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Interview with Bury Tomorrow!

From US headline tours, selling out venues the visited as kids to performing at the biggest stage rock, Download Festival, Bury tomorrow have been on a wild roller-coaster since their 2006 debut album Portraits, released through Basick Records in the UK and Artery recordings in the States and japan. The bands first glimpse of fame was filming a video for You & I (filmed at Southampton Solent University), which later aired on MTV2 in USA and Scuzz in the UK

In 2011, with pressure from Artery to move to America and incorporate electronics into their sound, BT lost their American label. With shows set for Slam Dunk and Ghostfest, Bury Tomorrow was ready for their final curtain call. From those performances, the only direction was up. A support tour with While She Sleeps, multiple festival performances and signing with Nuclear Blast, the band was ready for their second album; Union of the Crown. Fast forward to 2017, Bury tomorrow have released two more albums, they’re growing by the day as musicians and on the back of a sold-out show at the O2 forum Kentish town, are on top of the world. I speak to Dani Winter-Bates

“Dani, in 2011, you were worried you would need to stop making music. Today, you announce an intimate winter UK tour. How do you feel?”

Dani: “Fucking incredible! Recently, we were a super special guest at Slam dunk, announced a week before it went down which was insane! We never thought this would happen and we are so grateful!”

“speaking of your guest appearance at slam dunk, how did it feel to be kept a secret and so much hype was made for you?”

Dani: “we felt like we were Metallica or Iron Maiden! Second it was announced, social media went crazy, especially people who just missed us on our headline tour. It was a surreal feeling that everyone going to a festival was talking about us. We got to meet some bands we have previously toured with; Beartooth and Don Broco from the 2014 Kerrang tour and Crossfaith from the Earthbound tour. It was a great couple of days.”

“After the stage invasion tour, what is next for bury tomorrow?”

Dani: “we do not have anything for definite yet. We have been working on a few things for our next album. We have a couple more tours planned. After that? Who knows. We may decide to talk a couple weeks off to spend time with friends, family, you know, live for a little. Touring is demanding work and it does take a toll on your health; physically and mentally. We do not want to push ourselves beyond what our bodies and minds can handle. Our fans can appreciate that when we give our all in our music and live performances!”

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Imagine Dragons - Evolve

Imagine dragons released their third studio album, Evolve, recently, with it debuting 2nd on the US billboard charts.  Despite a poor critical reception, it is a good album. With singles, Believe and Thunder, reaching respectable positions in the top 10, it sparked promise for the electro-rock four piece. Although the album was called “lifeless electronic-tinged arena rock”, the catchy lyrics and borderline tribal drum patterns, allowed the album to reach number one in a few countries, including the US Rock charts.

The main issue with the album is it is more imagine dragons; despite the albums’ name, there is very little growth or evolution in the band’s musical style. A mix of EDM, pop rock and R’n’B, which has been present in all imagine dragons’ previous releases.

The pros of the album are every song is a good ‘summer song’, with the ability to get a party going with everyone singing along. The lighter electronic tones contrast previous songs like Radioactive, creating an album closer towards the pop-rock and dance area than their previous, dark toned songs.

Contrasting the light melody, Rise up has a deep lyrical content; about a person trying to turn their life around and make something of themselves, aiming for a higher quality of life. This shows the genius of imagine dragons: able to create fun, light-hearted music that conveys peoples fears and deepest feelings.

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politics in music

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politics in music (opinion piece)

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My Last Gig

The last gig I went to was Bury Tomorrow at 02 Kentish Town Forum. It was sold out, which for a band who were nearly forced to disband in 2013, was huge. Opened by Black peaks, Any Given Day and the electric Cross faith -whom had their keyboardist and bassist reasonably drunk on whiskey before they got on stage -  the stage was set for the headliners. From the initial screams of The Eternal to the last chant of Lionheart; the audience were on their feet. Unlike Crossfaith, Bury Tomorrow elected to wait to their second song before demanding a circle pit is opened – for those who choose to hurt themselves to enjoy music.

Being a huge fan of the band (and this being the third time I was seeing them) I expected nothing less than perfection and, in my opinion, it lived up to the hype I built up for my first gig in the capital. A highlight was Dani Winter-bates (vocalist) speaking about the media saying there is a decline in live music, especially metal, before belting out 301 – which is a song heavily aimed at journalists, calling them “worthless” and saying journalists could “never be a part of anything real”.

To finish the show, with the band playing Lionheart (arguably their most popular song), after demanding that people crowd surf and “make the security earn their wages”, the support acts joined the stage to ‘help the performance’ which meant miming the words and drinking on stage.

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Katy Perry & President Trump

In terms of my music taste, I am a metal head. Growing up on the likes of Iron Maiden, Guns ‘n’ Roses and Megadeth. Throughout my ‘rebellious’, depression-fuelled teenage years, Motionless in White, Asking Alexandria, Black Veil Brides were my favourite bands. In short, I love rock music. Like the stereotype, I felt elitist; hating pop music and showing none of the great pop artists respect. Even among rock, I was very critical and disliked bands if they were “not heavy enough” – listening back now, I can respect pop-punk music. I have changed massively. Most shocking, one of my favourite albums is Katy Perry’s Witness, with Imagine Dragons’ Evolve being an album I’m heavily looking forward to.

For me, Miss Perry’s new album is amazing; you can dance to some songs; the whole album being calm enough to listen to at any time but being upbeat enough that it can be used at a house party or a barbecue. My favourite song from Witness is Chained to the rhythm (featuring Skip Marley). Not only does it remain like her previous work – which is a guilty pleasure of mine – for an upbeat, light-hearted song, its meaning questions societies ability to become selfish and ignore those who are struggling. In the first verse, the lyrics are “trapped in our white-picketed fence” which suggests the classic American lifestyle is holding people back from seeing how the world truly is. This ideology is backed up with these lyrics from the second verse: “So comfortable, we live in a bubble, a bubble/So comfortable, we cannot see the trouble, the trouble” suggesting people are becoming more content and involved with their own lives and are happy to ignore those who seek help.

On the flip side to this, it may be an anti-government or anti-media song. In the chorus, Perry sings: “Stumbling around like a wasted zombie/Yeah, we think we're free”. Many people feel the mass population is (for the lack of a better phrase) is controlled by the media; only seeing what is mediated and chosen for their countries people to see. Could this be the fake freedom in question? Possibly, it could be regarding Trump’s presidency. Is she suggesting that it will be more of a dictatorship than democracy? With some of Trump’s strong policies against immigration and his ideals of ‘the perfect America’, it could lead to the image of fake freedom.