United Kingdom
Journalist, editor, copywriter.
Words past + present: The Guardian, NME, Alt Press, Huck, Kerrang!, Guitar Magazine, + more. Email: [email protected]
They've spent years toying with journalists, using fake names or sending actors to interviews. Now the ad guy behind the elusive Detroit band lifts the lid on the Armed multiverse
'Wasteland of my Fathers' is a new exhibition taking a vivid look into an under-reported chapter in punk's story.
hey essentially blew a fucking hole in the ceiling," Ben Spence says, with notes of anger and disbelief colouring the accompanying laugh. He is recounting the night in September 2020 when his studio, Fuzzbrain, was destroyed in a fire that spread from an adjoining industrial unit.
As they release their second album, which explores vast new musical territories, the trio talk the community spirit that fuels their songs
at Flynn's scream of "U-S-M-A!" hangs in the air at the Underworld in Camden, London. A guy in a billowing white T-shirt dives from the stage and is held aloft by the crowd - a typically energetic snapshot from a hardcore show. Except that, on this occasion, it's not all that typical.
With their back to the camera, Sami Kaiser is lit in that unmistakable fast food restaurant glow. It radiates out from the menu screens at the Sonic Drive-In in Hainesport, New Jersey as they hit their thigh with a mic, ratcheting up the tension as the tangle of bodies before them is taken over by the pit.
Next month, 2000trees will bring together everyone from rock veterans to breakout stars for the ultimate celebration of the scene. Ahead of the festival, and to applaud just how incredible UK punk is right now, Bob Vylan, Witch Fever and High Vis come together to put the world to rights...
hen Glen "Spot" Lockett pointed his camera at something, he intended to capture what was there, not what he wanted you to see. "I paid attention to my subjects and what they were doing," he told Vice in 2014 while discussing Sounds of Two Eyes Opening, a book collecting his work.
The empty space between the barrier and the stage only stretches a few feet, but it says a lot about the perceived differences between an artist and their audience - or in many cases, a star and their fans. Hardcore shows have, at their most honest, always been a rejection of this power dynamic.