NEW ALBUM
CUT & STITCH 24.05.2019 AVAILABLE ON LIMITED 12" VINYL, CD & DIGITAL ON TOUR THIS SPRING / SUMMER PETROLGIRLS.COM
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NEW ALBUM
NEST OUT NOW AVAILABLE ON LIMITED 12" VINYL, CD & DIGITAL ON TOUR THIS SPRING / SUMMER WEAREBRUTUS.COM
JUNE 2019 Issue 44
HELLO. We’ve probably got a bit giddy this month, if we’re honest. Blame it on sunstroke, if you like, but as it gets warmer, brighter and generally less hostile outside our window, we get increasingly more excited about what’s to come over the next few months. That’s why we’ve - for the first time ever - got four different covers for this month’s magazine, featuring some of the biggest and best bands delivering four of the brightest, most hair-raising records to soundtrack your summer. Dinosaur Pile-Up, Employed To Serve, Frank Iero and the Future Violents and Yonaka are wildly different bands with one thing in common - we really love what they’re doing right now. We think you will, too.
S tephen
Editor / @stephenackroyd
Upset Editor Stephen Ackroyd Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden Associate Editor Ali Shutler Scribblers Chris Taylor, Dillon Eastoe, Jack Press, Jake Hawkes, Jamie MacMillan, Jasleen Dhindsa, Jessica Goodman, Rob Mair, Sam Taylor, Steven Loftin Snappers Ebru Yildiz, Frances Beach, Patrick Gunning, 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.
RIOT 4 CHARLY BLISS 8 LIVE AT LEEDS 12 THE GET UP KIDS 16 PANIC! AT THE DISCO 18 PETROL GIRLS 22 CASE STUDY 23 PUP FEATURES 24 YONAKA 32 EAT YOUR HEART OUT 34 WEATHERSTATE 36 DREAM STATE 38 FRANK IERO 44 EMPLOYED TO SERVE 50 MALLORY KNOX 52 ALL TIME LOW 56 DINOSAUR PILE-UP 64 IDKHOW REVIEWS 66 EMPLOYED TO SERVE TEENAGE KICKS 70 JAMIE LENMAN
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LEEDS LEEDS LEEDS Festivals 2019
Annual buzz-fest Live At Leeds is known for its top bills featuring both hyped up newcomers, and cult faves. Here are some of the best acts we saw at this year’s all-dayer. Words: Ali Shutler, Chris Taylor Photos: Frances Beach, Sarah Louise Bennett
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JAMIE LENMAN
A
fter his tentative return to music in 2013, Jamie Lenman really found his feet again with the release of 2017’s ‘Devolver’. Since then, he’s fully embraced the silly, weird and wonderful. Later this year he’s releasing a covers album, tackling everyone from The Beatles to the theme tune from Popeye, and that spirit of keeping things exciting and making sure it’s always fun is at the very centre of tonight’s headline set at The Key Club.
The ferocious one-two of ‘Hell In A Fast Car’ and ‘Waterloo Teeth’ start things off, all thrashing limbs, reckless abandon and gleeful escape. “Are you having a fun time?” Jamie asks, ever the chaotic but caring ringleader. “It’s only going to get funner,” he promises. There’s a cover of Nirvana’s ‘On A Plain’ alongside choice cuts from his solo work and Reuben classics. “Imagine writing ‘when I was younger’ at the age of sixteen. What a fucking prick,” he continues with a glint in his eye before the raging thump of ‘No One Wins The War’. But he doesn’t waste time looking backwards. Why would he, when’s there’s so much fun to be had in the now. Never nostalgic, everything about his set tonight comes with jubilance and carnage in abundance. And if that’s not the perfect way to close a festival…
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Cover story.
As their much-anticipated debut album finally arrives, Yonaka are ready to fly high. Words: Jamie MacMillan Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett
S
inging “I just wanna be a rock star baby” on ‘Caught Dreaming’, Theresa Jarvis is drawn to the same fantasy world that many dream of, one that only a lucky few ever get to enjoy for real. For her and her band Yonaka however, it’s one that’s about to become a reality. Upset 25
“I
don’t feel like the same person as before,” admits Frank Iero.
First, there was the period of steady growth and spotlight acceptance that came alongside his debut solo album, ‘Stomachaches’. A record made in basements for no one but himself, it quickly became so much more. Touring the world and sharing those fears with an audience who were just as afraid, he slowly became comfortable as a leader. Next came the soul-searching, blood-letting, visceral exploration of ‘Parachutes’. An album of loss, despair and salvation, recording it was the hardest thing Frank had ever done, but that struggle created majesty. However, before it was released, Frank, his brother-in-law and bandmate Evan Nestor, and their manager Paul Clegg were involved in a traffic accident that very nearly killed them. They survived, but things were changed forever. “The cycle for ‘Parachutes’ was so stunted,”
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Cover story.
Frank Iero has been through the ringer. Following a bus accident in 2016, he’s focussed on moving on. Words: Ali Shutler Upset 39
H
eavy metal is a genre stuck between a rock and a hard place in the evolutionary process. Legacy acts remain as poster boys years on from their golden days as fans stare at change with a face of fear while newer, experimental bands languish in potential purgatory. As heavy metal reaches its breaking point, Woking’s Employed To Serve look to lead the charge in metal’s next evolution.
“Look at Metallica, they’re dads; they’re pushing almost sixty! They’re going to have to retire at some point, and we have to come to terms with that.” Frontwoman Justine Jones preaches the words no metal fan wishes to hear, but for the genre to continue to evolve, it must accept it and rediscover the passion that brought those old bands to new heights once more. “Who wants metal to die? No one does – it’s so special, it’s such a unifying genre of music because it’s like supporting the underdog football team, it’s the fifth division team that does well. People have so much passion for it; I think people are cottoning on to the fact that they need to champion these young bands to go through the ranks and replace the legacy acts.” It’s more than just holding on to the past glories of a genre that fuels the fire in Employed To Serve’s bellies; the maintenance
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of the authenticity that metal has built itself on for decades plays a part. “I feel like if artists continue to do it past their sell-by date, in terms of if they’re not enjoying it or fulfilling themselves anymore, people see through that,” she explains. “They know when it’s not your 100% album; they know you’re not feeling it because they’re not stupid. They have a lot of context and other artists that they listen to. “I’m not bringing age into it, because there are plenty of older artists who are bringing out amazing music, but there are a lot who aren’t as young and as angry as they were, and people see it when it becomes like more of a career, more of an agenda than pure passion.” Passion and evolution are two of Employed To Serve’s key ingredients. Throw in some technical death metal and alt-metal vibes a la Gojira, Meshuggah and Deftones, and you’ve got one of Britain’s heaviest bands in years, and on their third album ‘Eternal Forward Motion’, they’re using the natural process of evolution as a person to evolve as a band. “As people we’re still finding our way in life,” reflects Justine. “I’m at this age where you believe you’re not finished growing up until your midthirties; I’m in a constant internal struggle with who I want to be, and it reflects in how we want to be as a band. We’ve been finding our sound.”
Cover story.
One of metal’s brightest lights, Employed To Serve are leaders of the new class. Words: Jack Press, Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett Upset 45
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They’re headlining Slam Dunk before heading away to work on something new. We caught up with All Time Low’s Alex Gaskarth to get the low-down. Words: Ali Shutler Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett
A
ll Time Low are planning on having a pretty quiet year as they regroup following the release of latest album ‘Last Young Renegade’: but they’re not disappearing completely. The Baltimore band are coming out of the woodwork for a bill-topping set at Slam Dunk (25th-26th May), and, according to frontman Alex Gaskarth, they can’t wait. Hey Alex. Last year was super busy for All Time Low, right?
The last two years have been pretty crazy and pretty fun. We’ve been slammed. The ‘Last Young Renegade’ cycle was a good one. We went pretty deep. We circled the world twice. It was good to get it all in.
What’s 2019 got in store for you?
We don’t have a whole lot of plans. Obviously, we’re coming over for Slam Dunk, but that’s the only thing we’ve got on the calendar right now which is definitely weird for us.
Is that break to work on new music?
The starting point is just to step away. There’s always new music in mind. We’re always asking ‘What’s the next thing going to be?’, but as of right now, there’s nothing official. We just want to take a step back, reflect, look at what we’ve
accomplished and basically take stock in what we’ve got and figure out where we go from here. ‘What’s the logical next step for All Time Low?’ To do that, we need to step away from it.
So you never feel like you have to take a break because it’s getting too much?
Honestly, no. We had a really rad record cycle, and we’re gluttons for punishment. We love being on the road. I hear all kinds of stories from other bands about how they get tired or burnt out, but we love being out there. We love playing shows, whether they’re massive shows or club shows or festivals. We just like getting in front of people. It never felt like it was taking a toll. It is super nice to get home and have a minute to yourself, but we’ve never felt like we need to call time on it. It’s more a well-earned break, at this point.
So, Slam Dunk.
It’s going to be a blast. Last time we did it was 2013. It’s exciting to come back and do it again, especially headlining. There’s such a good lineup, and it’s a really cool, straight-up punk rock show, which I think is the best thing. We do lots of festivals, and they run the gambit from being very eclectic to this one, being much more in the wheelhouse of the world we came up in. That’ll be a really fun way to come back to the UK. Last time we were there, we were headlining arenas,
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Dinosaur Pile-Up are back with what’s set to be one of the albums of the summer. Words: Jake Hawkes Photos: Patrick Gunning
I
t’s been a long old road for Dinosaur Pile-Up. Twelve years long, to be exact. In that time they’ve been through line-up changes, released three studio albums and toured America in the back of an RV for far longer than three grown men should spend living in what is essentially a big campervan. “We did about 140,000 miles in it in the end!” laughs lead singer and guitarist Matt Bigland.
After the release of last album ‘Eleven Eleven’ in 2015, the band toured almost non-stop, taking in “the US, Japan, India,
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Cover story.
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