Exclusive: Hear ‘About Not Writing’ – The new single from sibling duo Cassels

Words: Andy Hughes

Whilst I’m generally someone who switches off the outside world to some degree when it comes to going on holiday, there are certain emails I’m more than happy to receive and respond to, regardless of location. Beer52 offer? Yes please. Redirect a parcel? If you would. Premiere a new track from one of our favourite outfits today? Abso-bloody-lutely.

Returning from an afternoon on the slopes this week, I was chuffed up to find an email from Cassels offering such a gift (a track premiere, not a Beer52 code…)

Now based in London (but originally from cretin-capital Chipping Norton), sibling duo Cassels have had us on the hook ever since we interviewed the pair at a festival way back in 2016. 2022 album ‘A Gut
Feeling’ was a firm favourite, big single ‘Charlie Goes Skiing’ even making a dent in our ‘Top 50 Songs of 2022’!

Brothers Jim and Loz Beck now have a new release forthcoming, one which explores the anxieties that came with the UK lockdown. Of ‘About Not Writing’, guitarist and vocalist Jim suggests that he really enjoyed the first few weeks of lockdown given the time devoted to staying indoors, but that soon slipped away to mind-rot and a struggle to write anything.

“Sitting around in my pants, watching the days slip away. It was an odd time.”

Picking up where ‘A Gut Feeling’ left off, ‘About Not Writing’ packs a wallop, drummer Loz hammering away as Jim captivates with every word, the pair ultimately getting more and more frantic as the tension rises and it builds to its raw conclusion.

Taken from a split 7” single with the equally raging Beige Palace on the other side, the record is available to pre-order now via known tastemakers God Unknown Records and Human Worth.

To celebrate its release, Cassels have got a run of dates set up which you can grab tickets for here:

09 April – The Hope and Ruin, Brighton

10 April – Botanique, Brussels

11 April – Trefpunt, Gent

12 April – L’International, Paris

13 April – Quai M, La-Roche-sur-Yon

14 April – La Bateau Ivre, Tours

15 April – La Bulle, Lille

18 April – The Social, London (SOLD OUT)

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What’s On Michael Portillo’s iPod – End of Year: Cassels

Here at Birthday Cake For Breakfast, we like to get to the heart of what an artist is all about. We feel the music they listen to is just as important as the music they make.

In the struggling year of our lord 2022, we’ve had all sorts talk to us about inspirations, including the likes of WITCH FEVER, The Lounge Society, WOOZE and Group Listening!

With the year coming to a close, we’ve decided to once again turn it on its head a bit and ask some of our favourite artists what releases they’ve been raving about this year. With that in mind, off the back of releasing their latest album ‘A Gut Feeling‘ (via God Unknown Records), we’re chuffed to have Loz Beck of Cassels talk us through his favourite releases from the past 12 months.

Words: Andy Hughes

Sea Power’s album Everything Was Forever

“Our Jim has been a big Sea Power fan for years, and I’m not sure why but they never really fully grabbed my attention. But this latest record completely blew me away, it sounds absolutely massive & anthemic AF, and since listening to it I’ve completely converted into a huge Sea Power fan. We both went to see them at The Roundhouse earlier this year – which in hindsight was probably my GOTY.“

Alex G’s album God Save The Animals

“I’ve been an Alex G fan for yonks, and in my opinion, he’s been writing the best sad boy tunes since 90s Elliot Smith. But this one in particular really stands out due to the close nature of the production compared to his old, roomy lofi sound. Encompassing biblical influences & themes of religion throughout, on first single Blessing (a personal fave) an almost piercing synth sound sends you headfirst into the album. The well-thought out production style and ever present, almost-ASMR like whispery vocals, makes the tracks distinctly personal and eerie up against his former works.“

Nia Archives EP Forbidden Feelingz

“UK dance music had an absolutely massive year this year, but refreshingly dictating the charts hasn’t been just your usual shite Ibiza House / EDM. Nia Archives has re-created 90s jungle & breakbeat, but with huge HIFI modern-day production, which accompanied with her delicate, melodic vocals is a match made in heaven. She’s like 19 or something too, and releases it all under her own label – an absolute inspiration!“

Bad Breeding’s album Human Capital

“Similarly to the Alex G record, I think Bad Breeding have really mixed it up with this record. Their old stuff is a great representation of the genre – fast paced and scrappy, typical of a hardcore album. With Human Capital they try something new, they up the production and get experimental with the songwriting. A great example is ‘Rebuilding’ which is a slow, droney tune and my personal highlight. For me, it’s the perfect heavy record.“

Danger Mouse and Black Thought’s album Cheat Codes

“This stands out as my favourite hip hop record of the year. Danger Mouse & Black Thought have collaborated with all these phenomenal rappers and, instead of falling into the trap of quantity over quality, they produce a well constructed album with a tight 90s hip hop vibe & all the right beats. It’s particularly special to hear the late MF Doom on ‘Belize’ as, in my opinion, Madvillainy is the best hip hop record of all time.“

‘A Gut Feeling‘ is out now (via God Unknown Records)! Grab your sen a copy of it right here!

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Release Rundown – High Vis, Modern Rituals, Pixies, Pulled Apart By Horses and Slipknot

Words: Ben Forrester

High Vis – Blending
(Dais)

Hardcore kids making Britpop? Yes please mate. London based five-some High Vis definitely turned some heads with debut LP, ’No Sense No Feeling‘, back in 2019 – a fearless mix of jangly guitars and big hooks but with a punk charge and hardcore intensity. Second album, ‘Blending’, comes in like all good second albums should, full of big hitting tunes. There’s a dive into late 80s indie, with a smattering of Stone Roses swagger and Johnny Marr’s twinkling melodies, while the Britpop instancy and the punk rock snarl still pack a punch.

’Talk For Hours’ has a hook you’ll get stuck in your head for days, one I almost hear LG belting out at Knebworth. ‘Blending’ has this shoegaze-y dreaminess destined for big spaces, while ‘Out Cold’ has a classic British punk sound to it, albeit through a jangle pop filter. I just love the juxtaposition of sounds here, there’s an expansive, hypnotic nature to the guitar tones that hit with a pounding rhythm section and gut wrenching vocals.

I love the plain speaking honesty employed lyrically, particularly the way it talks openly about mental health and suicide. I remember hearing ‘Trauma Bonds’ live and it hit me square between the eyes with its emotion. The rawness of the band’s live show is captured perfectly on record and that track is a really important and well delivered centrepiece to the album.

I really love the authenticity of ‘Blending‘. Sonically, it takes cues from some of the British music scenes finest moments, from 80s punk to 90s rock. But it very much lives in the present day and offers a vulnerability that many of High Vis’s peers have yet to unlock. Sincere, anthemic and passionate, ‘Blending’ builds on the ambition of its predecessor and runs all the way with it.

Modern Rituals – Cracking of the Bulk
(God Unknown)

I’m not sure if I dreamt this, but a short while ago Modern Rituals mentioned on Twitter that they had a new record ready to go that in places sounded like Death Cab For Cutie. As a huge Death Cab fan, I for one was intrigued how the London based quartet were going to weave in some dreamy indie into their scrappy, doom-laden sound. But in all fairness, they’ve only gone and done it. Their third album, ‘Cracking of the Bulk’, is still a wild alt-rock ride, but with a well integrated indie pop lilt that steadies the ship. And by this I mean Modern Rituals have handed in their most cohesive and coherent set to date.

‘Mixx3ed’ is a stunning opener, bringing us in on a strummed acoustic guitar and floating guitars/keyboards before dropping into a delightful indie pop groove. ‘The Flow’ comes in next with more gorgeously sculpted, piano-laden indie rock. But there’s a slight build in this track into something a bit more heavier, which indicates that this isn’t going to be an easy ride.

Modern Rituals are superb sonic story tellers and you never quite know where they’re going to take you. ‘Scummeth’ is a more exaggerated take on the structure heard on the ’The Flow’, coming in on a hazy little groove, soon quickly shifting into dramatic territory before reaching a raucously fuzzy conclusion.

I’ve always loved the way Modern Rituals dart off into the different corners of their multi-dimensional sound, but here they tend to come back to that more immediate slacker rock sound which made my ears perk up on previous releases. Add in some beautiful production and even more engaging songwriting and ‘Cracking Of The Bulk’ sees Modern Rituals at their most beautiful and brave.

Pixies – Doggerel
(BMG)

You’ve gotta hand it to the Pixies – since their reformation all the way back in 2004, they’ve been working hard on the road and now consistently deliver new studio material. ‘Doggerel’ is their eighth album in total and fourth as Pixies 2.0. I did enjoy the eclecticism’s of 2019s ‘Beneath The Eyrie’, but it was when the Pixies were being very much themselves that the album really began to shine.

‘Doggerel’ is a much more consistent record musically I would say, acting like a more measured take on the scrappy punk rock of 2016s ‘Head Carrier’. ’Nomatterday’ is a low-key rager of an opener. Coming in with a slow, slinky bass/drum groove before slicing into a punk rock chorus as Frank Black screams out “Don’t waste your time on me”. Then it changes tempo into a western rock bop as Frank calmly suggests “Don’t Piss In The Fountain”. I mean, fuck knows what he’s on about, but I’m all in.

To be fair, from there it’s all pretty catchy indie rock hits – ‘Vault of Heaven’, ‘Get Simulated’ and ‘Dregs of the Wine’ all sport big rock choruses that I can already hear echoing round big concert halls across the globe.

All in all, I think this is another good Pixies record. Though I don’t think its highs quite match the highs on ‘Beneath The Eyrie’, I do think it’s a much more sturdy, cohesive set. It will appease Pixies fans for sure, with some gentle alt-pop swayers and belt-em out punk rock for the old school heads that sees the four piece growing old with grace.

Pulled Apart By Horses – Reality Cheques
(Alcopop)

Having sat on this material for over two years, we are finally ready to hear the fifth album from Leeds premier riff lords Pulled Apart By Horses. Recorded tour-tight after a run of live shows in 2019, ‘Reality Cheques’ is very much structured like a live set. ‘Pipe Dream’ is your slow burning, jam-like intro before ‘First World Problems’ snaps into gear with a neck jammer of a hook. From there it’s all wirey riffs, 70s rock grooves and a big dose of punk snarl.

To me, it sounds like that early 00s garage rock revival which I’m all for. There’s hints of The Hives on ‘Rinse And Repeat’, The Vines on ‘Devil Inside’ and even Black Rebel Motorcycle Club on ‘Positive Place’. Naturally, all those bands took massive inspiration from the likes of The Stooges, The Rolling Stones and The Cramps, all of whom Pulled Apart By Horses cite as major touchstones for this record. It definitely takes on that classic rock ’n’ roll tone, but with some cheeky little delay effects coming in, it very much fits in with the likes of current garage rock kings OSees and Ty Segall.

Now, I don’t want to slag off the production because I think for the most part that big, live room feel totally fits the songs. But I do sometimes wonder if maybe gritting everything up and smashing distortion on everything would capture that gnarly, blown-out feel you get when you see a Pulled Apart By Horses live show.

I do think the songs and the energy are definitely there however and in my mind, this is the closest they’ve gotten to recapturing the rawness of their first two albums, something I know a lot of fans will be exited to hear. Never ones to make the same album twice, Pulled Apart By Horses keep evolving and delivering forward moving rock hits that are destined to break a sweat this Rock-tober.

Slipknot – The End, So Far
(Roadrunner)

The last Slipknot album – 2019s ‘We Are Not Your Kind’ – showed a darker, more experimental side of the masked outfit from Iowa. It documented a lot of inner turmoil for the band and its members personally. But with seventh album, ‘The End, So Far’, drawing an end to their seven album deal with Roadrunner Records, the nine members now face towards the future. Vocalist Corey Taylor had cited the lyrical influences on this record being more outward looking in favour of his more personal, confessional style. Which I think makes for a less aggressive record and more of a passionate one.

The classic metal leanings of fourth album, ‘All Hope Is Lost’, seem to return here, but with the fat well and truly trimmed. And by that I mean the band sound more together, the riffs are bigger and there’s some light sonic experimentation which keeps the flow of the album moving and the hooks, well, they get pretty damn big. Recent single ‘The Dying Song’ shows what Slipknot do best, delivering stadium ready choruses without skimping on the heavy, while ‘Adderall’ is a complete curve ball of an opener, bringing in a five minute piece of piano driven indie rock that sounds like a mix of mid era Radiohead and later day Bowie. Madness.

Elsewhere, this a pretty chunky-ass metal record. I know there have been a few comments on this more melodic, power metal sound leaning more towards Corey’s other band, Stone Sour. Personally though, I think there’s enough heft and expansion to pull off that trademark Slipknot sound. I mean, when you’ve got a voice as good as Corey’s, of course you’re gonna be smashing out some huge harmonies; ‘De Sade’ being my favourite example.

Though I don’t think this has the same forward thinking attitude that made ‘We Are Not Your Kind’ their strongest set in years, there is no denying what a phenomenal outfit Slipknot are and ‘The End, So Far’ delivers the right level of power, immediacy and intensity that you’d expect to hear from the world’s greatest metal band.

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This One Song… Cassels on Your Humble Narrator

Tell you what – we love hearing from artists when things go right. We equally love hearing from artists when things go dreadfully wrong. A song that was a piece of piss, written in 20 minutes? Or years in the making and a bastard to write?

Whether it’s a song that came together through great duress or one that was smashed out in a short amount of time, we’re getting the lowdown from some of our favourites on the one song that they can’t stop thinking about – in their own words.

Off the back of releasing their latest album ‘A Gut Feeling‘ (out now on God Unknown Records), Jim Beck, guitarist and vocalist in London duo Cassels, talks us through album opener ‘Your Humble Narrator‘. Take it away, Jim…

Words: Andy Hughes (Photo Credit: Chelsea Jackson)

“‘Your Humble Narrator’ is the first song on our new album. The idea for it came about after we played Fusion Festival in Germany, which was bloody nuts. A very nice promoter called Adrien messaged us on Facebook and asked if we wanted to play – we thought it sounded cool, so said yes. We didn’t know anything about the festival, but it turned out to be a bit of a legendary one, known by some as ‘the European Burning Man’. At times it felt like we were on the set of Mad Max or something; loads of crazy art installations, most of the stages were in deserted military bunkers – proper good. Anyway, the line up was super varied, but there was also a LOT of techno. After not really listening to much techno before, that festival got me well into it.

So, the idea for this song was essentially to do a techno tune. Or do something as close as our relatively limited set up would allow. The song is built around a simple guitar loop, which variously swells, fades, and develops over the course of 9-ish minutes. I think I technically only play two notes for the entire song, which makes it sound like a piece of piss. However, it was indeed – to quote the opening remarks of this article – an absolute bastard to write. In fact it’s easily the longest we’ve ever spent on one song. We nearly gave up on it 2 or 3 times. I’m really glad we stuck with it though as it’s now one of my favourites.

I think our default approach to songwriting is to throw a lot of shit into the pot. Our songs often have multiple sections and make use of loud/quiet fast/slow dynamics, often jumping from one extreme to the other. It’s a simple way to create impact, particularly as a two piece. ‘Your Humble Narrator’ required a change of approach though. We focused much more on creating gradual changes through repetition; introducing new elements to keep things interesting while settling into a, dare I say it, ‘groove’.

To complicate things further (and without [hopefully] going into loads of boring detail) the aforementioned guitar loop is set up in real time using an analogue pedal which isn’t really built for looping. This means the timing of the playback is often slightly irregular, meaning Loz (the drummer/younger brother) has to try and stay in time with something which isn’t really in time with itself. There’s also a point in the song where I add another layer of guitar – changing the loop from a regular 4-to-the-floor-type-thing into a syncopated-type-thing. If I don’t hit the exact combination of pedals at exactly the right times the whole thing falls apart.

We spent months just trying to play in time with this stupid fucking loop. Some might argue I should have just invested in a proper looping pedal or, even better, some kind of backing track/tap tempo set up, but where’s the fun in that?

Anyway, after a few months of frustrated farting around, the song gradually began to form into a rough structure. And, crucially, we could actually sort of play it. Sometimes nearly all the way to the end. We got it to a decent-ish standard, and then went into Lockdown 1. At this point we’d pretty much written the entire album, so I told myself I wouldn’t write any more songs whilst locked down for fear of getting bored with what we already had. Instead I obsessed over the album tunes – thinking of things we could tweak, layers we could add etc. Once lockdown had ended we were then able to demo the album, and the songs changed and evolved again.

When it came time to record ‘Your Humble Narrator’ we were the tightest we’d ever been, but were still bricking it. I think we may have even left it until the end because we were anticipating it being a nightmare. There was talk of recording the loop in isolation and playing to a click, but first we thought we’d have a go at bashing it out live. And guess what? Nailed it in a couple of takes didn’t we. Like a couple of bloody legends. Then we spent a while chucking ridiculous noise and synths all over it. Up until this point an egg shaker was about the furthest we’d gone with additional instrumentation, so this song was another important milestone in that respect.

The lyrics for this song set up the thematic frame for the rest of the album. It’s the only song written in the first person, and is intended to introduce an unreliable narrator who goes on to tell the stories that follow. I think the words were written before any of the others on the album, and before the overarching theme had been established. I thought describing art in nefarious terms akin to propaganda – as a sort of evil mind control device – was kind of funny. The words also have a tongue-twister quality to them which I quite enjoy.

As I said, this song is now one of my favourites, and I’m excited for people to hear it. We’re opening our set with it these days and I can’t see it leaving the set list anytime soon. I think it will also inform the next batch of songs if/when we get around to writing again.”

Cassels – ‘A Gut Feeling’ – reviewed here!

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Release Rundown – Black Country, New Road, Cassels, Rolo Tomassi and Thank

Words: Ben Forrester

Black Country, New Road – Ants From Up There
(Ninja Tune)

At the time of writing, Isaac Wood, vocalist and guitarist in Black Country, New Road, has just announced his departure from the band, alluding to mental health reasons. Admittedly it’s come as a shock to us all, particularly with this here second album just about to land and it’s hard to imagine the band without his distinctive vocals. But with the band vowing to continue, ‘Ants From Up There‘ acts as the perfect swan song for this chapter of the collective.

After seeing the band air a lot of new material live last summer, I remember thinking there was a definite change of pace from the genre shifting drama of ace debut ‘For The First Time’. With a focus on slow burning, post-rock dynamics, ‘Ants From Up There’ swaps intensity for atmosphere, bringing in new layers of beauty and vulnerability.

The intro is a jubilant, math-y burst of staccato sax and piano stabs that towers overtop a driving, full band backing. It’s such an uplifting start that is almost over too quickly, but brilliantly leads into the sprightly, orchestral indie pop of ‘Chaos Space Marine’. It’s a head on start to the album that feels bright and elegant, but it’s when we get to shimmering indie epic ‘Concorde’ that the beauty of this record really begins to shine.

Dynamically, you can’t help but be engulfed by the songwriting here; the build in ‘Good Will Hunting’ is nothing short of heart-bursting, while the drum track on ’Snow Globes’ is incredibly encompassing. They always know how to keep you interested as a listener, but there’s a fluidity to the compositions here that feels tighter, stronger and even more engaging.

‘Ants From Up There’ retains the excitement and theatre of its predecessor but adds new levels of depth, warmth and even romance. Though it’s sad to think of this as Isaac’s last outing with the band, especially with him putting in such incredibly raw and emotive performances, I still feel hope gleaming through this record, particularly in the instrumentals. And with this I feel a lot of optimism and excitement going forward for this supremely talented group.

Cassels – A Gut Feeling
(God Unknown Records)

There was a point where Cassels seemed like a band that never stopped, with an arsenal of releases (including two full lengths) and countless tours across the past 7+ years. But, like the rest of us, the brothers Beck found themselves in the midst of some unexpected downtime, allowing them to work on new material at a slightly slower pace. Still keeping their noise punk credentials firmly in place, they looked at how they could evolve their two piece sound, and the result is their most assured work to date.

My first thought when hearing ‘A Gut Feeling’ was how raging it is. Huge riffs tower over crashing, muscular drums with ever eloquent yet snarling spoken word vocals. For this third album, guitarist and vocalist Jim looked into writing character based stories in which he found himself able to inject even more personal thoughts and feelings through these characters. It can go from intense to thrilling to even heart-breaking in the blink of an eye.

While the likes of ‘Mr Henderson Coughs’ and ‘Charlie Goes Skiing’ are arguably the most dramatic and gnarliest tunes they’ve penned, ‘Family Visits Relatives‘ and ‘Dog Drops Bone‘ nearly reduced me to tears with there brutal realism and stripped back arrangements. This is pretty potent stuff – at first I just wanted to be battered round the chops with noisy rock songs, but the depths this album goes to can be rather breath-taking.

‘A Gut Feeling‘ requires the same amount of attention that was put into it. It’s not an album that you can digest straight away. Though it has some pretty immediate moments on it, as a whole piece it’s a record that soaks into your skin more on each listen. The foundations of what makes Cassels such a great brand are still firmly in place, but with subtle sonic switch ups and a deeper understanding into composition and texture, Loz and Jim have made their best record by a country mile.

Rolo Tomassi – Where Myth Becomes Memory
(MNRK)

I have a vivid memory of hearing the first Rolo Tomassi EP back in 2006 and being blown away by its mathcore madness. Forever pushing the boundaries of alternative metal, It’s been extremely interesting to see this band’s journey unfold over the years.

Here we land at their sixth album, ‘Where Myth Becomes Memory’, which comes four years on from the critically acclaimed ‘Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It’. To my mind this album feels like the third part in a trilogy of albums which started with ‘Grievances’ in 2015. Though I have a lot of positive things to say about the last two albums, I did sometimes feel that the band were still working out the kinks, heading towards their masterpiece. I think it’s fair to say that this record is definitely that.

Never have Rolo Tomassi sounded so humongous. I’ve always enjoyed their sharp dynamic twists, often going from the extremely heavy to the beautifully melodic, but on this album there is this expertly executed blend which sends the songs into the stratosphere. ‘Cloaked’, ‘Drip’ and ‘To Resist Forgetting’ are superb examples of combining ethereal yet Instant melodies over the top of bone-crushing metal-core riffs. And they sound even more powerful and fearless for it.

It’s also really great to see them push the post-rock undertones of the last two records. It’s something I’ve really wanted to hear the band move into and you could not get more gorgeously expansive than ‘Closer’ or enticingly transcendent as ‘Almost Always’.

Rolo Tomassi have done this really rare thing of trimming the fat but also knowing when to hit you at the right moment. The emotional core of this album has never felt stronger, sometimes it being the instrumentation that completely catches you off guard (the piano passage in ‘Mutual Ruin’ is quite possibly the most stop you in your tracks moment they’ve made). I know I’ve already made a pretty sweeping statement in this rundown, but it must be said that ’Where Myth Becomes Memory’ is the sound of a band at their most realised and is quite possibly their strongest and best album to date.

Thank – Thoughtless Cruelty
(Box Records)

We’ve said it a few times across these pages, but there’s definitely something in the water up in that there Leeds. It’s like you know whenever you see the words ‘Leeds band‘ that you’re going to be impressed. Although, Thank frontman Freddy does state on this record that there’s never been a good band from Leeds. Or London for that matter. But he’s wrong, because Thank have been the DIY scenes best kept secret for a number of years now and we are chuffed to finally have a debut album to sink our teeth into.

‘Thoughtless Cruelty’ continues to expand the horizons of this brilliantly bonkers band, making obnoxious noise fuelled punk for the dance floors. Recent single ‘Good Boy’ is a gleaming example of the above statement, battering your ears with hypnotic sub bass that builds into a disco punk banger from hell, sounding like Gilla Band being possessed by old Lucifer himself.

Described by the band as a stark observation of human cruelty, this is very much an edge of your seat sort of record, often exploding into a rampage of thick bass, spiky guitars, acid dipped keys and groovy beats. On top of this we have Freddy shouting his head off with superbly executed one-liners that range from anxious and intense to sarcastic and witty. The description of viewing the house that smells like grilled sausage and old boots on the electrifying ‘Dread’ is equally hilarious and grimly relatable.

As a fan of the band’s previous releases, it’s really great to see them push the limitations of the foundations they’ve already set. They’ve gone deeper and darker into their sound – everything sounds beefed up and compositionally they really know how to draw you in, scare the shit out of you then just ascend into an utterly thrilling world of chaos. ‘Thoughtless Cruelty’ is intensely smart, beautifully detailed and totally batshit crazy. Welcome to the new norm.

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This One Song… USA Nails on My Body

Tell you what – we love hearing from artists when things go right. We equally love hearing from artists when things go dreadfully wrong. A song that was a piece of piss, written in 20 minutes? Or years in the making and a bastard to write?

Whether it’s a song that came together through great duress or one that was smashed out in a short amount of time, we’re getting the lowdown from some of our favourites on the one song that they can’t stop thinking about – in their own words.

Off the back of releasing a split 7″ with Petbrick (via God Unknown Records as part of their Singles Club Vol 4.), USA Nails talk us through new single ‘My Body’. You can even buy the split from USA Nails direct to celebrate Bandcamp Friday (live from 11am)! Oh check it out, there’s even a bumper new video for it streaming below! Anyhoo, take it away, guitarist Gareth…

Words: Andy Hughes

“This number was recorded as part of the “Character Stop” session back in August 2019, which feels like a lifetime ago now. We all felt it didn’t really seem to fit with the other songs on the album, and had been chatting with Wayne about doing a split 7″ with Petbrick for some time so it made sense to use it for that instead.

When I was trying to work out what to write the lyrics about, I became fixated with the idea of writing a love song. I asked Steven “hey what’s the last taboo in noise rock…a love song right?!” and I remember him looking at me strange and saying something like “no”. I persisted, but it didn’t really come out that way, instead it’s about obsession. A bit like Losing My Religion eh? (REM are great – Warner Bros years included). More specifically it’s about being so devoted to something that it becomes part of you. So you could say it was about a person and that it’s a love song if you like, but you could also say it’s about compulsively undertaking anxiety driven hobbies, like being in a band.

The second to last line is a reference to “one face” which is something our old drummer Matt used to do with his cat and his wife, where he would make them all squeeze their faces together because they all loved each other so much. They’ve since had two sons, I don’t know if he makes all five of them do that now.

There’s also a cool side-joke in the chorus about the nature of private property in anarchist communities which is a bit clever but not very funny. It’s told from a position of love by the way. It feels weird for a punk to have to add a disclaimer that they are left-wing but the world’s a weird place right now.“

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Exclusive: Watch the new video from USA Nails for ‘I Don’t Own Anything’

Words: Andy Hughes

“This is modern life and it is full of heartache.”

Noisy London quartet USA Nails have never been ones to shy away from the horror story that is modern life. Whilst they’ve got a knack for singing of the mundane, it’s usually not far off touching on the things that keep us tossing and turning in bed during the early hours. From living in grot during university one minute (‘University Home‘) to financial woes and giving up on meat due to the cost, unless it’s reduced (‘What Is The Price?‘). From post 9-5 anxieties (‘Work Drinks‘) to more recently, dental rot (‘Revolution Worker‘).

On latest single ‘I Don’t Own Anything’, they sing of some hard hitting truths a lot of young(ish) people are experiencing right about now – “I experience everything, but I don’t own anything“.

Hot on the heels of previous single ‘Revolution Worker‘ – featured as a ‘Next Wave‘ track on Jack Saunders Radio 1 show – it’s from their fifth album ‘Character Stop‘, one that promises to touch on more introspective moments, like giving up on your dreams and such. Out October 23rd 2020 through Hex Records (USA) and Bigoût Records (Europe), it was tracked live over four days, recorded, mixed and mastered by Wayne Adams at Bear Bites Horse in London.

USA Nails are set to tour Europe and the USA in 2021 and – fingers crossed – do a run of UK album launch shows in late 2020. This year also has them pencilled in to release a split with Petbrick on God Unknown Records. Before all that though, there’s the small matter of the video for their latest single which you can watch below – one which catches the boys of summer catching the last of the rays and indulging in an ice cream each. Of the track itself, guitarist/vocalist Gareth Thomas told us this:

“At the risk of sounding like a dick; this song is about millennials and zoomers. Generations who have been shafted by their parents, who can’t afford anything, who live on zero hours contracts, and who are currently experiencing a mental health epidemic. They are blamed for their own misfortune because they like to eat avocados sometimes. It’s also got a beat that’ll get your toe tapping.”

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