On a fall night at the historic Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, singer and guitarist Sam Matlock is doing pull-ups while his co-vocalist and bassist Milkie Way is finishing her makeup with curlers in her hair. There are suitcases open, a pair of cowboy boots poking out, in the legendary green room. Tonight, the London duo who make up the nü-metal-meets-hardcore outfit WARGASM are preparing to open for one of their heroes, Slipknot lead singer Corey Taylor. 

Though it might be assumed that a tough British punk band on their U.S. leg could thrash a room pre-show, save for the cowboy boots, that’s not WARGASM’s style. Matlock and Way have an attention to detail that is carefully balanced, with an inherent punk ethos that is reflected in their music, and the band aesthetic — a quality that has certainly helped get them this far. “Fuck it, let’s do it,” Way suggests with curlers in tact while Matlock reassures me to “do what you gotta do.” The level of substance and confidence they hold themselves to triumphs over what may be on the surface; nerves or panic.

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“If you’re going to do anything that you’re about to put your heart into, just take a deep breath and stand still for a second and let everything leave you and let yourself fill up with whatever you need to do to get the job done,” Matlock expresses. They exchange motivation along with witty banter, effortlessly demonstrating the closeness and understanding the duo share. We stop for a few photos along a narrow pathway behind the venue before hitting the stage, where they explode before the audience with a tenacity that rumbles throughout the theater.

While most of the audience wore Corey Taylor shirts or stood with arms crossed for the beginning of the night, plenty were bouncing to the riffs of Way’s bass and Matlock’s shrieks. WARGASM thrashed around to an 11-song set, featuring many tracks from their debut LP, Venom, that would be released into the world in a few weeks after the shows. At one point, Way sat atop an amp, urging and waiting for fans to open the pit. And after a rendition of N.E.R.D.’s “Lapdance” that mixed in snippets of Limp Bizkit’s “Break Stuff,” the pit was certainly open, and in full swing. After the show, the band sat down with AP for a glimpse into touring, completing their first record, and perceptions of the music industry. 

How does it feel to open for Corey Taylor in a city like LA?

SAM MATLOCK: It was good. Playing with Corey is a dream come true. Getting that kind of validation from one of your idols growing up is awesome. In Los Angeles, crowds need to learn how to mosh. [Laughs.] However, in the U.K., London is like a bloodbath. It’s just strange at the major cities here, all the mosh pits will be all right. Whereas the major cities in Europe are the best place to get in a pit. Odd correlation that is.

It was a sight to see you take charge of the venue, introducing the fans to yourselves and your music. How do you approach captivating an audience and trying to win them over?

MATLOCK: I don’t think we treat our gigs like an objective. I don’t like this mentality that exists between bands these days of, “We have to do this on social media. We have to write some more songs. We have to drop an EP because that’s how you get big.” As cliche as it is, a lot of bands used to be like, “It’s about the music, not about being famous.” I think we might have lost a lot of them. I feel like too many people are focused on the grind.

When we play gigs, we are there to play the gig. We’re just playing the show because we want to play the show. We want to have fun, and we want to share our music with people. If people aren’t vibing out, I’m not trying to win them over — just offering them something that they can enjoy. We just put it out there. If you like it, that’s cool. If you don’t like it, you don’t. That’s also cool.

MILKIE WAY: Sometimes they bite. Sometimes they don’t.

It’s definitely more of a rare thing to see people prioritize the actual music, as opposed to the stats and numbers related to streams and views. 

MATLOCK: We just had the traditional age-old argument with the label about online stuff, trying to build a viral moment and all that. When did everyone stop investing in getting a nice studio with a big set of speakers and just writing some songs?

WAY: When did that become the least important part of the entire process? When did TikTok become the reigning supreme, all-important tool to discover music and to promote your artists? People in the industry are getting lazy, and I’m not afraid to say it. People just go on TikTok and scroll, instead of going to gigs and doing the grind and actually investing in young artists.

MATLOCK: That doesn’t mean you can’t still do those things. You can have an amazing song and be like, “Fuck, this song is sick. I want to make a little bit of content for it.” That’s fun. That’s healthy. We just want a bit of magic back. So we don’t really care if you like it, but if you do like it, welcome to the family. Come on board and there’s a whole world that awaits you.

You’ve both spoken in the past about the redundancy of the typical business model for releasing new music. You drop singles and maybe an EP, then comes the album. Did you still feel this way leading up to the release of your debut LP, and if so, do you have any methods to releasing that could substitute the rather standard model?

WAY: Now that you say that actually, people do focus on the single format. It’s a good way to experiment with your sound, and to drip-feed things without committing to one thing. I do think long-form media is important. I do think albums are still important. I don’t think they’re redundant. But people always say, “People don’t want long-form media. People just want this. They want quick. They want snappy.” But the amount of people that have been saying to us for the past two years, “Where’s the album?” There clearly is demand for it. I don’t think it’s redundant at all, you know?

MATLOCK: Milk, what’s that stat you say?

WAY: The average watch time of a video on Instagram is nine seconds. People will only watch your content for nine seconds.

MATLOCK: Here’s the problem with your stat. The word you’re using is “average.” Now the good bits of the music scene, the alternative music fans, the people who buy AP, the people that come to shows, the people that keep this thing alive in a digital age, they’re not fucking average. They’re different. That’s why it’s alternative, you know? That’s why they want an album because their brains still fucking work. Their brains haven’t turned to fucking mush yet.

Speaking of the album, Venom is your debut full-length. Were there any differences going into creating this record as an LP compared to when you released your EXPLICIT: The MiXXXtape EP?

WAY: It wasn’t really two separate entities. We didn’t sit down and say, “We’re gonna do an EP. That’s finished. [Now] we’re going to do an album.” We went into the studio when we decided that we wanted to do the EP and then the further album, and we said, “Right, let’s make a pool of songs. Let’s just start writing because we don’t really have an end objective.” We don’t really have an overarching concept storyline or anything yet. So let’s just see where we go, see where it takes us.

Some songs ended up being pulled into the EP realm, and some of them ended up being in the album pile. “D.R.I.L.D.O” and “Fukstar” both ended up on the EP because we felt like those fit in more with the “Salma Hayek”s and the “Pyro Pyro”s that came before, and then there’re things like “Venom” and “Death Rattle,” which are clearly a step forward. They were more distilled versions of us that had been filtered down more and just felt like they needed to be on an album.

Were there any tracks that posed some difficulty to polish and complete where you kept returning to them and adding or subtracting ideas?

WAY: There were a couple of tracks where we had to debate whether it was going to go on or not. There’s one track that I really liked that didn’t make the cut in the end. So it’s not so much going back and revising songs, even though we do go back and visit them a lot. Because like Sam said, it’s never fucking done. You always think of something else to add or to take away, but it’s more so deciding what goes on and what doesn’t go on.

MATLOCK: Yeah, and we’ll do that. But I mean, it’s a good argument to have, isn’t it? There were a couple [of songs] that needed revisiting for the lyrics. I know everyone thinks we’re fun and stuff like that. But there’s a lot of thought that goes into the lyrics; a lot of honesty. So, you know, we might not be a band that people think is super intelligent, but I would like people to read the words. That was important. There’s one called “Sonic Dog Tag,” which is as close as we can get to a ballad, because I thought an album should have a ballad. And that was an ex trashing me in songs, so I was like, “All right, it’s my fucking turn.” [Laughs.] But we ended up with that song, and I’m concerned, Milkie, that it might be a bit too mean. 

WAY: Nah, fuck ’em. 

MATLOCK: Thanks, baby. [Laughs.] There’s lots of going back to the drawing board and making sure your feelings are in the right place when you start shouting at the microphone.

One of the singles featured on the album includes Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst, “Bang Ya Head.” How did that collaboration come about? Was it from opening for Limp Bizkit on tour?

MATLOCK: We kidnapped his dog and said, “If you ever want to see this puppy again…” 

WAY: That didn’t happen. Don’t print that.

MATLOCK: No wait, print all the things I say. [Laughs.]

WAY: We were in LA writing, trying to finish off the album. We were with Jason [Aalon Butler] from FEVER 333 and letlive., and Sam brought this idea because he didn’t want to come empty-handed. It was the basis of “Bang Ya Head,” and it was actually meant to have Jason on it originally. But then we thought, “You know what? We’re gonna go on tour with Bizkit. Let’s see if Fred wants to jump on it as well.”

So we left a little space and sent it over to him. But when you send a song over to Fred Durst with an empty space on it, he just fucking fills the whole space, and you can’t really be mad about it. We said, “Sorry Jason, but there’s not really room for you anymore.” And he was like, “You know, I’m not even mad about it. This is fucking great. This is golden.”

MATLOCK: I think maybe we were just a bunch of people that like fucking about. He’s a very creative person. He’s an incredible lyricist, incredible talent. Very smart guy, and he’s been very kind to us, helping us out on the journey.

You hold yourselves to high standards, stating how “if you can’t release something as good as Linkin Park’s Hybrid Theory, it’s probably not worth releasing.” What did the moment look like when you felt Venom was complete and could share it with the world?

MATLOCK: Milkie, I wish you hadn’t said that.

WAY: I wish I hadn’t said it, too. [Laughs.] It wasn’t for anyone else. I don’t want anyone else to hold us to that standard. That was purely for me to push myself to try and make something as good. 

MATLOCK: An artist’s work is never done. That’s the saying. If you leave an easel up, an artist will keep going back and painting on it for the rest of his life. It’s the same as that. Fortunately, WARGASM is like this duality: There’s two people. Because if you left me alone with the album, I would rewrite it for the rest of my life, and it still wouldn’t be perfect to me. But luckily, we have Milkie Way, who goes, “This shit is sick. Fucking drop it.” And I’m like, “That’s right.”

There were just a few songs that started popping out like “Venom,” being one of the best ones I’ve ever written, and “Death Rattle.” There were a few things that started popping out that I think just felt really fucking good. And we were like, “Yeah, it would be really cool if other people heard this.” I think that’s as far as the full process went on. Tying the knot and releasing it, you know? I think for those angry kids that want to mosh and shout, they’re really going to like it. The angry people are really going to connect to it. Milk, are the sexy people gonna like it? 

WAY: Fuck yeah!

MATLOCK: There you go. You got sexy and angry people. I hope people think it’s special because it feels special to me.

A massive Christmas tree illuminated the parking lot, acting as a pillar to guide fans to the venue. Cars lined in droves, reaching the neighboring SoFi Stadium, revealing just how packed the performance was. Much of the seats were filled while the explosive Scottish band Young Fathers opened. Not long after, fans in Violator tour merch let out screams of excitement as the lights dimmed to reveal fog and an instrumental outro to “Speak to Me.” The final song off the band’s latest record, Memento Mori, opened the show. The band then performed the first two tracks of that album, “My Cosmos is Mine” and “Wagging Tongue,” as a large LED-filled letter “M” became more and more apparent. 

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With a more brooding tone set, Depeche Mode kicked it into high gear with a throwback to 1993’s Songs of Faith and Devotion, “Walking in My Shoes.” Gahan strutted left and right of the stage, coming to the perch of the catwalk, where he pointed at his own white boots during the track’s performance. Much of the set consisted of fan favorites, transporting the audience to their youth with songs like “Policy of Truth” and “Everything Counts.” Gahan kept the intensity at a high, often asking fans to clap and sing along as he pointed his mic to the audience. “Great job LA, much better than San Diego,” Gahan expressed with a wide smirk. 

For the 10th track, Gahan left the stage and allowed Gore to take the spotlight, performing “A Question of Lust” (one of the few tracks with him on lead vocals, although he wrote most of the band’s music). A surprise followed, where Gore took to the catwalk, getting close to the audience for a solo acoustic version of “Strangelove.” The 17,500 capacity arena shrunk to an intimate dive bar setting, with audience members gleefully cheering him on. Gahan, once back onstage, asked the audience to give Gore his flowers once more before going into the Memento Mori song “Ghosts Again.” 

Although the band commanded the arena, oozing stage presence as a duo, the absence of founding member Andy Fletcher was felt. The tragic loss of the keyboardist in 2022 rattled not only the new-wave and electronic scene, but the music world as a whole. With the latest album artwork and music videos, Gahan and Gore are standing alone together, in black and white, seemingly making it apparent how the loss of Fletcher hurts. His memory continues to live on through the music, as well as Depeche Mode fans. Gahan shared such sentiments, dedicating “World in My Eyes” to Fletcher. At this tender moment in the performance, Depeche Mode ended with arguably their most well-known track “Enjoy the Silence” before heading offstage.

After a chant from the crowd, Gahan and Gore were welcomed back for a four-song encore, treating longtime fans to 1981’s Speak & Spell cut “Just Can’t Get Enough” and Violator’s “Waiting for the Night.” The band also saved 1987’s “Never Let Me Down Again,” most likely due to the recent uptick in popularity from its usage in 2022’s hit HBO series The Last of Us. At long last, the band concluded night one of two at the Kia Forum with “Personal Jesus,” having fans groove to the heavy baselines and lyrics. Gahan and Gore wiped the sweat from their brows, smiling ear to ear with a noted appreciation for the fans of Los Angeles, most likely recalling memories of ’80s and ’90s runs at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl and LA’s Dodger Stadium. The band will continue touring, taking their live show spectacle back to Europe for the first half of 2024. 

Jacob Alvarez

Jacob Alvarez

Jacob Alvarez

Jacob Alvarez

Jacob Alvarez

Jacob Alvarez

Jacob Alvarez

Jacob Alvarez

Jacob Alvarez

Jacob Alvarez

Depeche Mode December 10, 2023 setlist, via Setlist.fm

1. “My Cosmos Is Mine”
2. “Wagging Tongue”
3. “Walking in My Shoes”
4. “It’s No Good”
5. “Policy of Truth”
6. “In Your Room” (Zephyr Mix)
7. “Everything Counts”
8. “Precious”
9. “My Favourite Stranger”
10. “A Question of Lust”
11. “Strangelove” (Acoustic, sung by Martin Gore)
12. “Ghosts Again”
13. “I Feel You”
14. “A Pain That I’m Used To” (Jacques Lu Cont Remix)
15. “World in My Eyes” (Dedicated to Andy Fletcher)
16. “Black Celebration”
17. “Stripped”
18. “John the Revelator”
19. “Enjoy the Silence”

Encore

1. “Waiting for the Night”
2. “Just Can’t Get Enough”
3. “Never Let Me Down Again”
4. “Personal Jesus”

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Fans filtered into the theater, retreating from the rain and removing their jackets and coats, revealing Peter Saville “Mr. Disco” and Joy Division Unknown Pleasures shirts. After an opening set from U.K. darlings Blossoms, New Order performed for two hours, having to sacrifice a song to maintain the city curfew. The venue lights shut down slowly, illuminating the LED screen behind the stage, which showcased women jumping into a pool on a loop. Richard Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde: Prelude & Liebestod” welcomed the band in a shroud of mystery and fog. Then, New Order kicked off the set with opening tracks from four different albums: Get Ready’s “Crystal,” Republic’s “Regret,” Power, Corruption & Lies’ “Age of Consent,” and Substance 1987’s “Ceremony.” In the first 20 minutes of playing, the band expressed why they are one of the most respected bands of all time. The amount of nostalgia mixed with evocative dance emotions had the audience on their feet.

Founding members Sumner, drummer Stephen Morris, and keyboardist Gillian Gilbert were noticeably in their element, but 2011 additions, including guitarist Phil Cunningham and bassist Tom Chapman, blended into the set and held their own. Two large screens on each side of the stage remained in black and white while the main screen backing the stage featured colored graphics, uniting the darkness that embodied Joy Division that ultimately birthed the more poppy and new-wave dance tracks of New Order. The audience cheered when Sumner mentioned Joy Division, performing “Isolation” before bouncing between “newish” New Order songs and classics like “The Perfect Kiss” and “Your Silent Face.” Sumner even walked to the very end of the stage, dishing out chords and becoming a full-on conductor to the fans in the first rows during “Sub-Culture.”

Just as they began with four hits, one after the other, New Order concluded their 16-song show with their largest tracks, “Truth Faith,” “Blue Monday,” and “Temptation.” Blue lights flickered and lasers roamed around the theater during “Blue Monday,” matching the dark synthwave sound. At the end, fans harmonized alongside Sumner for “Temptation” as well as clapped in unison.

Less than five minutes later, due to the curfew, New Order walked back on to play two Joy Division cuts. Photos of the late Ian Curtis, taken by close friend of the band Anton Corbijn, displayed on all screens, focusing in on his eyes during “Atmosphere” along with the music video for the track directed by Corbijn. “Transmission” was deducted, and the band concluded rather quickly with Joy Division’s pivotal song, “Love Will Tear Us Apart.” With nearly 43 years under their belt, New Order proved how seminal and, more importantly, why they dominated ’80s airwaves.

New Order’s November 15, 2023 setlist

1. “Crystal”
2. “Regret”
3. “Age of Consent”
4. “Ceremony”
5. “Restless”
6. “Isolation” (Joy Division cover)
7. “Your Silent Face”
8. “The Perfect Kiss”
9. “Be a Rebel”
10. “Sub-Culture”
11. “Bizarre Love Triangle”
12. “Vanishing Point”
13. “Plastic”
14. “Truth Faith”
15. “Blue Monday”
16. “Temptation”

Encore

1. “Atmosphere” (Joy Division cover)
2. “Love Will Tear Us Apart” (Joy Division cover)

Jacob Alvarez

Jacob Alvarez

Jacob Alvarez

Jacob Alvarez

Jacob Alvarez

Jacob Alvarez

Jacob Alvarez

Fans lined up around the arena, taking photos with decals of lyrics from various Monkeys’ tracks that were scattered along the venue walls. Large projections of the band’s logo and banners displaying the sold-out nature of all three events also sat among the Kia Forum, comfortably hyping up guests. Irish post-punk darlings Fontaines D.C. opened the night with a 40-minute performance, illuminated by a fiery red curtain that bared the band’s logo in bright yellow lettering. As if that wasn’t punctual enough, singer Grian Chatten commanded the stage, slamming his mic stand into the stage like a captain getting his army ready for battle. Tracks performed included “Televised Mind,” off critically acclaimed A Hero’s Death, and a majority of the set consisted of songs from the band’s newest LP, Skinty Fia. 

Read more: Every Arctic Monkeys album ranked: From worst to best

Arctic Monkeys took the stage in complete darkness, signaling to the audience that showtime was upon them. Everyone took their respective places, with singer Alex Turner illuminated by a single spotlight, kicking off the set with “Sculptures of Anything Goes,” a brooding, ominous track off The Car that ushered in the band one by one. This was juxtaposed by the following song, Favourite Worst Nightmare’s “Brianstorm,” which sent fans into a frenzy.

Turner, dressed in a suit and sporting aviator shades similar to the pair Robert De Niro wears in Casino, strutted the stage with his signature chic and glamor. The stage itself resembled that of a ’70s talk show, with multiple yellow lights providing the audience with glimpses of the band. Two large screens, along with a spherical one smack in the middle, displayed close-ups of the band while performing, reminiscent of an episode of Granada TV. This vintage, pulpy look goes hand in hand with the Monkeys’ latest release, a loungey-tactical, ballad-hitting album that seems to take more from 2018’s polarizing Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino, as opposed to their upbeat and arena-charting LPs.

The fans welcomed every track, new and old, with the arena lighting up via iPhone flashes for “Perfect Sense” and people clapping in unison to the drums of Matt Helders introducing “Knee Socks.” Earlier albums were revisited, such as Humbug and Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not, but most of the set consisted of AM cuts. The album that transitioned the England outfit to arena-selling icons made up the majority of the show, blended with The Car, which was a nice switch from ballad to rock hit. If the set didn’t dazzle enough, by the 14th song, Arctic Monkeys played fan favorite after fan favorite: “Fluorescent Adolescent,” “505,” and “Do I Wanna Know?”

In between, the band’s first single off the newest record, “There’d Better Be a Mirrorball,” had Turner playing the piano before strapping on an acoustic guitar (although the disco ball featuring the band’s logo did not descend from its stoic position during this time). Turner and co. concluded their 18-song set with “Body Paint,” an alternative ballad if there ever was one, that had Turner in his emotions, dropping to his knees while belting the lyrics. This song featured an extended outro that let the band jam, allowing echoes to bounce off the walls parallel to the stage. Finally, they exited, with Turner blowing kisses to both sides of the stage.

The Kia Forum remained dark for a good four or five minutes, as the fans chanted for an encore. The wait was genuine and didn’t come off as a tacky ruse. Arctic Monkeys needed fans to demand more music; not a want but a need. The band obliged and returned to the stage, with Turner thanking Los Angeles before going into “Hello You,” where the mighty mirrorball lowered halfway and spun. The crowd got reenergized during “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor,” jumping and singing along to every word.

The finale concluded with “R U Mine?,” where the band delivered another devastatingly perfect performance of the chart-topping hit. Turner paused after concluding, looking into the crowd, with the monitor displaying his bewilderment for the entire arena. Fans applauded continuously as he watched. He then returned to the mic and continued the song like a revisited track on an album. Though the band have transitioned to various sounds and looks over their 21 years together, the love from the dedicated fans paired with the group’s eclectic magnetism allows for new ideas to become beloved. The endurance is uncanny and always on full display.

Arctic Monkeys’ September 29, 2023 setlist

1. “Sculptures of Anything Goes”
2. “Brianstorm”
3. “Snap Out of It”
4. “Don’t Sit Down ’Cause I’ve Moved Your Chair”
5. “Teddy Picker”
6. “Crying Lightning”
7. “Tranquility Base Hotel + Casino”
8. “Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?”
9. “Arabella”
10. “Perfect Sense”
11. “The View From the Afternoon”
12. “Knee Socks”
13. “Pretty Visitors”
14. “Fluorescent Adolescent”
15. “There’d Better Be a Mirrorball”
16. “505”
17. “Do I Wanna Know?”
18. “Body Paint”

Encore:

1. “Hello You”
2. “I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor”
3. “R U Mine?”

Alternative artist Jackie Hayes “experienced a lifetime” between writing her debut album Over & Over and its release on Pack Records in late 2022.

“[The songs on Over & Over had] been with me for so long; it’s exciting to know they are out in the world,” she says over the phone from her apartment in Los Angeles. The album, written over a half and a half, was a crash course for Hayes in terms of creating a record. However, the 24-year-old singer-songwriter was already well-versed in performing live, due to an extensive tour with over 50 shows in 2022 alone.

Read more: Every Demi Lovato album ranked

Hayes grew up in the Chicago suburb of Waukegan, Illinois, playing music in her local church and events around town. It was viewing tour diary videos on YouTube in middle school, though, that really got her hooked on performing and turned music into her passion. She says, “I remember they released the My Chemical Romance documentary. I remember watching and just being like, ‘I want to tour.’”

[Photo by Paige Strickland]

At 19, Hayes relocated to the Windy City where she met her current bandmates, as well as Billy Lemos (Omar Apollo, Dua Saleh), who would become her producer and long-time collaborator. Despite recently settling in LA, she considers Chicago an integral part of her musical career, saying, “The people I work with all still live in Chicago. We’re in it for the long run.” 

2021 saw her transition from a bedroom-pop sound to a more angsty, rock-inspired vibe with the release of her EP There’s Always Going To Be Something. “Writing songs and production was all new to me. I was just trying out a bunch of different things to see what works because I was so young,” she says about her early singles. As you can hear on Over & Over, alt-rock is clearly the genre she feels most at home in.

Her love for playing live, and translating music from the studio to the stage, is also clearly visible. Tracks like “Bite Me” and “Best of It” offer upbeat tempos that are sure to get any mosh pit started, even as they explore Hayes’ isolation felt during the record’s conception. 

In fact, Hayes heads to the stage early on to trial-run new tracks and make revisions along the way. She says, “I think to myself when I write, ‘How’s this going to be live?’” 

Even prior to the release of Over & Over, Hayes played unreleased songs on tour, then tweaked things here and there to solidify the official recordings. “Being able to play them again and process them that way made me realize certain things that I wanted to change,” she says.

Along with the alternative influence on the album also came the alternative look. Specifically, Hayes drew from ’90s pop culture. The singles’ artwork feature her sitting or standing in front of a bright-colored wall with fonts in complementing colors, reminiscent of PJ Harvey’s Dry and Fiona Apple’s Tidal. “What inspired me was definitely being on Tumblr again,” she says. “I started looking at a bunch of stuff, a lot of things from the ’90s. But sometimes, it’s not even from a musician — it’s just a flyer that I saw that was made in the ’90s or a photo shoot from a magazine that was around.”

Hayes may have recently released an album with a fully formed vision surrounding it, but she’s already looking ahead at new material. She says, “It’s nice; I can move on to the next thing because these songs have been with me … It feels so much easier to make music now that I did that.” 

She’s going to hold onto her alt inspiration going forward, too. She played a couple of shows supporting KennyHoopla late last year — her sound fitting perfectly on the bill — and her new slate of songs are said to draw from Radiohead influence. 

She says, “The new music kind of serves me more, you know? It shows people more of what I’m trying to do.” Maybe if fans are lucky, they’ll get to hear the piercing energy of her Over & Over songs, and potentially even new tracks, when she inevitably heads back out on the road and takes the music live. 

In 1996, Oasis brought 250,000 fans to Knebworth House in Hertfordshire for two nights of music. The event is a milestone in music as well as a monument to its generation. Considering the vastness of the venue, the ambition behind the events was unprecedented at the time. Through archival footage, the film aims to showcase the meaning of music given to fans who attended. 

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Backstage videos along with interviews from both Liam Gallagher and Noel Gallagher offer an in-depth look at the neo-British Invasion band at the height of their career. Coming off the release of their second album, (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?, the setlist for the shows contain hit favorites such as “Morning Glory,” “Don’t Look Back In Anger” and “Wonderwall.”

As shown in the trailer, fans are both documented at the event and interviewed to share their unique perspectives on the performances. It is this relationship between fan and artist that allowed the largest concert of the ’90s to take place. “This is history,” Noel yells to the sold out crowd in the preview.

The band also released a previously unseen version of “Champagne Supernova” from the documentary, which will be on the live album of the performance. The record, also titled Oasis Knebworth 1996, will be available on 2CD, triple LP and a deluxe box set that features replicas of original gig memorabilia. All formats can be preordered here.

Read more: 10 albums from the ‘90s that need to be listened to front to back

Both Gallagher brothers serve as executive producers along with Black Dog Films. The documentary will play in select theaters beginning Sept. 23, with tickets available here. Fans who don’t attend the limited release can preorder the DVD or Blu-Ray along with the live album here.

Through this stream, viewers can join the in-person audience at legendary venue Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado. The band will be on their latest stop of the Golden Casket tour, which kicked off July 29. The band are fresh off festival stops such as Lollapalooza in Chicago and Life is Beautiful in Nevada. Baltimore natives Future Islands will be opening on select dates.

Read more: Cristal Ramirez of the Aces on queerness, mental health and more

Modest Mouse released their seventh studio album, The Golden Casket, back in June to much acclaim. The follow-up to 2015’s Strangers To Ourselves found frontman Isaac Brock exploring concepts related to fatherhood and brainwaves, which he shared in an interview with Alternative Press.

“​​I feel like foundationally, my belief system has been altered by what I learned can happen now,” Brock says. “Things that I’ve read that we could do to one another with radio waves and how certain psychedelics work on your brain.” These ideas gave way to new track “Transmitting Receiving,” while his love for his kids formed “Lace Your Shoes.” 

The Golden Casket took shape after a meticulous process of recording then rerecording. Originally, the band planned for a sooner release after Strangers, which acts as “.volume two” to The Golden Casket, Brock says. Singles were released in 2019 and eventually scrapped entirely to begin what would be their latest LP. “I think it’s safe to say that maybe they just can’t be done, and maybe I just move on from them,” he says.

Read more: 15 artists who completely reinvented their sound from album to album

Red Rocks Amphitheatre offers the ultimate backdrop for Modest Mouse: technology weaving through a natural setting. The band have always been about expressing the middleground. The theme can be seen in most of their album titles (e.g.: The Lonesome Crowded West, Good News For People Who Love Bad News) and heard in both their instrumentation and lyrics. “Back To The Middle” and “We Are Between” serve as great examples off their latest record and will possibly be on the setlist. What fans love about the band’s live shows is the setlist will be everything the band want to perform rather than what is expected of them to play. Thus, old classics married with new fan favorites will provide a plethora of options for the show’s set.

With the help of Veeps, the livestream will offer an eclectic show for fans who aren’t comfortable attending live shows in person. The show takes place Sept. 28 at 11 p.m. ET, and tickets are available here. There’s even a bundle that features a ticket and exclusive Red Rocks shirt to commemorate the event.

Modest Mouse 2021 tour dates:

09/24 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy and Harriet’s
09/25 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Theatre at Ace Hotel
09/27 – Sandy, UT @ Sandy City Amphitheater
09/28 – Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre*
09/30 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Diamond Ballroom*
10/01-10/03 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits
10/04 – Nashville, TN @ Ascend Amphitheater*
10/05 – Cincinnati, OH @ Andrew J Brady ICON Music Center*
10/08-10/10 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits
10/11 – Huntsville, AL @ Mars Music Hall
10/12 – New Orleans, LA @ Fillmore New Orleans
10/14 – Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live
10/15 – Miami Beach, FL @ Fillmore Miami Beach
10/16 – St. Petersburg, FL @ Jannus Live
10/17 – St. Augustine, FL @ St. Augustine Amphitheatre
10/19 – Richmond, VA @ The National
10/21 – Raleigh, NC @ Red Hat Amphitheater
10/22 – Asheville, NC @ Rabbit Rabbit
* = w/ Future Islands

Throughout the record, there’s heavy influence of ’80s nostalgia from bands such as Depeche Mode and New Order. Even CHVRCHES’ music videos feature VHS graphics that mimic the classic horror B-movies of that era. The band were able to get together in L.A. to discuss their fourth record and the concepts that are both influenced by the past but bring something new to the table. 

Where do you all fall when it comes to the pandemic, artistically? Was this time necessary for you to decompress after the end of touring the third record, or was there any pressure to make the follow-up?

MARTIN DOHERTY: I definitely don’t think we were under any pressure besides self-imposed pressure. During that time, we had to do a lot of adapting in order to overcome the pandemic challenges. None more obvious than the distance thing, which wasn’t easy, but I guess, personally, my pandemic experience was pretty standard: bake bread, bake cakes, stop baking bread, get a dog, built a studio, made an album. [Laughs.] I went through the musician checklist. I got interested in pedals and shit like that and started building musical equipment instead of making bread all the time ’cause I was getting fat. [Laughs.]

The band already had some blueprints for what Screen Violence would become, but did any new concepts that were dealt with due to the pandemic interject themselves into the album subconsciously that would affect the tone or sound?

LAUREN MAYBERRY: I think we’re lucky in a way. We were already planning to make an album that was a little darker than the last one. I think that’s where we were at emotionally, after the tour of the third album. I really enjoyed that chapter, but I think it was time for something less sugary, if that makes sense. If we had been trying to make [a] pop record last year, it would have been a lot harder. So I feel like if anything, the isolation and forced melancholia and vulnerability helped focus further the avenues we were going down a bit.

You mention darkness. This sense of tone can be heard on your first record as well, so I’m wondering: Did you want to get back to your roots, so to speak, on the latest LP, as opposed to the more colorful third album?

DOHERTY: I think you have to make the third album that we made to make this fourth album, so to speak, like an order. That’s always been inside us. The lighter side of what we do has always been there, and it felt like the right time to explore it. Whereas now, the darker side, which has always been evident from day one, was being explored on this one. It’s almost like every album was subconsciously planned in a way. If you go back in time, and I hear every record in order, I think to myself, “Well, that’s exactly the album we were supposed to make at that point.” And now, I think that the fourth one slots into that exactly how I would have hoped. We were always building towards this. It was always in the DNA.

Everyone has that dark side, and it can influence art, especially in the ’80s with darker bands and new-wave sounds like Depeche Mode and the Cure as well as the movies. What kind of art that fits the darker aesthetic did you all gravitate toward growing up?

IAIN COOK: That whole ’80s horror aesthetic has always been present and, also, apparently referenced in our music and themes. Definitely with Screen Violence, the title itself draws from that era of horror movies and the splat or gore movies and stuff like that. And [the] slasher movies that we all love so much.

DOHERTY: To me, that was a time when you felt the most excited and safest. We often talk about the word “nostalgia.” I don’t necessarily like that word, but I don’t know if there’s a better word to describe it. There’s definitely a feeling you get when you watch some Breakfast Club or when I watch Back To The Future, for example. That’s what I like to capture when writing music whilst also looking forward, you know?

Speaking of nostalgia, is it true that the name of the album, Screen Violence, was a contender for the actual name of the band?

MAYBERRY: Yeah, it was on a long list of band names that we had. I refined it into a Google Doc in summer 2019, and I was looking through, and there were some good ones, and there were some not-so-good ones. I think “Screen Violence” would be a good band name, but we didn’t choose it in the end just because it felt too specifically retro, and we didn’t want people to think the band was just an ’80s pastiche. We didn’t really know if that would be the working title and we’d change it later. But definitely, there were a lot of visuals that came to mind immediately. And for me, I felt like there was a lot of stuff I could write about based on the secondary meaning of that concept.

The band have been vocal about the prejudices faced in our culture, with technology providing a large platform to extend negativity to anyone anywhere in the world. How do you all interject your views into the music without trying to get political about what’s right and wrong?

MAYBERRY: For me, it’s about putting things in your art that you want to see. We never really go out of our way to write a “message song” that’s going to be about this and then people will take on board our opinion. On this record, there are a lot of songs that are very personal, but that’s always going to be merged with things that other people feel are political because things are politicized. We live in a moment where a fucking piece of cloth on your face is politicized.

Basically all the other CHVRCHES songs, there isn’t really any political content at all apart from one line on the third record. All the rest of the time, everyone’s like, “CHVRCHES is a political band because of X, Y and Z,” but it’s not because we were making political art necessarily. It’s because the conversation around the band was always about gender and feminism and the internet.

Obviously, we played a part in that, but I guess if somebody asks you your opinion and you answer them, or you act out of self-defense, then that becomes the whole narrative of your career. You can’t really do anything about it. You write about how you experience the world, for better or worse. That is how I experienced the world a lot of the time. But it’s been really great to see the first few songs coming out and seeing people responding to them, especially women.

How does the band walk that fine line of sticking to their own sound while bringing something new and interesting to each record?

DOHERTY: Well, first thing’s first: You’re never going to please everyone, no matter what you do. I can tell you that now, four albums in. If we made something too similar, people would say we didn’t change. If we made something very different, people would say we changed. Never let outside influences in. You wouldn’t listen to someone on the internet tell you what you should eat for dinner, unless it’s Gordon Ramsay.

Maybe you’re the White Stripes and you want to only make music that sounds like rock music. That’s fine. Or maybe you’re Madonna and you can’t make any two songs that sound similar. That’s also fine. At the end of the day, it’s about your personality and keeping things interesting for yourself. We aren’t trying to appeal to a surface-level audience. The Cure is a band so important to us, and they make songs from “Friday I’m In Love” to “Fascination Street.” That’s great, and they get even weirder sounds than that. That’s what’s important.

What did it mean to get to collaborate with Robert Smith on “How Not To Drown” off this LP?

COOK: It was a huge honor. It certainly wasn’t anything that we anticipated ever happening in our lifetimes, but it just came about through some communication with our manager and him. And we ended up sending him a bunch of songs to see if he was interested. We asked him to be involved in any way that he wanted to, and he zeroed in on that one song. We never met him through the whole process. It was all just emails and things like that. After we finished the track, we got to do some interviews with him, and that was fun. Just getting to know him a little bit, even in that weirdly artificial situation. You can tell he’s just bundles of fun personality, you know?

DOHERTY: People in bands always say things like, “We never expected to…” Like, “We never expected to get a Grammy nomination or to play Madison Square Garden.” I’m always like, “Yeah, right.” I swear on my family that this is a scenario where we truly never expected this to happen. I’ve known so much about the Cure and Robert Smith. I can count the collaborations he’s done on one hand in 40 years. It’s something like Siouxsie Sioux or some special thing. It’s the ultimate co-sign. You could offer me any collaboration, any artist living or dead, and I’d still pick Robert Smith.