DIY, July 2015

set music free

free / issue 42 / july 2015

diymag.com

1

STAND FOR SOMETHING TOUR

FIRST HEADLINERS ANNOUNCED

UK 2015

26TH SEPT // GLASGOW // NICE AND SLEAZY

10TH OCT // NORWICH // THE OWL SANCTUARY

7TH NOV // BELFAST // LIMELIGHT

MORE ACTS AND CITIES TO BE ANNOUNCED. BE THE FIRST TO KNOW. SIGN UP AT DRMARTENS.COM/STANDFORSOMETHINGTOUR

#SFSTOUR15

2 diymag.com

J U L Y 2 0 1 5

GOOD VS EVIL

WHAT’S ON THE DIY TEAM’S RADAR?

Victoria Sinden

Deputy Editor

GOOD It’s multi-coloured

sheep time.

EVIL Still not sure about

this albums being released

on a Friday thing.

..............................

Emma Swann

Associate Editor

GOOD The Strokes at

Primavera. Nothing short

of life-affirming. How did

I forget I loved them THAT

much?

EVIL Festivals on concrete

= really sore feet. Niche, yes,

but still painful. Ow.

..............................

Jamie Milton

Online Editor

GOOD Savages at Field

Day. Sometimes playing new

material at a fest is the worst

idea ever. This was a stroke

of genius.

EVIL Getting headaches

when I forget to have coffee.

Definitely not addicted.

Nope.

..............................

Sarah Jamieson

News Editor

GOOD Joff forgot his white

jeans, and got creative

with some toilet paper to

camouflage himself...

EVIL There’s a big weird

drill thing that’s taken up

camp outside of DIY HQ and

I’m fairly sure it’s actually a

Transformer.

..............................

Louise Mason

Art Director

GOOD Love the METZ zine

we made with the band -

Hayden’s drawings are so

good.

EVIL Still continuing to find

glitter everywhere.

..............................

El hunt

Assistant Online Editor

GOOD Covering Wolf

Alice in glitter, and then

being able to follow their

footprints around DIY HQ

long after they left.

EVIL True Detective

and Orange is the New

Black are both back on

telly at the same time.

Super dangerous for my

productivity.

EDITOR’S LETTER

In 2013, we really wanted there to be a Wolf Alice album. ‘Bros’

was one of the tracks of the year. Why not make good on

it? In 2014, we really wanted there to be a Wolf Alice album.

‘Moaning Lisa Smile’ - how amazing was that? They needed to

get on with it. 2015. Finally, it’s here, and it’s a good job Wolf

Alice never listened to me. By taking their time, Ellie, Joel, Joff

and Theo have created something really special. ‘My Love Is

Cool’ is the debut of the year. Wolf Alice have arrived.

Stephen Ackroyd

GOOD Have you seen that cover shoot? Those photos. Wow.

EVIL I liked the charts on a Sunday. It just won’t be the same.

LISTENING POST

What’s on the DIY stereo this month?

HEALTH - DEATH MAGIC

Six years away hasn’t made any

damage to the L.A. group’s

nightmarish noise. And they’ve

added synths. Scary synths.

FIDLAR - Too

Imagine if FIDLAR

produced a second

album even more

brilliant than their first.

Just imagine.

3

C

O

N

T

E

N

T

S

NEWS

6 BLEACHERS

10 REFUSED

12 DIY HALL OF FAME

14 STAND FOR

SOMETHING TOUR 2015

16 POPSTAR POSTBAG

22 FESTIVAL NEWS

6

NEU

28 BLACK HONEY

30 GEORGIA

31 BEACH BABY

32 NEU TOUR

Editor Stephen Ackroyd

Deputy Editor Victoria Sinden

Associate Editor Emma

Swann

News Editor Sarah Jamieson

Art Direction & Design

Louise Mason

Head Of Marketing & Events

Jack Clothier

Online Editor Jamie Milton

Assistant Online Editor

El Hunt

Contributors: Ali Shutler,

Andrew Backhouse, Carolina

Faruolo, Charlie Mock, Coral

Williamson, Danny Wright,

Euan L Davidson, Henry Boon,

Huw Baines, Jessica Goodman,

Joe Goggins, Kyle MacNeill,

Natasha West, Ross Jones,

Sean Stanley, Tom Connick,

Tom Doyle

Photographers Carolina

Faruolo, Mike Massaro, Sarah

Louise Bennett

52 SAVAGES

76

34

FEATURES

34 WOLF ALICE

46 LATITUDE:

46 DRENGE

48 WARPAINT

54 PRIDES

57 DIY STAGE

58 TAME IMPALA

62 LUCY ROSE

54

62

74

REVIEWS

64 ALBUMS

74 LIVE

For DIY editorial

info@diymag.com

For DIY sales

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lawrence@sonicdigital.co.uk

bryony@sonicdigital.co.uk

tel: +44 (0)20 3632 3456

For DIY stockist enquiries

stockists@diymag.com

DIY is published by Sonic

Media Group. 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

DIY. 25p where sold.

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

Sonic Media Group holds no

responsibility. The opinions of the

contributors do not necessarily

bear a relation to those of DIY or

its staff and we disclaim liability

for those impressions. Distributed

nationally.

Cover photo: Mike Massaro

4 diymag.com

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ALL RELEASES ALSo AVAILAbLE DIgITALLY

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5

news

“They give you 3D

vision, you say?”

6 diymag.com

WITH

HIS NEW

PROJECT

BLEACHERS,

FUN.’S JACK

ANTONOFF IS

UNCOVERING

A WINDOW

INTO HIS

WORLD.

WORDS:

SARAH

JAMIESON.

PHOTOS:

EMMA

SWANN.

Ain’t It Fun...

only thing I really think about is making

records and playing great shows,” says

Jack Antonoff in complete earnest. “I try

“The

to keep everything else really separate

because I feel like if I put time into it, it’s like a rabbit hole

and I don’t really know where it goes. I don’t know if I

wanna know…”

The past eighteen months – the past three years – have

been a whirlwind for the New Jersey native. Once a

member of Steel Train who went on to become one of that

multi-million selling band fun., he’s since added Grammy

Award winner and Taylor Swift collaborator to his list of

accolades. That’s before you dare delve into life as an

unexpected A-lister.

“It is funny because in some ways,” he continues, as he

sits anonymous – for at least half an hour – on a rooftop in

East London, “so many things have changed but in other

ways, it feels like it’s been the same thing for the past

fifteen years; it’s just me being on tour.” Today he arrives,

straight from the airport, still jet lagged, with one thing on

his agenda: playing a show in London. “The hotel rooms

are nicer and things like that, but my body still does the

same thing. Take all of the emotions out of it and I’m still on

planes, on a bus, in a hotel room. So, I think it’s important

to realise all of the ways in which things have changed, but

also recognise all the ways in which you’re still on this path

that you set out on years ago. I try to keep my head down

and look forward because I get a little freaked out if I think

too much about things that are happening.”

As of right now, his current project is Bleachers. Born in

hotel rooms across the world, it was a direction he first

embarked upon whenever he could get the time during

fun.’s rigorous touring schedule. The real beauty of his

newest musical journey, however, lay in the fact that no

one knew about it until he was ready to reveal all.

“I think there was a freedom that came along with this

album that I felt ready to do,” he admits. “I was making it in

silence. No one thought I was making it: nothing was going

on besides just me wrestling with the songs in my head.

That was a very rare thing. This was the first album I’ve

ever made where no one else knew I was making it; every

other album, I’d discussed it or been coming from another

album. It was a totally different thing, it was extremely

bizarre.

“I tried not to focus on it,” he continues, touching upon

the time during which Bleachers was created. “I was so

wrapped up within the record and the only thing I can

control is making great records. Everything else I can’t

control. I got so stressed out about it that I just only

focused on the record. It was really weird. It was really odd

and mostly exciting because I didn’t know what was gonna

happen. That’s great because it’s good to constantly put

yourself in that position in life where you’re scared and you

7

don’t know what’s gonna happen but you’ve done something

that you love very much and want to exist in a certain way.”

‘Strange Desire’ is, therefore, an album that Antonoff feels he

could use to truly express his own self. “It’s sort of just me,” he

confirms. “It’s my story in so many different forms. I’ve never

really been the kind of writer than writes in overly poetic ways

and weaves stories with other people. It’s very literal. The music

may be bombastic and kind of experimental but the songs end

up being often really dark and very hopeful. I dunno, it’s almost

like a diary.

“A big part of the production on this album,” he goes on, “was

that I wanted to hear all of the sounds of my life, literally the

people of my life. There’s voices all over the album. I would

sample voicemails and my friends and family to create this

album that sounded like my world in a very literal way.”

“THIS WAS THE

FIRST ALBUM

I’VE EVER MADE

WHERE NO ONE

ELSE KNEW I WAS

MAKING IT.” -

JACK ANTONOFF

More than anything, after all of the highs and lows of his musical

career so far, Bleachers was the most natural move for him.

“With songs, you just never know when they’re gonna come or

why they’re gonna come so it was very intense to be flooded

with all of these ideas. I really started thinking a lot about the

past ten years of touring; the good things that have happened,

the terrible things that have happened. I was just very inspired

to write an album that is essentially about kind of moving on,

and how you figure out how to move on without becoming

overly complicated as a human being.”

Bleachers’ debut album ‘Strange Desire’ will be released on

6th July via Columbia Records. DIY

Bleachers will play Bilbao BBK Live. See diymag.com for details.

Suburban Home

N

ot only is ‘Strange Desire’ a look into

Antonoff’s life as a whole, but it’s

an album that feels wholly inspired

by the place he grew up. “It’s definitely

extremely suburban to me,” Jack says. “I

grew up in New Jersey and I lived there until

two years ago and what’s amazing about

New Jersey is that - probably similar to the

outskirts of London - you’re twenty minutes

from New York City but you’re in the shadow

of it. There’s all this hope because you want

to live up to it. You spend your whole life

trying to get out of New Jersey and then you

realise how wonderful it is. You’re looking

in the window of the party; you wanna be a

part of it. That’s why music from New Jersey

sounds so grand and hopeful, anthemic.

Because you have this image and underdog

quality. I love that. It’s a big part of who I am.

Geographically, it’s just a very special place.

Everyone I met who grew up in the city is

so kinda jaded and you can hear that in the

music. New York City music - The Strokes,

Velvet Underground - is very shoe gazey,

don’t give a shit. Jersey and Long Island music

is super hopeful and really anthemic.”

8 diymag.com

MINI MANSIONS

OSLO LONDON

TUE 30 JUN

BRONCHO

DINGWALLS LONDON

WED 01 JUL

NOEL GALLAGHER’S

HIGH FLYING BIRDS

AT CALLING FESTIVAL

CLAPHAM COMMON LONDON

SAT 04 JUL

KINS

SERVANT JAZZ QUARTERS LONDON

TUE 07 JUL

NOTHING BUT THIEVES

THE DOME LONDON

WED 08 JUL

BILLIE BLACK

THE WAITING ROOM LONDON

WED 08 JUL

BOB MOSES

LEXINGTON LONDON

THU 20 AUG

RADKEY

OLD BLUE LAST LONDON

TUE 01 SEP

AURORA

HOXTON BAR & KITCHEN LONDON

FRI 18 SEP

THE STRYPES

RAINBOW WAREHOUSE BIRMINGHAM

SAT 03 OCT

GEORGE THE POET

RESCUE ROOMS NOTTINGHAM SUN 04 OCT

BIRMINGHAM INSTITUTE THU 08 OCT

O2 SHEPHERD’S BUSH EMPIRE FRI 16 OCT

+ 9 MORE DATES

JOSEF SALVAT

BIRMINGHAM O2 ACADEMY3 MON 12 OCT

LONDON HEAVEN TUE 20 OCT

ODESZA

KOKO LONDON

WED 14 OCT

MT WOLF

BUSH HALL LONDON

WED 14 OCT

YO LA TENGO

O2 SHEPHERD’S BUSH EMPIRE

TUE 20 OCT

WALKING ON CARS

ELECTRIC BALLROOM LONDON

FRI 23 OCT

SUNDARA KARMA

OSLO LONDON

THU 29 OCT

TWENTY ONE PILOTS

O2 ACADEMY BRIXTON LONDON

THU 25 FEB

@LNSource

Tickets | Exclusives | Win | livenation.co.uk

9

With the removal

of his hat, James

Bay’s true identity

is revealed.

Rather Be Forgotten

Than Remembered For

giving in

Refused

return with

their first new

album in 17

years. Words:

Huw Baines

Sometimes the thing that draws us to a band is

the very thing that scares us most about them.

When Refused guttered out amid police sirens at a

basement show in Harrisonburg, Virginia almost 20

years ago, the seal was set on a compelling myth. A matter of

months after releasing ‘The Shape Of Punk To Come’, these

days a modern classic, the band were, to borrow their own

phrase, fucking dead. And people loved them for it.

They became legends in absentia. Dennis Lyxzén has

estimated that less than 50 people were present for their

final throes, but word spread. The intervening years found

‘...Shape’ becoming an ever more frequent touchstone in

hardcore, its fearless compositional quirks and radical leftist

politics oft-imitated but never bettered.

In 2012, Refused lived up to their reputation as provocateurs

and reformed, the doomed romance of their demise struck

from the record. But, even as they took to the stage at

Coachella that summer, few could have predicted with any

degree of certainty that their dramatic Lazarus act would

result in new music.

New album ‘Freedom’ represents a bolt from the blue and,

given that it royally undermines the go-out-with-a-bang

story that captivated so many, places the band at odds with

sections of their fanbase. That it is also a direct, fiercely

individual album with little in common with its predecessor

makes it precisely the sort of move Refused would consider

fitting. They’re still not in this for a quick buck.

“It’s a problem, the whole nostalgia circuit,” guitarist Kristofer

Steen says over the phone from Seattle, where the band are

a few dates into a US tour. “I feel really weird about being

associated with something like that. That’s not really part of

our expression as a band. We’re still searching and finding our

way. Your fanbase tends to want you to sound exactly like you

did last record. Be different, but in exactly the same way. You

have to take risks. That’s part of the DNA of the band.”

10 diymag.com

As a result, ‘Freedom’ will twist melons. Complementing

Lyxzén’s spiteful shriek are horn arrangements, gospel-tinged

backing vocals and washes of acoustic guitar, with Nick Launay,

of Nick Cave and Arcade Fire fame, and Shellback, hardcore kid

turned pop hit machine, nestled among the production credits.

It’s driven by a desire to experiment, but it’s a collection that

mines classic rock and pop for inspiration in place of the

ever-shifting time signatures, jazz inflections and brazen fury

of ‘...Shape’. From the moment Lyxzén laid down vocal tracks

on instrumentals put together by Steen, drummer David

Sandström and bassist Magnus Flagge, though, it could only fly

under one banner.

“We could tell there was chemistry,” Steen says. “The first time

we got that was when Dennis made vocal lines for a song. He

presented it and we were like: ‘OK. This is Refused.’ There was

no doubt about it. We worked our fingers to the bone, and it

takes forever and we went crazy arranging everything, but on

the other hand it was really natural.”

“WE’RE

NOT REALLY

CONCERNED

ABOUT THE

MYTH.” -

KRISTOFER

STEEN

There’s little

point in skirting

around the fact

that ‘Freedom’ is

going to make a lot

of people angry.

That Lyxzén has

been more Mick

Jagger than Ian

MacKaye for years

won’t matter. That

anyone has the

right not to be

defined solely by

statements made

in their 20s won’t

matter. This is punk rock and iconography is king. Refused’s

sticky end has, for those who weren’t there to see the vitriol and

anguish that fuelled it, become public property.

“I can totally understand the appeal of that narrative, that grand

myth,” Steen says. “I understand that people want to print the

legend. So much of punk, rock’n’roll and popular culture in

general is based on fiction. Everyone knows that it’s a fiction.

No band can live up to that myth-making. We’re a bunch of

guys who love to make music. We’re not really concerned about

the myth, even if we’ve benefited from that myth.

“We can’t worry about that kind of thing. We get thrown on by

the fact that we have a passionate audience that expects a lot.

That’s a privileged position to be in, to have people anxious

about what you do. That’s our crowd, they are very opinionated

and have very specific ideas about what we shouldn’t do. I think

that’s cool, when people aren’t on board.”

Discussing the record with Steen is a good time. He’s clearly

excited by every note of it, proud of each bold move. With, as he

puts it, a “right wing plague” spreading across Europe, there’s

every chance that ‘Freedom’ will make an important mark, too.

He comes back to one sentiment a few times, and it’s Refused in

a nutshell: “Punk should be about the present tense.”

Refused’s new album ‘Freedom’ will be released on 29th

June via Epitaph. DIY

Refused will play Open’er. See diymag.com for details.

The Canadians have made their comeback with

two new tracks and the promise of a new record,

so we caught up with the band’s Jimmy Shaw to

find out what’s been happening.

Hey Jimmy! How’re

you doing?

I’m doing great thanks.

Sitting on a patch

of grass outside The

Enormodome in Omaha,

Nebraska waiting to

soundcheck and it’s

gotta be 100 degrees in

the shade right now.

You’ve just announced

‘Pagans in Vegas’.

When you started

writing this record, did

you know what ground

you hoped to cover?

Well, we had vowed to

take 2014 off entirely,

but by April both Emily

and I realised that we’d

written more than

an album’s worth of

material each. So we

decided, in typical

Metric style, to use our

year off to make records.

We chose one style of

music that was quite

apparent within the

vault of songs and went

with it. The result was

‘PIV’. There are other

songs with different

vibes. They will be alive

soon too, but that’s a

secret.

You’ve mentioned

that the album is

about discovering ‘the

romance of another

time without falling

into nostalgia’ - was

that a challenge?

What’s going on with…

Metric

I think it’s more just the

reality of who we are in

this time. It’s becoming

increasingly difficult to

be nostalgic because

the past is changing so

fast. Nostalgia just leads

to nausea.

Musically, what did

you hope to explore?

I got a text from an

old friend when we

started the record

saying the key to

making records when

you’ve made many is

to stay dangerous. That

word can mean a lot.

Whatever is dangerous

to you personally. That

can be a ballad, a lyric,

anything. As long as you

feel like you’re taking

risks. My only mantra

was to not be safe.

So far you’ve released

two tracks from it; ‘The

Shade’ and ‘Cascades’.

Would you say they’re

indicators of the

record?

Yes, I feel they are. But

there are more sides

that are yet to be shown

and we’re very excited

for them to be released

out into the wild!

Metric’s new album

‘Pagans In Vegas’ will

be released on 18th

September. DIY

11

DIY HALL OF FAME

Bombay Bicycle Club –

I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose

A monthly place to celebrate the very best albums released during

DIY’s lifetime; the fifth inductee into our Hall of Fame is Bombay

Bicycle Club’s ‘I Had the Blues But I Shook Them Loose’. Words: El Hunt.

Though they’re doing all of these things now, on the

regular, Bombay Bicycle Club didn’t start up a band

to release hugely popular albums, play giant arenas

or headline major festivals. Actually, they first got

together to play their school assembly. Dodging record label

interest while they were still at sixth form, the minute Jack

Steadman, Jamie MacColl, Suren de Saram and Ed Nash left

formal education, they leapt straight into ‘I Had the Blues But

I Shook Them Loose’. Greeted by divided critical reception at

the time, Bombay’s debut album - a ferociously well-written,

boisterous racket of songs - has gone on to become the

defining, stand-out record from a rising rabble of young

chancers with guitars.

Bloc Party’s ‘Silent Alarm’ - which has previously had its very

own turn in DIY’s hallowed Hall of Fame - paved the way for

Hot Club de Paris, Good Shoes, The Maccabees, and countless

other innovative new bands that Bombay Bicycle Club no

doubt blasted out of their common room’s stereo. And, don’t

forget Cajun Dance Party, who BBC quite literally went to

school with. Bombay Bicycle Club’s combination of fidgety

rhythms, wiry, darting guitar lines, and Steadman’s quaking,

torsioned vocals undeniably take many cues from the whole

bevy of bands surrounding them, but vitally, ‘I Had the Blues

But I Shook Them Loose’ is something uniquely their own.

Bombay Bicycle Club, like

many Hall of Fame inductees

before them, have reached

scaling, ambitious - and

perhaps more technically

complex - heights after

releasing their debut record.

Being technically complex,

though, does not an iconic

album make. Bombay’s

second album ‘Flaws’

might’ve tugged the band

in a totally unexpected

acoustic direction straight

afterwards, and on ‘A

Different Kind of Fix’

and ‘So Long, See You

Tomorrow’ Bombay Bicycle

Club became increasingly

experimental and diverse.

Although the years following

brought along festival main

stages with David Guettaproportion

lighting rigs and

packed crowds, this debut is

the magic sucker-punch that

booted it all into action.

‘I Had the Blues But I Shook

Them Loose,’ is Bombay

Bicycle Club’s special record.

It has magic beans bouncing

round inside, pinging off the

inside walls, and sunshine

pouring out of every melody.

Stick it on the hi-fi, and it’ll

whizz you straight back to

skiving German class on a

lazy day leading up to the

end of term, lolling about

on freshly cut grass, and

thinking this was the most

perfect album you’d ever

heard. Six years on, it’s still

pretty darn perfect. DIY

Bombay Bicycle Club will

play Citadel. See

diymag.com for details.

A baby-faced Bombay Bicycle Club, kidding

themselves that they’ll get served.

Read more on

diymag.com

12 diymag.com

“A brilliantly fun pop record.”

- DIY

THE BRAND NEW ALBUM

OUT JULY 6

FEATURING ‘OUR EYES’ AND ‘LIKE AN ARROW’

www.lucyrosemusic.com

13

#SFSTOUR15

DIY AND DR.MARTENS RETURN FOR

STAND FOR SOMETHING TOUR 2015

This autumn, DIY and Dr. Martens will team up once

again for the third round of the Stand For Something

Tour, and it’s set to be bigger than ever. Having

already played host to the likes of Tonight Alive,

Lower Than Atlantis and Young Guns during the previous two

years’ events, 2015’s edition promises to be just as intimate,

just as sweaty and just as chaotic. Taking place in six cities

across the UK, the tour will make stops in Glasgow, Norwich,

Leeds, Belfast and Sheffield, before things draw to a close in

the capital. The shows are set to be some of the most raucous

so far.

“You can’t get lost for one thing,” says Dutch Uncles frontman

Duncan Wallis, who will be leading his band through a

headline performance at iconic venue Nice’N’Sleazy, which

lies at the heart of Glasgow, a place Wallis has a particularly

fond memory of. “I remember being in dire need of a veggie

fix the last time we played there,” he remembers. “It was day

12 of a tour and emotions were running high from the long

journey and getting caught in a constant sideways rain on

Sauchiehall Street. The only option they had was a deep fried

veggie haggis burger and in hindsight it was a refreshingly

unapologetic local delicacy, but at the time all I wanted to do

was cry. Now I always take my own veg to Glasgow.”

Next up, those riot-inducing Lambeth lads Palma Violets will

take on The Owl Sanctuary in Norwich, a city that holds some

rather interesting memories for the band. “Upstairs at The

Waterfront was our first show on our first tour we ever did,”

relives the band’s Sam Fryer. “Including the bar staff there

were three people the in the room for our show, and one was a

friend. We were nervous so we didn’t say anything in between

songs, it was pretty awkward. Then, during a different gig in

Norwich in a moment of passion I fell and I hit my head on the

drum kit then spent 4 hours that night in the hospital waiting

for stitches. We love Norwich though!”

Then, the tour will be hopping across the sea for its debut

visit to Belfast, where Lonely The Brave will be graduating

from support act – they opened up for Don Broco at last year’s

London show – to main headliner. “I always used to think I’d

be more comfortable on the big stages,” says frontman Dave

Jakes, of playing in more intimate confines, “but I do think

there is something to having the band all in close proximity

to each other. It’s like a comfort blanket, for me. You can feel

a bit isolated on the big stages. The last Dr. Martens show we

played, supporting Don Broco, was a good ‘un!”

This is only half the fun too: there’ll be another three acts – set

to play in Leeds, Sheffield and London - announced shortly,

alongside a slew of incredible support acts to boot. Keep an

eye on diymag.com and

drmartens.com/standforsomethingtour for details and

ticket information. DIY

WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR, DUTCH UNCLES?

“Determinedly Underrated Tricky Choruses

Housed in Uncompromisingly Natured

Cadenzas and Listened to Enduringly, Sort of.”

14 diymag.com

THE

DATES

26.09.15

DUTCH UNCLES

GLASGOW

NICE’N’SLEAZY

10.10.15

PALMA VIOLETS

NORWICH

THE OWL SANCTUARY

24.10.15

TBA

LEEDS

BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB

07.11.15

LONELY THE BRAVE

BELFAST

THE LIMELIGHT

21.11.15

TBA

SHEFFIELD

CORPORATION

28.11.15

TBA

CAMDEN

OUR BLACK HEART

WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR, PALMA VIOLETS? “We

stand as a band alongside many others who see the

earth not as fragments of lands and countries but

as one single planet as a whole. And together we

celebrate things that are good and pure in life. We

celebrate rock’n’roll with our music.”

WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR, LONELY THE

BRAVE? “I really feel that, in life, you’ve got to

try and be yourself. The older I get, the more

I realise this. If you’re a bit shy like me and

someone tries to talk down to you because of it,

just give them a death stare. They don’t like it.”

15

Popstar Postbag

Mike Duce, Lower Than Atlantis

We know what you’re like, dear readers. We know you’re just as nosy as we are when it comes to our favourite pop stars:

that’s why we’re putting the power back into your hands. Every month, we’re going to ask you to pull out your best

questions and aim them at those unsuspecting artists. You don’t even need to pay for postage! This month, Lower Than

Atlantis’ Mike Duce is poised with the Qs.

If you could go on tour with any band ever, alive or dead,

who would it be and why? James, via email

We were lucky enough to play some shows with Blink-182,

who are part of the reason we’re a band. The other band

that inspired us to learn to play are Foo Fighters so, them!

What was it like getting gunged in your video for ‘Words

Don’t Come So Easily’? Did it all feel a bit Get Your Own

Back? Serena, Cardiff

Dave Benson Phillips wasn’t present so it was just cold,

sticky and uncomfortable!

Which of your songs means the most to you? Thomas,

Gateshead

That’s such a hard question four albums in! That’s like

asking someone to pick their favourite child! Couldn’t

possibly.

If you could only choose one food to eat for the rest of

your life, what would it be? Aimee, Dunfermline

That’d suck regardless but I’d probably have to choose

something vaguely nutritional that covered all major

food groups. Maybe a sandwich of sorts?

What do you feel is your proudest achievement as a band?

Isaac, Cheltenham

Staying together after nearly ten years without a doubt.

Through all the hard times (too many to mention) and still

staying friends.

What’s been your favourite album of the year so far? Jack,

via email

‘Undertow’ by Drenge probably. That’s the first one that

springs to mind!

Where’s the most ridiculous place that you’ve gotten to

play a show? Ant, London

Japan or Australia (never thought I’d even get to visit

those places, let alone touring in my band!)

What’s your favourite TV series at the moment? Will, Hull

I’ve been listening to music with That ‘70s Show on mute

if that counts?

When do you think you’ll start work on the next album?

Do you think you’ll wanna do much differently to this

current album? Naomi, Chester

I never, ever stop writing music. Wrote the first punk LTA

song in years recently.

Who’s your favourite new band right now? Need some

recommendations! Pete, via email

Oh shit! ...er? They’re not too new but probably our mates

band The Hell.

NEXT MONTH: ALVVAYS

Want to send a question to DIY’s Popstar Postbag? Tweet

us at @diymagazine with the hashtag #postbag, or drop

us an email at popstarpostbag@diymag.com. Easy!

16 diymag.com

17

have you heard

The best new tracks from the last month.

A lot happens over the course of a month in the mad world of ace music.

You’re busy people, we get that, so we’re here to help. Catch up with the most

amazing, exciting or generally ‘WTF m9’ new songs that have surfaced in the

last few weeks. No need to thank us. No, really, it’s fine.

MAC DEMARCO - THE WAY YOU’D

LOVE HER

‘The Way You’d Love Her’ marks a

divergence from ‘Salad Days’. Where that was

a hazy hangover of a record, the wavering guitars

here feel generally upbeat and the vocals, crisp and clean,

cut straight to the front. Lyrically, though, we’re in familiar

territory, as DeMarco doles out relationship advice that’s

charming in its simplicity. On this evidence, ‘Another One’ -

technically an EP - might be the summer’s most blissful pop

record. (Joe Goggins)

FOXES - BODY TALK

With ‘Body Talk’, Foxes sticks fast by her pop roots, blending

summery synths with echoey guitar parts, and it’s breezy

and bracing. There’s no doubt that Foxes has come a long

way since 2014’s ‘Glorious’, with her shimmering production

amped up about seventy notches. As a one-off release, it

serves as a tantalising taster of what could come next on

album number two. Pack this one in your summer suitcase.

(Natasha West)

FIDLAR

40OZ ON REPEAT

While the focus on ‘40oz on

Repeat’ lies in its bonkers, nostalgic

dress-up video, there’s also one hell of a

song for eager fans to sink their teeth into.

Thankfully, though it’s been a while since

FIDLAR released any new music, they haven’t

grown up even a little bit. All of their carefree,

straight-shooting attitude is still there, from

immature sing-song hooks to balls-out raspy

voiced verses; their particular brand of

hyper-fun, classic garage-punk is just

as fresh as it was on their selftitled

debut back in 2013.

(Henry Boon)

DISCLOSURE - HOLDING ON

The first single from ‘Settle’’s successor

‘Caracal’, ‘Holding On’ sees the Surrey

siblings step away from glitz and glamour. It

may be a stripped back, groove driven affair, but

it’s Gregory Porter’s soulful vocal that truly ties Disclosure

to their influences here. Harking back to the heydays of

house and disco’s thumping ascent, it’s an unexpected

collaboration that proves the duo’s worth in a way that even

the saltiest beat-counting obsessive would struggle to deny.

(Tom Connick)

HURTS - SOME KIND OF HEAVEN

Every Hurts song verges on the edge of a cliff, where the sky

above is ‘pop heaven’ and below sits the grim abyss of failure.

Half pure cheese, the other a great sense that they’re winging

it, there isn’t a dull moment. ‘Some Kind of Heaven’ arrived

just days shy of Eurovision, and it would have fared a great

deal better than faux-swing pukeageddons. It’s not quite on a

Brandon Flowers level of all-out 80s synth banger, but it ticks

just enough boxes to avoid falling off the edge. (Jamie Milton)

BECK - DREAMS

When Beck wants to be a pop star, nobody can touch

him. Like the lead single from the second album MGMT’s

management wanted but never received, on ‘Dreams’ there

are so many ideas buzzing throughout five minutes of sugar

crush vibes other acts would string them out for a whole

record. Tempo changes, pseudo drops, psychedelic haze and

all out euphoria all hook themselves to that trademark guitar

shrug. Beck still knows where it’s at. (Stephen Ackroyd)

FORMATION - HANGIN’

There might be a hint of LCD Soundsystem about Formation’s

newest single ‘Hangin” - and mild-registering flickers of

Friendly Fires and Mount Kimbie’s percussive addictions, too

- but when it really comes down to it, the South London twins

have invented their own unmistakable flavour combination.

Basically, Formation’s sweet, sharp-edged sound is like the pop

equivalent of bacon and maple syrup pancakes. Formation are

single-handedly bringing back the cowbell. (El Hunt)

18 diymag.com

19

DIY

Live

Report

PeacE PureGym, London

Last month (21st May) Peace played an intimate gig at the site

of the Hammersmith Palais (the venue The Clash talk about in

their song, fact fans - home to countless brilliant gigs back in

the day when west London was the place to be) for DIY and

Skullcandy, as part of the latter’s European #STAYLOUD series

that will celebrate the memory of once great music venues in

London, Paris and Berlin.

The location is currently a gym, and one of the downstairs

exercising rooms was reconditioned to give room for an

impromptu stage, between weights and various other sports

equipment.

Peace’s hour-long set was mostly filled with new material

from second album ‘Happy People’, with ‘Money’ and ‘Lost On

Me’ receiving the biggest sing-alongs of the evening.

“We’d love to stay all night and play whatever, but we gotta

go!” said frontman Harry Koisser right before the bass solo of

set closer ‘World Pleasure’, probably one of the best moments

of the night.

The roaring fans asking for an encore where redirected to

the after-party at a bar next door, where the proceedings

continued until the early hours. (Carolina Faruolo)

Report

Tall Ships The Lexington, London

On a Bank Holiday Sunday plagued by scattered showers

and a stifling mugginess, it takes Tall Ships’ return to the

London stage for the clouds to break and that thunder to

finally roll forth. Tonight’s showing feels like a greatest hits

set – remarkable for a band who’ve yet to emerge with a

second album. The handful of newer cuts they preview sound

ready, but Tall Ships have never been ones to rush. Instead,

they tinker and embellish for months and years on end - as a

result, every track sounds fuller and larger than ever before.

Newest offering ‘Will To Life’ is perhaps the best indicator of

this chunkier approach; thick with endlessly expansive layers,

it reverberates around the Lexington’s walls from the get-go.

That aforementioned thunder lays in the one-two of bassist

Matt Parker and drummer Jamie Bush, whose instruments

both sound stadium-sized. There’s still opportunity for

intimacy amongst all the brawn, though, ‘Ode To Ancestors’

marking a twinkling interlude. Tall Ships are that rare case of

a band who can shine in any setting, existing entirely outside

the constraints of genre. Slow and steady might not win the

race, but it certainly yields the most deserving success stories.

Tall Ships may finally be about to break through. (Tom Connick)

coming up

DIY Presents…

july

23 The Pains of being pure at heart

The Garage, London

SEPTEMBER

02 Ought Deaf Institute, Manchester

10 Mac DeMarco The Institute, Birmingham

16 Speedy Ortiz Sound Control, Manchester

20 diymag.com

alvvayS

The self titled

debut album

“a timeless, modern classic.”

The Line of Best Fit – 9/10

CD, LP & Download

Out now

hippo CampuS

Bashful Creatures

“Young geniuses…” Nylon

12” & Download

The new EP, out now

GenGahr

A Dream Outside

“A remarkable debut”

5/5 DIY Magazine

CD, LP & Download

Album released 15th June

SonGhoy BlueS

Music In Exile

“A triumph” 4/5 The Observer

CD, LP & Download

Album out now

The anTlerS

Familiars

“Gorgeous” The A.V. Club

CD, LP & Download

Out Now

Dry The river

Alarms In The Heart

“An album that rarely dips below

being immensely enjoyable.” DIY

CD, LP & Download

Out Now

FiST CiTy

Everything Is A Mess

“Dirty and packed full of soul.”

Rock Sound

CD, LP & Download

Album released 22nd June

CoSmo

ShelDrake

Pelicans We EP

“Syd Barrett meets Tunng meets

Pentagle... It’s great!”

Norman Records

CD, LP & Download

Out Now

2015

Flume

The self titled

debut album

“A captivating album” 4/5 Q

CD, LP & Download

Out now

BeCominG real

Pure Apparition

Album of the week - Bleep.com

CD, LP & Download

The debut album out now

neon inDian

Annie

Best New Track - Pitchfork

Download

New single out now

21

FESTIVAL NEWS

FESTIVAL NEWS

OPEN’ER

1st - 4th July, Gdynia, Poland

I

t might be hard to believe, but festivals

are more than just weekends filled to

the brim with brilliant bands. They’re

also the best excuse to head overseas and

take a little bit of a break. In fact, summer

festival season has been take over by

stellar overseas line-ups, and Open’er is

another example of a great weekend just

waiting to happen.

Not only will the likes of Mumford &

Sons, The Libertines and Kasabian all

be topping the bill, but it’s also set to

boast the mighty Drake, St. Vincent and

Refused for good measure. Throw in the

fact that you can buy about four pints for

the same price one over in dear ol’ Blighty,

and it sounds all the more appealing.

“I think we always try to make every show

special just by bringing it all on stage,”

says Alabama Shakes’ frontwoman

Brittany Howard, who will be bringing

material from their brand new album

‘Sound & Color’ to the festival, “and

hopefully connecting to the crowd as

much as possible. We have definitely filled

out the band with Paul Horton on keys and

the three backing singers. Our sets have

been a blend of most of the songs off the

new album combined with many of the

songs off ‘Boys & Girls’.

“It’s really fun to get to meet and hang

with other musicians,” she says, of festival

season in general. “I love watching other

bands perform. I have discovered a lot of

great music at festivals. Golf

Carts are also an exciting

part of certain festivals.”

BILBAO

BBK LIVE

9th - 11th July, Bilbao,

Spain

t’s not often that you find

yourself perched on the top

Iof a mountain in the Basque

country, watching Muse play a

monstrous closing set to mark the

release of new album, ‘Drones’.

If that’s an idea that whets your

appetite, it can soon become a

reality this summer. This year,

Bilbao BBK Live will be celebrating

its tenth birthday by bussing a

few thousand people up into the

middle of their mountain range

before bombarding them with

incredible music for three days

straight.

As if the views and promise of

a little Spanish sunshine aren’t

enough to book a plane, the

line-up sure is. Not only are The

Jesus and Mary Chain going to

be performing ‘Psychocandy’ in

full, but there’s also the likes of

Disclosure, Mumford & Sons,

Alt-J, Future Islands and the

always ferocious Marmozets.

“We have an absolute blast

on stage with each other,”

Marmozets’ Becca MacIntyre

reveals, while gearing up to

embark upon their jam-packed

summer schedule. “It’s an

amazing opportunity for us to

play these festivals and for

people to come and have

a mosh with us. Festival

season is when you can

really have fun. It’s like a

big birthday bash.”

KENDAL

CALLING

30th July - 2nd August, Lowther

Deer Park, Lake District

S

et against the backdrop of Lowther

Deer Park, deep in the heart of the

Lake District, Kendal Calling’s bill

covers a number of musical bases. From

the guitar-driven chaos of The Vaccines

and the grandiose sing-alongs from

Elbow, to the psychedelic wig-outs of

The Horrors and the gorgeous stylings of

Lucy Rose, there’s something to suit your

every mood.

On Saturday’s Calling Out stage, in

association with DIY, we’ve got Public

Service Broadcasting, Palace, and

Dutch Uncles, amongst others.

“It’s been great to finally enjoy the

atmosphere of festivals,” says Dutch

Uncles frontman, Duncan Wallis. “It’s

too exhausting to let the pressure of no

soundchecks get to you after a few years

of doing this.”

“We learned our

lesson not to play

too much new stuff

at Live at Leeds this

year,” he laughs.

“That was when The

Cribs fans we were

playing to started

Wakefield chants

over our woodwind

quartet samples,

so we just play our

‘hits’ now.”

Calling Out

stage in

association

with DIY

Public Service

Broadcasting

Dutch Uncles

Palace

The Bohicas

Turbowolf

Port Isla

Seafret

Remi Miles

Plastic Mermaids

Misty Miller

22 diymag.com

POSITIVUS

17th - 19th July, Salacgrīva,

Latvia

here exactly can you get all

proggy with Robert Plant

W before dancing yourself silly

with Charli XCX? Where’s the best place

to pogo with Serge from Kasabian, after

losing yourself in the sounds of East

India Youth? As it so happens, you can

see all that and more at Positivus Festival

in Latvia.

This year’s event is due to be one of

its biggest. Set against the beautiful

backdrop of Salacgrīva, the weekender

is also due to play host to the likes of St.

Vincent, Jungle, SOAK and Placebo,

along with the wonderful Ghostpoet,

who is already looking forward to his

performance.

“It should be a fun experience,” Obaro

Ejimiwe tells DIY. “It looks like a rather

interesting line-up plus an opportunity

to visit a country I’ve never been to

before. It’s a win-win situation.”

Having released his third full-length

‘Shedding Skin’ earlier this year, it’s a

sure bet that his audiences are going to

be treated to a few of its numbers. “It’s

been received pretty well thus far, can’t

complain at all really,” he continues.

“Things feel like they’re going in the

right direction and indeed, there will

be music off the new record in my

festival sets. I like playing them so in

they go, mate!”

CITADEL

19th July, Victoria Park, London

There’s something special about London’s Victoria Park; not only is

it the current home to Field Day, but now, it’s offering up another

festival to cater to a slightly different audience.

2015 marks the debut year of Citadel; a new one-day event taking place in the

heart of East London. It’s set to host headline performances from the likes of

Ben Howard and Bombay Bicycle Club – their only London live appearance

of the summer too – and there have also been whispers of food stands selling

Sunday roasts.

In amongst the action, DIY is also going to have our own stage alongside

Communion, featuring the likes of Nick Mulvey, newcomer Leon Bridges and

Scottish duo Honeyblood, who are currently enjoying a rather busy summer.

“We did none last year so it’s going to be a festival-filled summer,” enthuses

guitarist and vocalist Stina Tweeddale. Having already made appearances at

Sound City, it’s safe to say the duo know what the crowds are after. “I guess it’s

always best to play the faster songs rather than slow jams,” she says, on the

subject of their set plans. “People wanna jump up and down at festivals.”

COMMUNION STAGE IN

ASSOCIATION WITH DIY

Nick Mulvey

Leon Bridges

Honeyblood

Bear’s Den

Dan Croll

Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats

Rhodes

Tor Miller

The Walking Who

23

FESTIVAL

NEWS

IN BRIEF

FYF FEST

22nd - 23rd August

Bloc Party have announced plans to

take “a break from recording” their fifth

album in order to play LA’s FYF Fest. The

festival runs from 22nd - 23rd August,

and this will be the band’s first show in

over two years. It will also host Frank

Ocean, Morrissey and Flume.

BESTIVAL

10th - 13th September

Wiley, Skepta and Drenge are three

of the latest names added to Bestival.

Anglo-Japanese trio Kero Kero Bonito,

Roni Size & Reprazent, Jaguar Skills,

Kitty, Daisy & Lewis and Dinosaur

Pile-Up have also joined the line-up,

which already boasts Tame Impala,

Duran Duran and The Chemical

Brothers.

Spring King are already testing out a

gigantic coat for Reading & Leeds.

The Bronx, Shura and Spring King confirmed for

Reading & Leeds

A new list of artists have been announced for this year’s Reading & Leeds Festival, set

for 28th - 30th August, with The Bronx, Shura and Spring King leading the way.

Elsewhere are the likes of God Damn, No Devotion and Mariachi El Bronx - the

band will be pulling double duty once again.

They all join headliners Mumford & Sons, The Libertines and Metallica, along with

Kendrick Lamar, Bastille, Alt-J and Bring Me The Horizon.

The full list of the latest additions is as follows: The Bronx, Shura, Spring King,

Mariachi El Bronx, No Devotion, God Damn, The Struts, Twin Peaks, Baroness,

Bo Ningen, Vant, As It Is, Skinny Lister, Seether, The Last Internationale,

Sunset Sons, Neon Waltz, Hayden James, Ferdinand Weber, DJ Fresh, Riptide

Movement, Maribou State, Petite Meller, The Six, Young Thug, Remi Miles and

Star.One.

LOLLAPALOOZA BERLIN

12th – 13th September

Brand New lead the list of additions

to the first ever Lollapalooza Berlin,

taking place at Templehof Airport. An

extension of the successful Chicago

fest, the first ever Berlin leg has also

added Brooklyn punks Parquet Courts.

They join the likes of Run The Jewels,

Tame Impala and Bastille.

UNDERGROUND

26th - 27th September

Tall Ships have been confirmed as the

Saturday headliner for Underground

Festival, which takes place at Gloucester

Guildhall. DIY is teaming up with this

year’s festival, which will also host

Demob Happy, Black Peaks, Crows

and Brawlers.

FUN FUN FUN FEST

6th - 8th November

The initial line-up for Fun Fun Fun Fest

2015 has been announced. Jane’s

Addiction, Venom and Wu-Tang Clan

are this year’s headliners. They’ll be

joined by names including Grimes,

Chvrches, Future Islands, Ride,

American Football, Parquet Courts,

Converge, Peaches and MSTRKRFT.

Win

tickets to Visions

Visions has announced Blanck Mass

as the final addition to its 2015 bill. The

solo alias of Fuck Buttons’ Benjamin

John Power, Blanck Mass released his

second album ‘Dumb Flesh’ last month.

He completes a line-up that’s headed

up by Shamir, Fat White Family,

Ceremony and Hinds. Recent additions

also include LA punks Ho99o9, Holy

Fuck, The Big Moon and Theo Verney.

Visions spans five locations in East

London - The Laundry (aka DIY HQ),

Oval Space, St John at Hackney Church,

Space Gallery, Netil House Rooftop

and London Fields Brewhouse on 8th

August.

To be in with a chance of winning a

pair of tickets, visit

diymag.com/visionscomp.

Festival No. 6 signs

up Black Grape

Black Grape have been added to

the line-up of this year’s Festival No.

6, which takes place in Portmeirion,

Wales from 3rd - 6th September.

The duo, made up of Happy

Mondays’ Shaun Ryder and Ruthless

Rap Assasins’ Kermit Leveridge, will

be taking to the festival to celebrate

the 20th anniversary of their debut

album ‘It’s Great When You’re

Straight…Yeah’.

They join the likes of Metronomy,

Young Fathers, Everything

Everything, Badly Drawn Boy,

Ghostpoet and Shura, who have

all been previously confirmed to

appear.

24 diymag.com

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25

Goldenvoice Presents

goldenvoice.co.uk

GENGAHR.COM

DEBUT ALBUM ‘A DREAM OUTSIDE’ OUT NOW

ON TRANSGRESSIVE RECORDS.

SEPTEMBER 2015 TOUR

16 BRISTOL O 2 ACADEMY

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19 GLASGOW ABC

21 NEWCASTLE UNI

22 SHEFFIELD PLUG

23 SOUTHAMPTON O 2 GUILDHALL

25 MANCHESTER ALBERT HALL

26 LONDON BRIXTON O 2 ACADEMY

WOLFALICE.CO.UK

DEBUT ALBUM ‘MY LOVE IS COOL’ OUT JUNE 22

WAND

09 OCT BIRMINGHAM O2 ACADEMY 1

10 OCT NORWICH UEA

11 OCT NOTTINGHAM ROCK CITY

13 OCT SHEFFIELD O2 ACADEMY

14 OCT LEEDS O2 ACADEMY

16 OCT NEWCASTLE O2 ACADEMY

17 OCT GLASGOW O2 ABC

18 OCT MANCHESTER ALBERT HALL

20 OCT LIVERPOOL O2 ACADEMY

21 OCT BRISTOL O2 ACADEMY

22 OCT CARDIFF GREAT HALL

24 OCT BRIGHTON CENTRE

26 OCT SOUTHEND CLIFFS PAVILLION

28 OCT LONDON O2 ACADEMY BRIXTON

04 NOV BELFAST MANDELA HALL

SOLD OUT

f YEARSANDYEARS t@YEARSANDYEARS

september 2015

mon 07 Bristol Exchange

tue 08 BRIGHTON Green Door Store

wed 09 LONDON Electrowerkz

thu 10 MANCHESTER Soup Kitchen

fri 11 GLASGOW Broadcast

sat 12 BIRMINGHAM Rainbow

Golem available now on In The Red rcds

26 diymag.com


goldenvoice.co.uk

WEDNESDAY 11 11 NOVEMBER

KOKO

SEPTEMBER

THU

17 17 LONDON ELECTRIC BRIXTON

NEW DATES ADDED

WED 23 23 NOTTINGHAM RESCUE ROOMS

FRI

25 25 MANCHESTER GORILLA

SAT

26 26 GLASGOW KING TUTS

MON 28 28 LEEDS BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB

TUE

29 29 BIRMINGHAM THE OOBLECK

WED 30 30 BRIGHTON OLD MARKET

OCTOBER

FRI

02 02 BRISTOL MARBLE FACTORY

27.10 : : LONDON VILLAGE UNDERGROUND

28.10 : : BRISTOL THE EXCHANGE

29.10 : : BRIGHTON THE HAUNT

04.11 : : MANCHESTER ISLINGTON MILL

PLUS

Portraits out now via via counter records

mariboustate.com

10/10/15 SHEFFIELD LEADMILL

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12/10/15 GLASGOW ORAN MOR

14/10/15 YORK DUCHESS

15/10/15 LIVERPOOL O2 ACADEMY 22

16/10/15 MANCHESTER RITZ

17/10/15 BIRMINGHAM INSTITUTE

18/10/15 CAMBRIDGE JUNCTION

20/10/15 BRISTOL TRINITY

21/10/15 BRIGHTON CONCORDE

22/10/15 LONDON ROUNDHOUSE

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14 OCTOBER

SCALA

THISISALLWEARE.CO.UK

27

neu

Black

DIRECTOR’S CUT.

In the vein of Black Honey’s

latest single ‘Spinning Wheel,’

- which sounds like spaghetti

western film noir - we asked

the band to direct their own

hypothetical thriller:

Izzy: For us, it would be a

collaborative affair, between

Wes Anderson, Quentin

Tarantino and David Lynch, but

it would involve each of us, too.

Chris: I was going straight for

Pulp Fiction, to be fair.

Izzy: The thing with Pulp Fiction,

though.... I think I’m not as much

of a fuckhead as Mia Wallace,

I think I’ve got more longevity

than that. I’d say I’m a bit more

Kill Bill vibe-wise.

Chris: I don’t know if you can

handle a samurai sword.

Izzy: [With slight menace] I can.

28 diymag.com

Over the past few months,

Black Honey have been

peeking out from under

their deliberate shield of

mystery, bit by bit. The slow reveal

started out with a secret show at fellow

Brighton band Demob Happy’s cafe,

and continued with a handful of demos.

It escalated when they handed out

their WhatsApp details to curious fans.

Still, though, Black Honey kept up their

guard. No matter how many selfie pleas

came their way, the band kept their

own identities doggedly under wraps.

That said, they sexted some absolute

filth to one of DIY’s very own writers

when he innocently got in touch.

“I was getting really bored at that

point with texting people mysterious

things, so I thought I’d be a bit

more to the point,” remembers the

band’s frontwoman Izzy B. Phillips,

looking back at Black Honey’s earliest

interactions with

DIY. “I think that

was the only

dirty text I sent!”

she adds “We’d

been drinking

all day in the

office, and I was

really drunk the

whole day.” “That

whole WhatsApp

thing did just

eventually

descend into Izzy

being sent loads

of porn,” laughs

bassist Tommy

Taylor.

After months of careful secrecy, Black Honey are out on the road

with a finished debut - not that they’re in any hurry to release it.

Words: El Hunt. Photos: Emma Swann.

Though Black Honey are still very

new, its members have been playing

together in various bands around

Brighton for many years. “We’ve known

each other too long,” announces Izzy,

flatly. “We’ve been in various different

bands...” starts Tommy, and guitarist

Chris Ostler finishes, “Black Honey’s a

very new thing, but us as a collective

isn’t.”

From their consistent visuals - TV

artwork framing highly stylised scenes

- to their careful roll-out, Black Honey

have a clear vision of where they’d

“ I f i t

w a s m y

w a y w e ’ d

s t i l l b e

a secret

b a n d . ”

- Izzy B.

Phillips

like to go, and their debut album, they

claim, is “already written.” On the other

hand, they’re in no hurry to do anything

with it. “Maybe next year...” says Chris

casually, “a long long way off. No plans.

We’re not even thinking past this

summer, taking it one step at a time.”

Izzy nods in agreement. “We’re just

enjoying it.”

Instead, Black Honey are looking ahead

to fulfilling something of a childhood

dream - playing Reading & Leeds

Festival. “‘I’ve spent my whole life as a

kid going to that,” enthuses Izzy, “it’s a

bit emotional. I remember being really

sick one time there with these two,” she

continues, pointing at her bandmates

Chris and Tommy. “I was in a very bad

way. I’d indulged myself...” she adds,

“frivolously.” Tommy cackles. “I don’t

think I’ve ever seen anyone look so

green.” “I laid down on the grass for

Simian Mobile Disco,” finalises Izzy,

glumly. “I can’t

listen to their

records any

more.”

Despite their

busying

schedule, Black

Honey make

the slightly

outlandish claim

that they would

prefer to stay

one big musical

enigma forever.

The internet

scuppered their

plans. “If it was

my way we’d still be a secret band,” Izzy

claims. “I’d do it old school, and just

have records, do it how we would want

to do it. Unfortunately it’s not the day

and age for that,” she concludes.

Anyway, the jig is nearly up. Fresh from

supporting Superfood on tour, and

with their own busy schedule of festival

bookings to contend with, too, Black

Honey are in Brighton today to play a

hometown show at The Great Escape,

and without the help of invisibility

cloaks there’s nowhere to hide. They’ve

brought a special pal along in tow; their

lucky flamingo Jerry. “He likes crowd-

Honey

surfing,” says Chris. “It’s only a matter

of time now before someone does a

runner with him,” adds Izzy fearfully.

“We nearly lost him to Harry [Koisser]

from Peace. He should’ve bought his

own flamingo!” DIY

Black Honey will play Kendal Calling.

See diymag.com for details.

29

NEU

Georgia

Drumming for Kate Tempest and Kwes, Georgia has had a key role behind the scenes. She’s

stepping into the spotlight with her debut LP. Words: Jamie Milton. Photo: Emma Swann

Born-and-raised Londoner

Georgia hasn’t always sought

neu out exciting musicians and

springing-up scenes, but

she does now. With years of

experience drumming for Kate

Tempest and Kwes, she’s been “surrounded” by

bright minds, playing festivals as big as Latitude

without having to step centre stage. With her

solo work firmly on the agenda, she’s trying to

keep things fresh by absorbing as many new

ideas as possible. “In terms of going out and

raving, I love my house and techno music. I’m

always shopping, always getting my 12”’s,” she

says, ahead of her debut album’s release.

What’s emerged from the twenty-something is a

bright, colourful, patchwork mentality. From the

deranged and digitised ‘Be Gone’ to the more

pop-rooted ‘Move Systems’, she sounds like

she’s spitting out gigantic gulps of culture and

where it is today. A crazed mix of R&B, dance and

5AM techno, there isn’t a single stone that’s left

unturned.

Despite the experience of being around the

right people, Georgia mostly holed herself in a

studio for her debut. “I’ve been exposed to a lot

of scenes of music. A lot of incredible artists. I’ve

been surrounded by loads of musicians, and it

was really nice to just escape in a studio and go

back to the time before I did any of this,” she says,

citing a stage in her youth where “you’re learning

music and there’s no inhibitions or pre-conceived

ideas of who you are, or what you want to be.”

She started writing music at the age of twelve,

and a sense of childish glee does thread through

the record.

Her solo career kickstarted when she shared

music with Cherish Kaya, who plays in JUCE and

runs Kaya Kaya Records. “She was so enthusiastic

about what I’d done, and she was encouraging -

that was it - I realised I needed to get on with it.”

Studio sessions were defined by “anxiety” (“When

you’re working that hard, you just get quite

anxious, thinking ‘I shouldn’t be doing this’”) and

chain smoking. “For about three or four months

there was a period where I locked myself away.

I think you have to have a bit of a workaholic in

you, to do this.”

She’s emerged with an album that captures

uptight anxiety, a youthful exuberance and

London’s bright, ever-flickering skyline in one

fleeting move. It’s fit-to-burst with invention, and

it’s enough to kickstart a career trajectory not too

dissimilar to Kwes or Kate Tempest’s. DIY

SOMETHING’S

FISHY

When she decided

to make a record and

refuse to answer her

phone, Georgia’s

only source of energy

was fish finger

sandwiches. “I know

how to make a really

good one now - rye

bread, fish fingers,

a bit of lettuce

and mayonnaise.

It’s either that or a

little trip down to

Chicken Village!”

Not speaking to

anyone was the only

option, for Georgia.

“It happens when

you’re in that process

- you’re feeling off

the creativity, not to

sound like a wanker.

It’s all a bit of a blur

now.”

30 diymag.com

Four guys making gigantic songs in a tiny room

that smells of old cigarettes - Beach Baby are

already a mix of enticing juxtapositions.

Words: Jamie Milton. Photo: Emma Swann

Any time a band arrives sporting

songs that sound capable of

neu going beyond 80-capacity shows

in a local pub, they’ve got to

have something about them.

Beach Baby - a four-piece emerging from London

with sharp pop sensibilities - do just that. Their

early recordings have a bold, galloping sense

of hugeness. Big venues await. That’s the initial

premonition, at least. Thankfully, however, these

four aren’t plotting their next ten years of stadium

tours just yet. In fact, the idea of making music for

thousands is something they’re laughing off.

“I think anyone that makes a track and goes ‘This

song is gonna sound fucking great in an arena!’ is

kind of fucking mental,” quips the sports-capped

Ollie Pash, who shares vocal duties with Lawrence

Pumfrey. “Yeah, you have to be a bit nuts. Or

Kasabian.”

“It’s four guys playing in a tiny room that smells

of fags,” agrees Lawrence, matter-of-factly

referring to their East London recording space,

the source of these monstrously big recordings.

“It looks like an old Victorian factory. It’s kind of

rank. Seedy looking people. Smells of fags,” says

Ollie, describing the hub. It’s here that they put

together ‘Ladybird’’s sweeping anthemia and

the even more statement-making ‘No Mind No

Money’ single. The former was the first song they

wrote together - the latter arrived at the end of a

two year period where they essentially cordoned

themselves off and wrote lots of material ‘behind

the scenes’. Just on evidence of those two songs

and the time in-between, it’s clear to see how

they’ve progressed from a promising bunch to

serious contenders.

Following years of making music and “putting

things out and seeing what happens” in different

bands, Ollie describes a process of “actually

spending a bit more time working on a collection

of songs”. Beach Baby signalled a change in that

it followed “a better plan… To make sure the

band exists before you release anything.” Stirring

singles have been backed up with a strong visual

identity, put together by Ollie’s girlfriend Lily

Rose Thomas that’s partly inspired by The Virgin

Suicides aesthetic. For all of this to arrive at once

- in one neat package - gives the impression that

these four are more polished and pristine than the

average newcomers. That’s only half of the story,

though. Early Coldplay comparisons are wide

of the mark - defining their anthemia is a sharp

musicianship and a sense that Beach Baby could

go just about anywhere. DIY

PROUD

ALUMNI

One myth about

Beach Baby is

that they formed

at Goldsmiths

College, in the

same musicallycrammed

halls

as Katy B and

James Blake.

Turns out, Ollie

and Lawrence

met in Bristol and

they rehearsed

in the university

just a couple

of times. That

hasn’t stopped

them from being

embraced by

the institution,

though. “We’ve

since been

retweeted by

Goldsmiths

Alumni - they

can’t stop

tweeting us,”

says Ollie. “It’s

all grown out of

proportion.”

Beach

Baby

Beach Baby. On a beach. Geddit?!

31

The Big Moon,

INHEAVEN and VANT

to play

DIY Presents the

Neu Tour 2015

Exciting triple-bill takes over the UK this October.

hree of the UK’s most promising new bands have signed up for the

first ever DIY Presents the Neu Tour, taking place this October.

TChecking in at eleven cities, this new music extravaganza will see The

Big Moon, INHEAVEN and VANT taking to a triple-headline run across the

country.

The Big Moon will be following their debut ‘Sucker’ single - out now on Hard

Up Records - with their biggest run of shows so far. The four-piece give nods

to classical songwriting, but their output is refreshingly of its time.

the

dates

OCTOBER

• 1 Nottingham Bodega Social Club

• 2 Bristol Louisiana

• 3 Birmingham Sunflower Lounge

• 5 Liverpool The Magnet

• 6 Manchester Night & Day

• 8 Edinburgh Electric Circus

• 9 Glasgow King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut

• 10 Newcastle The Cluny 2

• 12 Leeds Brudenell Social Club

• 13 Brighton The Haunt

• 14 London Dingwalls

They’ll be joined by INHEAVEN, a hyped-to-the-hills outfit who released

their debut single ‘Regeneration’ via AMF Records and Julian Casablancas’

Cult Records. Following a handful of one-off dates, this will be their first ever

tour.

VANT complete the bill, bringing a heady, politicised pulse, straight from the

mind of London-based Mattie Vant. Consider this your one and only chance

to see these three bright names in the same, intimate spaces.

Tickets for DIY Presents the Neu Tour 2015 are on sale now via

gigsandtours.com. DIY

32 diymag.com

THIS

MONTH IN

EPS

A couple of debut releases

and one follow-up help make

up Neu’s EP favourites this

month. Get to know the

below before they take over

with a full-length.

neu

RECOMMENDED

Palace

Chase the Light

Palace’s second release sees

their spacious, romantic

pop going up a few notches.

‘Head About The Water’ and

stirring lead ‘Kiloran’ are

potential arena-dwellers,

but they’re also night

lurkers, strangers tracing

back their own steps when

everyone else is fast asleep.

Magic Potion

Melt

On Swedish

band Magic

Potion’s debut

EP, ‘Melt’, every

note is bent

slightly out of place, every

swarm of synth diverted

towards another pitch. This is

a band who like their songs

to be slightly unorthodox,

but sweet and simple

enough to be enrapturing.

Frances

Frances

Here’s what

we know

about 21-yearold

songwriter

Frances: she

pens direct, piano-led pop

songs. She doesn’t bother

with unnecessary frills. And

on her debut track ‘Grow’,

she’s paving the way for a

hugely successful future.

. The Parrots

A scuzzy Madrid force with both eyes on the open road.

Let’s face the facts: The Parrots first picked up proper attention when everyone was first talking

about fellow Madrid fuzz-ers Hinds (fka Deers). With eyes firmly locked on Spain’s scuzzy scene,

it’s since been in the trio’s hands to prove they’re the real deal. Now signed to Luv Luv Luv,

they’ve set about this by delivering drunken, shambolic but charming recordings that share

more in common with The Black Lips than an everyday siesta. After a bubbling-up of hype, it’s

now official - between Hinds and The Parrots, Spain is leading a charge.

Similar to: The Black Lips meets Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas.

Listen: ‘To The People Who Showed Me Their Love While I Was Here’ premiered on DIY.

Oh

Wonder

Speelburg

.Anna

B

Savage

A lesson in how to make a plan and stick to it.

Oh Wonder started out when a London duo - who’ve

had spells under previous guises - decided to start from

scratch by releasing one song a month on SoundCloud,

building up to a whole album. The only thing that’s

changed since then is that they’ve landed themselves a

proper deal on Caroline International - the debut’s out

this September.

Similar to: London Grammar.

Listen: ‘Technicolour Beat’ and ‘Livewire’.

With a Jurassic future ahead, this Brighton producer is

readying a blockbuster.

Old-school blues and future-gazing samples share the

same space in Noah Sacré’s music. Going by Speelburg,

he’s been in the director’s chair for a bunch of triggerhappy,

frenzied pop songs. A producer who could go just

about anywhere.

Similar to: Film trailers that tell you the whole narrative in

three minutes.

Listen: His debut EP is out 6th July.

Bedroom recordings that keep you up at night.

There’s a haunting brutality to Anna B Savage’s debut

EP. Schooled in literary references and grim day-today

realities, these recordings are like flicking through

someone’s diary. Ordered in roman numerals, the four

songs show distinct maturity and the kind of ambition

you’d usually discover in an artist several albums to the

good.

Similar to: Nick Cave, PJ Harvey.

Listen: ‘EP’ is streaming on Anna B Savage’s SoundCloud.

33

Theo Ellis practises new

poses for his Tinder profile.

34 diymag.com

Latitude 2015

35

“We’ve got the

name of our

band in the song!

Like a rapper!

Or Superfood!” -

Theo Ellis

36 diymag.com

A bright, exciting pack of new bands are racing

to the top. Leading the way is Wolf Alice, whose

debut album ‘My Love Is Cool’ is ready to inspire a

generation. In equal parts batshit and brilliant,

they’re also the UK’s biggest hope.

Words: Jamie Milton. Photos: Mike Massaro.

The best way to describe Wolf Alice is summed up neatly

by their own drummer, Joel Amey. “I can see the family

portrait,” he says, describing guitarist Joff Oddie as

“the dad”, frontwoman Ellie Rowsell as “the mum”,

bassist Theo Ellis as “the kid brother” and Joel himself

as “the dog”.

“I don’t even know what I am,” he ponders, picturing

a scene where “Ellie’s got a gin at like nine in the

morning. Joff’s telling Theo off continuously. Theo

finds absolutely everything brilliant and shit at the

same time.”

That’s Wolf Alice, if you ignore the monster of a debut

album they’ve just created. On its own, ‘My Love Is Cool’ has every means of standing out

as a marker - a standard-bearer for any new band looking to take over. But without this

unique “weird family” dynamic that Joel describes, they wouldn’t be nearly as enticing.

heir family portrait looked radically different on day one. Ellie and Joff were the

only permanent members. They performed at open mic nights, fronting what Ellie

T describes as a “completely different vibe”. Other names came and went, before Joel

- with his experience of trying to make it in a band as blog-pop project Mafia Lights - and

Theo - with his bags of enthusiasm and bizarre personality - making up the eventual fourpiece.

Their involvement wasn’t quite so straightforward. “We actually held auditions for a

female bass player,” remembers Joff. “Someone who could do harmonies and play the bass.

But we couldn’t find anyone.” In stepped Theo. “I would have had a sex change to be in the

band,” he says, only half-joking. “I would have done anything.”

When he was still on the outskirts, Theo saw the group he’d always dreamed of playing

in. “I was just desperate to do anything musical,” he says. Years after first meeting Ellie

“on a trampoline” at a house party, he initially filled in as a back-up bassist, after playing

guitar for years. “I told Ellie and Joff I’d drop everything in my life to be in this band. Even in

rehearsals, I remember being excited playing those songs. It was palpable.”

Joel was in a similar situation, willing to cut all ties in order to be a part of the band. “Music

was all that he wanted to do,” says Ellie, remembering the time they first met. “And that

was exciting. That was instantly different. He’d done the East London shows, the rite of

passage.” Joel describes his spell in hometown outfit Mafia Lights as an “education on what

to do and not do when you’re in a band… It taught me that if you really want to do this

properly, you’ve got to be in it 100%, it’s got to become your life.”

GOOD

F E L L A S

Joel Amey’s Mafia Lights

stemmed from a Surrey scene

that he describes as “stale” and

essentially non-existent. But it

did contain a few familiar faces.

The trio itself consisted of Joel,

Swim Deep keyboardist James

Balmont and Alt-J’s touring

bassist Cameron Knight. Also

making music in the same pack

was Andy Smith (now headturning

producer Lxury) and

Guy Lawrence of Disclosure.

“There is so little to do that if

you find a person that happens

to like Tame Impala the same

way you did, they’re your best

mate now. It’s beyond dead, as

a scene. It almost doesn’t want

to encourage music. I went to

a crap school that didn’t even

have enough funding to teach

music. So to do a GCSE, I had

to do it after school. Music was

just a joke to anyone that was

around me,” says Joel. So like

the rest of Surrey’s musicallyinclined,

he went to London,

and the rest is history.

By the time their first headline tour came round, all four were essentially in this for keeps,

regardless of anything else. Joel looks back on a period when he’d be “stealing scotch eggs

37

“I would have

had a sex change

to be in the

band” - Theo

Ellis

38 diymag.com

o u r

f a n s

a r e

C O O L

Ramsey, Albie, Sophie, Phoebe, Leonie

What are you expecting from the

album? “It’s going to be amazing. I

think they’re going to be one of the

biggest bands in England once they’ve

released this. And Ellie’s going to debut

her new blonde hair. It’s amazing. It’s

going to be a blonde-off between her

and Theo.”

Maddie, Frank, Ria, Lucy

How much are you looking forward

to the album? “We’re so excited!”

Who’s your favourite member of Wolf

Alice? “It feels like picking between my

children. Ellie’s so pretty though. Theo’s

got that swagger.”

from Marks & Spencer service stations just to stay alive.” Penniless and with barely any experience between

the four of them, they still threw themselves into the band with the hope that it might go somewhere. “The

motivation this time seemed different. There was a sense of ‘Let’s make this happen,’” says Joff.

O

ff they went, kickstarting a wild and unpredictable trip that hasn’t stopped picking up momentum.

With every sold-out show and milestone they cross, they look to be at their peak. But they keep

going. The only real chance for reflection took place at the beginning of this year, when studio time

ran dry and they emerged with a debut album. The only rational response was to collectively sob.

“It was emotional, yeah,” says Joel. “Ellie cried!” shouts Theo, dobbing in his bandmate. “That was a fucking

intense day,” he says.

“It was a bit of a cheesy moment, to be honest,” says Joff. “Ellie just went into the recording space, we were

all sat at the control room and she did this hidden track in one take. It sounds like one of those bullshit

‘behind the music’ stories. Then we all popped champagne. It was scary,” he says. “There was this big sense

of relief at everything being done, but then there was this ‘Fuck. I hope everything’s alright’. Praying all the

bits are there and that we haven’t played like complete dickheads.” Hours later, they were playing the O2

Arena with Alt-J. No time for distractions.

To be fair, ‘My Love Is Cool’ isn’t the kind of debut that lends itself to indifference. Even when they were

haphazardly patched together and taking on the road, Wolf Alice seemed different. Their songs were

introverted things, coated in darkness, but they also had the potential to convert thousands. Big without

being brash, anthemic without ticking boxes and sitting neatly outside of standard genre constraints, they

were anything but ‘the usual bunch’. Their first work affirms this premonition and goes several steps further.

Each song is steeped in nuances; together they kick and scream with the same feverish excitement. Oldies

like ‘Bros’ and ‘Fluffy’ are reupholstered and transformed into bigger beasts. Previously discarded off-cuts

like ‘Lisbon’ evolve into juggernauts. It’s easy to overdo the hyperbole when a new group points the way

forward with such assurance, but this really does strike as a classic record. It’ll provoke and inspire anyone

listening in, up there with ‘Silent Alarm’ and ‘Antidotes’ in the game-changing debut stakes. Somehow, it

goes beyond the expectations they laid out from the beginning. Having a good cry at the end is probably

doing it a disservice.

39

For those who’ve been following their every move from

the start, Wolf Alice’s debut has been a long time coming.

Two EPs (‘Blush’ and ‘Creature Songs’) sport enough songs

to make up a record, but the demand’s been there for

something bigger. “We weren’t ready, really,” admits Ellie.

“You think you’ve got loads of songs but then you realise

some of them are skippers. I don’t think there are any

skippers on this record.”

“It’s such a fickle day and age for music,” says Joel, with Theo

in agreement. “It’s because of the internet. You put out a

song or a single, just because you want people to hear it. You

don’t have any pre-conceived idea of an album at that stage.

But everyone’s like ‘Oh, it’s the hot new band - have you got

twelve more of these?’ We wanted to take some time and

make sure we were proud of what we ended up putting out.

That’s more important than rushing something. We’re lucky,

to be fair. It’s great that people are still holding out for it. “

“I can listen to the album and think, ‘Everyone fought

fucking hard for this,’” says Joel. “People were up in arms

about ideas and everyone stuck to their guns. You have to

be passionate about it.” It’s the small things that matter on

‘My Love Is Cool’. The way the sky sounds like it’s falling in

after ‘Lisbon’’s first verse, the sudden thrash of ‘Swallowtail’’s

climax, the calming clatter of ‘Soapy Water’ - it’s a debut of

huge, uncompromising songs, but they’re all built from the

ground up.

Each member has their own attachment to a track on the

record. Theo falls for ‘Silk’’s hip-hop drums, but he also

can’t stifle manic giggling when it comes to ‘Freazy’, which

contains the words “Wolf” and “Alice” in the chorus. “We’ve

got the name of our band in the song! Like a rapper! Or

Superfood!”

Rough cuts from the early days sneak into the final recording,

home demos made in Ellie’s bedroom or Joel’s mum’s house

have been recorded over. “You seem to be quite brave when

you’re in a room yourself recording,” starts Joel. “The word

‘quality’ gets misused a lot. There’s polishing something, but

when someone wants that result, you’re making something

sugary and perfectionist. But when you look at Bon Iver’s first

album, he buried everything in this room and it’s all crisp and

crunchy. That starts a whole genre of music after it.” A mix of

baby steps and triumphant finishing touches, this is a debut

that sums up Wolf Alice’s journey from chancers to pros.

T

he character of ‘My Love Is Cool’ stems from the four,

wildly different individuals piecing it together. Across

a handful of dates on a sold-out UK tour, they all get

on with their own thing. Ellie perches on a bench in-between

soundchecks, rifling through a dusty book that looks like it’s

been nabbed from a library. Joff likes to stay on stage for as

long as possible, practicing songs through a vast collection of

guitar pedals. Joel gets to work with upkeeping his tradition

of trying to write one new song a day. “Honestly, I can’t

remember what I used to do. It’s been like that for so long.

Even if it’s shit, you can throw it away tomorrow. It keeps your

brain active. It’s like sudoku but a bit more fulfilling.” And

Theo spends two solid hours trying to kick a football into a

trolley.

Theo describes Joel as “one of the most prolific songwriters”

he’s ever met. “I’m very, very jealous of him. He’s not only

my best friend, he’s also insanely talented. It’s actually

e

e

e

e

e

e

e

e

April 2011

Ellie and Joff meet

while he’s studying for

a teaching degree at

Roehampton University.

They play open mic nights

with bassist Sadie Cleary.

October 2012

Theo and Joel join the

band. They put out

‘Leaving You’ online and

Huw Stephens plays a

rough demo version of

‘Bros’ on Radio 1.

January 2013

Ahead of a free DIY

Presents ‘Hello 2013’

show at The Old Blue

Last, they share ‘Fluffy’.

It’s released the next

month as a debut single

on Chess Club.

February 2013

DIY features the group in

March 2013’s Neu section.

“People in the industry

seem to know about us

more than just people

who listen to music. If we

can get real people it’d be

quality,” says Joff.

September 2013

Play their biggest run

of shows as support on

Swim Deep’s UK tour,

culminating with a show

at London’s Shepherd’s

Bush Empire.

October

2013

Debut EP

‘Blush’ gets its

release on Chess

Club.

December 2013

Picked out in DIY’s Class

of 2014 - alongside Jungle

and Royal Blood - where

they paint themselves red

for no apparent reason.

February 2014

Sign a deal with Dirty Hit

Records after a “revolting”

meal in Cambridge. “We

were playing with Swim

Deep here, and these

guys came to meet us.

We weren’t sure who they

were. And that was after

we’d met every fucking

e

major label in the world.

They’d all come to the

gigs and seen us mess

up,” remembers Joel.

May 2014

Play an unforgettable

tour with support acts

Superfood and Gengahr,

including a sold-out

London Scala, before

releasing second EP

‘Creature Songs’ on Dirty

Hit.

e

June 2014

Appear on the front of

DIY alongside Jungle and

Peace as one of three

covers. Debut ‘Giant

Peach’ as a “jam” for Zane

Lowe’s Radio 1 Rocks

show at Maida Vale - Zane

promptly loses his mind.

Three weeks later, they

play the John Peel stage

at Glastonbury.

e

e

e

August 2014

Play the Festival

Republic tent

at Reading &

Leeds.

September

2014

Support Lenny

Kravitz, of all people, at

London Roundhouse for

iTunes Festival.

October 2014

Headline a sold out

London Heaven.

e

December 2014

Shortlisted in the BBC’s

‘Sound of 2015’.

e

January 2015

Following their first

dates in Australia, they

complete the recording of

‘My Love Is Cool’ and play

40 diymag.com

e

e

main support for

Alt-J’s sold-out gig at

London’s O2 Arena -

on the same day.

February 2015

‘Giant Peach’ is

played as a Hottest

Record by Zane

Lowe and they

announce their

debut album.

March 2015

Ellie masters the

flute and that bloke

from ‘My Parents

Are Aliens’ makes a

cameo in the video

of the year, for ‘Giant

Peach’.

e

April 2015

Headline their

biggest show to

date at London’s

Shepherd’s Bush

Empire, complete

with confetti

cannons. Two weeks

later, they announce

a gig at London’s

Brixton Academy.

“You can’t regret

anything if you do

whatever comes

naturally” - Ellie

Rowsell

41

astounding. Him and Ellie can put together some demos

where you’re just like, ‘What the fuck?’” Joel’s motive is

mostly to stay on his toes. “I know it’s going to happen

- we’ll tour this album for a long time and someone will

say ‘We need the next one now’. And I don’t want to be

caught off guard.”

He gets his moment on ‘Swallowtail’, a barreling up of

emotions and easily the debut’s most direct track. “I

remember feeling really shit, probably the lowest I’ve

ever felt,” Joel says. “I made this demo of it, all constant

noise. It was more like METZ. Lyrically, it’s a bit cliched

but it was how I felt at the time. It’s someone giving

up, seeing a reason not to, but you’ve already jumped.

I think I probably write most songs when I am sad,” he

admits. “I’m still an emo at heart. I love sad music. Sad

music makes me happy. If I hear a happy song I’ll usually

start thinking that whoever’s singing it is a bit of a dick.”

There’s always been a darkness lurking behind each of

Wolf Alice’s songs, but the formula’s switched on this

first work. Ellie is the first to admit that her songwriting

is “personal but exaggerated” - “maybe I wrote ‘The

Wonderwhy’ about being confused and sad, but I made

it way more confused and sad than I actually was,” she

says.

“The time I wrote the most and was really in love

with writing words was when I was in my late teens,”

Everything Joff Oddie

touches turns to gold.

Even his vomit.

“If I hear a

happy song I’ll

usually start

thinking

that whoever’s

singing it is a

bit of a dick”

- J o e l A m e y

says Ellie. “And I always say this - that’s

the time when your brain’s the most

naive but charming. Your thoughts are

so interesting. And you’re the most

influenced by what you read and see. And

you project that in a really interesting way.

Now I’m a tiny bit older, I have less of that

and I take influence from other people or their stories.”

Her role in the band transforms on their debut. Within the

space of ‘Giant Peach’, she growls, chants and screams like

she’s playing different characters, and it’s intentional. “I’m

always apprehensive to say this because I know nothing

about it, but I started listening to hip-hop,” she says, citing

Outkast’s ‘Speakerboxxx’ as an unlikely inspiration. “The

voices are used in so many different ways. It’s like they have

multiple personalities which they choose to use in different

songs. I don’t know why that hasn’t translated into indie

music. Singers tend to use their voice in the same way. I find

that a little bit boring.”

42 diymag.com

There’s a newfound confidence within the band surging forward in 2015,

and it’s most evidenced in Ellie. With every show they play, she’s more

willing to jump out of her own comfort zone. “I do whatever comes naturally

to me now,” she says. “When you first start out, you either hold yourself back

or you put yourself out there too much. You think ‘I’m the front person, I

have to be really interesting.’ You can’t regret anything if you do whatever

comes naturally.”

T

he measure of a band going from underground favourites to actualreal-life

champions is when they gain a gang of followers. Not just

casual fans with a pint at the back of a venue - we’re talking about

loyal diehards. From the queues outside their free London shows back in

2013 to the hordes huddled next to Shepherd’s Bush Empire in the early

afternoon, these obsessives have followed not just Wolf Alice, but all the

surrounding acts. Two years back, everywhere Peace or Swim Deep went,

they’d take relative newcomers with them. To this day, new bands are just

as central a focus as the headliners themselves. And Wolf Alice’s recent run

around the country sees them taking on a similar role.

It doesn’t strictly matter

who’s on stage - these

wide-eyed fanatics follow

every move. And it’s led

Theo to a rare moment of

serious thinking. “The one

thing we’ve been worried

about gauging is are we

really good in a critical

musicianship way?” he

asks. “Because the kids go

so mad, you can’t help but

think it’s gone really well.

So you imagine yourself

sitting in the balcony and

asking if it was everything

it could be. Does it flow

really well? Does it sound

right sonically?” He pauses.

“And then you think

fuck it - I couldn’t give a

shit, everyone’s jumping

around.”

Picking up the baton from

bands who gave them a

leg-up, Wolf Alice are now

leading the charge. The

Magic Gang, Crows and

Bloody Knees are lapped

up when they’re just taking

their first steps. “We’ve

played support shows

where people’s fans are

just like, ‘Nope’. But people have been coming down for the opening acts,”

says Joel. “I’m so proud that we’re associated with a bunch of people who

are willing to give everyone a shot and be supportive.”

From day one, Wolf Alice have been lucky enough to surround themselves

in a bright scene where everyone’s trying new things. Theo remembers the

house he shared with Joff and Swim Deep frontman Austin Williams, over

in London’s Seven Sisters. It quickly turned into the de-facto space for late

nights and after-parties. “There’d be times where I’d turn around and think

‘There’s literally nine different bands in this room right now,’” he jokes. “In

that environment, I realise it’s exciting and cool to be a part of that. But then

I might just be fucking drunk.” Ellie connects the feverish, uncompetitive

spirit of the old days to what’s happening now. “On those first tours, local

bands we knew would let us stay. Best Friends would put us up in Sheffield,

b a n d

b r o s

Harrison Koisser, Peace

“I think the best thing about

Wolf Alice is that they’re a

real band. They don’t feel put

together to do whatever’s

hot. You can tell they’ve been

together for a long time & that

the chemistry is all organic which is why

their tunes are so good.

“I admire that they don’t need to pretend to

be dangerous or unstable. They’re young &

fun & living the dream & you can smell the

happiness a mile off.”

James Balmont, Swim

Deep

“Joel and I have been in

bands together since we

were 14 years old so when

we get to tour together it

feels like a fulfilment of the dreams we set

out to achieve when we were kids. It’s an

incredible feeling! Our bands are really close

so there’s a huge sense of pride whenever

we watch each other play… usually followed

by a huge sense of drunkenness and

occasionally a huge sense of toplessness

when Theo’s let off his leash. When you’re

on the road with your best mates it’s literally

the greatest party on earth – there’s never a

dull moment.”

Paeris Giles, The Magic

Gang

“Gus had known them for a

little while - we’d met Ellie a

few times before but the tour

was the first time we’d really

all hung out.”

Felix Bushe, Gengahr

“The Wolfies took us out on

our first ever UK tour and we

have all been friends ever

since. I think we have a lot in

common (mostly going out

drinking etc) and when we both toured with

alt-J earlier this year in Europe we ended

up sharing a tour bus. This is probably

every tour manager’s worst

nightmare but i can truly

say it was one of the funnest

months of my life!”

Christian Wilkes, Bloody

Knees

“They truly are a lovely

bunch and it’s been fab to trundle round

the country with such fantastic musicians

and friends. We’ve kind of formed a little

community of legends thanks to Wolf Alice!”

43

that kind of thing. I see that happening

now with Crows and Magic Gang.

Everyone stays at their houses. There’s

no competition, it’s just helping each

other out.”

No matter what anyone thinks about

the past decade, whether or not UK

bands have gone through a stale patch,

there’s no denying the bright years

ahead. Couple ‘My Love Is Cool’ with

Drenge’s latest LP (“that’s a huge step

up,” says Joel), Swim Deep’s drastic

change in direction and head-turning

debut singles from Yak, The Big Moon

and The Magic Gang - things are on

the up. Wolf Alice’s debut barges in

and stakes its claim as the flagbearer

of an exciting future. What felt like a

possibility is now a certainty - there’s a

crop of bands waiting to be adored.

W

hat’s both triumphant and

slightly terrifying is that ‘My

Love Is Cool’ is just the first

step. All the build-up and landmarks

that define Wolf Alice’s past couple of

years should - if everything goes to plan

- be a blip on the radar. “That’s the scary

thought,” admits Joff. “It’s literally just

beginning now.

“I always think about when bands

start, and you look back to their first

album. There’s so much still left to do.

Shepherd’s Bush was a lot more than

just a gig, but it’s not a Brixton Academy

at the end of a cycle.” Rummaging

through pebbles on Brighton beach, he

peers round to the Concorde 2, hours

before showtime. “We did very similar

gigs to these when supporting Swim

Deep last year - we played here. And

it almost feels like school years. You’re

asking yourself ‘what are GCSEs gonna

be like?’ and everyone’s telling you to

not piss yourself. This is probably SATS

in our timeline. Year 6 SATS. I hope it’s

that.”

“Everything else is practice, in a way,”

agrees Ellie. “I think those early years

are so important. When we look back

to our first few tours, when it was

playing to ten people in Warrington,

that’s really special to me.” What’s led

them here, though, is a sense of belief.

Even when members were coming and

going, when Theo wasn’t taking to his

chosen instrument and when Joel was

playing live drums for the first time,

Wolf Alice only happened because

every member realised it was going

somewhere.

Joff sums it up with the kind of

mentality that any aspiring new band

should embrace. “I knew we had the

potential,” he says. “When you’re

younger, you have dreams and a lot of

people will say ‘You can’t do that’. Even

if it’s a city job or a life as a footballer.

‘You’re not superhuman,’ they tell

you. But everything is possible if you

approach it in the right way.” As their

exceptional debut finally arrives,

confidence is only going upwards.

They’re on the brink of seizing their role

as the UK’s most important band in an

age. Wolf Alice have arrived.

Wolf Alice’s debut album ‘My Love Is

Cool’ is out now via Dirty Hit Records.

DIY

“Everything is possible

if you approach it in

the right way” - Joff

Oddie

44 diymag.com

45

Wolf alice

are one of the

amazing bands

playing Latitude

this year, but

t h e y ’ r e n o t

alone. Over the

next few pages

we’ll run you

through some

of the musical

highlights of

t h i s y e a r ’ s

festival.

“Maybe we should

have some safety

rules at the side of the

stage.” - Eoin Loveless

Latitude 2015

DRENGE

BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC STAGE, SATURDAY 18TH JULY

Drenge are Last time Drenge

appeared at Latitude,

playing by the

they were witness to

‘Keep Calm, Don’t

their very first mosh pit.

It wasn’t a tame one, either.

Be A Dick’ motto

Flailing limbs all round, it set a

in 2015.

precedent for what’s become

almost obligatory at the

Derbyshire duo’s raucous shows. “That was the biggest one.

And it was a real shock,” remembers guitarist/vocalist Eoin

Loveless.

Since then, Eoin and brother Rory have stuck to one simple

rule when it comes to moshing - don’t be a prat about it.

Things weren’t nasty at Latitude, but they’ve had their fair

share of hairy experiences since. “We’re pro-mosh but we’re

anti-violence,” explains Eoin. “Because you should be able to

have fun in a pit, but you shouldn’t get hit.” As festival season

gets into full gear, he’s contemplating potential measures to

enforce “anti-nobheads” rules. “ Maybe we should have some

safety rules at the side of the stage. Or maybe some kind of

in-flight safety video to run before we come on”

So for anyone expecting Drenge to embrace Latitude’s rowdy

side, diving headfirst into the lake’s gorgeous waters - think

again. Eoin’s excuse isn’t a particularly convincing one, mind

you. “I rarely have a towel on me. I usually rely on hotel

towels,” he says, getting all A-List on the occasion. “But today,

even this morning, I spilled coffee on my t-shirt and had to buy

another because we were being filmed. A lot of effort goes

into our appearance. And to jump into a lake would ruin that.

It would sabotage what we’ve worked so hard to maintain.”

If anyone’s embracing the lake this year, says Eoin, it’ll be the

one and only Noel Gallagher. “I can imagine Noel in some

speedos, complaining about something but still jumping into

a lake.”

Friday night headliners and Drenge buddies Alt-J have

climbed up the ranks to top bills for fun. Will these two be

next? “The take-up for tickets at a music festival with Drenge

headlining would be severely lower than the year before,”

Eoin says, bluntly. “The lower down the bill, the safer you are,

really. You’re not going to upset anyone.” Shy on plans for

world domination, Drenge are still one of the must-see bands

on this year’s bill, whether you’re a mosher or not. DIY

46 diymag.com

DJANGO DJANGO

BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC STAGE, FRIDAY 17TH JULY

Hows your festival season going so far?

Jimmy Dixon (bass): Great, although I forgot just

how many people go to them. Can’t wait to play

more though.

You last played Latitude in 2012 - how did

that show go for you?

I remember that it was raining but everyone

was in a really positive mood. We were rowed

out across a lake to a little stage in the woods

somewhere and the whole place was totally

packed out. I’m pretty sure we played about 4

or 5 years ago at Latitude and ended up getting

drunk with Keith Allen in some tent somewhere.

Happy days.

How are you looking forward to returning to

play there this year?

We jumped at the chance to play at Latitude

again. Personally I much prefer playing smaller

more intimate festivals. There’s these amazing

little parties going on tucked away everywhere.

You always end up rambling about until the sun

comes up the next day...

Are there any bands on the line-up you’re

definitely going to see?

Caribou, Portishead, Warpaint, Omar Souleyman,

Songhoy Blues, Tim Key, Sounds of the Cosmos…

definitely gonna see if we can find Keith again.

Do you have anything special planned for

your set?

Yeah, we’ve got five or six new songs on the go

and we’ll have time to get another one or two

up to scratch before Latitude. I guess

it depends on which songs

work within the set, but we’ll

definitely playing new

songs. Hopefully we’ll be

able to bring our light show

along too.

YOUNG

FATHERS

BBC Radio 6 Music Stage, Sunday 19th July

So Young Fathers, you’re playing Latitude…

Alloysious Massaquoi: We’ve got a better stage this time. We’ve built our

way up.

Graham ‘G’ Hastings: This is the third time we’ve played it. We played a

stage in the woods, a small but good show. And then obviously the guys

that worked there, they asked us to come back a play a bigger stage. It’s a

great festival, we’ve always enjoyed it. I like the layout. You can swim in the

river?

Kayus Bankole: But the leeches!

In terms of performance, what sets you guys apart from the rest of the

pack?

Alloysious: It’s a new mindset that we’re bringing to the table. Like being

able to do what the fuck you want in the studio. Without any rules. You

hear so many bands who say they’re different, but when you listen to the

record, they’re not any different from so and so. We’ve got a mindset where

anything’s possible. Anything. You’re talking about using that violin string.

Just using a bottle top. Or anything. It’s DIY and industrial. And it’s this vibe

that’s carrying us through. It’s making it less razz-ma-tazz for some people.

This is work. The general perception of artists and musicians is that you’re

living some lavish life, that you don’t really care. You do a little bit and then

you relax. For us, this is work. We take this very fucking seriously. We’re not

gonna muck about. And people see that in the performance, because we

care. That comes across. And whether you like the music or not, you feel it.

A lot of people say they don’t like rap or anything like that, but they like us.

And you feel it.

Photo: Mike Massaro

47

YEARS & YEARS

The Lake Stage, Sunday 19th July

Years & Years, you’re gearing up to release

your new album. How are you feeling about

it at the mo?

Olly Alexander (vocals): We’re so happy to have

it finished. We’re really proud of it. Just before

it gets released we’ll all be really terrified but at

the moment we’re excited.

What’s your favourite part of playing

festivals?

Mikey Goldsworthy (synths, bass): The best part

are the crowds! They are totally up for it and it

seems to multiply by the thousands when you

are not playing in a venue.

Do you have anything special planned for

any of your summer festival sets? Are you

going to be playing a lot of new songs?

Emre Turkmen (synths): We are working on some

new songs to play as well as some covers that

we hope people will be into.

Which of your songs do you most enjoy

playing to a festival crowd?

E: Probably ‘Real’, because it’s one that everyone

seems to know and enjoy.

What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened

to you at a festival?

M: I dropped my wallet in a Metallica mosh pit...

WARPAINT

OBELISK ARENA, SUNDAY 19TH JULY

“W

e learned a lot from what happened last time; people kept

making us offers, so we kept extending the tour, and it wasn’t

really a good idea.”

Ahead of their biggest UK tour to date back in March, Warpaint announced

a fairly radical break with convention; there were no firm plans on the

horizon for a third record, with the decision instead being made to release

new songs as and when they were ready. “It feels like a more natural way

to approach things,” says drummer Stella Mozgawa. “Everything’s winding

up on the touring front now. You need to take a few months to actually

live your life after being on the road for so long, and make sure that you

only come back once you’ve got something important to say, and to write

about. “

The excellent double A-side of ‘No Way Out’ and ‘I’ll Start Believing’

provided a statement of intent right around the time they headlined

Hammersmith Apollo earlier this year, and Mozgawa is confident that the

new approach is one that will prove workable in the long term. “We’ve been

lucky enough never to have been under too much pressure from anybody,”

she explains. “We’re not a massive band, we’re not a poppy band, and it

makes sense for us to take our time and do things the way we see fit. As

soon as you feel like you’re being forced into a certain way of working, it

ends up breeding resentment. It’s never going to be healthy creatively.”

There’s still a handful of summer dates on the horizon, though; on top of

shows in Toronto and Latvia, Warpaint make what is - incredibly - their

Latitude debut. “I don’t think we’ve ever played it before, but maybe I was

just emotionally unconscious for it!” laughs Mozgawa, “By the end of the

first album cycle it got to the point where we were kind of flogging a dead

horse, and in that situation you start to lose track of where you are. It looks

like a beautiful festival, though, and I know there’s a few of our friends

playing. I’m not sure how long we’re going to be able to stick around;

hopefully, we can sort ourselves out time zone-wise, get out there and see

some of the wonderful things that are going to be on offer.” (Ross Jones)

CLARENCE

CLARITY

The Lake Stage, Friday 17Th July

Clarence Clarity, if you could

give punters one bit of advice for

when it comes to festivals, what

would it be?

Don’t worry too much about

watching bands. Unless of course

I’m playing, in which case get down

the front and get ready for the time

of your life.

Photo: Mike Massaro

48 diymag.com

NOEL GALLAGHER

Obelisk Arena, Sunday 19Th July

In a band?

Human?

Noel

doesn’t

like you.

Latitude headliner Noel Gallagher isn’t a shy chap, and

there’s a lot of stuff he doesn’t like. Like, a proper lot.

Loads. Most things, actually. Here are a few acts he

should probably avoid over the weekend, presented in

an ever-more-tenuous spiral.

● ALT-J (+ ANYONE

WITH A MOUSTACHE)

Earlier this year, Rolling

Stone asked Noel about new

music he actually likes. “Do

you know that track by Alt-J,

‘Left Hand Free’? That is a

great track,” he answered.

So far so good. “But Alt-J

can fuck right off as far as

I’m concerned. It’s a great

tune, and I paid 79 pence

for it, but I am in no way a

fan of Alt-J. One of them’s

got a moustache, and that’s

unacceptable.” Oh.

● YEARS & YEARS +

SBTRKT

In a “vignette” the High

Flying Birds released on

YouTube in 2011, Noel

lamented: ”Dance music

sounds like a walk in the

park now. Any fucker can do

it – and quite frankly, every

fucker is doing it.” That’ll

learn ‘em.

● MANIC STREET

PREACHERS

Noel labelled the band

“cynical cunts” after they

met Fidel Castro and it

was broadcast on telly in,

um, 2001. “Here they were

face-to-face with one of the

most influential leaders of

the 20th Century, and all

Nicky Wire could think to

say was, ‘Noel Gallagher

shook hands with Tony Blair

and we’re meeting Fidel,’”

he laughed to HotPress.

● YOUNG FATHERS

“I despise hip hop. Loathe

it,” Noel said to the

Observer in 2005.

● THE VACCINES

He made fun of One

Direction - who Vaccines

frontman Justin Young has

written for (you see?) - at

the Brit Awards the other

year, with former rival

Damon Albarn: “We both

got fucking roaring drunk

and told One Direction to

fuck off in unison.”

● THURSTON MOORE

BAND

Moore’s Sonic Youth

bandmate Kim Gordon

tried (and failed) to steal

Oasis’ Jack Daniels at a Live

105 gig in 1995, the radio

show claims. The younger

Gallagher was having none

of it - “No she can’t have

any,” was Liam’s apparent

response.

KWABS

Bbc Radio 6 Music Stage, Sunday 19Th July

Hey Kwabs, you’ve just finished a tour with Sam Smith –

how was that?

I couldn’t really have imagined a better tour to be on. The

crowds were great - really kind and welcoming... plus Sam

and his band are just good people and that really makes all

the difference. That tour ran through all of March and then I

started my own tour through mainland Europe and UK…that’s

only just finished so I’m still sort of getting used to being at

home!

Your debut album is due soon…

I guess I’m just eager for people

to hear it because it’s been a long

time coming. People ask me if I’m

nervous about it, but the truth

is that I’ve spent plenty of time

creating my own relationship with

the music - knowing how I feel

about the songs. I want the fans to

have that same experience. Also

I’m looking forward gigging once the album is out there. I

think once people know the songs. That’ll be a game changer.

You performed at Latitude last year?

I’ll never forget last year. It was stupidly hot, I had to take a

boat across a lake to get to the stage. I think I’m playing on a

bigger stage this time so I hope that we manage to get a good

crowd. I would also like to have the sunshine and the boat

again, please.

RAE MORRIS

The Lake Stage, Sunday 19Th July

Latitude 2015

Hello Rae, what’s your favourite part of playing festivals?

I just love arriving there in the morning and having the day to

wander around and catch bands that you’ve been meaning

to see. Getting falafel wraps and sitting outside somewhere.

The simple things. Us musicians are so lucky we get to go to so

many festivals. I just like to appreciate that.

What one item do you take with you when you’re on the

festival trail to make life more luxurious?

This year it will be my lovely little flask I’ve just bought! My

band think I’m crazy for loving it so much but it’s definitely my

favourite purchase of the year so far. I’ve always got a lovely

little hot brew in my bag no matter where we are. That’s all

you need in life right?

49

wild

beasts

OBELISK ARENA, FRIDAY 17TH JULY

Latitude 2015

Hello Hayden! Wild Beasts are Latitude veterans, and

this’ll be your sixth time playing the festival. What keeps

bringing you back here?

When we were first starting out they showed great faith

in us. They’ve done that throughout our career. We always

want to repay that faith. They’ve always been very daring in

supporting innovative music, and sticking their neck out a

little. We’ve always felt this is the place for us.

Who else are you looking forward to seeing play?

Jon Hopkins and Caribou! They’re on the same day as us, so

we’ll get to see those guys. It’ll be phenomenal no doubt.

Also, the last time I saw Alt-J they were supporting us at a little

show in Falmouth, so I’m expecting a different atmosphere.

What is Wild Beasts’ most dramatic festival memory?

Goodness me! Our first Latitude we hired a man with a van,

and the man with a van turned out to be a man with an

ambulance. We loaded our gear in there and set off... half

way down the ambulance broke down. The engine had

overheated, and I fancied myself as a bit of a mechanic. It

was the first time I’d ever seen an engine, to be honest, and

I burned my hands on the radiator. So yeah, I played our first

Latitude with skin falling off my hands.

At Latitude, which wild beast or animal would you least

like to bump into in the woods?

If I was going to bump into a creature and be terrified, it’d

probably be Noel Gallagher.

This year the health and safety shackles have been lifted,

and swimming is allowed in the lake. Will you be taking

a dip?

Well, we’ve spent the whole year in the studio so far, so I

wouldn’t want any human to have to see my pale withering

flesh.

Talking of which, how is the new album going?

It’s going well! It’s been a very interesting, life affirming game.

MARIKA HACKMAN

Iarena, Saturday 18Th July

Hey Marika, are you excited for Latitude?

Yeah, I really, really enjoyed it last year. This year I’ve made the

commitment to go for the whole weekend and really enjoy it.

Now that the album’s been out for a while, it must be nice

to be play able to play lots of the newer tracks too?

It’s really fun. It’s nice to come back and have a more fresh set,

plus, I’m able to adapt the set for each show. When I started

touring, I only had enough songs in existence to play a forty

minute set every night that had to be the same every night

because I didn’t have enough songs. Now, I can change it each

night and I can make it completely different.

Do you find that festival sets present a bit more of a

challenge?

I think it’s not so much a challenge as a different kind of set.

When I talk about it with my band, we create a set that’s a bit

more upbeat and with songs that maybe people know a bit

better. I deliberately put together a set that’s all the bigger,

more lively songs which is really fun to play.

Plus, you’re an artist that can experiment quite a lot

anyway, in terms of playing live.

There’s a whole different way of doing the set that I’ve

experimented with over the past year. It’s fun to be able to do

that, and I’m not getting bored of doing the same thing every

night which is very important I think.

MARIKA HACKMAN ON ALT-J

I’m very excited to watch them again. I’ve been a huge

fan since the first album came out and they’re the reason

I started working with Charlie [Andrew] in the first place.

That’s why we went to him. They’ve had a big effect on

my career in that sense and it’s just lovely that I’ve had the

chance to work with them and I’ve toured with them. To

see them headline a festival like Latitude is gonna be just

a really nice experience. We’ll maybe get to hang out and

catch up and all that.

50 diymag.com

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51

Latitude 2015

GENGAHR

iarena, Friday 17Th July

Gengahr! You’re playing Latitude

again this year.

Felix Bushe (vocals, guitar): That was

one of the first times when people

seemed to know the songs and be

responding to what we were doing.

After Glastonbury, that was a real

step. It felt like the ball was really

rolling. We’re playing the iArena in

the middle of the woods, this time. I

remember seeing Fat White Family

there last year. It’s a really nice stage.

Really cool backdrop. Our music fits

in quite well in that environment.

Hugh Schulte (bass): I won’t be

jumping in the lake, though.

Felix: Hugh and John are the two

least likely people to jump into the

lake.

How do you compare your own

headline shows to festivals and

support slots at the O2 Arena?

F: Headline shows are way more fun.

H: And the most terrifying! It’s much

more scary than supporting Alt-J

at the O2 Arena. You just do it, you

don’t think about it.

F: We’ve got the bug for headline

shows now. Even if it’s a fifty cap

venue. We’ve been playing for so

long without having that kind of

thing - now we want it. For over a

year, you’re playing to other people’s

crowds and you’re trying your best to

persuade them that you’re not shit.

And now you get to the stage where

you can suddenly say you’ve got

some fans. That’s a better experience

than doing any of the support stuff.

savages

BBC RADIO 6 MUSIC STAGE, SATURDAY 18TH JULY

ith a “beast” of a second

record apparently in the

W works, and on the evidence

of the monstrous new songs they’ve

debuted live recently, Savages are

becoming more savage still. Following

their Bo Ningen collaboration ‘Words

To The Blind’, the band now have

a summer of festivals lying ahead

- including a slot at Latitude - and

there’s a new audiovisual project at The

Barbican fast approaching, too. Oh, and

Savages have virtually finished their

second album as well.

“I think the first record,

[‘Silence Yourself’] we

treated very much like

a document of the

performance,” explains the

band’s guitarist Gemma

Thompson. “The little

ideas that we hinted at

on the first record, we

wanted to push as far as

they could go with this,”

she continues. While the band’s debut

album was about quickly bottling the

explosive live show energy Savages

were in possession of at the time, this

second one is more about...

“Honing it,” Gemma smiles, finishing

the sentence. “I think so, yeah,” chimes

in frontwoman Jehnny Beth. “Also, from

touring and stuff, we became better

musicians, and a better band. In various

different things.”

Savages approached this new record

in much the same way, with many of

the songs finding their shape on the

stage. “The idea of going straight into

writing a record and recording it just

like that just seemed like a really

alien process,” admits Gemma.

“It’s funny though,” adds

Jehnny Beth.

Jehnny Beth’s new robot

dance moves don’t get off

to a good start.

“There’s not one

science for living

and one science

for creating,

I think they’re

both the same.” -

Jehnny Beth

“One song on the second record, ‘I

Need Something New’ - it was literally

written on stage. At some point during

the tour it felt like we needed,” she

laughs, “something new.”

Besides their new record, Savages have

also been working on a new, separate

project for The Barbican’s upcoming

Station To Station installation series.

“The Barbican is a building that has a

real kind of spirit to it that means quite

a lot to us,” enthuses Gemma. These

other projects help to fuel Savages,

Gemma and Jehnny Beth agree, and

art has always been an

integral part of the band,

too. Today Jehnny goes

several steps further.

“Well,” she starts, “it’s

not really about life or

art, I think the two are

connected. It’s not one

science for living and

one science for creating,

I think they’re both the

same. The experiences that you have

influence everything else.”

And as for festival season, Savages

can’t wait to get back out on the road.

“Sometimes,” laughs Gemma, “it’s a

relief to play a festival! You have to

accept a lot of the situation that’s there.

Not having that control,

and dealing with

what you’re

given is kind of

exciting.” (El

Hunt)

52 diymag.com

shura

iArena, Sunday 19th July

Are you excited to play Latitude,

Shura?

I am super, super excited. Any festival

where Warpaint are playing is going

to be a good one for me, so fingers

crossed I get to actually see them. I

think Caribou are playing as well, so I’m

really excited to catch his live set.

For the first time, people are allowed

to go in the Latitude lake. Are you

planning on ‘doing a Kanye’ and

diving in midway through your set?

I feel like if I tried to do that, it would fall

flat on its face. I would totally think I was

as cool as Kanye, but then people would

just be like, ‘why are you a bit soggy?

Finish ‘Touch’ or get out!’ I’m definitely

going to investigate afterwards though.

I’ll have to wear something that covers

my modesty. I think SOAK told me she’s already doing it.

That’s already confirmed, that can enter the gossip sphere.

Speaking of gossip, have you heard any whispers about

a secret set from Chicken Lizard and the Antlered

Creatures?

You know what? It’s still super early days for Chicken Lizard,

and I’m not sure whether Latitude is going to be the moment

that they strive forward into the limelight. When it happens -

and I totally haven’t made it up - it’s going to be marvellous.

I’ve heard early demos. Watch this space.

Are your Instagram-famous kittens Winnie and Flump

going to be making a guest appearance with you at

Latitude?

No, because of the lake! I don’t want kittens drowning in the

lake! That would be awful. I wish I could take them on tour. I

want to carry them round with me, but I feel I’d look a bit too

much like Paris Hilton, and that’s not alright. I’m obviously

going to be on tour all summer, so I feel like they don’t even

like me that much anymore.

And last but by no means least, what is your best festival

survival tip?

For people who don’t like mud, I tend to tell them that

normally the BBC do pretty good coverage. Staying at home

is always an option. My main tip, though, is to not get really

drunk on the first night. And if you do, don’t eat wasabi peas.

That makes the next day’s vomiting that bit more interesting.

That’s most definitely a personal experience from my first

Glastonbury. I made damn sure I never made that mistake

again.

SHURA ON PORTISHEAD

I’m a massive Portishead fan. I think the first time I heard

Portishead, I was working in a record store when I was

16, and I was terrified. I heard the opener to [their debut

album] ‘Dummy’ and I was like, what the hell is going on?

It really inspired me. Portishead and Massive Attack were

the first electronic artists who made me want to make

that kind of music, or explore that side of music.

53

In a surprise turn in 2015, the big piano power ballads are making

a comeback. Sort of. “It’s a bit of a dead art,” sulks Stewart Brock.

With his band of dream-pop merchants Callum Wiseman and Lewis

Gardiner, who make up Prides, he’s trying to spearhead the piano

ballad revolution. With little success. “There’s not many ballads out

there. That was why I was really keen to get some on the album. I love

ballads,” he gushes. “I’ve grown up playing the piano, and listening

to Elton John, and Billy Joel - and all these guys who are the kings of

ballads. It’s nice to throw my hat into the ring.” Just when you thought

it couldn’t get any worse, he goes in for the headline: “We’re going to

exclusively do power ballads from now on!”

Scottish trio Prides

will be visiting Latitude

following the release

of their debut album,

‘The Way Back Up’. Words:

Andrew Backhouse.

prides

The Lake Stage, Saturday 18th July

It’s a niche market, but if anyone can capitalise on it, it’s Prides: they’re

throwing down the gauntlet to be arena conquerors. “Well, I don’t

know about arenas!” Stewart erupts with laughter. “But we’ve naturally

always written songs that we want people to be involved with, and we

want people to enjoy live. I think, as soon as we started playing songs

live – because it’s such a big thing for us – when we were back in the

studio, we were naturally thinking, ‘How are we gonna do this live?

How is it gonna come across?’ You start writing parts for the crowd!’

We also love that element of what we do. Maybe not arenas, but we

definitely wrote it with the audience in mind! How many of them

remains to be seen!”

Stewart’s infectious laughs are a mix of excitement and dread, but it’s

understandable. Like a groom’s pre-wedding nerves, however neurotic

you wind up being – from legging it from the altar, to smashing up

a wedding cake - it’s all entirely justified. It’s Prides’ debut album,

after all! Even if you don’t believe in luck and jinxes, or that pride is a

dangerous thing, it’s not worth the risk.

Photo: Mike Massaro

54 diymag.com

But at least we’re in the green: ‘The Way Back Up’ is a continuation of form for a

band who are already at the top of their game. It boasts enough lofty skyscraper

anthems to qualify as a greatest hits, married with the amateur schoolboy charm of

a debut. “We produce and record everything ourselves, so it’s not so much that we

went into the studio for a couple of months and recorded the whole thing. There’s

some songs, like ‘Out of the Blue’, which is one of the first songs that we wrote.”

new bands

Either way, at least they have their fans at their side. At any show they play – be

it big fishes headlining the BBC Introducing Stage at last year’s Reading & Leeds

Festival, or tadpoles playing in the ocean of the Commonwealth Games Closing

Ceremony – Prides always stand out from the crowd. Which is ironic really, because

the crowd are practically recruited into the live show. “We wanted to have a section

of a song where everyone could sing along to it – even if they’d never heard it! I

really love the fact that people can sing along to our songs, even if they’d never

heard it.” Finally, Stewart confesses to their arena-sized ambitions. “Having played

live, I guess ‘Messiah’ was the first song we wrote with that in mind.”

“I can’t wait

for Latitude.”

- Stewart

Brock

Either way, despite never having

stepped foot in Henham Park

for Latitude before, they’re

more than qualified to headline

Huw Stephens’ Lake Stage. “I

cannot wait. I’ve had friends go

every year, and they always say

I have to go.” Recruiting loyal

followers, both across the globe

and on Twitter. Prides will be

the pied pipers of this summer’s

festivals.

But even if you’re a die-in-thewool

Prides anorak, there’s

still so much to be uncovered

on ‘The Way Back Up’. “There’s

some that we wrote in the last...

erm... month!” The newest

songs in question are the

modestly titled ‘It’s Not Gonna

Change’ and ‘Same Mistakes’,

which Stewart believes are

“definitely pushing the Prides

bracket as wide as we can push

it with this album.”

But, as the album’s name

suggests, this is ‘The Way Back Up’, and there’s no gain without pain. It may

eventually translate into arena-ready to tender pop bliss, but before that - as you

can only imagine - crafting your debut album takes hours of agonising, fretting,

and painstaking perfectionism to make.

“Not at all!” Stewart chortles. “It’s been a joy!”

“I think...” He pauses. “When we started, I was in a bit of a writing dry patch.” If

Prides sound itchingly familiar from somewhere before, it may have been in their

former incarnation of pop crooners Midnight Lion. Having signed a deal to Island

Records, it all looked promising. “It never really came together, and we didn’t know

what to do with it, so we were in the major label black hole, of just artists that were

just sitting there. And that’s when we started writing with Callum, and became

Prides.”

“Once we started Prides, I don’t think we’ve written anything that hasn’t gone

on the album. We’ve constantly had to bump songs off - we’re writing better and

better tracks. We’ve always had loads of songs, and we’ve always been putting

our best foot forward. I mean, hopefully we’ll get through this one,” he chuckles,

“and be able to make a second, and when we get to the notorious difficult second

album - maybe by the next time I speak to you. I might regret saying this, but the

first one was easy!” DIY

HE SHOULD WIN AN

OSCAR

It’s difficult to imagine a festival

better suited to Oscar than

Latitude. The North Londoner could

successfully serenade the multicoloured

sheep, if he fancied.

Hello Oscar. You’ve been putting

songs out online for a while - do you

feel like you truly understand that

blog world?

Not at all. That’s why it’s fun as a

challenge. Trying to understand

algorithms and patterns, research on

why things make an impact on the

internet - I guess there’s a lot of R&Binfused

electronic stuff that’s super

popular. It ticks boxes and it’s sad and

sexy. The music I’m making - I don’t

think you could call it sad and sexy.

Well, maybe. I don’t really understand

that world. I don’t think I ever will.

What’s the key to happiness?

Music and meditating. And scrubbing

the kitchen floor, picking up your own

dog shit. Keeps you grounded. My dog

is the best thing in the world. Never had

a brother but that dog is the closest.

He looks like a human a lot of the time.

When my mum goes out, he’ll sit on the

table looking out the first floor window,

staring into space and at the cars. He’s

very philosophical. I’d love to know

what dogs are thinking.

Listen: The ‘Beautiful Words’ EP is out

now on Wichita.

Similar to: Eating ten ice creams a day

and not regretting a thing.

Oscar plays The Lake Stage on

Saturday 18th July.

55

Latitude

new bands

GET IN LINE FOR

FORMATION

Formation write songs about the

best parties of your life, the times

when nothing mattered and new

friendships were formed. With that,

they want to soundtrack the next

generation of all-out hedonism.

They’re achieving this with quickwitted

pop songs, stuffed full of

cowbell.

Hello Formation. What informs the

music you’re currently making?

Will Ritson: We wanted to make pop

songs, but every element would be

improvised. Drums, bass, vocals - it

would be exactly three minutes long. So

it could be really mad, but it’d still have

the pop technicality. But we only got as

far as bass and drums, and we realised it

was really fucking good. So we started

making actual music.

Listen: New single ‘Hangin’ is out now.

Similar to: LCD Soundsystem going

clubbing for the first time.

Formation play the Lake Stage on

Friday 17th July.

rat boy

LEADING THE WAY at DIY’S ALCOVE STAGE

Get to know the guy behind what’s fast

becoming one of the UK’s most exciting

new acts.

Hello Rat Boy. When did you start

putting together and producing your

own songs?

It was last February. I was just trying to

make stuff on my computer, but not

really set to any ideas. I used to pitch up

the vocals, because I was embarrassed

to hear them. And I don’t know what I’m

doing either. Just guessing it. It’s all out

of time, too. No metronomes and shit.

That makes it harder when you’re trying

to put it into the live show.

When do you tend to record?

It’s non-stop always. Now I’m doing

quite a lot of meetings in London, I’m

still making music. Same laptop, in my

bedroom. It’s all built-in stuff. I’ve got

an interface that I put into my guitar,

and I made the drums on my computer.

I’m gonna keep that rough quality.

Do you think about the lyrical side

a lot?

My next mixtape - I want it to be a story.

I’ve got massive ideas, diagrams on the

walls, trying to work it out. I’m trying to

get my mum to shout at me just so I can

record it. I asked her for a tenner the

other day - she’s like ‘I ain’t got no fucking

money’. I’ve got two hours’ worth

of stuff now.

A GULF IN CLASS

At first glance, Liverpool’s Gulf stem

from the same school of smart, tightlyformed

alt-pop bands like Outfit, Dutch

Uncles and Wild Beasts. More and more

however, they’re beginning to sound

like their own unique entity. It’s all in

the groove for this group. Live, they’re a

hugely-assembled, all-enveloping force,

getting by to their own beat.

Listen: ’Ocean’ is their best track to

date.

Similar to: Psych music with pop

ambition.

Gulf play the Lake Stage on Sunday

19th July.

56 diymag.com

BABY I CAN SEE YOUR

HAELOS

Gloomy, effect-drenched pop has

pretty much had its day, but Hælos

bring a new spin. The London trio -

signed to Matador - have a curious,

Massive Attack-nodding take, giving

hints of hugeness. Their debut EP

is a showcase in heady production

and tight, straight-to-the-gut

songwriting.

Listen: Debut EP ‘Earth Not Above’ is

out now on Matador.

Similar to: Taking blog-pop to church.

Haelos play the iArena, Saturday

18th July.

HIGHLIGHTS ON THE

DIY ALCOVE STAGE

Get to know these amazing acts before the rest of the world catches up.

● C l e a n

Cut Kid

This Liverpool fourpiece

give nods to Haim

with their funk-lined debut single

‘Vitamin C’. Worth a daily dose, they

make their Latitude debut this year.

See them: Friday 17th July

In five years’ time they’ll be: Working

with Nile Rodgers, surely.

● B a d

Breeding

These Stevenage punks

are angry. Before the

Tories won a majority, they were pissed

off. Now the politically-charged group

are like Hulk with guitars. Vicious,

scathing punk with a serious cause.

See them: Sunday 19th July

In five years’ time they’ll be: Still

really fucking angry.

● Real Lies

This London trio claim

to be cleaning up the

capital’s stale band

scene. They achieve it

by giving nods to New Order with wide

eyed, up-til-6am electronic pop.

See them: Saturday 18th July

In five years’ time they’ll be:

Soundtracking every house party

going.

● Nao

The time is Nao for this

London newcomer,

who’s worked with

everyone from Jai Paul’s brother to

hyped-up producer William Arcane. It’s

all crazed, future R&B.

See her: Friday 17th July

In five years’ time she’ll be: A fixture

of the charts.

YES HE KHAN

Ben Khan is a studio obsessive,

and only now is he breaking out

into the live game. Sold out shows

have followed his every move, but

festivals will be another challenge

for a producer who was initially

compared to Jai Paul but has since

formed his own territory.

Hello Ben. Are you someone to

obsess over tiny details?

It can come quickly, but the thought

process behind, there’s depth there.

Whether it’s just a simple lick... the

thought process might have been ages,

but the best stuff comes quick.

Listen: New EP ‘1000’ is out now.

Similar to: David Lynch with more

synths.

Ben Khan plays the iArena, Saturday

18th July.

VESSELS

The Alcove, Sunday 19th July

Can you remember your first festival? What was it like?

My first festival was Monsters of Rock 1994 in Donnington with Pantera, Sepultura

and Aerosmith. I was 15, not very big and decided it would be a good idea to

go near the front for Sepultura. I almost died, though it didn’t put me off. I think

my first experience of camping at a festival was at Glastonbury 1999, it was still

possible to climb the fence which meant that although it was considerably cheaper,

you were much more likely to have your entire tent stolen!

What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you at a festival?

Arriving at Glastonbury late-Friday evening in the rain and mud. Walking into the

site with all my luggage and arriving in a noisy and busy Dance Village. Trying to

find my friends on the other side of the site. Finding them and getting overenthusiastically

wasted. Spending the rest of the night mostly face down in the

mud. Spending much of the rest of the festival trying to get the mud out of my ears!

57

58 diymag.com

“

When I first wrote

‘Feels Like We Only Go

Backwards’ I thought

it was a Backstreet

Boys song.

- Kevin Parker

“

With new album ‘Currents’, Tame Impala have allowed themselves a greater

creative freedom than ever before. Words: El Hunt.

Kevin Parker’s

brain isn’t wired

up for taking

breaks. Before

Tame Impala even

put out their breakthrough

debut ‘Innerspeaker’, Kevin was

already hard at work on the

follow-up, and it’s a similar story

when it comes to the Australian

band’s third record, ‘Currents’.

“I guess it started congealing

when I finished ‘Lonerism’,”

Kevin says. “As soon as I switch

my brain off, it starts coming

back. It’s just that amount of

creativity I need running in my

brain.”

After several years of living

in Paris, Kevin returned to

a familiar spot in Western

Australia to create ‘Currents’ -

“the shack-mansion”. “I always

find myself wanting to go back

there,” he says. “It overlooks

this amazing bay, and it’s a

ridiculous house. It’s falling

apart. I set the drums up on the

balcony, actually,” he laughs.

If the band’s Instagram is

anything to go by, it’s also filled

with absolutely gigantic spiders

as well, not that it fazed them.

Returning to the place where

Tame Impala first recorded

‘Innerspeaker’ made perfect

sense. “I didn’t have my own

house, I’d come back from Paris,

and I didn’t have anywhere to

stay, or a recording space,” he

explains. “So I thought I’d go

back to Wavehouse. I just set up

all my stuff from home there.“

Like every Tame Impala album

before it, ‘Currents’ charts

completely new sonic territory,

and is its own distinct entity.

While ‘Lonerism’ was clouded,

uneasy and isolated, on the

follow-up, the haze of humid

reverb has lifted. “That feeling

that I’m traversing new terrain,

or I’m in unknown territory is

the most exciting part about

making music,” Kevin enthuses.

“The idea I’m uncovering some

new building, even if it’s just

for me.”

Kevin readily admits that in the

past, he’s restricted himself by

refusing to fully embrace his

natural inclination towards pop.

“I grew up as a grunge rocker,”

he laughs. “so there were

always things that, inherently,

I thought were kinda naff. If I

ever had pop elements in my

music, I would consider them

guilty pleasures, and I would

take the steps to discard them.”

His mindset, these days, is

completely different. “When I

first wrote ‘Feels Like We Only

Go Backwards’ I thought it was

a Backstreet Boys song,” he

says, being entirely serious.

“I drenched it in reverb and I

distorted the drums and made

it into this rumbling boulder. I’m

proud of it, and I’d never change

that, but I guess I realised

there’s no such thing as a guilty

pleasure. Pop music is not a

taboo thing.”

“Put it this way, when ‘Lonerism’

came out I thought that was a

pop album,” he says, laughing. “I

was convinced, I thought it was

pop with a psychedelic pinch

to it. I guess I have the same

sentiment with this album.”

“Every melody I’ve ever written

is a pop melody,” he goes on.

“For me, pop is a flavour that

59

you can bring in and out of a song, it’s

like an ingredient. If you’re a chef, you

sprinkle in a bit. In the last few years,

being in the music game,” he says wryly,

“it makes you realise those ‘rules’ are

boundaries.”

With Kevin’s pop epiphany came

a whole new realm of possibilities.

The result is clearest in songs like the

strutting, Hall & Oatesy ‘Reality in

Motion’ and ‘Less I Know the Better’

- a track which he dubbed “dorky,

white disco funk” earlier this year.

Previously, they wouldn’t have made

it anywhere near Tame Impala, and

probably would’ve wound up in Kevin’s

funk band AAA Aardvark Getdown

Services, or his glam-rock side project

about loving solitude,” says Kevin,

looking back on Tame Impala’s

second record. “For me it was about

trying to connect with people and

go out into the world, and being

rejected all the time. This album,” he

continues, “is about someone that is

now able to join the rest of the world

and be a part of things. Someone who

wants to evolve as a person.”

While the band’s previous albums

were heaped high with unanswered

questions, ‘Currents’ is Tame Impala’s

most self-assured record yet. On

‘Eventually,’ Kevin sings the distinctly

confident line “I know just what I’ve

got to do, and it’s got to be soon,

cause I know that I’ll be happier”.

“

Does it get easier? No!

God no.

‘No’ in capitals.

- Kevin Parker

“

Kevin Spacey. This time round, though,

anything went.

“I was a lot more open minded,” he

says. “On previous albums I’ve been

interested in making old albums sound

new, or trying to redirect new elements

into the old. This time I felt that might

be restricting my arsenal. I bought one

of those giant workstation synthesisers,

you know, like a Justin Timberlake-type

artist, just to see what would happen,”

he says, pausing. “I thought, fuck it.”

Strong narratives and themes soon

started to emerge as ‘Currents’,

gradually fused together, with

realisation, acceptance and connection

tellingly cropping up at every turn. “I

think people thought ‘Lonerism’ was

Down to the last melody, the entire

record is bright, vibrant, and clear.

“‘Currents’ is about someone realising

that there’s a current within them to

become someone else,” he concludes,

“and they have no choice but to be

the person within them.“

The album artwork - a diagram of vortex

shedding - Kevin explains, is how he

sees the lifeblood of ‘Currents’ visually.

“It shows an object moving through

fluid, or the air, kind of like an aeroplane

wing, showing the direction of the air

around it,” he clarifies, doing fairly well

at giving a scientific explanation even

though it’s still “early in the morning.”

“The air in front is all flat, and calm, and

straight,” he says, “and then when the

object moves through, it disrupts the

air, and rips it apart and leaves this train

of mangled flow lines. I love that idea. It

describes the album really well, because

I think it disrupts the air around it as you

move through it.”

Besides working on ‘Currents’, Kevin

Parker has collaborated with Mark

Ronson on his recent album ‘Uptown

Special’. He appears on three songs -

one of which, ‘Daffodils’, was originally

written for his own AAA Aardvark

Getdown Services. “Mark’s an inspiring

guy,” says Kevin. “I definitely learnt

some lessons from being around

60 diymag.com

him when he was making [‘Uptown

Special’]. If nothing else, how openminded

he is about how a song can

come together. I always thought a song

has to be conceived from deep inside

you, but for him an idea can come from

anywhere - the engineer can come up

with the whole thing.”

Despite having three albums under

his belt now with Tame Impala, every

album is a totally different challenge

for Kevin Parker, and he wouldn’t have

it any other way. “Does it get easier?”

he asks. “No! God no. ‘No’ in capitals.

This one for whatever reason drove

me craziest, which is something I

told myself last time that I definitely

wouldn’t do. For me, making an album

is such an intensive process, and it

takes everything out of me. By the

time I’m finished with it, as long as it’s

good, and it accomplishes what I had in

mind, I have that feeling where i don’t

need to redo it. It’s like when you play

a video game and you get to the end,”

he laughs. “There’s not much drive to

play it again.”

“Finishing ‘Lonerism’, I said to myself,

right, next time I make an album,

I’m going to keep it simple,” he says,

evidently amused. “I guess I was

kidding myself anyway. Making music,

the whole point is being completely

confused by it. It’s a ridiculous idea to

think I can stay on the surface, I have

to go a bit crazy. The confusion is the

best part.”

Tame Impala’s new album ‘Currents’

will be released on 17th July via

Fiction. DIY

61

“I just wanna keep

going forwards, even if

it’s only a tiny step.” -

Lucy Rose

62 diymag.com

Get In The Van

From a

corrugated

iron hut

in Salt

Lake City,

to being

back in her

bedroom,

Lucy Rose’s

new album

has seen

her embark

upon all

sorts of

adventures.

Words: Sarah

Jamieson.

Photo: Emma

Swann

After the release of her

first full-length - and

following appearances

on not one but two

Bombay Bicycle Club

records - Lucy Rose soon found herself

touring the world. Unsurprisingly,

getting to travel so far away from the

bedroom where she had written those

first songs had a lasting effect. “I think

I’ve always enjoyed the road part of

making music, the playing the actual

songs,” she says, three years after

the release of ‘Like I Used To’. “Maybe

that’s why it’s taken me so long to

put out another record. I was just so

desperate to heavily tour the last one

as much as possible.”

Listening to the stories of the young,

now London-based musician, it’s not

difficult to see the appeal. “A lot of

the time on the road, I was feeling

super inspired,” she admits, between

sips from a cup of tea. “It was the first

time ever that I was doing what I’ve

dreamed of, travelling, playing gigs

and meeting people. I was getting

calls to go play in Singapore or Manila

or Kuala Lumpur and I was just like,

‘Let’s just do all of these things!’

“I think a big part of this record is

meeting people on the road. There

are just moments that stick out, like

in Salt Lake City, we played in this

sort of corrugated iron hut. There

were maybe only fifty people there

but afterwards, I said, ‘I’ve got some

merch, I’ll be at the van’ because

there was nowhere to sell merch in

that corrugated iron box. I remember

I was outside,” she reminisces, “and

everybody that had come to the

gig, all fifty people, were all outside

chatting about the record. There were

people even who’d talk to me a bit

more deeply about what the record

actually meant to them and then

I’d feel so lucky. First you’re playing

but then you’re actually meeting

people who are coming to gigs to talk

about [the album] and I found that

all very inspiring for writing. I guess

it was a confidence I had never had

before, with the first record. It was

an acceptance that some people are

going to like what I’m doing and it

helped me a lot.”

Her second effort ‘Work It Out’

therefore primarily came to life in the

back of Rose’s van. After grappling

with technology, and setting her

acoustic guitar aside - “I’d drive my

band mad if I was trying to play an

acoustic guitar in the van for ten

hours straight!” - she soon found

there was more room for musical

experimentation than she had

perhaps anticipated. Take lead

single ‘Our Eyes’ with its almost

tropical-feeling synths, or the layered

introduction of ‘Cover Up’, which

sees Rose stepping into completely

new territory. “I wish I could say that

it was a conscious decision to go in

this direction and do this,” she admits,

“but it just kinda happened. A lot of

the songs are a bit different on the

album because they were just written

as random times over the last three

years. Some songs have just turned

out the way they have, but each song

was treated individually.

“I think a lot of it is down to what I was

writing on that’s given that feel. When

we were touring so much in America,

there are a few songs on there which

had been written on an iPad, on a

BeatMaker, so they’re very much

beat-driven and bass-driven instead

of so much acoustic guitar. There’s

that side of the album, which has that

part of it, but then when I came home

and the album wasn’t finished. I had

all of this material that I’d been writing

on the road, so it was important to

also have ‘Lucy back at home’ writing.

That’s when I wrote songs like ‘Like

An Arrow’, when I was back at home

with an acoustic guitar and it wasn’t so

restricted.”

More than anything, progression was

one of the pillars upon which her

new album was built. Whether that

meant taking her extensive touring

experiences and transforming them

into songs, or simply locking herself

back in her bedroom to indulge

her senses, the album became all

about the balance. “I wanted to have

light and shade in this album,” she

confirms. “I didn’t want the whole

thing to be written on the road or

the whole thing at home. I did just

want it to have variety. As long as it

feels like something different and a

progression, as though I’m not going

backwards from my last album, that’s

all I want as an artist. I just wanna keep

going forwards, even if it’s only a tiny

step. Even if this album only sells one

more record than the last one, then I’d

feel happy.”

Lucy Rose’s new album ‘Work It

Out’ will be released on 6th July via

Columbia Records. DIY

Lucy Rose will play Kendal Calling.

See diymag.com for details.

63

A$AP Rocky / Best Friends / Bleachers / Bully / Christopher Owens / Creepoid / Desaparecidos

Meg Baird / MS MR / Muse / Prides / Primavera Sound / Refused / Saint Raymond / Slam Dunk /

eeeee

WOLF

ALICE

My Love Is Cool

(Dirty Hit)

The debut album that felt like it would

For a band,

as in life, it

can take a

while to find

comfort in

your own skin. Nobody

comes fully formed,

most remain perpetual

cookie dough. Years

of experimentation,

mistakes, missteps and

false dawns can pass before finally finding a real

identity; one that not just the fans, but the band

themselves truly believe in. It’s not something

that’s often crystallised by the time debut albums

come along. The biggest acts around may have

been wildly successful with their early steps, but

it’s only much later they firmly cement that style.

Most never get there at all.

And then there’s Wolf Alice.

Remember the first time you heard ‘Bros’?

Tugging the heartstrings without ever being

mawkish, even on its hundredth listen it sounded

magical. And yet this was still early days for them.

If there was ever one marker for what this band

could be, that was it.

But even in the face of something so remarkable,

the London four-piece have been deliberate

in their lack of haste. Playing chicken with the

hype train, they’ve taken their time - each step a

perfect move down a path to something special.

From the initial explosion of opening statement

‘Fluffy’ to the ‘how do you leave that off an album’

brilliance of ‘Moaning Lisa Smile’, nobody would

have blamed them if they’d simply collected

their recent past glories together and called it a

full-length. It would still have stood out. They’d

still have been huge. The fact they didn’t is exactly

why this is no normal band.

64 diymag.com

/ Ducktails / Ezra Furman / Field Day / LA Priest / Leon Bridges / Little Boots / Lucy Rose /

Son Lux / Sound City / Tame Impala / The Great Escape / Wolf Alice / Years & Years

never come is here, and boy, was it worth the wait.

From winding, bewitching opener ‘Turn To Dust’ onwards,

where other bands would turn right, Wolf Alice go left.

Ellie Rowsell’s vocal cuts like diamond, not glass, opting for

ethereal swirls, not basic verse / chorus / verse mundanity.

No haste, no bombast, just a quiet, sure confidence. It’s no

gamble. ’Bros’, retooled to fit the flow of the record, is soon on

the scene. From there on in, there’s no doubt. ‘My Love Is Cool’

isn’t simply a great debut. It’s not just a great album full stop.

It’s, in no uncertain terms, a remarkable one. The furthest

from route one they could ever get, Wolf Alice aren’t just sure

of who they are; they own it.

There’s no one simple trick to what they’re doing here. The

atmospheric early moments of ‘Silk’ sit next to the earworm

of ‘Freazy’. ‘Giant Peach’ and its heavy rock riff off leads into

‘Swallowtail’ - a Joel Amey lead vocal that sparkles and lilts

before ending in a wave of fuzz and noise. ‘Soapy Water’ may

be approaching sparse electro-pop, but it still doesn’t jar

when bookended against the raw force of ‘Fluffy’, still able to

punch through the fog as well as it ever did. For most, it would

seem like too many ideas, but for the perpetual buzz band

who always seemed to have a sparkle in their eyes, it makes

perfect sense. Each one is threaded with their unique DNA.

Every one is definitively Wolf Alice, instantly recognisable

from the first note to the last. It’s the personality that makes

them great.

That’s Wolf Alice’s special power in one word. Personality.

This is no last gang in town, more leaders of the pack. Each

member has their own identity, but together they work in

perfect harmony, like cogs in an organic machine. Not cold,

not metallic, but real - feeling their environment and pitching

perfectly. The exciting part: ‘My Love Is Cool’ isn’t just their

calling card. It isn’t just the best debut album in years. It’s

the flag waving spearhead for a whole wave of young British

bands. Not that they ever applied for the job, but when you’ve

got it, you’ve got it. Bands like Wolf Alice come along once in

a generation. After years of the slow build, the release is here.

Believe the hype. (Stephen Ackroyd) Listen: All of them. Every

track. Seriously.

Wolf Alice will play Latitude. See diymag.com for details.

65

Lighting a spark on pop -

Years & Years.

A bright-eyed, bushytailed

joy of a debut.

eeee

YEARS & YEARS communion (Polydor)

Since heading up DIY’s Class Of as fresh-faced cover stars at the beginning of 2015, Years &

Years’ light-speed rise has been stratospheric. From early single ‘Real’ - which the band released

on early-adopting French label Kitsuné - to their major label debut ‘Take Shelter,’ and breakout

radio hit ‘Desire,’ it’s all chronicled on ‘Communion,’ a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed joy of a

debut album. ‘Communion’ finds togetherness and unity in its dancefloor euphoria, but Olly

Alexander is frequently torn-up, pained, and lonely instead. It takes an incredibly deft touch

to steer around cliche, and make the popular lyrical fodder of heartbreak sound all shiny and

fresh, but hitting like a teary end of night snuggle, or an strobe-drenched night of putting hurt

to one side, ‘Communion’ has nailed it. Broaching love, lust, power-dynamics, jealousy, and

heartbreak along the way, Years & Years bring that all important human touch to their massive

pop anthems. (El Hunt) Listen: ‘Without’

eee

LEON BRIDGES

Coming Home (Columbia)

‘Coming Home’ starts with a smoky

aesthetic and a sense of longing, and

it doesn’t shift one jot. There’s a sense

of cohesion, but only because each of

Leon Bridges’ songs are about falling in love, doing anything

to get the girl. “I’ll swim the Mississippi river,” he promises on

‘Better Man’. On ‘Smooth Sailin’, he wants his special someone

to “let me be your passenger.” And on ‘Twistin And Groovin’,

he’ll be catching the first train “to Louisiana in the morning,” in

pursuit of his true love. Choking on desire, this obsessive sense

of commitment is no doubt part of the debut’s charm, but it

does grow old very quickly.

That’s a dampener on what’s otherwise a glistening,

gorgeously-constructed record. Bridges voice isn’t one-of-akind,

but it’s enough to stop anyone in their tracks. If he opts to

take more risks next time round, we’ll have a unique talent on

our hands. (Jamie Milton) Listen: ‘Better Man’

eee

LA PRIEST

Inji (domino)

Give Sam Dust a time machine and he’d

always head towards the future. As a

teen, he was making provocative and

berserk pop music with Late of the Pier.

With the project since disbanded, Dust’s attention has turned

to discovering the unknown. Spanning five years and several

countries, debut LA Priest album ‘Inji’ is the product of his own

weird-pop fascinations: the sound of Dust finding his own

identity. And to achieve this, he tries just about anything and

everything that crosses his path. Still, it’s in the straight-up funk

pop of ‘Lady’s In Trouble With The Law’ and the ballistic ‘Oino’

that things fall into place. Direct and prone to showing off (like

in the latter’s Prince-nodding solo), this is a pop artist finding

his feet, not some musical scientist solving an impossible

puzzle. The sooner LA Priest realises its future-pop intentions,

the more effective that time machine will prove. (Jamie Milton)

Listen: ‘Oino’

66 diymag.com

eeee

CHRISTOPHER OWENS

Chrissybaby Forever (Self-

Released)

My God – it’s almost like hearing Girls

again. ‘Heroine (Got Nothing On You)’

recalls the finger-clicking brand of doowop

and surf guitar that made the band

fab, while ‘Waste Away’ re-discovers

the vintage tone with enough reverb to

take out a small herd of cows.

There’s a real sense of optimism and

summer to Christopher Owens’ new

solo record – ‘Out of Bed’ oozes with

sunny charm with its tape-recording

and birdsong samples – while the stingy

running time of ‘Lysandre’ has been

usurped for a gorgeously generous

trove of sixteen tracks. The greatest

track, though, is the opener – ‘Another

Loser Fuck Up’ – an incredibly poignant

return to form. A re-discovering of what

made Owens’ music so great in the first

place. (Kyle MacNeill) Listen: ‘Another

Loser Fuck Up’

Sweeping,

colourful

indie-pop.

eeee

DUCKTAILS

St Catherine (Domino)

By now, we can agree that Matt Mondanile

deals in bliss. As well as playing in Real Estate,

his Ducktails project goes from strength-to-strength, enjoying the fruits of

touring with Big Troubles as a backing band and releasing a slew of records

since 2006. ‘St. Catherine’ is unlikely to shock any fans, as Mondanile turned

Ducktails from a disparate sonic landscape into a sweeping, colourful

indie-pop outfit a while back. Instead, the LP just illustrates his propensity

to write beautiful music. The remarkable ‘Heaven’s Room’ showcases the

luxuries Ducktails can now afford; a transcendent string arrangement builds

on big, chorus-y guitars and pitter-patter ride cymbals. ‘St. Catherine’ is a

quasi-nostalgic LP that’s sonically soothing, while exhibiting finely-woven

musical textures. It’s clever, without being intimidating or pretentious.

(Euan L Davidson) Listen: ‘Heaven’s Room’

eee

SON LUX

Bones (Glassnote)

Having collaborated with everyone

from Lorde, to Sufjan Stevens and

Serengeti on joint project Sisyphus,

‘Bones’ sees Son Lux stepping

back to centre-stage, stamping his

own voice on every square foot of

post-rock concrete. Drawing on last

record ‘Lantern’s frayed threads of

invention, Ryan Lott truly hits his

stride on the uneasy ‘You Don’t

Know Me,’ and the haunting, “heavy

cage of bones” of ‘Flight’. This is

a haunting, arresting record, and

most importantly, it’s thoroughly

unique. (El Hunt) Listen: ‘Flight’

eeee

BLEACHERS

Strange Desire (Columbia)

Spanning from preppy college

rock to weirdo electronica,

Bleachers is Jack Antonoff with

the shackles off. Where fun. were

bombastic, Bleachers is explosive,

where they were theatrical, this

is stripped bare. ‘Strange Desire’

may be Antonoff defining himself

on his own terms, or it may just

be yet another perfectly poised

step on his ladder to the top, but

with earworms as addictive as

‘Rollercoaster’, frankly, who gives

a damn. (Sarah Jamieson) Listen:

‘Rollercoaster’

67

Against

The Grain

Desaparecidos guitarist Denver Dalley discusses the band’s new album. Words: Tom Doyle.

he simplicity with which

Desaparecidos guitarist Denver

TDalley explains why they haven’t

made an album for 13 years almost makes

you feel silly for asking - or it would if his

Nebraskan lilt wasn’t such a calming joy to

behold…

“We did a ‘comeback’ show back in 2010

though and from there people’s schedules

just managed to align,” he continues,

amiably. “And you know what, it really

feels like we’ve picked up where we left off.

We’re old friends who really did grow up

together so it’s maybe simpler for us to get

back into the swing of things than it might

be for some other

bands.”

Those childhood

friends, who most

famously include

Bright Eyes’ Conor

Oberst in their

number have been

much-missed in the

interim. 2002’s ‘Read

Music/Speak Spanish’

resonated across indie,

punk rock and emo

scenes and became, for want of a better

phrase, a touchstone record for Oberst

obsessives who enjoyed seeing him in full

howl-at-the-moon mode. From there, as

Dalley will tell you, things got pretty hectic.

“We were getting all these tour offers and

MTV even sent a crew round to do a ‘You

Hear It First’ thing about us, which was

mad. But we didn’t feel right about it which

is why I had no qualms with knocking it

“Ultimately, we’ve

always done things

on our own terms

and as soon as it

became laboured or

forced we walked

away…”

on the head.” It was an against-the-tide

swim which made total sense for a band

whose MO is to constantly push against

received knowledge with no small amount

of political savvy.

“If you look at it, America was founded by

people who did anything and everything

they could to progress and get the best

possible thing for themselves,” offers

Dalley. “They cheated the natives out of

the land to get what they could. That’s still

a very American business model - Andy

Warhol talked about 15 minutes of fame

but these days it feels like 15 seconds of

fame with everyone just wanting to go viral

with no concern for

how or why. That’s not

what we are about as

a band.”

What Desaparacidos

are and have always

been about though is

casting an unflinching

eye on the things that

ail modern society, a

trend that persists on

their ironically titled

but viscerally acerbic

new full length ‘Payola’. “We come from

a country where we have the freedom to

criticise the things around us which are

perhaps not as we feel they should be,”

grins Dalley. “Lots of the things we were

talking about when we did the first album

are still absolutely relevant now. In fact, I

would say it feels as though a lot of that

stuff is almost more relevant now than it

has ever been. It’s almost a fluke that we’re

still relevant, I suppose.” DIY

eeee

DESAPARECIDOS

Payola (Epitaph)

‘Payola’ is a full-length that

punches with one hand and

offers help with the other. It

shapes noise, aggression and

disillusionment – of which,

lyrically, there’s plenty – and

gives it a platform, a chance to

be heard. Granted, there are

recognisable offerings – the

Sheriff Joe Arpaio-inspired

‘MariKKKopa’ was one of four

tracks Desaparecidos released

on EPs within the past three

years – but their familiarity

doesn’t dull their bite. The

music itself is gut-wrenchingly

satisfying; guttural guitars and

pounding drums punctuate

most of the songs while Conor

Oberst’s raw screamed vocals

transform him into the perfect

carnage-provoking ring leader.

Yet, even within the chaos,

there are shimmers of light.

While Desaparecidos are

unrelentingly boisterous, they

somehow manage to make it

feel completely joyous. This is

an album designed to move

people, and ‘Payola’ manages

to do so in so very many ways.

(Sarah Jamieson) Listen: ‘The

Left Is Right’

68 diymag.com

As potent as ever.

eeee

REFUSED

Freedom (Epitaph)

From the first moments of opener ‘Elektra’,

‘Freedom’ is spine-tinglingly good; but it’s in

the screamed sentiments of Dennis Lyxzén

– “Nothing has changed!” - that really hit

home. While Refused might have technically

been out of this game for the better part

of two decades, they don’t fall short. From

the jarring metallic stabs of guitars on ‘Old

Friends / New War’ and the under-your-skin

chanting of ‘Francafrique’ to the stomachturning

drop in the middle of ‘Thought Is

Blood’, here are a band still as potent as ever.

Persuasive, pummelling, precise, Refused

set the agenda with ‘The Shape Of Punk To

Come’, and here they’re proving that they

can still translate the blueprints. This may be

their biggest gamble yet, but they’ve got a

winning hand: Refused are no longer fucking

dead. (Sarah Jamieson) Listen: ‘Thought

Is Blood’

eee

LITTLE BOOTS

Working

Girl (On Repeat)

It’s all too easy to get swept up in the dream-laced pop of

Little Boots’ third album. From the hypnotic bop of the title track through

the sky-baiting sway of ‘Help To’ until the skipping animation of ‘Better In

The Morning’, ‘Working Girl’ is full of effortless, glittering dance.

However, as Victoria Hesketh’s aerial vocals on ‘Real Girl’ pull away from

the sonic shimmy, “I didn’t promise I’d be perfect, I didn’t promise I would

play the game,” the realisations hit like a wave. Little Boots is standing up to

the game afoot with a powerful sense of self. There’s something about this

evolution that just works. (Ali Shutler) Listen: ‘Paradise’

eeee

EZRA FURMAN

Perpetual Motion

People (Bella Union)

There’s a feeling throughout ‘Perpetual Motion People’

that Ezra Furman is ‘in the moment’ – and that he knows it. There’s a

ramshackle magical confidence that tumbles throughout all the songs, a

sense that Furman has created his own unique, captivating world. If there’s

any justice, this could be the moment Furman becomes a star, spilling out

his thoughts about depression, love and his faith. It’s this glorious cocktail

that makes him such a rare, unusual and alluring talent. This is a messy,

disorderly but beautifully blissful and idiosyncratic record. (Danny Wright)

Listen: ‘Tip of a Match’

69

The start of

something

bigger.

Q&A

Bully’s Alicia, Reece and Stewart fill us in on the recording of their

debut album.

It’s exciting to have the album here so quickly. Was it created in the

same sessions as your EPs?

Alicia: We did it in November, around that time, at a studio in Chicago.

Some of the old songs that we kept on it - they’re all re-recorded and

reworked. I booked like twenty-one days there. We did full band tracking,

then they went home while I did vocals. We took a break and had it all,

listened to it, and I went back before Christmas and re-mixed two things

on it. After Christmas, everything kind of shut down. That EP was done at

Battle Tapes in Nashville.

Did the initial response to the EP spur you on to put together the LP

quickly?

Alicia: I think for us, it feels like it hasn’t been very quick. We’ve really

taken our time with everything. We were always going to make the album,

whether or not we’d sign the contract. It doesn’t feel super quick to us.

Reece: I think it might look super quick, though. The record label put out

that EP in October. And there’s a record in June, now. It was by no means

that fast.

Alicia: But either way, because that did well didn’t strike us to make a

record. We would have done that either way.

Stewart: There was something about Startime and something we really

liked about them as a label. We met with other labels and had these

conversations where it was like ‘Yeah great, we’ll get another single, work it

with another EP’. Whereas Startime - they were just like ‘Guys, go make the

fucking record. Let’s do it. Let’s put it out’. And that was exciting to us. Alicia

knew she had a record. Sometimes they’ll just want to product test you. But

Isaac was much more like ‘Fucking make a record’.

eeeee

BULLY

Feels Like (Sony)

Honesty. It’s not something every band

places high on the agenda when it

comes to songwriting. That’s not the

case with Bully, though. On opener ‘I

Remember’, Alicia Bognanno’s lyrics

don’t back off telling it like it is - and not

in a mean way either. It’s great.

It’s just one of the traits that make

the Nashville four-piece something

different. Direct, scuzzy, catchy gems

litter ‘Feels Like’. From ‘Trying’, with

its hundred mile high chorus, to the

runaway train of ‘Reason’, every one

marks it out as a debut album of note.

The kind of record that marks more than

just a first full-length release; the start

of something bigger. Bully don’t feel

like just another band. Bully make you

believe, without ever trying. (Stephen

Ackroyd) Listen: ‘Trying’

70 diymag.com

eeee

LUCY ROSE

Work It Out (Columbia)

A brilliantly fun

pop album.

While Lucy Rose’s debut showcased her ability as a

potential-filled songwriter, it’s on Rose’s second record that

she truly steps out and forges ahead with something quietly

inventive, and, to be frank, far bolder. Lucy Rose has openly

admitted that radio favourite ‘Our Eyes’ in particular took

her outside of her comfort zone, but really, the sparse basslines,

and unpredictable melodies she’s carved out fit her

writing like a memory-foam mattress. ‘Till The End’, swerves

off into new territory, too, and Rose’s voice unexpectedly

finds its context in big, bolshy beats. Consistently, across

the whole of ‘Work It Out’, Lucy Rose is pushing

herself, exploring new sonic possibilities, and

experimenting with influences well outside

of her folky roots. The pay-off? She’s

stepped out on the trail alone, left

her tag-line of ‘Bombay Bicycle Club

backing singer’ well behind, and

she’s written a brilliantly fun pop

record in the process. (El Hunt)

Listen: ‘Till the End’

ee

MS MR

How Does It Feel (RCA)

Something that gradually becomes clear

across ‘How Does It Feel’ is that this is

an album of uncertainty, from the voyeuristic rhetoric of the

album title to Lizzy Plapinger’s “what did you think would

happen?” (‘Painted’) and “should I even stay?” (‘Tripolar’).

Sadly the pair’s new output is diluted with the more

recognisable trappings of their last few years in service; even

the title track falls somewhat short, with hits of “how does it

feel?” never quite reaching their heady destination. (Charlie

Mock) Listen: ‘Painted’

eeee

MEG BAIRD

Don’t Weigh Down The Light

(Wichita)

‘Don’t Weigh Down...’ is a beautifully

emotive listen, steeped in convention whilst eliciting a heavily

relatable and contemporary narrative and tone. Meg Baird’s

ability as a musician can only be matched by her enveloping

songwriting that, thankfully, is something that comes handin-hand.

A record that you know deserves to be heard, yet

want to keep all to yourself. (Ross Jones) Listen: ‘Past Houses’

71

Recommended

from the past few months

eeee

Blur - The Magic Whip

“Their magic remains as strong

as ever.” (Stephen Ackroyd)

eeee

Brandon Flowers - The Desired

Effect

“Brandon is still the star of this

show.” (Sarah Jamieson)

eeeee

Everything Everything - Get

To Heaven

“Everything Everything have

sculpted a masterpiece.” (Andrew

Backhouse)

eee

PRIDES

The Way Back Up

(Island)

While ‘The Way Back Up’

offers all of the highlights

from Prides so far - including

the likes of bubbly opener ‘I Should Know Better’

and the reflective ‘Let It Go’ - somehow the fulllength

doesn’t quite reach the tremendous heights

that first feel possible. The warm synths and giant

choruses of the opening tracks get the album off

to a shimmying start, but things soon feel to take a

more mid-paced turn.

Still, if Prides have achieved anything with ‘The Way

Back Up’, it’s being unafraid of experimentation.

That’s the beauty of a debut record, after all; it

opens up a band’s strengths and teaches how to

play to them, and that’s an invaluable lesson for any

band. (Sarah Jamieson) Listen: ‘Let It Go’

eeee

BEST FRIENDS

Hot.

Reckless.

Totally

Insane. (FatCat)

Best Friends have long

perfected the art of creating music that makes a

crowd bop until they’re bruised. Since they first

formed, their garage punk has become a staple of

the UK DIY scene. With an astute sense of mischief

and a knack for snazzy hooks, their debut offering

is as endearing as they come. Consisting of songs

about everything from video game marathons to

drinking toxic waste, ‘Hot. Reckless. Totally Insane.’

is a snapshot in time. “It’s crazy but I’m having the

time of my life,” they chime on ‘Dr Mario’ – with

such enthusiasm, it won’t take long for that to

become widespread. (Jessica Goodman) Listen: ‘If

You Think Too Much Your Brain Will Fall Out’

eeee

TAME IMPALA

Currents (Fiction)

Every record Kevin Parker

releases has its own distinct

voice and personality.

‘Currents’ - his third Tame Impala album - continues that trend

with aplomb. While ‘Lonerism’ was uneasy and alienated, hiding

its pop chops behind misty shower curtains of humid reverb,

‘Currents’ dives off into bold and optimistic new waters. The

experimentalism is still everywhere - there’s a 7 minute glamopera-epic,

‘Let It Happen,’ for goodness sake - but instead of

fighting the sensibility that fueled songs like ‘Feels Like We Only

Go Backwards’ on previous albums, Parker seems to have finally

accepted his pop core. It doesn’t so much improve Tame Impala’s

sound as it steers the tension in new directions.

The giddying, rampaging brick walls of distortion have shrunk

to picket-fences on ‘Currents,’ and in stark contrast to ‘Lonerism’

and ‘Innerspeaker,’ Tame Impala’s third album is their first that

looks outwards. Kevin Parker has already proved he can ace

introspective psychedelia - with ‘Currents’ he’s hopeful and

acceptant instead. It might not hit with the sit-up-and-listen

immediacy of previous albums, but make no mistake, ‘Currents’

is just as accomplished. (El Hunt) Listen: ‘Let It Happen’

Bold and

optimistic

new waters.

72 diymag.com

ee

MUSE drones (Warner)

How do you solve a problem

like Muse? To many, there’s

nothing wrong in the first place.

Hundred storey riffs, dramaticised

posturing; that’s exactly what they

want from the Teignmouth trio, right? But there’s an elephant

in the room. At some point over the past decade Matt Bellamy’s

penchant for the political went into overdrive. And so we find

ourselves here, with ‘Drones’. A concept album about.... yeah.

You guessed it. Drones. On the surface, Muse do what Muse do

best. Operatic, aggressive, often vicious, occasionally poignant

- musically their Marmite is as strong as ever. Those that are fans

can add marks, those who aren’t, never will be. But the lyrics.

Oh, the lyrics. “Your ass belongs to me now,” Bellamy wails on

‘Psycho’. And it’s not alone. Kill, drones, kill, death, drones. The

stench of the conspiracy nut reigns supreme. This isn’t comment,

but caricature - a cartoonish politics. On ‘Drones’, that’s what

Muse have become; a hyper-realised version of themselves. For

a band who divide so strongly, that’s not always a good thing.

(Stephen Ackroyd) Listen: ‘Reapers’

Kill, drones,

kill, death,

drones.

eee

A$AP ROCKY

At.Long.Last.

A$AP (RCA)

First thing’s first - ‘Better Things’.

Hours after its early release,

‘A.L.L.A’’s big talking point was a verse on this track,

where A$AP boasts about a relationship he had

with Rita Ora, and not in the most subtle of terms.

There’s honesty - the likes of which he deals out

on the regular throughout this record - and then

there’s the kind of nasty “bitch”-hating delivery that

doesn’t have a place anywhere in 2015. It’s hard to

look beyond misgivings of this ilk on ‘A.L.L.A’, but

the rest of the record stands up as a truthful, dayby-day

account of A$AP’s journey from homeless

kid to multi-millionaire. He’s a man of serious

contradictions. (Jamie Milton) Listen: ‘L$D’

eeee

CREEPOID

Cemetery Highrise Slum

(ICollect)

With Creepoid, there is a

sense that all roads have led to

‘Cemetery Highrise Slum’. Leaving aside the fact that

the record represents a shift in circumstances for the

Philadelphia quartet - it’s their first as a full-time band

- it is a fine encapsulation of their alluring, unsettling

blend of melody and misanthropy. Disorienting and

satisfying in equal measure. (Huw Baines) Listen:

‘Worthless and Pure’

eee

SAINT RAYMOND

Young Blood (Asylum)

At just 20 years old, Callum

Burrows aka Saint Raymond

is already making waves. The

challenge he faces however is a difficult one. Up

until now, Saint Raymond has relied on his ability to

churn out feel-good summery anthems with ease, his

euphoric montage-ready singles resulting in heavy

airtime and endless festival slots. Now he needs to

deliver an album that stands up in more than just

three and a half minute cuts but as a full-length

record as a whole. Sandly, the result is a mixed bag

that comes alive only through its singles. (Henry Boon)

Listen: ‘Wild Heart’

73

FIELD

DAY

victoria park, London

Photos: emma swann

live

fka twigs

El-P tries to

order mac &

cheese via the

crowd.

run the jewels

74 diymag.com

It takes minutes for Field Day to

transform Victoria Park from

peaceful haven to people-filled

madness. Between a packedout

tent for Tei Shi and Owen

Pallett’s celebratory set on

Saturday afternoon, there are

human pyramids and sack races.

Enigmatic producer SOPHIE ups the

ante with visuals, while Shura has her

tent under swimmy hypnosis. Here,

it might take some convincing as Rat

Boy’s jagged, trigger-happy indie rolls

in, but the likes of ‘Carry On’ and ‘Sign

rat boy

ride

On’ are instant charmers. Some bands

take months to win over a small pack.

Rat Boy has this immediate appeal, one

that can’t be underestimated. Nothing

can get close to Run The Jewels

when they’re on form, though, and it’s

only for a split-second that they even

threaten to stumble. Every show they

play is like a victory lap. They absorb

each moment like it might be their

last. But there’s limitless stamina to

the project, which is rocketing by at an

unstoppable speed.

For the past year, FKA twigs has been

refining her live show to the point

where she’s now able to put on one-off

spectacles, where the emphasis is on

performance, not just the music. It’s

more dangerous ground in festivals,

where the resident East Londoner

doesn’t have everything in her control.

And control is the be-all-and-end-all

of twigs, from her commanding ‘LP1’

to the meticulously crafted imagery.

Closing out the Saturday, tonight she

faces one of her sternest tests in both

living up to a big billing and achieving

her own finely-tuned goals. What

follows is an exercise in restraint and

otherworldly force. Under a blaze of

strobing lights, and red smoky washes,

Caribou’s Dan Snaith is a slick operator

guiding his live band - and he hits a rare

electronic sweet spot in the process.

As golden sunray lights beam out of

the stage, and an epic ‘Sun’ closes, it’s

a euphoric end to the first day of Field

Day.

“Hi, we’re called DIIV, we’re from

New York City,” drawls Zachary Cole

Smith for approximately the seventh

time between songs in his band’s

effortlessly heady main stage set on

Sunday afternoon. Mac DeMarco’s turn

isn’t so smooth, beleaguered by tech

issues, but his shows are actually better

when stuff goes wrong - all impromptu

covers and between-song quips.

Sticking resolutely to material from

his first three releases - when things

go well, Mac and his pack are on fire.

When things go terribly, they’re just as

enamouring. They can’t lose, really.

“You are all my Hyde Park”, beams Patti

Smith, as she and band work their

way triumphantly through ‘Horses’.

She’s a legend, a pioneer, and the punk

poet laureate, and today feels like

yet another landmark moment in her

phenomenal artistic life. Meanwhile,

Savages have already claimed a “beast

of a record” is in the works. Tonight’s

set suggests that’s an understatement.

Bigger, braver, bolshier - if the fourpiece

seemed assured and exciting

first time round, just wait for the next

step. Jehnny Beth fronts everything

with more confidence than ever,

crowdsurfing and holding a packed-out

tent in her palms.

Sunday is the unofficial day of returns,

and Ride kick off underneath a gold

and purple haze of lights with ‘Leave

Them All Behind,’ the opener from 92’s

‘Going Blank Again’. Until this year, the

shoegaze-staples had only toyed with

the odd acoustic appearance, and a

proper reformation was not an option.

This summer, though, they’re playing

together as a full band for the first time

in twenty years. No biggy, then. It’s

towards the tail end of the set during

‘Vapour Trails’ that the band really hit

on magic. That unmistakably baggy

drum beat, and those washy, quivering

guitar lines sound absolutely massive

blaring out into the night in potent

combination. (El Hunt, Jamie Milton)

mac demarco

spotted at the festivals

WHO’S that coming over the Dock?!

Is it a Crouchy, is it a Crouchy?! Which

Stoke footballer wasn’t too difficult

to see at Sound City when he paid a

sneaky visit to check out Fucked Up.

WHO managed to find his way

onstage during Mac DeMarco’s

brilliant set at Field Day, by

pretending to be one of his family

members? Honestly, we’re not all

that convinced that it was an act of

kindness...

WHICH quarter of a multi-gazillion

selling boyband found himself in the

midst of the crowd during The Black

Keys’ set at this year’s Primavera?

Here’s a clue: it wasn’t necessarily the

one you’d expect.

WHICH brilliant pop star was spotted

having a rather lovely time under the

clear blue sky at this year’s Field Day?

Seems as though night time isn’t her

only time.

75

peace

SOUND CITY

Bramley-Moore Dock, liverpool. Photos: emma swann & sarah

louise bennett

T

he formula’s been switched for

Sound City 2015. A tradition of

cramming as many great new

bands as possible into Liverpool’s

countless venues has been dropped in

favour of something more out-of-theordinary.

The city’s historic Bramley-

Moore Dock has been transformed.

An early evening slot on Thursday

doesn’t prevent Yak from pulverising

their instruments. Everything

Everything later offer up a potent

display; the Manchester group are all

about performance and showmanship,

providing the perfect introduction to

their brilliant new album.

It’s hard to imagine a better

environment for Swans than a bleak,

unforgiving warehouse. There’s

nowhere to hide quietly in the DIY

Baltic stage. “Liverpool!” bellows The

Vaccines’ Justin Young in introduction

for their Friday headline set. Whether

during their bombastic opener

‘Teenage Icon’ or the cool-oozing sway

of ‘Dream Lover’, it’s no real wonder

that they’ve grown so much over the

past five years.

By the time Unknown Mortal

Orchestra take to the Baltic Stage,

they’re greeted with an incredibly busy

and baying warehouse. It’s all elaborate

jazz notes and thrashing. Fucked Up

arrive in stark contrast, and Damian

Abraham is as formidable as ever,

clutching at his head, swinging his mic

in dangerously wide circles.

On Sunday, Honeyblood treat us to a

couple of brand new songs. There’s the

snarling, pounding ‘Love Is A Disease,’

as well as ‘Babes Never Die’. The pair’s

live show is fast growing into a furiously

fine-tuned powerhouse. Gengahr,

meanwhile, don’t seem to have a clue

how the reverb-drenched surroundings

are shaping their sound. But make no

mistake - there’s a genuine, feverish

atmosphere. The reaction’s palpable.

Whether they’re pulling debut album

favourites out of their glittery, foil

adorned hat, or closing things up with

the jaunty hacienda-flavoured ‘World

Pleasure,’ Peace have hit a new stride

lately. Even when Doug Castle has a

few guitar issues, Harry Koisser - ever

the seamless frontman - swans about

overseeing an improvised jam until it’s

all fixed. When they step up on stage to

the biggest screams of Sound City so

far, they own it like they’re established

arena hard-hitters already. (El Hunt,

Jamie Milton, Sarah Jamieson, Sean

Stanley)

everything

everything

swans

yak

76 diymag.com

sleaterkinnEy

foxygen

PRIMAVERA SOUND

parc del fòrum, barcelona. Photos: Emma Swann.

n an absolutely heaving stage overlooked by a

monstrously proportioned solar panel, Brand New

O are giving Primavera Sound its sudden, strobey

awakening after six years away. Across the site, meanwhile,

Spiritualized are under a wash of white lights. Sticking largely

to older material, they play prism-skewed gospel and blues,

and the crowd falls into a spacey cosmo-haze. Starting - Sound

of Music style - at the very beginning of his career on the main

stage, James Blake’s ‘CMYK’ skitters and splutters into life.

The next day kicks off with Ex Hex. The rock tunes never let

up, Mary Timony and bassist Betsy Wright playfully stalk the

stage, bouncing solos off each other and grinning like Cheshire

cats. Later on, Perfume Genius switches things down several

gears from rock tunes, to sandblasting emotional pop songs,

the

strokes

before Sleater-Kinney bring things right back up again

across the festival. It’s left to Alt-J to bring the night to a head,

though, and on a ginormous stage, they step effortlessly into

headlining boots.

Mac DeMarco is playing one of the biggest stages of his career

today, not that he seems especially intimidated. Bringing

similar amounts of archness to the main stage, it’s Foxygen,

and theatrical madness ensues. They’re untouchably good.

Speaking of untouchable, that’s The Strokes tonight to a ‘t’.

In the past Julian Casablancas and co. have seemed like they

might be going through the motions, but clattering straight

into ‘Machu Picchu’ and ‘Someday’ without a pause they’re

headliners tonight. Departing after the encore to end all

encores, The Strokes are pure magic. (El Hunt)

SLAM DUNK 2015

Various venues, Leeds. Photo: Sarah Louise

Bennett

R

eturning to its original home for the tenth edition of

the festival, this year’s Slam Dunk North was always set

to be one of the event’s biggest occasions yet.

There’s hype, and then there’s PVRIS. For a band who admit

they want to be one of the biggest in the world, they do

a remarkable job of suggesting that might not be such a

ridiculous statement. For anyone unaware of the pulling

power of Wrexham-based five-piece Neck Deep, their

mid-afternoon set leaves no room for doubt. They’re in a

fine position right now. Appearing as the penultimate act on

today’s Main Stage, Taking Back Sunday are as sharp as ever.

There’s a reason this band are still able to draw such massive

crowds and tonight shows it perfectly.

pvris

Tonight is huge for You Me At Six. Delving in and out of their

back catalogue – from ‘The Rumour’ to ‘Lived A Lie’ - the fivepiece

provide enough nostalgia, while still showcasing the

flair of their newer work. The result is incredible, with each and

every turn stoking a different set of memories for both band

and crowd. (Sarah Jamieson, Stephen Ackroyd)

77

the cribs

Ibeyi

THE GREAT ESCAPE

various venues, brighton. Photos: Carolina Faruolo & Emma Swann

B

righton’s The Great Escape is all about the one-offs: The

only time you’ll see the biggest musicians of the next

few years playing in tiny spaces; the only opportunity

to catch already-established giants playing impromptu sets

on the street; the only way to see hip-hop/punk-meshers and

softly-softly blog pop in the space of ten minutes.

Sam Dust’s LA Priest project has been going for a few years,

but 2015’s the first real test for his furtherest imaginations.

Debut track ‘Engine’ closes his set at The Haunt in a bonkers

display of unorthodox dance, but everything that arrives

before is fresh out of the musician’s crazed space explorations.

Over the past year, Låpsley has topped every ‘ones-to-watch’

list going, carving out a unique niche in minimalism. With her

label-mates Shamir and Ibeyi looking fondly on from the

sidelines at XL’s Coalition, Holly Fletcher effortlessly translates

her unmistakably sparse production into something that feels

entirely live and present. No mean feat.

Bully, to be entirely blunt, are the real deal. Of every band

playing The Great Escape, this scuzzy four piece mix the

hype with the talent better than possibly any other. A packed

crowd, featuring more than a few of their peers, strives for a

glimpse of Alicia Bognanno as she stands at the mic, owning

the stage. There’s no extravagant movement; bells, whistles

or unnecessary fluff - Bully simply carry themselves like a Very

Important Band. Completely disarming, no arrogance, just an

ease in their own skin, every track feels quietly confident in

its brilliance.

“Why don’t you tell the truth sometimes, you know you

should?” sings Tobias Jesso Jr in between awkward giggles

and pained expressions. He’s struggling with a detuned

guitar, one that’s been left on stage for a quick detour from

the traditional piano routine. Here’s the truth: If Tobias Jesso

Jr didn’t have this goofy side, the purpose of his work would

be too heavy-going. As it stands, he’s a star, a unique and fun

personality in a world of dreary, energy-sapped songwriters.

Undoubtedly one of the most exciting acts at this year’s Great

Escape, the Las Vegas star quickly introduces himself with a

swift, “Hey, I’m Shamir and I’m probably too American for

you”, and then he’s diving headfirst into his funk-doused set.

Whether he’s bounding around the stage or performing vocal

acrobatics, it’s impossible to take your eyes off Shamir Bailey.

Theatricality is at the core of Ho99o9’s show. Eaddy stalks

the stage, psyching out and eye-balling his front row, while

wedding-dress and Pussy Riot-esque blue bandana wearing

TheOGM flings himself at the barrier, howling and spitting.

Like your music raw and aggressive like sushi on a rampage?

Ho99o9 only have one setting; all out destruction.

78 diymag.com

bully

spector

melodies, the ‘Ratworld’ quintet may

still be in the early throes of their career

but they’re still taking on the world and

winning. With tracks like set opener

‘Tennis Court’ - with its balance of

satisfying crunch and gorgeous pop

hooks - it’s no surprise really. Another

show down, another crowd converted

- they’re a highlight on DIY’s stage at

The Arch.

Drenge are fresh from power naps, and if anyone’s in need of a refresh

turn midnight at Patterns, the Loveless brothers know how to provide

just that. After watching L.A. group Ho99o9 bring a new, twisted

meaning to thrash, it’s up to Eoin, Rory and bassist Rob Graham to up

the ante even more. Drawing on their two records in equal measure,

they achieve it with chaotic, fuzz-encrusted results.

It might be the early hours of the morning by the time that The Cribs

hit the stage, but there’s no lagging in energy levels over at Wagner

Hall. Currently in the midst of their festival run, the Wakefield trio are

well-practiced in the art of causing chaos; it takes mere seconds for the

room to explode into life, with the first beer flying across the room just

thirty seconds in.

Menace Beach are potent. All scuzzed-up guitars paired with infectious

It’s the surest test yet of Girl Band’s

potential over at the Corn Exchange.

For years now, the Dublin group have

been circuiting small venues and bit-bybit

building their rep. But the precise,

hypnotising sound they sport has

always been destined to floor crowds in

the thousands. Tonight’s flat, wide open

space plays into their hands.

When it comes to putting on a show,

look no further than Spector. As stage

entrances at The Great Escape go,

theirs is brilliant: while the full band

take to the stage to begin their intro,

in struts frontman Fred MacPherson,

from the front door of the venue before

meandering his way through the

crowd to join them. Tonight there’s no

doubting the four-piece are going to

have some fun. (Stephen Ackroyd, Jamie

Milton, El Hunt, Sarah Jamieson)

SEPTEMBER 2015

24 STOKE KEELE UNIVERSITY

27 NORWICH UEA

28 NOTTINGHAM ROCK CITY

30 SOUTHAMPTON GUILDHALL

OCTOBER 2015

01 LONDON ALEXANDRA PALACE

02 CARDIFF UNIVERSITY

21 MANCHESTER APOLLO

23 LIVERPOOL GUILD OF STUDENTS

SEETICKETS.COM TICKETMASTER.CO.UK

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A METROPOLIS MUSIC, SJM CONCERTS, KILI LIVE, DHP

& PVC PRESENTATION BY ARRANGEMENT WITH

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79

80 diymag.com

HOXTON SQUARE BAR AND KITCHEN

THU 18 JUN 8PM 18+ £6

MATT OWENS

(NOAH & THE WHALE/

LITTLE MAMMOTHS)

MY GREY HORSE

SAT 20 JUN 7:30PM 18+ £5

BLANK BIBLES

SPECIAL GUESTS

FRI 26 JUN 8PM 18+ £8

TAHUNA BREAKS

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SUN 28 JUN 12PM 18+ £12

HOXTON MOD

ALL DAYER

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TUE 30 JUN 8PM 18+ £10

JIM JONES AND THE

RIGHTEOUS MIND

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THU 02 JUL 8PM 18+ £15

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THU 09 JUL 8PM 18+ £7

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THE HACIENDA + THE LIMITED

+ NAPALM BETTY

FRI 10 JUL 7:30PM 18+ £8

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SUN 19 JUL 8PM 18+ FREE ENTRY

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& FRIENDS

RELEASED JUNE 22 2015

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81

INDIE DREAMBOAT

Of the Month

Jack Kaye

The Magic Gang

Full name: Jack Aaron Kaye

Nickname: My school friends still

call me Pancho after the guy from

Dirty Sanchez because I used to be

really short.

Star sign: Aries

Pets: No, but my Mum has a Staffie

called Trixie who is super fast and

strong.

Favourite film: I have two -

American Psycho and Twilight Zone:

The Movie.

Favourite food: I’m really into Aldi

brand muesli at the moment.

Drink of choice: Kronenbourg or

vodka and cranberry.

Favourite scent: The last time I had

one it was Davidoff Cool Water.

Favourite hair product: Sometimes

Paeris will let me use some of his

Shockwave via me rubbing my head

against his.

Song you’d play to woo someone:

‘If I Fell’ by The Beatles is a good

‘woo riddim’.

If you weren’t a pop star, what

would you be doing now? Working

in a charity fundraising call centre.

Chat up line of choice? ‘Let’s get

married’.

DIY

photo:mike massaro

82 diymag.com


EMILIE NICOLAS

08.07.15

OSLO HACKNEY

WHILK

AND MISKY

08.07.15

BIRTHDAYS

THE MAGIC

GANG

10.07.15

BOSTON

MUSIC ROOM

RAURY

13.07.15

VILLAGE

UNDERGROUND

YAK

18.07.15

LANGHAM WORKING

MEN’S CLUB

LEO KALYAN

29.07.15

THE WAITING ROOM

HUNTAR

10.08.15

ELECTROWERKZ

WAND

09.09.15

ELECTROWERKZ

SHURA

17.09.15

BRIXTON ELECTRIC

FLORENCE +

THE MACHINE

21.09.15

ALEXANDRA PALACE

22.09.15

ALEXANDRA PALACE

24.09.15

ALEXANDRA PALACE

25.09.15

ALEXANDRA PALACE

WOLF ALICE

26.09.15

BRIXTON

02 ACADEMY

BEN KHAN

01.10.15

CAMBRIDGE JUNCTION

02.10.15

BRIGHTON CONCORDE 2

SLEAFORD MODS

02.10.15

FORUM

THE STRYPES

02.10.15

KOKO

MEADOWLARK

06.10.15

THE LEXINGTON

GENGAHR

08.10.15

SCALA

EDITORS

13.10.15

EVENTIM APOLLO

ALL WE ARE

14.10.15

SCALA

JP COOPER

15.10.15

KOKO

SPEEDY ORTIZ

21.10.15

DOME TUFNELL PARK

SWIM DEEP

+ THE MAGIC GANG

22.10.15

ROUNDHOUSE

MARIBOU STATE

27.10.15

VILLAGE

UNDERGROUND

VAULTS

11.11.15

KOKO

LUCY ROSE

18.11.15

FORUM

ALABAMA

SHAKES

18.11.15

BRIXTON O2 ACADEMY

18.11.15

BRIXTON O2 ACADEMY

SOLD OUT

PUBLIC SERVICE

BROADCASTING

29.11.15

BRIXTON 02 ACADEMY

goldenvoice.co.uk

goldenvoiceuk

JUL – NOV

83

84 diymag.com

DIY, July 2015

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