Upset, March 2022

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74

Gre gor Barnett

Weathers tate

Fathers on

Zeal & Ardor

NOBRO

Graphic Nature

upsetmagazine.com

** Plus **

Bambara

+ loads more

Deaf Havana Vein.fm Iann Dior

Static Dress.

The UK rock scene’s most exciting new band are ready to explode,

but what is ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’, and why did it nearly pull them apart at the seams?

tickets & info:

slamdunkfestival.com

N O R T H : F R I D AY 3 R D J U N E - L E e D S T E M P L E N E W S A M S O U T H : S AT U R D AY 4 T H J U N E - H AT F I E L D H O U S E

MARCH 2022 Issue 74

RIOT 4. DEAF HAVANA 10. GREGOR BARNETT 14. BAMBARA 16. WEATHERSTATE 20. BAD OMENS ABOUT TO BREAK 22. NOBRO 25. BEAUTY SCHOOL 26. GRAPHIC NATURE FEATURES 28. STATIC DRESS 36. ZEAL & ARDOR 40. FATHERSON 44. IANN DIOR 48. VEIN.FM 54. MOM JEANS

Upset Editor Stephen Ackroyd Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden Associate Editor Ali Shutler Scribblers Dan Harrison, Dillon Eastoe, Finlay Holden, Jack Press, Jamie MacMillan, Josh Williams, Kelsey McClure, Linsey Teggert, Rob Mair, Sam Taylor, Steven Loftin Snappers Cameron Brisbane, Camille Gladu Brouin, David Anderson, JD, Jon Stone, Olli Appleyard, Oswaldo Cepeda, Pooneh Ghana, Reid Haithcock, Tom May, Xav Barksy, xvisua 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. There’s nothing more exciting than potential.

No matter what the heights that will be reached in the future, the prospect of something or someone fresh out of the blocks, the world at their feet and all possibilities still open is as close to fairy tales as we’ll ever get in the real world. That’s why, when it comes to music, the buzz around a new band breaking through and making their first steps is the most exciting elixir available. So much so it’s almost addictive, sending us swirling from one bright, shiny hopeful to the next, wild proclamations and hyperbole in tow.

But when we call Static Dress the most exciting new band in UK rock right now, we do so with a bit more substance than would usually be expected. There’s something different about the Leeds collective. Yes, their music cuts through the noise like a hot knife through room temperature butter, but that’s not the only factor shining a bright light on

their undeniable talents. It’s the world around them, too. Olli Appleyard is a man with a creative vision, weaving a universe around his band that feels full and rewarding - hell, he even shot the photos that accompany this month’s cover feature. When you think back at the bands that have done that so successfully in the past, you start to understand just why, this time, those hopes and dreams we’re forcing upon Static Dress feel just a little more valid. As they prepare to enter the era of ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’, those plaudits are only going to get louder. One thing’s for sure, it won’t be boring.

S tephen

Editor / @stephenackroyd

Riot.

Weymouth punks Weatherstate try to build hope from drudgery with their new album, ‘Never Better’. p.10

THIS MONTH >>>

EVERYTHING HAPPENING IN ROCK

The Big Story

“We all hated each other; none of us wanted to be in a band anymore”

Deaf Havana are back from the brink with a new studio album in tow, ‘The Present Is A Foreign Land’.

Words: Jack Press.

Photos: Jon Stone.

Gregor Barnett, guitarist/co-vocalist for The Menzingers, is breaking out on his own with a debut solo release. p.16

Noah Sebastian from Bad Omens lets us in on some behind the scenes titbits from their new album, ‘The Death Of Peace Of Mind’. p.20

Upset 5

L

et’s take a trip in a time machine for a second.

Our destination?

Kulturzentrum in Mainz, Germany. The date? 28th November 2019. Why? Because that’s the beginning of the end. Almost.

As Deaf Havana shuffled off-stage, they said goodbye to their fifth album ‘Rituals’.

Only this wasn’t just the final night of a cycle and a tour.

It was the final night of their band, and unless you were Lee Wilson, Tom Ogden, James or Matty Veck-Gilodi, you had no idea.

Although Covid-19 was lurking just around the corner, the band were battling their own pandemic.

And it was eating them alive one by one.

“We all hated each other, and none of us wanted to be in a band anymore,” admits James, hugging his dog closely as he reflects on darker days. “It’s not necessarily because of that album; it just coincided with it. I don’t really know why; we didn’t do much touring, but it all just became a lot, we were butting heads, and it wasn’t working.”

Considering they’d been in a band for fifteen years, you’d have thought it’d be harder to let go. That couldn’t be further from the truth; they simply couldn’t care less. They were too far gone.

“I just didn’t really care about it. I’m not trying to sound cool or anything, but we were all so done, and we couldn’t be bothered.

I walked away from the meeting we had and went straight to the pub and got fucked. I didn’t care; it was bad,” James says, laughing at his choices looking back.

“I knew it needed to happen at that point in time,” Matty adds, who shut the door without a second thought. “I barely even thought about it, there was just more going on that was more important and at the forefront of my mind day to day really – I didn’t have to

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think about it.”

And that’s the way the cookie crumbled. Covid-19 came and gave them the easy way out. They downed their tools and went their separate ways. Some changed careers, some drowned their sorrows, and one made music.

“I didn’t do anything for ages, and at the start of last year, I was in a real ‘what the hell am I doing with my life’ moment,” Matty explains, before quashing any questions of existentialism thanks to his girlfriend.

“It was my girlfriend who said, ‘are you going to do this, like what do you want to do?’ and I said I wanted to write music, so she told me to do it properly or not at all. So then I started forcing myself, Monday to Friday, nine to five, to just sit down and write and get into the rhythm of making music for the sake of making music.

I got rolling creatively, and suddenly, for the first time in my life, I had written 20 songs in a couple of months, and I felt like I was finally doing something.”

When everything started to open up again, they had to pick up their phones to each other for the first time in a year. Because when a band breaks up, there’s business to be done. And thank god they did.

“If we were stopping being in a band, we owed certain amounts of money, and we realised if we were going out, it’d be good to go out with a new song.

I cynically was like, ‘I’ve written a song that’s perfect for this’, and that’s how James and I got back in touch.”

The song in question, ‘19 Dreams’, is filled to the brim with big choruses and alt-rock riffs that call back to ‘All These Countless Nights’.

While the others were hanging back, it got James and Matty so excited about music again they decided to make Deaf Havana a duo.

And then they got holed up in a studio with Mike Horner

(Hot Chip, Jess Glynne, YONAKA).

“Me and Matty didn’t talk to each other for a year; there was no plan to get the band back together,” admits James, bemused at their own stubbornness.

“We recorded the song with the intention of it being the last song we released, and then we started hanging out more and Matty had all these songs, and I had bits of songs, and before we knew it, we had a twelve-track album.”

That’s right, readers, there’s a new Deaf Havana record on its way in July.

It’s called ‘The Present In A Foreign Land’, and it’s as open book as it’s ever been. It’s an emotional rollercoaster that’ll take you through their darkest moments and into their brightest hopes.

“The way I think is a bit odd sometimes, and I’ll just come up with a sentence that really explains how I feel, and I just sit with it for months at a time,” Matty explains, his eyes lighting up at talk of their new album.

“For the last couple of years, I just don’t know what is going on each day, and I feel so alien. I just felt that every waking moment of the present is something completely foreign to me. I don’t understand or know how to deal with it.

Everything is new, not in an exciting way but in an alienating way, and that’s the sort of feeling I want to get across.”

The last few years have been alienating for us all. The global pandemic and political scandals have polluted our brains, and we’ve all had to adjust to a new way of life.

For Matty and James, they not only had a pandemic to deal with but going sober, too. And it made a big difference in the studio.

“In terms of being sober in a studio, it’s helped a lot because it’s much clearer.

No matter what, when I was drunk all the time, I was always like ‘no, I’m perfectly Upset 7

“I’ve written a song, and I can’t work out if it sounds like Kings Of Leon or Katy Perry” James Veck-Gilodi

8 Upset

capable of doing it’, and I was, but now it’s a whole different level – my brain was always foggy, lethargic and now it’s so much clearer.”

It’s resulted in them making an album that’s as diverse as ever. Taking bits and pieces from ‘Old Souls’, ‘All These Countless Nights’ and ‘Rituals’, ‘The Present Is A Foreign Land’ is a cauldron pot of sounds they’ve always tried conjuring up but never quite got there. It’s all secretive right now, but they’re dropping a few hints – or red herrings.

“I’ve written a song, and I can’t work out if it sounds like Kings Of Leon or Katy Perry. In my head, it’s Kings Of Leon doing a Katy Petty cover,” laughs James, who’s almost as serious about it as he is joking: “This is going to be that annoying one all the radio people want us to play!”

Of course, they’re not making us wait without anything: they’ve already dropped their first song in

four years, ‘Going Clear’.

Far removed from ‘Rituals’’ pop hooks, it’s a brooding alt-rock banger. Could it be a palate cleanser before the album arrives?

“That was never our intention, or maybe it was subconsciously, but that actually works perfectly as a palate cleanser, so thank you for that. I’ll steal that phrase,” giggles James. “It’s different enough without losing the intrinsic parts of our band. I don’t think anyone’s gonna be like ‘oh shit’ because there’s nothing too new if you like our band, there’s nothing to slag off, whereas ‘Rituals’ was way poppier, and the criticism was justified – the only thing you could possibly say is we’re playing it a bit safe.”

Playing it safe is far from what it sounds like. It sounds like a band renewed. And ‘Going Clear’ dives deep, a side-effect from the clarity going sober has given them.

“I only know how to write about real experiences

really, so there was a lot of dark things I wanted to write about in the period before we decided to start writing again, there’s a lot of pretty horrible stuff that happened, so I wanted to get that out.”

And they’ve got it out.

‘The Present Is A Foreign Land’ is on its way. For Deaf Havana, it’s their definitive sound; it’s the first time they’ve felt quite this proud of something, James admits.

“I want people to be able to just listen to it and enjoy it as music, because it’s the first album I’ve ever been a part of where I’m not embarrassed to show people and don’t preface it with all this ‘blah blah blah, this one’s shit, this is my shitty album’. I’m not embarrassed this time; it’s the first one I really care about.” P Deaf Havana’s album ‘The Present Is A Foreign Land’ is out 15th July.

“I re w so so Iw te 10 Upset

I haven’t eally written ongs olo since was a eenager” Gregor Barnett, guitarist/co-vocalist for The Menzingers, is breaking out on his own with a debut solo release.

Words: Rob Mair. Photos: Tom May.

Upset 11

“I

find it crazy when you hear about these songwriters that can just write for all of their projects at the same time; I feel like my mind has to be in one or the other,” considers The Menzingers’ Greg ‘Gregor’ Barnett while discussing his solo record.

While the likes of workaholic emo icons Tim Kasher and Mike Kinsella or hardcore doyen and perpetual motion machine Walter Schreifels like to have several projects on the go, Greg works better compartmentalising his different work streams and focusing purely on one project at a time.

And although Greg finds himself back in Menzingers mode at the time of this interview – great news for fans of the Philly punks – his debut solo record is a stunning slice of Americana, which leans into the world of the day job but never fully occupies it.

Removed from the safety blanket of the fully collaborative songwriting process of The Menzingers, however, has meant Greg has had to push himself in new ways – all of which is evident on ‘Don’t Go Throwing Roses In My Grave’.

“The best part about collaborating with somebody is that you get this energy where you can show them your idea, and they interpret it differently, and it becomes something unique,” says Greg. “But I haven’t really written songs solo since I was a teenager – certainly to the point where I was crafting an entire song by myself. And there’s a lot of excitement in that, too – where I had to think while I was writing of how the drums or pianos would sound. So, it was all crafted in that sense in real-time.”

Not that ‘Don’t Go Throwing Roses In My Grave’ was fully realised without collaboration from his bandmates. Menzingers’

12 Upset

bassist Eric Keen was along for the ride, while drummer Joe Godino lent a hand with some percussion. Yet even though the personnel might be familiar, the results are far removed from blue-collar punk, reflecting Greg’s love of early alt-country Wilco, the murder ballads of Nick Cave or the rustic narratives of Tom Waits or Billy Bragg.

And while this makes for a grown-up and reflective record, it still possesses the same heart and soul of The Menzingers – as if Greg’s unable to dial out of this side of his consciousness, no matter how hard he stretches himself musically.

Throughout, there’s a recurring theme of death and decay – in part seen through the song titles ‘Talking To Your Tombstone’, ‘The First Dead Body I Ever Saw’ and ‘Don’t Go Throwing Roses In My Grave’, but also through the melancholy lyrics. Written and recorded throughout the pandemic, it’s unsurprising such imagery comes through – and Greg acknowledges as much – but there are also kernels of hope sprinkled throughout.

“I think there was this overwhelming sense of dread,” says Greg. “I lost my grandfather, and I had a family member dealing with some really difficult stuff. It was tough. But then, later in the year, things started to make more sense – you see the light at the end of the tunnel, right?

“And I think that’s how these songs shaped up.

The title-track, ‘Don’t Go Throwing Roses In My Grave’, it’s a downer of a song, but I also wanted that line to feel uplifting in a way.

Like, let’s celebrate what we have. And I think that’s the main energy of the album.

Take the time to reflect on what you’ve got and the people that you love so you can appreciate them when they’re not here.”

And this sense of pensive reflection can be seen most clearly on the penultimate

“Let’s celebrate what we have; that’s the main energy of the album” Gregor Barnett

song, ‘At A Greyhound Station, Desperate’. Here, Greg draws on his own experiences of travelling from his family home in Scranton to his father’s house in New Jersey as a youngster.

While Greg acknowledges this experience set him up for a transient lifestyle on the road, it also gave him the opportunity to imagine stories and scenarios for the people he’d see at the Greyhound station but never meet. Sometimes they might be looking to start a new life, but there’s a sense that even if you look for a new start, you can never escape your past, no matter where you go. “Changing location doesn’t always fix stuff,” says Greg. “So, it’s really a song about being down on your luck at a bus station and waiting to start somewhere new when it feels like your last option.”

And while this taps into some classic Menzingersstyle narrative songwriting, it is followed by ‘Guest In Your House’ – an astonishingly personal song that sits much closer to home.

It tells the story of a juvenile Greg and his experiences of living at his grandparent’s house after his parent’s divorce. It’s beautifully conjured and richly detailed, packed with emotion and sentiment.

Unsurprisingly, given its importance, it’s a song Greg has been working on for a long time.

“Their house was always just that place; it was a

place where I always felt comfortable, and it was where me and my brother were raised. It’s a super emotional song for me, and I was excited to finish it.

It’s funny when you write songs; sometimes, you don’t want to give up too much of yourself because if you do, you make it hyper-specific, and then you worry that people won’t relate to it.

“In this case, it was the opposite. I felt like I had to have all these details – like I was painting a scene of being a young kid in front of the TV watching game shows while your mom’s going to work, and your grandparents are doing everything for you. I felt like it had to be exactly as I remembered for it to feel real.

“It’s one of my favourite songs I’ve ever written – probably my favourite song I’ve ever written. I’m super proud of it, especially with my grandparents passing away. The thing is, they lost the house to the bank, and when that happened, I was so pissed off. I needed a way to remember it differently and to give the story a new ending.”

It means ‘Don’t Go Throwing Roses In My Grave’ is a fine testament to the people Greg has loved and lost. Introspective and sombre, it nevertheless has moments of clarity and beauty that shine through the darkness like a beacon.

P Gregor Barnett’s solo album ‘Don’t Go Throwing Roses In My Grave’ is out 18th February.

Upset 13

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Bambara.

TRACK BY TRACK

Love Is On My Mind Brothers Blaze and Reid Bateh run us through the new collection from Brooklyn post-punks Bambara.

SLITHER IN THE RAIN

Reid: This song always had a strong visual vibe to it. Listening to demos early on, I would see an image of a drunk man dancing near a runway while planes landed behind him. So the goal was to bring him to life in the song. This was a little bit of a challenge given the low word count, but it was nice to have to be so precise.

Every line had to serve a few purposes at once, giving him enough detail to feel real while also acknowledging his role in the narrative of the album.

Blaze: This song came together quickly, and we knew almost immediately that it would be the opening track because it felt especially visual from the start. With this one, we wanted to experiment more with synth sounds, arpeggiators and 808s while still maintaining a dark, twangy, human feel.

Photo: Pooneh Ghana.

MYTHIC LOVE

Reid: This is where the two central characters of the record meet for the first time. The image of the woman glowing red in the brake lights surrounded by tree limbs is one I had been fixated on for a few years, and I was really glad that it worked so well. My main focus, lyrically, was to convey a sense of mania. What they are feeling is too wild to be wrangled into words.

Blaze: This song started out like a lot of our songs, as a fingerpicking song that Reid wrote on the classical guitar. Being a love song, we wanted to pursue a kind of classic country duet in the spirit of Nancy and Lee. Pretty early on, we knew that our friend Bria Salmena (Frigs, Orville Peck) would be perfect for this. When the song collapses into the Ronettes beat, Bria’s voice snaps you into the chorus and initiates the huge feel change.

BIRDS

Reid: The idea with this one was to cram months of the couple’s life together into one song. At some point during this

time, the female lead buys a camera which sparks her love for the medium.

Photography is a big part of the record.

Nan Goldin’s work - especially ‘The Ballad of Sexual Dependency’ - was very influential to me while writing the lyrics.

It was a way for me to feel a bit of the feral energy of the city while in lockdown.

I wanted this character to do the same thing for the world of the record.

Blaze: This song came together in a pretty unique way for us. We were on the computer editing one song that we weren’t happy with. William started cutting up little segments and stripping things away until we had a 10-second drum and noise moment we were really inspired by. That clip gave birth to a new song where we started building from the drums and percussion up.

POINT AND SHOOT

Reid: The story of this song is told entirely through the female lead’s photographs, with each stanza being a new snapshot.

We get a glimpse into how the central characters’ lives are progressing. The narrator looks at the photos and describes them: Naked women lined up on a roof, a now-dead friend laughing with a broken jaw, a bored face in a coke mirror selfie, etc. In one of these, he notices that something about the look in his partner’s eye seems different.

Blaze: We wanted this song to have that smoky, noir feel for Reid to string a torrent of images on top of. Once the shuffle rhythm and atmosphere were set, Blaze added the main synth melody to feel kind of like a water-level in a videogame. The horns in the chorus sections are actually cut up trombone stabs that William manually laid out, taken from a piece of music Jason Disu played on a song we ended up scrapping. We also had our friend Jeff Tobias (Sunwatchers, Modern Nature) come over and record wild sax freakouts in our basement.

FEELIN’ LIKE A FUNERAL

Reid: The narrator describes a night where he is knifed in a mugging. He makes it home and seems at peace with the idea of lying on his bed and bleeding in a narcotic daze. His partner finds him, smothers his wound with cayenne pepper, and drags him to the hospital. After getting stitched up, he makes it clear to

her that no matter what kind of love or care she provides for him, he will always “feel like a funeral.” PS. I can verify the cayenne trick from experience.

Blaze: Musically, the song started out as a chord progression I was messing around with. Once Reid started playing the guitar lick of the chorus on top of it, the song really came to life.

LITTLE WARS

Reid: The female lead has grown tired of the city. She tells the narrator that she wants to leave New York and she wants him to come with her. He declines. It was important to me that the song didn’t seem to judge either of the characters’ choices.

With that said, I wanted to show that the narrator himself might not be completely confident with his decision. In the second half of the song, her plea for him to leave the city with her plays on a loop while he describes what he knows of her life since they broke up: married, pregnant, house with a garden, nice job, little time for art but happy.

Blaze: It took us months to figure out the right instrumentation to tell the story of this song. We ultimately decided to keep the first half really sparse and rely on small percussion sounds and big synths to carry the song under Reid’s vocal melody.

I think this approach helped us get into newer territory. We had our friend Drew Citron (Public Practice) sing the melody that comes in at the second half of the song. She did such a great job with the harmonies, and her voice was perfect for establishing the backbone of the outro. P Bambara’s mini-album ‘Love On My Mind’ is out 25th February.

Upset 15

16 Upset

Weymouth punks Weatherstate try to build hope from drudgery with their new album, ‘Never Better’.

Words: Sam Taylor. Photos: Xav Barksy.

Never better.

N

ewly signed to Rude Records, Weymouth punks Weatherstate have put together a second record that’s born from a difficult period but looking for the positives. Callan Milward (guitar) tells us more about its creation and how sometimes the bad shows can be the most important.

Tell us about your new album then - when did you start work on it? Has it been a long process?

It feels like a lifetime ago, but we started working on this record at the tail end of 2019. So yeah, it’s been quite a long process.

In an alternative timeline, we would have probably had this record out in 2020. It has felt like an age has passed with it being sandwiched between a pandemic. It did change a lot of our plans for how we wanted to make the record ultimately.

What sort of headspace were you in when you began? Did it change along the way?

Most definitely. You know, I think there is always a bit of pressure for any band making a second album. You always want to exceed what you’ve done previously. That process of writing with that added pressure can be daunting.

In this scenario, I do think it got the better of us, especially at the top of 2020 when the world started changing. We were certainly positive going into the planning of this record. Of course, our own mentality changed, but we weren’t alone as everyone else’s headspace was also adapting. It was truly a unique scenario in the grand scheme of things in terms of making a record.

The timing couldn’t have been worse, to be honest, haha.

How would you describe

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the album’s vibe?

At its core, the message behind ‘Never Better’ is an overly-cynical and pessimistic record but finding good in what we’re given. I think for anyone who has been stoked on anything we’ve done previously, It may feel like it’s a leap for us as a band but also still familiar. Working with Alan Day was a huge learning curve for us, and I think it helped us explore some new areas. As a scrappy, power chord-bashing punk band, we really did try to

iron out some of those tropes of ours and try to get ambitious on this record. I think songs like ‘Headstone’ really show that side of us pushing the boat out. We have never written a song like that before, and it’s exciting.

How did doing bits remotely pan out? Did working that way impact the finished record?

It was challenging! We are very used to writing together in the garage and being very loud. We had to rely on home demos

and short videos this time around. So ultimately, Yes. It did impact the finished record. It really did slow things up, but there are positives, though. We got to really hyper-focus on every track with Alan. Would we have preferred doing it in person with Alan?

Absolutely. That was the original plan, after all, and we hope to achieve that at some point down the road.

It can be limiting doing it over a zoom call. However, limitations can also inspire.

I guess there are good sides to either process.

challenge we faced was with the pre-production.

It felt at one point, our sleeping schedule shifted completely. We’d be up to 2-3am some nights working on Alan’s timezone over a zoom call. You could get yourself into a really good groove working on a song, and before you know it, You’re supposed to be up in four hours for work. In the long run, it was totally worth it.

At what point did you hook up with Rude Records? How did that come about?

It’s a weird story. Right before we announced ‘Born a Cynic’ at the top of 2019, we played a soul-crushing, quiet-town show with Light Years who were over here on tour. For whatever reason, things didn’t go right that evening. It was one of those shows where like, four people showed up. They are signed to Rude Records and we kinda just got talking to them, and we got along really well. We’ve liked each others’ bands for a while. A few days after that show, Rude reached out to us and said Pat from Light Years had good things to say about us. Then Rude asked, what was our plans for the next album?

Pat really did us a solid there. Long story short, Sometimes the bad shows can be the most important.

“’Never Better’ is an overly-cynical and pessimistic record but finding good in what we’re given” Callan Milward

Did you come up against any unexpected challenges during the album’s creation?

Our biggest challenge was waiting out 2020 to see whether we could actually logistically record this album. I think we had originally pencilled in the summer of 2020 to get out and make the record in the States. In the end, it was recorded in 2021 here in the UK with our long time engineer in Neil Kennedy, and he made it sound great. Another

Where would you like this record to take you?

I think we’d really like to be back on the road touring this year, more than anything. It’s been hard to feel that connection over the past few years, but just to see some cities again will feel great. We’re pretty humbled by what we’ve achieved with this band, and we’re excited to see what comes of ‘Never Better’. P Weatherstate’s album ‘Never Better’ is out now.

Upset 19

Riot.

Everything you need to know about

Bad Omens’ new album

20 Upset

‘Death of Peace of Mind’

THE CEILING IS ON FIRE.

To be transparent, ‘What do you want from me?’ was written and basically produced in about three hours. It was undeniably the fastest written song on the album. And that’s not because unbeknownst to us, a fire started in the bathroom across from my room while our creative energy was at its peak, and we had to decide between putting a pin in the song or burning alive once

we noticed. Though the artist in me would like to think that it would’ve been a hard choice if so. It was because the song just had a really effortless, fun, and even slightly atypical process for me. Even having to evacuate our house for an hour while the fire department aired out the smoke with industrialsized fans didn’t hinder our excitement about going right back to working on it despite the lingering smell of charred up cheap vinyl tiles and bathmats. If you’re wondering how the fire started, that’s not as cool of a story, and had nothing to do with the fact the bathroom vent fan had been so neglected for so long it literally set itself on fire in order to end its own suffering after not being cleaned for what I can imagine was many years beyond just the duration of our time there. We did not get our security deposit back, but the memory and the smell live on forever now through this song.

I’d also like to pay tribute to Jesse Cash, my friend, roommate, and guitarist/singer for the band ERRA - in order of importance, who did all the guitar work on this song on top of my production, which absolutely made it worth anything. His riff that comes back over and over throughout the song I essentially consider the “hook” of the song, and it would not exist without him.

DOG OR DRUM?

At the start of the pandemic, I decided to create a “challenge” like every other idiot on the internet for my producer peers, that not a single other person participated in, under the guise of encouraging people to stay busy and productive, but really I think I was just showing off.

Essentially the “challenge” was to create a body of music using no actual instruments. Only unique samples you recorded yourself that you could then manipulate any way you wanted to in your respective DAW (Digital Audio Workstation - a music program).

To name a few - I made percussive elements by shaking a watered-down Starbucks coffee, slamming a microwave door, a good (totally gentle - relax) pat on my roommates’ dog’s belly, and a pair of astroturf flip fops. For those that don’t know, these are flip-flops with astroturf on the top, so it always feels like you’re walking on grass. This became the clap sample. For the bass, I somehow processed and tuned the low frequencies of a vacuum cleaner to a C note, and then made a multi-octave sampler out of it. I did a bunch of other stuff I could go into detail about, but you can just watch the video for yourself if you want if they add the link in this article. Once I was finished with what I guess you could call an instrumental, I began recording and free-style

humming vocal melody or lyric ideas that came to my head as I looped the track over and over, one of which I ended up deciding to just keep as an actual hum in the vocals in the postchorus. At this point, I knew I was onto something with these melodies but was pretty over looking at a computer any longer, so I showed Jolly and asked him if he’d want to take the vocal tracks as well as the lead on making a new proper bed of music for the vocals to sit on.

And what he came back with that same night was essentially what you hear in the final version, and ultimately became the origin of inspiration for the overall concept and atmosphere for ‘The Death of Peace of Mind’.

Photos: Oswaldo Cepeda.

Noah Sebastian from Los Angeles-based behemoth Bad Omens lets us in on some behind the scenes tit-bits from their new album, ‘The Death Of Peace Of Mind’, which sees them embrace a darkly seductive new take on rock.

Truman Sleeps

Once the writing was finished. The next step was to begin engineering. A tedious, and in my opinion, chore of a phase in the producing process during an album. The majority of our last album was produced in our garage, so this time around, we wanted to do something nice for ourselves, as well as bring us all together to just hang out after so much time apart as a band since the start of the pandemic. We had room in the budget, so we got an Airbnb in Big Bear to get as much of that done as we could in what felt like way too short of a time. We stayed a little over a week, and we were admittedly naive to think we could do everything for a 15 track album, but still, we did manage to finish all guitar and bass tracking and editing by the skin of our teeth. The musician in me is not proud to admit that this was the most boring part of the trip, but spending money from your album budget to go to a beautiful place to “get away” and “clear your head” just to end up spending the majority of the time you’re there still just staring at a screen is part of the job I suppose, and I love it.

While there was much less time to hang out than we anticipated, we still made the time to rip shots, play pool all night, and go look out at the stars in shifts when the computer screen got too hard on our eyes.

I’d also like to acknowledge Matt Dierkes, our live front of house engineer and tour manager, who flew out to help engineer this album and ended up sticking it out way longer than any of us anticipated, continuing to push flights home back to stay, lend an additional creative hand, assist in tracking every instrument and vocal on the record from start to finish. P Bad Omens’ album ‘Death Of Peace Of Mind’ is out 25th February.

Upset 21

About Break. to

NEW TALENT YOU NEED TO KNOW

22 Upset

DAISY BRAIN London based Daisy Brain is already starting to make noise around the capital. With a sound that feels like an update on UK rock’s early 00s explosion - equal parts indie and grunge, new track ‘Digital Atlas’ is worth a listen.

THE HARA

LOOSE FIT

Manchester’s The Hara aren’t afraid of a bit of bombast. One listen to their latest track ‘Domino’ will tell you that.

Dark and direct, they’ve a new EP - ‘We All War Black’ - due this April via Scruff Of The Neck.

It’s not often you’ll find us recommending the music of a band with a singer/sax player, but Loose Fit are the exception. ‘Social Graces’, the lead single from their new album, is packed with attitude. Worth tooting about.

NOBRO Montreal, Canada foursome NOBRO are a lot of people’s favourite new band right now - and for good reason. Find out for yourself with their new EP ‘Live Your Truth Shred Some Gnar’.

Words: Linsey Teggert.

Photos: Camille Gladu Brouin.

“O

ur mission statement as a band would be the title of our new EP, ‘Live Your Truth Shred Some Gnar’,” states NOBRO vocalist and bassist Kathryn McCaughey. “We love to shred, we love putting on a big, loud performance - it’s so fun to be aggressive.”

With the release of their kick-ass second EP, the Montreal quartet are ready to challenge the boys club, proving they can thrash just as hard, riff just as loud, and have a ridiculous amount of fun doing so.

Initially founded by Kathryn alone, their name comes from something she found herself repeating to men who approached her to play in the band when she was searching for likeminded female musicians: ‘No, bro’.

Kathryn stuck to her guns and rounded up NOBRO’s lineup with drummer Sarah Dion, guitarist Karolane Carbonneau and keyboardist and percussionist Lisandre Bourdage, the four-piece pursuing the fast, energetic sound that had always captured her attention, though it wasn’t exactly smooth sailing at first.

“At the beginning, our skill level wasn’t there, so it was really hard to

get to the point where we could play for the music we were making. It was the music we wanted to play; it was rough sometimes, but he just wanted always a little off. You could see what the best for us.” we were going for, but we never quite So how did their second recording stuck the landing,” Kathryn muses. experience compare to the first? “It “As we developed as a band, it all was smooth; we did it in two weeks,” started to come together. The music says Karolane. “We partied a lot I’ve always wanted to play is now more,” laughs Kathryn. In fact, the being played because we have that atmosphere was so much more easyskill level now.” going the second time around that Someone NOBRO credit with the EP’s final track, acoustic jam ‘Life helping to hone their skills is is a Voyage’, was recorded live in one producer Thomas D’Arcy who worked take before the magic mushrooms on their debut EP ‘Sick Hustle’, they’d taken kicked in. “After that, it and they returned to for ‘Live Your was impossible to play. It was fine, it Truth.’ Both Kathryn and Karolane was fine, the floor was kind of high,” are somewhat sheepish when recalls Karolane before exploding into discussing their giggles. first recording One thing that’s experience incredibly apparent with Thomas. when listening to “I was fighting NOBRO is that the with Thom all band are having the time; we the best time just weren’t on making the music the same page they make. How to begin with,” could they not be remembers when writing songs Karolane. like the brilliantly “Going into named, Ramonesthat recording esque ripper ‘Eat process was Slay Chardonnay’ my first time in or rocking out to a professional the sludgy swagger setting, and I of ‘Not Myself’? had a little bit What would Kathryn McCaughey of a hard time they say to any with that in the beginning,” adds naysayers who said they don’t take Kathryn. “There was a moment that making music seriously? “My Dad involved me kicking down a bathroom says that to me all the time,” jokes door... It’s really hard when you have Kathryn. “I think that a lot of our your own vision of yourself, but other personalities seep through into the people have a different vision, but at music, and something we all have in the end of the day it really pushed common is laughing at the absurdity us to become the band that we are of life; it’s like the cosmic joke: today. We’re extremely grateful for nothing makes sense, it’s all kind of Thom in our lives; he kept us on our hilarious.

P’s and Q’s and kept us accountable I think other people can relate to

“Something we all have in common is laughing at the absurdity of life”

Upset 23

that because when you have these ridiculous moments in life, you just have to laugh about it.

“When we were coming back from the last tour we just did in the States, we were so stressed out, we had to spend a ton of money, and there was so much pressure. All of a sudden, we found ourselves in the airport in New Jersey, getting our PCR tests so we could get back into Canada, and we all just looked at each like, ‘What are our lives right now?!’ We spent $250 each on PCR tests so we could get ourselves back home, but these ridiculous moments happen in life.

If you stop and think about it too much, you’ll just start crying, so you have to laugh.”

Sure, they’ve got the rock ‘n’ roll attitude and the door-kicking, mushroom-taking antics, but NOBRO really do walk the walk, and 24 Upset

their blistering live performances have seen them already tour with the likes of PUP, Alexisonfire, FIDLAR and The Distillers. In fact, it was the mighty PUP who brought them to the attention of alt-music label legends Big Scary Monsters, who will be releasing their EP in the UK. Kathryn notes their tour with The Distillers as being a particular highlight, given her love for Brody Dalle, which many of us can relate to. “I’d been a fan of The Distillers since I was a teenager, I dyed my hair black, had the leather jacket, Brody Dalle was my hero. On the last night of the tour, we all hung out together drinking, and I was just in awe that this was even a moment in my life. She’s so cool and nice, and I just expressed to her how much she meant to me, and of course, I started crying!”

Given the uncertainty of the last two years, NOBRO are truly ready to get out there, live their truth and shred some gnar. “You know when you see a horse in a stable, and it just wants to get out and run? That’s how I feel,” says Kathryn. “I’m trying to be optimistic, though. In 2022 we’re going to make a record - a fulllength - which we’ve never done before. There’s hopefully going to be more shows, more shredding for sure.” She pauses and grins: “We’re gonna become the women we were meant to be; I really feel that!” P NOBRO’s EP ‘Live Your Truth Shred Some Gnar’ is out 23rd February.

S

ure it feels as though the year’s only just begun, but Leeds emo fivesome Beauty School already have their 2022 mapped out. Top of the agenda?

Their debut album, due in September via Slam Dunk Records. Vocalist Joe Cabrera introduces his band.

Hello Joe! What are you up to today?

I’ve just left the recording studio. Been messing around with some blues guitars.

What first sparked your interest in music, and how did you get started making it yourself?

I grew up in a household where my mum just played Wham! on repeat. In primary school Year 5, I had a teacher who was a drummer, and he introduced me to The Beatles and Oasis. That was my first taste of guitar music. I was 9 years old; that was the start of it all for me, really. I became obsessed with the idea of being in a band and writing music.

What has your previous experience in bands been like?

All of us in Beauty School have been playing in bands together for years now.

Me, Charlie and Jordan were in a band called Calls Landing for six years before Beauty School, and we would regularly play shows and tour with Dan and Liam’s

bands. Honestly, I cherish every single moment I’ve spent with every band I’ve ever been in. Playing shows in function rooms and student unions, sleeping on random floors and practice spaces, driving around the country with a full band and all our gear jammed into a 1L Daewoo Matiz. They are memories I’ll have forever.

There’s nothing quite like being in a band.

What can you tell us about your debut album, is it all done and dusted now?

Yeah, it’s all finished. We recorded it in the summer with James Kenosha. The album is called ‘Happiness’. We spent ages trying to think of a name for the album, but when it came down to it, ‘Happiness’ summed it up. It’s the theme of the record, not so much happiness itself but more the pursuit of it. ‘Happiness’ will be released on Slam Dunk Records, and we will be releasing more info on how to pre-order it soon!

How have you found the process of putting it together?

It was weird, really, because we never really set out to write an album. It was just a product of being in lockdown and not being able to play shows. We were originally going to do a four-track EP, then I pitched the idea of doing a seven-track, so we carried on writing. We hadn’t even thought about how we were going to

record it or anything at that point, but our manager JD had convinced his boss (the owner of Slam Dunk) to release our first single through Slam Dunk Records. So we were just astonished that we were even going to have that luxury. I was sitting outside my work when I got a phone call from our manager, and he goes, “I’ve got some news. Ben loves the record; he wants to sign you on a full album deal.”

Can’t really describe that moment. Felt like I shed my skin. It was the phone call I wanted my whole life, and I was sitting in my car eating a Greggs when it happened.

From then everything has just been a complete breeze.

What would you most like to achieve with the band?

I’ve kind of given up on the whole bucket list thing. No matter what you do, there’s always something bigger and better for you to chase. I don’t think I’m the kind of person to just ever be satisfied with something. Once I do something, I’m always looking at the next thing. It’s just who I am. At the same time, though, we are already in a position we thought we would never be in, so anything we do from here is a win. We are just going to ride the tide out to sea and see how far it takes us. P Beauty School’s debut album ‘Happiness’ is out 9th September.

BEAUTY SCHOOL Signed to local legends Slam Dunk Records, Leeds emo newcomers Beauty School are on the up and up.

Words: Sam Taylor.

Photos: JD.

Upset 25

GRAPHIC

With both a new EP and a support tour with Rolo Tomassi on the horizon, Graphic Nature are set to make their mark on metal.

Words: Sam Taylor.

Photo: xvisua.

K

ent metallers Graphic Nature - who take their name from a track on Deftones’ ‘Koi No Yokan’ album, ‘FYI’ - are breaking through with an incendiary new EP, ‘new skin’. A visceral statement of intent, it’s a marker of big things to

26 Upset

come. Frontman Harvey Freeman takes a break from watching Supernatural to tell us how his band came together.

Hi Harvey! When did you realise you wanted to make music? Did the process come naturally to you?

I think I was about 7 or 8, I had just got myself into “rock” music, and all I knew is that I wanted to play drums in a band.

I got my first drumming lessons at 9 and carried that on into bands after I left school. It wasn’t til I was 15-16 that I really wanted to learn how to do vocals.

What’s your favourite thing about being a musician?

The live shows for sure! There’s

something euphoric about being on stage shouting your lungs out for half an hour a night. As a very socially anxious person, that time spent playing live music just changes me as a human and gives me a huge boost of confidence when I get off stage to actually socialise and relax with the people I meet at our shows.

Is Graphic Nature your first venture, or have you had other projects before?

It’s not! I’ve been in many bands prior to this one, all of which were great experiences, and I made some lifelong friends from members of each band I played with. Graphic Nature, however, is such a cool group of dudes to play with;

C NATURE “Graphic Nature is such a cool group of dudes; it’s great fun” Harvey Freeman

we don’t argue, we have the same vision for how we want our music to sound, and it’s just great fun.

the future holds.

How did you lot meet and decide to form the band?

We met by playing a show together in our other bands. Things obviously didn’t work out with the other bands we played in originally, but we all got on and had the same vision as each other, so GN was born! Purely from a love of no bullshit drama and good music.

What makes for a good Graphic nature song?

A lot of trial and error. We never stick to the first thing we write because we always feel like a song can be improved over time. We spend a lot of time making these tracks, and we feel that once the song is finished, we can rest knowing we’ve put all of our effort into making it the song!

What’s been the highlight of your time together so far?

Getting signed to Rude Records! Seeing all of our hard work finally pay off is a great feeling, and I can’t wait to see what

You’ve got a new EP coming out, how did it come together? What can you tell us about it?

We started writing this EP at the end

of 2019/the beginning of 2020 and recorded it during lockdown 2020. It was a lot of back and forth sending files to each other demoing stuff at home, but it was a great time to really get stuck into it to create what we believe to be the next evolution of Graphic Nature.

What else do you have coming up?

We’re currently in the process of working on new material and looking at touring as much as we can this upcoming year!

The last two years were a struggle for all bands, so we can’t wait for the touring circuit to be back to normal! P Graphic Nature’s EP ’new skin’ is out 25th February.

Upset 27

Believe the hype.

The buzz around Static Dress might be impossible to ignore, but - while so often such excitement can be built on unstable foundations - they’re the real deal. A band who build a whole universe around them, they’re a band to believe in. But what is ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’, and why did it nearly bring their whole world crashing down?

28 Upset

Words: Jack Press. Photos: Olli Appleyard.

G

reat art often comes with hefty consequences; the stories of artists pushing to extremes to realise their vision are all too well known, extending themselves past their breaking point in the process. For Static Dress’s Olli Appleyard, the making of their debut album threatened to not only derail the train of hype they were riding but to throw those on it off a cliff of burnout.

“Everyone was worried about everything, and it forced you away from yourself. I lost track of everything. It was the lowest of lows,” reflects Olli, lit only by the light of his screen in a moment of vulnerability.

“We weren’t a band. There were moments where it wasn’t even a thing anymore. Like, it was over and dead. Trying to do this just killed it.”

As the train began to leave the tracks, driven by artistic ambition, Olli pulled himself into out of body experiences just to hold it all together for Upset 29

everybody else.

“It’s really funny because you went through people’s different stages. You saw this record slowly start to break everyone, and I’m sat there like, I have to make sure this happens, but I’m already broken before everyone else is.”

“There’s no fake anything; it’s all us”

J

take it out on tour and their listeners make it their own, he hopes to learn to live with it.

“I think it’ll change once it comes out because I’ll see what it’ll be able to do for people. Not in a selfish way of ‘oh this album let us go play this show’ - I’ll see what it did for people emotionally, and I can say, ‘I’m glad that it helped you because it hurt me’.”

It’s that hurt that trickles through ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’ like blood pulsing through its veins. While its story picks up where last year’s ‘Prologue’ EP left off, its musical DNA diverges.

Like a ripple effect, that pain is felt throughout every song. It’s steered musically as much by trauma as anything else, every corner and crevice packed with different influences.

There’s the post-Britpop indie-rock that simmers underneath ‘fleahouse’, the pummelling post-hardcore pomp of ‘Courtney, just relax’, or the electronic underbelly that boils up in ‘…Maybe!!?’. ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’ is like listening to a collage of clashing styles that ultimately complement each other. And it serves an important purpose: to push away from their past and put out the firepit of pressure the hype of being quite probably the UK rock scene’s most exciting new band has dealt them.

“It’s been daunting. I find that if for half a second we sit there and go ‘oh, is this as good as...?’ – it won’t be.

It’ll just absolutely cripple us. I feel like as an artist, if you self-compare to your old work, you’re never going to

oined by bassist Connor Reilly, drummer Sam Ogden, and guitarist Contrast, Olli drove Static Dress to the deepest depths of their mental and physical limitations. In some ways, it’s a miracle the album will even see the light of day, with original members Tom Black and Sam Kay departing the band halfway through, amidst the strain of tying it all together.

So, now the mysteriously titled ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’ is done and dusted, does it still feel like Olli’s carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, or is he finally feeling a sense of relief?

“I’m kind of just glad because, in my head, it was such a trauma doing it that I’m like ‘alright, sick’,” he laughs, without losing a sense of seriousness. Of course, it’s not all doom and gloom - excitement is bubbling under the surface.

“I’m excited for people to hear it and for people who like this band to finally get the album,” he enthuses, before his own experiences of it come clawing back to the fore. “But for me individually as a person, I’m so glad to get away from this record. I know that looking back in a few years, once I’m over certain things, I’ll be able to enjoy it, but right now, it still sends me back to a time when in my head I was the worst I’ve ever been.”

For a pessimist, Olli is pretty optimistic at times.

While it’s hard to let go of a period that will continue to haunt him for some time, he has hope that it’ll mature like a fine wine. As they

30 Upset

Olli Appleyard progress from that moment,” Olli admits, openly aware that ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’ isn’t simply the Static Dress we’re used to.

W

hen Static Dress first dropped their debut track ‘Clean’ in 2019, they took the underground by storm, suddenly shooting onto festival bills and up-andcoming lists. When it came to their debut album, they felt it haunting them like a ghost.

“If you hyper-focus on the first thing you did, and it was brilliant like ‘Clean’ was, then you worry about it. It’ll destroy you in the end,” Olli asserts, pausing to reflect before divulging further. “We tried it; we were like ‘alright, let’s write ‘Clean’ again’, and now we’ve got nine different versions of the same song.

“We would go into the studio to record new things, and we’d pull up these demos and realise it’s exactly the same song nine times over. And some people love that,” he admits, stopping almost dramatically to deliver his own punchline.

“But for a project that’s meant to be moving forwards and making waves - trying to change this whole ‘rock band world’ to make something more interesting - it’s just not going to do it.”

Static Dress’s desire to deviate from rock’s established model is a driving force behind everything they do. While a lack of a record label and limited budget constraints keep them grounded, they thrive with the necessity to stay creative with what they’ve got. Not only does it

push them to try new ideas it offers authenticity too, as every note you hear is real.

“There’s no drum sample replacement,” Olli enthuses. “There’s no fake anything. The strings you can hear, that’s all us, it’s not programmed. There are string sections made up from one violin being pitched down, but it’s all real.”

On top of that, as Covid-19 kept them apart, they had to take being a DIY band to new extremes.

“There were moments where we’d be recording in my conservatory at my parents’ house because we couldn’t meet the guy I was tracking with. I’d be sat on the floor, with a mic on two tables, both of us with masks on, and it was just so difficult,” Olli explains, exhaustion in his voice from reliving the experience.

Covid-19 rearing its head meant a lot to the record.

From recording at home to Olli’s mental state, it was like throwing a flash grenade into a burning building.

“I can’t really remember anything because my head got into such a space where it just blanks now. People talk about lockdown and their experiences, and I genuinely couldn’t tell you what I did. I just didn’t leave my room for months.”

Covid-19 gave to Static Dress as much as it took.

With idle time on their hands, they dove into television and movies, discovering a whole world of inspiration for the story that binds both ‘Prologue’ and ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’ together.

“I wanted to write a story based around really weird stuff, like The Hotel series from American Horror Story and The Shining. Stuff like that was incredible. So I started pulling in elements, here and there, and then even weirder stuff - I pulled a lot from cartoons,” Olli shares, as we question what could be weirder than Stephen King novels. His reply?

“There’s an episode of Upset 31

SpongeBob where they stop at a convention in a hotel, and it sounds bizarre, but it’s the weirdest thing ever.

There are so many hidden jokes. I’m like, ‘this is sick’ - if you watch it rather than being like ‘oh look at the colours’, you’ll get it. I took a lot from all these places.”

And SpongeBob wasn’t the only cartoon character to lend a hand. Olli is reluctant to reveal any plot details, but ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’ unfolds song-by-song, and we have Pixar’s favourite cowboy to thank for some of these elements.

“Do you remember Woody’s Roundup from Toy Story? At the end of the show, when the credits roll, they have the Woody’s Roundup song going.” It’s an idea used with closer ‘Cubical Dialog’. “You’ve had all this emotional stuff happen in the episode,” he explains, “and then it’s like the happiness at the end is there, and the song comes in.

“I thought that was better rather than leaving you feeling sad. I wanted something for people to be able to be happy because the last thing I want to do is leave people in a state in this day and age.”

Listening to ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’ is like indulging in a binge-worthy Netflix series. You’ll end up tying clues together on cork-boards, chasing down the band for more. And that’s entirely on purpose. It’s meant to become a franchise you buy into, rather than something you passively comfort watch.

“The songs could all be released as singles at some stage, and that’s fine, but I want to be able to have something in my hands.

That I can hold and give to future generations and go, ‘this is the thing that did it for a lot of people’,” he enthuses. “An episode of a series sticks with you for a short amount of time, and it’s your favourite episode, but a film - you’re like, ‘wow, this is an amazing film’. The way 32 Upset

“I wanted to write a story based around weird stuff, like The Shining and SpongeBob” Olli Appleyard they hold up to each other isn’t the same. An amazing franchise will completely outweigh a single show.”

L

ast year’s ‘Prologue’ is crucial to ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’’s longevity. Even though the album was done and dusted by the time the EP arrived, it sets up the story with a legacy of its own.

Cast your mind back to Slam Dunk Festival 2021.

A little band from West Yorkshire called Static Dress are getting people to buy discs at the merch table.

What are they? They’re not telling anyone. You’ve got to put your money where your mouth is and gamble on it.

And if you did, you got your first taste of what became ‘Prologue’.

“It was festival season, and I thought it would be cool if we started introducing a different kind of story and gave something physical to

people they could only get at shows. So, we wrote all these demos, mixed them roughly and put them on a disc and had the entire thing coded and transcribed it so you couldn’t read it.”

It was a bold move for any band, let alone one who’d only had singles out. Olli saw it as fan service, but everyone else saw it as an opportunity. Suddenly, a disc of demos for a faithful few meant an actual EP – that they had to start and finish in three months.

“It’s September, and we’re putting it out in December, and I’m sat there with no music videos, no concepts, no ideas, nothing - because it was never meant to be released. There was no mastering done, no artwork in sight, so I had to call it an idea, come up with a theme and go from there.”

The pressure put on Olli to pull together an entire EP that somehow fell into step with the album they’d been making was almost unbearable. Everyone in and around the band wanted it

out in the world, whereas Olli wanted it dead and buried.

At first, anyway.

“Originally, I just wanted it to be single, single, single and then drop the album and be like, ‘bang, here’s a big body of work’. But I was the only person who didn’t want [‘Prologue’] out. The worst thing is, I wish I’d just said yes to begin with because if I didn’t fight it for so long, I would have given myself more time to prepare.”

Considering it was all crammed into three months, it’s clear Olli and co. can succeed under pressure. A little like rocks, they become diamonds when the going gets tough.

Teaming up with illustrator Tanya Kenny, Olli created a comic book complete with a backstory to the world of ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’. In fact, it sets the scene sensationally. But for some fans, it felt like too much too soon.

“The reason it’s called ‘Prologue’ is not that it sounds cool, but because it’s actually a prologue of

Upset 33

what’s to come. Some people were like, ‘these songs aren’t as good as what you’ve released before, I don’t like this, I don’t like that, there are so many interludes’. And it’s like, we released it with a comic book for a reason.

“If you read it while listening to it, it would make perfect sense. If you just put it on and all you do is listen to it, you’re going to miss it.

For full impact, you have to have the book in front of you to read it and go, ‘oh, that’s where they’re heading’.”

Static Dress have the commitment of a great band of storytellers. Seeing is believing. Unless you fully buy-in every step of the way, you’ll miss out on the breadcrumbs they’re dropping. Think of it as a cinematic universe. Each release is a phase, and each phase is connected.

“We’d rather focus on the small number of people invested in us and make them absolutely obsessed with it, rather than going to a big wide audience and have them listen for five seconds.

We’ve made something which will last in your mind longer than just hearing it on the radio once.

“In turn, everyone’s on the edge of their seat waiting for what’s next, and that’s the purpose of it all. At the end of ‘Prologue’, you can literally hear a car driving away, and on the final page in the comic book, you can see them arriving at where ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’ begins.”

I

n many ways, Static Dress subscribe to the mantra: if you build it, they will come. While there’s still so much to discover for the ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’ era, you can sleep safe in the knowledge that it’s been made by a band who believe in giving you more than just music.

It’s the DIY attitude they’ve adopted that has earned Olli and co. so much regard; through being so individualistic, they’ve

34 Upset

added a layer of truthfulness to their music that some choose to hide from.

“I think that it’s a lot more honest. It’s not hiding behind a blanket of getting everything done for us. I think that’s why a lot of people in the hardcore DIY scene have a lot of respect for us.”

But being so hands-on isn’t all about honesty. It’s also about surviving as a band in the modern age. In fact, it all started out this way because funds were non-existent.

“Honestly, it’s being realistic of our budget.

We don’t have a label; we don’t have anyone backing us or some high mystical being putting money in our pockets to make it happen.

It’s just the people in the band funding what we’re doing.”

Given the chance to go over it all again, but this time with bonus funding, would Olli change it up?

“If someone was giving us money, I’d use that budget to make something better with our internal team that we’ve got rather than outsourcing because, at this point, it makes sense to keep it in the family.”

Of course, it’s not always a route without problems.

The push and pull of being a DIY band, the principles of hardcore and their ever-changing sound might have sent them into a box by some fans. Pigeonholed as a post-hardcore revival record before it’s even been released, ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’ is far from just that. And how does it make Olli feel?

“It’s so annoying because I feel like post-hardcore is very broad as it is. I looked at post-hardcore as a category, and there’s like djent bands and shit, and I’m like ‘what’s this man, I ain’t with this’. If you want to call us post-hardcore - if the label makes it easier for you to identify with it - go for it, call it whatever you want to call it. We refer to it as emo, and

“We don’t have a label; we don’t have anyone backing us or some high mystical being putting money in our pockets to make it happen” Olli Appleyard

look a bit deeper than just what your brain tells you, you’ll find what it really is.”

“I look at the Underoath discography, and I’m like ‘right, okay, where’s the vocoder tracks? And the electronic interludes? What about the string sections and all the weird stuff?’ It’s just not there. We’re not the same. Some people look at us and go, ‘Oh, they’re just a Glassjaw rip-off’, and I’m like ‘no, it’s branded in a completely different way, looks a different way’.

I feel like all people do is try to jump to what they can compare us with to feel comfortable, rather than just enjoying it.”

Beyond the comparisons and the concepts, enjoying the music is what Olli hopes listeners will get the most.

Building Static Dress into more than just a band has broken his bones and bruised his soul, so if ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’ can gift people catharsis and joy, he’s all for it.

A

that’s it. I feel like with the record, every single one of those songs is an emo song.

It’s just a different phase or a different genre.”

They’re not the first of their friends to be thrown under the bus by genre

labelling. Creeper got struck by the curse of My Chemical Romance comparisons, and Loathe can’t do anything without getting told they’re this generation’s Deftones.

And for Static Dress, they’ve been lauded as Underoath

clones and Glassjaw wannabees.

“I think the comparison comes from it looking like something from that era; it’s got singing and screaming, so they’ll jump to that. But if you scratch the surface and

s Olli works his way through a box of Magnums – thanks to his freezer breaking down – we ponder how it feels to look at the last three years and the journey they’ve been on.

“Honestly, it’s felt a lot like a car wreck where emotions are high, and everyone’s flying around everywhere.

It’s like ripping the training wheels off your bike,” he admits ecstatically.

“Now I’m sitting back and looking at everything, I feel like it’s starting to pay off, with all this work we’ve been doing. Where I’ve been stood screaming into a mic in front of a camera in my bedroom like a weirdo, it feels like it actually did something for someone. Sometimes I feel like an idiot, and I look back and cringe, but it’s helped us grow this thing into something special.” P Static Dress’s debut album ‘Rouge Carpet Disaster’ is out 18th May. Upset 35

O O O

36 Upset

OCCULT OCCULT STATUS OCCULT STATUS STATUS STATUS Zeal & Ardor are a band unlike any other. Sprawling, ambitious worlds form around their dramatic, fully-realised ideas. Their third, self-titled album might well be the biggest of them all.

We caught up with mastermind Manuel Gagneux to find out more.

Words: Linsey Teggert. Photos: Georg Gastas.

T

he act of subverting expectations has been at the heart of Zeal & Ardor since the very beginning.

Back in 2013, SwissAmerican musician Manuel Gagneux asked users of 4chan to suggest disparate genres he could splice together. One response, intended to be a bad-taste joke, was to mix black metal with African American spirituals, although that was phrased in a horribly derogatory manner.

Rather than react with anger, Manuel decided that the ultimate ‘Fuck you’ would be to embrace the challenge instead. From that sprang the central idea of the project: what if enslaved people had turned to Satan instead of God? Building upon the juxtaposition of black metal with spirituals, Manuel has created two hugely acclaimed records and an EP, laying gospel blues next to blast beats and soulful vocals alongside ear-piercing shrieks while layering the whole

hallucinatory avant-garde sound with generous references to the occult.

On paper, melding such contrasts together seems like an impossible task, but Manuel made it work with stunning dexterity.

When talking to Manuel himself, the expectations differ greatly from reality. Watching him perform live (now as part of a full band), he’s an enigmatic figure dressed all in black and shrouded in swirling smoke.

Watching him growl his way through lyrics such as “Where’s your fucking God, When you’re about to rot?” from recent single ‘Run’, you’d be forgiven for expecting to meet a serious, slightly terrifying character.

In fact, the opposite is true.

Manuel is softly spoken, lighthearted and doesn’t take himself too seriously. He finds the pre-conceived notion that he may be a stern, Satan-worshipping deviant rather

hilarious. “The funny thing about that is, when I started to get a lot more interest from the press, I actually for a second considered whether I should seem like this really serious person or put on a mysterious façade. The thing is, if that was the case, everyone involved would have a worse time. If you’re a journalist, it would be like pulling teeth, and I’d have to constantly work to maintain this lie. That’s not a sustainable idea to me, so I’d rather just be myself because I can be that consistently, no problem!”

Manuel himself has stated that he’s been somewhat bemused at the unexpected success of Zeal & Ardor; after all, it was only meant to be a one-off recording project.

After releasing their debut album ‘Devil Is Fine’ in 2016, the naysayers still questioned whether it was all a gimmick. The critical success of ‘Stranger Fruit’ in 2018 further Upset 37

cemented the band’s status as a genuine force to be reckoned with. “’Stranger Fruit’ certainly marked a shift for us; we got to play with great bands as openers and got to tour with idols of mine. As for my mindset towards it all, I don’t think it would be healthy if I focused too much on that. I have a healthy ego as it is; I don’t think it needs any further assistance,” he laughs. “I’d worry I would pretty much shift into the world of being insufferable and arrogant, so in the interest of not being a douchebag, I think I just have to listen to myself and block out the rest.”

Though he keeps his ego in check, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that Zeal & Ardor had stumbled upon something that caught people’s attention - something worth pursuing. The success of their previous records had left the band in a pretty comfortable spot when it came to deciding on where to go with the next record, so much, so that album number three is simply and confidently named ‘Zeal & Ardor’.

“I realise this is every band talking about their album ever, but it felt like we came to where we wanted to be and how we wanted this project to sound.” In his typical selfdeprecating manner, Manuel also jokes that they also didn’t have any ideas for a better name. “I know I’m supposed to give a really mysterious answer, but there’s no merit in lying as I’ll probably fuck up the lie two interviews down the line - I can’t keep it up!”

With ‘Zeal & Ardor’, Manuel states that he’s honed in what it is that makes the band interesting, but what is ‘it’? The power of what makes Zeal & Ardor like nothing else is almost indescribable, more of a feeling than something you can verbalise. It’s almost primal, and very cathartic.

“To me, it’s the constant atmosphere of it all. I think we can experiment and fluctuate when it comes to genres, but if it can maintain that eerie atmosphere, I think that makes us ‘us’. I think we dialled in on that, and now I actually feel confident in exploring that a little bit more.”

‘Zeal & Ardor’ takes the contrasting characteristics, the juxtaposition of genres they’ve so successfully explored, and amplifies

38 Upset

them. The bluesy, soul-infused tracks such as ‘Golden Liar’ and ‘Bow’ are unabashedly bigger and stadium-filling in size without ever being overblown. The heavier tracks are harsher and more sonically aggressive than anything that’s come before. ‘Götterdämmerung’, for instance, (that’s German for ‘Twilight of the Gods’, for those of us who aren’t as fluent in as many languages as Manuel) is a mind-blowingly brilliant assault on the senses.

Most of it is sung in German, which makes it all the more punishing, or as Manuel puts it, “Basically like a slap in the face”.

“In terms of embracing the heavier side, that just felt like the natural continuation of things,” explains Manuel. “In terms of earning a lot of money, it’s probably not the best decision we’ve made, but I feel like this is the organic way of how it would continue. Plus, it’s just a bunch of fun to make really hard music.”

As with the aforementioned ‘Götterdämmerung’, which takes inspiration from part of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, a great deal of Zeal & Ardor’s music is layered with multiple references to religion (or rather the criticism of) and the occult. ‘Stranger Fruit’ featured vocal samples of occult master Aleister Crowley and the founder of the Church of Satan himself, Anton LaVey, as well as flirting with demonology.

‘Zeal & Ardor’ continues with the occult exploration and is even more stinging in its anti-religious sentiment, as blatantly displayed in song titles ‘Death to the Holy’ and ‘Church Burns’. Even the album’s cover art features the hands of Baphomet in their ‘as above, so below’ pose, though Manuel is somewhat reluctant to discuss themes specifically.

“I suppose I prefer to keep things slightly ambiguous, otherwise you lose that magical connection to it. I know there’s the ‘Wake of Nation’ EP, which was overtly political [released in 2020 in direct response to the murder of George Floyd], but I’d like to leave that as the one time that I got really specific about stuff. In this record, there’s a lot of the old occult stuff, though the political angle is still there if you dig for it.

“I also concur about the anti-

“It’s a bunch of fun to make really hard music” Manuel Gagneux

religious, anti-God sentiment, especially in ‘Death to the Holy’, though it’s more of an allegorical thing - nothing is holy in a sense, it goes into more of a freedom of speech angle. Being the band that we are, we can subvert that with antiChristian or anti-religious sentiment, but it’s more about freedom of speech than anything else.”

So how much are these references for shock value, and how much actually aligns with Manuel’s personal beliefs? “For the sake of this interview, none at all,” he laughs knowingly. You can imagine he gets sick of being asked if he practices

Satanism, though he politely points out that it’s a fair question to ask of someone who put out a record called ‘Devil is Fine’.

“I do subscribe to certain beliefs in that direction,” he teases. “I suppose I do have a personal fascination for the occult. It also goes back to the idea of secret societies, which has tickled people’s brains ever since they’ve been around. Then there’s the other side of it, that on a philosophical level, Satanism is not about anything spiritual or holy or magical; it’s just the idea that you can fulfil your ego as far as it goes without hindering anyone else to do the same. That I can very much subscribe to. There’s also stupid stuff like ‘no mercy for the weak’, which I think is total bullshit, but y’know... pick and choose!”

Though Manuel states that nothing is for shock value, it brings us back to the idea of subverting people’s expectations. Ultimately, and it’s evident from the glint in his eye, it seems he does enjoy ruffling a few feathers, something he refers to as ‘a welcome side-effect.”

“It’s a nice by-product from what we do. It’s not the main intention, but I guess if we had no reaction or if people just say ‘well, it’s an okay album’, or the consensus is that it’s just ‘good’, I don’t think I’ve done my job as someone who intends to make interesting music. So ruffled feathers are par for the course.” P Zeal & Ardor’s self-titled album is out now.

Upset 39

THE

NEW NORMAL.

Fatherson have ripped up their own rulebook for a new record that sees them reaching further than ever before.

Words: Dillon Eastoe.

Photos: David Anderson.

40 Upset

F

orced apart by lockdowns as they started writing their fourth album, Fatherson have embraced the new normal, working remotely to find new textures in their sound and create their smartest collection of songs yet.

Getting right in your face with guitars parked at the front of the mix, Fatherson amped things up on the driving rock of 2018’s ‘Sum Of All Your Parts’, which later saw them step up to support compatriot Lewis Capaldi in sold-out enormodomes across Europe. That album took their songwriting to its rawest extreme, the Scottish trio stripping things back to essentials and tracking their parts live, so something was bound to give when they came to make a follow-up.

“We released a reimagined EP [in 2019] that had four tracks from ‘Sum Of All Your Parts’ on it,” bassist Marc Strain says. “Which opened

Upset 41

our eyes to a different way of working instead of only writing music in a noisy room together.”

As circumstances would have it, for the first time in over ten years, Marc, guitarist Ross Leighton and drummer Greg Walkinshaw would be unable to get together in a room to jam for months and were forced to take their writing sessions for new album ‘Normal Fears’ online. At home in Kilmarnock, Ross was able to connect virtually with some big-name collaborators, including Rich Turvey (Blossoms, Courteeners), Seton Daunt (Kylie, Amy MacDonald) and Amber Run’s Joe Keogh on the heart wrenching ‘Honest to God’.

“I love music,” Ross says simply of the sessions. “In all its shapes and sizes. It was amazing to step into a new realm and learn a lot.

For years, collaboration and co-writing in a band was almost taboo. I think they’re missing the whole point! Working with other people makes you better at what you do, so why limit yourself?”

Diving into the first of these sessions, with Daniel Morgan-Ball (Jimmy Eat World, Feeder), Ross surfaced with ‘Normal Fears’ opening one-two; the breezy optimism of ‘End of the World’ and the moody synth-pop atmospherics of ‘Love for Air’. “That song is really about facing up to situations that can be seen as apocalyptic but realising that things move on and everything will be alright!” Greg says of the former. “Life can be really hard sometimes, but it’s important to know that however difficult it may seem, you can and will overcome its challenges.”

“At the end of the day, everyone just wants to hear great songs,” Ross explains of his work with co-writers.

“I love writing songs with new people; it genuinely inspires me, hearing 42 Upset

“For years, collaboration and co-writing in a band was almost taboo” Ross Leighton other people’s stories and listening to their ideas. Long may it continue!”

For a group of childhood friends that have been writing, recording and performing together nonstop for over a decade, spending time apart was a shock to the Fatherson system. The remote method of piecing arrangements together from individual fragments defines the sound of ‘Normal Fears’, loops and artificial instrumentation playing a big part in anchoring the songs and the band peppering the record with subtle production flourishes that dip out of the mix as quickly as they flit in. “There’s a couple of spots on the record where we chose [musical] phrases to mimic the lyrics,” Ross explains. “In ‘Normal People’, for example, there’s a lyric in the second verse: “but singing the blues won’t help you find it”. I just thought it would be cool to put a blues piano run in the space between the vocal melody. Which is totally out of context of the song, but I think accentuated the point that I was making.”

“On the rest of the record, we were just conscious of things overstaying their welcome,” he continues. “We were heavily influenced by Bon Iver’s ‘22, a Million’ album where there are hints of different instruments and melodies that were so intriguing and make you listen over and over.

Sometimes a great idea only has to happen once to be effective, and I love that

we managed to make that a theme of the production on the record.”

Released as a taster with the album announcement late last year, single ‘Normal People’ went down a storm at Fatherson’s run of autumn shows, and epitomises what works so well about this record.

“Don’t watch the news, don’t read the papers,” Ross advises over thrumming acoustic guitar, swiping at the exclusionary nature of top-down current affairs reporting, later lamenting on the soaring chorus: “When they talk about normal people, they never talk about you and me”.

“It was one of those songs that came together in about 30 minutes,” Ross remembers. “Rich Turvey and I had a blether for like an hour, and he’d been watching the show [of the same name], and I thought that’s a great title for a song and a great concept to write about. What is normal? And does anyone ever really feel normal? It’s written about just being bombarded with information all the time and feeling like none of it is really aimed at you, the classic tale of the outsider.”

That they’re able to pack references to the TV show, verses dealing with political disengagement and a catchy-as-hell love song chorus in under three minutes of pop-rock speaks to the precision to which Fatherson have honed their craft. At the other end of the spectrum, the sparse ‘Honest to God’ sees Leighton bare his

soul behind a piano. “It’s basically about feeling so distant from yourself and how difficult I was finding the isolation of everything.

To see how it connected with people who had gone through similar experiences or were currently in the middle of them really cemented to me that the song needed to be shared,” he affirms. “We tracked it the first day we went to RAK [studio], and it wasn’t touched again. Lightning in a bottle, for such an important song. I’m very pleased that it’s out there.”

The album’s jewel is the euphoric lift of ‘Dive’, expertly releasing the tension of its eerie verses

in an infectious burst of optimism. “I think it’s a pretty universal fear to take a leap of faith, whether that be to falling in love or changing career, or even just doing something small you’ve been putting off for ages,” says Ross of the song’s massive chorus, which he belts out in subzero temperatures perched atop a lilo in the North Sea in the accompanying video. “It ties into the idea of the title ‘Normal Fears’.

It’s normal to be afraid of change, but unless you go into it with open arms, then you’ll never see what great things could happen if you just dove in. It’s normal to fear those things, but that

fear almost always holds you back.”

Now those fears have been resoundingly beaten, left defeated in the rearview mirror, and the LP is finally out there, thoughts inevitably turn to getting back on tour with the new material in their arsenal.

“It was the longest we had gone without playing music live together since we were about 14 years old,” Marc remarks of the seemingly endless void before their celebratory October 2021 tour. “The first show back was a very special one. I’ll be honest, it was all a bit of a blur - having been pretty out of practice and a bit overwhelmed.”

“Ultimately, at the heart of ‘Normal Fears’ is still a three-piece rock band who love making loud guitar music and hitting the drums as hard as they possibly can,” Greg reassures. “It’s a piece of work that we made during an incredibly difficult time about going through a really rough patch in life. We made some choices in the studio to find a different way of approaching these songs that made us feel super excited, but don’t worrywhen you come see us live, we will absolutely smash the new songs just as hard as our older material!”

“With this record, it was all about pushing ourselves, collaborating

and not settling until we were completely happy that something was the best we could make it. We weren’t sure exactly what we would end up with,” Marc admits, “but I think it worked out pretty well. Hopefully, everyone else does too.”

“It was the most fun we’ve ever had making an album, and I hope you can hear it,” says Ross. “It’s also a lesson to ourselves. We’re best friends in a band. Life is more than alright.” P Fatherson’s album ‘Normal People’ is out 1st April.

Upset 43

IT’S GONNA

BE 44 Upset

I

With his new album ‘On To Bigger Things’, Iann Dior is riding a wave.

Words: Steven Loftin.

Upset 45

E

ver since he decided to focus his life on music, it would seem Iann Dior has been on the path to better things.

The Texan’s breakout moment came after teaming up with 24KGoldn for their 2020 worldwide smash ‘Mood’. Storming through the charts, the pair dominated, playing directly into the hands of the driven rapper who’d already begun to make his mark with his 2019 debut album ‘Industry Plant’, a subtle middle finger to those speculating that he might be just that thanks to his swift rise.

Not one to waste his upswing, Iann spent the best part of the last year reaping those rewards.

Turning them into his next full-length, ‘On To Better Things’, and having already reached for the stars and grabbed them, he’s seen his chance to take the lot. Featuring everyone’s favourite pop-punk spearheads, Machine Gun Kelly and Travis Barker, along with rap icon Lil Uzi Vert, it showcases everything that makes Iann Dior, Iann Dior. Equal parts genre-splicing and emotivetugging, its focused fire and doe-eyed fury simmer insatiably.

In the wake of his second album, it’s all systems go on his search for even better things. So, given he’s had such a wild time of it recently, it felt like a prudent time to try and pin

down one of the buzziest names in the industry to see how he’s getting on, and what it’s like being Iann Dior.

Did you feel how you expected after finishing up, and releasing, ‘On To Better Things’?

Yeah, I mean, it feels good.

My fans are happy with the project, so that’s all I can ask for. ‘OTBT’ really tells the story of my last two years, and it demonstrates a lot about me as an artist.

Each song is a timestamp for me, a reflection of a certain point in my life. It feels good to have that out in the world and to look forward to what’s coming next.

What was the period of your life between ‘On To...’ and ‘Industry Plant’ like?

It was tough like it was for a lot of people. I think COVID happening was hard for everyone; it was really an adjustment period. I went through a lot of personal struggles, and the album reflects that. That’s why I named it ‘On To Better Things’.

How does it fit in next to ‘Industry Plant’?

‘OTBT’ shows my capabilities as an artist. I’m just getting started.

Do you see a limit to where you can go as an artist?

Nah, there’s no limit. I

“Each song is a timestamp for me, a reflection of a certain point in my life” Ian Diorr 46 Upset

want to be the first artist to do it all. ‘OTBT’ is a good example of that; there’s pop, rap, some rock with Travis [Barker]. I feel like I can make great music in every genre. I’ve been working on R&B stuff recently, too; that is next level.

Similarly, do you still have that same burning drive as you did when you knew your parents had a different career path in mind?

100%. That’s something I always try to keep with me.

It’s what got me into this position, and it’s what’s going to take me to the next one. Back then, I felt like I had to prove something to them, and now the only person I have to prove something to is myself.

How does the mass level of acceptance sit after that?

I just stayed focused on getting better as an artist and becoming a better version of me. That’s all that matters.

The different genres you explore - do you find they offer you different things personally?

Definitely, each genre allows me to connect with a different side of myself. If I’m working on an upbeat rap beat, I want to make something fun and high energy. If it’s a guitar ballad, it’s probably more emotional or sad. I experience every emotion just like everyone else, and I get to explore that through different genres.

When did you realise you could traverse the worlds of both - for ease of description - hip-hop and alternative?

It just kind of came naturally. Since I was a kid, a lot of my idols, like Prince or Michael Jackson, existed in different genres.

My parents exposed me to a bunch of different types

of music, so I was always interested in exploring.

Similarly, how to take care of yourself when the world is going so fast for you?

You gotta take time to focus on yourself. I’ve been trying to do the little things to improve my life.

I’ve been drinking a lot of green juices, trying out some yoga, and a bunch of other stuff to work on myself. It’s really important to make that time for just you, especially in such a busy world.

What’s been your most wild experience as an artist - or because you’re an artist?

Every day I get to do what I love, and that’s such a blessing.

What’s the difference between Iann Dior of say 2019/20, and 2022 Iann Dior?

I’ve seen and experienced so much more. I’ve been able to travel abroad and experience new cultures, learn about new ideas, all that. It’s really helped me grow as a person and an artist. I feel like those experiences are present in recent work and goals.

Do you feel like you’ve ‘made’ it?

I mean, I’ve made a lot of progress since I was younger. I’ve been able to buy my mom a house and do a lot of amazing things, but I still haven’t made it yet. I don’t think I’ll have made it until I feel like I’m up alongside my idols.

Is there anything you’d do differently at this stage if you could go back?

I think it’s best to always keep looking forward, all the things in the past have helped shape who I am today, and for that, I’m grateful. P Iann Dior’s album ‘On To Better Things’ is out now.

Upset 47

TO WRAC

48 Upset

CK & RUIN

Vein.fm aren’t a band to leave anything on the table - but with their new album ‘This World Is Going To Ruin You’, they’re all in to spectacular results.

Words: Steven Loftin. Photos: Reid Haithcock.

Upset 49

V

ein.fm didn’t plan on writing an album as dark as their second outing, ‘The World Is Going To Ruin You’; it just happened. A dingy, erratic, cohesive wallop to the face, the Massachusetts fivepiece have found new depths to plunder.

While they may be po-faced in promo photos or give the air of not being overly approachable, there’s a big fat smile plastered across their chops right now, due in part to what they’ve just achieved; a cathartic wrestle with the internal and external. Life versus death.

“Oh, absolutely,” vocalist Anthony DiDio says with a massive sigh of relief when asked if there was calm after finishing the album. “After we recorded it, I felt like there was a massive weight lifted.

Not like it was a stressor, but it just felt like a calm. It was like, ‘wow, it’s done’.”

“It’s one of the darkest albums I’ve ever heard in my life,” he enthuses.

The adage goes that most bands start out playing the kind of music they want to hear, filling that gap that might be staring a bunch of us in the face. It’s fair to say Vein.fm have found that itch and scratched the hell out of it.

“Otherwise, there’s no point,” Anthony explains.

“We don’t listen back to one of the songs and go, ‘It’s pretty cool. This sounds pretty cool. I think this song will do well’. We don’t fucking think like that at all. We write songs because when you listen to it back, you get a shiver up your spine and freak out. You know what I mean?”

That kind of reaction is what Vein.fm urge from anyone listening. The brutality punching through any melodic notions is a welcoming space for those that understand it - which is precisely what it is for the band’s five components, completed by guitarist Jeremy Martin, bassist Jon 50 Upset

Lhaubouet, drummer Matt Wood, and Benno Levine on samples.

Since forming in 2013, and after a small name change from Vein in 2020, Vein. fm have been a bubbling promise, bursting, pushing beyond from the hardcore scene. Often drawing comparisons with the likes of Code Orange thanks to their erratic nature, there’s a lot going on under the surface.

“When it started, it was this thing that we didn’t really see coming that made way too much sense,” Anthony remembers. “I think that based on the music that we loved, and based on our friendship, and the shit we liked, it didn’t make sense why we weren’t playing in this band. We didn’t even realise it until the songs started being written, and we kind of unlocked this thing that we were all holding back from; we were like, wait a second, this is what we want to be, this what we want to do.”

Deciding how to progress after their 2018 debut ‘Errorzone’, Anthony reckons there was no overarching goal in mind. “The second the first song was written, it set the tone,” he explains on ‘The World’’s conception.

“It was like, ‘This is the vibe for the whole album’, and at the same time, all of that darkness naturally came out.”

Mentioning his thoughts on when people try and emulate such feelings, Anthony’s opinion comes out in the same way you’d imagine someone who goes through the wringer for their art would. “When people try to pull that stuff off in like a contrived way, where they’re like, ‘I want to represent all this dark imagery and these dark lyrics and this darkness and that’, it’s never really going to feel that way. But we know how we want our albums to feel.”

This is where the personal aspect of ‘The World Is Going To Ruin You’ steps in.

“The fact that we’re all able

to create something like that together and have it be what we wanted is amazing,” he says. “But I guess that lends itself to it being a personal experience too. We’ve all had our time to connect with it before writing it or before recording it, while recording, after recording it. Now it’s coming out, now with the playing songs live aspects of things, that will make things connect differently.”

It’s one thing to believe in what you’ve created, but when noticing the differing impact it has on you compared to your previous projects? That’s a whole different ball game. On if the band felt the same level of relief after completing their debut as they did its followup, Anthony hesitates for a moment. “No, I think when we recorded ‘Errorzone’ we were like, ‘Oh my God, this sounds so unbelievable. I can’t believe we did it’.”

“At the same time, though,” he continues. “I think after that one, there was a calm for sure; it was like wow, we did it. But then also it was thinking about this one, and what it means from that point.”

There’s a sense that securing their ideas and bringing them to life, not only in the live arena but cementing them as obelisks in their own right — theoretically forever — is the most important takeaway.

A manifestation of the Vein. fm DNA. Or, as Anthony threatens, “Once those things are recorded, they can’t be destroyed.”

“We did it like there’s nothing really left to do. That feeling is crazy because the takes themselves and the sounds and the way everything went, it was so perfect. It was like, wow, that shit is immortalised; it’s all there, all the pieces are there like, it’s done. The fact that it’s all captured was the crazy feeling.”

What was captured was an exposing of the personal.

Not just that, but the literal and the progressive. It’s

dealing with the world, its intricacies and trials. Where this comes from for Anthony and the band seems to be a little of the conscious and little of the subconscious.

Rarely entering into divulging this information; instead, the exorcism at play speaks for itself.

“I think it’s like a mix of both,” he nods. “There’s a lot of subconscious exploring to do, and there are things in mind. You can plan those things out, but sometimes

“It’s one of the darkest albums I’ve ever heard in my life” Anthony DiDio

they just happen, you know what I mean?”

“Then sometimes things just happen. We knew what we wanted to do. There was definitely a vision in mind,” Anthony says. “Whether it was to be this way or that way, there was a vibe that was set, there was a vision in mind, and the pieces came together. I’m happy that I think that every part of that album is essential to it, as well. We hit all the points that we were trying to hit.”

The weight this album holds for the band is clear from Anthony’s explanation of their recent run of tour dates where they aired a couple of tracks for the first time. Featuring an “Intense concentration of like, okay, I don’t want to fuck this up,” he likens it to. “time [slowing] down and you have a conscious thought where you’re like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe we’re playing this song right now’.”

Was there ever any apprehension packing it all into this fiery grenade? “No, absolutely not,” Anthony insists. “It wasn’t like this thing where we got on our knees and were like, I’m putting this uncomfortable amount of personality into this. It just naturally happened. It’s just an intense album.”

As for what that means in the future? Especially now they’ve dug into their darkest depths to create their self-professed “darkest album”? Well, the plan seems to be to establish a series of worlds to ruin you. “Almost like each album is its own little universe,” Anthony explains. “I don’t know where the next one will be, or where it’ll go next. But I’m sure it’ll go somewhere. I feel like this band has a lot of exploring to do still.”

Admitting that they’re stridently focused upon that exploration and just where they could go with Vein.fm, their future is ready for them to burn it to the ground to start again. Especially since, as per his own words, they can no longer be destroyed in their final form. All ready for that impending, colliding madness with that unspecified ‘something’ to create diamonds like ‘The World Is Going To Ruin You’.

“We’re still addicted to that,” Anthony ends. “And I think we’re still gonna find more shit to tap into, sonically and visually. I’m excited for whatever comes next.”

P Vein.fm’s album ‘This World Is Going To Ruin You’ is out 15th April.

Upset 51

Rated.

THE OFFICIAL VERDICT ON EVERYTHING

Bambara

Love On My Mind

eeee

NOBRO

Live Your Truth Shred Some Gnar EP

eeeee 52 Upset

Weighing in at seven tracks, ‘Live Your Truth Shred Some Gnar’ NOBRO’s follow-up to debut EP ‘Sick Hustle’ - is teetering on the edge of being a full album and hits just as hard. Opener ‘Better Each Day’ kicks off with a tongue-in-cheek gospelesque introduction that transforms into a punchy and infectious number.

With fuzzy guitar and beefy bass, ‘Live Your Truth Shred Some Gnar’ is an outstanding example of modern garage rock. Track six ‘Get With You’ is full-on fun with some excellent percussion. The EP closes with ‘Life Is A Voyage’, but don’t be fooled by its acoustic backing - this song still has bite. Explosive and full of attitude, this record feels timeless.

Flawless, face-melting guitar can be found on every track. Listen as loud as possible. Kelsey McClure

As brooding and uncompromising as a late-night underpass where the lights have gone out, Bambara have already got a name for themselves as a band with having something of the night about them and their stories from the dark side of life. ‘Love On My Mind’, a six-track mini-album, sees them lean even heavily into that reputation and add even more texture to their storytelling.

Whether it’s referring to baby birds falling out of trees, a caveman afraid of fire, or junkies waiting for death, the beauty to be found in Reid Bateh’s lyrics lies in their poetry. Life is bleak, but his keen eye for the hidden detail makes it an intoxicating experience.

Gone are the Gothic tales of ‘Stray’, replaced instead by personal explorations of vulnerability and internal pain.

‘Love On My Mind’ is a dark, dark record moodwise. But that doesn’t make it one to shy away from, far from it. The rest of the band wear that darkness lightly, and tracks like ‘Feelin’ Like A Funeral’ feel like they could be defining moments for what comes next as they boldly careen and slam through musical concrete. This feels like the lights have been turned on to shine on something very special. Jamie MacMillan

Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard

up a slice of pure faux optimism beginning with the wonderfully catchy ‘New Age Millennial Magic’ lamenting the state of the world over a proper T Rexesque glam stomp.

Recent single ‘Break Right In’, with its ELOreminiscent electric piano and refrain of “I think I’m gonna make it through the night, I think I’m going to make it out alive”, is so catchy it’ll run round your head for weeks. Buzzard certainly make no secrets of their influences either, with tracks like ‘Yourself’ summoning ABBA’s ballad magic and ‘A Passionate Life’ echoing Elton John’s ‘Bennie and the Jets’ with great effect.

It makes for a really fun record unafraid to show that you don’t need to be serious. Josh Williams

Fatherson Normal Fears

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Fatherson are taking the “alt’ splinter of their alt-rock identity and eee running with it on their ‘Backhand Deals’ is the fourth LP, ‘Normal Fears’. debut album from Cardiff’s Through a songwriting buzziest buzzards, Buzzard process that aimed to Buzzard Buzzard - and a “drop [their] guard”, the very good one it is, too.

Glaswegian trio have Tom Rees and co. serve embraced their vulnerability

Backhand Deals

and summoned walls of production to bolster it.

With parts torn apart and reassembled, the band are able to construct reinvigorated and vibrant environments that give their discography a muchneeded sprucing up. ‘Dive’ bounces between the two perspectives to demonstrate how Fatherson spring into a new pool of sound while still maintaining the ability to resurface, all while holding the same freeing emotion.

Speaking of emotion, ‘Normal Fears’ revolves around the end of a relationship and, while they may claim to not find optimism an easy concept to tackle, it is a theme captured with the silver linings in focus. As singer-songwriter Ross Leighton summarises: “this is not a break-up album, it’s a build yourself back up album.” While the slightly overinflated fulllength stretches itself a little thin, the variety within the 13 tracks makes this Fatherson’s most inventive record yet. Finlay Holden

Graphic Nature New Skin EP

eeee Kent metallers Graphic Nature’s first EP for new

label Rude Records sees them showing they’re a band with their feet firmly planted. Named after a Deftones song, it’s no shock to see them pulling influences from nu-metal aggression to Trent Reznor style brilliance - refusing to stick to the formulaic, but never straying so far they lose their thread.

It’s a mix that, while not entirely out of leftfield, still manages to mix the heavy with a refreshing edge.

The brooding, glitching, spoken word middle section of ‘drain’ shows it best, building the tension before collapsing under a titanic crunch. Satisfyingly brilliant. Stephen Ackroyd

town America.

So, it’s something of a surprise that ‘Don’t Go Throwing Roses In My Grave’ doesn’t quite follow the same path as other similar storytelling songwriters when they’ve gone solo. Sure, there are nods to The Replacements’ Paul Westerberg or The Gaslight Anthem’s Brian Fallon, but there’s also something much more nuanced going on here.

There’s probably just enough familiarity for long-standing Menzingers fans to get on board – and that’s mainly because Greg’s voice and lyrics are so distinctive. But make no mistake, ‘Don’t Go Throwing Roses In My Grave’ is a vast departure musically from the pit-friendly calland-responses he’s known for. Instead, it’s a grown-up album that resonates with adult anxieties and sepiatinged nostalgia. Rob Mair

riffs are so saccharine sweet they could cause hyperglycaemia.

And while these pop-punk numbers excite, it’s in the mid-paced moments that Mom Jeans hit new heights. The one-two of ‘Tie Dye Acid Trip’ and ‘Ten Minutes’ might just be Mom Jeans’ finest moment to date, bringing vocalist Eric Butler’s vulnerability to the fore. The latter, in particular, is the gooey core of a record and a genuine banner moment for the band.

By paying a tithe to the gods of pop-punk’s past, Mom Jeans have found the necessary inspiration to take their sound forward with spectacular – and sweetly-satisfying – results.

Rob Mair

ONSLOOW S/T

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Norway’s something of an indie-rock hotbed right now, and following hot on Sweet Tooth the heels of Spielbergs and eeee last year’s breakouts Flight Mode come Trondheim’s While Mom Jeans’ debut ‘Best Buds’ remains a go-to Onsloow. Less frenetic than classic of the dying embers the former and perkier than the latter, Onsloow instead of the emo revival, followfind the middle-ground up ‘Puppy Love’ had all between indie-rock grit and the traits of the dreaded sweet, sweet power-pop. ‘difficult second album’, It’s gorgeous, playful stuff with the band struggling too, recalling Someone to define their sound and Still Loves You Boris show progress.

Yeltsin if they’d nicked The However, ‘Sweet Tooth’ is Anniversary’s instruments. a blistering retort to the naysayers, with Mom Jeans Or, more relevantly, Slotface going ten rounds with finding a fun-filled early Charly Bliss. noughties pop-punk seam This eclecticism is and mining it consistently demonstrated perfectly on for inspiration. Most notably, the likes of Weezer, opening number ‘Sleeping/ Don’t Go Throwing Sum 41, Blink 182 and Third Daydreaming’, which fizzes and dazzles like an errant Roses In My Grave Eye Blind can all be heard Catherine wheel on bonfire as distant echoes – even eeee if it remains, unmistakably, night. Meanwhile, the As one-half of the contagious ‘Being With You’ a Mom Jeans record.

Menzingers writing team, is a near-perfect slice of ‘Crybaby (On the Phone)’, Greg Barnett’s songs propulsive indie-pop and a for example, has all the have become increasingly hyperactive highlight. chaotic exuberance you’d narrative-driven. While the expect from a band that’s At only eight songs long, view is that the Philadelphia a staple of Florida’s Fest ‘S/T’ might be svelte and group sing about shorn of excess fat, but – but elsewhere there are waitresses and drinking some razor-sharp pop-punk it’s still bursting with and blue-collar life, much hits that forego Mom Jeans’ character, bright hooks, of that perpetuates thanks traditional knotty sound. and some devilish insidious to Greg’s ability to write cuts. While Norway This is especially true on perfectly studied stories might be untapped and ‘Anime Theme Song’ and about the minutiae of small- ‘What’s Up’, where the under-appreciated by

Gregor Barnett

Mom Jeans

UK audiences, bands as exciting as Onsloow, Flight Mode and Killer Kid Mozart will change that perception – and fast. Rob Mair

Weatherstate Never Better

eee It’s easy to take a band like Weatherstate and reduce them to a simple formula - UK punks who know how to deliver a certain sound, and do it with a reassuring confidence. That’s a basic take that only skims over the surface of new album ‘Never Better’, though.

Delve a bit deeper, and there’s something going on here. Often raw in a way so many of their peers would polish away, there’s a grit to their melody too. While that may not be for everyone, when it works, it’s effective.

‘Normality’ is rough round the edges, often straining at its own limitations, while the Grease gone punk sway of ‘Never Getting Better’ is genuinely great. If you’re a fan of a bit of salt alongside your sugar, ‘Never Better’ could well be worth a bite.

Dan Harrison

Zeal & Ardor Zeal & Ardor

eeee If you’re looking for music that doesn’t stick to well beaten, lazy paths, Zeal & Ardor are mighty fine guides. On their third, self-titled album, there’s a sense of dramatic flair that cuts through the noise. A transformative experience, from its opening track, it’s a record driven by its own mood. Tense, tightly wrought and demanding attention, it weaves its own weird and wonderful world.

Daring to go big when others are quite happy to stay home, it’s yet more proof that Zeal & Ardor are a uniquely special prospect.

Dan Harrison

Upset 53

EVERYONE HAS THOSE FORMATIVE BANDS AND TRACKS THAT FIRST GOT THEM INTO MUSIC AND HELPED SHAPE THEIR VERY BEING. THIS MONTH, VOCALIST ERIC BUTLER OF MOM JEANS TAKES US THROUGH SOME OF THE SONGS THAT MEANT THE MOST TO HIM DURING HIS TEENAGE YEARS.

AVRIL LAVIGNE

my love for Fountains of Wayne has kind of kickstarted my interest We may be reaching a bit in looking deeper into the prior to teenage listening, discographies of onebut Avril Lavigne was the hit-wonder radio bands first real concert that I from the early 2000s. ever went to in the fourth This song and record is grade. I was so obsessed kind of a testament to me with her music, and my of all the great work and family supported that songwriting that happens because she’s Canadian, alongside the big radio and my dad loves anything hits that make their way Canadian because we onto the airwaves. So are. Her latest album at much music gets made, the time was ‘Under My and so little of it actually Skin’, and it became the gets listened to properly first or second CD that I and earnestly, and this ever had in my walkman band taught me a lot that I would carry around about how to start doing and bring with me to that. school. Looking back, that concert experience was BARENAKED so formative, and I think the fact that the sound LADIES she became really popular What a Good Boy for and kind of pioneered I mentioned earlier how is coming back into style my parents loved to show again right now. I still hear me anything by Canadian a lot of her influence in artists to help make me a lot of the more punkproud of being Canadian, inspired pop and Top 40 and besides being one music that’s coming out, of the biggest and best and I legit hope one day I Canadian bands of allget to meet her or see her time BNL is genuinely live again. probably my family’s overall favourite band.

FOUNTAINS OF I’ve seen them countless times, heard every song WAYNE off every album hundreds Stacy’s Mom of times, and genuinely I could be wrong, but listening to BNL just feels this is probably the first like a normal and natural song that I can genuinely part of my childhood, remember getting stuck like Christmas or family in my head. I was still vacations. I picked ‘What pretty young, like 3rd or a Good Boy’ as my song 4th grade, but the song example because I really ‘Stacy’s Mom’ was a huge believe it shows so many radio hit, and everyone of their strengths. Steven my age knew it and was Page will probably always singing it. It probably half got stuck in our heads because it’s somewhat of a rude song that didn’t age great and has cringy lyrics, but it’s also an amazing song off an even more amazing album. I wholeheartedly believe that my love for loud guitars and power pop as a genre started that early and with the release of this song and album.

I still listen to ‘Welcome Interstate Managers’ on a pretty regular basis, and

My Happy Ending

54 Upset

be one of my favourite vocalists, and the same is true for Ed Helms and songwriting. This song always makes me feel some type of way and is the first BNL song that I ever learned how to play on guitar. Obviously, they haven’t been the coolest band as of late, as most great bands either die cool or grow not cool as they get old and successful, but as far as their entire catalogue and the influence they’ve had on my life and journey as a player and lover of music, BNL will definitely remain my single favourite band of all time.

ABBA

Mamma Mia

I spent the first half of my childhood growing up in the midwest, where my family would drive ourselves 15-16 hours up and back across the Canadian border to visit my mom and dad’s respective relatives. When I was old enough to get super bored, my dad bought a portable DVD player, and after watching every movie we had on these trips, I started watching music video compilation DVDs. One of the ones we had was ABBA:Gold, a collection of all their most popular

videos and songs. I have really vivid memories of spending Christmastime driving through Northern Wisconsin/Michigan and Southern Canada, watching these ABBA music videos and spending time with my parents. I honestly miss those trips now, but all those hours spent in the car cooped up listening to ABBA definitely instilled in me a love for their music.

I genuinely cannot hear this song without singing along and probably dancing, and I can’t hear anything by ABBA without thinking about my parents.

Anytime I meet someone who also loves ABBA, I feel like I’m in a part of a secret club where we all have the same guilty pleasure band. In hindsight, my love for ABBA is probably a big reason why I like pop music so much.

THE KOOKS Naive

Aside from ska music, The Kooks were probably the only band besides like Passion Pit or Fleet Foxes (lol) that I would listen to on a regular basis. I really liked their albums ‘Inside In/Inside Out’ (which this song is on) and ‘Konk’, which were out at the tie and they had previously just done a bunch of big ass touring

and festivals, so there was a lot of online material for me to watch and listen to and devour. I feel like The Kooks are really the band that transitioned me into the more indie/ rock/even somewhat emo direction. They wouldn’t call themselves an emo or pop-punk band, but they definitely have elements of nostalgia and bittersweet melodies/chords that draw us towards the things we still like to do in our own music today. ‘Naive’ is the first song I ever heard by The Kooks, and I didn’t even know it was them at the time because the song was just super popular and on the radio and playing everywhere.

Not until someone I had a crush on showed me The Kooks and was like, “this is my favourite band”, did I actually sit down and listen to The Kooks, and I ended up liking the music and caring about that more than them, haha. I still think their set from Glastonbury was so legendary and epic, and they’re definitely my favourite band to come out of the UK in the last 20 years. P Find the full playlist on upsetmagazine.com.

Mom Jeans’ album ‘Sweet Tooth’ is out 25th February.

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