** Plus ** Angels & Airwaves Trivium Diet Cig Milk Teeth Cold Years Belmont Violent Soho Yours Truly + loads more
54
upsetmagazine.com
Dance Gavin Dance Boston Manor Enter Shikari
a re o PVRIS Ly
n a cha
rg e , a n
n is ta nn Gun
d
king th
e lead.
TRIVIUM
|
W H AT T H E D E A D M E N S AY THE NEW ALBUM OUT NOW
F E AT U R I N G ‘ C ATA S T R O P H I S T ’, ‘ W H AT T H E D E A D M E N S AY ’ & ‘ B L E E D I N T O M E ’
C D | L P | D I G I TA L
AVA I L A B L E T O S T R E A M N O W
TRIVIUM.ORG
ROADRUNNERRECORDS.CO.UK
MAY 2020 Issue 54
HELLO.
Well, this is weird, isn’t it? At the time of writing, the UK is in full lockdown. We have to queue to get into the supermarket, and if you listen to some smarter-thanus-types, we may not even see a major gig this side of the new year. Quite how this all shakes up is beyond a simple music magazine, but the impact is huge. So much so that many of the records we were expecting to talk to you about over the next few months have started to move around the schedules. Take this month’s coverstars, PVRIS. Lynn and co’s third album was supposed to be arriving very soon indeed. Now, thanks to our good mate COVID-19, it’ll be with us a bit later - but we can confirm it is both massive and brilliant. You’ll find out more on page 30. As it stands, our plan is to keep bringing you magazines no matter what over the next few months. There’ll probably be all kinds of changes, but one thing we can be sure of - the need for decent music never stops. We’ll be back at the front of a packed show before we know it.
S tephen
Editor / @stephenackroyd
Upset Editor Stephen Ackroyd Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden Associate Editor Ali Shutler Scribblers Alexander Bradley, Dillon Eastoe, Dominic Allum, Jack Press, Jasleen Dhindsa, Linsey Teggert, Martyn Young, Paris Fawcett, Sam Taylor, Steven Loftin, Tyler Damara Kelly Snappers Charlie Jones, Derek Ridgers, Edd Taylor, Emily Dublin, Georgia Moloney, Lindsey Byrnes, Sarah Louise Bennett
RIOT 4. TRIVIUM 9. VIOLENT SOHO 10. ENTER SHIKARI 16. ANGELS AND AIRWAVES 20. YOURS TRULY 22. COLD YEARS ABOUT TO BREAK 26. BELMONT 28. REMINDERS FEATURES 30. PVRIS 40. DIET CIG 44. DANCE GAVIN DANCE 50. BOSTON MANOR REVIEWS
P U B L I S H E D F RO M
56. BOSTON MANOR 56. ASKING ALEXANDRIA 57. THE USED TEENAGE KICKS
W E LCO M E TOT H E B U N K E R.CO M
58. MILK TEETH
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.
Riot_ EVERYTHING HAPPENING IN ROCK
Words: Steven Loftin.
4 Upset
THIS MONTH IN ROCK
Enter Shikari’s new album, ‘Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible’ might just be their most accomplished record yet. p.10
Angels & Airwaves’ Tom Delonge is out to do some good with the band’s new single. p.16
Moderation has become the new norm for Trivium frontman Matt Heafy. Where it used to be all things all at once - and still is to some degree these days, knowing that there’s a balance, a yin and yang, is what keeps him grounded. In fact, even more so in the current climate, when early warning signs around the current pandemic crisis saw the group
swiftly cancel all trips and tours surrounding their new outing, ‘What The Dead Men Say’. “I know it might sound paranoid, I had this feeling that that’s what was going to happen, and luckily we didn’t fly out and get stuck,” he remembers. It’s this astute awareness which echoes through everything Matt, along with Corey Beaulieu (guitar), Paolo Gregoletto (bass), and Alex Bent (drums), have created on their ninth outing. Sure, some missteps have been taken, with recent albums feeling like a lost wandering into singular
Cold Year’s new album may have been delayed, but we’ve got the lowdown on what to expect when it finally arrives. p.22
depths, as opposed to the full meal, but now they’re back, and on ‘What The Dead Men Say’, it’s full steam ahead. Moderately, of course. “It’s interesting for me to be championing moderation. I’ve always found myself to be extremist in everything that I do,” he chuckles. “Everything I’ve gotten into I’ve gone in full; when I got into cooking, I had to make something that took three days for the first time. When I decided to do the martial arts, I feel like I picked the hardest one. But for an extreme person like myself to be
Upset 5
Riot_
Enter Shikari have carved out a reputation as one of the most ambitious bands in rock. Their new album, ‘Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible’ might just be their most accomplished record yet. Words: Jack Press. Photos: Derek Ridgers.
10 Upset
POSS
SIBLE
Upset 11
Riot_
Words: Steven Loftin.
ALL THAT’S LEFT IS LOVE
16 Upset
In times of trouble such as, y’know, right now with the outbreak of COVID-19 - humans are actually quite good at helping each other, from key workers taking on roles that are beyond important, to those trying their best to keep morale afloat, supporting the wellbeing of others. One of these people is Angels and Airwaves’ Tom Delonge.
you. “It really moved me to think that with the mass consciousness in a group of people, and they all put their mind to something, can pretty much conquer anything,” he marvels. “So I wanted to do something, to put something out that made people feel a bit different. It’s not going to change the world, and it’s not going to get rid of the pandemic, but I feel if all artists contributed to try to lift people up, over time that could really change the state of anxiety and fear that’s going around right now, as difficult as it may be.” As for where that next Releasing a new single, ‘All chapter on the Angels & That’s Left Is Love’ to aid Airwaves journey is at, Feeding America, a charity “that will be done in the that “feeds millions every next couple of months”, week across the United with ‘All That’s Left Is Love’ States”, this isn’t his first appearing “but the record foray into helping them itself is still in progress… the out - he’s also “popped up to first actual radio single has schools, helped put food out not been released yet. to families on holidays, and “I’m really excited for that different things like that.” push, and for when that But knowing his musical happens. We didn’t put this craft is a platform for good, out to be a reflection of the Tom stuck his head in the record to come, we put it out studio and gave words to a because it was ready and all I feeling felt across the world had to do was sing on it, and on a track that musically I was really inspired to sing existed before everything something that matters right turned upside down. now, to me, and to people. Following on from two And that’s how we got here.” previous standalone singles, The future for Angels & ‘Rebel Girl’ and ‘Kiss & Tell’, Airwaves has always been the igniting moment for ‘All at the forefront for Tom, That’s Left Is Love’ was a even back to the basics of scene that’s been cropping leading the charge in the up more over the last couple band’s creation by utilising of months. “multimedia pieces to “I felt like people were be a part of everything I pushing each other into a do musically,” that’s all cyclical state of fear and continuing onward. anxiety,” Tom starts. “I’ve “We have some big plans, done a lot of reading on but I can’t talk about them consciousness and people’s at the moment,” he smirks. energy. The problem is that a “But my goal has always lot of people are feeling this been the same which is to one particular thing, [and] it be ambitious, to really put literally does affect the world yourself out there and be - the material world around
Upset 17
Riot_
Much like festivals and Greggs sausage rolls, Cold Years’ cathartic new album ‘Paradise’ is something we’re going to have to wait just a bit longer for thanks to COVID-19. Ahead of its release this September, bassist Louis Craighead reflects on the frustrations that shaped it. 22 Upset
Upset 23
30 Upset
With a new label and a fresh outlook, PVRIS are back with a third album and this time, Lynn Gunn is taking the lead more than ever before. Words: Ali Shutler. Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett.
Upset 31
LITTLE
Words: Linsey Teggert. Photos: Emily Dublin.
WON -DER “Oh my gosh, how did we get here? Why are people listening? Did we trick them?” Diet Cig vocalist and guitarist Alex Luciano is musing over the sense of imposter syndrome the self-proclaimed ‘slop-pop’ duo have been trying to shake since their debut record.
Listening to their self-assured second record ‘Do You Wonder About Me?’ and hearing Alex confidently coo “I’m thriving thanks for asking” on cathartic opener ‘Thriving’, it’s difficult to imagine the pair feeling like they don’t belong, but it’s this vulnerability that makes the already charming Diet Cig all the more endearing. Like their unabashedly honest debut ‘Swear I’m Good At
40 Upset
This’, their new record is just as human, and just as impossible not to fall in love with. “Though that imposter feeling never fully goes away, I feel that with the last record we carved out a space for ourselves to be here and be heard by our fans,” says Alex. “There’s something about having your music resonate with people that makes you feel so much less alone, and it’s genuinely because of that that we feel a little more confident.” Having spent most of their life as a band on tour, the New York natives decided to take their foot off the gas in 2019 to approach their next record in a more measured way. “We moved to Richmond, Virginia to hide out and make music,” explains drummer Noah Bowman. “It’s a nice change of pace being down in Richmond versus being in New York – it was crazier being at home than it was being on tour, so coming down here gave us a chance to slow down and figure out what we wanted to do for this next
Upset 41
AFTERB 44 Upset
Dance Gavin Dance are something of a phenomenon pretty much everywhere but the behind-the-times UK - but with their new album ‘Afterburner’, that’s all about the change. Words: Steven Loftin. Photos: Lindsey Byrnes.
BURNER Upset 45
U S E D G L U E 50 Upset
Boston Manor are firm favourites ‘round our way. Their second album ‘Welcome to the Neighbourhood’ was a huge step up for the group and one of 2018’s stand-outs - it even saw them grace the cover of this very magazine. And their third record, ‘GLUE’? Well, we wouldn’t have expected anything less. Words: Alex Bradley. Photos: Edd Taylor.
When the New Year came, there was even more optimism than usual. New decade. New Year. New me. But on top of that was an underlying feeling of, well it can’t get any worse, can it?!? Well, it can, and it has. Taking stock of our lives with all its politics, class wars, the growing generational chasm, climate change, mental health decline, racism, terrorism, viral pandemics and Brexit are Boston Manor. Their new album is all about those topics which divide some and unite others, but ultimately issues we are all stuck with. Fittingly, it’s titled ‘GLUE’. “I see this as a time and place record; a 2020 record,” singer Henry Cox explains. “It all circles back and even the stuff that is personal is endemic of the bigger world and what we are talking about every day on every social media platform.” The result is an unforgiving social commentary filled with rage, confusion and also apathy set to their heaviest music to date. Henry describes the album’s sound as “post-genre” as it flicks from the driven, Nine Inch Nails inspired, lead single ‘Everything Is Ordinary’ to the lo-fi and distorted ‘High On A Ledge’, and the upbeat bop of ‘Brand New Kids’ without falter. The “glue” which holds the album together as it changes musically is the head-on and candid approach. “It took a bit of courage on my part because sometimes I have a bit of trouble saying things how they are in lyrics. You can walk a fine line with it being a little bit corny and you tend to lose a bit of the poetry and magic out of it sometimes.”
Upset 51