Features

The Used: “We’ve been an emo band for 23 years. We never stopped, we never broke up, we never went anywhere!”

Among emo’s most enduring heroes, Utah quartet The Used continue to set a scintillating, soul-baring standard on superb ninth album Toxic Positivity. As Bert McCracken explains, this story of struggle might be the most sincere he’s ever written…

Lambrini Girls: “The goal is to cultivate as big of a platform that we can in order to incite change”

Lambrini Girls don’t take themselves too seriously – but they do wholeheartedly believe in their music. Just as much about “popping the p*ssy” as it is empowering others, debut EP You’re Welcome is the thrilling start of what’s to come…

OTTTO: “We like to have fun, but that doesn’t mean our songs can’t be dark and aggressive”

Meet Californian surf punks OTTTO: the hyper-ambitious trio who refuse to be pigeonholed and just want to have fun…

Nita Strauss on her new solo album, being an In Flames megafan and working with Demi Lovato

Bona fide guitar hero Nita Strauss has just announced her new solo album The Call Of The Void for this summer. We get into the record, her love of In Flames, collaborating with other artists and how it feels to own a real-life Super Bowl ring…

Graphic Nature: “I want kids to listen to us who are like me – introverted kids. I want that kind of connection”

Graphic Nature’s rise has been fast. They’ve made one of the heaviest debuts we’ve heard in ages, and the London metal crew are about to hit Download. But for frontman Harvey Freeman, fame is a daunting prospect. It hasn’t stopped him being disarmingly open about mental health in his lyrics, though…

Dayseeker: “We were the underdog for a really long time… now people care enough to come to the shows, which is amazing”

With Dayseeker returning to the UK for their biggest headline tour so far over here, vocalist Rory Rodriguez looks back at the band’s journey so far, how they’ve hit their stride, and the importance of putting so much emotion into their music…

Farewell Sum 41: A career of pain and pleasure

As Sum 41 call time on a career of fat lips and underclass heroes, we look back on how the Canadian party-starters cemented their spot in the pop-punk hall of fame…

grandson: “I felt like the only way to be taken seriously as a songwriter was to sacrifice part of your health or sanity”

On grandson’s ace 2020 debut album, he found himself becoming a political mouthpiece in alternative music. On poignant and personal follow-up I Love You, I’m Trying, though, the songwriter reckons this is the record to really get to know him…

Polyphia: “We can do whatever we want. That’s all I know how to do”

Certain corners of the press may have you believe that guitar music is dead, but Polyphia are here to say otherwise. At the beginning of a sold-out UK tour, off the back of knockout LP Remember That You Will Die, the Texan instrumentalists are taking heavy music to new horizons and inspiring a new legion of fans along the way…

Billy Corgan: “If you identify with something, that’s all that matters. I don’t think young people have any responsibility to give a sh*t about what’s come before”

On the release of the third act in their ATUM trilogy, The Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan looks back on a career of risk-taking, the future of his band, and the rejuvenation of rock music…

A Coronation message from Bob Vylan

Ahead of the Coronation of King Charles III, Bobby Vylan looks at what the royal family actually represent in 2023.

Bring Me The Horizon on their new song LosT, the future of Post Human and the influence of My Chemical Romance

On the release of new track LosT, we catch up with Bring Me The Horizon’s Jordan Fish to chat about their new emo anthem…

Drain: “It’s about a good group of friends saying, ‘We can do this sh*t. We can make something bigger!’”

Three years that changed the world. That’s all it took to lift Drain from underground-popping cult heroes to bona fide hardcore superstars. On the eve of slamming second album Living Proof, frontman Sammy Ciaramitaro explains why the Santa Cruz scene leaders are still just getting started…

Dying Wish: “We want to become one of the kind of metalcore masters we grew up with”

On explosive 2021 debut Fragments Of A Bitter Memory, Oregon brutalists Dying Wish dug into big themes, both personal and socio-political. For vocalist Emma Boster and her band, though, they’re just puzzle pieces in the broader vision of metalcore’s most ferocious new force…

ZAND: “This is for the underdogs and weirdos that feel like they don’t belong”

ZAND stands at the forefront of a new wave of fearless alternative artists. From noisy sex-positive anthems to shoving a green middle finger in the face of abusers, they are giving a voice those who feel like they don’t belong. With new music on its way, it’s time to properly meet the ‘ugly pop’ superstar-in-waiting…

Kid Bookie: “I don’t care if you buy it because I never came to sell anything”

He was nominated for a MOBO and is pals with Slipknot’s Corey Taylor. But Tyronne Hill – aka Kid Bookie – isn’t here for accolades. He’s here to change the game for himself…

Back Next