Two of the most prominent women in the Australian heavy music scene, RedHook’s Emmy Mack and Yours Truly’s Mikaila Delgado, join forces on ‘Imposter’.
Emmy explains the inspiration behind the track: “There’s no head-fuck quite like discovering that the person you love most, and who you think you know better than anyone else, has been lying to you and manipulating you the entire time. At first, it feels like death, you grieve for the person you loved as if they’ve died, and yet somehow they still exist. It’s almost as if some kind of evil, alien life force has taken up residence inside their body and is walking around wearing their skin. Eventually, it causes you to question your own sanity; you question whether that person who meant so much to you ever really existed at all.”
On the topic of tapping Yours Truly for the collab, she adds: “This song was already so special to me and one of my absolute favourites off the record. We approached Mikaila to be involved because we love Yours Truly so much and thought her voice would sound amazing on the track. But what I didn’t realise was that she’d actually been going through an eerily similar situation to mine in her own personal life. We trauma-bonded a lot during the process of putting ‘Imposter’ together and the extra vocal parts and lyrics that Mikaila added still give me goosebumps every time! She took this song to a whole new dimension and I’m so grateful to her for it. This is our joint break-up anthem and we hope it empowers other people who’ve been through similar nightmarish bullshit to stay strong.”
The song also comes packing a quirky, science fiction-inspired music video directed by Colin Jeffs of Ten of Swords Media (Make Them Suffer, Alpha Wolf), which takes its cues from cult sci-fi flicks like ‘Species’ and ‘Jennifer’s Body’, as both women slowly morph into deranged lizard monsters with a taste for human flesh.
Less than a year has passed since the previous iteration of Slam Dunk Festival and here we are for the third time at the Temple Newsam site since switching from the city centre where just about everything is bigger and better! The stages, the food, the acts, the sound etc. It feels truly amazing to be back without the fear of coughs, covid passes and everything else in-between that would stop us from attending!
Having grown up from my teenage years to university on a steady diet of Pop-Punk, Metalcore and tonnes of more music, it almost feels as if this is a dream today and it feels as if the gap between all the shows in the last few months has passed. Also, this has to be the most diverse lineup I’ve witnessed in a long long time!
Pinkshift
Over on their festival debut, the Baltimore based Pinkshift continue to win over some new faces to the band and I’ll say this, their energy levels didn’t drop by one bit at all. They sounded up to that point in the day, the best out of every single band on the day and they continue to win over every person that watched (including myself) especially with their recently released single ‘Nothing (in my head) which has you losing your mind over that soaring guitar.
Cassyette
Kicking off the heavier side of things is the always incredible, Cassyette, an artist who hasn’t gone unnoticed over the last year and has steadily put out a consistent repertoire of banger after banger. Her oozing her anthemic liveability has the early crowd being thoroughly entertained with her glam rock attitude with her added swagger though… she lives up to the hype.. Being a staple as one to watch could lead her to falter a but but with track such as ‘Sad Summer Girl’, it makes her pleasing to watch and hopefully in a few years time, we’ll see this artist head further up the festival bill.
Yours Truly
Rising Aussie favourites take to the Temple Newsam stage for the second time in as many days, previously on You Me At Six’s 10 Years Of Sin (Sinners Never Sleep Anniversary Shows) it’s clear that they’re fan favourites in the scene at the moment the way everyone’s bouncing on the stage to show that this is Yours Truly’s world, we’re just living in it and proof that they have only gotten better with time, refining their sound over the pandemic. Sadly though production monsters have struck during their set which do plague the performance on the occasion but that doesn’t make things unenjoyable, it makes us want to watch even more.
Meet Me At The Altar
Today there’s someone we’ve been wanting to watch for a while now but sadly their set is plagued by some technical difficulties, especially on their guitar early into their set. After some momentum from May The Odds Be In Your Favour, the sounds are a little disappointing in the rhythm of their set but around their ending, they do show some motivation at what they really can do to make them a good presence where hen they do make their UK return, these problems won’t bring them down, they’ll bring the carnage to their set.
Hot Milk
‘Lets show them how we do it in the north’. says Hannah Mee, leading the charge with Hot Milk as they reach some amazing heights with their Rock Scene stage performance. The band blast through some high octane tracks, the recently released ‘Bad Influence’ as well as their previous title track off EP, ‘I Just Wanna Know What Happens When I’m Dead’with every single piece of energy just dripping from the band, it’s very impressive to say the least. Hot Milk continue to go from strength to strength in the dynamic flow of their back catalogue of tracks and the atmosphere just raises things up ten times of what any band has accomplished so far today.
Magnolia Park
Another international debut, were the social media sensations, Magnolia Park. ’10 for 10′ became this full circle moment for everyone in the crowd because it was one of those songs that when you hear for the first time which has a poignant meaning and the standout on the day of the festival but made them all the more crushing and pleasing to watch. In all honesty they are ballsy to be covering ‘Sugar We’re Going Down’ (as is anyone who chooses to) and they nail it perfectly because of their modern electro-pop blend which fans have become accustomed to. The more I listen to Magnolia Park, the more interesting they become to me not only because they seem to be the future of what the genre has to offer but because when they inevitably make their Slam Dunk return, a bigger stage will be required.
Mod Sun
It’s been a while since the record ‘internet Killed The Rockstar’ dropped and he brought about a new age of Rock to our ears and when the tracks ‘Karma’, ‘Annoying’ and more hit, all you hear is the entire crowd chanting back and screaming the lyrics. What’s more is the amount of time Mod Sun interacts with the crowd, expressing how loved he feels to be there and the entire time, that love is reciprocated. Dedicating the set to his fiancé Avril Lavigne (and even a few rumours of the queen herself being there) the 2021 breakout single ‘Flames’ is one that possibly can be heard across the pond for what is a fantastic set for the first time appearance
Set It Off
It’s been three years since Set IT Off last played in the UK. Postponement after postponement meant that their latest upcoming tour has now been on the back burner for the last few years (thanks to COVID) and this is just the opening salvo of what is to expect when things come about in a few months time. Starting off with ‘Skeleton’ and ‘Projector’ it’s obvious that they’re clear fan favourites already and will continue to stay in their setlist for a good while but that doesn’t mean they won’t bust out their old hits such as ‘Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing’ as well as ‘Why Worry’, there’s more than enough charm to go around, especially with the bands colour coded outfits as well as a You’re Next style bunny mask for their touring guitar player.
As December Falls
Making their return to Slam Dunk Festival (with their previous appearance back in 2018) and after an impressive SOLD OUT headlining run of the UK, British Pop-Punk protégées As December Falls continued to impress with their lovely catalogue of tracks, especially their latest release of ‘Go Away’, we just want more and we will on their upcoming Autumn UK Tour later this year. With the entire set of crowd pleasing tunes fizzing with some personality, the sass manages to cook up more to get the crowd really going and hopefully they’re going to be firm favourites sooner rather than later.
Nova Twins
Now I Feel for Nova Twins, I really do. They’re at the end of the day just about to go on before main headliners Sum 41 but the more you watch from them, the more you’re just in their trance. With the crowd rather drained, the duo powerhouse get the crowd moving again and again to have them reignited to remind them just who the hell they’re watching. The annihilating Riffs and furious tracks make the most of their message and believe me when I say, nexttime they tour, get your butts to a show.
Sum 41
The final band to take to the stage, the kings of the festival today are sounding the absolute best from left to right all over the place, especially with a massive Red Devil looking ominously out into the crowd.
It feels so weird to be listening to tracks such as ‘The Hell Song’, ‘In Too Deep’ and ‘Fat Lip’ but I suppose that’s always the case of people you’ve been listening to for years. They’re always welcome with the favourites in their setlist where you hear the crowd collectively chanting back and a realisation comes to you, this is the community of the entire festival singing back. The setlist is culled from more nostalgia feels of the last 20+ years but they hold up time and time again.
Picking up in between the set, covers of riffs from The White Stripes ‘Seven Nation Army’ and Queens ‘We Will Rock You’ feel effortless from my standpoint. The band have always been capable of more, and the set provides it time and time again to bring Slam Dunk Festival 2022 to a triumphant end but if I may say, this is a crowd that wants more and they oozed up every last ounce of what was put out there today.
Australian based band Yours Truly are back in their new their new era and we’re loving it!
‘Lights On’, and is a slice of pop-rock fury, full of razor-sharp hooks and gritty story-telling with a music video to match the intensity the band brings to the table.
Vocalist Mikaila Delgado had this to say about the song:
“‘Lights On’ is about challenging the way you view yourself and how much that is influenced by other people. Doing impulsive things to come off as adventurous and fun while you feel like you’re falling apart behind the scenes. I find it interesting when someone says “You’re not who I expected you to be” and when you sit with that for a while you start to think “what do I look like to others? Who am I to myself?” I figured out during this pandemic that being alone with your thoughts is where you truly begin to unpack who you are to your core,” she explains.
“I discovered that a lot of my identity is linked to being in this band. Naturally, it’s not a glamorous process, but it’s recognising that you can’t hide behind some story you made up to tell some stranger when you’re out drunk because the only person you are living with is yourself.”
And this about the video’s concept, which she wrote:
“Our main focus was to create a music video that looks like a movie. We were influenced by murder mystery shows and wanted to create this story that surrounds the hotel setting of the lyrics in the song. I wanted the timeline to go back and forth so people have to think “what is going on? Who’s blood is that? What is she running from”? I spent some time coming up with the concept of a crime gone wrong and settings that felt glamorous but had a sinister feel to them. Shooting the ‘Lights On’ video in Brighton in the UK was a really cool experience, we got to spend two days running around the city and seeing things we hadn’t seen before.”
Check out ‘Lights On’ below.
With the band having just stepped off the stage at UNIFY and Mikaila having just supported Slumberjack’s Like A Version set, Yours Truly are now geared to head abroad for appearances at Slam Dunk festival and join as support on Against The Current‘s UK/EU run.
The band will be returning to the UK this March to support Against The Current on their headline tour. You can see the band at the following dates:
31st March Chalk Brighton 1st April – O2 Academy2 Birmingham 3rd April – SWX Bristol 5th April – King Tuts Glasgow 7th April – Riverside Newcastle 8th April – Stylus Leeds 9th April – Academy 2 Manchester 10th April – Electric Ballroom London
With Against The Current’s 2022 UK and EU tour coming ever closer, the headliners have announced just who is coming along for the ride.
Aussie Pop-Punks Yours Truly who have just wrapped up a supporting slot with Holding Absence will be one of the bands ripping things up as well as Italian trio Half-lives.
The band have shared the track and video for ‘Walk Over My Grave’ which is a fresh slice of hard rock with a tonne of atmosphere!
It’s a significant left turn for the band but once which is quite exciting.
In addition, this is the first release of new music from the band since the release of their debut full length record, ‘Self Care’ which released last year on UNFD.
Currently at the moment, there’s no word on if this is a standalone single or will be part of a larger release in the form of an EP or Record. Any updates on this will be confirmed as they develop.
Yours Truly have dropped a new music video for ‘Siamese Souls’. Taken from their breakout 2020 debut album Self Care, ‘Siamese Souls’ discusses vocalist Mikaila Delgado‘s turning to astrology as a means to cope with and find meaning as her relationship was ending — in her words “it’s about sugar coating the fate of a relationship by looking towards astrology ….it can be so easy to become ignorant to the reality of the situation because you convince yourself the universe is bigger than you.”
Check out ‘Siamese Souls’ below.
After its long-awaited release in September, Self Care took Yours Truly from Australia’s pop-punk bright lights to one of the word’s most watched up and comers in the scene. The album took out the lauded Feature Album slot on triple j, and found Yours Truly hand picked to perform on the station’s famed Like A Version segment covering Oasis’ ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’. Singles including ‘Composure’, ‘Together’ and ‘Funeral Home’ trail-blazed over global radio including Kerrang! Radio, BBC R1, Sirius XM Emo Project, Triple M and idobi, meanwhile the full album has racked up in excess of 5.5 million streams.
Thematically, Self Care unravelled the momentous year 2019 was for the band personally and professionally, and the means for reflection and coping that writing their debut album was for them.
Yours Truly play headline shows in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane throughout May before heading off to support label-mates Slowly Slowly on their national headline tour in June. Self Care is out everywhere now.
September 2021 is locked in for Slam Dunk Festival where we now have confirmation of the acts who will be playing this years iteration of the festival.
Along with confirming the acts who will still be playing from the originally scheduled May dates, the festival organisers have also announced that Crown The Empire, Escape The Fate, Malevolence, Hacktivist, and Snuff will also be joining the bill.
The acts who sadly are unable to confirm that they can make the rescheduled dates and are no longer part of the bill are 3OH!3, Billy Talent, Code Orange, Dance Gavin Dance, Grayscale, Hands Like Houses, I Am The Avalanche, Issues, Motion City Soundtrack, Sleep On It, The Wonder Years, Young Guns, and Yours Truly.
More acts are set to be announced in the coming weeks.
Check out the full list of bands below.
A The Baboon Show Basement Blood Youth The Bottom Line Bury Tomorrow Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! Comeback Kid Counterparts Crown The Empire Days N Daze Deez Nuts Doll Skin Don Broco Dream State Escape The Fate Face To Face The Faim Four Year Strong Free Throw Hacktivist I Am The Avalanche Ice Nine Kills Knuckle Puck Malevolence Mayday Parade Me First And The Gimme Gimmes Movements NOFX Normandie Pennywise Popes Of Chillitown Reel Big Fish ROAM Snuff Spunge State Champs Static Dress The Story So Far Stray From The Path Sum 41 This Wild Life Trash Boat The Vandals Vukovi Wargasm We Are The In Crowd While She Sleeps With Confidence Your Demise Zebrahead
Slam Dunk Festival 2021 will take place on September 4th 2021 at Temple Newsam, Leeds and on September 5th 2021 at Hatfield Park, Hatfield.
Tickets from last years event will be honoured and remain valid for 2021.
Remaining tickets are on sale now with a range of payment plans, and can be purchased online from seetickets.com.
Slowly Slowly have teamed up with Yours Truly vocalist Mikaila Delgadofor new single ‘First Love’.
It’s a track from ‘Race Car Blues – Chapter 2’, which is out from 26th February and features music from the same sessions as 2020 album ‘Race Car Blues’.
On the track, Ben Stewart says the song explores “the rose coloured glasses of retrospection and running from the past. I wanted a song that captured the duality of wanting to forget someone, but holding their memory dearly.”
Of the collab, he adds: “I approached Mikaila about the collaboration as I’m a huge fan of Yours Truly. She instantly understood the vibe we were going for and was incredible to work with. Mikaila was really intuitive with building the vocal arrangement, her harmonies and tonality really made the song feel complete.”
We’re getting really excited for tours again. UK tours are being confirmed and there’s a slim chance it could return for 2021.
In this is HOlding Absence where they’ve got a great support act with their on thier headlining run of shows.
The band will be on tour to celebrate the releases of ‘The Greatest Mistake Of My Life’ in October with…. Yours Truly.
That’s right there’s a little bit of Aussie Pop-Rock coming our way and it is going to be amazing. There’s always been a good sense of versatility to Yours Truly and Thankfully I got the chance to see them when they supported State Champs a few years ago. Fingers crossed I get to see them in Newcastle again!
At the time of writing, there is no word if this is the only support act on the tour.
Hello everyone! Welcome back to the new music video roundup. We’re here for a roundup of ten of the best recently released music videos. They’re not all within the same genre and they’re all different in some way or another but that means that there’s a little something for everyone here but come on, let’s get down to the music!
Up first this week are the noisy Atlanta duo ’68 where they have a video for ‘Bad Bad Lambo’ where the band’s new track and the lead single from their recently released EP, ‘Love Is Ain’t Dead’.
Up next we have the band Bad Nerves with ‘Electric 88’.
Directed and produced by the band’s own Bobby Nerves, it’s a cut from the group’s self-titled debut album, set for release on 23rd October via Killing Moon Records.
“ELECTRIC 88 is about having a good time whilst you can,” says Bobby, “cause the world is fucked up and the clock is ticking. I still can’t imagine looking in the mirror and being an old man, but obviously, I know it’s a certainty. Unless I die young I guess… But that reality coupled with finding it extremely hard to breath most of the time is kind of what kick-started the theme of this song.”
Second this week are fresh faced band Forlorn have debuted their new single, ‘Colour Lost’, their fourth single and the second since signing with label Silent Cut.
The track has been released with an accompanying video (created by PurpleYam Productions), and you can check it out below.
Time for a remix.
Hot Milk have taped Lovelytheband’s Mitchy Collins and Blink-182’s Mark Hoppus with putting a spin on their track ‘Candy Coated Lie$’.
Shades of house and EDM, alonside the funkiest bass you will find anywhere, coat the band’s wonderful melodies and create a really unique and undeniable track.
Mixed with this 8-bit version of characters whom you may find familiar, check it out.
Moving into a massively different genre now, while the audio stream of BVDLVD’s (pronounced ‘Badlad’) single “SHUT DOWN” (ft. Jasiah) has racked up nearly 78k views on Youtube, fans have been clamoring for a music video– and they finally have one.
BVDLVD’s third studio album, ‘LUNATIC’ has amassed 5 million streams, and contains an impressive list of features including LA rapper Lil Darkie, German producer Pulse and most notably a collaboration with Lyrical Lemonade’s latest star boy and 6IX9INE collaborator Jasiah on the jaw-dropping opener ‘SHUT DOWN’, ‘LUNATIC’ is already being hailed as BVD’s most ambitious and accomplished album to date.
BVDLVD says, “This video is like the trap metal version of “Praise the Lord” by ASAP Rocky and Skepta. Lockdown or not, imma still get involved with my g’s across the pond. I’m here to make shit happen.”
And switching things up again, how about some Medieval Rock?
Feuerschwanz have released the official music video for their song “Im Bauch des Wals” (english: In The Belly Of The Whale). The song comes off their brand new album Das Elfte Gebot which was released on June 26 and landed at #3 on the official German album charts, where it remained for 8 consecutive weeks.
Im Bauch des Wals“ is about a majestic sea creature who did not swallow biblical Jona, but rather so much man made plastic that it eventually dies and sinks into the ocean.
The ship that Hodi and Hauptmann discovered on their trip to England went aground just before Land’s End in 2003 on its way from Cork (Ireland) to Lübeck – with 2200 tons of plastic on board.
Ever since then it’s right there at the beach, moaning and groaning whenever the high waves hit – just like a stranded whale dying…
We tried to capture the eerie and somehow mystical vibes of that place for you. A place where you go like: What kind of planet are we leaving to our descendants? One thing’s for sure: a whole lot of plastic waste.”
Now heading into familiar territory, ahead of the release of their hotly-anticipated debut record this month, Australia’s pop-punk bright lights Yours Truly have revealed a new single ‘Funeral Home’ today. The track premiered via triple j’s Good Nights last night, and today’s official release comes alongside a new music video.
‘Funeral Home’ explores a sentiment perhaps many can relate to, after vocalist Mikaila Delgado found herself coming to a personal realisation on family as she grew older:
“I wrote ‘Funeral Home’ after going to a funeral and realising how odd it is to be in a room of people you’re related to because someone has died,” she explains.
“I was thinking about how sad it is that you miss the life of someone you have the same blood as and all of a sudden in tragedy everyone suddenly comes together as family yet then won’t talk until the next one.”
Joining previously-released singles ‘Composure’, ‘Together’ and ‘Undersize’ (jointly on a whopping 3 quarter of a million streams already), the full release of Self Care on September 18 is shaping to be a breakout moment for Yours Truly.
Moving to iDKHOW right now, the band have launched a new video for ‘Leave Me Alone’.
Directed by Raul Gonzo and shot in Los Angeles in August 2020, it’s a track from upcoming debut album ‘Razzmatazz’, set for release on 16th October.
“Making a video in the middle of a pandemic was a challenge,” explains Dallon Weekes. “We decided to incorporate a lot of things from the state of the world as it is now. Social distancing, sterile isolation, etc. it all seemed to fit with the song’s themes of wanting to quarantine yourself from toxic people and situations.”
Following the recent release of their new single ‘Ignorance Is Bliss’, Our Last Night have now shared a video to accompany the track.
At the time of writing, it’s uncertain whether or not the track will feature on a forthcoming and yet-to-be-announced EP or full-length album.
And lastly this week, we had to choose this video. It’s big, it’s mental and just plain weird.
Sheffield’s Bring Me The Horizon have teamed up with rock superstar-in-the-making Yungblud for their brand new single, ‘Obey’.
It’s the third single to come from the band since their 2019 full-length ‘amo’ (excluding their ‘Music To Listen To…’ EP), and is expected to feature on a yet-to-be-announced new record.
Speaking on the track, vocalist Oliver Sykes had this to say.
“We consider ourselves free but only because the chains are invisible, and we are controlled in ways we don’t even want to think about. They tell us how to live with a smile on their face, like shit ain’t fucked up, inform us of tragic statistics like its nothing… it’s a weird world.”
Yungblud also had this to add regarding its message.
“We are being told to conform to a completely outdated idea that we don’t relate to or even understand. They teach us to turn against each other and to fight against our differences rather than embrace and celebrate them. They try to keep us divided because it makes us weaker. Robots follow robots, because they feel nothing at all. But what they don’t realise is that to us, to be different is to be free and a world of fucking love and equality is a world we want to be part of. We will rise above the hate and the diversion. We will fight for the world we want to be a part of. We will not obey.”
And that’s it for another week of a countdown of the best singles out in the world in the last week. Be sure to check back next-time for another round of great music videos. If you have any suggestions for me to check out, be sure to send an email or message us via the socials on Facebook or Twitter!
Almost Anything Music 