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Ashnikko
Hot Mulligan
The Acacia Strain
The Amity Affliction
Tokky Horror
Alex Lahey
Vukovi
Kids in Glass Houses
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The Used The Dirty Nil Bully
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upsetmagazine.com
GHOST
G
Y’reet?
June 2023
Theatre has always been a big part of heavy music - and few bands do it as well as Ghost. With a brand new EP packed with covers, though, this time they're adding an extra special touch of flair. It's the kind of showmanship that has us delighted to finally get them on to the cover of Upset - and from the sounds of it, we should be expecting much more come 2024. Count us in.
RIOT! 4. Ashnikko 8. Hot Mulligan 12. The Acacia Strain 14. Slam Dunk 18. The Amity Affliction ABOUT TO BREAK 20. Tokky Horror FEATURES 22. Ghost 32. The Dirty Nil 36. Bully 40. Tigercub 44. The Used REVIEWS 48. Sleep Token TEENAGE KICKS 50. Alex Lahey
Stephen Ackroyd @stephenackroyd Editor
UPSET Editor Stephen Ackroyd Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden Associate Editor Ali Shutler
Scribblers Alexander Bradley, Dan Harrison, Dillon Eastoe, Finlay Holden, Jack Press, Jamie MacMillan, Kelsey McClure, Linsey Teggert, Melissa Darragh, Sam Taylor, Steven Loftin Snappers Andreia Lamos, Dayna Gilmore, Jodi Hartley, Sarah Louise Bennett, Tom Barnes PUBLISHED FROM WELCOMETOTHEBUNKER.COM PO BOX 420, HASTINGS, TN34 9LZ
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.
THE MONTH IN ROCK
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→ "I LOVE TELLING VERY HUMAN STORIES IN A FANTASTICAL WORLD," says Ashnikko. "Creating someplace to escape into is a big part of that." The alternative musician has spent the past five years transporting people via bold creations, but their upcoming debut album takes that to the next level. Inspired by a short story she wrote, 'Weedkiller' takes place on a different planet, in the wreckage of a destroyed civilisation. The lead character is the sole surviving faerie. The enemy is the Weedkiller. "I've put a lot into it," says Ash, still recovering from an ambitious Coachella performance that saw dance routines do battle with a 12ft tall robo-puppet. "I can't wait to take that show on the road in a less pressured environment." She goes on to describe 'Weedkiller' as a visual endeavour as well as a musical one. There are no plans to share the original short
story with the world, but she is working on a graphic novel. "I've always written narratives in my music, but this feels like an evolution." The album features tracks reminiscent of their previous releases, but there are also many "different" songs on 'Weedkiller'," says Ash. "I try not to listen to other music when I'm writing and recording because you run the risk of sounding similar," she explains. It's hard to think of anyone making music quite like this. Ashnikko "approached the album like we were scoring a film", pulling influence from fantasy novels, Studio Ghibli's fantasy epic Princess Mononoke, Japanese art film Angel's Egg and action role-playing game Horizon Zero Dawn. The result is something cohesive and surprising, beautiful and visceral. 'Weedkiller' is "kind of" a concept record, according to Ash. Songs like 'World Eater', 'Super Soaker', 'Possession Of A Weapon' and the title-track are very much in that realm, but other songs are "very sexual and very much about body autonomy. There are also very autobiographical stories from my childhood," they explain. Sonically, everything is part of the same world, and the concept really comes to life through the visuals. That fantasy world is "definitely a lens through which I can write personal songs," says Ash. "There's a lot of catharsis on the album. It's me reclaiming my sense of self, stepping into my selfhood and growing as a person." They go on to say that the Weedkiller represents a lot of different characters from her life. "It's me grieving over the natural world being decimated, it's me speaking to my
ASHNIKKO is finally about to release her debut album, and she's coming at it with fire. Words: Ali Shutler.
Upset 5
American "post emo" foursome HOT MULLIGAN serve up brutal honesty with a dose of humour. Words: Jack Press.
HOT 8 Upset
STUFF Upset 9
COVER From his early days of deconstructing and rebuilding classic songs to his ongoing obsession with learning and absorbing new techniques, as they prepare to drop new covers EP ' Phantomime', GHOST's leader Tobias Forge sees each new track as a fresh puzzle to be solved. Words: Steven Loftin.
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STORY Upset 23
"THAT ROCK ‘N’ ROLL, EH?" YES, THE WORDS OF ONE ALEX TURNER, but more appropriately, this sentiment and its swaggering might should be stitched upon The Dirty Nil. Few cause guitar strings to cower in fear at their righteous chords more than the trio, but for a while, things weren’t all peachy in the Nil camp. 2021’s ‘Fuck Art’, on the surface, was a glorious riot. Stampeding through all that is good and great about The Dirty Nil, it housed singalong choruses and riffs aplenty. But in the background, the Canadian trio were compromising more than they’d care to admit. “I really had a great time marketing it and putting it out,” guitarist and vocalist Luke Bentham recalls. “But I think that we were at the absolute height of being influenced by our team at the time to try and go a little further in this direction or to pander to radio.” 32 Upset
Not an overly aspirational method of music making, it didn’t quite sit right with Luke and his cohorts, Kyle Fisher (drums) and Sam Tomlinson (bass). “My philosophy on things is probably similar to most people in my position, which is, ‘Well, how about you go fuck off, and we’ll make whatever we want to make?’” he shrugs. “But let us make what we want to make, and then we’ll go from there.” None of this is to say they were unhappy with - the now ironicallytitled - ‘Fuck Art’. It just found them bending in ways that were more than uncomfortable. Recalling the first single, ‘Done With Drugs’, Luke mentions it was his least favourite from the whole batch. “But it got immediately marked as, ‘Oh, this is gonna be the first US radio single’, and so there was all this pressure of trying to deliver on this song and massage it and make it a bit more
THE DIRTY NIL's new album 'Free Rein To Passions' is the sound of a band operating on their own terms. Words: Steven Loftin.
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FEELIN’ 36 Upset
Alicia Bognanno's BULLY have always been a little bit special, but with her new album 'Lucky For You', she's hitting a whole new level. Words: Linsey Teggert.
LUCKY, Upset 37
THE
FOUNDATIONS OF
DEC -AY HE LAST TIME WE SAW BRIGHTON ROCK TRIO TIGERCUB, the band looked inward to assess mental health through a colourful and distorted lens that offered quaking drops, dynamic sounds and an overarching melancholy on their second full-length, 'As Blue As Indigo'. Looking at their new project, 'The Perfume Of Decay', the artwork alone clues us in that things are going to be a little different this time around. "I always like to pivot a bit with each release, offer something a bit different; a contrast to anything we've done before," Jamie Hall shares, and the opening riffs of the record quickly establish the weight of sounds on the table. "This is our black album. The last record was all about colour, but this is
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our goth, Robert Smith make-up, heavy metal record." Where they might have previously danced around those deft tones for the purposes of dynamics, thematic or otherwise, these 12 tracks are extremely focused on causing overwhelming, joyous chaos. Amidst the darkness, a silver lining is hidden in plain sight; the title itself was inspired by 2021 drama film Memoria, which hit an immediate chord with the frontman. "As I get older, I'm better able to process and deal with problems, and 'Perfume of Decay' represents that quite nicely. It's an oxymoronic title, but that's true of getting older in general – there's the nightmarish worries of ageing, but also the optimism of gaining a lot more tools to deal with things."
TIGERCUB are back! Back!! Back!!! But this time, things are a little more... dramatic. Words: Finlay Holden. Photos: Andreia Lamos.
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HARD 44 Upset
TIMES THE USED are embracing the darkness on their new album 'Toxic Positivity'. Words: Steven Lotfin. Photos: Dayna Gilmore.
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