bodies physically had actual weight on top of us” Ronnie Ish

Fearless Record labelmates My Enemies & I, his work as a producer goes far beyond that.

Acting as an alchemist, he helped Ronnie, Patty and Ali experiment with pop sensibilities and

instrumentation they’d never thought of throwing in their cauldron. And he hopped on a ride in a car they thought was destined to crash, which meant everything to them.

“Jones bought something

so unique to the table, something so fresh. It’s like having a fourth member take on this project like it’s their own, and really live, breathe, eat, shit, sleep, bleed and fucking fight this project with us,” exclaims Ronnie, surprise stirring in his voice still that Zach put so much effort into this album. “He added so much flavour and so much life to this record; it’s crazy.”

One such flavour he helped Ronnie and co. cook up acts as a huge leap into new territory for the band. Whereas previously they penned songs that simmered in the same feelings both musically and lyrically, on ‘I Went To Hell And Back’, they’ve begun juxtaposing blue sky sounds

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“The people who wrote ‘The Great Depression’ are not the people who wrote ‘I Went To Hell And Back’” Patty Walters

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“This is a record to reintroduce ourselves” Patty Walters

with umbrella-grey lyrics.

It’s something the sessions gave them, that Zach helped get out.

“When we were all on Zoom, you really didn’t know what you were going to get from all of us that day. I think the songs that you hear are those unique moments of life when we all come together at the beach with our boards, and we’re like, ‘that’s the wave we’re catching today’, and we all paddle out together and catch that fucking wave.

“It’s like a box of chocolates; you just never knew what the fuck you were going to get with us on any given day.

One day I would be really up, and Patty would be so down, and some days I’d be really down, and Patty would be up, and Zach was that thing in the centre of our core just balancing it.”

If Ronnie’s experiences with riding the songwriting wave fed into their shapeshifting

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sound, the same experiences lent themselves to Patty’s lyrics as he dealt with balancing both an album and his struggles with depression.

“I think the funniest sort of juxtaposition of all is sometimes I was just so inconsolably unwell and introverted, I would remove myself from writing sessions, and the guys would carry on.

We’d be writing two songs at the same time,” explains Patty, unafraid to open up about just how out of touch his struggles took him. But it gave birth to the living, breathing world that ‘I Went To Hell And Back’ is.

“When you’re looking down the barrel of this unsilencable sadness, how do you use that as a vehicle? Do you want to communicate that as this bleak hopelessness? Do you write a ballad, do you make it sad, or do you turn that into fire and aggression and some unrelentingly heavy track? Sometimes it’s just

how the mood speaks to you; sometimes it’s whatever the unanimous vote is.”

No matter what shape the songs took, what stories the lyrics told, or what the world threw at them, ‘I Went To Hell And Back’ is As It Is kicking and screaming their way back.

It’s an album they’re so proud of, partly because they spent more time worrying it wouldn’t see the light of day then actually writing it.

“The truly special moments are ultimately how we were able to actually pull it off. There were so many times we’d be on calls, and we’re like, ‘man, it’s fucking over, it’s done, we’re not doing this, no one’s gonna hear this shit,” sighs Ronnie, sad at the sheer stubbornness their shoulders carried for so long. “Some days, it felt like our fucking bodies physically had actual weight on top of us, but I couldn’t be any more excited because at one point nobody thought it would?”

Of course, as science shows us, what goes up must come down. While they’re sure to reap the rewards for their experiments, they’re wary of the risk of alienating their fanbase. Although they’re not letting that dampen their spirits, ‘The Great Depression’ had its place and so too does ‘I Went To Hell And Back.’

“The people who wrote ‘The Great Depression’ are not the people who wrote ‘I Went To Hell And Back’,” asserts Patty.

“I don’t mean that in terms of line-up, I mean in terms of who we are, and I think the people listening to this record aren’t the same people that listened to ‘The Great Depression’ four years ago.

“This is a record to reintroduce ourselves; it’s reigniting a friendship with long lost friends and family and people that we love. It’s like, we’ve not seen you guys for a long time, you haven’t heard from us, and this is where we’ve been, this is who we are now, and if you don’t vibe with that, then that’s okay. Because we vibed for a while when we were right for each other.”

‘I Went To Hell And Back’ is a departure from ‘The Great Depression’, but it’s also their version of the moon landing. In fourteen songs, Patty, Ronnie and Alistair take one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind. And if you do feel like you fit in on their rocket ship, you’re more than welcome to hitch a ride.

“This is unapologetically, unashamedly where we’ve been, what we went through and who we are on the other side of it. And if this record is for you, then we’ve got all the fucking time in the world for you, because we have a lot to say and a lot of noise to make.”

P As It Is’s album ‘I Went To Hell And Back’ is out 4th February.

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KEEP YOUR HEAD UP. In the two years since Twin Atlantic’s last album, a lot has changed - both for the band and the world around them. New record ‘Transparency’ lays it all out there.

Words: Alexander Bradley.

Photos: Cameron Brisbane.

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T

here is almost exactly two years between Twin Atlantic releasing their experimental electronicrock album ‘Power’ and its follow-up ‘Transparency’, and in that time, pretty much everything has changed. The world around them has altered drastically like it has for us all, but since drummer Craig Kneale chose to leave the band at the end of the summer, Twin Atlantic now face the future as a duo.

The band had already elected to cut short their tour in support of ‘Power’ thanks to singer Sam McTrusty’s keen eye for news, his wife’s insider knowledge of the NHS and their fans’ understandable anxiety to embrace live shows in March 2020. As soon as the dates were cancelled, though, Sam packed up all his gear and some bits of recording gadgetry and almost immediately started work on their sixth album.

From his apartment in Glasgow, in the dead of night, locked away from his newborn daughter and his wife, he connected with producer Jacknife Lee via Zoom to make ‘Transparency’ come to life.

The resulting album has all the fingerprints of ‘Power’ and the progression Twin Atlantic

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made in their sound but with the restrictions of a singer confined to his makeshift studio at 2am unable to really let loose. It makes for an album full of swaggering straight-talking and some stark self-reflection in equal measure, and all-in-all, one of the most accomplished Twin Atlantic records to date.

Sam McTrusty gives the lowdown.

Before we get into ‘Transparency’, let’s briefly talk about ‘Power’. You were mid-tour just two months after the release of that album when the pandemic stopped everything; how was it going up to the point where you suddenly had to stop?

We came home early, and it was honestly a bit of a fucking Godsend. The pressure cooker to the point where we were touring ‘Power’ was so unhealthy. We were loving being on tour, it wasn’t like this miserable experience, but this had already taken so much out of us personally, financially, creatively, stress levels, friendships just in terms of what we had invested into it just jaded us slightly.

But then, now, on the other side of it, I’m like, “that’s fucking awesome that the band I’m in has got that story”, so I’m glad for it. That period explains a lot of the sound of the album that has come after.

Are you annoyed that ‘Power’ never saw its full potential?

I don’t know if I’m in denial and not allowing myself to do that because it was too much of a gut punch that I can’t handle. My hand on heart, honest answer, is… not really.

I don’t know why. I think the achievement with that record was the fact the album was released, and released on a major [label], and we’ve got recording gear now so that we are more independent.

Quite funny: we signed to a major to then end up more independently wired. That was more of an achievement for us than getting to move up another venue in London and play to a bigger audience.

It’s funny; it got quite a mixed response. It was either

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“The pandemic is the longest I’d spent in Glasgow as an adult; I basically turned 18-19 and fucked off on tour”

Sam McTrusty

people didn’t get it and where like, “where’s ‘Heart & Soul’ guys??” or people were really turned on by it and understood the craft of everything that had gone into it. So, yeah, I’m honestly not pissed off or disappointed at all.

So then, almost exactly two years between the albums, are the effects of the pandemic evident in this new one?

The cold plunge shock of a pandemic refocused me to write about something different. As the band got bigger and bigger with every record, I probably took on some sort of grandiose thing where I thought I could take on bigger and more universal subjects, but I always had this thread of emotional scar tissue that I was trying to self heal with whether it was with metaphor or hidden in a story I made up about someone else whereas this record is really on the nose. It’s like I just switched off; maybe I’m healed.

To challenge your breakthrough, do you think maybe it was also easier to write about our collective “scar tissue” of the last few years?

You know, I was definitely aware of that too. That’s why the record is 50% really Scottish and depressed and slow and foreboding with ominous chord progressions, and the other half is forced fun. It’s almost like, “oh no, everything’s cool, we’ll go on Zoom and have a quiz,” when everyone was like, “Oh My

God, I don’t want to go outside because I’ll die”.

So how did this album come together, because it seems like it was pulled from a few different places?

Well, there were songs on this record that were supposed to be on ‘Power’. One song in particular, ‘Dirty’, that was the lead single at one point and was until, honestly, the 11th hour when the new label was like, “we’ll hold this back, and we want to do a sister album where the whole thing goes together, and it’s like 16 tracks”.

And, basically, we had already started that Part 2 thing in our old studio and there were four or five songs that we had done to a finished production level, but through that experience, we were going into the studio and looking at our phones and setting up TVs to watch the football and caring more about other things.

It just wasn’t really working.

We were getting from A to Z and were finishing, but we like just going to work and not really caring about it.

Didn’t realise it at the time, but a couple of weeks into the pandemic, we were like, “What the fuck were we doing? What even type of album was that?

Do we even like that stuff?”

I was suppose to be going to LA to write with Jacknife Lee because the people at the major were looking at stats and analytics and were like, “these are your most successful songs: how did you do it? How did you make these songs?” Told them the process, and they said, “well, have you ever done

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it since?” And we were like, “Nah, we don’t really do that; if something works, then cool, that was that song’s process, and we will try something else.” But they were like, “you’re fucking morons, you’re going to do that again!”

It would seem like, “oh I just wanted to make an album at home because lockdown,” but we were so fucked financially because ‘Power’ drained everything, and we didn’t get a chance to make that back by trying to tour the album properly. It was my life’s savings I’d put in as well as the band’s. I was so fucked.

And then one song with Jacknife led to the whole record because the longer lockdown went on, the more things that got moved around and cancelled at his end, the more he and I became each other’s lockdown experience every day.

Do you still see ‘Transparency’ as the sister album you were supposed to make in terms of its relationship to ‘Power’?

I didn’t, and I haven’t this whole time, but as I’m starting to talk about it, it does make a lot of sense. Like why did I think, “oh we’ll take three years and invest all our personal savings”, and then just do another one without trying? It’s funny and ironic that the sister album to ‘Power’ was even harder; there is a nice synergy there.

The two albums are laughing at me. The two are walking hand-in-hand into the sunset laughing at me, but that was never the intent, never the idea to do it that way.

Having to record from home without the ability to let loose as much, there was a lot more of your speaking voice on the album; how did you find using that?

There has always been a bit of a disconnect with my voice in that the origin of my love for guitar music was in screaming over noisecore, so I developed these weird muscles where I can sing dead, dead high. I’m not like Barry White, but my speaking voice is quite low, and it always surprises people.

Where you nervous about

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“It’s so difficult being Scottish right now. Obviously, we’re not happy” Sam McTrusty putting yourself out there like that?

I was really apprehensive at first and really uncomfortable, but that’s the sweet spot.

That’s where you want to be. That’s where I was making our first record and our second one which sold a bunch of copies; I was so uncomfortable and nervous.

I dunno. I almost felt more Glaswegian as well. The pandemic is the longest I’d spent in Glasgow as an adult.

I basically turned 18-19 and fucked off on tour. So I’d fallen out of watching the Scottish football teams, thinking about going to that local chippy I’d always go to growing up, and all those habitual things had been ironed out of me. But because I was in Glasgow every day, clapping out the window for the NHS and feeling a sense of local pride, just walking around the parks and staying in a flat that was like half a mile away from where I grew up. I don’t know whether I just started thinking that way again.

Yeah, it does feel like the soundtrack and voiceover to a Danny Boyle film, especially in the songs you’ve released ahead of the album.

That is such a huge compliment, thank you! But it was also really, really on purpose that we released the feel good songs first because I want the die-hard Twin Atlantics to have a game of two halves, to keep the football analogy going.

I wanted to put one side of the album out, and then people listen to the album and experience something totally different.

I’m almost using the release pattern as a creative tool as well. It’s been quite a depressing two years, so

I thought, let’s not put a depressing song out as a single.

Alongside the singles you’ve put out, it looks like you’ve had a lot of fun making the videos too.

The funny thing about the videos is, that is me. Which makes me cringe because I am insufferable fucking show off.

It was really dead easy to make them because, acting, doing accents, trying to make people laugh - I honestly do not take a day off. It annoys me. I’m Chandler Bing, where I can’t not make a joke. So it was really easy and, in particular, the ‘Get Famous’ music video that I just shot on my phone was even easier because I was just pretending to be something I find really funny. Probably uneasy to watch at times because it goes against what we’ve done as a band up until this point but, again, I quite like that.

Yeah, ‘Get Famous’, is that an actual annoyance or a morbid fascination with influencers?

It’s more a fascination with everyone taking part in it.

Guaranteed you’ve taken a selfie at a landmark or a wee video for your Instagram story when you’re at something dead fucking cool. I’ve done it. Everyone’s done it. But when you see someone else doing it, you want to die. And you do die inside. It’s such a basic observation, but it’s so complex with layers of insecurity and desperation for fame. I feel so sorry for people when I see people do it, but then I do it.

I think it’s quite an interesting fucked up thing that’s going on right now, so I wrote a song about it. Then I thought it was a bit of an open goal for me to then experiment with that

concept for a video. I bought a ring light for it, and as soon I had the ring light, I thought, “fuck, that does look better”, and I had fallen into the trap!

We do all subscribe to it, but it doesn’t particularly hurt anyone either. As someone who talks openly about the ineptitude of the government and the games within the music industry, you could write about those things that do actual harm, too; was that something you considered?

Yeah, over the years, because of the stagnation of rock music, there was almost a crassness to get political now because I’ve come of age. There is something dead egotistical about “I’m going fucking to tell you what to do or what I think”. And I have written about that stuff, but it’s buried in metaphor. The month there was a referendum for my country, we released an album called “Great Divide’.

It’s always there, but it’s hidden in plain sight, and I’ve maybe been too clever about it but too discrete.

It’s so difficult being Scottish right now. Obviously, we’re not happy.

Yeah, at the same time, it would be a very different album if you had used it to voice more of that frustration too.

To give you some satisfaction, the album is titled after the content of the record, but I also love having a double meaning on titles like ‘Great Divide’, and I’ve done the same with this on ‘Transparency’.

It’s the biggest buzzword on the planet right because people are craving the truth.

So that’s my little spin on that, but I’ve done it in quite an acute way.

This year marks 10 years of ‘Free’, and next year, there are some anniversary tour dates planned. Do you use that album and anniversary as a benchmark against releasing a new album now?

To be honest, I never really think about it. But then, I’ve got a plaque for it in the room with me here, so maybe I do think about it.

You know why I never think

about it? It’s because Craig, our drummer, he was that guy. He was the nostalgic guy, my role in this band has always been like, “okay, next”.

I could write a song today and record a song maybe this week that would have shock value, swagger, recording techniques that would make it stand out on the radio or a playlist, but one of the hardest things is what we would do a year from now? It’s really really, really fucking hard, so I’ve never been one for looking back, but it’s been my job, and other people’s livelihoods have relied on me as I’m the creative driving force, I guess, and I’ve been obsessed with it, so I’ve not a had a chance to think about it.

But doing this tour is probably a really good thing for me. You never know, we will do this tour, and then I will be like, “let’s do an old fashioned rock record”. I can already feel that bubbling up inside me.

Is there any part of making the album that sticks with you?

My favourite memory of that whole experience, one that really stands out that and would be in the trailer for the movie, would be being in the studio and turning to Gil Norton and Dan Austin, and I was saying to them, “See when you recorded ‘The Colour and the Shape’ or working with The Pixies, did you know at the time, “we’re doing it, this is a special something happening here?”

I don’t know if I was willing them to be like “yeah” but even they, in the moment, were like “this feels different”.

That’s the main memory, because whenever I’m in the studio now, and I start to feel that magic “special sauce” start to happen - and it can only last three or four seconds that feeling - I instantly go back to being that 20-yearold in the studio; that was the first time I had felt that feeling. It was honestly like taking heroin, and then we are chasing that high. But I revisit that moment a lot in my mind when I get that feeling again about a song. P Twin Atlantic’s album ‘Transparency’ is out now.

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Deep into their second decade and still pushing the boundaries, Rolo Tomassi are the rarest of bands. Rejecting the temptation to sit back and grow predictable and boring, ‘Where Myth Becomes Memory’ sees one of the UK’s greatest talents at the top of their game.

Words: Linsey Teggert.

Photos: Andy Ford.

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T

o be going strong as a band after 17 years is an impressive feat; to also be releasing the most ambitious record of your career after all that time even more so. Yet, Rolo Tomassi have always seemed like a rarity, pushing boundaries and following their own path. Which is, perhaps, why, six albums in, they can still produce a body of work as

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staggering as ‘Where Myth Becomes Memory’.

“On the whole, it’s a more confident sounding record because we know what we want now,” explains keyboardist and vocalist James Spence. “We’re a lot more confident in getting rid of ideas that aren’t working because, after everything we’ve gone through to get to this point, we need to keep raising the bar for ourselves

to keep this worth doing. If the record we’re releasing isn’t better than the previous one, why would you carry on? There’s got to be a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction in the music we’re writing.”

Though Rolo Tomassi have been seen as an important fixture of the UK alternative music scene for a long time, known for their chaotic, almost impossible

to categorise sound and their incendiary live shows, it was the release of 2018’s monolithic ‘Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It’ that truly marked a shift for the quintet.

Their most expansive work to date built further upon what predecessor ‘Grievances’ had done in ditching the more oddball quirks of their sound for huge cinematic soundscapes without compromising the moments

of crushing sonics and frenzied experimentation.

It became their most critically acclaimed album to date, achieving near-perfect reviews and landing them the second-highest review score of 2018 on Metacritic (92/100, if you’re wondering).

Rather than feeling daunted about the prospect of following that up, the success of ‘Time Will Die’ instilled in the band a sense of self-

confidence that they could now try bigger and bolder things on their next record.

“The response to ‘Time Will Die’ justified certain decisions we’d made towards songwriting and how we approach writing an album,” says James. “It felt like people got more on board with what we were doing, and that renews your enthusiasm for what you do. I suppose that’s one of the things that’s

kept us together for 17 years, seeing people getting excited and having that lift you up to where, even at the end of a record cycle like that, we still felt we had more to do and more to offer.”

For vocalist Eva Korman, ‘Grievances’ and ‘Time Will Die’ represented the band truly finding their stride with writing, and thus ‘Where Myth Becomes Memory’ became the final part of an

unintended trilogy. “Those records felt like a departure from what we had released before, so we approached this one from the beginning as a closing statement to this collection of music. It was just before we had started writing this one that we decided that it made sense to close off those records as a trilogy.”

As the principal lyricist, Eva was best placed to

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identify the thematical links between each record, which cycle through darkness to light and promise; much like the band’s sound, which carefully balances shadow and brutality with moments of glittering hope and beauty within the space of one song.

“Lyrically, ‘Grievances’ was a reflective and dark record which transitioned into ‘Time Will Die’ with themes of letting go, coping and forgiving,” Eva explains.

“For ‘Where Myth Becomes Memory’, I didn’t want to look back; I wanted to focus my energy on exploring where I was instead. The themes for this record are renewal, rebirth and new beginnings.”

This sense of not wanting to look back was perhaps driven by the emotional toll the writing of ‘Time Will Die’s’ lyrics had on Eva, something she describes as “an exhausting process”.

“I wanted to make sure that going into this one, I didn’t get too sucked into what I was writing about. I think partly that was what pushed me to change my perspective from reflective to explorative.”

Ready to move forward, Rolo Tomassi set to work on this final part of the trilogy. They already had one challenge to overcome in that Eva had moved to the US, but, undeterred, they powered ahead - they were already used to writing music separately and sharing ideas back and forth, plus the plan was that Eva would be able to fly back and they’d get together in the studio.

“It’s been a really long time since we’ve all lived in the same place as we’ve been split across a minimum of three cities for the last 10 years, so we’ve always had to write over email to a certain extent,” says James.

“I suppose we kind of bulletproofed ourselves ahead of a singer moving to the US and a pandemic!”

“We’re not the kind of band that gets together in a practice room all five of us

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to work on a song together; I wouldn’t want to hear that song,” adds guitarist Chris Cayford. “The nuts and bolts of how we write have always been the same; as much as it sounds like your singer moving to the other side of the world would be a huge blocker, weirdly, it hasn’t changed too much. The main difference has been recording: usually, that’s where all these separate

“It’s a more confident sounding record because we know what we want now” James Spence

pieces will connect.”

Unable to work on that connection together in the studio due to global circumstances scuppering plans, Eva was forced to record her vocals remotely at Brady Street Recordings in New Jersey. Yet rather than hinder their process, the band found a fluid way to work that used these conditions to their advantage.

While James, Chris, bassist Nathan Fairweather, and drummer Al Potts recorded together at The Ranch in Southampton, via the magic of technology, their producer Lewis Johns listened to Eva’s sessions over 3000 miles away and spoke to the sound engineer in New Jersey. Tackling the time difference, Eva would record her takes, share them with the rest of the band, who

would provide feedback, and then the next day, when they returned to the studio, the new takes would be ready to listen to.

Describing the experience as “the most prepared I’d ever been before going to record,” the luxury of time meant Eva was able to record her vocals without pressure, important for preservation given the range of her astonishing vocals,

which range from guttural howl to angelic harmonies.

Meanwhile, the boys were able to experiment and add extra details. “We were able to play with additional electronics and layers and weird stuff: at one point, we were playing around with the strings on a piano, hitting them with a wrench,” recalls James.

Despite the extra time to play around in the studio, the band were determined not to overcomplicate things too much. Known for the complex, multi-layered nature of their sound, there’s always the temptation to add in a few too many flourishes, but ultimately that’s not what Rolo Tomassi are about.

“We’re not virtuoso musicians; there are no guitar solos coming anytime soon,” laughs Chris. “It can be complicated, but it can’t just be complex for the sake of being complex; it needs to work as part of the song, we don’t want to punish the listener!”

“Chris gave a really good analogy once in an interview years ago that’s always stuck with me,” James recollects through laughter.

“It’s the Gok Wan approach to songwriting. If you feel like there’s too much going on, you’ve probably added one too many accessories always take off the last thing you’ve put on.”

“Seriously though, I’m very against things being showy just for the sake of it; it’s just posturing. The main strength of what we do is in the arrangement, and that’s something we all do together and feel very comfortable with and understand each other. I suppose that factors into the strength of our unit and how we’ve been together for so long. There’s heart and soul and meaning to what we’re doing, and anything technical is there because it’s absolutely the right musical choice.” P Rolo Tomassi’s album ‘Where Myth Becomes Memory’ is out 4th February.

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Rated.

THE OFFICIAL VERDICT ON EVERYTHING

Anxious

To Hell And Back’ feels important, both for the band and everyone else. The future might be uncertain, but As It Is have provided a spark. Stephen Ackroyd

Little Green House

eeeee Connecticut-based Anxious’ debut album might be released into a period where their chosen name seems all too apt, but ‘Little Green House’ is the kind of record to inspire hope that good things still happen, no matter what the world throws at us. Exploring everything from change to divorce and the old dependable coming-of-age angst, it’s a record that demands attention and holds it tight. Emotionally open but affirming, The likes of ‘In April’ already feel like heart-swelling anthems gagging to be bellowed back from the front rows.

An album that does the good things better, ‘Little Green House’ is a debut that deserves best in class status. Stephen Ackroyd

As It Is

I Went to Hell and Back

Billy Talent Crisis of Faith

ee It’s hard to know where to start with this album, but the best answer for all the questions it raises is that it was all written and produced by guitarist Ian D’Sa and no one stopped him. It’s hilarious how wild some of the lyrics are. Half-baked clichés and weird imagery like “Well I see you walking down a dead end street / like a black cat following a limousine” and the entirety of the closing ballad ‘For You’ are just nonsense.

Then there is the sax solo shoehorned into the opening track’s sequel (yes, sequel) and a whole song about prejudice that lacks any selfawareness at all. In fact, the best moment of the album is the collaboration with Rivers Cuomo that actually sounds more like Weezer than it does Billy Talent. Crisis of Faith? Disaster. Alexander Bradley

eeee

Rolo Tomassi Where Myth Becomes Memory

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It may be early, but you’ll likely struggle to find a better metal album this year. Tasked with following up the monolithic sound of their last full-length, Rolo Tomassi have raised the bar yet again on ‘Where Myth Becomes Memory’.

The paths chartered in ‘Grievances’ and then in ‘Time Will Die…’ converge and their bruising hardcore stylings are pitted against delicately conjured, sprawling, soundscapes and they find a way to work together. The core of the album of ‘Labyrinthine’, ‘Closer’ and ‘Drip’ perfectly shows off that a combo of heavyweight blows and intricate cuts can be just as devastating when dealt out together.

It’s a stunning record that cements Rolo Tomassi as one of best British bands around. Alexander Bradley

It’s easy to see why As It Is might have had more than one reason to question what comes next over the two years it took to create their latest album ‘I Went To Hell And Back’. From a global pandemic to internal upheaval, their first album as a newly minted threepiece is one of defiance in the face of all odds. In an unstable world, it’s a record that’s raw, honest, but also determined and stronger than ever. A collection of songs that understand we’re living in difficult, confusing times, they take in loss, grief, isolation and depression and spit them back out. Turning the negative into something positive, underneath the hard stuff there’s still the hint of optimism too. Happy music never helped anyone in an unhappy place - but the catharsis of ‘I Went

Korn

Requiem

eee Now on their fourteenth offering, Korn are continuing to secure their flag in the ground. Following up 2019’s more delicate ‘The Nothing’, ‘Requiem’ is the Cali numetal OGs reminding us just how and why they got to be the godfathers of that murky swamp we all know and love. Still within the deep recesses of recovery and processing just how shitty the world can be, no one does it with quite as much full-force twisted mania. The blows come fast and heavy with the quick one-two of ‘Forgotten’ and

‘Let The Darkness Do The Rest’ as the band settles into their heaviest outing in a hot minute. At times ‘Requiem’ can feel like the band crawling back to their heady nineties days, but with the screams feeling born out of the present, this stops any real notion of retroactivity.

Constantly charging their craft to its lightning-striking best, the epic howls and growls we all know and love are older and wiser, but no less cathartic or powerful.

Steven Loftin

Modern Error Victim of a Modern Age

Silverbacks run with what they’ve learned. With Daniel Fox of Gilla Band (FKA Girl Band) on production once again, it sees the band take new strides. From ambient interludes to slick melodic hooks, the album is packed full of emotion, with stunningly smart composition remaining at the forefront. Using their three-strong guitar line-up to their advantage, they pack a fierce punch. Sometimes contemplative and romantic sounding, sometimes chaotic and headband worthy, ‘Archive Material’ takes you on a journey exploring genre and mood with all the style and intensity you’d expect. As thoughtful as it is eclectic, ‘Archive Material’ is yet another winner under Silverbacks’ belt. Melissa Darragh

eeee ‘Victim Of A Modern Age’ is an ambitious, immersive experience. This is made all the more impressive by the fact that it is not only self-produced, but the band’s debut. Twin brothers Zak (vocals) and Kel Pinchin (guitar) experiment with a mix of genres while channelling post-punk Influences. Electronic drums perfectly partner with guitars, and synthesisers easily support the intensity of the vocals, making for some massive tracks. The explosive ‘It’s Just A Feeling’ is the heaviest hitter of this 14 strong cinematic tracklist.

There is both a noticeable symmetry and progression on display here. ‘Victim Of A Modern Age’ is a story told in two parts; a record made to be listened to in one sitting. A spectacular debut from Modern Error. Kelsey McClure

Silverbacks Archive Material

eeee Back and better than ever, Irish rockers Silverbacks return with their striking second album, ‘Archive Material’. From finding their feet with debut ‘Fad’, ‘Archive Material’ sees

Softcult

Year of the Snake EP

eeee Canadian duo Softcult are wasting no time. Since the release of last year’s ‘Year of the Rat’, their world has been building through the use of zines and community, and they continue the musical side with ‘Year of the Snake’.

Still embracing those dark, feather-light pop jams with a gnarled twist, they’re not slowing down for their second outing. Kicking off with the raging ‘BWBB’, it’s these moments that tear through the hazy mist that offer the most promise and give a bite to the tracks that bark. Also finally housing their now infamous track ‘Uzumaki’ (after its tearing apart last year thanks to its similarity to Loathe’s ‘Two Way Mirror’), the time to reflect and reimagine has given a new lease to a cut that was already a lush hearton-sleeve joy and also gives new meaning to the anxietyridden track while the closing white noises see this new year out. Softcult so far have consistently delivered a promising hazy, alt noise to get lost in, while knowingly giving voice to issues that matter, they’re a band with the style and substance to boot. Steven Loftin

Thyla Thyla

eee Following a slow-burn of singles and EPs, Brightonbased alt-rock trio Thyla have burst into glorious flames with their selftitled debut album, an impassioned showcase of the band’s ability to meld unabashed vulnerability and driving rock energy for an excellently balanced blend.

Taking a deep plunge into the human condition, Thyla leave no stone unturned to bring us a taste of our own neurosis that’s unavoidably relatable. Marching into action on ‘Amber Waits’ with the churning percussion and fuzzed-out bass of a war machine, there’s the instant recognition that Thyla are not here to play in half measures. There’s a golden ratio of two parts rock for every part pop that infuses the gritty musicianship of Dan Hole and Danny Southwell with the saccharine vocals of Millie Duthie. “I’m outta my mind, and it’s all so helpless,” she sings on ‘Flush’, encapsulating the bravery required to admit you’re scared. Although they might not have re-written the book on alternative rock records, Thyla have presented a surefire recipe for music that hits home. Connor Fenton

Twin Atlantic Transparency

expectations with near glee.

Packed with personality, it’s anything but generic.

Streams of consciousness, honest emotions and frustration with the world around us - Twin Atlantic’s latest effort may not be the one we thought we wanted, but in doing something different, it might be exactly the one we need. Dan Harrison

Underoath Voyeurist

eeee Old dogs with new tricks and the bit between their teeth is the message that rings loud and clear from Underoath on ‘Voyeurist’. Thanks to their complete control on production, this record pushes and pulls the bands sound in every direction.

Swinging from the euphoric release of ‘Hallelujah’ to the claustrophobic ‘I’m Pretty Sure I’m Out of Luck…’ then back again with the full-blooded, Ghostmanefeaturing ‘Cycle’, it draws a picture of a band completely reinvigorated and continuing to push themselves forward.

Alexander Bradley

eee At first listen, ‘Transparency’ may prove something as a shock. A record created as frontman Sam McTrusty isolated during the pandemic, recorded remotely with producer Jacknife Lee, it’s unlike anything the band have done before. At times introspective and raw (opener ‘Keep Your Head Up’), at others playful in the extreme (‘One Man Party’), it’s an album that defies

- the new album from Venom Prison. ‘Erebos’ is a record with real muscle. Named after the personification of darkness in Greek mythology, it’s an album that pummels in all the right places, but isn’t afraid to try new ideas either. Bigger and with added depth, every song has its place - an ability to stand tall on its own two feet - but each pulls together as a whole too. Never relenting, always going for the throat - there’s creativity in the chaos. A bracing, brilliant wake-up call to the future. Dan Harrison

Venom Prison Erebos

eeee When everything is turned to the top of the dial, it can be hard to identify quite what progress really is. With that in mind, here’s exhibit A

Yard Act

The Overload

eeeee On paper, Yard Act would probably sound a bit rubbish. A clattering, postpunk indie rattle - part band, part performance art - often performed through the prism of characters who feel in some way objectionable; it’s certainly not cookiecutter stuff. On record, though, it’s fucking fantastic.

Acerbic, immediate, playful and sharp, ‘The Overload’ is whip-smart but never pretentious with it. On the strength of their earliest soundings, one could be forgiven for worrying they had one trick that would run cold across a full-length, but again, that’s painfully wide of the mark in practice. A collection of vignettes - a running narrative of oneliners and challenging ideas - it’s an album of depth and consideration. Yard Act might not be like the other bands, but that only makes them all the more essential.

Stephen Ackroyd

Upset 53

EVERYONE HAS THOSE FORMATIVE BANDS AND TRACKS THAT FIRST GOT THEM INTO MUSIC AND HELPED SHAPE THEIR VERY BEING. THIS MONTH, CASSYETTE TAKES US THROUGH SOME OF THE SONGS THAT MEANT THE MOST TO HER DURING HER TEENAGE YEARS.

SANTANA

Smooth This was my favourite song as a baby; my dad had a tape of it in his car, and I used to make him play it over and over again.

If I ever listen to it reminds me of being in my car seat on a road trip in the summer.

ALLANAH MILES

Black Velvet This is one of my all-time favourite songs; I just love it.

MOTLEY CRUE

Kickstart My Heart When I was little, this would always be on in my house. Me and my little sisters would pretend we had a bike and zoom around the room.

EVANESCENCE

My Immortal This reminds me of when I was in that awkward in-between kid and teenager phase, and I was overly emotional about nothing that warranted that level of reaction. Picture this turned up full blast while hysterically screaming into my pillow. Ah, I’m cringing at myself.

P!NK

Who Knew This was definitely the most played song in the iPod days.

PARAMORE

Brick By Boring Brick Reminds me of getting ready to go out drinking on the fields with my friends.

DEADMAU5

Raise Your Weapon This reminds me of college and trying drugs for the first time, lol.

EARTH, WIND & FIRE

September That was my dad’s favourite song and his funeral song. I can’t listen to it yet. P Cassyette’s single ‘Behind Closed Doors’ is out now.

54 Upset

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