PIERCE THE VEIL
P.20
EDITOR’S NOTE We all know how
it feels. We’ve got something we have to do - we know people are waiting on it - but however hard we try, it just takes ages. OK, for most of us that means a couple of days late, but we’ll let Pierce The Veil off. Their new album may come four years after their previous full-length, but it’s better to take time doing a good job rather than rush it and end up with something not as good. ‘Misadventures’ is definitely worth the wait. That’s why they’re on the cover of this month’s issue. Elsewhere we’re jam-packed with big hitters, from letlive. to Architects, Beartooth to Thrice. We get ready for Download 2016, introduce some ace new bands, ask your questions to Against The Current and loads more. It’s a miracle if we make x deadline, to be honest.
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upsetmagazine.com
IN THIS ISSUE RIOT 4. LETLIVE. 8. FATHERSON 10. NAILS 12. TRASH BOAT ABOUT TO BREAK 16. YUNG 18. EVAROSE FEATURES 20. PIERCE THE VEIL 26. ARCHITECTS 30. REAL FRIENDS 34. THRICE 38. BEARTOOTH RATED 42. LETLIVE. 44. 65DAYSOFSTATIC 46. SLØTFACE
47. PAWS 48. RIVAL SONS 49. TRACKS OF THE MONTH LIVE 50. BRING ME THE HORIZON 52. MILK TEETH 53. LETLIVE. 54. MOOSE BLOOD 55. TACOCAT 55. MODERN BASEBALL COMING UP 56. ON THE ROAD FESTIVALS 58. DOWNLOAD VS THE INTERNET 62. AGAINST THE CURRENT
Editor: Stephen Ackroyd (stephen@upsetmagazine.com) Deputy Editor: Victoria Sinden (viki@upsetmagazine.com) Assistant Editor: Ali Shutler (ali@upsetmagazine.com) Contributors: Alex Lynham, Amie Kingswell, Danny Randon, Heather McDaid, Jack Glasscock, Jade Curson, Jade Esson, James Fox, Jasleen Dhindsa, Jessica Goodman, Kathryn Black, Phil Smithies, Ryan De Freitas, Sam Taylor, Sarah Louise Bennett, Steven Loftin 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 Upset. 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 Upset holds no responsibility. The opinions of the contributors do not necessarily bear a relation to those of Upset or its staff and we disclaim liability for those impressions. Distributed nationally. P U B L I S H E D F RO M
THE BUNKER W E LCO M E TOT H E B U N K E R.CO M
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E V E RY T H I N G H A P P E N I N G I N RO C K
“I WANT TO BE AFRAID...”
I F Y O U ’ V E G O T A N Y E X P E C TAT I O N S ABOUT LETLIVE.’S ‘IF I’M THE DEVIL…’, YOU ’ RE I N FO R A S U RPRI S E . A N D T H AT ’ S T H E P O I N T. WO RDS: A L I SH UTL E R. PH OTOS: PH I L SM ITH I ES.
’ve got to this point that could be dangerous or could be great, where I just don’t want to do anything that doesn’t speak in volumes. Whether it’s frightening, confronting or just cool; whatever it is, I just want to create art in my section of letlive. that makes you want to feel something,” starts letlive.’s instigator, Jason Aalon Butler. “Whether that’s good or bad, I want it to go on the spectrum of way left or way right.” The middle of the road was never really an option. With the band’s fourth album, Jason
finally got to do what he’s always wanted, “which was clearly the unexpected but also to plant my feet in the ground and say, ‘See. This is what letlive. is. What you should expect from letlive., is to not know what to expect. For me, this record is about opening up that door, seeing if we can walk through it and how far.” From the marching drums of ‘I’ve Learnt To Love Myself’ (which would sound right at home on Fall Out Boy’s ‘American Beauty/American Psycho’) through the A Tribe Called Quest influenced ‘Who You Are Not’, to the Nirvana-meets-Keaton Henson classic rock’n’roll shimmy of ‘A Weak Ago’, the band’s new album sees them go
further than ever before. It doesn’t feel like a departure though. “It’s all just stuff that’s been waiting to get the proper representation and I think we finally did it with this record.” “There’s this whole idea that music has to be something other than music. That’s dumb. These divisions we create, we call it punk or soul or pop, I just don’t care anymore. At the end of this letlive. thing I’d like people to look back and say, ‘They just wrote music, man’. I know the moniker under which we’re placed sometimes and I know the moniker under which I believe in. If it’s good music, it’s good music. Some of the most punk rock shit has been done by people who
RIOT
THE MENZINGERS FINISH NEW ALBUM The Menzingers have finished their fifth album, the follow up to 2014’s ‘Rented World’. “We’ve never been more proud of anything in our lives,” they say.
HARD AS NAILS N A I L S A R E O N E O F T H E M O S T B R U TA L BA N DS A ROU N D, BUT W ITH TH E I R N E W R E C O R D T H E Y ’ R E T RY I N G S O M E T H I N G E L S E T O O : C AT C H Y . W O R D S : S A M TAY L O R .
alifornia hardcore trio Nails are soon to release their third album ‘You Will Never Be One Of Us’. It’s an aggressive record from an staunchly DIY band, lamenting poseurs and those who don’t really contribute to the ‘scene’ at hand. Yet it also sees them at their most accessible. The band had a pretty clear idea of what they wanted to achieve going in, aiming for something catchier than their previous work, 2010 debut ‘Unsilent Death’ and its 2013 follow up. “We started working on the new album as soon as our last album was completed,” explains frontman Todd Jones. “January 2013. We wanted to make something heavy and more memorable than ‘Abandon All Life’.” 10 upsetmagazine.com
CHRONICLES OF THE SEASIDE
Sam Duckworth will perform Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly’s debut ‘The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager’ in full at Southend Pier on 2nd October, a decade after its release.
DON’T THREATEN ME WITH A GOOD TIME
We’ve always wanted to go dancing with Brendon Urie. He didn’t ask when we met up for his recent Upset cover feature, but he’s come good with the new video for ‘Don’t Threaten Me…’. Watch on upsetmagazine.com.
That’s not to say it wasn’t without its challenges notably, “making a full-length album consisting of ten songs that flowed well together.” Their biggest achievement with this release was just “finishing it,” he laughs.
“Just to have finished another Nails LP is a huge accomplishment for us. I hope fans will enjoy it and relate with it somehow.” The best environment for listening to the album? “In your bedroom on a record player.” Particular highlights from across the record’s twenty-one minutes include the title track, ‘Made To Make You Fail’ and ‘Life Is A Death Sentence’. “I like those songs a lot,” Todd adds.
Despite the memorable snarl of “You will never be one of us” across the title-track (“It’s a phrase I connected with a lot and wanted to express”), the trio think it very important that bands make an effort to be inclusive where possible. After all, what would happen to more niche acts without that new blood? “Every genre of music needs ‘gateway’ bands that introduce metal to people,” Todd ponders, “so they have a path to more obscure/underground bands.” P Nails’ album ‘You’ll Never Be One Of Us’ is out 17th June.
ABOU T TO
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THE BEST NEW BANDS TH E H OT TEST NEW MUSIC
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ung’s passion for what they do is instantly infectious. “I’ve always wanted to have a record label,” frontman Mikkel Holm Silkjær enthuses. Hailing from Aarhus in Denmark, the quartet might be gearing up to release their debut album, but their musical roots within their city stem back years. “Aarhus is really tiny,” Mikkel describes of their home. “The scene consists of 25-30 people who are actually involved, organising shows, and playing in bands. Obviously, that’s not a lot of people,” he chuckles, “but despite
that, there’s a lot of really, really great bands.” Buzzing about a local group’s debut cassette he just got hold of, the energy is alight with potential. It’s not just his own creativity that ignites this fervour. Founding Shordwood Records in 2013, Mikkel has been releasing and promoting bands from his hometown for years. “We just released our most recent record!” he exclaims, racing through
descriptions of as many bands from a recent compilation as he can muster in the moment. “The scene has really grown,” he beams, and there’s no denying he has a lot to be proud of. What started out as an outlet for excess creativity took a while to snowball into the form the band are in today. “I was playing in other bands, and I wrote songs for them, but every now and then I wrote a song that didn’t fit,” the frontman explains. “So I called those songs Yung. After three years I had quite a lot,” he laughs. Finally daring to take things to the next level, Mikkel set about drawing a group around him. “I had never really sent any of my songs to anybody before, so I was kind of nervous,” he reveals. Of course, he needn’t have worried. Tobias Guldborg Tarp (bass) and Frederik Nybo Veile (drums) loved what they heard, and with the later addition of
2 1 -Y E A R - O L D Y U N G FRONTMAN MIKKEL HOLM S I L K J Æ R WA N T S T O S E E T H E WO RL D.
YUNG WO RDS : J ESS I CA G O O D M A N .
Emil Zethsen on guitar, Yung were at last ready to carve out their mark. Now, sitting at the forefront of a new wave of acts, Yung are on the verge of great things. With an aesthetic grounded in punk, the four-piece are constantly pushing their sound and style to new places, and the world is ready and waiting for them. “This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time,” Mikkel gushes. “I want to travel.” “I love the adventure,” he raves. “I love meeting new people. I love seeing new cities. I love playing with new bands.” With Europe and UK dates already in place, and a tour of North America planned for later this year, Yung’s journey is only just beginning. Recorded at Silence Studio in Sweden, debut album ‘A Youthful Dream’ encapsulates that sense of adventure. “It’s basically in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by this huge forest area, and there’s a very big lake,” Mikkel recalls. “These Swedish hippies from
Stockholm bought the house in the late 60s, and turned it into a studio. It was a wonderful place to record the album.” Approaching the undertaking in an entirely new way, Yung were able to create something unique. “I knew I was writing an album,” Mikkel asserts. “This was the first time that had ever happened. It was very important to me to write something that was different, and had a different vibe.” Creating something with a difference is exactly what the band have achieved. From the free-wheeling energy of ‘Uncombed Hair’, through the piano and brass interludes on ‘The Child’, to the lingering chimes of the title track, ‘A Youthful Dream’ is a snapshot into the mind and character of a band just establishing who they are. From these foundations, Yung are capable of achieving anything. P
FACT FILE
Band members: Mikkel Holm Silkjær, Frederik Nybo Veilie, Tobias Guldborg Tarp, Emil Zethsen Hometown: Aarhus (Denmark) Formed: 2013 Signed To: Fat Possum Did You Know? Mikkel started playing drums when he was just four years old.
“I LOVE THE ADVENTURE.”
“WE WON’T EVER STOP.” T TEN YEARS IN AND FOUR SINCE THEIR LAST ALBUM, ‘ M I S A D V E N T U R E S ’ M AY H AV E TA K E N P I E R C E T H E V E I L A W H I L E , B U T T H E WA I T WA S W O R T H I T . W O R D S : H E AT H E R M C D A I D .
ime flies when you’re having fun. Turns out Pierce The Veil have been enjoying themselves so much of late that they didn’t even know that 2016 marks their tenth birthday as a band until others pointed it out. But now they know, and there’s all the more reason to celebrate, with new album ‘Misadventures’ marking not only a landmark for the band, but a new chapter going forward. It’s been a long road here, and no overnight success story. From the
P H OTOS : P H I L S M I T H I E S .
ashes of Before Today, the Fuentes brothers persevered with writing, soon recruiting Tony Perry and Jaime Preciado, the final pieces of the PTV puzzle. They knew it would take hard work, that there would be some lows along the way, but together they’ve grafted over the years and continued a journey that sees the highs getting ever-higher.
As they sit in a London flat, the weather changing its mind at the roll of a die, one moment thunderous, the next scorching, the band consider how they’d have felt knowing the road ahead of them all those years ago. “I would have felt really happy because that was our dream, you know,” begins vocalist Vic Fuentes. “To play bigger
and bigger shows - I knew it wouldn’t happen overnight, I knew that we would have to play to nobody at the beginning, but I was confident that we would actually keep playing bigger shows and keep putting out more records. I think that progressing is a huge thing, and that longevity is even more important.” “I wouldn’t have changed anything,” adds Tony, “but it definitely would have given me a lot of confidence. 2006, 2007 was a scary time. I had been working full time and I was going to quit my job and do something completely out of the way, like I’m going to go live in a band “ “I would have cut my hair shorter
“THER NO RUE A RE LES.”
and taken out the bleach spots,” jokes Jaime. “For me, we talk about all of these learning curves and growing pains, and doing all the things we did - some the right way some horribly the wrong way... We became better musicians, better people, better bandmates, better whatever just from all those experiences. Like now we know the ins and outs of our band.” “We’re still learning every day,” admits Mike Fuentes. They remain far from perfect, and Jaime notes that, “I make mistakes on the regular. We have a joke of one in ten, like one in ten I get it right!” Part of that learning process has been knowing what’s best for the band, and in the case of ‘Misadventures’, it was taking their time. Originally pencilled in for late 2014, it gradually found itself moving through 2015, and settling on a 2016 release, and now it’s out there. “It’s like a weight’s been lifted,” admits Jaime, with Vic adding, “It’s probably the most joyous and exciting moment of our band’s career.” After a well deserved high-five between them for the album’s release, he continues, “To have this record out, we’ve been working on it for a long time and all of our fans have been very patient, so this is like a celebration.” It started out the same as any other Pierce The Veil record; they’d finished a string of festival dates, headed home and started writing. “We pretty much had all the music ready then we went into the studio in Long Island and started laying down everything,” explains Vic. “I didn’t have any lyrics written down yet - I thought I was going to write them all in the studio. That didn’t happen.” Instead, they worked solely on the music, finding themselves cutting two songs and starting again. “That was another little detour for us,” notes Jaime. “We weren’t expecting to do that, but we had to start from scratch which is not normally our vibe. That was a little challenging but we got through.” “Our whole thing when we record songs is that we explore every single option there is, pretty much,” says Mike, the sun making an appearance to give their perfectionism some more gravitas. “We don’t just record the first thing that comes to mind.”
With Vic staying longer to work on vocals, he’d been in the studio for too long and just had to get out of the room. It was becoming a case of cabin fever, and that was no way to finish an album. So they stopped. They took off on a world tour slap bang in the middle, including Warped Tour, and then decided it was time to go back - but not to that studio. “Instead of staying in one room, I decided to go and write all over the place,” says Vic. “I stayed in all different houses, in loads of Airbnbs, I worked at a couple of cool different studios. All these places gave me different inspirations and ideas and I describe it as searching for the song.” One such place was The Village in Santa Monica, where the likes of Snoop Dogg, Ziggy Marley and Weezer popped by, just one of many backdrops to their album. “I wanted each song to have a good story behind it. I’ve never decided to just fly somewhere to write songs. I booked a flight up to Seattle and wrote the last few songs up there, after that it was just a matter of going to record.” But what was going through the minds of the rest of Pierce The Veil at this time? “We always had a quiet confidence in Vic,” Jaime says, with everyone nodding along. “We just let him be. Obviously there is communication going on sometimes but he knows we have complete faith in him. We were just waiting in the wings for a phone call saying ‘let’s move on with the next phase’. “Getting that call - when he called, you could tell he was smiling.” “It was a really interesting time because you really want to call Vic to check in and talk,” adds Tony, “but at the same time you’re like, ‘Do I want to bug him?’, because what if he’s in the zone and he’s about to figure it out?” Figure it out he did, with the results including the likes of ‘Floral & Fading’, one of a few picked out, and a favourite of all the band. “When I first got together with my girlfriend Danielle, she started getting a lot of people attacking her online and writing all this nasty stuff and threatening her. It was super unfair and weird because nobody knows us, and it really affected her. She would call me crying saying, ‘Your fans think I don’t care’. I don’t even consider them fans, I consider them internet trolls.
“I wrote that song for her, saying we could be alone - we live on another planet and none of it matters.” “I’ve never felt more confident in every single song as on this record,” continues Mike, reinforcing why they’ve opted for the Misadventures Tour where they play it in its entirety. “Records in the past, there has always been that song or two that you are unsure if you should have made some changes here or there. But this record, front to back is just my favourite stuff we have ever done. I don’t have a favourite song. When I play this record I love playing every single song, we want to show our fans what we have been working on for so long.” It’s fair to want to show it off to fans - by all accounts ‘Misadventures’ is the boldest statement of where the band are musically, their biggest album so far. There was a growing pressure from the court of social media during the process; they tried to avoid paying attention and focus on the job at hand, but comments would spring up all over. Tony would post pictures of his dog on Instagram (@imdougthedog, for those looking to brighten up their feed), and get a, ‘Can I come play with your dog? Where’s the album at?’ “When people are asking for a record it’s better than not asking for a record because they want new music,” says Vic. “That keeps us actually excited that fans want to hear stuff.” “The best thing about it was that for all the fans who were asking about the record, there was just as many like, ‘They are obviously putting their time into it’,” adds Tony. “There were so many fans sticking up for us.” It’s been some road from 2012’s ‘Collide With The Sky’, and one that’s tested both the band and fans, in a sense. What have they learned about themselves through the process? “I think from writing two songs in the studio we learned a lot about our band,” muses Vic. “That we are not the kind of band that sits around in a circle and writes a song on the spot. That was a big thing I think we found out about ourselves - it will definitely speed up the process of knowing how we write together.” For Jaime, it’s the next step in understanding the band and continuing onwards. “I think with every
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his record is a bit more of a hopeless rally for help. Two years has passed since ‘Lost Forever’ and nothing has changed,” starts Architects vocalist Sam Carter, before bassist Alex Dean questions, “Maybe things have got worse?” ‘All Our Gods Have Abandoned Us’ is a record forged from “sheer desperation. Wake the fuck up,” points Sam. “We need to do something.” Ignoring the temptation to repeat ‘Lost Forever’, the band’s seventh record sees them listen to their own demands. “It would have been so easy to repeat ourselves, but it wouldn’t have been a challenge. We’ve been doing this for so long that part of the fun is challenging yourself. It was nice to drive ourselves mental and create something that’s better.” Sketched out since the release of their last record and then coloured in, in a dedicated space of a few months ‘All Our Gods…’ has been constantly on the go: “Basically what happens is we finish one album and Tom [Searle, guitar] starts writing another one the day we get home,” explains Alex. “It just starts, doesn’t it,” continues Sam. “It’s not like he says what it’s going to be… I don’t think even he knows ‘cos he always says, ‘I can’t wait to hear what the next record sounds like’.”
though. ‘All Our Gods…’ is about, “whatever’s happening at the time. Whatever feels relevant, important and whatever we want to get off our chests at that point in time, whether that’s personal things, environmental stuff or the state of the world and other ways of describing it and viewing it. It’s just challenging life,” explains Sam, before Alex summarises: “The overall theme that the world’s in a very bad place tends to sit with the group all the time but there’s different issues that come up and they’ll be addressed.” Instead of pointing fingers and picking targets, ‘All Our Gods…’ is the grand equaliser. The state of the world “is everyone’s fault,” according to Alex. “More people are conscious, but that’s not nearly enough. They’re aware of the problems but they’re not willing to change because it’s not convenient or they don’t realise how serious it is. People won’t change until it’s too late. Problems get illustrated by various groups all the time and people look at it and go, ‘Oh, it’s not at the breaking point yet’ - but when it does get to the breaking point, you can’t do anything about it. That’s where this feeling of hopelessness comes from on our end.” “We’re judging ourselves as much as everyone else,” adds Sam. “We were in the studio and it was a pretty dark time,” starts Dan. “The Paris shootings happened and however much you don’t want to eat into the spoon-fed fear you’re given by the media, it’s an unpleasant and scary scenario and of course, in our selfish self-centred world view, we play in a band and we could have been playing that show. Obviously that enters your mind. Then our friends The Ghost Inside were in a bus crash. We were excited to be recording but it felt like a lot of bad things were happening, so I think that further drove the album down a slightly darker path. It’s not all dark but I still listen to it and go, ‘Oh, we went in pretty hard on this’.”
“IT’S IMPORTANT THAT PEOPLE AREN’T AFRAID TO BE HONEST.”
Turns out he’s not the only one. From the release of ‘A Match Made In Heaven’, there’s been an excitement around Architects and what they’ve built this time around. The five-piece have been asking themselves, “How is this reaching so many people,” in disbelief. “It’s a testament to how much ‘Lost Forever’ had made us grow as a band to see that start there. This start is next level,” offers Sam.
“We’ve never had this platform to release new music on before,” adds drummer Dan Searle. “It’s odd. When we released ‘Lost Forever’, we’d just come off the back of two averagely received albums, if we’re being honest. Going into ‘All Our Gods…’, we knew there was a lot more interest and that was really exciting. We knew there was a lot of people waiting to hear what we’d gotten up to and it does feel like it’s gone to a whole new level now. We’re at a point well beyond what we ever thought possible. We did six albums as a much smaller band and you get comfortable. When you get taken out of that, you have to pinch yourself occasionally and remind yourself how great it is to be in this situation.” It’s not just their own history the band are reacting to
That darkness grows into a sense of mortality that creeps throughout the record, but that helps towards a “healthier attitude towards death. There’s an element of acceptance, eventually we all die,” offers Dan. “We all forget that, I think. Everyone behaves like they’re immortal in a sense and because of that, humans act like they’re blind or they can’t see beyond their own reach. We’re destroying the planet but we still want children. Well, they’re not going to have much of a life and their kids certainly won’t if we carry on like we are. Humans can be pretty silly like that.” No matter how dark things get, there’s a light to ‘All Our Gods’. “You don’t want it to be too full on the whole time. The important thing about this record is how you take it. From the artwork and the record’s title, to the words that are being sung, this album is about perspective. “Once you find out about all the stuff that what we’re talking about, all these dark moments, it’s not like we’re making this stuff up. It’s all true but at the same time, it’s very empowering once you realise that this is life and this is what’s going on. You’re not walking around blindfolded anymore and you really
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“G
etting older scares the shit out of me,” admitted Real Friends on debut album ‘Maybe This Place Is The Same and We’re Just Changing’. Two years later and the band are facing their fears with ‘The Home Inside My Head’. “It still does,” shares vocalist Dan Lambton, “but this record is definitely coming to terms with that. Life happens. There are things we can do to steer it in certain directions but we’re not always going to be in control. That’s the biggest thing to take away from it. Letting life run its course. It’s OK if things don’t come out the way you planned ‘cause that might mean it comes out better.” It’s an attitude the band - bassist Kyle Fasel, guitarist Dave Knox, guitarist Eric Haines, drummer Brian Blake and Dan - took to heart when creating their second
album. Written over the course of months, not weeks, the band had space to feel things out and ensure nothing slipped through the cracks. “It’s just weird how these things kinda materialise. After we put out our first album I remember thinking, ‘Oh, there’s eventually going to be an album two’, and you think about certain things, what that album’s going to be and then it just shows up, nothing like you originally pictured. That’s awesome. It’s how life is. If you predicted every single thing that ever happened, it would be pretty boring.” The band’s debut album was the perfect summation of everything Real Friends were up until that point. ‘The Home Inside My Head’ sees them head to pastures new. “We never set out to sound a certain way when we put the songs together. We did the bulk of the record with Steve Evetts and a big reason was because he was so passionate and adamant about this record being the best version of Real Friends that we could possibly be.
“ E V E RY T H I N G CHANGES .” NINE ALBUMS DOWN, AND THRICE A R E N ’ T P L A N N I N G O N S TA N D I N G S T I L L . WORDS: STEVEN LOFTIN.
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B E A R T O O T H H AV E RE AC H E D A T IPPING POINT: COULD EITHER THINGS TA K E O F F , O R F L O P , S AY S F RO NTM A N CA L E B S H O M O. WO RDS: JAC K G LASSCOCK.
RATED LETLIVE. IF I’M THE DEVIL...
Epitaph
eeee EVERYTHING CHANGES. It’s there, clear as day, in the first track of ‘If I’m The Devil…’ letlive have learned to love themselves. That sense of acceptance means they’ve got no reason to hold anything back and, across the carefully constructed eleven tracks of album number four, they don’t. From bona fide moments of soul-punk (Patrick Stump would be proud) to war, peace and everything in between, the band have taken the fleeting glances scattered across their back catalogue and run to them. Gathering up their eclectic blend of influences, letlive. march forward. And as diverse, shocking and twisting as the record is, it’s held together with a powerful cohesion. letlive. know how to use their voice and there’s not a moment where it isn’t utterly compelling. ‘Another Angry Song’ shows letlive. can still rage but it, like the rest of ‘If I’m The Devil…’ is so much more than that. ‘Who You Are Not’ wastes no time in throwing open its arms, ‘Nu Romantics’ is a scuzzy alleyway dash with ‘Reluctantly Dead’ burning slow but white hot. Underneath the glittering welcome mat 42 upsetmagazine.com
lies points for discussion. Asking questions about the way you view the world, as well as raising points on power, the record is the launch pad for countless conversations and change at large. letlive. have always been a band that’s welcomed anyone in, but with ‘If I’m The Devil…’ they’ve got a record
to match. Warm, intelligent and empowering, letlive. are on your side but ‘If I’m The Devil…’ isn’t here to lead the charge. Instead it’s all about of self-discovery. A record that’ll make you want to stand up for yourself and choose your own battles. An album that’ll make you believe you can make a difference. ‘If I’m The Devil’ is out for change. Ali Shutler
GAME ON!
T H E D AY S W H E N V I D E O GAMES WERE LOOKED
D O W N O N A R E L O N G PA S T, B U T 6 5 D AY S O F S T AT I C A R E M OV I N G U P A G E A R .
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W O R D S : R YA N D E F R E I TA S .
he soundtrack that Sheffield post-rock outfit 65daysofstatic have provided to videogame No Man’s Sky isn’t quite like most soundtracks. For starters, there are two versions. There’s the official one, which works as a standalone piece of music, and then there’s the somewhat revolutionary version that will appear in the game itself. The space exploration game (billed as being almost infinite, such is the
65DAYSOF STATIC NO MAN’S SKY
Laced Records
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It’s hard to talk about ‘No Man’s Sky’ and divorce it fully from its functional purpose and the context surrounding its creation; even so, this is a bold, beautiful and exciting entry into the 65 canon, a worthy successor to career highlight ‘Wild Light’, and a tantalising glimpse of where the band might be headed now. A new life surely awaits them in the off-world colonies; the chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure. Alex Lynham
amount of planets and galaxies there are to explore) actually procedurally generates the music during gameplay. In non-nerd terms, this essentially means that the game makes it up as it goes along as it reacts to what the player is experiencing. Pretty cool, but how the fuck does that work? We figured that the best person to ask was 65dos guitarist, Paul Wolinski. PAUL, HOW DID YOU AND YOUR BAND END UP GETTING INVOLVED WITH NO MAN’S SKY? They [indie gaming studio, Hello Games] got in touch with us because they wanted to use a track of ours, ‘Debutant’, to soundtrack the launch trailer for the game back in 2013. They sent us through some concept art and stuff and it was immediately clear that this was a pretty interesting looking project, so we said yes and asked if they had anyone on board for the soundtrack, which they didn’t. WRITING MUSIC THAT’S GOING TO BE PRESENTED IN SUCH NON-LINEAR FASHION MUST BE DIFFICULT, RIGHT? It was a huge challenge, but a really exciting one. We’d started playing about with this kind of thing before, doing sound installations and working with game engines. So because of that, we’d grown comfortable with not having ‘definitive’ versions of songs. Being an instrumental band, we’ve got a bit of extra flexibility there too. HAVING GIVEN THE GAME ENGINE THE TOOLS TO TAKE APART AND REBUILD YOUR SONGS, ARE YOU WORRIED THAT IT MIGHT ACCIDENTALLY WRITE BETTER VERSIONS OF THE SONG THAN YOU DID? Well, hmm. That’s a good question. It’s not going to be able to come up with a better linear arrangement because
it’s a live system that’s beholden to the player’s actions and, obviously, there are compromises that have to be made because of that. In any music, any melody has to exist through time, even if it’s just a few seconds. The live procedural system can do that to a degree, but it can’t plan very far in advance because it never knows when the player is suddenly going to get into a fight with a huge space dinosaur, or do something else that the music has to react to. What it will do is soundtrack the action going on better than we could’ve, but it won’t come up with a better version of an actual song. SO YOU’RE NOT WORRIED ABOUT REPLACED BY ROBOTS JUST YET, THEN? Not yet, but I’m sure it’s coming. P
SOME VIDEO GAME SOUNDTRACKS THAT ARE REALLY QUITE GOOD As fascinating as the capabilities of the No Man’s Sky soundtrack are, video games have been filling our ears with greatness for some time now. Here are a few of the best. SAINTS ROW 2: This game gave us the possibility to perform drive-byshootings while listening to Paramore, Taking Back Sunday and even The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus (remember them?). While Moose Blood like to remind us that emo is a gang, Saints Row allowed you to be an emo in a gang – and that’s every bit as good. ROCK BAND 2: It feels like we’re cheating you by including a game about music, but it’d feel like cheating ourselves if we didn’t. Any of the Rock Band or Guitar Hero games could’ve made the cut, but this one was the first to put AFI, Panic! At The Disco and Silversun Pickups on the same setlist, so it wins by default. TONY HAWK’S PRO SKATER: We had an argument about which game in the THPS series would make it, so for the sake of diplomacy we’ve picked the entire thing (THPS4 is the best one, mind [no it isn’t - Ed]). Tony Hawk and the lads made it possible to land kickflips while listening to Bad Religion and The Bouncing Souls from the comfort of our sofas and, for that, we are eternally grateful.
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