NEW ALBUM
OUT 19th AUGUST
SEPTEMBER 2022 Issue 80
RIOT 4. YUNGBLUD 8. THICK 10. LIFE 12. LAURAN HIBBERD 14. SPIELBERGS 16. 2000TREES ABOUT TO BREAK 20. DEAD PONY FEATURES 22. HOT MILK 30. PIANOS BECOME THE TEETH 34. THE CHATS 38. PALE WAVES 42. THE AMAZONS 46. JOE & THE SHITBOYS 48. I PREVAIL 54. NOVA TWINS
Upset Editor Stephen Ackroyd Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden Associate Editor Ali Shutler
Scribblers Alexander Bradley, Connor Fenton, Dan Harrison, Dillon Eastoe, Finlay Holden, Jack Press, Jake Hawkes, Kelsey McClure, Linsey Teggert, Martyn Young, Melissa Darragh, Phoebe Di Anglis, Rob Mair, Sam Taylor, Steven Loftin Snappers Derek Bremner, Ed Cooke, Em Marcovecchio, Jessica Gurewitz, Jessie Rose, Jonas Persson, Luke Hallett, Luke Henery, Micah E Wood, Sarah Louise Bennett, Tom Pallant 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
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HELLO.
New bands are exciting. This isn't news to anyone - and in truth, Hot Milk aren't entirely fresh off the block, either. For a while now, they've been exciting us with their raw, in your face energy and sky high potential. Now, we're finally welcoming them to the cover of Upset for the first time, in the wake of an EP that's sure to dial that anticipation up to new heights. Get on the bandwagon now, before it's too late.
S tephen
Editor / @stephenackroyd
Riot.
THIS MONTH >>>
Shutting up the mansplaining morons, THICK are backing down for nobody. p.8
EVERYTHING HAPPENING IN ROCK
The Big Story
“Who is YUNGBLUD? I don’t fucking know.” YUNGBLUD’s back with a new self-titled album, and he's staying true to himself along the way. Words: Ali Shutler. Photos: Tom Pallant.
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Everyone loves home - nobody more so than LIFE, with their new album 'North East Coastal Town'. p.10
With lo-fi rock and slacker pop vibes, Lauran Hibberd is finally here with her debut album. p.12
UNGBLUD SAYS HE ISN’T A PUNK. He isn’t a rock star, either. Hell, at one point, he claims he isn’t even a musician. What he is, is the subject of his self-titled third record. Rather than a definitive statement, though, YUNGBLUD’s most personal record leaves things deliberately open-ended. 2018’s debut album ‘21st Century Liability’ was a scrappy, snotty record that saw YUNGBLUD desperate for belonging. Follow-up ‘Weird!’ was a celebration of the community that found him. Released on the back of crossover collaborations with Halsey and Machine Gun Kelly, YUNGBLUD became bigger than Dom Harrison ever expected. “It entered this realm of beauty but also a realm where everyone had an opinion about YUNGBLUD.” He describes album three as a “reclamation of identity, a personalisation of his story and an explosion of expression. The age of the new kid on the block is over. Who is YUNGBLUD?” he asks. “I don’t know, you fucking tell me.” It might sound like a cop-out, but YUNGBLUD has always stood for self-expression. “Whoever you want to be, that’s what YUNGBLUD is,” Dom explains. “That’s what this album truly means.” Despite another uplifting message of rebellious freedom, ‘YUNGBLUD’ isn’t more of the same. While previous records have tried to be everything all at once, there’s a focus to this third album. “It breathes,” agrees Dom. “The first two records, I was saying whatever the fuck I felt in the moment, even if I didn’t mean it six months later. It was fucking true, and it was real,” but it was often a knee-jerk reaction to the conversation. “I’d scribble an idea down, record the song on the bus and put it on the album.” That urgency came from Dom’s insecurity around YUNGBLUD’s Upset 5
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A band capable of the moments that make music so exciting, Hot Milk aren't here to compromise or back down. Words: Jack Press. Photos: Jessie Rose.
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PU
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LLI Finding themselves in the centre of a musical world of their own making, Pianos Become The Teeth's new album 'Drift' is nothing short of remarkable. Words: Rob Mair. Photos: Micah E Wood.
NG
GTEETH
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“THE PEOPL GET IT, TH
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LE WHO THEY GET IT” Since their viral single 'Smoko' blasted onto the scene in 2017, Queensland three-piece The Chats have developed exponentially, releasing their debut full-length in 2020, days before the numerous Covid lockdowns. Two years later, with a slightly different line-up after the departure of guitarist Josh Price, lead singer and bassist Eamon Sandwith details the making of their new album, 'GET FUCKED'. Words: Connor Fenton. Photos: Luke Henery.
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UNW ANT ED
For their third album, Pale Waves have gone fully pop-punk. Spoiler alert: it works. Words: Martyn Young. Photos: Derek Bremner.
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I
T'S TAKEN FIVE YEARS,, but on their third album 'Unwanted' Pale Waves have completed their transformation from 80s pop banger merchants to full-on rock monsters. It's been quite a journey for a special band blossoming into a thrilling and gloriously comfortable new skin. "We've all developed as a band, as people and as artists," begins singer Heather BaronGracie. "The first album was very 80s synth pop, and then we moved onto a second album that was a bit more 2000s/90s and then with this third album, we've gone for a full-on alternative rock
album. We're just getting more and more confident as players with our instruments, and that's really shining through with the music that we're writing." You can piece together some of the DNA that makes up the darker, heavier hues of their third album from different periods in the band's history as their creative core of Heather and drummer Ciara Dolan reminisce about their formative stages. "We started quite acoustically and wanted to just be really emo, not emo in the way we are now but like Daughter and Lucy Rose. Benjamin Francis Leftwich was always
someone I listened to when I was young," says Ciara. Things began to get real, though, when Heather alighted on a revelation: her first electric guitar. "From eBay!" she cries. "£50. It wasn't any brand either. It had no brand." Following this landmark moment, the duo of Heather and Ciara started to think more expansively about their music. "I started learning pedals and modulation on the guitar," says Ciara. "I've always loved 80s music. I think something happened in the 80s to technology that really starts this huge creation of cool music. The Cure have always been a massive inspiration
of mine, so we emulated that through the music. We found our sound doing a cover of Fleetwood Mac 'The Chain'." "I was just talking about this cover with my girlfriend Kelsey yesterday," adds Heather. "It came on in the car, and we were like, 'We've covered this!" "We were a lot more upbeat than we originally thought we would be because we wanted people to dance," she says. "And cry!" shouts Ciara. "We wanted them to cry and then dance, then cry. Happy/ sad is such an interesting combination to listen to by really making you feel everything." Upset 39
HEAVEN
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Think you know what to expect from The Amazons? Think again. Words: Steven Loftin. Photos: Ed Cooke.
SENT. Upset 43
POWE 48 Upset
ER UP. I Prevail are letting go of fear, confronting expectations head-on, and aiming to push rock as far as it will go. Words: Steven Loftin.
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