Issue Fifty-Seven

• Issue Fifty-Seven bar italia
• Also inside:
• Maruja TTSSFU
• Radio Free Alice mark william lewis
• Water From Your Eyes
• Worldpeace DMT
• Mên An Tol
• Humour
• Shame

HELL OF HEAV

Issue Fifty-Seven arrives within what feels like the busiest summer in our history. Festival season isn't quite done, but one band looking fondly beyond this period is bar italia and they're on the cover. Once elusive but now speaking freely with new album 'Some Like It Hot' now announced for release in October, we chat with trio Sam, Nina and Jezmi in Brixton on guitars as a gimmick, singing lessons and the horniness of their new record.

Mark William Lewis is one of our favourite discoveries of recent times. The London based singer-songwriter is the first signing to A24 Music and from his 'Bermondsey Triangle' studio we met to discuss Elliott Smith, favourite films and collaborating with MIKE.

NYC duo Water From Your Eyes have a new album on the way. 'It's a Beautiful Place' sees the band transform to a live four-piece (live drums!) as well as shift their focus to a wholly more bright place. Rachel and Nate join us on Zoom to tell us about the weight of the introspective 'Everyone's Crushed', how that informed the new album and closing DJ sets with Johnny Cash's cover of 'Hurt'.

The debut album from Worldpeace DMT and Rowan Please caught us off guard. An album discovered via the Instagram sharing from friends of friends, 'The Velvet Underground & Rowan' has quickly entered contention for record of the year. In what is one of the first interviews surrounding the project, Worldpeace DMT discuss their "60s filtered through a calculator" music openly and how the independent scene doesn't feel all that independent at all.

• TTSSFU
• "You're Gonna Get Electrocuted"p. 9
• bar italia
• Some Like It Hotp. 17
• William Palmer
• British Lad Energyp. 23
• Shame
• A Dance Record?p. 30
• Radio Free Alice
• Observations That Mean Somethingp. 35
• Humour
• Almost Untenablep. 43
• Mên An Tol
• Celtic Soulp. 48
• mark william lewis

Tomorrow is Perfect

Returning to our pages are some familiar favourites. Ahead of performing on the very first So Young tour, Mên An Tol speak with us again. The London band have announced their second EP and frontman Bill Jefferson tells us about working with Fontianes D.C.'s Carlos O'Connell and more. More returning favourites include Glasgow's Humour, Manchester's Maruja and London's Shame. The latter are gearing up for the release of fourth album 'Cuthroat' whilst the former two are bracing themselves for the release of their debut album's.

Radio Free Alice are currently on a freak run of sold out London shows. At the time of writing, the Melbourne band have six small London venues sold out and the swell around them is only getting greater. With a new EP on the way, we dig into our first print chat with the band to discuss their place, or lack of place, in the Melbourne scene, their love and gratitude for playing live and writing with listeners in mind.

Finishing off our music features is a chat with Manchester's TTSSFU who returns to our pages following her signing to Partisan Records, a preview to the incredible End of the Road Festival and of course, Who Are You? In this issue's edition we introduce you to Theatre, RABBITFOOT, Pushbike, Croíthe, The Cindys, Marsy and Domina.

As well as this year's GradList where we highlight some of AUB's best illustration graduates, we also chat with rising british designer, William Palmer and Pop artist, Charlotte Rose, shot by legendary photographer, Lawrence Watson.

• GradList 2025
• AUB Illustrationp. 56
• Maruja
• Break The Tensionp. 59
• End of the Road
• Previewp. 62

Water From Your Eyes 'Hurt' by Johnny Cash

• Charlotte Rose
• Pop Artp. 71
• Who Are You?
• Introduce Yourselfp. 73
• Worldpeace DMT

A Soundtrack for LittleBigPlanet

Opposite, 'Heav'n' by Josh Whettingsteel, Paper collage. Oil and acrylic on used canvas, 36cm x 46cm

"When we first spoke she was like "I saw that you wear no shoes on stage, you're gonna get electrocuted, you need to start wearing shoes!" So I went and told my manager "the craziest thing has just happened, Kim Deal has just told me off.”

Then there are songs like 'Weekend', which is super sad but I still feel like they're a part of the same world. I do wish I could write happier songs sometimes but like I said honesty is the most important thing for me, so if one day I'm completely ecstatic about everything I might write a song called 'I'm So Happy'! But when I was writing this that wasn't true.

I get you. I kind of hate the term 'coming-of-age' but I do think when you're making something in your teens or early twenties that just is what it is, and in that time, everything is happening at once! Obviously everyone has their own experiences but there are these mastheads that everyone tends to struggle with; friendships, self esteem, relationships etc. There are key experiences and feelings that the majority have at this time in their life and I think the EP hits on all of those.

@lainadeene

It kind of feels like when you catch up with friends, you sit and spout all the madness happening in your life and then when you leave you just have to be like, "well! I guess that's just what it is!” “Being Young' as the closing track feels like that.

I hope so! I agree, even though 'Being Young' was written about what I was dealing with at the time I do think it's quite relatable. I have an older sister and I watched her go through the same things, and I've watched my friends go through it, just being overwhelmed and trying to figure everything out. That's why it was the end song, I feel like it wraps up everything that the EP talks about, it collects everything I'm trying to say.

HELLO MARY BY @ANDREIAARTT

ACOPIA BEING DEAD GEE TEE .L.A. WITCH

BAD VIBRATIONS

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NAIMA BOCK NIGHT TAPES ORIONS BELTE R.M.F.C RUTH RADELET SCALER W.I.T.C.H. THE BABE RAINBOW THE BUG CLUB YUUF⚫ THE TELESCOPES TROPICAL F*CK STORM. WINE LIPS YUUF BUBBLE TEA AND CIGARETTES ⚫ 3L3D3P MANY MORE!

J: I don't necessarily feel good about everything creatively, I just force myself to do it. And I guess that's a creative drive. This is the longest time as a bar italia album between the last one though, which is cool.

N: Yeah, it took us so long to make it. It's a lot to do with just time pressure knowing that you're gonna be away for a long time. What I was saying about touring, there's a lot of transformation needed from that kind of lifestyle because it is an amazing lifestyle, but it does take a lot and so I guess making music is like a way for us to feel good and it allows us to transform, a lot of stuff that's happened to us in the year before.

Do you struggle not to play the newer stuff or do you sometimes throw it in there?

S: I personally have an itch to play new stuff, for sure.

J: You don't want to always feel like you're doing karaoke of your old music and that you're like actively engaged creatively in the thing you're performing to people.

N: It'll be fun to play the new songs.

S: There are cycles of a song's feeling. Finding the meaning or the feeling of a song and then it losing its meaning a bit and then it comes back.

J: That's the best thing.

S: Yeah. You don't lose it and then it's gone. It does come back after. Now that we've been touring for a few years, you start to notice there's some older ones that are starting to find new legs. or something.

N: And then you change the drummer or the bass.

J: Quite literally new legs on stage.

S: It makes you question what's the archetype of that song? Because it exists beyond the like loud electric version or the acoustic, it has an astral body that is that song.

Words by Teddy Maloney

You just have to dip into it depending on whatever format you're doing in. That's one of my favorite things about playing repeatedly and repeating old songs because we all get so fucking bored of them at times. But there's so much magic when you find that the song has been given an autonomy and a life of its own that exists completely outside, even though us three wrote it.

Is there anything else you want to say about the album or in general about bar italia going forwards?

S: Listen by the fire, with a bourbon. Fire, bourbon, cigar.

N: Ride a Lime around London.

J: Ride a Lime for £6.99 for one hour, and you will make the album. Destination unimportant. Oh, actually no. Arrive somewhere really horny - on the way to a booty call

(What followed was an in-depth conversation on the variety of booty calls in which it would work, I'll leave that to your imagination).

Dom

THIS IS AN ADVERT FOR GANS. THE REASON WE HOPE YOU READ THIS IS THAT YOU WILL LISTEN TO GANS. GANS WANT YOU TO LISTEN TO GANS. GANS WANT YOU TO BUY GANS. THIS IS NOT A TRICK. THIS IS A TRICK. GANS IS ABOUT LOVE AND HATE. GANS MAKE PRODUCTS THAT MAKE YOU LOVE AND HATE. GANS DEMAND A REACTION. GANS IS TRUE LOVE. GANS IS ABOUT UNIFICATION. GANS IS PRO MOTHER NATURE. GANS IS ACID HOUSE. GANS IS ANTI REFORM. GANS IS POETRY. GANS IS TRUE ART. GANS IS POSITIVE VIBRATIONS. GANS IS GOOD FOR THE SOUL. GANS IS COAL NOT DOLE. GANS IS WATCHING THE WORKERS SUFFER. GANS IS NOT JUST MUSIC. GANS IS NIGHTS OUT. GANS IS A REVOLUTION. GANS IS ANTI SOCIAL MEDIA. GANS IS POETRY. GANS IS PRO SOCIAL MEDIA. GANS IS PAINTING. GANS IS ABOUT FRIENDS. GANS IS REAL. GANS IS ALL WE KNOW. GANS IS NOT ABOUT MONEY. GANS WANT YOUR MONEY. GANS IS AN ITALIAN HOUSE PIANO. GANS IS AN INDUSTRIAL NOISE. GANS DEMAND ACTION. GANS DO NOT LISTEN TO PEOPLE. GANS IS METAL BOX. GANS IS NOISE. GANS IS BALEARIC. GANS IS CLOSE YOUR EYES. GANS DO NOT EDIT. GANS IS IMPERFECT. GANS CAN ONLY EDIT. GANS IS ANTI MUSIC. GANS IS MUSIC THAT DOES NOT MATTER. GANS IS THE ONLY MUSIC THAT MATTERS.

J: It's funny because we've been doing it for so long that when you get asked a question about the scene now you're like fuck, I'm really not in a position to answer this anymore. I'm not really right in there like I used to be. It's really fun to watch people do really well and to be proud of how we've done off of it. We were at the Fontaines show at Finsbury Park and we saw Been Stellar, Kneecap, Amyl, and Fontaines and I think we'd played with all of them. If not Amyl, then we've definitely hung out with them and been friends with them for a while. So it's really awesome to see these bands play to so many people and to share a journey with them. In terms of it being a scene, it's bigger than comprehension at this point. When we started there were not really many bands in London at all. And since then, its grown and grown and grown. It's funny how you get used to it and it stops being surreal, even though it is still surreal. I think it's cool that it's still growing somehow. And we're supporting Fontaines and reaping the benefits of that!

E: As far as it goes in terms of bands like Fontaines, fully, legitimately seeping into the mainstream I think it's fucking awesome. I can't help but feel pride and happiness for those guys, and it's nice to see something genuinely cool and innovative at that level, rather than stuff we've seen in the past. It's been great to see, and I couldn't wish for it to happen to a better band. Not just to focus on them, but the fact that that kind of thing is getting astronomically popular these days fills me with confidence.

Because at the start it was you, Goat Girl, Dead Pretties etc.

E: Sorry as well.

J: We have a So Young issue somewhere with that exact list of bands. And at that point you really had to search. When we started we were playing in the same room as the Fat Whites, and bands like Childhood and King Krule, but they were all older and the only way we could find bands our age was like 'do you remember that guy we met at a party two years ago, he drums in a band and they're our age!'. And that was Fish who are now Sorry. And then some of their friends start playing shows and it starts from there.

Shame

And similarly, Goat Girl just had some demos online and they went to Eddie and Charlie's school, so we asked if they'd be up for playing a show together. Instead of it being this well of loads of people playing gigs all the time.

What do you think has changed?

J: It sounds like a simplification of it, but it got cool to be in a band again. When we started what was fun about it, and it's still fun obviously, but what felt really fun for us was that people we knew made fun of us for playing in a band.

E: It was a big piss taking centrepiece

J: It was like what are you guys, the arctic monkeys? In 2014 it just didn't really exist in the way it does now and it was fun because it felt like a weird thing we were doing and it seems like not many other people were doing it.

E: It was when we did it, people started thinking it was cool!

Finally, someone described 'Food For Worms' as the Lamborghini of Shame albums.

E: That was a very well-orchestrated marketing ploy!

But if 'Cutthroat' had to be a car, what car would it be?

E: I know precisely fuck all about cars, so I'll pass over to Josh on this one.

J: You're asking the only person worse than you! I think what we can say is that we were wrong and that this album makes that Lamborghini look like a Ford Fiesta.

E: This is the Noddy Car of Shame records.

J: It's the Ford something or other with your family in it because you're all going to make great memories.

E: Couldn't have put it better myself.

'Australian festivals have this sort of desert warrior vibe about them. Like everyone's dressed like Mad Max, and every bloke's got his shirt off and they're all really ripped... they look like they're one second of eye contact away from punching you in the face."

scene.

Do you feel apart from the Melbourne scene now you've been signed?

I don't feel that way. I mean, we were always slightly apart from it. We never really fit in, as much as we loved it. I mean, to be honest, we were too much of a straight up indie rock band. In Melbourne, everyone's much more left of centre, so we never really fit in. There were times in the early days where I felt insecure about that. About not feeling like we were not the cool noisy art band of the And what is it like now, trying to navigate the industry now this attention is on you?

Well to be honest we've got a really great manager, so we've sort of got blindfolds on really.

@celinemdraws

It must be quite a strange sort of limbo to be in?

Yeah, it is strange, but you know, I can really get used to it. One thing is that touring life is really weird. At first, because most of it is in a van, I was like "oh my god, this is horrible". But now I love it because I literally just read books, listen to albums and watch really good films and write lyrics. And that's what I want to do anyway, I just am in the van. That's okay. And then you get to the venue and you have a beer and you play a show and sell merch... it's fucking great to be honest.

• EARTH THEATRE
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R: We made a conscious decision not to leave Glasgow even though we had more gigs in the south; it's just cheaper. We saved up and got a van when we had a few tours booked. We were unbelievably active when we just needed people to see us. Any gig that covered petrol money, we were going to do, no matter what. That helped us in the long run.

I don't hear much about what's happening in Glasgow right now. Could you tell me about what the scene is like from your perspective?

A: We've talked about how we'd maybe be better off in London because of ties there and obviously more going on. But Glasgow is great in terms of venues and the amount of activity.

R: We're in a shared studio with a bunch of our friends' bands. So I guess we have a bit more of an idea of what everyone's up to. But the overall scene, I think, is dictated more by the venues. Post-punk was definitely the big thing in Glasgow. It seemed to be a disproportionate amount.

Are there any bands you're sharing space with or seeing a lot of at the moment?

A: Walt Disco. VLURE. Gout, are another new Doom-Metal-like band. I feel there's not a lot of that going on in Glasgow.

R: Conscious Pilot as well; they're really good.

Is there one thing from both Scottish and Greek culture that you'd love to see just fused together in some weird way?

A: One thing I can think of is kilts. I think it's part of the national military uniform of Greece, an ash-coloured kilt. So that's quite nice. Otherwise maybe like a haggis moussaka?

@nellmitchell

"Neighbours' had these chaotic verses and screaming, which just felt ridiculous.

We weren't sure if we could run with it, but there was something quite exciting about that feeling.”

SOY

LISTEN TO THE NEW SINGLE, "BEHIND THE CLOCK" NOW. AFIREINSIDE.NET RUNFORCOVERRECORDS.Com

• Basement
• AFI
• SILVER BLEEDS THE BLACK SUN...
• 1.989-10000-500 u.k. & europe tour '25
• With anxious, dynamite & midrift
• September

Academy SWG3

Ireland 17.09 Glasgow, United Kingdom 18.09 Manchester, United Kingdom 19.09 London, United Kingdom 21.09 Bristol, United Kingdom 23.09 Antwerp, Belgium

• 24.09 Hamburg, Germany
• 25.00 Berlin, Germany
• 26.09 Cologne, Germany
• 28.09 Netherlands, Amsterdam

15.09 Dublin, New Century Hall* 02 Forum Kentish Town* SWX

• Trix
• - Markthalle
• Columbia Theater
• Die Kantine
• - Melweg OZ basementuk.com

"I like films that throw you into a world with its own logic without explaining it to you or holding your hand and you're just in there. That's what an album does. It just throws you into some kind of world without explaining it to you first."

It's a great record.

Yeah, it's wicked. I love MIKE's music. Huge inspiration as a performer and a human being, but also a writer. He has that kind of John Lennon quality of saying the first thing that comes into his head and then spinning it into something incredibly meaningful and relatable. But also, in MIKE's case, incredibly visually rich.

You've got a big string of US touring coming up. You played your first American shows last year. How were they?

They were really fun. It felt like something people had been waiting for a while, which was really exciting. I love New York especially. We did two shows there.

@drawren

One was a headline then one was with Chanel Beads and Nourished by Time, which felt like a really special lineup - a special night. I'm excited to go to Canada as well, and excited to go to Texas, Chicago...

What's the summer looking like?

Good question. I'm doing Green Man, I think we're just gonna be in and out because I don't love festivals. I mean, I love playing them and I love the idea of them. Again, I just don't like camping! I think I'm just trying to put my art out there and let people make their minds up and then I can move on. Start thinking about the next thing. So that's definitely where I'm at. I'm always thinking about what I'm going to do next.

• Presents
• ARTS UNIVERSITY BOURNEMOUTH
• GradList

University Bournemouth for a sixth year to select and show off some of 2025's graduates from the Illustration course.

The work chosen ranges from 3D printing to children's books and packaging. We caught up with the selected illustrators to get an insight into their work and highlight some of our favourite pieces.

• Léane Ruggli @leaneruggli
• Juno Frenzel @junofrenzel
• Beck O'Hara - @beck.oh

• Ciara Williams - @ciara.louisew
• A Harriet Vincent - @harrietillustration
• Lucas Grundy - @spuds.2
• SPUDS

It's an ancient language, back in the hunter gatherer days we were banging on rocks with sticks and singing and unison enchanting and now it's progressed into, you know, what you see today when people are improvising and we've got like the birth of technology to add and implement all these crazy, nuanced sounds from the universe to like expand the sonic reach, even further and music's always been very spiritual. It's always been healing, and so to be able to transform that through performance and like to do it the justice it deserves is very important to us. So we have to just let ourselves go entirely and let ourselves almost become what we feel in our minds instead of just standing there, playing the guitars and singing or whatever, you know, we have to allow that emotion and that ancient language to flow through us because it's important when we let ourselves go on stage, it allows the audience in turn to let themselves go and then it can become like a unifying subject as opposed to here's a band playing music on stage. Here's a band just playing their songs. You know, it's a lot deeper, it's a lot more emotional, it's a lot more spiritual than that. So we have to do it justice in our performance, so it never started off like that. That has come into fruition, the more that we've realised ourselves and the impacts of our music and the importance of the message. And now all of these things are coming into place at the right time, and we've had years of practice; now we're able to walk on stage and really do the music and the language justice through our performance as well as through the music.

A few years ago, a friend of mine travelled up to Bedford from Cardiff just to see you guys, that dedicated fan-culture has always been present for you, especially now that you're playing shows all over the world..

H: That's the beautiful thing about where we're at now, we vividly remember only a few years ago when we were just trying to play a headline show in Manchester.

The precursor to where we're at now is like all those years of sitting in rehearsal rooms and just smashing out, improvising together and just like really understanding how your instrument works with each other and how you can get to this sort of telepathic state of improvising.

Maruja

There weren't as many spaces for "weird" music back then, so we're ever grateful for the fact that we've been able to progress to a level where we're getting received extremely well all across the world.

J: When we was in Japan, there was a girl that came from Indonesia or Malaysia and like loads of other people were like flown in from different parts of, I guess, like, yeah, Southeast and East Asia have flown in to Kumseas in Japan and China, which is absurd to us, like, it's a fucking mental thing. It's always an absolute dream playing these shows, and to be able to be blessed speaking and having interactions with the audience that are dedicated enough to come and see us.

Last time you spoke with So Young you talked about the state of the new music scene in Manchester. That was three years ago; have things progressed since then?

H: There's a lot of amazing talent in Manchester, and it ain't for a lack of trying, and everyone is trying their hardest, there's just a real lack of platforms for them. The government can't fund the NHS, let alone the arts. So any opportunity that is for the arts in terms of a music sense, in particular, is in London, and that will always be the case until there is some proper funding put in place by the government.

The exact same can be said about Cardiff, it doesn't feel like you're taken seriously until you break London...

H: We have such a rich country of music, and it's become so one-city-oriented. But it seems almost crazy because like, obviously the arts actually feed into the economy and give back, you know, people go pay tickets for a show that profits the venue and then they buy drinks there, which, you know, just all feeds back into the economy. So it's actually a good thing to invest in from an economic point of view because it makes logical sense.

Lastly, what's one thing you want audiences to take away from the record?

H: I'd like you to feel some kind of self-empowerment, make you feel like you're not alone in the way you think and feel and that there is actually a movement happening.

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Nestled on a hilltop in the creases of the Dorset countryside, End of the Road is one of the UK's best small festivals. A hazy weekend of sparse signal and cool, leathery Dorset cider, it takes in the last dregs of summer and encourages encounters with music you might never have otherwise heard alongside festival favourites.

2025 returns with a weighty lineup that prompts excitement from the top to the bottom of its billing, balancing festival juggernauts with glittering newcomers. Here's our rundown of who to catch - but really, you can't go wrong no matter who you choose to see.

Westside Cowboy are set to open the festival on Thursday evening with their arms-wide-open approach to indie rock. They arrive fresh off a triumphant Glastonbury set, where the stage had to be closed off to crowds trying to catch a glimpse of the band that won the Emerging Talent Competition - so no dilly-dallying when you're setting up pitch at Larmer Tree Gardens. Also taking the stage on Thursday evening is Berlin-based singer Anna Erhard, who brings wry indie and mischievous lyricism to the festival.

Words by Edie McQueen

Sharon Van Etten headlines the first night with expansive indie rock, playing with her new band The Attachment Theory, with whom she's created one of the year's best albums so far.

If that first night celebratory mood proves a little too giddy for some, then festival-goers need not worry. Friday opens on a calmer note, with gentle folk music from Ellie O'Neill and New York exports Florist. As the day rolls onwards, So Young favourites Silver Gore and The Orchestra (For Now) will both make appearances, with the latter having earned an upgrade from their raucous slot last year. They've crept up the billing, and are now due on the Garden Stage, bringing their eclectic sound to the lush greenery of the festival's second-largest stage. This stage will also see Broadside Hack's kaleidoscopic take on folk music with their Tribute to The Incredible Strings Band, a jubilant presentation currently shrouded in fog with no murmurings yet of who might appear. It's a recognition of how deep the festivals' folk roots are dug, immovable and solid beneath the well-trod gardens. From here, the night gives way to performances from Lisa O'Neill, Caribou, and Matt Berninger, punters revelling in choices between rich Irish folk, heady dance beats, or velvet ballads.

N: It's really amazing not to have like five people a show be like, why don't you have drums?

R: The only person who ever was like, "Why do you have drums" was Wayne Coyne from the Flaming Lips [laughs]!

N: Yeah, Wayne Coyne did not like that we added drums.

R: It's not that he didn't like it. He was just like, "why did you do it?”. To be fair, the show he saw definitely sounded obscenely bad.

N: That was a rough one.

R: To be fair, we did have a playlist going. It was one of the only shows where we were asked to play our own 'house' music.

N: I'll never forget it. I was standing outside. We'd just clocked Wayne Coyne was there inside. It's like the middle of July, and we have these four songs on shuffle play in a row. It was amazing, it was 'Dirty Bit' by Black Eyed Peas, into 'All I want for Christmas Is You' by Mariah Carey, into 'Yankee Doodle' by the U.S military band, and then back into ‘Dirty Bit' by Black, Eyed Peas.

R: It was because Al [Nardo, guitarist] had added 'Dirty Bit' maybe like six times? I'm pretty sure it played four times. The staff were so aggravated. They literally asked the tour manager if they could skip it. I think they thought we were trying to torture them. I mean, I guess we were?

N: Yeah, that playlist seems like kind of torture. It started off making sense, it was like tasteful torture, but it was just you and me adding stuff.

R: As soon as we opened it up to the whole touring party it went off the rails really fast. But you 100% chose 'All I Want For Christmas'

N: Yeah I'm not trying to deflect any blame there.

I guess you have to bend it till it breaks. And see how many times you can play the same song before it starts breaking!

R: We've DJ'd a few times. And it's been really funny to watch people experience that.

N: We did this DJ set in Texas at Levitation Fest. We were doing it outside. We were under this tent and it began just like pouring with rain, like the hardest rain. And all these people were trapped under this tent with us. And we were just taking turns adding things to the Spotify playlist. And nobody was happy [laughs].

R: Surprisingly multiple people went up to us and were like: "212' by Azaelea Banks in the afternoon? That was crazy".

N: It was very whiplash. I remember ‘212' went directly into 'THRAK' by King Crimson. Watching the mood shift in the tent... what happened was very interesting. We were DJing a show one time and we had the playlist timed out perfectly to end right when the first band was supposed to play. And the last song on our playlist was ending and we were like, "oh no, they're not coming out yet", so Rachel just hopped on the laptop and dragged 'Hurt' by Johnny Cash onto the playlist. The timing ended up being perfect. The way it ended up playing out was: the last song in our playlist ended, the band opened the door to walk out on stage and 'Hurt' just began playing. It went totally silent. It seemed very much like it was their intentional walk on music! [Laughs]. And everyone looked over at the DJ booth, I was just standing there, and I just looked over and Rachel had crouched down and hidden underneath the booth.

R: The thing is, I have this playlist of like thousands of songs, of all the songs I've ever liked. I was going through them and it was like, "I've only got 30 seconds to choose something. Oh my god! What am I gonna do?" I'm scrolling and I'm like "Banger! Johnny Cash. you can't lose". You can lose, it turns out.

N: I thought it was a win.

R: Multiple people came up to us afterwards and were like "that was really crazy". But I guess our DJ sets are very much like how we approach music, in that it's actually not about sensing the vibe of the room. It's about creating our own vibe regardless of what the room wants?

N: You can't pay attention to the room. Reading the room kills good art. [Laughs]

Water From Your Eyes

• The new single
• Always On My Mind
• OUT NOW
• DIRTY HIT

• Monsters
• ADORE
• BITER
• ADORE
• BITER
• THE DEBUT EP OUT 26/09

I usually wake early, stumble into the kitchen and make a black coffee. Annoyingly my studio is west facing so the light is at its best first thing in the morning. I'll get a bit of work done, my assistant Elijah gets in at 11, he's in charge of all my merch and homeware that we design together. Then I'll paint or reply to emails until 6. I might go to the pub with some mates or go to the cinema. I love films. I do most of my work in the day and leave the evenings free, unless I have a deadline then I disappear into my work entirely and no-one hears from me in weeks.

How do you keep yourself inspired?

It's important to visit galleries, see what artists, current and old, have created. I love meeting other artists working in London too! If I'm not in my studio painting I'm in the pub talking to my peers about their creative ideas, helping them figure out things or asking questions for myself. Working in studios like Jealous is a treat, there's always a couple of artists in there at a time doing their thing.

How do you want people to feel when they see your work?

I usually want to evoke a feeling of nostalgia.

• MARMITE
• MARMITE
• MARMITE
• MARMITE
• MARMITE
• MARMITE
• MARMITE MARMITE
• MARMITE
• PLACE
• MARMITE
• MARMITE
• MARMITE
• ROSE
• FAKE ASFUCK

Did you have any artist heroes growing up?

Pauline Boty, I've been thinking about her a lot recently, how her image was so intertwined with her identity as an artist, much like myself. She worked in the 60s in the pop art era, she died young and her work wasn't given much recognition until Peter Blake championed her work and brought it out of obscurity.

Does music influence your work at all?

Massively. I use music to access flow state when working, it's a bit of a hack. If I'm not feeling creatively inspired music will give me a push in the right direction.

Please tell us a little about some of the pieces on display at your Colony Room show.

I've been working with Jealous in Shoreditch to produce mono print/screen print hybrids. I painted straight onto the screens to form the background of the prints so each print is a unique artwork. Then we screen print my macbeth artwork on top of the monoprints. I'm also hanging a small collection of hand painted water colour “plans" that I painted to conceptualise my artworks before painting them.

Finally, what can we expect to see from you in the near future?

I have a duo show in Austin Texas at West Chelsea

Contemporary with the Connor Brothers opening 22nd

October! So I've been working in the studio towards that.

Charlotte Rose's new solo exhibition is at Colony Room Green, August 23-September 13.

Open daily, 10am - 11pm.

own.

There's some good friends that play on it, but it was very much a homespun effort. And I suppose a lot of the synth sounds, the sample brass.. in early video games you had those orchestral sounds, like a mellotron - it's an impersonation of a classical instrument but it's synthetic. I wanted this record to be an impersonation of a band. It's like a fake band. It's a complete illusion.

You've spoken elsewhere about how you're disillusioned with the UK music scene, especially in London. What don't you like about it?

I don't want to be too pointed about it. I don't want to make it a bigger thing than it has to be. As an artist, you often end up in a situation where you are slightly, irrationally, positioning yourself in opposition to something, really as a tool to work out what it is you want to be. I mean it genuinely when I say that this scene is not something that I'm really involved in or spend time listening to. But beyond that, for whatever reason, it helped me in this process to make a delineation between that and what it was I was doing, more out of security than anything. I feel like using it as a fuel was successful, because I do feel like I made a record that uses guitars and songs, but which is sonically and thematically out on its As a musician I'm divided into a few camps. In one way I'm an engineer, in a second way I'm a songwriter, a third way, I'm a producer/sound designer. And to my engineer (or sound design) brain, a lot of music that I've heard, the way in which the sound is presented, it's almost as if the techniques used to record bands have become too good. It's not that I want my music to sound retro, but it's almost as if I'm hearing band recordings, and everything's three dimensional; it's too panoramic, and I can hear the studio in the room. I think that more off-kilter music, or sounds presented more like a collage which contains a multitude of different elements interested me more. So the way I built the record was one-piece at a time. Kind of like Tetris or something.

My impression of the UK scene is that it's highly formalised. It feels like everyone has a record deal. Everyone instantly flocks to the industry and ends up in the same magazines, the same festivals and circumstances.

In a way this scene is described as a 'UK Independent Scene', but to me it doesn't seem independent at all. It's like, if you put the right elements of a band together and you play in south London, you're just entering a stream. I don't want to enter that - I don't want to make too big a deal of it either. I don't want to make it a catchline that I'm rallying against this thing. It's not on my mind most of the time.

There are more ways for music to be heard than just that one pathway. Artists can break through online, through word of mouth. That's the reason I'm here talking to you!

That's what I mean. I just wanted to maintain those independent channels. The group of artists that I'm involved with and who are my friends, meeting those people.... Before, I was really out on my own. I made some records, but I didn't have music friends. I didn't have any context. But I was lucky enough to meet some people who wanted to make music, but they were coming from a different place. It was really the first place I felt at home as a proper musician. Bassvictim, Charlie Osbourne, Mitsubishi Suicide these are all friends foremost, but we all work on each other's music.

What's next for you?

Me and Rowan have pretty much finished the second album. It's mapped up and written but it needs to be finished. I want that to happen as soon as possible. We're on a roll, we have an identity, and we want to push it as far as we can. So yeah, much more music, and shows. I don't know. We take it a day at a time. We see what people offer us, and we say yes or we say no. We just check our instagram DMs and make decisions based on that. Literally!

The second album is kind of like a 'part 2'. It's different for sure, but the idea for the first album...it wasn't enough for me to leave it at that. I need the second album to flush the ideas out of my system. So yeah, more songs. More dub sirens!

Worldpeace DMT

• BIRL
• THE DE Caroline Rose
• St Pancras Old Church

(early & late show)

Thursday 18 September sold out Subterranean Festival ft. Lisa O'Neill, Incredible String Band, Peggy Seeger & more Southbank Centre Saturday 20 September

• Sean Nicholas
• Savage
• Club Cheek
• AUG
• MOTH Club
• Thursday 14 August
• MJ Lenderman &
• The Wind
• Roundhouse
• Friday 15 August Sold out

RALLY Festival ft. Floating Points, Geordie Greep, Moin & more

• Southwark Park
• Saturday 23 August
• Hayden Pedigo
• Saturday 20 September
• Black Country, New Road
• Beacon Hall, Bristol
• Monday 22 September Sold out
• Nadia Reid
• The Ivy House
• Kings Place
• Tuesday 26 August
• Cryogeyser
• Windmill Brixton
• Thursday 28 August Sold out
• SEP
• Greg Freeman
• The Lexington
• Wednesday 24 September Sold out
• For Those I Love
• Islington Assembly Hall
• Thursday 25 September
• The Beths
• Roundhouse
• Friday 26 September
• By Storm
• Club Cheek
• Tuesday 2 September Sold out
• DIIV
• HERE @Outernet

Wednesday 3 September

Dutch Interior The George Tavern Thursday 4 September Whatever The Weather Milton Court Saturday 6 September

• Throwing Muses
• Village Undergroud Tuesday 9 September
• Bremer/McCoy
• St Pancras Old Church

Thursday 11 September Sold out Friday 12 September Sold out

• UNIVERSITY
• The George Tavern Wednesday 17 September
• Omar Souleyman
• Saturday 27 September Sold out
• OCT
• The Magnetic Fields

Perform 69 Love Songs Union Chapel

Thursday 2 October Sold out Friday 3 October Sold out Tuesday 14 October Sold out Wednesday 15 October ionnalee I iamamiwhoami HERE@Outernet Monday 13 October

• Meagre Martin
• Windmill Brixton Thursday 15 October Fine
• St Matthias Church
• Friday 17 September Sold out
• Fabric
• Thursday 18 September
• The Ivy House
• Saturday 18 September Sold out
• DEBBY FRIDAY
• Club Cheek
• Tuesday 21 October YHWH Nailgun
• Scala
• Tuesday 21 October
• Holden & Zimpel
• ICA
• Thursday 23 October Jessica Winter

The Lower Third Tuesday 28 October Yoshika Colwell

• The Lexington Tuesday 28 October
• Titanic
• ICA
• Tuesday 28 October mark william lewis
• Village Underground Tuesday 28 October
• Black Country, New Road

02 Academy Brixton, London Friday 31 October Marissa Nadler

• St Matthias Church Friday 31 October
• NOV
• GHOSTWOMAN
• The Garage Saturday 1 November
• Penguin Cafe

Performs Music From The Penguin Cafe Orchestra

• Soho Theatre Walthamstow Saturday 1 November
• Albertine Sarges
• The Lexington Tuesday 4 November
• Joep Beving

St Martin in the Fields Friday 7 November

• Isabella Lovestory
• XOYO
• Friday 7 November
• Mac DeMarco
• Eventim Apollo
• Monday 10 November Sold out Momma
• The Garage
• Tuesday 11 November
• TOPS
• Heaven
• Tuesday 11 November
• Pile
• The Dome
• Wednesday 12 November
• Fievel Is Glauque
• Earth Theatre
• Thursday 13 November
• Frankie Cosmos
• Electric Brixton Tuesday 18 November múm
• Islington Assembly Hall Monday 24 November
• ØXN
• Earth Theatre Monday 24 November
• Lola Kirke
• Oslo
• Thursday 27 November
• JAN
• The Golden Dregs
• Kings Place Friday 30 January
• FEB caroline
• KOKO
• Wednesday 18 February
• Wednesday
• The Fleece, Bristol Monday 23 February
• Electric Ballroom, London Wednesday 25 February
• Grandbrothers
• Scala
• Thursday 26 February
• London & Beyond birdonthewire.net