The Cover Story

Mothica: “When you’ve been through so much and gone through so many rock bottoms, you start to think, ‘Nothing can hurt me now’”

After taking the ‘backwards’ route into music, McKenzie Ellis – aka Mothica – has become one of the most talked-about names in alt. pop. Ahead of her new album Kissing Death she looks back on her strange journey so far, why she won’t be defined by the trauma of her past, and how she seeks to heal a new generation of fans…

Loveless: “I have a lot of passion to grow… We can embrace the culture we came from while also bringing something new to the table”

A brilliant second album. Reading & Leeds. An enormous North American headline tour. Everything is poised for Loveless to properly explode in 2024 – and that’s no mean feat, given their rapid rise in the first place. Julian Comeau details his wild journey so far, and why things are only getting better…

GEL: “I want to project things into the world that can resonate in a productive way, not a judgmental way”

Following up one of 2023’s very best hardcore albums was never going to be an easy task, but New Jersey’s almighty GEL have taken things to another level on next month’s Persona EP. Ahead of its release, spellbinding singer Sami Kaiser talks growth, finding empowerment in screaming your guts out, and why positivity is always the way…

Speed: “The experience of hardcore – the scale of it, the enormity – is mind-boggling right now”

When Jem Siow and his bandmates formed Speed, the Sydney quintet saw it as a part-time project to ‘settle down’ on, giving back to the DIY scene that shaped them. Five years later, they’re the hottest band in hardcore. On the eve of ferocious first LP ONLY ONE MODE, the frontman talks staying true to that grassroots mindset while navigating a genre that’s bigger than its ever been…

“There’s this wave of change coming”: Creeper, Hot Milk and Static Dress are leading the new British alternative

From high-octane punk to dynamic alt.rock, next weekend’s 2000trees will showcase the very best in emerging British talent. Ahead of the festival, three creative visionaries in Creeper, Hot Milk and Static Dress come together to explain what’s so special about this ambitious new generation of bands…

The Warning: “Rock makes me feel powerful… everyone connects in such a big way”

A decade on from going viral for a cover of Enter Sandman, The Warning have become one of rock’n’roll’s most attention-grabbing young bands. And, yet, they’re still only just getting started. On the eve of fourth album Keep Me Fed, and with a headline date at London’s O2 Academy Brixton set for 2025, the Villarreal Vélez sisters reflect on all they’ve accomplished so far, and why nothing is more important than inspiring others…

Destroy Boys: “Breaking patterns and making changes are a really important part of this record”

Destroy Boys’ new album isn’t an ending, but a beginning. A decade since first starting as teens, and having learned a lot about showbiz, manipulation, other people and themselves, the California punks are stepping into a bold era on Funeral Soundtrack #4. One where they “hope to make a change and make the world a better place…”

Avenged Sevenfold: “We want to make a roadmap to show artists that there’s a better way”

Ahead of the band’s third headline performance at Download this weekend, and one year on from the release of brain-bending eighth album Life Is But A Dream…, M. Shadows is, well, living the dream right now. And having successfully found the freedom he’s always wanted for Avenged Sevenfold, he’s now focussed on showing other artists how they too can own their future…

LØLØ: “I’m either heartbroken or anxious! There is nothing else”

With the release of falling for robots and wishing i was one, LØLØ has delivered one of the best debut records of 2024. Here, the Toronto pop-punk talks about the journey she’s been on to make it – from heartache and mental breakdowns, to hanging out with Green Day and tackling online trolls head on…

Bring Me The Horizon: “The way we’re doing stuff now, it feels like I’m making art again, for art’s sake”

We’ve waited long enough: NeX GEn has finally arrived, and with it, a whole new chapter for Bring Me The Horizon. It’s taken a lot to get here, but it’s only made Britain’s biggest band even stronger. And, as Oli Sykes takes us inside BMTH 2024, it’s leading them into a golden age…

Maynard James Keenan: “If you’re not putting yourself in the space where the breakthrough can happen, you’re not going to have one”

After a 60th birthday celebration for the ages and ahead of a Fear Inoculum victory lap around the UK, Maynard James Keenan reflects on a life on the cutting edge of heavy music, how his priorities have changed with age, why he’ll never actually retire, and who would win in a fight between him and Mark Zuckerberg…

Gatecreeper: “Death metal is sacred, and you’re passing it from generation to generation… a lot of genres don’t have that”

A decade ago, Gatecreeper were a bunch of misfit metal maniacs from Arizona. Now, they’re being hailed as death metal’s new leaders. On the eve of their excellent third album, Dark Superstition, the Sonoran Desert crew explain how they’re seizing the moment, the importance of preserving the scene, and the peace-giving qualities of music’s goriest movement…

SOFT PLAY: “We need to do this together… the magic of our band is both of us”

Following the hiatus of Slaves, a trifecta of time, therapy and trauma sought to bond the brothers Laurie Vincent and Isaac Holman back together, repairing their fractured friendship and reigniting that creative fire once more. Under their new guise of SOFT PLAY, and superb new album Heavy Jelly, the duo are finally embracing what they wanted to be all along – whether you like it not…

Zeal & Ardor: “The more music we put into this world, the more obvious it becomes who we really are”

Over the last decade, Zeal & Ardor has grown from a niche experiment inspired by a bigoted shitpost into one of the most exciting and invigorating outfits in avant-garde metal. With fearless fourth album GREIF, Manuel Gagneux is still broadening horizons, thumbing his nose to genre convention and inviting his bandmates into the studio to make their boldest statement yet…

Knocked Loose: “Sacrificing heaviness was never an option… As this band grows, it only gets more uncomfortable and extreme”

Modern hardcore’s most uncompromising heavyweights, Knocked Loose have been swinging at extreme music’s glass ceiling for over a decade now. But having boiled four years of suffering, uncertainty and self-discovery into awesome third album You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To, the Kentucky crew are armed to brutally break through…

Wage War: “There’s nothing better than seeing your fans connect to music you feel proud to have made”

After three years away, Floridian metalcore faves Wage War are back with new album STIGMA. In a world-exclusive first interview, we catch up with Briton Bond and Cody Quistad to get the lowdown on one of the scene’s biggest albums of the year, and why they’re all about having fun every step of the way…

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