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Slipknot Four Year Strong Sum 41
MILK TEETH
EXCLUSIVE VINYL AVAILABLE AT
MARCH 2020 Issue 52
HELLO. Milk Teeth will be no strangers to regular readers of Upset. They featured in our very first issue, blessed our cover approaching the release of their debut album, and have been a constant presence in our little corner of the musical universe along the way. But that doesn’t tell the full story of the road to that new, self-titled second record. Line-up changes, label swaps and all kinds of other forms of upheaval and struggle have buzzed around an band dear to our hearts. Now, as they sit on the eve of something more than a little bit special, we’re checking in to find out exactly where they stand. Defiant to the end, we’re bloody happy they’re here.
RIOT 4. SLIPKNOT 8. INTECHNICOLOUR 10. ORCHARDS 12. WATERPARKS 14. THE REGRETTES 15. 2000TREES 16. SUM 41 ABOUT TO BREAK 18. SOCIAL ANIMALS FEATURES 20. MILK TEETH 30. FOUR YEAR STRONG 34. LOATHE 38. NOVA TWINS REVIEWS 42. GREEN DAY 45. LE BUTCHERETTES TEENAGE KICKS 46. CROSSFAITH
S tephen
Editor / @stephenackroyd
Upset Editor Stephen Ackroyd Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden Associate Editor Ali Shutler Scribblers Alexander Bradley, Dan Harrison, Dillon Eastoe, Jamie MacMillan, Kelly Twardziak, Martyn Young, Steven Loftin, Tyler Damara Kelley Snappers Frances Beach, Jessie Morgan, Sarah Louise Bennett P U B L I S H E D F RO M
W E LCO M E TOT H E B U N K E R.CO M U N I T 10, 23 G RA N G E RO A D, H A S T I N G S, T N34 2R L
All material copyright (c). All rights reserved.
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Riot_
THIS MONTH IN ROCK
EVERYTHING HAPPENING IN ROCK
Brighton five-piece InTechnicolour have been working towards their debut album for bloody ages. p.8
SLIPKNOT REIGN SUPREME AT LONDON’S O2 ARENA Words: Steven Loftin. Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett.
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Brighton bunch Orchards tell us more about their debut album ‘Lovecore’. p.10
Slipknot’s story is one full of myth, tragedy, triumph and juggernaut resilience. With the release of their sixth album, ‘We Are Not Your Kind’, signalling a new age for the band, Slipknot’s push and pull between their past and present is a fight they refuse to lose. And on their first go at London’s iconic O2 Arena, the future is undoubtedly held in the grips of their clenched dirt-ridden fists. There’s an air of apprehension across the crowd when ‘Unsainted’ with its choral melodies flares up. Still, chaos soon reigns supreme with the inclusion of early cut ‘Eeyore’ in all its brash, unharnessed hardcore glory, straight after the mechanised brutality of ‘Iowa’ staple ‘Disasterpiece’. More attesting to the raging heart of the Slipknot of today, each new track fits perfectly beside old classics. The epic ‘Solway Firth’ rears up, digging deep in search
Lydia Night of The Regrettes tells us what she takes on tour. p.14
of even more brutality, while ‘Birth Of The Cruel’ comes to life - flame thrower bass included, enhancing the bombardment it’s a continuous all killer no filler show with no respite. Indeed, Slipknot have never had an issue with putting it all on the line, but given the fact they’re well over twenty years into a career of the most extreme extremes, the fresh blood feels like a new life. Bassist Alessandro’ Vman’ Venturella, drummer Jay Weinberg and the still-unknown ‘Tortilla Man’, are the continuation of the reckless, unhinged psychopathy that made the world fall in love with Slipknot in the first place. Watching the frenetic energy pulsate, as each faction of the nine rises through the industrial network of steps and galvanised walkways; Tortilla lolling about his drum riser, Sid dashing and laboriously enticing like a hooded warlock, Clown and his playfully terrifying manoeuvres (including a flaming baseball bat during ‘Duality’) - the only issue with tonight is not knowing where to
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Over the past few years, Milk Teeth have been through more than one change. Now, though, there’s a second album. Spoiler; it’s worth the wait. Words: Ali Shutler. Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett.
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BRAIN Words: Alex Bradley.
Somehow, it has been five whole years since Four Year Strong released their selftitled sixth album. But it’s not like they’ve really been away either, having toured the 10th anniversary of ‘Rise or Die Trying’ and reworked their songs for acoustic album ‘Some of You Will Like This, Some of You Won’t’, all while raising babies and getting older and wiser along the way.
For Dan O’Connor, it “feels like forever” since they released ‘Rise...’ when he looks back at how much his life has changed in the last few years, but the consensus around Four Year Strong is that their new album has definitely been worth the wait. They’re back with ‘Brain Pain’; their most extreme album to date. “Extreme” in the sense that this album pushes further the sound of Four Year Strong in both directions; it includes
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their heaviest hardcore sound and their poppiest too into a cohesive 12 tracks. Those two different sides to this album is the exact reason why they decided to announce this album with both ‘Talking Myself In Circles’ and ‘Brain Pain’. “The argument for releasing ‘Brain Pain’ was that it was one of the heavier songs on the record and that will get the people stoked on the heavier side of Four Year Strong excited,” Dan reasons. “But ‘Talking Myself In Circles’, a lot of people who have heard the record seem to have gravitated to that song; on the poppier side of the band. Which side do we showcase first? And then we were like, ‘let’s just put them both out there, and then people get the bookends in regards to the spectrum of what this album is dished out to them at once’.” Regardless of the various approaches, what carries throughout the new album is a palpable and fresh energy injected into the music and hype around the band, as Dan describes. “Probably since even the ‘Enemy Of The World’ days, there feels like there is a whole new energy in there. “It’s the first record we have ever done where I keep going back and listening to it. I’ve listened to it the most out of any of our records we’ve done and every time I go back to it, I’m just so happy with the songs
that are on it, the flow of the record, the way songs flow into each other. I’m really really proud of this record.” What makes ‘Brain Pain’ different is that’s its the first time Four Year Strong haven’t felt pressured into making an album because they were obliged to ahead of a tour or because a long time had passed. The result of that was an album they wanted to make on their own terms and timeline. “We [were] not going to cut any corners, or make any sacrifices or any compromises, and do
NIACS
If you were putting together a list of the UK’s most hyped bands, there’s a good chance Loathe would be somewhere near the top. For good reason, too their second album 34 Upset
‘I Let It In And It Took Everything’ sees them take experimental metal to new heights. Bassist Feisal El-Khazragi tells us more. Hi Feisal, how are you today? Are you having a good 2020 so far?
Yes, this year has been so great already. It’s been amazing seeing the fruition of a lot of hard work that has been going on behind-thescenes for the past year and a half come to life and be received so well and with this amount of positivity and love.
Tell us about your second album, when did you start putting it together and what was your mindset like going into it? We began piecing together the
vision for this record about a year and a half ago. It took 451 days from inception to the completion and submission of the album, back in late October. It was interesting, this mindset. Going into it as a fan of the band (as this was my first album with Loathe) we knew we didn’t want to create the same record again - an outlook that we have on everything we create. The
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DOUB TROUB
BLE BLE
Two punks and a goth walk into the National Gallery Café… no, dear reader, this isn’t the start of a very obscure joke – it’s the scene-setting start to a meeting with the indomitable duo Nova Twins. Words: Tyler Damara Kelly. Cut a short story even shorter, we eventually wind up in the more appropriate setting of a crypt, and over a suspiciously healthy and thoroughly nourishing meal of pea soup and peppermint tea, we discuss all things in the manner of rock and roll. Nova Twins have been steadily gaining momentum on the underground circuit for a number of years. With an amorphous signature that fleets between gritty punk, riotous grime, and a sound that often is so raucous that it denies all definition, there’s a sense of exploring the unknown which the flows through their naturally unhinged noise. Riotous bass lines that simultaneously soothe and assault the senses, blurred with ravaging vocals that oscillate between saccharine and murderous; Nova Twins are carving their own path in the music industry and since they’re pretty much the first of their kind; they get to make the rules. “When we first did music, we were doing it for ourselves simply because we wanted to make music together. Then when you realise how it can affect [people] and how it can be a political thing, you’re suddenly more woke and aware of what you’re doing. You feel more precious about things,” vocalist and guitarist Amy Love explains of their inception. After being introduced to their music by a member of Nothing
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EVERYONE HAS THOSE FORMATIVE BANDS AND TRACKS THAT FIRST GOT THEM INTO MUSIC AND HELPED SHAPE THEIR VERY BEING. THIS MONTH, KENTA KOIE OF CROSSFAITH TAKES US THROUGH SOME THE SONGS THAT MEANT THE MOST TO HIM DURING HIS TEENAGE YEARS. WITH... KENTA KOIE, CROSSFAITH AEROSMITH I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing
I discovered this song through [1998 film] Armageddon then I fell in love with their music; my first record was their ‘best of’ album. All I had was the cheapest portable CD player, I was always with that and listened over and over again.
LIMP BIZKIT My Generation
I was digging pop-punk after Aerosmith, then I accidentally watched music video for ‘My Generation’. At that time, I’d never heard any nu-metal stuff, and that song doesn’t have specific melody but has a strong hook. It definitely gave me a new inspiration.
THE USED Taste of Ink
After my nu-metal era, screamo was getting popular, and it also changed my mind big time. It’s rougher than metal music, in a good way for me. Their singer Bert was a huge inspiration. Years and years ago, we played together out here and we brought an acoustic guitar and they signed it. I’ll never forget that moment.
UNDEROATH It’s Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door
I was spending time in record stores to find new music pretty much every single day. One of these days, I bought the compilation album of Vans Warped Tour 2005. This song is on that album, and their music style was completely
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fresh to me, there are emotional screams and beautiful melodies on it. Spencer’s scream was one of the reasons for me to start screaming in my band. If I didn’t find their music, then I might not be playing in the band.
SKRILLEX Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites
My friends played this song to me, and I couldn’t get it as musically, but there was the real feeling. Sonny Moore uses electronic sounds to make a riot. That was the moment of new era of electronic music. I was so shocked by his music and started digging electronic music even more.
SLIPKNOT People=Shit
I wasn’t a cool kid at school, and I was not satisfied with school life at all, but music always helps me to find my own identity. Slipknot helped me to find the anger inside of me. And they’re still one of my favourite bands.
THE PRODIGY Invaders Must Die
I watched their show at Japanese music festival Summer Sonic, and it blew my mind. Their show was my first experience of dance music, and I felt the possibility of dance music as live music. I just couldn’t stop dancing during their entire set.
PENDULUM Propane Nightmare
Now I’m big fan of bass music, and they are the reason why. And we started to mix with metal music with drum’n’bass. And I love their attitude, Rob getting famous with Knife Party on the EDM scene, then he brought Pendulum in the main stage of Ultra Music. It’s beautiful, and I was so glad that they didn’t forget the love for live music. P
Crossfaith tour the UK from 2nd March.