Shall we take a little trip to Essex? It’s east of London but it’s definitely not east London, the land of Blur, Depeche Mode, The Prodigy, Dr Feelgood, wheeler-dealers and dodgy geezers, Maldon sea salt, blokes who wash their Ford Mondeos religiously every Sunday morning, Tiptree jam, Grayson Perry, nosey neighbours, rowdy clubs, Joey Essex, Dermot O’Leary, Squarepusher, Basildon Man, a place where ring road towns lazily bleed into beautiful stretches of countryside underneath widescreen skies. It’s down the A12 and to the birthplace of radio that we’re headed. Keep going past Brentwood and all its TOWIE tanning beds and take a left into Chelmsford, the home of RAT BOY. After a decade of global tours as far afield as China, Japan and the US, a period that has included diversions into hip-hop, US-influenced ska-punk, RAT BOY have come back to base. Their excellent new record ‘SUBURBIA CALLING’ is all about returning to their roots.
MAGNOLIA PARK have never been ones to settle for subtlety. Since forming in 2018, the Orlando, Florida-based quintet have, over and over again, proven themselves to be one of the most exciting and forward-thinking groups in the underground, spinning a chameleonic, genre-spanning sound that incorporates punk, rock, pop, hip-hop and metalcore into a dizzying, multisensory experience. Blazing onto the scene with an insatiable social media work ethic and prolific musical output, their popular Halloween mixtapes, multi-part Eater EP series and full-length debut, Baku’s Revenge, cemented them not only as a playlist and For You Page favorite for millions of listeners around the world, but a must-see live act on tour with Simple Plan, Sum 41, A Day To Remember and the inaugural Summer School tour (where they served as a headliner), as well as major festivals like Reading and Leeds, When We Were Young, Sonic Temple and Welcome To Rockville. Now, Magnolia Park – vocalist Joshua Roberts, guitarists Tristan Torres and Freddie Criales, drummer Joe Horsham and bassist Vincent Ernst – are set to unleash their most ambitious effort yet: VAMP (Epitaph Records), a neo-gothic concept album rich in world-building and gripping storytelling. Culling influence from the band’s favorite anime including the long-running Vampire Hunter D, along with inspiration from iconic works like Star Wars, Dracula and Joseph Cambell’s legendary monomyth, Vamp unravels an ominous journey through Nocturne Nexus, where rulers and rebels battle with the future hanging in the balance.