Kerrang! - May 21, 2016

Transcription

SHOWS US HIS NEW COMIC KINGDOM!
10 YEARS OF
SLAM
DUNK
SOUVENIR PULL-OUT INSIDE!
REVIEW
OVERLOAD!
LONELY THE BRAVE X
ELECTRIC WIZARD X
XLESS THAN JAKE X
XCHRIS CORNELL X
XLACUNA COIL X
X
X
THE
PLUS
WOMEN
CHANGING
OCK
FOREVER!
ANDY
BLACK
AAA AT
HIS A-LIST
DEBUT
ISSUE NO 1620
MAY 21 2016 / £2.50 AUS: $7.50
WWW.KERRANG.COM
ISSUE 1620 MAY 21, 20
16
HELLO, READERS, and welcome to this very
exciting edition of Kerrang!. Exciting because
it’s a joy to welcome AgainstThe Current to
the cover of Kerrang! for the very first time.
Very exciting because they’re a band the
Kerrang! office have been fans of since the
first time we stumbled upon them on YouTube. Now
watch them soar! And that’s not all. Because, on p4, we’ve
got news on the megastar act that will be playing the 2016
Kerrang! Awards. I can’t believe we’ve managed to pull that off!
Have you got your tickets yet? Wait, you
haven’t? Woah, woah, what are you doing?
You don’t want to miss out, right? Okay,
go get your ticket RIGHT NOW!
NEWS
ON THE
COVER:
A DayTo Remember bring the
pop-punk mosh to the K!Awards
(p4),Kiss release a movie (p8) and
we take a look at GerardWay’s new
comic book imprint (p9).Elsewhere,
producer John Feldmann is
everywhere – we investigate (p10).
ON THE COVER:
We get under the skin of
the phenomenon known
as AgainstThe Current (p18),and then have a look at
just some of the women changing the face of rock (p24).
Elsewhere,we say‘happy birthday’ to Slam Dunk as it
celebrates turning 10 years young (p31),smash some piñatas
with SWMRS (p38) and visit the creepy lair of NewYears
Day’s Ash Costello (p40).
FEATURES
POSTERS
ON THE COVER: Make
your walls really happy with
posters of TØP,Biffy Clyro and more (p28)!
LIVES
ON THE COVER: Oi! Andy
Black!Where’s the rest of BlackVeil
Brides?We go inside his first UK solo
show (p46)! Elsewhere,Camden gets flattened by riffs at
Desertfest (p48),Chris Cornell serenades Jimmy Page
at the RoyalAlbert Hall and LessThan Jake part their way
through the Midlands (p49).
REVIEWS
Attention! Attention! Lonely
The Brave have a new record
out.This is not a drill – get it immediately (p50).And Lacuna
Coil have made a return to form as well (p51). But where’s
the craziness in all this? Let Ministry mainman Al Jourgensen
tell you the insane,drug-fuelled, Reznor-bullying, bandmatehating story of their Psalm 69 classic (p53).
GIGS
COVER PHOTO: ANDREW LIPOVSKY
Issues are locked with new songs for
their first-ever UK headline tour (p56),
and Hull promoter Sam Arundell takes around the 2017
European Capital of Culture (p58).
ASH COSTELLO
p40
Ash had been telling Bob her
story about that time she met
Mickey Mouse at Disneyland for
so long that he wasted away…
SWMRS p38
The rest of SWMRS kept their
opinion on their bandmate’s
new hairstyle to themselves…
BREAKING!
REMEMBER
TO PLAY THE
KERRANG! AWARDS
4 KERRANG!
ISSUE 1620 MAY 21, 2016
Jeremy was so excited for
the awards he wanted to
leave for Troxy now
FINALLY, WE CAN REVEAL THE SECOND BAND
PLAYING OUR LIVE AWARDS SHOW! LET’S CHAT
TO FRONTMAN JEREMY McKINNON. THEN YOU
CAN GET YOUR TICKETS BEFORE THEY SELL OUT…
SO, JEREMY… WHAT CAN WE EXPECT
FROM YOUR SET?
“Expect the unexpected. We’re kind of known
for doing what you least expect, so I’m sure we’ll
figure something out. But, until then, it’s strictly
under wraps…”
MEH, FINE! DO YOU KNOW THE GUYS
IN ASKING ALEXANDRIA?
“Our paths have crossed at festivals and that sort
of thing over the years, so we kinda know them,
but there won’t really be any rivalry on our part
– friendly or otherwise. We don’t really feel that
way about anybody. We just do our own thing, and
whatever they’re up for, good luck to them with it.
I heard that their new record [The Black] is doing
great, which is awesome for them with the stuff
they’ve had to overcome to get to this point.”
THE K! AWARDS CAN GET A BIT MESSY.
WILL YOU LEAVE THE DEBAUCHERY SIDE
OF THINGS TO AA?
“We’re always down to hang out, so whatever
happens, happens. We’ll leave it at that (laughs).”
YOU’RE ALSO NOMINATED FOR THE
BEST INTERNATIONAL BAND AWARD –
HOW DOES THAT FEEL?
“It’s awesome to be nominated. We never
expected to do any of these things that we’re
doing. When we started being a band, I didn’t
expect anything beyond seeing the rest of my
own country. So, 12 or 13 years later, to be
playing shows and meeting people and being
nominated for awards on the other side of the
world, it’s crazy. So, thank you for having us.”
WORDS: PAUL TRAVERS PHOTOS: JEREMY SAFFER
AS IF THE Kerrang! Awards weren’t
exciting enough already, we can now
announce that pop-punk kings A Day
To Remember will be joining Asking
Alexandria to play the first-ever K! Awards
live show at Troxy in London on June 9. ADTR
frontman Jeremy McKinnon seems to be as
thrilled with the idea as us. All we need now is to
locate a monkey for the rider…
KERRANG! 5
Guitarist Kevin Skaff
was mad at Jeremy’s
interview copy
something to our fanbase, and we were kicking ideas
around for days and getting pretty frustrated.We were
actually in London playing an acoustic show at a cool
little vinyl store and I said,‘You know, you go online
and see these kids talking about our music and similar
artists, and the number one thing you hear is that this
style of music helps them.’ It’s motivation or it helps
them get through the day or to feel better about what
they’re doing. It’s almost like it’s self-help music and that
was the thought process behind it.We played it this
year but we didn’t last year – it’s our festival but we
don’t want it to be an A Day To Remember headlining
show.We’ll play it every now and then, but other
people will headline it other years.”
YOU’RE HEADING OUT WITH BLINK-182 IN
THE SUMMER. HOW EXCITING IS THAT?
Bassist Joshua Woodard
couldn’t believe the K!
Awards booze bill
YOU’RE WELCOME! YOU’RE UP AGAINST
METALLICA, PVRIS, ALL TIME LOW AND FALL
OUT BOY. WHO WOULD YOU VOTE FOR?
“Metallica are on there? Everybody else has lost if
that’s the case…”
NOT NECESSARILY. BUT NECK DEEP’S
LIFE’S NOT OUT TO GET YOU IS ALSO
NOMINATED FOR BEST ALBUM. IF THAT
WINS, WILL YOU TAKE THAT AS A BEST
PRODUCER BONUS?
“Oh yeah. I love those guys! I love their band and I love
that album. I’m very proud to have been involved with
it, so anything that happens for them I’m very happy
All Signs Point To…
taking this outside
about. I’ve not seen them for a while, so if they’re
around it’ll be good to catch up.”
YOU PLAYED YOUR OWN SELF HELP FEST
A FEW WEEKS AGO. DOES THAT FEEL LIKE
IT’S FIRMLY ESTABLISHED IN ITS OWN
RIGHT NOW?
“It feels pretty good to be three years deep –
especially as this year’s was by far the best-selling one.
The previous ones were about 11 or 12,000, but then
this year we did 17,000, which was amazing.”
WHAT WAS THE IDEA BEHIND THE FESTIVAL?
“We wanted the name of the festival to mean
“EVERYBODY
FEELS PARANOID
FROM TIME
TO TIME…”
JEREMY McKINNON
6 KERRANG!
“blink are one of the number one influences for our
band, so it’s incredibly exciting! For them to choose us
to be the support band, it’s pretty awesome.They were
a big thing for me growing up, but for other people in
my band, blink were their favourite band of all time. It’s
a big deal for all of us.The new song [Bored To Death]
is pretty cool – I’ve listened to it a bunch and I’m just
a big fan of Matt Skiba in general. I love Alkaline Trio,
so I’m excited to hear their new record when it finally
comes out, and I think they sound great together live!”
PARANOIA WAS YOUR FIRST NEW MUSIC
IN ALMOST THREE YEARS. DID IT FEEL GOOD
TO FINALLY RELEASE SOMETHING?
“Oh yeah, absolutely.We’ve been working on stuff
for a while and that was the song that we were really
excited about. It just felt like it would be a fun live song,
and so far so good. It’s been doing well, and it’s the
Number One song on Spotify. People are still listening
to it even though it’s been out for a month or two, and
it’s got almost four million plays. It’s been going down
well at the shows we’ve played, but I’m actually most
excited to see how it does at the UK festivals when
we come back next time for those.That song, out of
THE BIG
STORY
all of them, just seems like it could go over well in that
setting, and I’m very excited to see if it does.”
IT’S A BIT OF A BELTER ALL RIGHT, BUT WITH
QUITE SERIOUS LYRICS. ARE THOSE SORTS
OF FEELINGS SOMETHING YOU’VE HAD TO
DEAL WITH YOURSELF?
“Of course. Everybody feels paranoid from time to
time, but we initially tried to write the song so it wasn’t
talking about ourselves.Then it just evolved.We were
thinking of something else, projecting outwards for
most of it, but it took on a life of its own and perhaps
became a bit more personal.”
HOMESICK AND WHAT SEPARATES ME
FROM YOU WERE CERTIFIED GOLD IN THE
STATES LAST MONTH. HOW DID THAT FEEL?
“Homesick was close to going Gold even without
taking streaming into account. I think we were about
20,000 units away.There were more streams counted
for What Separates Me…, but, either way, in a time
when people do not buy records and with us not being
a mainstream band, it’s quite an achievement.”
NOW YOU’RE GOLD-SELLING ARTISTES,
WILL YOU BE DEMANDING BOWLS OF
M&M’S WITH ALL THE BROWN ONES
TAKEN OUT?
“I could get behind that.We need to start adding that
to the rider. Like,‘Hey, just so you know, we have two
Gold albums and two Gold singles, and we’re going
to be expecting a monkey doing jumping jacks in the
dressing room from now on…’”
WAIT. ARE YOU SAYING YOU WANT
A MONKEY BACKSTAGE FOR THE K!
AWARDS SHOW?
“No. I don’t really need a monkey. Actually, a monkey
would be pretty awesome if somebody could bring
him, but he wouldn’t have to do anything he didn’t
want to do. I just want to hang out with a monkey.”
COME – NOW TELL US
YOU PICKED WHO GETS TOK-SH
APED TROPHIES…
THE
E
HOM
ING
TAK
WHO’S
BEST EVENT
BEST ALBUM
– PRESENTED BY KERRANG! TV
– PRESENTED BY ZIPPO
J Guns N’ Roses – Las Vegas
Reunion Shows
J 5 Seconds Of Summer –
Sounds Live Feels Live Tour
J Slipknot – Alexandra Palace
Shows
J You Me At Six – The Ghost
Inside Benefit Show
J Biffy Clyro – Edinburgh’s
Hogmanay
BEST BRITISH
NEWCOMER
– PRESENTED BY HELP MUSICIANS UK
J
J
J
J
J
Counterfeit
Creeper
Milk Teeth
Muncie Girls
The Struts
J Iron Maiden – The Book Of
Souls
J Neck Deep – Life’s Not Out To
Get You
J Asking Alexandria –
The Black
J No Devotion – Permanence
J Baroness – Purple
BEST INTERNATIONAL
BAND – PRESENTED BY FIREBALL
J All Time Low
J Metallica
J PVRIS
J A Day To Remember
J Fall Out Boy
BESTVIDEO GAME
J Far Cry Primal
J Fallout 4
J Rise Of The Tomb Raider
J Guitar Hero Live
J Star Wars Battlefront
BEST BRITISH BAND
J Bring Me The Horizon
J Iron Maiden
J Enter Shikari
J Biffy Clyro
J Asking Alexandria
BEST COMIC BOOK
J The Wicked + The Divine
J 2000 AD
J Saga
J Nimona
J Descender
BEST INTERNATIONAL
NEWCOMER – PRESENTED BY TROXY
J Cane Hill
J The Dirty Nil
J Beach Slang
J Beautiful Bodies
BEST FANBASE
J Biters
J Gerard Way
J Pierce The Veil
BEST TRACK
J Black Veil Brides
– PRESENTED BY KERRANG! RADIO
J Moose Blood – Honey
J Paramore
J Against The Current –
J twenty one pilots
Running With The Wild Things
J Panic! At The Disco –
BEST FILM
Emperor’s New Clothes
J Star Wars:The Force Awakens
J Architects – A Match
J Deadpool
Made In Heaven
J Minions
J All Time Low –
J Ant-Man
Missing You
J Jurassic World
BEST LIVE BAND
– PRESENTED BY RED STRIPE
J
J
J
J
J
Black Veil Brides
BABYMETAL
twenty one pilots
Nightwish
Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes
BEST RADIO SHOW
J Fresh Blood With Alex Baker –
Kerrang! Radio
J MOJO Rocks with Phil
Alexander – Planet Rock
J Radio 1 Rock Show with Daniel
P Carter
J Beats 1 with Zane Lowe
J Nights With Alice Cooper –
Planet Rock
BEST TV SHOW
J The Walking Dead
J Daredevil
J Jessica Jones
J Making A Murderer
J Adventure Time
BEST FESTIVAL
J Download
J Slam Dunk
J Reading & Leeds
J Bloodstock
J The Great Escape
BEST COMEDIAN
J Matt Berry
J Amy Schumer
J Josie Long
J Bill Bailey
J Louis CK
TWEETER OF THEYEAR
J Jono Yates
J Corey Taylor
J Mark Hoppus
J Becky Blomfield
J Hayley Williams
NAME:
ADDRESS:
EMAIL:
TELEPHONE NUMBER:
Get your tickets for the K! Awards
at Kerrang.com
POST YOUR COMPLETED FORM TO:
KERRANG! AWARDS 2016, PO BOX 2930, LONDON W1A 6DZ
VOTING DISCLAIMER: The Kerrang! Awards 2016 is voted for by the readers and listeners of Kerrang! Magazine, Kerrang.com, Kerrang!
Radio and by the staff of Kerrang!. Kerrang! readers can vote in all categories listed on this page. Other honorary awards will be awarded by
the Kerrang! judging panel. The final decision is the reserved right of the Kerrang! staff. Voting closes June 2.
KERRANG! 7
Paul Stanley’s Tic Tacs
were a bit funny looking
THE FEED
EK
THIS WE
IN ROCK
I WAS MADE FOR
WATCHING YOU
AS KISS BRING THEIR NEW MOVIE TO CINEMAS, PAUL STANLEY TELLS
US WHY HE’S NOT READY TO BECOME A HOLOGRAM JUST YET…
WORDS: AMIT SHARMA PHOTO: GETTY
FOR KISS, anything worth doing is
worth overdoing.Their new concert
film, Kiss Rocks Vegas, will be screening
in cinemas around the world before its
DVD release. And it’s guaranteed to contain more
flying rockstars, explosions, confetti and blood than
any other live footage you’ll see this year. Guitarist/
vocalist Paul Stanley tells us what we can expect…
UM, SO, WHERE TO
BEGIN? THE NINESHOW RUN AT THE
HARD ROCK HOTEL
STARTED WITH THE
BAND LANDING ON
THE ROOF… FROM
A HELICOPTER?!
“Well, we’ve never been
known for subtlety… It’s
gotta be big! We’ve put
“WHAT THE F*CK
IS ‘LIT’??? STOP
MAKING NEW
WORDS…”
BEN BR
UCE,
ASKING ALEX
ANDRIA
8 KERRANG!
together something much closer to a stadium
show inside a very small venue and it really is one
of my favourites, if not my favourite, stage sets that
we’ve had.”
IT LOOKS PRETTY MUCH IMPOSSIBLE FOR
ANYONE TO GO TO A KISS SHOW AND HAVE
A BORING NIGHT…
“It’s amazing to be onstage
[looking] out at faces that
are celebratory. There’s no
anger, there’s no hostility,
it’s a gathering of a tribe, all
these people. The difference
with Kiss is that everybody
is sharing in this huge cult,
the largest cult on Earth,
you give thumbs-up to your
neighbour there, and you
give thumbs-up to everybody
MAN GETS EAR BITTEN
OFF AT EODM SHOW
’cause you’re all in it together and it’s a very unique
situation. It’s one that I’m very proud of.”
DOES IT EVER FEEL LIKE YOU’RE IN
COMPETITION WITH YOURSELF? MORE FIRE,
BIGGER BOOTS…
“Smoke machines and bombs and all the rest will
only get you so far, so ultimately it comes down
to the commitment of the people onstage. So, yes,
I’m competing with myself, but I’m competing with
what I can physically do!”
EVER THOUGHT ABOUT DOING A KISS
HOLOGRAM GIG ALL AROUND THE WORLD?
“They save holograms for dead people, and I’ve no
plans to check out in the near future (laughs)!”
Last week, a man had his ear bitten off
after a fight in the crowd at an Eagles
Of Death Metal show.After the gig in
Toronto, at the Opera House on Saturday,
May 7, drummer Jorma Vik wrote a
Facebook post saying:‘A dude in the crowd
got his ear bitten off last night at our show
inToronto. First time for everything, I guess!’
He later deleted it.
Kiss Rocks Vegas hits cinemas
on May 25
SUM 41 SIGN
TO HOPELESS
Sum 41 have signed to Hopeless Records –
home to AllTime Low and New Found Glory.
The label will put out their next album – the
follow-up to 2011’s Screaming Bloody Murder.
“I think this a good thing because it still feels
like there is still so much to do,” says frontman
Deryck Whibley.“Which is why I am
excited for a new album and to be releasing it
with Hopeless Records.”
WITH GREAT power, they say, comes
great responsibility. Now Gerard
Way definitely has both. From My
Chemical Romance’s larger-than-life
glory days – where the band bridged punk rock
and cosplay to captivating, generation-defining
effect, to his authorship of The Umbrella Academy
books (a graphic series as darkly beguiling as they
were resoundingly acclaimed), the erstwhile emo
figurehead has never been afraid of wielding his
ink-stained comic fandom.
Even still, his April 7 crashing of Batman/
Superman/Suicide Squad publishing giant DC’s
panel at Emerald City Comicon to announce he’ll
be curating their new “mature readers’ pop-up
imprint” Young Animal marked a whole new kettle
of creativity. And he’s just leaked the first glimpses
of what to anticipate online…
Promising a revival of the tripper, quirkier
comics of the ’80s and ’90s, we can expect a
welcome alternative to the grittier-than-grit
groundedness and plastic lunchbox-ready
“expanded-universe” populism that’s coloured the
industry of late.
“I wanted to form this little group – like a band,
and then make crazy art!” enthused Gerard to
online comic authority CBR News, confirming
his enthusiasm to pull on his frontman outfit
one more time. Seemingly, though, crazy is the
operative word…
Come September, we’ll be getting an initial four
offerings. First up will be a Gerard-written, Nick
Derington-illustrated run of the legendary Doom
Patrol. Given the series’ seminal contributions by
Grant Morrison – one of Gerard’s heroes – we
can expect an enthusiastic interpretation. “It’s
really weird,” says Gerard, which sounds about
right for a metallic-tinged ensemble piece featuring
the ubiquitous Robotman and intriguing newbie
Casey Brink – a character patently nodding to
WIN! DOWNLOAD AND VIP
K! AWARDS TICKETS
Boy, have the folks at Zippo whipped up
one hell of a comp for you! The lucky winner
of their Weekend Of Rock package will bag
two x three-day weekend camping tickets
to Download Festival (June 10 – 12),
plus two VIP tickets to the Kerrang!
Awards on June 9 – which includes
special access, the chance to watch full live
sets from A Day To Remember and
Gerard’s rock background: “Influenced by Black
Sabbath and Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley from Alien.”
And, judging by Gerard’s slew of blog posts,
there’ll be plenty more to follow. Shade,The
Changing Girl – from writer Cecil Castellucci
and artist Marley Zarcone – promises a
feminine reinvention of the legendary Shade,The
Changing Man, taking in adolescence, bullying and
extraterrestrial madness. Following that, Cave
Carson Has A Cybernetic Eye – co-written by
Gerard and Jon Rivera, drawn by Michael Avon
Oeming – revisits the little-known sci-fi spelunker
(that’s cave explorer, kids…) as he juggles heroism
and fatherhood.
But most intriguing is the final, and only entirely
original, creation of the run: Mother Panic.Written
by Gerard and Jody Houser, with art by Tommy
Lee Edwards, it’s the tale of “a celebrity heiress
by day and brutal vigilante by night as she takes
on the underbelly of Gotham City’s high society”.
Jared Leto’s Joker might just have someone more
to worry about… Regardless, it’s great to see
Gerard and DC embracing the grungiest antihero’s
mantra: “Whatever doesn’t kill you simply makes
you stranger…”
Asking Alexandria, plus a potential
meet-and-greet with the bands after.To enter,
just email [email protected] with the
subject ‘Zippo Weekend Of Rock’ plus your
contact details. Entrants must be over 18.
Comp closes on June 2. For full T&Cs, head
to Kerrang.com. GOOD LUCK!
“THE NEW INSTAGRAM
ICON IS THE WORST
THING THAT’S EVER
HAPPENED TO ME”
,
MARK HOPPUS
2
18
KBLIN
KERRANG!9
ISSUE 1620 MAY 21, 2016
L
A
I
T
N
E
D
I
F
K!ON
GOSS
ROCK
IP A
IBB
ND G
ERI S
H
FELDMANN
V
e his
WHEN ANDY Black mad
live solo debut in LA on May
3, John Feldmann was there.
rywhere.
Of course he was… he’s eve n took a
eve
Working with everyone.We
look at some old photos from .
re, too
history and found him the
n Feldy’s
What the hell! Have you see
? Email us on
toothy grin somewhere odd us know!
let
[email protected] and
PANDORA BY RAY ZELL Rayzell.com
10 KERRANG!
ISSUE 1620 MAY 21, 2016
ARTIST
TITLE
LABEL
1
5 1 ANDY BLACK
We Don’t Have To Dance
LAVA/REPUBLIC
2
2 2 BIFFY CLYRO
Wolves Of Winter
14TH FLOOR
3
5 3 BABYMETAL
Karate
EARMUSIC
4
6 4 SET IT OFF
Uncontainable
EQUAL VISION
5
3 5 DEFTONES
Prayers/Triangles
REPRISE
6
2 6 MOOSE BLOOD
Honey
HOPELESS
7
7 3 AGAINST THE CURRENT
Running With The Wild Things
FUELED BY RAMEN
8
3 8 PVRIS
Mirrors
RISE
9
4 2 A DAY TO REMEMBER
Paranoia
ADTR RECORDS
10 15 1 TWENTY ONE PILOTS
Stressed Out
FUELED BY RAMEN
11 1 11 REIGNING DAYS
Empire
ECCO RECORDINGS
12 8 2 PVRIS
You And I
RISE
13 3 13 STRANGE BONES
God Save The Teen
STRANGE BONES
14 10 7 BLACK PEAKS
Glass Built Castles
SONY RED
15 3 14 ESCAPE THE FATE
Remember Every Scar
ELEVEN SEVEN
16 7 12 GHOST TOWN
Mean Kids
FUELED BY RAMEN
17 1 17 VUKOVI
Animal
LAB RECORDS
18 6 6 FORT HOPE
That’s The Way The River Flows
VIRGIN EMI
19 6 4 ARCHITECTS
A Match Made In Heaven
EPITAPH
20 13 3 FALLING IN REVERSE
Chemical Prisoner
EPITAPH
12 KERRANG!
SIMON NEIL,
BIFFY CLYRO
IS IT FAIR TO SAY WOLVES OF
WINTER SEES BIFFY CLYRO
CHANGING DIRECTION?
“It’s what flowed out! It’s
the most important song
on the record.We sing
a lot about sadness and
heartbreak, and I think
I was more conscious
that this had an outward
aggression rather than
looking inwards. I thought,
‘Fuck it, I’m going to
stake my claim to who
we are and what we do,’
and that was about us
being teenagers again, and
remembering that attitude.”
JANINE SHILSTONE,
VUKOVI
HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE
IN THE KERRANG! ROCK
CHART AGAIN?
“So sweet! Although
we’re never happy – once
we’ve achieved one thing,
we look on to the next.
We want Top 10!”
WHAT IS ANIMAL ABOUT?
“Animal is all about
WHAT ATTITUDE IS THAT?
“This has been our band
since we were 15 years
old. In taking a year off,
I tried to contextualise
things, which is always
a dangerous thing to
do – where you’re trying
to figure out how you’ve
ended up where you are.”
DID YOU EVER FEEL LIKE
YOU’D ENDED UP IN A BAD
PLACE, THEN?
“You live in this bubble
for so long – and it’s been
a great experience – but
as soon as I feel that it
means music is losing its
importance, which we’re
not comfortable with.”
karma and the
animalistic
qualities of it;
once you’re on
its wanted list,
there’s no escaping it.”
IF YOU COULD BE ANY
ANIMAL, WHICH ONE
WOULD YOU BE?
“It would have to be a
cat! You need to earn
their affection, and
napping all day sounds
like heaven.”
SEE/HEAR
THE OFFICIAL
KERRANG!
ROCK CHART!
The Official Kerrang! Rock Chart is made up of
airplay across Kerrang! Radio, Kerrang! TV and
specialist rock stations.The show airs on K! Radio
every Saturday at 10am with Loz Guest, and also on
K! TV Thursdays at 4pm.Tune in and listen up!
INTERVIEW: JAMES HICKIE
HIGHEST POSITION
WEEKS ON CHART
ANDY BLACK KEEPS HOLD OF THE TOP, BUT BIFFY CLYRO’S
WOLVES OF WINTER ARE HUNTING HIM DOWN. CAN
BABYMETAL KARATE-CHOP THEIR WAY UP NEXT WEEK?
T!
GE L EN
HU NA EM
FI C
UN
NO
AN
THURSDAY, JUNE 9
TROXY,
490 COMMERCIAL ROAD, E1 0HX
£20 + BOOKING FEE FOR
AWARDS LIVE GIG ONLY!
£25 + BOOKING FEE FOR
AWARDS CEREMONY AND LIVE GIG
WITH AN EXCLUSIVE GOODIE BAG!
GET YOUR TICKETS AT KERRANGTICKETS.CO.UK
Over 18s only.
ID will be required on entry.
ISSUE 1620 MAY 21, 2016
D
O
O
L
B
H
S
FRE
WORDS: JESSICA BRIDGEMAN PHOTO: TIM TRONCKOE
’S BR
ROCK
A
NG B
EAKI
NDS
ZOAX
CHARMING AND REBELLIOUS, THESE PARTYROCKERS AREN’T COMING QUIETLY
WHO ARE THESE CHAPS,
AND WHAT’S WITH ALL
THE GLARING?
This is ZOAX, and the Londonbased mob aren’t as serious as they look.
In fact, they’re all about having a good time.
“Dancing shoes are required,” frontman
Adam Carroll warns of the band’s debut
album, released last week. “There’s a lot
of groove.” And then some, we’d say, as
this quintet have spent the last three years
slogging away on some sizeable riffs. Now,
with their first full-length finally launched, it
looks like all their hard work is about to pay
off. “Finally people are getting us in some way,
and it’s incredibly exciting,” Adam says.
WE’RE INTERESTED. SO, WHAT DO
THEY SOUND LIKE EXACTLY?
Fusing complex hooks, huge choruses and
energetic melodies with razor-sharp vocals
and post-rock allure, what ZOAX create
14 KERRANG!
(L – R): Joe Copcutt (bass), Jonathan Rogers
(drums), Adam Carroll (vocals), Douglas
Wotherspoon (guitar), Sean Weir (guitar)
is a bit like what we’d imagine the result of
chucking all our System Of A Down records
in a blender with At The Dive-In, circa-2000,
would sound like. “We’re not aiming to be
on daytime radio, but we do want to make a
career out of what we’re doing,” Adam says.
“[The new album] is more accessible without
being a sell-out record.”
SOUNDS PROMISING, GO ON…
Well, after scrapping two full albums, the
band regrouped at Adam’s home in Ireland
“I’M WAITING
FOR SOMEONE
TO KNOCK
ME OUT…”
to refocus and record an entire new album.
“We created a super-nice vibe and it was just
all about creating,” Adam recalls. “So, even if
the album didn’t do anything, we’d be able to
look back on that as such a nice time.” And
the larger-than-life singer insists they thought
long and hard about every note on the
record, “We have many influences but, for
us, it was about [knowing] what people are
seeing in ZOAX that we aren’t seeing.”
WORD HAS IT THEIR LIVE SHOW IS
CRAZY, TOO?
“I’m waiting for someone to knock me out
some day…” Adam admits, reflecting on his
unpredictable stage habits. ZOAX’s live show
is strictly immersive, you see, so expect Adam
to be toppling the furniture and engaging
with the crowd at every opportunity. “I don’t
want to stand onstage and just bang my head,
I want to have fun because I enjoy what I’m
doing,” he says. “It’s just a fun party!”
WHAT YOU
NEED TO KNOW
FOR FANS OF:
System of a Down,
Refused.
HEAR: 2016’s
self-titled debut
album, out now on
Century Media.
MORE INFO:
Facebook.com/
zoaxbandofficial
CHECK OUT:
The video for
Roses All The Way.
DON’T MISS:
ZOAX and more
awesome new
bands on Alex
Baker’s Fresh
Blood show on
Wednesdays at
10pm on K! Radio.
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PEN-TY ONE PILOTS
This is @georgieRose104’s superb drawing
of twenty one pilots’ grooming ritual –
Tyler just cleaning Josh’s ears for him here.
N’awww!
BOARD TO DEATH
WINNER!
Graphics
“I made a Kerrang! Rock Trivia board game for my
rocks
.Who
grrrl
@alice
says
t?!”
hardes
project.Who rocks
us to a
hardest? YOU DO! This is amazing. Come challenge
to spend
game some time. For now, though, you’ve won £250
A*).
teed
guaran
your
with
along
go
(to
tore
at Grinds
YOU GRAVE
“Five years of waiting
patiently to see ETF and I
have the pleasure of meeting
NYD at the same gig!” says
@HeavyMetalBethy.You
waited five years? The
longest we’ve queued is for
nine hours, and that was
for a toilet at a festival.We
thought it was occupied
the whole time.Tu
ut it
wasn’t. Magazine
bladders, you k
DREW & I
“I met PVRIS and gave Lynn this drawing
of her which I did,” says @RiseofLC. Lynn
adopting her hide-and-seek cheating
pose here. Lynn, you’re meant to cover
both eyes, otherwise you know we’re
hiding under the carpet. Again.
PUT THE THUMB DOWN
“The Andy Black meeting and signing at HMV was
amazing!” says @shannon_evans_x.Andy seems to think
so, too. Unless he is playing ‘Thumbs Up IfYou Know
John Feldmann’. Most winners ever, that game has!
GET A PIZZA THIS!
Here’s @BattleshipMatt and As It Is’ Patty
Walters making the person behind them
SUPER-JEALOUS about them having that
pizza. Now we mention it… so are we.
SHELF LIFE
“I was a little confused as to what mag I was
picking up today…” @migrainejones informs
us. Dennis the Menace is a huge Andy Black
fan, don’t you know!
N E X T
W E E K
WIN!
A ZIPPO
GUITAR
Bumped into Simon Neil at a hair
salon recently? Helped Ash Costello
pull out any teeth (see our feature
on page 40 so that doesn’t sound
as weird as it does – still weird?
Okay…)? If you’ve got proof, w
want to see – share your pics
us, using #Kommunity.Th
winning picture will receive
amazing Zippo Fender guit
worth £400.And soon
enough you’ll be
shredding more than
a sensitive document
disposal company.
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PHOTOS: ANDREW LIPOVSKY, PAUL HARRIES
TU
RE
V
Great, now Mr Magazine is going to
have to explain to Mrs Magazine why
it’s got someone’s else’s lipstick on it
KERRANG! 19
across his scalp.“I’m, like, anti-dude.Y’know, a lot of
guys just throw on whatever in the morning, but I need
a lot of time.You gotta look good.”
“We can’t just go around in our pyjamas,” says
guitarist Dan Gow, chipping in.“We have to wear
clothes that go with the image…”
Some gentle ribbing follows, as to the length of time
it takes for each member to get ready in the morning.
Somewhat strangely, they all know exactly how long
each of them takes in the shower (“When you have a
limited amount of water on a bus,” drawls Dan,“you
know how long people take to shower…”).
“Sometimes we go over to Will’s house to do band
things,” continues Chrissy,“because Dan and Will live,
like, a minute away [from each other] and I live an hour
and a half away. So, I would go up for
band practise after high school and
stay for the weekend.Whenever we
would go over,Will would be like,‘I’m
just going in the shower,’ and we’d be
like,‘Yup, this is gonna be an hour and
a half!’ And we’d go to the gas station
and get a drink and chips and stuff…”
Bizarrely, the drummer insists he’s
probably the member of Against The
Current who smells the worst.
Backstage with Slipknot this
isn’t. But here’s the thing; in these
egalitarian times, since the internet
dismantled the traditional star-making
machine, to paraphrase an old punk,
the people get what the people
want.And the people really wanted
Against The Current; all the millions
and millions who have watched their
videos onYouTube. Or the people
who’ve flocked to sell out every UK
date they’ve played.
Born onYouTube, talked about
on Twitter, and if you haven’t seen
Chrissy with dog ears and snout, then
you’re following the wrong people
on Snapchat;Against The Current
are a very modern sort of rock band.
Clean, crisp, sleek, as unashamedly
pop as they are rock, eager to please.
This will be a bad thing to some, and
a good thing to many. Because this is
a sensation the people asked for. No,
scratch that – that the people made.
You join them poised on the brink
of the unknown…
W
“
e’ve worked really hard,”
says Chrissy, stretching
out her legs.“But I think what has brought
us success is that we just stayed really
genuine the entire time.And I think people connect
with that. Even in theYouTube scene, we could’ve done
the typical,‘We’re gonna upload a new cover every
Wednesday and Thursday!’ which is a huge part of
that culture.We started really small and we built up a
really genuine fanbase.We didn’t build it around hype
or anything like that. It was just, like, this is what we do
and that’s it.And we picked up people.There was no
plan, no,‘This is how it has to look and this is how it
has to sound and this is how the fans have to react, and
this, this, this and this.’ It was just us.This is really what
comes natural to us.”
A problem here is that AgainstThe Current are such
a modern kind of rock band that there’s no template for
anything that’s gone before. If you’re Iron Maiden, you
understood a little bit about how touring worked from
Led Zeppelin. If you’re blink-182, you could follow the
blueprint laid down by Green Day. But because Against
The Current are so young (all three members are aged
20) and a band who’ve somehow managed to convert an
audience they built doing covers of their favourite bands
online into an audience who want to hear their music,
there’s really nobody who’s done this, like them, ever.
“We ask ourselves all the time,‘What do we do
now?’” says Chrissy.“Because there is no precedent
for what we’re doing.A lot of the time there are
bands where it’s very clear – you go here, you go
here, you go here, you go here.We’re just trying
to make sense of it.We’re on our second Europe
headliner without having an album out.And even the
upgrade from one to the other has been crazy. Like,
we just played Cologne the other night and we had
one crazy show there the first time, and then it was
doubled the second time six months later, with no
additional releases.What changed? To be honest, we
don’t totally get it…”
“We’ve had advice from the bands we’ve toured
with, sure,” says Dan. “Especially All Time Low and
Whenever we write a song, I want my mom to like it. I
want my dad to love this song.You know what I mean?”
Depending on your age, you may be reading this,
shaking your head and asking what happened to rock
music frightening your parents. But remember: a very
modern kind of rock band.Why frighten your parents
if you like them? Chrissy smiles.“I love it when my
parents like my music taste, because when I get in the
car and I put on music, they don’t complain about it!
“I sat my whole family down and played them
the album before we came out on this tour,” she
continues.“Because if my mom, my dad and my brother
can all like a song – and I know they’ll be honest with
me – then I know it’s a good universal song.”
And did they like it?
“They liked most of the record
unanimously,” she smiles, proudly.
“Like Will said, we’ve had eightyear-olds, we had a guy come with
his grandma and she was, I’m not
kidding, front row and centre losing
her mind. She knew every word
and was against the barricade going
nuts. I was like,‘That’s awesome!’
One, that’s the kind of grandparent
I wanna be.And two, it’s just a great
feeling to see an 18-year-old and a
70-year-old right next to each other
loving the same thing…”
What’s your family like, Chrissy?
She smiles.“Oh, your standard
Italian-American family, I guess.
We eat a lot of pasta and stuff. My
brother plays a lot of sports. He’s
really great at football. Like, soccer
football. He’s an awesome football
player and he plays nonstop now.
My dad coaches him. My dad was
a basketball coach and he coached
me whenever I played sport. Like,
I played football for 11 years, 12
years? Something like that.”
How does it feel sitting there,
watching your parents listen to
your record?
Chrissy shifts in her seat.“It’s
definitely weird, especially for me
because I write all the lyrics…”
And they’re pretty honest,
confessional-type lyrics…
“Yeah. Especially with a song like
Outsiders – my parents were like,
Rise,Against: (from left) Dan Gow,
‘We don’t want you to feel like
Chrissy Costanza and Will Ferri
an outsider! Do you feel like an
outsider?’ and I’m like,‘Yeah, but the
Good Charlotte. Benji and Joel [Madden] came
whole point of the song is that it’s a good thing, you
down and just sat with us a few days in a row and
know? It’s a positive!’ And so sometimes I just have
just talked to us and gave us life advice. Not really
to buffer them a little bit with that because they’re
about what we should be doing, just, like, what any
naturally going to worry because they’re parents.”
band should do and what they did…”
Do you read the opinions of people online when
“It wasn’t specifics like,‘You need to have three
you post music on the internet?
risers on tour and you need to have two guitar
“Always the first day, for sure…” drawls Dan (NB:
players and this and that,’” says Chrissy.“It was more
If henceforth we write ‘says Dan’, we probably mean
about staying genuine and being true to yourself and
‘drawls Dan’. Dan does a lot of drawling).
remembering nothing that surrounds the band exists
“There’s always the same people trolling,” says Will.
without the core of the band.Without the music
“YouTube’s a funny place…”
and where it started from.You have to keep yourself
“I feel like if a fan really wants to tell me a true
grounded.That’s the most important thing…”
opinion about our music, they’re gonna tell it to me
You said you didn’t understand your success. Do
on Twitter,” says Chrissy.“That’s where I interact
you at least have an idea why people like your band?
with fans the most. Not so much on theYouTube
Blank looks.
comments, because it’s just so hard to sift through the
“Well, I mean, we’re pretty confident in what we
nonsense. It’s more of an effort to Tweet someone
do,” says Will, taking up this most unintentionally
directly.A comment feels more anonymous, I think…”
difficult of questions.“Which I think is really
I have to say, even as a man who became a music
important, you know? We’re really young, so I
journalist because he, maybe needily, wanted people to
think kids can relate to us. But I think the music
know what he thought about this thing that mattered
is pretty universal, really.We want everyone to
so much to him – music – I’ve never thought,‘I must
like our music; we’re not writing for just our age
post an opinion onYouTube…’
demographic. Like, at our shows we have ages from
“I don’t think I’ve ever commented on aYouTube
eight to, like, 50-something. I think that’s awesome.
video,” says Chrissy. “Except maybe on a friend’s to
THREE OTHER STARS HARNESSING THE WEB’S POWER…
Kids
J
some fulfilment after the
dissolution of his day job by
starting his own YouTube
channel. Neato Alkaline Trio
covers and inspiring
mental health
advice feature.
g y
y
put together As It Is, he was
quite the big deal on YouTube.
If you want to see him cover
5SOS and MCR, and dress up
in a dinosaur Kigu,
you know where
to look.
p g
plays host to an array of covers
performed by Tyler Carter,
that would never get near any
Issues release. And he’s been
dolled up to the
nines by glam
pal Jeffree Star.
BECAUSE HERE IS
NO PRECEDENT FO
R
ATC rule their biggest UK
show to date, at London’s
KOKO, March 2016
WHAT WE’RE
DOING”
C H R I S S
Y
C O S T A N
Z A
What do you mean, you’re
unhappy with the size of
your dressing room?
ME
BUT AT THE ESA
IK
L
Y
E
M
TI
Y
C H R I S S
Z A
C O S T A N
be like, ‘Yeah, this is awesome!’ back when we were
really heavily into YouTube. I responded to a couple of
comments being like, ‘Thank you,’ but I haven’t done
that in probably, like, two years, so…”
It’s sad that a lot of bands are starting to think it’s
best not to engage in those ways online, because it’s
so easy for innocuous comments to flare into slanging
matches. For all the wonder of endless information at
our fingertips, we live in an age where many are primed
to be offended.
“I don’t think I’ve ever fought with someone online,”
muses Chrissy. “We don’t really get mean tweets – but
I’ll get people who are like, ‘You look so much better
without make-up.’ That pisses me off. Or they’ll say
something like, ‘You don’t need all that make-up,’ and I’m
like, ‘Obviously I don’t need it, but I like it, so I’m gonna
wear it. So, you can fuck yourself…’”
It’s the arrogance that someone feels their opinion of
the way you look matters enough to be shared. It can’t
be progress that anyone has to deal with this
“You don’t wanna rip them a new one, but at the
same time you’re like, ‘This is offensive,’ ” she says, raging.
“Like, this is offending me. It offends me more than
someone telling me I’m ugly. If someone just told me
‘You’re ugly, you have a gross nose,’ or something like
that, I’d be less offended. It’s like, ‘Who are you to tell me
what I should do?’ And also, it’s like, ‘I’ve gotten this far in
life doing it, I think I’m doing alright, man…’”
That said, I’m not sure, say,Vic Fuentes or the twenty
one pilots boys get this. I know for a fact that Lynn
from PVRIS gets this. I think that says something…
Chrissy laughs. “My favourite part is, like, sometimes
the comment will be on Instagram and I’ll click into
the profile and it’s always just some 12-year-old boy. I’ll
turn to my brother and be like, ‘Are you commenting
on girls’ pictures and telling them they should wear less
make-up?’ and he’s like, ‘No, I don’t do that.’ And I’m like,
‘Yeah, why are boys your age doing that? Why aren’t
they going playing soccer or playing outside? Like, don’t
you have a ball to throw at a wall or something?’”
She takes a breath. Shouts at a motorcycle revving its
engine outside the window to “shut the fuck up”…
“The worst is, like, when people are like, ‘I like the
old Chrissy better.’ That drives me up the goddamn
wall! Not a lot gets under my skin. Call me ugly, say
I’m gaining weight, say I’m too small, say whatever you
wanna say – it doesn’t matter. I don’t really care. But
when people are like, ‘Oh, I like the old Chrissy better
than the new Chrissy,’ that makes me crazy…”
Again, the arrogance.Why is it their business?
“I’m like, ‘People grow up!’ I don’t know if you
noticed this, but I started all this when I was, like, 15, 16
years old. If I’m the same person I was when I was 15,
16, I think there’d be an issue…”
Another deep breath.
We should probably change the subject before
someone has an aneurysm.There must be some upside
to being this very modern sort of rock band…
W
“
e built Against The Current from a very
small starting point,” says the singer, when
asked what she finds positive about her
band existing in the 360, digital age they
do. “We grew it slowly and naturally. Because of that,
I feel like we’re really close to our fans. It’s a tight-knit
community.They’ve grown with us.”
Do you know many fans personally?
“Oh, yeah,” says Will. “We’re lucky we have so many
familiar faces all the time. I can’t imagine that being the
case with all other bands. It’s like, ‘Oh, I know you, this
is your fifth show on the tour.’”
“It’s definitely comforting, too, when you’re touring
so much,” adds Chrissy, “and you’re gone for so long.
I know when we come to this show this guy’s gonna
be there or this girl’s gonna come out to Manchester,
you know? Also, for me personally, I have a lot of these
girl fans that I talk about make-up and stuff with, and I
know what shows they’re gonna come out to and we
always have a nice little chat. And it’s nice because I
don’t have any girls on tour right now.”
Be honest… Sometimes, do you think, ‘I can’t be
doing with meeting fans today…’
“No,” says Will. “But I do worry that I might not act
the way they want me to act. I just don’t see us as the
kinds of people fans would flock to. It’s weird. But it’s
always great to see them. I mean, the fact that they’re
still coming out to the shows is amazing…”
Are there ever times you think, ‘Oh no, this person
is coming today, I can’t deal with them…’?
“There’s only a couple,” says Chrissy, who will later
tell us how she will regularly sneak fans into shows
and aftershows, fans she knows have been there “since
forever”. She continues: “There’s a really small handful
of people that have made me genuinely uncomfortable
over the years. But most of them don’t come to the
shows any more. It was just really weird. But we don’t
even get those any more….”
A very modern kind of rock band. A band trying to
make sense of constant access and perceived intimacy.
A band made by the people, who, in return, think that
means they’re entitled to a view on the make-up usage
of a 20-year-old girl. A band who are making up the
rules as they go along. A band. And a sensation.
The night of this interview, we watch the band at
KOKO, the room an explosion of joy, the band’s gilded
pop-rock sounding sassy and fresh, Chrissy Costanza
a star, and in touching distance of being super. And we
think: these are uncharted waters they’re sailing, yes.
But we think Against The Current will make it.We
think they’ll soar.They are the future you asked for.
IN OUR BONES IS OUT ON MAY 20
VIA FUELED BY RAMEN
For more women writing rock’s
future, turn the page!
THE SONGS THAT HELPED MAKE
ATC ONLINE SUPERSTARS…
4.9m
VIEW
S
18.5m
VIEW
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1.8
VIE m
17.4m
VIEW
S
WS
This cover of the RussianGerman musician-producer’s
theme from 2014 sci-fi opus
Divergent is one of ATC’s
best team-ups with YouTube
colossus Alex Goot.
Just ’cause we’re all rock fans,
we can agree that liking Taylor
Swift is okay, right? Good.
Because this is a tune. In the
video, Will Ferri appears to be
playing a cardboard box.
This song from Adele’s third
album, 25, sees ATC furthering
their chops with some *puts on
cheesy local radio voice* midtempo-disco-pop.
A team-up with Set It Off that
sizzles with brilliance. But let’s
be honest, a toothless sea lion
could bash out a version of
this and it would rule.
13 m
VIEW
S
Against The Current hook up
with YouTube big deal Kurt
Hugo Schneider for another
Tay Sway cover. The video
is more fun than gargling
popping candy.
THIS WEEK’S COVER STAR, CHRISSY COSTANZA,
IS FAR FROM ALONE IN INCREASING ROCK’S
FEMALE REPRESENTATION. WITH MUSIC
FINALLY MOVING ON FROM ITS PATRIARCHAL
PAST, HANNAH EWENS CELEBRATES
20 OTHER WOMEN LEADING THE FUTURE
OF OUR SCENE…
PHOTOS: CHRIS CASEY, ANDY FORD, TOM MARTIN, GETTY, ANTONY ROBERTS, MATT WHITE
T
he conversation surrounding “women in
music” has been evolving in recent years and,
thankfully, progress has been made.A while
ago, you’d have been pushed to find anyone
in the industry who would accept that rock had a
problem with gender representation. Certainly, bands
with any non-male members were few and far between.
The answer? To talk. Plenty of artists have spoken out
against sexism and misogyny in the scene to K!. Now,
however, we’re entering a new phase in which we accept
that rock, just like any structural system, has its faults.
The new chapter is about increasing visibility across the
board. However much you’ve been switched on to that
deafening discussion, you’ll have noticed that, over this
period, brilliant non-male artists have worked their way
up and now are dominating the rock world. Increasingly
they’re filling your ears and the pages of Kerrang! – and
no longer for their gender, but for the radical way they’ve
moved rock forwards. Here are just 20 of the most
important artists changing the game…
LYNN GUNN
THE GOTHIC AUTEUR WITH
A DARK VISION
There’s a beautiful but dark world out
there, and it’s one completely created in
the mind of Lynn Gunn. From the role
she plays in PVRIS’ music videos from
concept to creation, to the lyrics that
she pours her soul into, to the sleek
look of her band and its artwork, she’s
had a key role in making something truly
unique.And never for a second does
it look anything but seamless. PVRIS’
music defies genre boundaries, yet is
unmistakably the sound of someone
trying something very different in a very
honest way.And the legions of fans show
that everyone wants in to Lynn’s world.
WHO INSPIRED YOU TO
PICK UP AN INSTRUMENT?
“My brother. He’s four years
older than me, and I’d steal his guitar
when he wasn’t home.We’d jam together
when I learned drums and guitar.
hen, in middle school, I saw Hayley
24 KERRANG!
[Williams] in Paramore, and she was a big
motivation for me.”
HOW DID YOU CONTINUE TO BE
INSPIRED BY FEMALE MUSICIANS?
“I always forget because we’re close now,
but Sierra [Kay] from VersaEmerge was
a massive influence once I was in a band.
We’d open for them at the beginning and
she’d come over after our set and say,
‘Dude, that was so awesome, keep going!’
That was something that carried with me
for a long time. Within the past five or
six years, there’ve been a lot of amazing
women in rock and I’ve had an amazing
time touring with lots of them: Jenna
[McDougall], Tay [Jardine], K. Flay and
Bones, who we just toured with…”
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IN
OUR SCENE?
“Everyone sticks with each other and
women have each other’s backs, which
is awesome. But I would like to see more
openness with touring. We submitted
for a tour with someone and got denied
because there was already a woman on
the tour, or something like that. It was
complete bull.”
“WE WERE DENIED
A TOUR BECAUSE
THERE WAS
ALREADY ONE
WOMAN ON IT”
L Y N N
G U N N ,
P V R I S
EN SHAPING ROCK
KATE GATT
Q YOU WRITE SONGS THAT
A TOUCH UPON BEING QUEER
THE DIY PUNK QueenPIN
WITH QUEER POLITICS
– HOW DO YOU RECONCILE BEING
A POLITICAL PERSON WITH NOT
WANTING TO BE PIGEONHOLED?
For indie PMA power-pop, there’s
nobody better than Personal Best.
Inadvertently, by being queer (a
reclaimed term to suggest sexuality or
gender outside societal ‘norm’), some
of Kate’s songs touch upon this without
being fiercely political.This Is What We
Look Like, for example, is about kissing
as protest.You can give Kate’s work this
reading, yet at its heart is a love song. It’s
this dual existence that sets Kate’s music
ahead of most of her peers.
“There’s a point where you don’t
know whether you’re supposed to
make those sorts of statements because
you’re a woman or because you’re
queer.You don’t want to feel pressure to
make political statements all the time,
but essentially being a woman onstage
is political in itself. Being out there and
doing it is just as much a statement
as people being out there and giving
very clear political messages about
queerness and identity.”
EMMA BLACKERY
WHAT STILL NEEDS TO CHANGE?
“I still think there’s very low
expectations of women to play their
instruments or write songs. I don’t
think men have that anxiety, because
they have the space to make noise and
make mistakes. I hope young women
can have the space to fuck up and it be
okay now. It only seems to be women
who are asked about misogyny, too. I’ve
been asked so many times if anything
sexist has ever happened to me and
it’s a boring question – like,‘Yeah, of
course…’ (laughs). Unless people are
willing to take on board what they hear
from these countless stories, then it’s
just going around in circles.”
THE YOUTUBE STAR WHO’LL
TALK ABOUT ANYTHING
She has 1.1 million subscribers on
YouTube, which translates to a lot of
young people listening to what Emma
Blackery has to say. People fell in love
with her through a
screen for her relatable
approach to the very
problems affecting young
people every single day,
lending her voice to
those in need of it. Now
she’s pushing ahead with
her music career, expect
that personality to be
translated into massive pop-rock track
s.
ASH COSTELLO
THE PATRON SAINT OF
CREEPY GIRLS EVERYWHERE
Ash has always been into the darkness.
Entering into her own head and mining
the feeling of being an outsider that goes
back to her childhood, she came out with
‘hauntedmansioncore’, a genre spin
on Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion
with goth-rock. New Years Day
have since gone on to become the
leaders of the New Grave scene.
She’s a hero for any girl with a
parent not happy with coloured
hair and tattoos. Because what’s
‘normal’, anyway?
TAY JARDINE
SHEENA OZZELLA
THE POP-rock VOICE
braving a new world
THE MASTER OF HAPPY-SAD
CONFESSIONAL INDIE-PUNK
Tay’s always been obsessed with strong
female vocals – the likes of P!nk and
Alicia Keys, who come classicallytrained. But it’s not just in her delivery
that Tay shows strength – she’s always
opened up and shared a lot, culminating
in We Are The in Crowd’s last album,
Weird Kids, where she wrote about
grief, bad relationships and growing
up. Recently, Tay is
branching off into a new
project, showing both
her diversity and guts
to evolve from poppunk’s confines and
stretch her creativity.
Brought up in the male-dominated
Buffalo hardcore scene (“They definitely
empowered me to be just as good as
them,” she says), Sheena honed her
craft simply by watching local bands
and learning their songs. She nailed the
dichotomy of being fun and writing
upbeat indie-rock songs with a sad or
darker message. Many of them touch on
crippling self-confidence
issues, difficulties
of long-distance
relationships or death
of family members.
Hayley Williams is a
massive fan, too.
EVA SPENCE
THE VETERAN SCREAMER OF
THE BRITISH HEAVY SCENE
Growing up with an older brother, Eva
Spence not only joined in his band,
originally on keyboards, but quickly stepped
up to be their leading vocalist. Quiet and
naturally inclined to take a backseat, Eva
built up her confidence.To practice, she
and James Spence would scream in their
parents’ car over loud music to overcome
any shyness.You wouldn’t know it today.
On the stage, Rolo Tomassi – led by a
frontwoman whose creative streak knows
no bounds away from it, she’s also an
entrepreneur with her Night Of The Living
Thread business – are a force to be
reckoned with. Massive respect.
KERRANG! 25
LANDE HEKT
THE PUNK VOICE
FIGHTING LAD CULTURE
Punk rock doesn’t have to be political, but
when it is and does it well, it’s pure fire.
Behind the catchy tunes of Muncie
Girls is a fierce challenge to lad
culture – Respect is about all
the men who see women as
sex objects. Politics is directly
what inspires Lande to
write, and she has said she
writes mostly with teen
girls in mind; her band’s
debut album reads like a
young girl’s bible to traverse
school, boys and life.And it’s
just the beginning.
VODUN
THE GODDESS-WORSHIPPING
VOODOO WARRIORS OF ROCK
Vodun isn’t just a band – the word’s the
name of a West African religion that’s
positive at its core and celebratory of
. In
women and female laos, or goddesses
their make-up, slips and tribal gear,Vodun
s’
are sheer female power.The Londoner
heavy metal, psych-rock,Afro and soul
s
concoction has strong feminist undertone
lex
and is devoted to exploring the comp
past ofVodun cosmology as
well as bringing black history
not taught in Western society
to the forefront. On top of all
of that imparted knowledge,
their incredible stickswoman,
Zel Baterista, also spends part
of her time teaching drum
girls!
SKATING PO LY
THE NEW TEEN BREED OF
ANGRY RIOT GRRLS
Teen stepsisters Peyton and Kelli
were raised on a diet of Riot Grrl in
the boring Bible Belt of America, with
movement originals Babes In
Toyland loving the band so
much, they took them on
tour. Feminism is central to
many of the band’s songs,
yet more so, say the duo, is
one simple message: anyone
can do anything, as long as
u’re true to yourself.
WHITE LUNG
THE FEMINIST PUNK BAND
TAKING NO PRISONERS
Blistering, compelling and never subtle
but always savvy,White Lung have
serious hooks and a serious message to
each of their songs.Whether it’s about
dysmorphia and body image or sexual
assault, every album is a product of its
environment and the conversations the
members are having and want to invite
you into.Vocalist Mish Barber-Way has
been a significant voice when it comes to
feminism in music, and writes confessional
blogs, sex essays and clever columns on
the side. Formative influence Courtney
Love has fallen in love with them for
good reason.
Q HOW DID YOU FALL IN LOVE
A WITH MUSIC?
MISH BARBER-WAY (VOCALS): “Like
anyone who plays music, you do it
because you are obsessed and can’t
not do it. Some of us get lucky and
make it a ‘career’ by our own accord.
I grew up in a musical house. No-one
played, but I come from a family of
fans. I didn’t start playing guitar until
I was a teenager, but I always loved
singing and gravitated towards it. My
voice was always a challenge for me. I
never had that voice that all the other
girls had. All I have is my volume.”
DID GENDER PLAY ANY ROLE IN
HOW YOU THOUGHT ABOUT YOUR
FUTURE OR HOW YOU’D GO ABOUT
MAKING A LIFE FROM MUSIC?
“It did once I got hip to the world. But my
perspective has changed in the last few
years. I like being a woman.”
WHO WAS YOUR MUSICAL HERO
GROWING UP?
“Dinah Washington was a female jazz
vocalist best known as ‘Queen Of The
Blues’. My grandfather showed me her
album Back To The Blues [1963] when
I was a teenager and I fell in love with
her music, her voice, her whole life.
In my opinion, no-one sings with the
same power that Dinah had. She was a
hard-working singer who did not give
a shit what people thought of her. She
had so many men mooch off her success.
A notorious diva and hard-worker;
amazing style in every aspect of her
being. She died in 1963 at the age of 39.
I just love everything about her,
especially her music.”
BECKY
BLOMFIELD
THE CHARITABLE
ACTIVIST-MUSICIAN
Not only does she front one of the
best punk rock bands around, Becky
Blomfield also uses her voice for good.
With Milk Teeth, she writes incredibly
personal songs detailing, among other
things, her battles with depression – in
turn making her an empowering voice
for mental health awareness. She’s also
deeply concerned with other issues,
notably poverty. In fact, her handmade
jewellery store, DORK SQUAD, has
produced ranges in the past with all
proceeds going to her local food bank.
26 KERRANG!
“ NEVER HAD
THE VOICE THE
OTHER GIRL
HAD. ALL I HAVE
IS MY VOLUME”
M I S H
B A R B E R - W A Y ,
MELISSA
REESE
THE WOMAN TO
END GN’R’s
PROBLEMATIC PAST
Kurt Cobain famously called them “total
sexist jerks”, and, well, the case for the
prosection historically doesn’t look great
for Guns N’ Roses. On It’s So Easy,Axl
Rose – twice cited by former spouses
for domestic abuse – sang ‘Turn around
bitch, I got a use for you’, while the
original Appetite For Destruction sleeve
depicted a robot rapist and a sexuallyassaulted woman. Nothing, then, could
be more out of sorts than Melissa Reese
stepping out as the reunited band’s new
keyboardist – a signal of rock’s changing
tides if ever there was one.
W H I T E
L U N G
BECCA MACINTYRE
THE FRONTWOMAN LEADING
THE NEXT GENERATION OF
BRITISH GIRLS
Before Becca, there hadn’t been a British
rock band with a woman in it offering
crossover potential for
a long, long time. More
crucially, though, there
hadn’t been a presence
quite like her, either.
A tough-as-nails ball
of ferocious energy
onstage, and a whipsmart, outspoken person
off it, Becca became a
role model, in more
ways than one, simply by
being herself.
EN SHAPING ROCK
HAYLEY WILLIAMS
The
THE FIRST LADY OF
POP-PUNK
Revolution
Such was the enormity of Hayley
Williams’ impact on rock, for the
decade following her arrival it seemed
that any band with a female singer
would lazily be compared to Paramore.
Crucially, however, the degree of her
influence on rock is not just
down to her incredible voice,
lyrics, stage presence or
her band’s global chartconquering success. Over
the years, she’s written many,
many powerful (not to mentioned
extensive) blogs about her life and
times in the music
industry, offering real
insight into the boldness
and determination
she’s had to have to steer Paramore
through the crazy highs and lows of
their career. The success keeps on
coming: hit records, sold-out tours
and, most recently, she launched her
own hair dye company.Yep, now she
can add ‘businesswoman’ to her CV.
No wonder she was honoured with
Billboard Women In Music Awards’
very first Trailblazer Award. After all, it
is highly likely that an entire generation
– not just of girls, but also boys – were
inspired to take up playing instruments
or start singing because of her.
CONTINUES...
WRESTLING
Long has the title of the
women’s division of WWE
been called the, um,‘Divas
Championship’. After much
healthy public outrage and
a petition or two demanding that
women wrestlers, such as Paige
(inset), be given better storylines
and more focus on their ability rather
than their looks, women will no
longer be called ‘Divas’ in the future.
Instead, it’s been changed to the
‘Women’s Championship’.
BOOKS
LZZY HALE
SERENA CHERRY
THE RULER OF ALL
MODERN HARD ROCK
LEADING THE UK’S BEST
POST-HARDCORE BAND
Lzzy signed up for the rock’n’roll lifestyle
aged just 13. And it shows. In 2016, she
is now recognised around the world for
her ability to command huge crowds
and for shredding on guitar with the
best of them. No wonder Halestorm
were the first so-called ‘female-fronted’
band in history to top the Billboard
Hard Rock Albums chart. Oh, and they
won a GRAMMY over Iron
Maiden, Marilyn Manson
and Lamb Of God. Perhaps
Lzzy’s most explosive
quality, however, is her
lyrics. She’s never afraid to
explore her sexuality – just
check out Freak Like Me.
AMALIE
BRUUN
TAKING THE
FLAG FROM BLACK
METAL BIGOTS
Once the identity of the
person behind this Scandinavian black
metal project was revealed to be that of
a female former model,Amalie had to
navigate through the crushing blows of
sexism from black metal fans – a genre
sometimes known for its unresolved
issues with women. She had to shut
down her Facebook because she
was getting so many death threats
and abuse, yet refused to name and
shame because she didn’t want to give
sexists and their bands a moment of
fame.A defiant force of nature.
Typical of Holy Roar, the beloved
independent UK label they call home,
Svalbard are heavy as it comes but
better than the rest. From atmospheric
post-rock build-ups to crushing
sections, their music is aggressive and
visceral. But don’t fucking call them a
female-fronted band. As Serena Cherry
lays out on Expect Equal Respect, ‘Is 50
per cent a minority? Is my credibility
an anomaly?’ Gender is not a genre
and her message is clear in the essay
she penned to go along with the track.
Women “should be simply be referred
to as a musician – nothing else”.
NITA STRAUSS
LAURA JANE GRACE
rock’s queen of sh
red
Rattle off a list of rock’s fine
st-ever
guitarists, and you’ll likely nam
e people
from all nations, all backgro
unds and all
styles – and yet that list will
likely feature
only men. Nita Strauss, how
ever, is one
such woman capable of givin
g anyone else
the world over a run for the
ir riffs and
restore the balance. Regular
ly featured
in the upper ranks of man
y modern
Best Guitarist lists, in 2014
the California
native – who also plays in
all-female Iron
Maiden tribute bandThe Iron
Maidens
– joined the ranks of
Alice Cooper’s live
band.And if Alice’s
guillotine doesn’t get
you, Nita’s shredding
will leave you in pieces.
No trans singer outside of Life Of Agony’s
Mina Caputo has as openly shared their
story as Laura Jane Grace has.When she
came out as transgender in 2012, she
proceeded in Against Me!’sTrueTrans Soul
Rebel to detail the uncertainty of losing
your family, longing to be seen for your
true gender, and the emotional complexity
of a life that few people can understand.
This act of bravery in a world that is only
just starting to open up to trans people
didn’t go unnoticed. LJG has
become not only a punk trans
icon, but has moved the global
conversation on trans issues
forward, helping countless young
peopl
ccept their identity.
There are so many insightful, hilarious,
thoughtful memoirs out by female
musicians now, you won’t find the time
to read them all. Kim Gordon’s Girl In
A Band was the headline-making read
from last year, and Carrie Brownstein’s
Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl
is similarly gripping for those who
worship Sleater-Kinney. For something
closer to home, Viv Albertine’s tale
of growing up in the Brit punk scene
and playing in The Slits will make you
laugh and cry in equal measures. The
follow up to Clothes, Clothes, Clothes.
Music, Music, Music. Boys, Boys, Boys.
is out soon.
MAGAZINES
If you’re a guitar player who doesn’t
want to buy Guitar World or Guitar
Review Guide with a woman in a
swimsuit on the cover, then She Shreds
Mag is for you. Last issue
it had Laura Jane Grace
on the cover. Similar is
Tom Tom Magazine for
female drummers, an
equally beautifully-created
quarterly. Both are brilliant
even if you don’t play an
instrument, and want to
read about women doing
cool shit in music.
WEBSITES
First known for being a site for bros
everywhere,VICE launched a nonmale-focused site, Broadly, last year.
If you want to read about witchcraft,
horoscopes and feminism, they’ve
managed to collate all that in one
place. Look out for White Lung’s Mish
Barber-Way, a writer for the platform.
DISCUSSION
Meredith Graves (inset) made her
name in Perfect Pussy, one of the
most raucous punk bands about, and
quickly it became obvious that she was
one of the most eloquent, engaging
voices in feminism today. Music critic
Jessica Hopper, meanwhile, is another
to follow as an advocate for gender
equality in the music industry.
Having published The First
Collection Of Criticism By A
Living Female Rock Critic,
she’s always got something
extraordinary to say.
KERRANG! 27
PHOTO: GETTY
SIMON NEIL
PHOTO: PAUL HARRIES
ANNIVERSARY EDITION
2006 TO 2016
TEN YEARS AGO, A SMALL FESTIVAL BEGAN
LIFE IN LEEDS SIMPLY AS A WAY OF PUTTING
ON A FALL OUT BOY SHOW. NOW, IT’S
ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED EVENTS
IN ROCK’S GLOBAL CALENDAR. KERRANG!
DUSTS OFF THE PHOTO ALBUM (AND WHIPS
UP A BIRTHDAY CAKE) TO RELIVE THE FIRST
DECADE OF SLAM DUNK FESTIVAL…
WORDS: AMIT SHARMA PHOTOS: CHRIS CASEY, PAUL HARRIES, IAN COLLINS, SUZY HARRISON, PA
The Blackout’s Sean Smith
gets into the ‘hanging out’
vibe of Slam Dunk in 2008
Max Helyer focuses really
hard on YMAS’ 2009
headline performance
MY SLAM
DUNK MEMORIES!
BY GUSTAV WOOD,
YOUNG GUNS
“The first time we played Slam
Dunk was the first time we’d
gone to the festival, in 2009.
We were very much a new
band at that point, still figuring
out what we were doing and
how to do it.We were very
green. The festival was in its
infancy, in a way, and so were
we as a band… And it really
worked. The festivals in 2009
and 2010 were real learning
experiences, especially for us
playing to larger audiences
and mixed crowds, instead of
the usual bars.
“The thing about Slam Dunk
is that it’s a real communitybased festival, where you’re
included in an experience.
T
It’s very intimate and you’re
guaranteed a great time. Some
of our favourite experiences
have been playing that
festival, and it’s a great place
to see friends.We always
know before we get there
that it’s gonna be a great day,
which takes the pressure off!
It’s well organised, but has
kept its ethos over the years
and grown, which we have
tried to do as a band, too, and
it’s really nice to be invited
back every couple of years.
It’s a reciprocal thing that
benefits everyone involved.
It’s one place that caters for
different styles of music in
rock and heavy rock. There’s
a real broad spectrum, and it
reflects the versatility we have
in the UK.”
he months have become weeks, the weeks
days, and soon it’ll be a matter of hours ’til
the 11th Slam Dunk Festival is underway.
Since its serendipitous beginnings as a one-off
all-dayer in Leeds, originally conceived to
bring Fall Out Boy to a city that didn’t have walls big
enough to contain them on their meteoric rise to
global domination, the event has become an institution
in its own right.The very home of the UK pop-punk
scene, and so much more besides. Every music festival
will tell you it’s run “by the fans, for the fans”, but Slam
Dunk has remained defiantly grass-roots in ethos, and
perhaps there lies the key in its unmitigated success.
“It all started when I played guitar in a Birmingham
ska-punk band called Pignut,” begins Ben Ray, Slam
Dunk’s head honcho since the very first day.“We
got big in the local scene supporting bands like Reel
Big Fish, Capdown – that sort of stuff. Somehow, I
became the organiser for
gigs and then started doing
it for other bands. I actually
studied something completely
different – I was halfway
through an engineering course
at Leeds Uni – when I got
the opportunity to do this
hobby as a full-time job.Which,
After a long, fruitless search
in 2010, Gustav Wood
finally spotted the loos
Hey Monday’s Cassadee
Pope kicks off 2009’s event
obviously, for most people is a dream situation!”
The seeds were planted when a Leeds venue owner
approached Ben with the idea of running a pop-punk
club night.As an up-and-coming promoter, Ben had
already impressed by selling out shows headlined by his
biggest heroes, including ska masters Reel Big Fish. It all
made perfect sense.
“It wasn’t me that came up with the name,” laughs
Ben.“But we called the club night Slam Dunk and it
started from there,The
Cockpit in Leeds, from
2001.We soon started
branding gigs as ‘Slam
Dunk Presents’ because,
back then, there was
the explosion of punk,
like blink-182, Green
Day and The Offspring.
O
B E N
R
In January 2006, we
got quite a big show for us at that point – putting
on Fall Out Boy just as From Under The Cork Tree
was blowing up.They obviously wanted to make the
most of their new popularity, so their agent rang me
to say they were coming back in May, but couldn’t
do Leeds because there wasn’t a venue big enough.
I replied,‘Fair enough, but we have the Millennium
Square, it’s outdoors and about 7,000 in capacity.’
Paramore arrive in 2007.
You might have heard of
them since…
The only problem being Millennium Square was
therefore too big.
“And so we figured,” Ben says,
“‘Why not put on a big all-day
event with a few more bands,
and call it Slam Dunk Festival?’”
“I STUMBLED ACROSS
YOU ME AT SIX ON
nd so began the story
MYSPACE AND
of England’s biggest and
TOOK A CHANCE!” festival. Inbestthepop-punk-heavy
K! review of that
A Y
O
A
inaugural year, writer Ruth Booth
awarded top marks to Thursday for their “pummelling
wall of noise blowing the rest of the bill right off”,
as well praising Fall Out Boy, Hundred Reasons and
Capdown for stellar performances that made it a
day of triumph. Inevitably, when it came to the same
time next year, Slam Dunk was simply something that
needed to happen.
2007 saw the event relocate to Leeds University,
Dunk spread to three venues
Tonight Alive cut the
opening ribbon on the
main stage in 2013
New Found Glory stop by
for their first Slam Dunk
appearance, headlining in 2010
Mayday Parade (left)
and Funeral For A Friend tear up
2011 and 2012 respectively…
…before Marmozets and
Gallows (below right) take
things up a notch in 2012
headlined by Reel Big Fish, with Paramore
as main support and a bunch of unknowns
from Surrey calling themselves You Me At Six
kicking off proceedings. Considering Ben went from
being their promoter to their manager, not forgetting
that 2008 debut album, which was released via the
now-dormant Slam Dunk record label, you probably
couldn’t find a band closer to the festival director’s
heart.To see them elevate from the bottom of the
bill into main stage headliners has been most riveting
indeed, though they’re just one of Slam Dunk’s many,
many success stories.
“I don’t think it was a conscious decision,” says Ben,
of his reputation as one of the UK’s true champions
of homegrown talent. “On MySpace, I happened to
stumble across a band called You Me At Six. I just
took a chance. From there, a lot of bands started to
spring up: Enter Shikari,We Are The Ocean, Kids In
Glass Houses,The Blackout… Before that point, the
market had been dominated by the U.S., and British
bands didn’t get a look-in. For me, 2008 is when the
UK scene started to flourish. I can’t take credit for just
randomly picking bands that went on to greatness. But
I’m always looking for new bands for Slam Dunk, and
it’s been amazing seeing Kerrang! chip in with the Fresh
Blood Stage recently.”
That’s not to say bands from across the pond haven’t
MY SLAM
DUNK MEMORIES!
BY ALEX
GASKARTH,
ALL TIME LOW
“Slam Dunk is almost
synonymous, with
Warped Tour, as one of
those tried-and-true,
dedicated pop-punk
festivals. Almost like
a pop-punk summer
camp kinda situation,
because you’ll see all
your friends and peers.
It’s a staple of the scene!
“Our first time at
Slam Dunk, we were
over doing press and
Paramore were playing
[2007]. We just hung
out with all our friends
and watched all the
bands. It was really
good to experience it
like that – really laidthrived on its billing, though.
“Slam Dunk was a nice
time for us because it was in the
beginning of when we were first coming over to the
UK on our own and being independent, not opening
for anybody, trying to see if we had our own fanbase,”
recalls Vic Fuentes of Pierce The Veil.“Slam Dunk was
a big affirmation that we actually had some fans over
here.We did a signing – it was our first signing over
here, and having a line, you know, blew our minds. It
blew everyone’s minds! We had Jenna from Tonight
Alive sing with us, we had people climbing in the trees,
I remember we used confetti over there, and we still
have videos from it… It was a super-exciting time.”
Sean Smith, singer of now-defunct Welsh rockers
The Blackout, was only too happy to pull up a pew and
make himself at home, year after year.
“They should have called it Sean Dunk –
they couldn’t bloody get rid of me,” chuckles
the gregarious frontman, before wisecracking,
“but because the sport is so big in Britain,
they opted for something basketball-related!
I must have played it at least three times,
DJed twice and presented for K! TV there.
The festival has produced a lot of good,
young bands – many of which have gone on
to do bigger and bigger things.”
back, just enjoying the
show. Paramore were
awesome – they’ve
always been super-nice
to us. I think this was
around the time Riot!
was really blowing up.
I saw that set, thinking,
‘Wow, this is going to
be big!’
“Slam Dunk has
always encouraged the
bands to meet, hang
out and stay out for the
night. Other festivals
can be weird, where
people don’t really talk
to each other backstage.
So, it facilitates that
social aspect of it and
gets the bands hanging
out. Because things can
happen, you might meet
a band and really get on
with them, and decide to
A
go on tour together! You
create these relationships
that turn into tours or
collaborations that the
music world can enjoy
later down the line.
“When we headlined
in 2013, we were running
super-late, either flying
or driving in. Everything
was taking forever!
We got there and I saw
Mallory Knox, who I
had never heard of
before, and they were
killing it as we arrived.
I remember thinking,
‘Wow, that dude [Mikey
Chapman] can sing!’ We
hung that night and shot
the shit. It was such a
cool moment – walking
in all stressed-out and
then seeing Mallory
Knox being awesome!”
fter being awarded 4Ks as one of the highlights
of 2008’s Leeds University bash,You Me At
Six returned the following year as headliners
– ruling the roost at an event now scaling six stages
and catering for more tastes than ever before. It’s that
very diversity that has since allowed fans to go from
watching Thy Art Is Murder to PVRIS and Mariachi El
Bronx all in an afternoon’s work.
While Southampton metalcore bruisers Bury
Tomorrow may be a far cry from the pop-punk
foundation the festival was built on, they nevertheless
remain one of the event’s many rising stars.
“It was 2011 when we first played,” remembers
frontman Dani Winter-Bates, by which point the
festival had added a second date in Hatfield. “We were
mid-way up the bill and actually at a rocky point for
our band – between labels wondering whether to
continue doing this.That was one
of those shows that redefined our
love for it. And they’ve grown that
metal stage to what it is today – it’s
far bigger than it was the first time
we played. A lot of festivals, even the
bigger ones, write off metal and keep
it in the same place.They don’t try
to grow it.We’ve seen other festivals
rise and fall, which is a shame in ways,
DUNK MEMORIES!
BY JOSH
FRANCESCHI,
YOU ME AT SIX
“I think Slam Dunk
in 2007 was the first
proper festival we
ever played, and only
the second time we’d
played up north. At that
point it was literally
just only one stage, and
it was strange for us
because it was also the
first time when I looked
around and saw all
these bands that I was
aware of.We were the
unknown entity of the
day, yet it was the first
time that I think we felt
like a real band.
“To come back and
headline two years later
was kinda unheard of!
I mean, what are the
odds that our band, who
faced a lot of scrutiny
in our early years with
people being like,
‘What is this noise?!’
would end up where
we are now? And I
don’t think anyone was
expecting Slam Dunk
to still be growing and
growing the way it
has, either.The festival
definitely helped us
by giving us the stage
and an opportunity,
which paved the way
to getting signed by a
major label. And what
I love is that Slam Dunk
has always kept at its
heart how it supports
and wants to propel
young British bands,
like it did us.”
Kellin Quinn joins Pierce The Veil
for King For A Day in 2013
While She Sleeps went so hard
in 2015, Loz lost his shirt
2013, and Cancer Bats prove
that Slam Dunk doesn’t even
need to build stages
Mikey Chapman enjoyed
SD14 more than this photo
might suggest. Honest
but Slam Dunk have every point covered – they nail it
every time.”
That’s not to say the festival hasn’t faced its
challenges.When asked about the toughest situation
he’s had to deal with, real-time and on-site, Ben admits
there was one year where crowd-flow became a major
issue, preventing some attendees from being able to
see a handful of bands (“It hurt reading comments
calling us poorly organised, especially after working
a year-round to make it
happen”).Then, of course, is
the health-and-safety aspect
– swathes of rabid rock fans
surging forward the splitsecond those first chords ring
out is always an unpredictable
situation to take responsibility
for. Last year, a fan was
O
D A N I
W I N
injured five songs intoYMAS’
B U R Y
T O M
5K-rated set in Hatfield, Josh
Franceschi halting the show to respectfully remind
us “someone’s life is way more important than our
little band”. Some 20 minutes later, the boys were
back onstage safe in the knowledge that medical
supervision was at-hand and there were no serious
injuries. It really does say a lot about just how much
Ben and his team have learned along the way.
“The best thing about Slam Dunk is we’re an
independent festival,” enthuses Ben.“The fans probably
don’t see a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes.
Thankfully, I’ve got a small team that work hard all-yearround, and then there’s all the staff who come to work
just for the weekend. It’s almost like a family.”
And, of course, there are always challenges ahead.
Right now, with headliners Panic! At The Disco also
performing at Radio 1’s Big Weekend the very same day
as the Midlands leg (introduced
in 2013), Ben and his
“SLAM DUNK
HELPED OUR
BAND AT A
ROCKY TIME”
T E R - B A T E S ,
O R R O W
O
Slam Dunk’s diversity comes to the fore
in 2014, as Bury Tomorrow and The AllAmerican Rejects (right) share a bill
In one of its best line-ups ever,You Me
At Six, Architects and PVRIS joined
forces for 2015’s extravaganza
team are meticulously calculating logistics.
“Lower Than Atlantis managed it last year,” admits
Ben,“but they weren’t headlining, so it was a bit more
stress-free! We’re trying to figure that out at the
moment. But, all in all, most bands are quite easy to
work with – we’ve not had any real problems!”
For someone with such a high-pressure job, one
which can easily see fortunes turn at the drop of a hat,
Ben seems disarmingly relaxed for your typical festival
director. Even with America’sVans Warped Tour
invading British soil for a slice of the pop-punk
party in more recent years, competition is
something Ben has no qualms with.
“Of course there’s a bit of competition,” he
admits.“But it’s a very different format than the
U.S. version.There’s no animosity; I get on with
those guys great and there are no real issues.
It’s at a different time of year and they don’t
bring it over every year anyway. Slam Dunk
has become the thing I need to focus on. I feel
it was what the UK scene needed most.”
We’d be inclined to agree. Let’s hope the weather
holds out for yet another unforgettable series of
summer parties…
SLAM DUNK 2016 TAKES PLACE MAY
28 – 30. SEE THE GIG GUIDE FOR INFO
PHOTO: TRIP FONTAINE/DALLE/ICONICPIX
PHOTO: ANDY FORD
PHOTO: GETTY
AXL ROSE &
ANGUS YOUNG
I
RVI
E
TE
W
o
t
e
c
i
N
N
MEET SWMRS, THE BAND FORMERLY KNOWN
AS ‘EMILY’S ARMY’, WHO ARE PULVERISING THEIR
POP-PUNK PAST AND REDEFINING THEIR FUTURE.
FRONTMAN COLE BECKER TELLS JAMES HICKIE HOW…
38 KERRANG!
!
C
ole Becker’s sense that his
band, Emily’s Army, wasn’t
the vehicle he and his
bandmates wanted it to
be was confirmed when
they were touring the UK with Rise
Against and Pennywise in November
2014. Having spent the first four
shows “getting booed off the stage”,
Pennywise’s guitarist, Fletcher Dragge,
tore into Cole and co’s dressing room
and demanded they have a band
meeting under his hulking supervision.
What followed was actually more
akin to the battering that the band
– completed by Cole’s brother Max
(guitar), Seb Mueller (bass) and Joey
Armstrong (drums) – are dishing out to
those piñatas to the left, with Fletcher’s
home truths in place of the sticks, and
the Oakland quartet acting as piñatas.
“He said, ‘Look, I don’t care what
anyone says; you guys need to stop
acting like pussies onstage,’” recalls
Cole, his demeanour much calmer than
you imagine it was at the time.
Rather than be disheartened by the
words of a man he respected immensely,
Cole was empowered by them.
“We all came out and were like,
‘Well, he’s right – we need to stop
wearing shorts, start playing with more
distortion and just go for it.’”
So, that’s what they did.
A
SWMRS’ singer-guitarist
Cole Becker: guitar in
hand, fringe in mouth
I
lthough it sounds like an apocryphal tale,
Emily’s Army really was formed after a
nine-year-old Cole and Joey watched the
Jack Black-fronted film School Of Rock – in the
classroom, of all places.
“It’s kind of like how a lot of people cite the
Ramones as the reason they wanted to start a
band,” says Cole, quite possibility infuriating a
generation of punk fans in the process. “It was the
idea that kids our age could make actual music.”
The band, variously known as The Raining
Souls and The Clocks, settled on the name
Emily’s Army at the suggestion of Cole and Max’s
mother, in honour of his cousin Emily, and to
raise awareness of Cystic Fibrosis – a genetic
disorder mainly affecting the lungs – that she
suffers from.You could therefore say they
were always a band with a message.
The real reason for questioning the
veracity of the School Of Rock story is
because you’d have assumed Joey’s father
might have kick-started an interest in music,
given that he’s Billie Joe Armstrong from
Green Day, and the man who would go on to
produce the band’s first two full-length albums,
Don’t Be A Dick (2011) and Lost At Seventeen
(2013), the boisterous pop-punk of which
suggested that the apple didn’t fall far from the
tree. It wouldn’t stay there, though.
PHOTOS: LINDSEY BYRNES
Unusual
INSPIRATIONS
SWMRS HAVE A TRACK
ABOUT MILEY CYRUS. HERE
ARE SOME OTHER SONGS
INSPIRED BY UNLIKELY
CULTURAL ICONS…
some unorthodox methods for enforcing
his preferred creative direction.
“He was living at the studio, and when
we’d come back in, he’d have taken out
all the instruments that we did and just
done synths – so we had to find a middleground,” says Cole.
By the time
they released the
Swim EP in 2014,
it was clear a
dramatic creative
shift had taken place,
culminating in the band being renamed Swimmers
– later styled as SWMRS.The transformation
subsequently gathered pace as the band drew a
line in the sand and ceased playing any material
predating Swim in their live sets.
“I wouldn’t say we were embarrassed, but
we’d become so much more mature
within the space of a year that the music
we’d made as Emily’s Army began to underrepresent us,” says Cole.
This sea change was heralded by the
appointment of Zac Carper from LA
garage-punks FIDLAR, rather than
Billie Joe, as producer. While the
resolutely hands-off Green Day
legend had been, in Cole’s words,
“a dad with nice recording equipment”,
Zac provided them with the opportunity
to explore new musical avenues – a
huge positive for Cole, whose formative musical
inspirations came more from ’90s hip-hop acts like
De La Soul than they did The Damned.
Furthermore, working with Zac provided the
band with the confidence to stand up for their own
ideas, as Zac, a huge fan of electronic music, had
f you wanted confirmation of the
diversity of SWMRS’ inspirations, look
no further than the fact that on their
latest album, this year’s Drive North,
they’ve written songs about Harry Dean
Stanton and Miley Cyrus – hardly cultural
bedfellows. The former is the grizzled
veteran actor in such films as Cool Hand
Luke, Alien and Paris, Texas – as well as
the inspiration for opening track Harry
Dean. So pleased were the band with
their creation, they sent it on to the man
himself via Facebook,
only for him to describe
Cole ignored instructions
it as ‘Too loud for [his]
to do handstands on a
89-year-old ears’ and,
level surface
um, promptly shut down
his account.
“The positive takeaway that we’re trying
to put on it is that he’d
heard the best music he
was ever going to hear
so decided there was no
point being on Facebook
any more,” jokes Cole.
Miley Cyrus,
meanwhile, acted as
the inspiration for the
song Miley, after Cole,
a student at the University of
California, Berkeley, was asked to pen an article
about the colourful pop starlet for the college’s
magazine. And, in a move that will surely provide
Cole with a second strike from the punk purists,
his lyrics deem her to be a ‘punk rock queen’ –
with good reason, he says.
“She’s not always the best person to look up
to – I think she’s done a lot of problematic things
that have offended people – but she keeps trying
to reinvent herself and she’s not afraid to show
her scars, which is something you don’t find a lot.”
While Cole’s work and study-load has resulted
in him being so busy that he is forced to multitask
during the course of this interview and have a
wee at the same time, the mutually beneficial
relationship they bring is key to a man who admits
he has “more philosophical influences than musical”.
“If I had to choose between the two, I’d pick
music, as I just want to play that forever. What’s
amazing about school is that it keeps your mind
awake and provides you with a constant stream of
ideas,” says Cole.
Now they’re making the music they love and
have a constant source of inspiration for new
material, SWMRS are heading into deeper water.
MARIAH
CAREY
SONIC YOUTH – MARIAH CAREY AND
TED
BUNDY
JANE’S ADDICTION – TED, JUST ADMIT IT…
KEVIN
CARTER
MANIC STREET PREACHERS – KEVIN CARTER
THE ARTHUR DOYLE HAND CREAM
Jane’s Addiction never shied away
from dark subject matter. This track
from their 1988 classic Nothing’s
Shocking isn’t just inspired by Ted
Bundy, the American serial killer who
murdered at least 30 people during
the ’70s, it also features a incredibly
creepy clip from an interview
with him, in which he
denies the crimes.
This is a haunting song
for two reasons. Firstly, it’s
about Kevin Carter, the Pulitzer
Prize-winning photographer
who committed suicide in 1994.
Secondly, it was written by Richey
Edwards, the Manics’ guitarist and
lyricist who disappeared
the year before the track
was released.
The version on 2004’s
Sonic Nurse is called Kim
Gordon And The Arthur Doyle Hand
Cream (after the band’s bassist),
but originally name-checked
Mariah Carey, as it addresses her
high-profile breakdown in 2001.
After concerns about legal action,
the title was changed.
KERRANG! 39
“I was always the girl at the
slumber party who would bring
the Ouija board, and egg on
freaking everyone out. People
really do get freaked out over the
Ouija board. My band won’t touch
them, but I’ve a few, including
one that was passed down to me
that used to be taped down so it
couldn’t be opened, but I opened
it up anyway! The warning on
the front is for a choking hazard,
rather than for demons (laughs)!”
“When we tour, I have to
bring special boxes in our bus
to keep all the Hallowe’en stuff
I pick up to take home. Bob was
picked up in Missouri. I’m very
picky about my skeletons – either
they’re anatomically incorrect,
or I don’t like their facial
expressions, or they don’t
40 KERRANG!
move right. But Bob was perfect, so
he came all the way home with me.
He sits on the foot of my bed now.
I’d love a real skeleton one day. I’ll
work my way up to that…”
“I have a jar of my friends’
teeth. I don’t know how this
obsession started… I got my
wisdom teeth pulled a while back
and asked to keep them, and then
I started asking my friends to
keep any teeth they had pulled, or
whatever.They know me, so I can’t
surprise them with anything any
more! I get bummed out with them
when they don’t keep
them for me! A
fan gave me a
few that he
lost in a car
accident
this one
time, too.”
“House Of 1000 Corpses
[2003] is my favourite horror movie
of all time,hands down. I’m a big
movie person; I’d rather be at
home watching movies than out
partying.House… has everything –
humour, colourful characters… It’s
the perfect horror movie.
“What do I like about horror
movies? I don’t know.They just call
to me, make me feel calm. I can put
on Hellraiser [1987] and work and
relax. A Nightmare On Elm Street
[1984] was the first horror movie
I ever saw. I met Robert Englund
about a year ago, and told him,
‘You’re like my dad, I grew up with
you!’ My grandma did special
effects for horror movies; she
taught me how to make fake
entrails, and there was
a box of severed heads
around the house… It
was all normal to me.”
KERRANG! 41
THE SONGS THAT
MY
CHARLIE’S CURRENTLY ON TOUR WITH BUSTED. WE’RE REALLY, REALLY HOPING
THAT HE’S IN CHARGE OF THE BUS STEREO. OR MAYBE HE’S DJING BEFORE
THE SHOWS. EVERYONE LIKES MESHUGGAH, RIGHT? RIGHT?
THIS WEEK:CHARLIE SIMPSON, FIGHTSTAR
THE SONG THAT MAKES ME THINK
OF HOME IS…
THE LAST SONG I LISTENED
TO WAS…
“He’s the singer of Death Cab For Cutie,
and this one’s an acoustic song that’s really
poignant for me. One of the opening lines
is ‘You remind me of home’, and, yeah, that
makes me think of home.There really is no
hidden subtext there! It takes me back to the
house I grew up in with my family, which is
always a nice place to let my thoughts go to.
It makes me think of a time back in the day
when I played drums and me and my brother
jammed Silverchair covers together!”
FIND IT: HomeVolumeV (2003)
“I wouldn’t call myself the biggest
Springsteen fan, but he has definitely written
some amazing songs, and I’ve recently been
sifting through his back catalogue looking
for some potential classics I’ve not heard
yet.This one is an absolute cracker, it’s so
simple and minimal, and it reminds me of
Jackson Browne – who I’m a huge fan of. I
think we could probably do a pretty good
cover of this one, too.We could really build
it up to an epic conclusion, which would be
very cool.”
FIND IT: Born In The U.S.A. (1984)
THE SONG THAT MADE ME WANT
TO BE A MUSICIAN WAS…
THE SONG THAT MAKES ME WANT
TO STAGE-DIVE IS…
“My dad was big into music, and I heard a lot
ofVan Morrison and The Beatles growing up,
which had a big effect on me. But this was
the song that changed everything for me. My
friend bought the record,Around The Fur,
and the first song he played me was Lotion
– it just hit me so hard. I was already into
heavier stuff – I liked Sepultura and Machine
Head – but I had never heard heavy music
with such amazing melodies, as well.”
FIND IT: Around The Fur (1997)
“I heard this for the first time when I was
on tour with Fightstar back in the day. In
fact, it was actually on the tour bus, and I
remember someone put it on and when
it really kicked in, the back lounge literally
erupted into a total mosh-pit. It’s absolutely
brilliant; it’s got so much groove to it and the
energy it gives off is perfect when it comes
to making you want to go fucking mental!”
FIND IT: The Shape Of Punk To Come
(1998)
THE SONG THAT I WOULD
LIKE TO COVER IS…
THE SONG THAT MAKES ME WANT
TO CRY IS…
“This is just a really beautiful song with a
female vocalist. If I cover a heavy song, I like to
strip it back and do it very chilled-out, and if
it’s a quiet, pretty song, I like to make it loud
and extreme. I can easily imagine Fightstar
doing an expansive version of this.We could
keep the verse delicate, but the drums and
guitars could hammer down on the chorus.”
FIND IT: IfYou Leave (2013)
“Obviously Trent Reznor
[Nine Inch Nails, who
wrote Hurt] came out
with this incredibly-written
song, but the Johnny Cash
version is so powerful that
I’ve been listening to it on a
plane through headphones
and literally been in tears in
my seat. It just grabs hold of
YOU REMIND ME
OF HOME
Benjamin Gibbard
WORDS: DAN SLESSOR PHOTO: PAUL HARRIES
LOTION
DEFTONES
YOUTH
DAUGHTER
42KERRANG!
I’M ON FIRE
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN
NEW NOISE
REFUSED
HURT
JOHNNY CASH
me, and even though I’ve heard it so many
times, it still provokes that level of emotion.
The whole thing is so minimal and so
heartbreaking, and the video is stunning,
too. It’s just perfect.”
FIND IT: American IV:The Man
Comes Around (2002)
THE HARDEST FIGHTSTAR
SONG TO PLAY IS…
SINK WITH
THE SNAKES
FIGHTSTAR
“This is definitely the hardest thing
I’ve ever written. I wanted to write
something quite fast and really
push myself as a guitarist and
singer. I had been listening to a
lot of Architects, which I think
is what inspired the techier
riffs. It’s one of my favourites,
but when we get to the point
in the set where it comes
up, I have to stand still and
concentrate.There’s no
way I’d get close if I was
jumping around!”
FIND IT: Behind
The Devil’s Back
(2015)
ISSUE 1620 MAY 21, 2016
A SECRET ABOUT ONE
OF MY SONGS IS…
99
fightstar
“The song 99 is called that
because I was trying to name
the demo, but all the keys on
my keyboard had somehow
broken, apart from the ‘9’.That
was literally the only key I could use, so I just hit
it twice and that was that! It has absolutely no relevance
to the song at all, and I don’t regret it at all. I fucking love
happy accidents – they can often create the best stuff.”
FIND IT: One Day Son,This Will All Be Yours (2007)
THE MOST STUPIDLY HEAVY SONG
EVER WRITTEN IS…
BLEED
MESHUGGAH
“You can’t put this on and not think it’s the
heaviest thing you’ve ever heard; it’s like a
fucking tank charging all over you, and when
you’re in an aggressive mood, throwing it on
is the best idea you’ve ever had. I’ve never
attempted to play it, and I’ve not actually
seen them play live, but I would love to see
them wham this one out.”
FIND IT: ObZen (2008)
THE SONG I WANT TO BE
REMEMBERED FOR IS…
SLEEP WELL TONIGHT
FIGHTSTAR
“I’VE CRIED TO
JOHNNY CASH
ON A PLANE…”
CHARLIE SIMPSON
“Every time I listen to this I always feel so
happy that I wrote it. For me, it defines
Fightstar’s sound – it has every element of
what we do. It’s a funny story how it came
about, actually. I’d left my acoustic guitar by
the radiator, picked it up a few days later
and the heat coming on and off had made
it slip to this mental tuning that made no
musical sense. But I played the chords and
they sounded awesome.There was just
something so beautiful about it, which adds
to the magic of this song for me.”
FIND IT: Grand Unification (2006)
THE SONG YOU WOULDN’T EXPECT
TO FIND ON MY IPOD IS…
WRECKING BALL
MILEY CYRUS
“I remember first hearing this and being
blown away by it.The melodies are pretty
much perfectly written and it’s got some
interesting things going on in the production.
However, in my head it sounds better with a
different singer, because I’m not the biggest
fan of her voice.You could do a fucking
unbelievable cover of it with some massive,
heavy guitars!”
FIND IT: Bangerz (2013)
KERRANG! 43
OF
Y
M
O
ANAT CKSTAR
A RO
ISSUE 1620 MAY 21, 2016
THE MOVIE THAT CHANGED
MY LIFE WAS…
DEZ
FAFLADRRIVAER
“The Godfather [1972].The first time I
watched it, I got a sense of how a man
should do business, and how serious
business can be. Coming from an Italian
family, you watch that and just feel like
you’re learning. Just listen to lines like,
‘Don’t ever tell anyone outside the family
what you’re feeling!’ It teaches you, and I
like anything where I’m learning.”
DEVI
ES?
AD. WIV
B
?
G
WO
LKIN
SHIT-TA OD. EATING T EAT!
R
O
G
G
A DAY?
PIZZAS
MY GUILTIEST
PLEASURE IS…
“Food! When I’m on tour I can’t eat
a fuckin’ thing because I’ve gotta go
onstage every night, so I’ve gotta keep
trim. But when I’m home it’s like, ‘Let’s
order pizza at 11 in the morning and
another at four!’ I’m on tour so much,
when I get home all I want to do is
take my family out and eat.”
MY FAVOURITE
MEMORY IS…
“Getting my first motorcycle
when I was seven years old. It was
Christmas Day and we were all out
in the desert with a bunch of friends
– we’re a motorcycle family. I took
off and rode straight into a cactus.
Ever since then, I’ve been a biker.”
MY HERO IS…
“My father. He’s had a long life – he
had me, he went to war for the U.S.
in Vietnam and he’s had a long acting
career. He was in one of the most
iconic shows on American TV, Leave
It To Beaver. He’s someone I wasn’t
really raised with, and I didn’t really
know him until my later years, but
once I got to know him I found a
wonderful guy with a great heart
who loves his family, who works
hard and never takes ‘no’ for an
answer. He’s the kind of guy you’d
want as your friend, and I admire
him a great deal.”
MY KIND OF
PEOPLE ARE…
“People who live in the light.
People who are givers rather
than takers. People who are
positive rather than negative.
I don’t like negative people, or
takers, or people who talk shit
on other people. If I come into
a room and someone’s talking
shit, I don’t talk to them because I
know they’ll talk shit on me later.”
THE ONE THING I CAN’T
LIVE WITHOUT IS…
“Losing my wife. For 18 years I’ve
never been without her. She’s a
great woman, a wonderful mother,
a wonderful best friend. She’s like
a backbone to me. A great woman
will make a great man and a horrible
woman will break a man down so
quick. I’ve been fortunate enough to
find one who builds me up, and she
keeps me going on a daily basis.”
THE BEST TRIP I’VE
EVER BEEN ON WAS…
“About a year ago I went to Japan
for the first time. The culture is so
beautiful, the food is incredible and
the shows were fantastic. I went to
Osaka Castle, accidentally put $100
in the ticket machine and walked
away with $90 still in it. Somebody
found it, looked for me for an hour
in the castle, bowed and gave it
back to me. Anywhere else, that
money would still be missing.”
44 KERRANG!
“I’VE BEEN A
BIKER SINCE I
WAS SEVEN…”
D E Z
F A F A R A
“Marijuana. I’ve suffered from ADD
and ADHD all my life and found that,
as a medicinal aid, it helps me greatly.
It helps me to study, it helps me to
focus, it helps me to sleep. It helps
aches and pains after touring, too.
It brings a calm and a karma to my
life, I feel like it adds a beautiful hippy
element. Has the legalisation in some
states changed my relationship with
it? No, I’ve always smoked it, legal or
illegal, since I was 15 years old.”
MY FIRST PAID
JOB WAS…
“Working on a construction
site with my dad. I come from a
construction family and I started
working at nine years old. At first I’d
just be picking up cans and bottles.
Then I started really cleaning up. My
dad used to say, ‘If it’s not growing
from the ground, pick it up and put
it in a fucking pile!’ When you’re
getting paid $50 at nine years old,
you’re the cool kid!”
WORDS: SAM LAW PHOTO: PAUL HARRIES
MY GREATEST
PHOBIA IS…
COMING
JUNE
8
VOLUME 2
AN ALL-STAR
TRIBUTE CD TO
ONLY IN
R AT I N G S
KKKKK = CLASSIC
KKKK = EXCELLENT
KKK = GOOD
KK = AVERAGE
K = POOR
ANDY
BLACK
PLUS: CREEPER
LEADMILL, SHEFFIELD. 10.05.16
KKKK
MR BIERSACK JILTS THE BRIDES TO PLAY
HIS FIRST SOLO SHOW ON UK SOIL
WORDS: PAUL TRAVERS PHOTOS: PAUL HARRIES
“DIDYOU just say ‘banana hammock’?” laughs
Andy Black.“We need a system so you can shout
things out one at a time. I’m not sure a banana
hammock would go with the whole look, but
maybe I can get a black one made.”
This is Andy Biersack as you’ve never seen him before. Black
Veil Brides are all about forming a close connection with their
fans, but when they play it’s with a sense of total bombast and
larger-than-life rockstar spectacle.Tonight, playing his first UK
show under his solo guise of Andy Black – last week he made
his proper debut in LA, to an audience including blink-182’s
Mark Hoppus and Matt Skiba, 5 Seconds Of Summer and
producer extraordinaire John Feldmann – the feeling is far more
intimate. He laughs and chats with the crowd as he casually
chucks out quirky pop-rock gems from recently-released album
The Shadow Side, and indulges in covers that mean something
to him personally, even if the majority of his audience are initially
unfamiliar with them. He’s still every inch the rockstar up there,
but it’s almost like he’s off-duty and sharing some tunes and
good times with 900 or so close, personal friends.
Friends like Creeper.Andy has been vocal in his support of
their growing cult and a respectable portion of the crowd
seems familiar with the punk-fuelled rush of The Honeymoon
Suite and the gothic melodrama of Misery.The rest are left with
an indelible impression, as the band race through a brilliant set
that’s part-AFI, part-MCR and part a dark magic entirely of their
own making.
Tonight,Andy Black also wears his influences – at least
those that aren’t Kiss or Mötley Crüe –
on his sleeves.There are covers of
Generation X’s DancingWith Myself,
AlkalineTrio’sTimeToWaste and Social
Distortion’s Reach ForThe Sky. Elsewhere,
the brittle Beautiful Pain is dedicated
to late guitar tech Chris Holley, the big
ballad Paint It Black is dedicated to Andy’s
new wife Juliet Simms, and an all-acoustic
run-through of BVB’s Saviour threatens to
bring the roof down.
It’s not as big or brash as a BlackVeil
Brides show, but then it’s not supposed to
be. For Andy Black, this is personal, and for
those present at this first solo show, it was
a pleasure to share it with him.
46 KERRANG!
Creeper chose a weird moment
to recreate Michelangelo’s The
Creation Of Adam
Punching yourself in
the goolies: perfect for
reaching those high notes
ANDY BLACK
ASHTON IRWIN
(5 SECONDS OF SUMMER)
CALUM HOOD
(5 SECONDS OF SUMMER)
JOHN FELDMANN
(MEGA-PRODUCER)
MATT SKIBA
(BLINK-182/ALKALINE TRIO)
MEANWHILE, IN LA…
Andy played his first solo show in Los
Angeles on May 3. Just a couple of his
superstar mates turned up…
STAR SHOUT!
ANDY BLACK
LA PHOTO: STHANLEE B. MIRADOR
MARK HOPPUS
(BLINK-182)
One-man bands: 2016’s
hottest musical trend
(VOCALS)
DID YOU HAVE ANY
NERVES ABOUT
PLAYING A SOLO GIG?
“I’m not sure ‘nervous’
is the right word, but I
was certainly anxious
in a way, because it’s so
different. There’s things
you get used to with
Black Veil Brides. It’s not
like we go up and do a
choreographed show,
but there are times in
the set when I know this
or that thing is going
to happen. Doing this
is entirely different.
Whether it’s talking to
the audience between
songs or even the order
of the set list, it’s all new
to me, and I was anxious
to get it right.”
DID YOU EXPECT THE
AUDIENCE TO BE
SO FAMILIAR WITH
SONGS THAT WERE
ONLY RELEASED A
FEW DAYS AGO?
“With it being the first
show, I didn’t really
know what to expect, but
the crowd were fantastic.
Bearing in mind this was
a project that until very
recently was very much
hypothetical, based on
one song and a ‘Maybe
I can do this’ sort of
feeling, it all feels
pretty incredible.”
KERRANG! 47
Blood Ceremony: flexible with
the truth when describing
their Subway sandwich
DESERTFEST
Trouble: apparently we
DO want some trouble
here, as it happens
VARIOUS VENUES, CAMDEN. 29.04.16 – 01.05.16
WORDS: NICK RUSKELL/JAMES HINGLE PHOTOS: IAN COLLINS
THE HEAVIEST OF THE HEAVY AND THE FREAKIEST OF THE
FREAKY GATHER FOR AWESOME THREE-DAY SHINDIG
QWHILE THE bank holiday weekend sees Camden
basking in glorious sunshine, being a doom festival,
all Desertfest’s stages are inside, in the pitch-black
darkness. Between KOKO,The Underworld, the
Electric Ballroom and The Black Heart, across three
days, over 60 bands crank out some of the heaviest,
freakiest and, in some cases, weirdest sounds the
underground has to offer.
Things get off to a heavy-riffing, hard-boozing
start with the sludge’n’roll of the eternally
likeable GURT (KKKK), while Corby filth lords
RAGING SPEEDHORN (KKKK) are as much
like a pub brawl as they were back in 2000. But an
enjoyable one. However, it’s the double-whammy of
CROWBAR (KKKK) and CORROSION OF
CONFORMITY (KKKKK) that sets things ablaze.
The former crush, with songs like Conquering and
Like Broken Glass hitting like concrete, while CoC
are like having a party where your mates’ band play
Sabbath tunes too fast. It is glorious, and frontman
Pepper Keenan looks like the world’s happiest man
as he riffs.
Saturday finds
slow-mo heaviests
POSEIDON
(KKKK), Leeds
sluggers BONG
CAULDRON
(KKKK)
and America’s
Clearly, it was a
very tiring weekend
for Godflesh
SAMOTHRACE (KKKK) all vying for ‘heaviest
of the heavy’, but that award goes to CONAN
(KKKKK), who use twice as many amps as
everyone else to play riffs twice as heavy as everyone
else’s. Following that, RUSSIAN CIRCLES (KKK)
are good, but their post-metal feels like water after 18
cans of double-strength energy drink by comparison.
By Sunday, the hangovers are as unholy as some
of the riffs. But, fortunately, there’s salvation in
the form of Christian doom legends TROUBLE
(KKKK), who dole out classic, Sabbathy cuts
like The Tempter that crush skulls with as much
might as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
On a more mellow tip are Canada’s BLOOD
CEREMONY (KKKKK). Armed with some
vintage psych riffs and the world’s hardest-rocking
flute courtesy of frontwoman Alia O’Brien, they’re
a welcome trip to somewhere truly magical.
And smashing that vibe to smithereens are
GODFLESH (KKK), who know how to flatten
any venue with their gargantuan assault of harrowing,
industrial fuzz. But they seem positively nice next to
ELECTRIC WIZARD (KKKKK).The stalwarts
of doom metal are now so frightening that songs like
the hateful Return Trip and a rare airing of Dunwich
would have Beelzebub himself cowering behind his
sofa in complete and utter fear. It’s a doom apocalypse
that can’t be followed, and ends things on a gloriously
heavy note. Hopefully our ears will have stopped
ringing in time for Desertfest 2017…
“Ladies and gentlemen, all
the way from Hogwarts,
Electric Wizard…”
ISSUE 1620 MAY 21, 2016
FOXING
PLUS: TTNG
LTJ, probably wishing
they’d booked a gig
in Ska-borough…
DOME, LONDON. 30.04.16
KKKK
QWHEN YOU’VE deconstructed your
entire existence, picked apart your most
heart-aching anecdotes and poured them
into an album, playing live is going to be a
heavy affair. Tonight, though, the weight on
the shoulders of St. Louis post-hardcore
heroes Foxing is the result of countless van
breakdowns en route to this penultimate
night of a nine-week tour. Luckily, tour buds
TTNG (formerly This Town Needs Guns) are
on hand to banish any signs of stress with
their resilient brand of math-rock. Singer
Henry Tremain’s soaring vocals surge into
complex riffs, and Chinchilla and If I Sit Still…
show that the Oxford trio may have changed
their name, but it’s lost them no momentum.
Even with their motor woes, Foxing are in
top gear tonight. Frontman Conor Murphy
is fearless as he takes to the stage, equipped
with melancholic lyricism that cuts even
deeper in a live setting. Thankfully they know
not to wallow too much in their heavy
vibes, instead pumping even more energy
into songs like Night Channels and The
Magdalene. It’s tense music that also manages
to have a sense of cathartic calm, and The
Medic, Inuit and Rory – tonight’s intoxicating
finale – prove that Foxing are simply one of
the most emotionally-engaging bands in posthardcore today.
JESSICA BRIDGEMAN
PLUS: TRASH BOAT, LIONIZE
O2 ACADEMY, LEICESTER. 04.05.16
KKKK
SKA HEROES MAKE A PRESENT OF
THE PAST WITH GREATEST HITS SET
Q SKANKING AWAY to the jolly ska of Good Enough,
it’s easy to forget that this is what LessThan Jake have
been doing for two decades.They’re too modest to
make a fuss about it, but releasing a live album (Live At
The Astoria) that was actually recorded 15 years ago
suggests they’re at least taking a step back to marvel
at their achievements.Although they come with much
less history, openers Lionize distract with their funky,
occasionally soulful gifts, and although Trash Boat have a
job following that, their energy sees them through.
Despite a case of kebab-induced food poisoning,
frontman Chris DeMakes then leads Less Than Jake
through a ‘best of’ set list that’s been influenced by
fan feedback. From front to back, fans jump as if the
floor itself is steaming hot, wearing grins that are only
bested by co-frontman/bassist Roger Lima, while the
band’s ever-honking brass section add the flesh to
what might otherwise be simplistic fare.With songs
like Johnny Quest Thinks We’re Sellouts, Less Than
Jake aren’t asking to be taken seriously. But that, more
than anything, is the charm that will probably sustain
them for another two decades.
STAR SHOUT!
CHRIS
DEMAKES
(VOCALS, GUITAR)
HAVE ALL THE UK
DATES BEEN AS FUN
AS THIS?
“We’re only doing four
shows this time, but
so far they’ve all been
great. We came over
to do the Groezrock
festival in Belgium, so we
thought we’d add some
extras. It’s been fun!”
WHY RELEASE AN
ALBUM RECORDED
15 YEARS AGO NOW?
“That’s the golden
question! We’ve
amassed a lot of live
recordings over the
years, but when we
dug the Astoria tapes
out we realised it was
really good. It was
a special time at a
legendary venue. We
played to 7,000 people
over three days and it
doesn’t get much better
than that.”
WORDS: STEVE BEEBEE PHOTO: ANDY GALLAGHER
ST. LOUIS POST-HARDCORE MOB EXORCISE
THEIR WOES BRILLIANTLY IN LONDON
BUTCHER
BABIES
PLUS: SUMO CYCO
O2 ACADEMY3, BIRMINGHAM. 23.04.16
LA METAL CREW GET UPSTAGED BY
SUPPORT ACT IN THE MIDLANDS
Q BUTCHER BABIES singer Heidi Shepherd
wears the expression of someone who
wants you dead. Co-frontwoman Carla
Harvey, meanwhile, smiles like she’s just
opened a box to find it contains kittens.
Sadly, there’s no dark and light to their
musical output – it’s retchingly bitter and
scathingly metallic, but with few distinguishing
features. It could have been twice as heavy
and still not impressed as much as openers
Sumo Cyco. All colour and energy, their
punky metal pogos somewhere between
No Doubt and Skindred (they have, in fact,
collaborated with Benji Webbe on new song
Move Mountains, which does exactly that
tonight). All-action frontwoman Sever – like
Harley Quinn in a latex waistcoat – is a
trailblazing talent that no-one with eyes and
ears connected to brain could deny is a star
in the making. After that, the Butcher Babies
experience is like being constantly shouted at
for reasons you’re unable to properly fathom.
Commitment to the cause is beyond doubt
– Heidi in particular hurls herself around
as if on springs, her mid-air scissor kicks
miraculously not taking out any of the other
band members. Ultimately, though, when
an expression of rage has no form and no
pay-off, it just walks around in circles like a
pissed-off polar bear in a confined enclosure.
Until Butcher Babies learn to harness their
obvious power, they’ll look impotent next to
bands like Sumo Cyco.
STEVE BEEBEE
ROYAL ALBERT HALL, LONDON. 03.05.16
KKKKK
THE GODFATHER OF GRUNGE UNPLUGS FOR A
ROYAL PERFORMANCE IN A ROYAL SETTING
Q THIS IS not Chris Cornell’s first
solo rodeo. He has long, long since
proved that the songs that define his
past can be stripped down and work
unplugged – even if it means comically
sliding right up into the extremities of
his acoustic’s neck to widdle about for
Soundgarden’s Fell On Black Days. But
he’s never done it on this scale before.
And never quite so mesmerically.
Tonight, in the resplendent setting
of the Royal Albert Hall, he plays
25 songs – circumnavigating over a
quarter of a century of classics cuts
from his solo material, Soundgarden,
Audioslave,Temple OfThe Dog, one
James Bond theme and fantastic
covers of Prince,The Beatles, Michael
Jackson, Bob Dylan and more besides.
Look, when you cover Led Zeppelin’s
ThankYou and Jimmy Page is in the
crowd applauding like a mere mortal,
it’s safe to say you’re doing a good job.
In fact, this is phenomenal.Acoustic
versions of Black Hole Sun and I Am
The Highway impress as always, but
it’sTemple OfThe Dog’s Hunger
Strike that offers the unimpeachable
highlight.That said, it should be noted
that tonight’s as much about
looking forward. BeforeWe
Disappear and Josephine,
from last year’s Higher
Truth solo album, confirm
he’s lost none of his ability
to squeeze ventricles
beyond bursting point.
As such, it’s easy to
understand why everyone
always praises Chris Cornell:
TheVoice or Chris Cornell:
The Songwriter – all of which are
(re)confirmed tonight. But this show
also draws attention to Chris Cornell:
The Entertainer.Tonight he’s not just
the pensive grunge poet many think
he is. He’s hilarious. Evidence: after
self-deprecatingly critiquing himself for
only writing “miserable songs”, he tells
a story of how he planned to cover
U2’s uplifting One to compensate.
He then explains how a Google snafu
meant he accidentally started reading
the lyrics to a metal classic of the
same name.And so tonight sees U2’s
chords with the words to Metallica’s
One.And, like absolutely everything
else tonight, it sounds incredible.
Chris Cornell:
Superunplugged
WORDS: GEORGE GARNER PHOTO: PAUL HARRIES
KKK
KERRANG! 49
R AT I N G S
KKKKK = CLASSIC
KKKK = EXCELLENT
KKK = GOOD
KK = AVERAGE
K = POOR
LONELY
THE BRAVE
THINGS WILL MATTER (HASSLE)
KKKK
CAMBRIDGE ALT.ROCK STARS CONTINUE TO FOLLOW
THEIR OWN PATH ON ALBUM NUMBER TWO
WHEN YOUR stock-in-trade involves
the mixing of emotionally-charged
poetic lyricism with thrusting rifffuelled alt.rock anthems and swirling,
textured post-rock soundscapes, there’s no such
thing as a rule book. If there was, Lonely The Brave
would probably have torn it up (then written an
emotionally-charged song about the emotional
impact of tearing up rule books).
This is a band, after all, who were supporting
gravel-throated roots rock legend Bruce
Springsteen before they’d even released their debut
album,The Day’s War.They’re more than capable
of writing anthems that can fill every corner of the
sort of enormodomes commanded by The Boss,
but they also know that not everything has to go
off like a hand grenade.
When they start Things Will Matter with the
chiming minimalism and heartbeat pulse of Wait In
50 KERRANG!
The Car, you’re sort of waiting for it to build and
explode.That’s what most other bands would do
on an opening track, but Lonely The Brave simply
give it space to breathe. As the song exhales for
the final time, they segue artfully into Black Mire
and ratchet up the volume.This is indisputably the
sound of a rock band unleashed, but even when
they’re letting loose there’s still a poetry and grace
to everything they do. ‘What if I said that this ain’t
the one / The slicked back curd of the yellow sun?’
ponders frontman David Jakes over ringing guitars
and pounding drums.
This is a band who’ve been compared to
everyone from Pearl Jam to Biffy Clyro numerous
times.True, there are certainly aspects of their
sound and songwriting that justify it. David may
be so shy he lurks at the back of the stage at
gigs, but his rich, expressive croon has an Eddie
Vedder timbre at times. Likewise, the sing-along
hook of What If You Fall In also takes on a shade
of Biffy’s unconventional stadium rock attached
to a slightly awkward time signature.That said,
though, you could add more comparisons: there’s
a hint of Baroness’ cerebral aggression here and
there, not to mention the build-and-release tactics
of Explosions In The Sky (only with added vocals)
when they go fully post-rock on closer Jaws Of Hell.
These are all just elements, however, and when
you combine them into one seamless and almost
surprisingly cohesive whole, Lonely The Brave
sound like themselves and no-one else.That’s a
tricky thing to pull off, but with Things Will Matter,
one of the most distinctive bands to have emerged
in recent years continue to make bold strides into
the unknown.
DOWNLOAD: Radar, Jaws Of Hell.
FOR FANS OF: Biffy Clyro, Pearl Jam.
PAUL TRAVERS
ISSUE 1620 MAY 21, 2016
“A LOT OF THE
LYRICS ARE
ABOUT BECOMING
A DAD…”
DAVID JAKES
TRAC
K
B
TRACY
K
LACUNA
COIL
DELIRIUM
(CENTURY MEDIA)
KKKK
ITALY’S GOTH METAL ROYALTY GET EVEN DARKER
ON THEIR RETURN-TO-FORM EIGHTH ALBUM
1
6
2
7
3
8
THE HOUSE OF SHAME
Dual male and female
vocals, drilling down-tuned
guitars and the concept of
light versus dark have always
characterised Lacuna Coil. So,
this starts as LC have always
gone on.Alright!
BROKEN THINGS
Andrea Ferro’s screamed
vocal is all anguish in another
song that addresses personal
demons.The pay-off is Cristina
Scabbia’s bright chorus.
DELIRIUM
Lacuna Coil have
undergone line-up changes
in the build-up to this album,
and perhaps that explains
its focus on internal struggle.
This instantly memorable
tune is one of their easier-todigest moments.
4
BLOOD, TEARS, DUST
A welcome burst of
electronics winds up a
predatory beast of a tune,
before Cristina provides a
genuinely stunning hook –
one of the album’s best.
(VOCALS)
WAS IT IMPORTANT
TO KEEP YOUR SOUND
EVOLVING BETWEEN
THE DEBUT AND
THINGS WILL MATTER?
“Most definitely. Some of
the songs off the first record
are so old, I’ve a job even
remembering writing them.
We were still finding our
feet for a lot of it. I think
we all went into the second
album as better musicians,
so I hope it shows. I don’t
think there was any pressure
to follow up the debut.We
were all into the bunch of
songs we had going into
the recording, so we were
quietly confident we could
make a very decent one.We
always said we didn’t want
anything on the album that
comes anywhere near being
called ‘filler’, so I hope we’ve
achieved that.”
IS THERE AN
OVERARCHING
LYRICAL THEME TO
THE ALBUM?
“There’s a lot of stuff on
there about becoming a dad
and having to deal with my
ongoing problems with mind
and body! There’s also a few
songs on there about my
friends. I haven’t got a huge
number of close friends, but
I like writing songs about the
ones I’ve got.”
HOW DID THE
ADDITION OF
SECOND GUITARIST
ROSS SMITHWICK
AFFECT THINGS?
“I remember in the really
early days of him joining, I
asked him if he had any of his
own material he could send
over, so I could have a listen.
I opened them, thinking that
they were going to just be
scratchy recordings of an
acoustic, but there were
layered guitars, drums, bass –
an early version of Radar!”
5
DOWNFALL
Just when you think
you’ve got to grips with
this softly-lit power ballad,
in walks Alter Bridge’s multitalented Myles Kennedy
(possibly on water) to lay
down a jaw-dropping guitar
solo. Oooooh.
YOU LOVE ME ’CAUSE
I HATE YOU
The Ferro-Scabbia roles are
reversed on this slow-building
slab of moodiness.
GHOST IN THE MIST
The best bit here is the
guitar part in the middle,
which makes a kind of ‘neenaw’ cop car noise.
9
MY DEMONS
A song of hatred and
love horribly muddled up, it’s
Delirium’s most emotional
track, and one that should
stand the test the time.
10
CLAUSTROPHOBIA
Almost a partner
piece to My Demons, this has
a shade more optimism. But
isn’t as good.
11
ULTIMA RATIO
This closes things in
a good, if slightly predictable,
manner.While the Italian
veterans aren’t attempting to
reinvent their sound, they’ve
undoubtedly re-energised
themselves, and then some.
THIS ALBUM IS MOSTLY MADE UP OF…
43%
Dual vocals
27%
Emotion
12%
Goth stuff
18%
New blood
WORDS: STEVE BEEBEE
THE INSIDER
DAVID JAKES
TAKE ME HOME
Shards of electronic
noise keep this sparse
arrangement interesting,
Andrea again suggests that we
might all be losing it, before
Cristina turns up to remind
us that things might actually
not be that bad.
KERRANG! 51
KKKK = CLASSIC KKKK = EXCELLENT KKK = GOOD KK = AVERAGE K = POOR
KVELERTAK
NATTESFERD (ROADRUNNER)
KKKK
SCANDO METAL NUTCASES GET SLIGHTLY
MORE SENSIBLE ON THIRD ALBUM
QRENOWNED FOR
their far-beyond-driven
live performances,
Norwegian crew
Kvelertak have taken a
slightly more considered
approach to their latest
work. It doesn’t mean this riot-bringing metal
band who previously gave every impression of
having just escaped from a zoo are suddenly
practising sobriety. God knows what Berserkr
is about, but it probably isn’t flower-arranging,
put it that way.This still rocks – but it also
soothes and hypnotises in ways that fans might
not be expecting.After a frantic, grinding start,
the title-track and 1985 have a metronomic
poetry in their genes, while the nine-minute
Heksebrann actually blossoms into proper
melody.While it’s conceivable that, in its less
feral moments, Nattesferd will disappoint
some, it’s a bold, transitional statement from a
band that’s still reaching for their best.
DOWNLOAD: Svartmesse.
FOR FANS OF: Mastodon, Gojira.
LYRIC OF
THE WEEK
‘There’s an
echo pulling
out the meaning
/ Rescuing a
nightmare from
a dream’. And
that’s how the
new blink track
opens – with a
tacit admission
that they aid
Freddy Krueger
in making a
getaway from
teenagers’
dreams when
things get a bit
hairy.We’re on
to you, blink.
BAND:
blink-182
SONG:
Bored To Death
ALBUM:
California
STEVE BEEBEE
OCEAN
GROVE
BLACK LABEL (SUBLIME VOL.)
(UNFD)
KKK
MULTIFACETED MELBOURNE METAL CREW
WELCOME YOU TO THEIR (ODD) WORLD
QTHEY’RE A confusing
bunch, Ocean Grove. On
the one hand, they’ve
released a manifesto
alongside this EP, in which
they describe themselves
as an “artistic collective”
and raise points about social behaviour and
the consumption of culture. And on the other,
they not only have a song called Lights On
Kind Of Lover, but have filmed themselves
acting the giddy goat in its video. Musically,
we’re on more familiar ground; what the
manifesto refers to as “odd world music”(???)
largely fits into the baggy strides of nu-metal,
albeit with space for the odd deathcore vocal
or progressive flourish. A Limp Bizkit who
want to make, not Break Stuff? A Slipknot
who think People=Awesome? Told you they
were confusing.
DOWNLOAD: Cold Skin.
FOR FANS OF: Slipknot, Deftones.
SLEEVE OF
THE WEEK
Was there ever a
more gloriously
rock’n’roll sight
than Lemmy
snarling full-pelt
into a mic? No.
There is no
better idea for
a sleeve for
Motörhead’s
forthcoming
Clean Your
Clock live album
than the late
frontman doing
what he did
best, and doing
it better than
anyone else.
(LUNATONE/RISE)
KK
QNINE YEARS since
their last album, and
even longer since they
played the ’50s-tastic
West Coast punk
anchored by an upright
bass that made their
52 KERRANG!
VIDEO OF
THE WEEK
AUTOPSY,
PRESS TO MECO
NOT ENOUGH (STAND-UP) BASS IN YOUR
FACE FROM NOW-MELLOW QUIFF-PUNKS
ALISTAIR LAWRENCE
ANTI-CLONE
THE ROOT OF MAN
(PHD)
KKKK
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, FROM THE
MURDER CAPITAL OF THE UK… METAL
Q HAVE YOU ever
been to Boston in
Lincolnshire? It’s quite
a nice place, surrounded
by farmland, seems
quiet, not a lot to do.
Apparently it’s the
murder capital of the UK.We know this
because it’s one of the first things residents
Anti-Clone – stars of our recent New
Wave Of Weird feature (K!1615) – mention.
How’s that for setting the tone? After
spotting them in their masks, that is.And
it’s no surprise that when The Root Of
Man’s first proper track, Deracinated,
lurches into view, it does so on the back of
a stupidly heavy, nu-metal-tinged riff, bleak
atmosphere and disturbing vocals.At first
glance, there are a few obvious-looking
signposts – most obviously to Slipknot, both
in a visual sense and in the heavy grooves
that pulse through songs like A Sight For
Sewn Eyes – but there’s also a sense of
genuinely sick weirdness to them that’s all
Anti-Clone’s own. It makes them intriguing,
fascinating, but still not the sort of people
you’re sure you’d actually like to meet,
judging by the way they rage here.Although
we’re sure they’re really nice.They hide it
very well, mind.
DOWNLOAD: Deracinated,A Sight
For Sewn Eyes.
FOR FANS OF: Slipknot, Meshuggah,
King 810, Mudvayne.
NICK RUSKELL
OLLY THOMAS
TIGER
ARMY
7ttto
NAME4IGER !RMY ARE BACK6sssn IS THE
sound of a band full of the quiet confidence
needed to take their time with all things,
including getting to the point. It all moves
along at a slow-burning pace, rather than
the usual cocky swagger, and frontman Nick
13’s croon coats each song like molasses,
and it takes until eighth track Devil Lurks
On The Road for them to actually unleash
anything that quickens the pulse. Much
of the rest wallows in retro rock’n’roll
nostalgia without offering anything new, like
a rockabilly admiring his artfully-crafted quiff
in the mirror for just a bit too long.
DOWNLOAD: Devil Lurks On The Road.
FOR FANS OF: Alkaline Trio,The Cramps,
Rocket From The Crypt.
Not a real
autopsy, but a
trippy, digital
one. Which is
actually even
weirder than
seeing a corpse
getting cut up
would have
been. Sort of.
TWISTED
SISTER
SAOSIN
ALONG THE SHADOW (EPITAPH)
KK
FIRST NEW MUSIC IN SEVEN YEARS FROM
SECOND-TIER POST-HARDCORE CREW
Q IN THEIR mid-’00s
heyday, Newport
Beach’s Saosin were
not exactly the most
riveting band in the
cluttered post-hardcore
scene. Back with their
first release since 2009’s In Search Of Solid
Ground – and reunited with original vocalist
Anthony Green (Circa Survive) – they don’t
make much more of an impression this
time, either.That opener The Silver String
is somewhat plodding and predictable isn’t
the best start, and unfortunately these are
two words that can be applied with far too
much frequency.They have their moments,
though – the urgent-yet-ethereal chorus of
Ideology Is Theft is effortlessly affecting, and
the jangling Second Guesses is really quite
gorgeous. But even these are pretty hard to
recall once all is said and done.
DOWNLOAD: Second Guesses.
FOR FANS OF: Circa Survive,Thrice.
DAN SLESSOR
CABIN BOY
JUMPED SHIP
PATHWAYS
(SELF-RELEASE)
KK
TIME FOR SOME IDENTIKIT ELECTRO-METALSNORE-CORE FROM THE MIDLANDS
QWHEN A record’s
opening lyric is
‘Everybody’s going to
die’, you can be fairly
assured this is not
ground-breaking stuff.
In fact, Leicestershire’s
Cabin Boy Jumped Ship may well find work
ensuring said ground remains distinctly
unspoiled, for you’re more likely to find a
unicorn on their tour bus than an original
idea on Pathways. All the requisite parts
that make them sound ‘now’ are there
– the atmospheric electronics, juddering
breakdowns, petulant, toys-out-thepram screaming and sing-along choruses.
These choruses are their strongest suit,
particularly on The New World Order, but
the heavy use of so much horrid vocoder
on the same track is absolutely unforgivable.
AT THIS summer’s
Bloodstock festival,
Twisted Sister will play
their final UK show, as
part of a farewell tour
following the tragic
death of drummer A.J.
Pero last year. And if
you’ve seen Twisted
Sister live, you’ll know
why their retirement
will be so deeply felt –
they are, quite simply,
one of the best, most
uplifting, last-partyon-Earth rock’n’roll
bands in the history
of fun. Singer Dee
Snider is the sort of
tireless, cheerleading
frontman who could
make a broken-down
car spring into life
through sheer shouting
and refusal to take no
for an answer. How did
he get like that? Well,
other than being a
really, really hard bloke
from New York state, in
the early days, TS had
to fight for everything
they had. They couldn’t
get a record deal for
There are already far too many bands doing
the same thing, and mostly doing it better.
DOWNLOAD: Replace The Hate.
FOR FANS OF: Issues, Miss May I.
Ministry
PSALM 69
DAN SLESSOR
TERE
O
S
DESTRUCTION
VETERAN TEUTONIC THRASH
WINDMILL AND SHRED THE
1
VIMIC –
SIMPLE
SKELETONS
Welcome back,
Joey Jordison!
Nice new band
you’ve got there,
man. It’s heavy –
and it’s awesome.
2
ISSUES –
BLUE WALL
Another new
Issues tune!
This is smoother
than spreadable
butter that’s just
had a shave.
3
RED HOT
CHILI
PEPPERS
– DARK
NECESSITIES
Is RHCP’s
comeback
single about all
the essentials
for a power
cut? Torches,
candles? No, but
it’s still good.
4
REAL
FRIENDS –
MESS
Not that much
of a mess at all,
actually. More of
a solid pop-punk
gold nugget.
5
GORGUTS –
PLEIADES’
DUST
Ready for mindbending progdeath-metal?
Yes? Here’s 33
minutes of it.
,
. AGAIN
QEVERY THRASH band
in history privately resents
Destruction for nicking
that moniker before
they had the chance to
take it, but having been
destroying for 14 albums,
it’s safe to say they’ve earned it.That’s not to
say they’ve refreshed and revitalised the well
from which all thrashers drink, but if you’re
expecting reinvention you’re clearly not
headbanging hard enough.The title-track says
it all, really, and makes for gloriously raucous
listening, while blasting the likes of Dethroned
from a tank could get an enemy to surrender
sharpish. Probably.With Marcel ‘Schmier’
Schirmer still howling his heart out and Mike
Sifringer shredding like a madman, don’t be
surprised if album 15 is not too far off.
DOWNLOAD: Under Attack.
FOR FANS OF: Slayer, Bonded By Blood.
DAN SLESSOR
EMP!RE
OUR SIMPLE TRUTHS (SELF-RELEASE)
KK
IT’S TWO STEPS FORWARD
BACK FOR SOUTH WEST RO
(Sire, 1992)
HOW THE WORLD’S CRAZIEST BAND MADE THE WORLD’S
MOST OBNOXIOUS ALBUM. AND SOLD A SHITLOAD OF IT…
UNDER ATTACK (NUCLEAR BLAST)
KKK
ISSUE 1620 MAY 21, 2016
E STEP
QSOME BANDS take
a little time to mature.
Emp!re have spent the last
four years slowly trying
to hone their sound, into
something bolder and
more complex, although,
sadly, it still isn’t quite landing here.While Sights
has all the math-riff markings of peers like
Arcane Roots, it’s tracks like Sparrows which
lean a little too heavily on the band’s influences
(chiefly Coheed And Cambria) that let this
down.When it’s good, though, there’s some
uniqueness about Our Simple Truths that
suggests Emp!re still have something worth
building on.They just need to bring it out more.
DOWNLOAD: Sights.
FOR FANS OF: Arcane Roots, Biffy Clyro.
THERE HAS never been more
of an obnoxious, more of a
migraine, more of a pain-inthe-arse band than Ministry.
Led by Al Jourgensen – a man who looked
like a satanic cowboy, and has rightfully
been crowned Ultimate Rockstar Test
champion for his ability to be at the centre
of whatever trouble is going down with a
huge grin on his face – they were everything
that your parents feared and more.And
that’s before they got to the harsh, demonic,
industrial noise Ministry created. Nowhere
was it more vulgar and hateful than on the
multimillion selling Psalm 69:The Way To
Succeed And The Way To Suck Eggs.
Signed to a major label and given a
$750,000 advance, heroin addict Al blew
most of the money on drugs, then asked
the label for more. Unsurprisingly, the
atmosphere was not great.Al and the
band’s other creative lynchpin, bassist Paul
Barker, actively hated one another to the
point where they couldn’t work together
in the studio, and Al claims to have gone
in daily and simply undone everything his
bandmate had been working on.
But what actually came out of all this
unpleasantness is a masterpiece that added
a layer of industrial sharpness to the ’90s
metal explosion, and confirmed just how
much of a twisted genius Al was.As he
releases the debut of his new band, Surgical
Meth Machine, he looks back at how he
made a monster…
own thing. It was insane, though. But I got
off on the chaos of working like that.”
WHAT WAS IT ACTUALLY LIKE IN THE
STUDIO, WORKING ON THE ALBUM?
AL JOURGENSEN (VOCALS, MOST
INSTRUMENTS):“It was like a bunch of
animals being let loose.We spent a lot
of money on drugs, but I was still able to
work. I much prefer the studio to playing
live, I was in my element, even with crazy
shit going on everywhere. Barker and I
never saw one another – he’d work in
the day and be all good, and I’d come in
at night, fuck with his shit, and just do my
HOW DO YOU FEEL LOOKING BACK
AT THE ALBUM TODAY?
“I guess it was okay for its time.There are
a couple of songs I really dig on there, but
it’s not the best one to me.To be honest,
what I like most tends to be the shit I’m
working on right now.”
HOW DID IT FEEL TO HAVE BANDS LIKE
NINE INCH NAILS AND FEAR FACTORY
SAYING WHAT A BIG INFLUENCE
PSALM 69 WAS ON THEM?
“You know, [NIN mastermind] Trent Reznor
started out as our roadie. So, we threw
firecrackers at him and scared the shit outta
him ’til he quit the tour. That’s a true story,
man! I’d get 1,000 firecrackers and we’d
chuck them into his bunk on the bus to get
his ass up.And then, a few months later, he
was on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
I saw that and said to the guys, ‘Ain’t that
the kid we used to terrorise?’”
YOU GOT THE ALBUM TITLE FROM
CHAPTER 69 OF ALEISTER CROWLEY’S
THE BOOK OF LIES. WAS HE SOMEONE
YOU LOOKED UP TO?
“He had the right frame of mind, though
he weren’t no genius. Sure, he fucked some
chick on top of a pyramid, but he hasn’t
done anything I haven’t done. If anything,
I’d teach him shit, you know? I’ve hung out
with people that make Crowley look like
kindergarten. But the guy was cool for
his time and completely overlooked, I’ll
give him that. Good versus evil should be
inherent in every human being. He’d play
up the evil part, and at least during the
Victorian age that was a huge ‘fuck you’ to
society. Gotta give the guy credit for that!”
Kerrang! Radio play
it all at 10pm, May 19!
WORDS: AMIT SHARMA
N TH
E
O
K!LASSIC ALBUM
six years, despite these
five huge, tough blokes
in womens’ clothes
and make-up selling
3,000 tickets a night,
six nights a week, and
rocking every one of
those faces. WE ARE
TWISTED F**KING
SISTER (KKKK) – now
getting a UK release
and available on
Netflix – is the story of
their struggle to even
get off the blocks. Of a
terrible spate of bad
luck that saw them
miss opportunities
with labels, or else
be the subject of such
scorn that the head of
Atlantic threatened to
fire the next person
who suggested
signing them. But,
with a little help from
Lemmy and finally a
sprinkling of good
luck, they succeeded
in signing to Atlantic
(in your face, suits),
and releasing Stay
Hungry, an album
that sold five million
copies and was crucial
in defining metal in
the ’80s. Watch this,
then realise why you
have to see them this
summer. You’ll regret
it if you don’t.
WORDS: NICK RUSKELL
JESSICA BRIDGEMAN
“WE THREW
FIRECRACKERS
AT TRENT
REZNOR…”
AL JOURGENSEN
KERRANG! 53
MU$T
HAV£S
ALL THE BEST GEAR FROM THE FOUR
CORNERS OF PLANET ROCK AND BEYOND!
It’s officially summer, and the Kerrang! office is melting/cursing our
parent companies’ pathetic air-con. This frankly ridiculous paddling pool
is just what you (and we) need.
£31.25 Amazon.co.uk
There are lots of things that are very heavy metal. Lovely
soft pillows and a fresh duvet are not. Sleeping in a coffin is.
Question is: how heavy metal are you?
Price TBC Gothicdecor.net
Our Editor James has been on a real
White Zombie kick recently. He’s
put this in Klobber in the vague hope
someone might send him it.
£16.49 Backstreetmerch.com
We love New Girl. And we
love Christmas parties. We
reckon if we got one of these
we’d pay for ours by June.
$12.95 (£8.96) Shop.fox.com
Coming to the Kerrang! Awards 2016?
Wear this shirt. Warning: if your nipples
become possessed, it’s not our fault.
$23.99 (£16.62) Paperalligator.com
Do you have around £4,000 going spare? There is nothing
you need more than this life-size Brachiosaurus in your back
garden. Sure, you don’t know you need it yet, but trust us, you
do. It will solve all of your problems.
£3,495 Lifesize-models.co.uk
54 KERRANG!
When we saw Zootopia, and Officer
Hopps’ carrot pen Dictaphone, we
immediately wanted one…
£8.66 Amazon.co.uk
Excited about the return of Bill & Ted?
Pah.We’re Team Death all day long.
Price TBC
Americanclassicsonline.com
We wish there was a BABYMETAL
comic book. We also wish we could
eat sushi all day, every day, but we
tried that and pooed ourselves.
Price TBC CIDmerch.com
Since the dawn of food, salt and
pepper has duked it out for control
of the dining table. Replicate this epic
battle with Magneto and Wolverine.
$23.99 (£16.62)
Superherostuff.com
Are you dying for a coffee? So is this
mug. That doesn’t really work. But
you know what we’re trying to do!
£9.99 Etsy.com
1620 MAY 21, 2016
C
From the pen of the brilliant Jeff
Lemire, with beautiful art from
Dustin Nguyen, comes our new
favourite comic series.
$7.99 (£5.53) Imagecomics.com
Why not catch a mouse then
force it to wear The Hound’s
helmet? Note to RSPCA: this
was just an idea, not an order.
£7.99 HBOshopeu.com
Thanks to this yellow beauty
from Zippo, you’ll never lose
your lighter again. It’s windproof,
too! L8RZ, wind.
£20.90 Zippo.co.uk
HE
MERCH STORE!
PIERCE THE VEIL’S NEW ALBUM IS FINALLY OUT! CELEBRATE
BY BUYING UP EVERYTHING IN THEIR ONLINE SHOP…
If Pierce The Veil were
a sports team they’d
probably have a hat like
this. Luckily they’re not,
because the quartet don’t look
like they’d be very good at
Prone to Misadventures?
Then the compass necklace
in this album bundle should
help you find your way.
P.S. We’re more excited
by that viewfinder than
itself.
23.13)
erchnow.com
This shirt kinda reminds us of
’90s girly game Dream Phone.
Is it Vic, Tony, Mike or Jaime that
wants to take you on a date to
the downtown diner? We know
who it is, but we’re not telling…
har har.
$20 (£13.85)
Ptvmerch.com
Here are some things that Andy B
likes: smoking, and the colour purp
the two, we prefer purple.You don
smelly hands from colours.
£9.99 Thisispulp.co.uk
If there’s something strange in your games cupboard, who ya gonna
call? No idea, to be honest. But we reckon this Ghostbusters board
game looks like a whole load of fun.
Price TBC Cryptozoic.com
Pretend you’re Chewbacca (without the nits) with this satsuma-coloured
Nerf gun. For professionals or Wookiees. Boom boom!
£24.95 Disneystore.co.uk
Look like you’ve been rolling
around in freshly-cut grass with
this tie-dye shirt. It’s so grasslike
it actually just brought on our
hayfever, and we’re not even lying.
Somebody pass the Beconase…
$20 (£13.85)
Ptvmerch.com
Want to get lost in your
dreams? Then these Pierce The
Veil-brand pillowcases should do
it. Maybe tie yourself to the bed
before nodding off, just in case
you can’t find your way back.
$25 (£17.38)
Ptvmerch.com
This survival pack won’t be
much use if you’re going to
the jungle with Bear Grylls,
but it might just get you
through the day at Slam Dunk.
If you remember to take a fiver
for some chips.
$15 (£10.38) Ptvmerch.com
KERRANG! 55
S
S
I
M
T
’
DON
ISSUES
WORDS: DAN SLESSOR PHOTO: GRIZZLEE MARTIN
FUN FACT: THIS IS ISSUES’ FIRST-EVER UK HEADLINE TOUR! ANOTHER FUN FACT:
THEY’RE ALSO READY TO BLOW YOU AWAY WITH THEIR BRAND-NEW ALBUM...
WELCOME BACK! YOU MUST
BE REALLY EXCITED TO FINALLY
HAVE SOME NEW SONGS TO
PLAY ONCE YOU HIT THE UK!
MICHAEL BOHN (VOCALS): “Definitely!
We’ve really only just finished the self-titled
touring cycle after almost two years, so it’ll be
good to break out some new songs for you
guys. We’ve also never done an Issues headliner
in the UK before, so that’s really exciting, too.”
HAVE YOU EVER HAD AN OPENING BAND
MAKE YOU THINK, “AH SHIT – WE HAVE TO
FOLLOW THAT!?”
“If there’s one band that does that, it’s letlive.!
You watch that band and your jaw drops – we’d
be standing side-stage while they’d be playing
and it’d be like, ‘Um, okay, so we have to kill it?’
(laughs). And that was every single night – they
don’t do bad shows! But it almost gives you a
boost, too, to be as insane as them.”
GIVEN THAT THIS IS YOUR FIRST HEADLINER,
WILL YOU BE BRINGING PYRO AND
CONFETTI CANNONS WITH YOU?
“We’ve joked about wanting to do a pirate ship
set – we’d have cannons onstage and totally
embrace the theme! We’ve always got crazy ideas
– we’ve done a Pokémon theme, and when we
last toured the States we had a dive bar theme.”
“WE WANT TO
HAVE A ‘PIRATE
SHIP’ STAGE SET”
YOU’RE BRINGING HACKTIVIST AND
ASTROID BOYS ON THIS TOUR, ARE YOU
LOOKING FORWARD TO WATCHING THEM?
“Oh yeah! Our tour manager is from the UK
and he turned us on to Astroid Boys, and
they’re something different – we don’t want a
bill of straight-up heavy bands. And, of course,
we’re all big fans of Hacktivist, they’re insane!”
SPEAKING OF EXCITING THINGS, AFTER
TAKING AGES TO MAKE YOUR NEW
ALBUM, HEADSPACE, IT’S COMING
OUT THIS WEEK – PSYCHED FOR PEOPLE
TO HEAR IT?
“Before we released The Realest and Coma, I
was super-nervous. I didn’t know what to think
56 KERRANG!
MICHAEL BOHN
and I didn’t know how people were going to
take it, especially with the singing, as I sing on
almost every song. But the response to those
two songs has been incredible, so I’m definitely
a lot more confident now.”
SO, WILL WE BE SEEING THAT NEW SENSE
OF CONFIDENCE ONSTAGE AT YOUR SLAM
DUNK APPEARANCES, TOO?
“We’re really excited for it, this will be our first
time and we’ve heard nothing but good things.
We’ll definitely be out there trying to make as
many new fans as possible.”
AND HAVE YOU PICKED UP ANY NEW FANS
SINCE POSTING YOUR HILARIOUS ‘UBER
DRIVER FROM HELL’ VIDEO ON YOUTUBE?
“Yeah, and there have been a lot of people
saying, ‘I wish this was my Uber driver!’ I’m
actually following it up with a series of videos –
the next one is ‘Lyft Driver From Hell’, because
I got fired from my Uber job and had to go
drive for them instead (laughs)!”
DATES: Cardiff Y Plas May 24, London Camden
KOKO 25, O2 Ritz Manchester 26, Glasgow Garage
27, Southampton Engine Rooms 31. Support:
Hacktivist, Astroid Boys.
ISSUE 1620 MAY 21, 2016
KERRANG! DAY MAY 18
BATH Emp!re,We Are Carnivores (Moles Club)
BIRMINGHAM Landscapes, Capsize, Giants
(Rainbow Courtyard)
BRIGHTON Andy Black, Creeper (All
Saint’s Church)
EXETER Lonely The Brave (Cavern)
MANCHESTER Blind Guardian (O2 Ritz
Manchester)
NORTHAMPTON The Damned (Roadmender)
NOTTINGHAM The Summer Set,The
LaFontaines, SYKES (Rescue Rooms)
SWANSEA As It Is,With Confidence, Jule
Vera (Scene)
THURSDAY MAY 19
BIRMINGHAM Magnum (O2 Institute
Birmingham)
CARLISLE As It Is,With Confidence, Jule
Vera (Brickyard)
DERBY Fort Hope (Venue)
DUBLIN Blind Guardian (Academy)
EDINBURGH When We Were Wolves,
Values (Opium)
GUILDFORD Press to MECO (Boileroom)
LONDON Band Of Skulls, Johnny Lloyd
(Electric Ballroom, Camden)
MANCHESTER Landscapes, Capsize, Giants
(Star & Garter)
RIDER OF THE WEEK
BAND: Simple Plan
Looking at this rider, it would
seem Simple Plan are warming up
for the Olympics in Rio this year.
Representing Canada in ping pong.
48 bottles of 500ml non-carb
onated
water, at room temperature
1 brand-new Vitamix juice
r, every day
30 small hand towels
Clean towels – no used towe
ls
from last night’s Motionle
ss In
White show, please
A proper trail-mix with exac
t
amount of cashews, raisins, equal
almonds
and gold nuggets – please
remove all
coconut shavings
5 puppies to play with befo
re and
after the show
1 Crest toothpaste (no Colg
ate!)
Dove soap bars (no other
brand than
Dove – important!)
1 small jar of Nutella
5 embroidered silk robes
with the
band’s last names
1 electric golf cart
1 ping pong table with four
competition-level paddles
10 competition-level ping
pong balls
Only 3 Star balls (very imp
ortant
we take ping pong seriously –
)
Assorted deli meats/cold
cuts
Assorted vegetables – NO
EGGPLANT!
Assorted whole, uncut fruit
–
NO PAPAYA!
Montreal newspapers – but
only the
sports section
All 27 seasons of The Simp
sons
on DVD
1 floral arrangement to be
disp
in band’s dressing room (abs layed
olute
no carnations or daisies, plea ly
1 framed photograph of Can se)
ada’s
Prime Minister, Justin Trud
eau
1 Canadian flag
A Starbucks Espresso Mac
hine
1 vinyl turntable with a sele
ction of
greatest hits albums from
Elton John,
ABBA and Slayer
PORTSMOUTH Andy Black, Creeper
(Pyramids Centre)
PORTSMOUTH The Summer Set,The
LaFontaines, SYKES (Wedgewood Rooms)
PRESTON Wheatus (Ferret)
READING Dorje (Sub 89)
SWANSEA Emp!re (Scene)
SWANSEA Fort Hope (Sin City)
FRIDAY MAY 20
BRISTOL coldrain,Wage War, Counting
Days (Thekla)
DONCASTER Allusondrugs (Vintage
Rockbar)
GLASGOW When We Were Wolves,Values
(Attic)
HOLMFIRTH Magnum (Picturedome)
LEAMINGTON SPA Dorje (Zephyr
Lounge)
LEEDS Manic Street Preachers, Editors
(First Direct Arena)
LONDON Andy Black, Creeper (KOKO,
Camden)
LONDON Funeral For A Friend,Raging
Speedhorn, ZOAX (O2 Forum Kentish Town)
LONDON Emp!re (Upstairs @ Garage,
Islington)
LONDON Landscapes, Capsize (Boston
Music Room,Tufnell Park)
NEWCASTLE As It Is,With Confidence, Jule
Vera (O2 Academy2 Newcastle)
SWANSEA Fort Hope (Sin City)
SATURDAY MAY 21
ABERDEEN As It Is,With Confidence, Jule
Vera (Tunnels)
ALDERSHOT Witchsorrow, Gorilla, Alzir
(West End Centre)
BRIDGEND Fort Hope (Hobos)
BRIDGWATER Emp!re,We Are Carnivores
(Cobblestones)
DUNDEE When We Were Wolves,Values
(Room At The Top)
GLASGOW Manic Street Preachers,
Editors (SSE Hydro)
GUILDFORD God Damn (Boileroom)
LONDON coldrain,Wage War, Counting
Days (Borderline)
LONDON Funeral For A Friend, Creeper,
ZOAX (O2 Forum Kentish Town)
LONDON Rolo Tomassi, Hang The Bastard,
Departures, Slabdragger (Holy Roar X @
Various venues)
MANCHESTER Magnum (Academy 2)
NEWPORT Dorje (Le Pub)
NOTTINGHAM Blind Guardian (Rock City)
SUNDAY MAY 22
ABERDEEN When We Were Wolves,Values
(Downstairs)
CANNOCK Dorje (Station)
GLASGOW As It Is,With Confidence, Jule
Vera (King Tuts)
LONDON Blind Guardian (O2 Forum
Kentish Town)
MANCHESTER coldrain,Wage Wars,
Counting Days (Sound Control)
NEWCASTLE Magnum (O2 Academy)
OXFORD God Damn (Cellar)
MONDAY MAY 23
DERBY InMe, Press to MECO (Venue)
NEWCASTLE Mortiis (Cluny)
NEWCASTLE SWMRS (Think Tank?)
NORWICH Lonely The Brave (Open)
SHEFFIELD As It Is,With Confidence, Jule
Vera (Leadmill)
ST ALBANS Fort Hope (Horn)
TUESDAY MAY 24
BATH The Computers (Moles Club)
BRIGHTON Fort Hope (Patterns)
CAN’T GET TO A GIG?
THEN HERE’S SOME OTHER STUFF
TO KEEP YOUR EYES/EARS BUSY
MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE
–THE EVOLUTION
KERRANG! TV –
MAY 21, 10AM
From dancing at funerals to
joining The Black Parade, and
not forgetting the fabulous life
of the Killjoys, MCR have done
it all. Watch them evolve like
Charmander into Charizard…
CARDIFF Issues, Hacktivist, Astroid Boys
(Y Plas)
CHESTER InMe, Press to MECO, Orca
(Live Rooms)
LONDON The Answer (100 Club)
LIVERPOOL We Came As Romans, Miss
LESS THAN JAKE
FIREBALL TOUR
INTERVIEW
KERRANG.COM
Like skanking, Hawaiian shirts
and the sound of trumpets in your
punk? Well, Less Than Jake have
announced a HUGE UK tour and
they’ve exclusively told us all about
it. Better get those imaginary pogo
sticks at the ready, people!
#KLASSICKERRANG
– IRON MAIDEN
KERRANG! TV –
MAY 19, 4:30PM
This is the perfect opportunity for
you to dust off your old red tunic,
get your Union flag down from the
attic and climb around the lounge
like a monkey! God only knows
what the hell you’re going to do for
an Eddie but, quite frankly, that’s
your problem, not ours.
May I (Arts Club Loft)
MANCHESTER As It Is,With Confidence,
Jule Vera (Deaf Institute)
NOTTINGHAM coldrain,Wage War,
Counting Days (Rock City)
READING Lonely The Brave (Sub 89)
MY FIRST GIG
WHO: ALICE COOP
ER, FLORIDA STATE
FAIRGROUNDS, TA
MPA, 1971
THE W.A.S.P. LEGEND WAS ST
UNG BY TH
OF THE GODFATHER OF SHOC E SHEER BRILLIANCE
K ROCK…
BLACKIE
LAWLESS,
W.A.S.P.
“This show
was the last
performance
on the Love It To
Death tour, and
I couldn’t eat or
sleep for three days after attending
it. I had never seen anything like it,
and everything they did after that
got bigger, but nothing equalled
it. They played for 35 minutes and
I didn’t want 36, I got everything I
needed. Thing is, I actually wasn’t
even really a fan before the show.
I’d heard the song I’m Eighteen
and basically some friends
talked me into going.
“It was the
psychological
approach they took
to the audience that
made the show so
riveting. They had the
electric chair onstage, but the show
hadn’t progressed to that really big,
over-the-top thing that came later.
Really, it was pretty minuscule,
because they didn’t have a lot of
money, and, like I said, it was far
more a psychological thing than
bombastic or flashy.
“Alice himself was in some ways
minimalistic but larger than life at
the same time. At the start of the
show he came out on his knees,
banging on a cowbell, which
looked very ritualistic. From there
it just grew and grew, and by the
climax, the stage was in total chaos.
Most people at the end of a show
are rowdy and making noise, but
when this was over you could have
heard a pin drop. If you remember
the first time you saw
Apocalypse Now or Jaws,
it had that kind of effect.
Witnessing it was a true
life-altering experience.”
WORDS: JAMES HICKIE
YOUR WEEK!
KERRANG! 57
BOOKING NOW
HULL
THE EUROPEAN CITY
OF CULTURE PROVIDING
ROCK BY THE BUCKETLOAD…
2000TREES
Line-up:TwinAtlantic,Refused,Moose Blood,WSTR,
While She Sleeps,Palm Reader,Neck Deep,The King
Blues,The Bronx,Basement,LonelyThe Brave,HECK,
Mallory Knox,The Xcerts,Arcane Roots, Counterfeit,
Dinosaur Pile-Up, Creeper, ZOAX, Reigning Days,
Dave McPherson, SikTh, Jamie Lenman and more!
Cheltenham Upcote Farm July 7 – 9.
SAM ARUNDELL
(GUITAR), THE COLOUR LINE
(PROMOTER), O’RILEYS
WHAT WAS THE MUSIC SCENE
LIKE GROWING UP?
“It was up and down. I remember
being 13 or 14, playing and
attending shows for the first
time, and back then mixed-billed
shows used to be the norm. Every
single show was packed. In 2008, a
disastrous festival ruined the music
scene for a long time, to the point
where bands didn’t come here. Even
so, people involved in the actual
scene itself stayed passionate and
have worked solidly for eight years
to bring it back to where it was.”
HOW IS THE MUSIC SCENE
DOING IN 2016?
“It’s absolutely thriving.The bands
are incredibly supportive of each
other and the regular promoters
are doing an amazing job of
consistently bringing high-quality
music to the city. One group
of promoters in particular that
deserve some recognition are the
Hull Noise Collective – they do
a brilliant job of hosting intense
rehearsal room shows across the
city that are starting to pick up a
large following. I can’t remember a
time when Hull was this great for
rock and metal shows.”
AS A PROMOTER, DO YOU
FEEL HULL IS A GREAT CITY FOR
BANDS TO PLAY NOW?
“Absolutely. Bands from across the
country who have played Hull all
look for repeat bookings after they
first play here because they love it
so much. I think Hull’s European
City Of Culture status has pushed
Hull into the limelight on a popular
music level. It also helps that bands
like Black Tongue and Sworn
Amongst have really made the
world’s rock and metal fans pay
attention to the city.”
CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THE
TOWN’S KEY VENUES, AND
WHAT MAKES THEM SO GREAT?
“I actually co-run O’Rileys, a
500-capacity multi-entertainment
venue, which is where the majority
of metal and rock shows happen in
Hull – as well as slowly developing
into a popular socialising area
for local musicians, too.Another
high-capacity venue is The Welly
Club that hosts anything from 300
to 900-capacity shows of all genres.
For the smaller intimate venues
we have The Adelphi, Polar
Bear, and Fruit, which can all host
anything from acoustic pop all the
way to heavy metal.”
ARE THERE ANY BANDS FROM
THE LOCAL AREA THAT YOU
COULD RECOMMEND?
“This is a difficult one, as there are
so many great ones! My own band,
The Colour Line, of course, as
well as Liberatae Mae, Mastiff,
Sworn Amongst, Dividium,
Remenitions, Sex Injuries,
Three Day Millionaires and
Abandon The Night.The brandnew bands coming out of the
area like Earthbreaker and The
Escape Artist are already making
a solid name for themselves within
the area.”
WHAT IS THE BEST SHOW
YOU’VE EVER PLAYED IN HULL?
“Our recent EP launch show was
absolutely insane.We only expected
a few people to turn up and pay on
the door, but we ended up playing
to an absolutely rammed room.
That was fun.Another fantastic
show was when we supported
Funeral For A Friend at The
Welly Club a couple of years
ago to a sold-out crowd in our
hometown – it was surreal!”
3 DOORS DOWN
O2 Academy Bristol November 2, O2 Academy
Birmingham 3, Manchester Academy 5, London
Eventim Apollo 6.
CAMDEN ROCKS
Line-up:SikTh,Young Guns,WeAreThe Ocean,
GingerWildheart,InMe,Norma Jean,The Godfathers,
Evil Scarecrow,NewYears Day,TheVirginmarys,The
Qemists, Queen Kwong, Forever Never,As Lions,The
DirtyYouth, SHVPES, Black Foxxes, Lounge Kittens,
Press To MECO, BloodYouth, Scholars,Ashestoangels,
Samoans, Counting Days,The Ghost Riders In The
Sky, Bad Sign, Creeper, Glen Matlock, Reigning Days,
Sonic Boom Six, Heck, Zebrahead, Black Spiders,Yuck,
Reckless Love,The Algorithm, Fort Hope, Palm Reader,
Wars, Fizzy Blood,Vodun, Oxygen Thief. Camden
various venues June 4.
AC/DC
London Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Stadium
June 4, Manchester Etihad Stadium 9.
COLDRAIN
Southampton Engine Rooms 26, Reading Sub 89 27.
Support: Counting Days,Wage Wars.
ALICE COOPER
Stone Free Festival @ London O2 Arena June 18 – 19.
DAMNATION FESTIVAL
Line-up: Enslaved, Nails, Ne Obliviscaris, Full Of
Hell, Oceans Of Slumber. Leeds University Union
November 5.
ALL THEM WITCHES
Bristol Thekla October 2, Manchester Deaf Institute
3, London Scala 4, Brighton Haunt 6, Leeds Brudenell
Social Club 7, Glasgow Classic Grand 8, Nottingham
Bodega 9.
AMERICAN IDIOT: THE MUSICAL
Sunderland Empire May 25 – 28, Glasgow King’s
Theatre May 31 – June 4.
ARCH ENEMY
Norwich Waterfront August 21, Sheffield Corporation
22, Cardiff TramShed 23, Southampton Engine Rooms
24. Support: Soilwork.
ARCHITECTS
Brighton Concorde 2 May 27 – 28. Support:
Counting Days.
BAND OF SKULLS
Leeds Stylus October 20, Manchester Albert Hall
21, Newcastle Northumbria University 22,London
Camden Roundhouse 26, Southampton Engine
Rooms November 17.
BEACH SLANG
Tunbridge Wells Forum June 7, London Camden
Dingwalls 8, Birmingham Sunflower Lounge 9,
Edinburgh Electric Circus 10, Liverpool Studio2 11,
Manchester Deaf Institute 12, Nottingham Bodega
13, Cardiff Globe 14, Cambridge Portland Arms 15.
Support:Weaves, Muncie Girls (except Manchester).
BEING AS AN OCEAN
Plymouth Hub June 21, Bridgend Hobos 22,Kingston
Fighting Cocks 23.
BESTIVAL
Line-up: Creeper, Fatherson, K.Flay, Milk Teeth,Moose
Blood, PrettyVicious, PUP. Isle Of Wight Robin Hill
Country Park September 8 – 11.
BLOODSTOCK FESTIVAL
Line-up: Slayer, Mastodon,Twisted Sister,Venom,
Behemoth, DragonForce, Paradise Lost, Rotting Christ,
Anthrax, Gojira, Satyricon, Fear Factory, Symphony X,
Acid Reign, Metal Allegiance, Stuck Mojo, Goatwhore.
Corrosion Of Conformity, Unearth, Ghost Bath,Evil
Scarecrow,Witchsorrow,Akercocke, Desert Storm
and more! Derbyshire Catton Park August 11 – 14.
BLUES PILLS
Wolverhampton Slade Rooms November 1,Glasgow
Classic Grand 2, Manchester Club Academy 5,
London Camden KOKO 6, Bristol Marble Factory 8.
BRING ME THE HORIZON
London O2 Arena October 31, Bournemouth BIC
November 1, Nottingham Arena 2, Birmingham
Barclaycard Arena 4, London O2 Arena 5, Sheffield
Arena 6, Manchester Arena 8, Glasgow SSE Hydro 9.
BURY TOMORROW
Southampton Engine Rooms June 4. Support:
Every Time I Die, Landscapes.
No entry? How are we
supposed to get in?
58 KERRANG!
DEFTONES
London SSE Arena Wembley June 3.
DON BROCO
Manchester Gorilla July 24 – 25, Glasgow Oran Mor
26 – 27, Newcastle Riverside 29 – 30, O2 Institute
Birmingham 31 – August 1, Leeds Key Club 3 – 4,
Bedford Esquires 5 – 6, London O2 Islington Academy
8 – 9, Southampton Engine Rooms 10 – 11, Norwich
Open 13 – 14, Bristol Marble Factory 15 – 16.
DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL
Line-up: Rammstein, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Korn,
Megadeth, Disturbed, Nightwish, Deftones,The Amity
Affliction, Counting Days, Gutterdämmerung, Havok,
Killswitch Engage, Skillet,Twin Atlantic, Sixx:A.M., Fort
Hope,Architects,Atreyu, Beartooth, Black Foxxes,
Dead!, Down, Milk Teeth, Neck Deep, Rival Sons,
Skindred,TesseracT, Lawnmower Deth,Attila, Billy
Talent, Breaking Benjamin, Delain, Don Broco, Frank
Carter & The Rattlesnakes, Ghost, Gojira, Halestorm,
Ho99o9, Saxon, Shinedown,Tremonti,All Time Low,
Buck & Evans, DevilYou Know, Glassjaw, Napalm
Death, Pennywise,The Raven Age, Royal Republic,
Scattering Ashes, Scorpion Child,The Shrine,The
Temperance Movement,Weirds,The Wildhearts,
Avatar,WWE NXT, Juliette & The Licks, Raging
Speedhorn,The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For
Nothing, Inglorious, Raveneye, Puppy, From Ashes
To New, Skinny Lister,The Amorettes, In Search Of
Sun, Man The Mighty,Wearing Scars,The Wild Lies,
BABYMETAL. Donington Park June 10 – 12.
BIFFY CLYRO
Glasgow Bellahouston Park August 27. Support: Fall
Out Boy,Wolf Alice, Cage The Elephant.
BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE
Newport Centre November 24, O2 Academy
Newcastle 27, O2 Academy Glasgow 30, Manchester
Academy December 3, O2 Academy Birmingham 6,
London O2 Academy Brixton 9. Support: Killswitch
Engage, Cane Hill.
Here’s a venue where you can
have O’Riley good time at…
DECADE
Manchester Sound Control May 31, Bath Moles June
1, Bristol Exchange 3, Leeds Key Club 4, Birmingham
Rainbow 5. Support: Cheap Meat (except Bath).
BUTSERFEST
Line-up: Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!, FVK, Creeper,
WSTR, Crooks,Ashestoangels and more! Petersfield
Queen Elizabeth Country Park September 10.
ESCAPE THE FATE
BristolThekla June 8,Southampton Engine Rooms 9,
NorwichWaterfront 10.
EVAROSE
London Garage (Upstairs) July 8, Oxford Bullingdon 9.
EVERY TIME I DIE
London Borderline May 31, London Camden
Underworld June 1, London Tufnell Park Dome 2,
London Old Blue Last 3.
EXPIRE
Cardiff Bunker June 13, Leeds Temple Of Boom
14, Glasgow Audio 15, Birmingham Rainbow 16,
London Boston Music Rooms 17. Support: Cross
Me, Renounced.
THE FALL OF TROY
Nottingham Rescue Rooms September 9, Leeds Key
Club 10, Glasgow Cathouse 11, Newcastle Think Tank?
13, London Scala 14, Bristol Fleece 15, Manchester
Sound Control 16, Birmingham Asylum 17. Support:
Tiny Moving Parts.
FATHERSON
London Scala June 2, O2 ABC Glasgow 4. Support:
The Xcerts.
ISSUE 1620 MAY 21, 2016
FIDLAR
London Brixton Electric July 12.
FIZZY BLOOD / ALLUSONDRUGS
Kingston Fighting Cocks June 6, Birmingham Sunflower
Lounge 7, Newport Le Pub 8, Cheltenham Frog &
Fiddle 9, Liverpool Magnet 10.
FORT FEST
Line-up: Lonely The Brave, InMe,The DirtyYouth,
The Treatment, Grumble Bee, Bad Touch, Eva Plays
Dead, Cheap Meat and more. Bedfordshire
Thurleigh September 2 – 4.
MOTION CITY
SOUNDTRACK
FORT HOPE
Plymouth Underground May 25.
FROM SORROW TO SERENITY
Bridlington Londesborough May 27, Edinburgh Opium
28, Derby Hairy Dog 29, Plymouth Underground 31,
Birmingham Rainbow June 1, Brighton Sticky Mike’s 2,
Bristol Hatchet 3. Support: No Sins Evades His Gaze.
O2 Ritz Manchester August 17, O2
Birmingham Institute2 18, London
Camden KOKO 19.
GLASTONBURY
Line-Up: Muse, Bring Me The Horizon, ZZ Top,Wolf
Alice and more. Somerset Worthy Farm June 24 – 26.
ICED EARTH
London Brixton Electric December 6. Support:
Ensiferum, Kataklysm, Unearth.
IGGY POP & JOSH HOMME
London Royal Albert Hall May 18.
I KILLED THE PROM QUEEN
Glasgow Cathouse August 22, Birmingham Rainbow
23, Plymouth Hub 24, London Camden Dingwalls 25,
Southampton Social 26. Support:The Browning, Feed
Her To The Sharks, Empires Fade,To Kill Achilles.
ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL
Line-up: Queen + Adam Lambert, Stereophonics,
Twin Atlantic, Sixx:A.M. and more. Seaclose Park,
Newport June 9 – 12.
ISSUES
London Camden KOKO May 25, O2 Manchester
Ritz 26, Glasgow Garage 27, Southampton Engine
Rooms 31. Support: Hacktivist,Astroid Boys.
KATATONIA
London O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire October 21.
KERRANG! AWARDS 2016
Line-up:Asking Alexandria. London Troxy June 9.
KILLING JOKE
London O2 Academy Brixton November 4.
LANDSCAPES
Birmingham Rainbow May18, Manchester StarAnd
Garter 19, London Boston Music Rooms 20.Support:
Capsize, Giants.
LONELY THE BRAVE
Exeter Cavern May 18, Cambridge Corn Exchange
20, Norwich Open 23, Reading Sub89 24, Newcastle
Riverside 27.
MEMPHIS MAY FIRE
London Camden Electric Ballroom May 31.Support:
We Came As Romans, Miss May I, Cane Hill.
METAL BREW
Line-up:Venom Inc, Diamond Head, Divine Chaos,
Incredible Hog,Witchsorrow, Groan, Desert Storm,
Dysteria, Landskap. London Barnet Rugby Football
Club July 30.
MINISTRY
Cardiff TramShed August 16, O2 ABC Glasgow 17,
O2 Institute Birmingham 18, O2 Ritz Manchester
19, London O2 Forum Kentish Town. Support:
DevilDriver.
MOOSE BLOOD
O2 Institute2 Birmingham October 3, Glasgow
Garage 4, O2 Academy2 Sheffield 5, CardiffY Plas 6,
London Camden KOKO, Manchester Academy2 8.
MUNICIPAL WASTE
Glasgow Cathouse June 13, Newcastle ThinkTank?
14, Leeds Brudenell Social Club 15, London Camden
Underworld 16, Manchester Sound Control 17.
NAILS
Glasgow Cathouse November 4, Bristol Fleece 6,
London Camden Underworld 7. Support: Full Of Hell.
NAPOLEON
Liverpool Arts Club Loft June 21,Worcester Marr’s
Bar 23, Exeter Cavern 24, Brighton Sticky Mikes 25,
JUST ANNOUNCED
APOCALYPTICA
Manchester Bridgewater Hall February 27,
Edinburgh Queens Hall 28, London Royal
Festival Hall March 1.
BASEMENT
Newcastle Riverside July 12, Carlisle Brickyard
13, Cardiff Globe 14,Wolverhampton
Slade Rooms 15, Southend Chinnery’s 18,
Brighton Haunt 19,Tunbridge Wells Forum
20, Southampton 1865 21, Plymouth Hub 22.
Support: Dinosaur Pile-Up,The Sun Days.
DANCE GAVIN DANCE
O2 Academy2 Oxford November 3, Brighton
Haunt 4, O2 Institute3 Birmingham 5,
Southampton Engine Rooms 6, Nottingham
Rescue Rooms 8, O2 Academy2 Newcastle 9,
Manchester Sound Control 10, Glasgow Garage
11, Leeds Key Club 12, Cardiff Globe 14, Bristol
Fleece 15, London Camden Underworld 16.
Street March 1, London O2 Forum Kentish
Town 2. Support: Sepultura, Soilwork, Aborted.
DEAD KENNEDYS
O2 Academy Oxford October 12, London O2
Academy Islington 13 – 14.
TERRORVISION
Glasgow Garage November 22,Wolverhampton
Wulfrun Hall 23, O2 Ritz Manchester 25,
Southampton Engine Rooms 26, London
Camden KOKO 27, Norwich Waterfront 28,
Cardiff TramShed 29.
BILLY TALENT
Norwich UEA October 12, O2 Academy
Bristol 13, Manchester Academy 15, O2 ABC
Glasgow 16, O2 Academy Newcastle 17, O2
Institute Birmingham 19, O2 Academy Leeds
20, Nottingham Rock City 22, London Camden
Roundhouse 23, Cardiff Tramshed 24, O2
Guildhall Southampton 26.
FIREBALL – FUELLING THE FIRE TOUR
Line-up: Less Than Jake,The Skints, Mariachi El
Bronx, Kemuri (3 – 6),The Bennies (8 – 11).
O2 Academy Bristol October 3, O2 Academy
Sheffield 4, O2 Academy Birmingham 5, London
O2 Academy Brixton 6, O2 Academy Newcastle
8, O2 Academy Glasgow 9, O2 Ritz Manchester
10, O2 Academy Bournemouth 11.
THE BOUNCING SOULS
Huddersfield Parish August 2, Glasgow
Stereo 3, Bristol Exchange 5, London Camden
Underworld 6, Kingston Fighting Cocks 7.
Support: Pear.
KERRANG! AWARDS 2016
Latest addition: A Day To Remember.
Basingstoke Sanctuary 26,BournemouthAnvilAugust
1,Southampton Joiners 2,MargateWest Coast Bar
3,London O2Academy2 Islington 4,Northampton
Black Prince 5,DoncasterVintage Rock Bar 6,Leeds
Key Club 7, Newcastle Central 8, Edinburgh Opium 9,
Glasgow Classic Grand 10, Manchester Rebellion 11,
Cheltenham Frog & Fiddle 12, Bristol Hatchet Inn 13,
Plymouth Underground 14.
NORMA JEAN
Plymouth Junction May 31, Bournemouth Anvil
June 1, Chester Live Rooms 2, O2 Academy Leicester
3, Brighton Sticky Mikes 5, Liverpool Arts Club 7,
Swansea Scene 8, Belfast Empire 10, DublinVoodoo 11.
NORMANDIE
London Boston Music Rooms July 18, Cardiff Fuel
19, Manchester Retro Bar 20, Newcastle Head Of
Steam 21, Nuneaton Queens Hall 22, Cheltenham
Frog & Fiddle 23, Southampton Joiners 24. Support:
Future Talk.
OCEANS ATE ALASKA
Birmingham Rainbow June 1, Cardiff Bunker 2,
Northampton Black Prince 3, Newcastle Central 4,
Edinburgh Opium 5, Manchester Rebellion 6,Leeds
Key Club. Support: Fathoms, Loathe.
THE OFFSPRING / BAD RELIGION
O2 Academy Birmingham June 19, O2 Academy
Glasgow 20, London Eventim Apollo 22. Support:
Templeton Pek.
PANIC! AT THE DISCO
O2 Apollo Manchester November 17, Cardiff
Motorpoint Arena 18, London Alexandra Palace
19 – 20.
PETROL GIRLS
Cardiff Gwdihw June 7, Bristol Exchange 8,Worcester
Fly Bar 9, Plymouth Juntion 10, Brighton Prince Albert
11, Norwich Owl Sanctuary 12, Glasgow Bar Bloc 14,
Newcastle Trillians 15, Huddersfield Parish 16,London
DIY Space 17, Liverpool Social Centre 18, Manchester
Sound Control 19.
KREATOR
Manchester Academy February 28, Dublin Vicar
PIERCE THE VEIL
Cardiff Great Hall November 25,O2Academy
Birmingham 26,London O2Academy Brixton
27,Nottingham Rock City 29,O2Academy
Newcastle 30, Glasgow Barrowland December
1, Manchester Academy 2, Belfast Mandela Hall 4,
Dublin Academy 5 – 6.
PUSCIFER
Manchester Bridgewater Hall May 30, London
Camden Roundhouse 31.
RAGING SPEEDHORN
Colchester Arts Centre July 15, Cardiff Clwb Ifor Bach
16, Liverpool Arts Club Loft 17, O2 ABC2 Glasgow
18, Leeds Key Club 19, O2 Academy3 Birmingham
20, Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms 21, Oxford
Wheatsheaf 22, London Camden Underworld 23.
Support: Stoneghost, By Any Means.
READING & LEEDS FESTIVAL
Line-up: Red Hot Chili Peppers, Biffy Clyro,Fall Out
Boy, twenty one pilots, Crossfaith, Eagles Of Death
Metal, Lower Than Atlantis,Asking Alexandria,Five
Finger Death Punch, Sleeping With Sirens, State
Champs, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes,Creeper,
Mastodon, Good Charlotte, Beach Slang, State
Champs, Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls,Tonight
Alive,Thrice, Hacktivist, Nothing More, Citizen,
Superheaven, FVK, SWMRS,Nothing But Thieves,
Coheed & Cambria, Skindred, Dillinger Escape Plan,
Kvelertak, Milk Teeth, HECK, Dead!, Big Spring,The
King Blues, Modern Baseball, ROAM,Waterparks,
Brian Fallon and more! Reading Richfield Avenue and
Leeds Bramham Park August 26 – 28.
REAL FRIENDS
Kingston Hippodrome May 27.
ROB ZOMBIE
London O2 Forum Kentish Town October 17.
RORY INDIANA
Leicester Pi Bar June 17, Southampton Alex 19,
Plymouth Underground 20, Cheltenham Frog & Fiddle
NASTY
Manchester Sound Control October 23,
Glasgow G2 24, Birmingham Rainbow 25, London
Camden Underworld 26. Support:Aversions
Crown, Malevolence,Vitja, Sand.
THRICE
London Electric Ballroom August 25.
UGLY KID JOE
Glasgow Garage October 1, Newcastle
Riverside 2, Manchester Academy3 3, O2
Academy2 Sheffield 4, Norwich Waterfront 6,
Nottingham Rescue Rooms 7, Southampton
Engine Rooms 9, Bristol Thekla 10, London O2
Academy Islington 12.
21,TunbridgeWells Forum 30.
SLAM DUNK FESTIVAL
Line-up:Panic!AtThe Disco,Of Mice & Men,
New Found Glory, Mallory Knox, FourYear Strong,
The Starting Line, SetYour Goals, Every Time I
Die, Issues, Memphis May Fire, Zebrahead, Capdown,
Real Friends, Miss May I,We Came As Romans,
Yellowcard, Mayday Parade, Shikari Sound System,
The Story So Far,The King Blues, Cancer Bats,The
Amity Affliction, Northlane, Moose Blood, Norma
Jean, Hacktivist, Hit The Lights, Gnarwolves, Chunk!
No, Captain Chunk!, ROAM,Young Guns, coldrain,As
It Is,Trash Boat,WSTR, King Prawn, [spunge], Heart
Of A Coward,Astroid Boys,The One Hundred,The
Qemists,The Beat,The JB Conspiracy, Rob Lynch,
Bryce Avary solo,Away Days, Grumble Bee, Greywind,
Elder Brother, Seafoal, Bethan Leadley, Lianne Kaye.
Slam Dunk North – Leeds City Centre May 28, Slam
Dunk Midlands – Birmingham NEC 29, Slam Dunk
South – Hatfield University Of Hertfordshire 30.
SLEEP
London O2 Forum Kentish Town July 6.
THE SMITH STREET BAND
London Camden Underworld July 9, Kingston
Fighting Cocks 10, Norwich Owl Sanctuary
12, Nottingham Bodega 13, Glasgow Audio 14,
Manchester Soup Kitchen 15, Dublin Fibber Magees
16, Brighton Prince Albert 17. Support:Apologies, I
Have None,Woahnows.
THE STRUTS
London Camden Dingwalls July 5, Bristol Thekla 6,
DerbyVenue 7.
TECH-FEST
Line-up: Protest The Hero, Between The Buried And
Me and more. Newark Showground July 7 – 11.
Y NOT FESTIVAL
Line-up:The Hives, Fun Lovin’ Criminals, Neck Deep,
Creeper, Moose Blood, Lonely T he Brave, Gnarwolves,
HECK, Queen Kwong, Reigning Days and more.
KERRANG! 59
PHOTO: GETTY
HANDS LIKE HOUSES
Manchester Academy III May 25, Leeds Key Club
26, Glasgow Cathouse 27, Newcastle Uni SU 28,
Liverpool Arts Centre Loft 29, Nottingham Bodega 30,
O2 Institute2 Birmingham 31, Southampton Joiners
June 1, Cardiff Clwb Ifor Bach 2, London O2Academy
Islington 3, Bristol Exchange 4. Support: I The Mighty,
Dead!,The GospelYouth.
ARCHITECTS
ALL OUR GODS HAVE ABANDONED US
LIMITED
DELUXE BOX
EXCLUSIVE
PRE-ORDER
WITH PIN
AND VINYL
FOR ORDERS OVER £ 50
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semi permanent make–up artists, and friendly reception staff. Along side a huge range
of jewellery, gifts and clothing. Male and female artists. Fully health registered.
www.bodycrafttattoo.com
Twitter: bodycrafttattoo Facebook: bodycraft Tumblr: bodycraft Instagram: bodycraft
Tel: 0115 911 6106
Liverpool
143 Picton Road, Wavertree, Liverpool, L15 4LG
Tel: 0151 733 6666 [email protected]
www.pictontattoo.co.uk
Dorset
To Advertise your
studio call
01733 366419
NEXT WEEK
ON SALE MAY 25
WE’RE GOING HOME…
EDITORIAL
WHO ARE YOU MOST LOOKING
FORWARD TO SEEING AT SLAM DUNK?
EDITOR: James McMahon
(Creeper… on our stage! *smug face*)
DEPUTY EDITOR: George Garner
(FOUR YEAR STRONG!)
ART EDITOR: Steve Beech (Mel
Clarke DJing)
PRODUCTION EDITOR: Ryan Cooper
(Panic! At The Disco – bye
bye voice)
FEATURES EDITOR: Sam Coare
(Every Time I Die)
PICTURE EDITOR: Scarlet Borg
(The Beat)
ASSOCIATE EDITOR (REVIEWS):
Nick Ruskell (Myself, going nuts to Cancer
Bats)
NEWS EDITOR: Jennyfer J. Walker
(PANIC! AT THE DISCO x 3)
DEPUTY ART EDITOR: Matt
Dykzeul (Gnarwolves)
NEW MUSIC EDITOR/EDITORIAL
ASSISTANT/SUB: Emily Carter
(I’m excited to dance very badly to Panic!
At The Disco)
DESIGNER: Sophie Bland (Greywind)
LISTINGS EDITOR: James Hingle
([spunge] *gets a mohawk*)
CONTRIBUTING ED: Katie Parsons
(Sam Coare)
CONTRIBUTORS: Matt Allen, Steve
Beebee, Jessica Bridgeman, Hannah Ewens,
James Hickie, Sam Law, Alistair Lawrence,
James MacKinnon, Amit Sharma, Tom
Shepherd, Dan Slessor, Mark Sutherland,
Olly Thomas, Paul Travers, Ian Winwood,
Rod Yates, Ray Zell.
PHOTOGRAPHERS: David Bergman,
Lindsey Byrnes, Chris Casey, Ian Collins,
Carrie Davenport, Andy Ford, Andy
Gallagher, Jeremy Harris, Paul Harries, Lisa
Johnson, Andrew Lipovsky, Ashley Maile, Tom
Martin, Martin Philbey, Andrew Timms, Neil
Visel, Dave Willis.
SUITS
MARKETING
MARKETING EXECUTIVE:
Alex Penge
GROUP DIRECT
MARKETING MANAGER:
Geraldine Wilson
MARKETING MANAGER:
Ally Johnstone
SYNDICATION
INTERNATIONAL
CONTENT EXECUTIVE:
Ryan Chambers (01733 468561
Ryan.chambers@bauermedia.
co.uk)
IFA (+31 20 664 5324
[email protected])
THANKS TO: James Hickie.
INTERN OF THE WEEK:
Kate Cruickshank
For all work experience opportunities,
check out GoThinkBig.co.uk.
W1A 6DZ
PO BOX 2930, LONDON,
T: 020 7295 5000
M
E: [email protected]
COM
W: KERRANG.
HTTPS://WWW.GOOGLE.CO.UK/URL?
VED=0AH
EVENTS
EVENT DIRECTOR: Helen
Scott
SENIOR EVENT
PRODUCER: Emily Bramfitt
EVENTS EXECUTIVE:
Phoebe James
ACCOUNT MANAGER:
Sianne Young
ADVERTISING
TELEPHONE: 020 7295 5474
GROUP MD ADVERTISING:
Abby Carvosso
PERSONAL ASSISTANT TO
ABBY CARVOSSO: Alison
Meadley (020 7295 5502)
HEAD OF MAGAZINE
MEDIA:
Clare Chamberlain
GROUP COMMERCIAL
DIRECTOR: Simon Kilby
MUSIC MANAGER: Joel
Stephan
CREATIVE SOLUTIONS
MANAGER: Rick Williams
HEAD OF MAGAZINE
BRANDS: Rachel Flower
HEAD OF MUSIC: Neil
Mcsteen
SENIOR CREATIVE
SOLUTIONS EXECUTIVE:
Keith Hillman
REGIONAL ADVERTISING:
Katherine Brown
CLASSIFIED SALES
EXECUTIVE: Mitchell Coulter
CLASSIFIED SALES
MANAGER: Karen Gardiner
INSERTS MANAGER: Simon
Buckenham
AD PRODUCTION
MANAGER: Helen Mear
HEAD OF CREATIVE
CONTENT: Jennie Mitchener
CREATIVE SOLUTIONS
ART DIRECTOR: Jon Creswell
PRODUCTION
MANAGER: Alex Brook
AD PRODUCTION
MANAGER: Jackie Doran
GROUP AD PRODUCTION
MANAGER: Zoe Bellamy
DISTRIBUTION: Frontline
(01733 555161)
REPRO: Rival Colour
PRINTING: Polestar
REALLY IMPORTANT
PEOPLE
CHIEF EXECUTIVE: Paul
Keenan
PERSONAL ASSISTANT
TO PAUL KEENAN: Emma
Knowles
GROUP MANAGING
DIRECTOR: Rob Munro-Hall
PUBLISHING DIRECTOR:
Liz Martin
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER:
Phil Alexander
BUSINESS ANALYST:
Natalie Talbot
SUBSCRIPTIONS AND
BACK ISSUES:
For the latest subscription offers
and back issues, call +44 (0)1858
438884. Email – bauer@subscription.
co.uk. Kerrang!, ISSN 0262-6624
is published 51 times a year by
Bauer Consumer Media Limited,
a company registered in England
and Wales with company number
01176085, registered address Media
House, Peterborough Business Park,
Lynch Wood, Peterborough, PE2 6EA
Airfreight and mailing in the USA
by agent named Air Business Ltd,
c/o Worldnet Shipping Inc., 156-15,
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Air Business Ltd is acting as our
mailing agent.
COMPLAINTS:
Bauer Consumer Media Limited is
a member of the Independent Press
Standards Organisation (Ipso.co.uk)
and endeavours to respond to and
resolve your concerns quickly.
Our Editorial Complaints
Policy (including full details
of how to contact us about
editorial complaints and IPSO's
contact details) can be found at
Bauermediacomplaints.co.uk.
Our email address for editorial
complaints covered by the Editorial
Complaints Policy is complaints@
bauermedia.co.uk.
THE ULTIMATE
ROCKSTAR TEST
TUOMAS HOLOPAINEN
NIGHTWISH
HE’S MATES WITH RICHARD DAWKINS AND OBSESSED
WITH SCROOGE McDUCK. THIS SHOULD BE GOOD…
WHAT’S THE MOST STUPID
THING YOU’VE EVER DONE
FOR A DARE?
“It wasn’t a dare exactly, but I’ve sung in front of
30,000 people at Wacken Open Air, and I was
terrified. Singing is not my cup of tea. I’ve never
taken lessons and I don’t really have the talent for it,
but because of the circumstances, I sang on the first
Nightwish album [1997’s Angels Fall First] and I had
to carry that burden for a few years.”
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN GENUINE FEAR
FOR YOUR LIFE?
“Once, when we came back from tour, I was driving
my car back from the airport and I fell asleep. I was
on a motorway, doing 100 kilometres per hour, so it
was a very close call.That was the scariest moment
of my life. Luckily I had a friend with me and he was
able to pull the wheel so that we avoided crashing.”
minutes before I realised I had pushed the ‘Demo’
button on my keyboard.The sound guy walked
onstage, pressed one button and left again, leaving
me extremely embarrassed.”
Oddly, we don’t think Napalm Death have ever
had this problem.Ask them for tips, maybe?
LIFESTYLES OF THE
RICH AND FAMOUS…
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU
WERE STAR-STRUCK?
“It was during ourWembley Arena show
last year when [writer and evolutionary
ON THE HYPOTHETICAL…
IF YOU COULD GO THROUGH A PORTAL
TO ANY FICTIONAL FANTASY LAND,
WHERE WOULD YOU GO?
“Duckburg! What was going through my
head when I decided to write an album
about Scrooge McDuck [2014’s Music
Inspired By The Life And Times Of
Scrooge]? Well, when you’re an artist you
write about things that truly inspire you.
They get inside your system and you feel
the urge to get them out somehow.
It’s one of my favourite book series.
Whenever I read them, my head was
always filled with music.”
SPIRITUAL HEADMELTER…
WILL SCIENCE EVER PROVE OR DISPROVE
THE EXISTENCE OF GOD?
“I think the burden of proof is on the people
who believe in God, because extraordinary
claims require extraordinary evidence. My
answer would be that I don’t know, but
I think it is a scientific question. Science
and God are not two separate things.”
Deep.We were hoping you’d say more
about Scrooge McDuck, to be honest…
FAILURES AND
F’UPS…
HAVE YOU EVER HAD A
SPINAL TAP MOMENT
ONSTAGE?
“So many, but one of the
most embarrassing was
in Marseille in 2001, when
suddenly this massive disco
beat started to play during a
song.We had to
stop playing
and try to find
the source of
this really annoying
techno sound. It took five
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN MOBBED ON
THE STREET?
“We get recognised on the street, especially in
Finland.We’re tabloid material if something big
happens, but I think the media has treated us fairly
well. I live in a small community of 39,000 people.
I’ve lived here all my life and everyone knows me,
so they don’t pay that much attention.”
Let’s just forget about the Russian superfan who wanted
to come and live with you, then, shall we?
WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE FOREVER?
“No, absolutely not. I love life, but the idea of
infinity sounds really tiresome. I wouldn’t mind
living for maybe 300 years, to see where the world
is going and whether and how mankind survives.
I want to live long and see new innovations, but
certainly not forever.That’s a terrible thought.”
That’s a motivational poster right there: ‘Living Forever –
Terrible’. Copyright that now,Tuomas
WHAT’S BEEN YOUR WEIRDEST-EVER
FAN ENCOUNTER?
“About seven years ago there was a Russian girl
who had sold everything she owned and packed
all her belongings into three big suitcases. She just
showed up at my parents’ house, saying,‘I’m going
to come here and be with Tuomas for the rest
of my life.’ That took a little taking care of, but
she was serious about it. She had actually sold
everything and taken a train from Russia
to my hometown.”
Quite some dedication, carrying three
suitcases.That extra arm could probably
come in handy, maybe…
HAVE YOU EVER WRITTEN A
SONG YOU’VE DISOWNED
AFTERWARDS?
“No. I can look back on some of
my songs – especially the lyrics
– and laugh at them now, but
I’d never disown them because
they’re all honest. Some of the
songs on the first album have
lyrics that I wouldn’t write
now, but that’s who I was 20
years ago.”
biologist] Richard Dawkins showed up and
did a voice-over part with us onstage. I’m
not usually easily star-struck but I’m a huge
fan of his writing, so it was amazing to
have him involved in our last album [2015’s
Endless Forms Most Beautiful].”
“ONE FAN GOT
A TRAIN FROM
RUSSIA, SAYING
THEY WERE
COMING TO LIVE
WITH ME”
TUOMAS HOLOPAINEN
NOT A GREAT SCORE, BUT AS ONE
OF EUROPE’S BIGGEST METAL STARS,
TUOMAS IS STILL COOL AS DUCK
SCORE
70%
THE LEADERBOARD
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
AL JOURGENSEN MINISTRY
ALICE COOPER
BEN BRUCE ASKING ALEXANDRIA
GENE SIMMONS KISS
CHAD NICEFIELD WILSON
MORTIIS
BERT McCRACKEN THE USED
BRENDON URIE PANIC! AT THE DISCO
BRIAN MOLKO PLACEBO
DERYCK WHIBLEY SUM 41
JOHAN HEGG AMON AMARTH
12 DENIS STOFF ASKING ALEXANDRIA
13 TUOMAS HOLOPAINEN NIGHTWISH
14 CHRIS ROBERTSON BLACK STONE CHERRY
100%
99%
98%
93%
92%
90%
86%
85%
84%
83%
76%
73%
70%
52%
WORDS: PAUL TRAVERS
ON ROCK’N’ROLL…
ISSUE 1620 MAY 21, 2016
THE STADIUM, QUEEN ELIZABETH
OLYMPIC PARK, LONDON SAT 4 JUNE
ETIHAD STADIUM MANCHESTER THU 9 JUNE
GIGSANDTOURS.COM / TICKETMASTER.CO.UK
PRESENTED BY SJM CONCERTS & LIVE NATION IN ASSOCIATION WITH CAA
ACDC.COM

Kerrang! - May 21, 2016

Transcription

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