'We Were Shooting From The Hip': Volbeat On Finding Magic In Chaos With 'God Of Angels Trust'

For most bands nine albums deep, reinvention is a slow process and often a calculated attempt to remain relevant or repurpose old magic. But Volbeat aren’t most bands. Having spent more than two decades forging their signature collision of mammoth riffs and vintage rockabilly grooves, on ‘God Of Angels Trust’ the Danish metal icons have stripped everything back to basics and dared to build something new without blueprints.

Written by: Maddy Howell | Date: Tuesday, 29 July 2025

Bimbocore, Next Level: Scene Queen On Battling Elitism in Metal

Photo credit: Nikki Haney If you’ve existed anywhere near the worlds of rock and metal over the past few years, you’ve most likely come across the name Scene Queen. The pink-clad provocateur has been loudly making a name for herself with a raucous, sexually-charged hybrid of rap-metal and bubblegum pop that she affectionately calls ‘bimbocore’.

Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Wednesday, 23 July 2025

The Setlist Draft: Curating Our Perfect Deftones Show

Photo: Jimmy Fontaine Alt-metal icons Deftones are back in a big way, with their 10th album inbound alongside a slate of UK and Ireland arena dates that will be of interest to anyone who likes their moshing served with a side of yearning, sexy sadness and existential questioning. ‘Private Music’ (very Deftones title, you have to admit) is poised to land on August 22, with shows following in Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester, Dublin, Cardiff and London early next year (tickets are on sale at 9am local time on July 18). In the latest edition of the Setlist Draft we call up a few names that we’d like to see included when the lights go down.

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Thursday, 17 July 2025

'This Has Been a 10 Year Endeavour': Karnivool on Album Four and Headlining Arctangent

Photo: Tobias Sutter Is it possible for a band to make a comeback when they technically never went anywhere? If it is, then Karnivool are doing it. Four years since the arrival of their last single and 12 since their last album, the Australian prog-metal luminaries have just released a new song called Drone and are gearing up for a mammoth headline appearance at Arctangent festival in August. 

Written by: Matt Mills | Date: Wednesday, 16 July 2025

Everyone's Watching: Nxdia on Their Buzzy Debut Mixtape and Festival Season

Since the release of their 2020 debut single Eyes On Me, Nxdia’s star has been rising. The Egypt-born, Manchester-raised singer-songwriter’s upbringing on Fall Out Boy, P!NK and My Chemical Romance is wonderfully evident in their brand of self-anointed “chaos pop”, combining emo and pop-punk with bubblegum hooks and flecks of indie-rock, rap and grunge. 

Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Tuesday, 15 July 2025

'I Want It To Mean Something': Amy Macdonald on 'Is This What You've Been Waiting For?'

Photo: Olivia Rose  Before they’d heard a note of Amy Macdonald’s first new record in five years, you can imagine the singer’s devoted followers uttering a slightly frustrated ‘definitely’ when they read the album’s wink-wink title. But after getting to grips with ‘Is This What You've Been Waiting For?’, they’ll surely settle for the old adage that good things come to those who wait.

Written by: Simon Ramsay | Date: Thursday, 10 July 2025

To Be Hopeful: Gwenno on Las Vegas, Irreverent Pop and 'Utopia'

Photo: Clare Marie Bailey Gwenno Saunders has lived many lives. A very quick potted history: born in Cardiff to a Cornish-language poet father and Welsh translator mother, she spent her late teens working as a Irish dancer in Las Vegas, before rising to musical fame with noughties indie-pop act The Pipettes while living in London and Brighton.

Written by: Tom Morgan | Date: Wednesday, 09 July 2025

Getting Down With Getdown Services

Photo: Siôn Marshall-Waters A Thursday night in Cardiff can be an odd one. Student night lands on a Wednesday and it’s not quite Friday, so most of the bars are peaking with the odd after-work pint. The only real noise is coming from a resilient acoustic guitarist playing Mrs Robinson to a barren Vodka Revs. Until you swing into Womanby Street, that is. 

Written by: James Palaczky | Date: Thursday, 03 July 2025

Favourite Haunts: Scaler, Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band, Autocamper on the Small Venues They Love

Clockwise from left: Scaler, Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band, Autocamper Welcome to the second edition of Favourite Haunts, our newish feature celebrating small venues, community spaces and the bands who play them. This time around we hear from Bristol’s industrial-leaning experimentalists Scaler, future Americana greats Ryan Davis and the Roadhouse Band, and Manchester indie-poppers Autocamper, who’ll all be on tour supporting excellent new records in the coming months. Head below to find out which rooms occupy a place close to their hearts. 

Written by: Huw Baines | Date: Wednesday, 02 July 2025

'You've Got To Do What's Important To You': Sarah Blasko Talks Growth, Hope and Her UK Live Plans

Photo: Mauro Images Sarah Blasko’s extraordinary, candid album ‘I Just Need to Conquer This Mountain’ found the Australian songwriter tackling goodbyes, grief, friendships and new beginnings as she let go of her younger self. Released at the end of last year, it was recently accompanied by a live recording of these remarkable songs captured at Sydney’s Factory Theatre, while she will perform the album in full at four UK dates in early July.

Written by: Jeremy Blackmore | Date: Friday, 27 June 2025

'Heavy and Chaotic and Overwhelming': Kaonashi On Their New Album and UK Tour

Credit: Dazey Doom “What the fuck?” Kaonashi drummer Ryan ‘Pao’ Paolilli says out of nowhere midway through our talk. “Sorry, this gas station we’re at is fucked up.”

Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Thursday, 26 June 2025

Oasis, Lady Gaga and You: Stereoboard's Guide To The Best Tours In The Second Half of 2025

Summer is well and truly here, and with it the usual festival shenanigans, but there are also countless massive, exciting shows away from those muddy fields throughout the coming months. The rest of 2025 is a star-studded affair for live music and we've got the perfect one-stop guide to make sure you don't miss a single minute of it.

Written by: Stereoboard | Date: Monday, 23 June 2025

'Them's The Cards': Billy Nomates On Resilience, Playing Live and 'Metalhorse'

Photo: Jack Dallas-Chapman On June 23, 2023, Tor Maries played to the biggest crowd of her career at Glastonbury. Just three days later, she was asking the BBC to delete the footage of her performance from socials and stating that there would not be any more live shows from Billy Nomates, a project that had sparked into life in 2020 off the back of some perfectly-observed post-punk social commentary. “It’s fucking weird to wake up in the morning and have Steve from wherever-the-fuck go, ‘Somebody shoot this white trash’,” Maries reflects. 

Written by: Jack Butler-Terry | Date: Thursday, 12 June 2025

Now Is The Time: Sleep Token's Rise To Download Headliners

For decades, rock and metal festival line ups around the world have leaned heavily on legacy. Colossal acts forged during Monsters of Rock’s golden years have endured, reliably drawing massive crowds, but their days of anchoring major events appear to be numbered. As we anticipate the retirement of the old guard, the passing of the torch is not only inevitable — it’s already happening.

Written by: Jon Stickler | Date: Tuesday, 10 June 2025

Five Bands We Can't Wait To See At Outbreak London

Photo: Alexis Gross Breathe it in: an olfactory symphony of food trucks, beer burps and eau de chemical loo signalling that we are truly in the thick of festival szn. And what’s more exciting than a brand new event to add to your diary? Nothing, that’s what.

Written by: Sophie Pengelly | Date: Thursday, 05 June 2025

No Rest: Nu-Metallers Tetrarch On Impressing Their Heroes And Their First European Tour

“I’m feeling a good kind of exhaustion,” smiles Diamond Rowe, the lead guitarist of Atlanta nu-metal revivalists Tetrarch. “I’d rather be doing this than something I completely hate.”

Written by: Matt Mills | Date: Tuesday, 03 June 2025

Baby Steps: Mothica on Sobriety, 'Kissing Death' and Returning To Live Music

CW: This interview contains references to suicide and substance use. Mothica has been through a lot. The rising alt-pop star’s albums to date have chronicled struggles with mental health, addiction and more, while last year’s ‘Kissing Death’ revolved around her own relationship with mortality. A concept piece about having a relationship with a personification of death, it was fleshed out into a full visual album earlier this year after its creator got out of rehab, her creative fires burning bright.

Written by: Will Marshall | Date: Monday, 02 June 2025

The Setlist Draft: Curating Our Perfect Pulp Show

Photo: Tom Jackson Pulp are finally giving us ‘More’. After 24 years, Jarvis Cocker’s anti-Britpop icons have  announced a new studio album, promising more endearingly awkward jams about the working class day-to-day. The release will be accompanied by an arena-sized tour across the UK and Ireland, which will kick off in Glasgow on June 7 before swinging through Dublin, London, Birmingham, Manchester and later Sheffield, with a massive homecoming planned for Tramlines at Hillsborough Park.

Written by: Matt Mills | Date: Thursday, 29 May 2025

'I'm Already Over It': Spellling on Restless Creativity, 'Portrait of My Heart' and a First UK Tour

Photo: Stephanie Pia Spellling’s passion for making music is literally a part of her. When Chrystia Cabral video calls me from her living room in Oakland, the singer-songwriter’s piano is in the background to her left. Inside of it is an engraving of a flower. She doesn’t know who left it there but, after years of playing the instrument, she got the symbol tattooed on her throat — as close to her vocal cords as she could. “My poor mom was like, ‘What are you doing?’” she says with a laugh. “But it felt like a sigil: a way to honour and solidify the path I set for myself. I feel like I found my voice and found a lot of freedom through having this thing to dedicate my life to.”

Written by: Matt Mills | Date: Tuesday, 27 May 2025

The View From The Merch Table: Himalayas

Photo: Andy Ford If you love music, your wardrobe is likely stuffed full of band shirts. You might have a bunch of hoodies or a cap or two as well, or maybe something even more eclectic than that. It’s a conversation starter with fellow fans, a way of announcing that you belong to a certain scene, and a way of shouting about bands you love. On top of that, it’s also a vital way of putting money in artists’ pockets at a time where making enough money is harder than ever. Put simply, it’s the lifeblood of music.

Written by: Emma Wilkes | Date: Monday, 19 May 2025