Matthew S. Horner On the Making Of ‘The Dark Room’
What was the creative process like for this particular 'The Dark Room?'
The process was to not let myself be restricted by insecure thoughts or self-talk really. I always have a ton on my mind. Music should be therapeutic. I did what I wanted to do on this rather than write what I thought would be popular or what labels wanted to hear. I just got tired of feeling like I was writing to suit. This is me locking myself in my studio which is a small room with deep purple lights and a mellow atmosphere and a pink neon light that reads "lets get weird" surrounded by the merch from bands I love and souvenirs from travels.
Can you talk about the recording and production process for 'The Dark Room?'
I switched to mic'ing up my guitar amps and creating my own tones with a tube amp and my Epiphone goth thunderbird bass. The guitars are two Les Paul's that I love to use. I typically start with drums and build off of them with rhythm guitar then bass and leads then vocals.
Production is all my friend and producer Adam Buckley. He is in the U.K. and I am in the U.S. so it's a lot of email. I have never been as excited and shocked by the things he does. He just gets me musically.
Which song do you like the best and why?
This is really tough... it would be a toss-up between "storms" because it is by far the most exciting and therapeutic song I've put together. It's also one of the most personal songs. It felt great to get the past off my chest and add a motivational verse to it. I also love "dark heart" because it is pure honesty from me. An inner look at who I am and how I move forward. I will always have a pop punk dad element to me cause I am a dad and grew up with bands like Blink182. That’s what "Dark heart" brings to the table.
What inspired you to pursue a career in music?
I don’t know if I'd call it a career... I’m pretty small potatoes at this point. I just love music. It’s the universal language of life. I’m still learning and always will. I'd love for people to know my music. Really, I just want to leave something behind after my time is up.
Are there any specific themes or messages that you aim to convey through your music?
Just to let loose and don't hold anything back. Don't write for anyone but yourself. If you like it then write it. There will always be haters and harsh criticism. That's perfectly acceptable. Music is subjective. As long as you dig it then you're doing just fine.
Bvrden Releases “Indigo”
“Indigo” is Bvrden’s fifth single, an energetic rock tune that draws inspiration from both early 2000’s alternative/punk rock music and modern rock ’n’ roll, merging powerful instrumental arrangements with uplifting lyrics into a dynamic track that tirelessly grows from beginning to end.
The song is formed by both acoustic and electric instruments, varying from acoustic guitars that lay the melodic structure of the whole to electric guitars and bass that reinforce the explosiveness of the sound, as well as a fast-paced drum’s performance and a tight melodic work between lead vocals and harmonies. Contextually, “Indigo” is about fighting for one’s own purpose and finding the strength to build the desired path, while not being led off course by judgement and fears of others.
BVRDEN ARE A POP/ROCK DUO BASED IN LONDON, UK.
ORIGINALLY BORN IN ROME IN 2020 FROM A LONG-TIME MUSICAL FRIENDSHIP, BVRDEN AIMS TO BLEND PASSIONATE AND DYNAMIC ROCK TUNES WITH HEARTFELT LYRICS, INSPIRED BY SEVERAL GENRES AND INDUCED BY AN ABSOLUTE LOVE FOR SONGWRITING.
BVRDEN PROPOSES AN OUTLOOK ON THE EVERYDAY LIFE’S FEELINGS, JOYS AND ADVERSITIES, PLACING THEMSELVES IN VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES OF STORYTELLING AND DELIVERING BOTH FAST-PACED POWERFUL RHYHMS AND PLEASANT ACOUSTIC MELODIES.
darkmaterial On the Making Of “Lucky Charm”
What was the creative process like for this particular "Lucky Charm?"
The song was written by combining the idea of a large breakdown with repetitive droning sections and the idea of writing a chorus section without lyrics.
The lyrics for the song are written for the perspective of a 'Lucky Charm' to its owner.
I was looking to make something dark but hopeful which the band brought to life in this song.
What did you enjoy most about making "Lucky Charm?"
Lucky Charm was actually the first song we recorded together professionally as a band. The whole experience was amazing. Working with Jack at the Pyramid Studies was an absolute pleasure and discovering the things that we could do in track-by-track recording was fantastic.
How do you feel "Lucky Charm" represents your artistic identity?
The song captures the cosmic horror theme of the band combined with the relatable every day of having a lucky object. Musically it shows the unique dark sound we are building on as a band combining heavy metal, alt-rock, and post-rock elements together. We are particularly pleased with the extended breakdown section of this track and the song is great fun for the whole band to play live!
Where do you find inspiration for your songs or musical ideas?
I find inspiration in the everyday. I have folders of lyric ideas on my phone that I am adding to all the time from the things that I experience in the world around me.
Musically, we're drawing from a wide variety of inspirations. Some of the strongest are in the guitar-driven heavy metal power of Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden, as well as from atmospheric post-rock. We also have a big influence from riff-rock and alt-rock. Bands like Muse and BMTH are big influences on the sound.
Lyrically I always look to Simon and Garfunkel, Alex Turner, and Dio as major influences. They all have a particular power in bringing the everyday to life which is something that I try to capture in my lyrics as well.
Can you share a valuable lesson or piece of advice that you have learned along your musical journey?
There are two:
Practice, practice, practice
Always be promoting
Moth Releases “Ricochet”
Moth's latest single has long proved its popularity among their loyal fanbase, drawn to dingy pub basements by their guitar-driven tunes - like a moth to a flame - with an instant live reaction at every show to the signature guitar screams in the intro, setting the tone for what’s to come. Complimented by the following lead guitar verses reminiscent of 80s Motor-head. Combined with the brash and unforgiving vocal style of frontman Ciaran Brennan, creates a soundscape explicit enough to forget the sorrowful yet radio-friendly nature of the lyrics of the track.
Moth has been refining their recorded sound with the production of ‘Ricochet, the next addition to their fast-growing catalogue of contributions toward the great grunge revival. A resurgence evident from bands such as Softcult, Drug Church, and Basement, and the chaotic excitement that fills a room whenever Moth plays live.
Independent Record label Pool Valley sent Moth to Brightons prolific Metway Studios to ensure fan favourite Ricochet carries the same raucous energy from the live version over to wax, and the result is undeniably impactful.
Tom Auton “Go Back”
“Go Back” features a characteristic Tame Impala guitar riffs against a dark atmosphere. The pulsation and movements of the song’s grooviness then confronts the inescapable spiral storytelling. Crawling out from the dark corner where one spends dwelling on one’s own mistakes, “Go Back” explores the concept of overthinking and being trapped in your own creation of mental prison.
Like Muse meets Royal Blood meets sprawling psychedelia, the latest release from Tom Auton is an ever-evolving audio-visual masterpiece that amusingly fuses rock, ambient, noise and pop in a sonic cauldron. Known for creating something extraordinary out of thin air, Auton takes full creative control over his project. From crafting sounds to sculpting layers to giving everything a final retouch, “Go Back” was created and produced from Auton’s home studio.
In 2018, his hit single “Mother Mary” sealed his status as one of UK’s most exciting up coming rock acts. The artist ventures into 2023 with the plans to release more original material. With four new singles and an EP on the way. From May to July, Auton will showcase “Go Back” on three shows and five festivals.
The Hybris “The Game Of Cat And Mouse”
“The Game Of Cat And Mouse” darts across the globe wearing capes of dark knight palettes, hitting hard rock, shooting out retro comic webs to fight villains and wicked forces. Though The Hybris have always been a force of anti-heroes, fast-paced, undeterred, thrilling, breath-taking,and just in time for a crime rescue, “The Game Of Cat And Mouse” sees them really stepping into their superhero persona—that’s what they are, saving the world with their grits and wits.
“The Game Of Cat And Mouse” continues the heroes’ journey, arriving more than ever timely, speaking out and aloud about social disparity and injustice. Unlike the punks who fight powers with torches and riots, rushing in heart-racing backbeats, The Hybris are more vigilant and aggressive. Due to the nature of crime, the measure of extreme is called upon. Laced with metal, charged by the raw attitude of punk, and at last, not forget a hint of grace and style to separate them from unmannered ravagers, “The Game Of Cat And Mouse” is a mixture of precision, captivity, brutal honesty and in-your-face rawness.
They don’t have to explain anything to anyone, they see a problem and are simply here to do something about it.
The latest track sees a maturity and confidence in The Hybris’ sound. In the past, one can always spot the ghosts in their sound—sometimes, you find a section that beams out a Red Hot Chilli Pepper vibe, or in the other times, you begin to compare them with My Chemical Romance, Joy Division, Billy Talent and such. “The Game Of Cat And Mouse” is completely The Hybris. They remind you of no one but themselves, the hard rock superheroes here to save the world, at the same time, save your ears from bad music.
Torchbearer “Vindication”
Hard as nails, soaring, in-your-face hardcore—that only begins to describe the sonic majesty of “Vindication.” Dedicated to Torchbearer’s bassist Mo Bashir’s late brother, the track contemplates the depth of life and loss, subjects that are not often time discovered amongst heavy metal music. Torchbearer is committed to making their music as smashing and progressive as they are meaningful. Like “Vindication,” every song they make has a special and personal bond to them, and for the listeners, it’s a world better with their music. And when the song ends, it feels like something is missing.
The South UK metal outfit leaves quite an impression for the first times, but through the course of the entire song, they change your perspective of metal music. Yes, they deliver an overwhelmingly mind-blowing sonic experience, but what you remember about their music is mostly about how you connect to them. The tangled up emotions get to the surface. The dreams and demons are roaring free. They forge a space for these to breathe openly, and they untangle bone-deep experiences that leave a mark in your soul.
“Vindication” leads to their highly-anticipated forthcoming record Warrior, coming out later this year. The records cover much personal topics such as bereavement, anxiety, trauma, insecurity and self-accountability, but theme, as its name predicts, are about triumph and overcoming.
Attendant “Mortal Coil”
Scuzzy, heavy, nihilistic, bleak and just pure chaos. From one of UK’s most exciting rising rock band, Attendant, “Mortal Coil” proves that they can do anything they set their minds to.
With a strange vision of apocalypse and the annihilation of the human race, “Mortal Coil” finds its first sound in the shape of a voice note on songwriter Andy Walker’s phone. The initial idea might have been too heavy in their taste, but with Cleopatrick and Deftones chiming in as muses and Nevil Shute’s On The Beach as a spiritual guide, “Mortal Coil” took off and landed unexpected with an unconventional two-act structure and the runtime of 5:20.
Blowingly loud and ominously lofi. Disobedient interference and wild experimentations resulted in an end-of-the-world commotion and destruction. The lyrics of “Mortal Coil” journals through different coping mechanisms while the drums filtered through distortion pedals. They tuned the guitars down to Drop A and let imagination and feelings take over.
“Mortal Coil” is the darkest and the most experimental fans of Attendant have ever experienced. It signals versatility and ambition in the time of change. “We’d like to keep people guessing what we’re going to do next,” said Walker. “This is a side to us that people won’t have heard before. Heavier, darker, more theatrical.”
Aurora By Noon “Black Crosses in the Sun”
Aurora By Noon is an exceptional international ensemble with a vision to create music without borders. Genres and styles come together and spark new conversations in Black Crosses in the Sun—the Aurora By Noon debut album coming fiercely forward with twelve unforgettable music experiences, mending the bridge between past and present.
Drawing from classic influences, the songs in Black Crosses in the Sun create time capsules that evoke a sense of nostalgia while remaining untouched by time. However, modernity is unmistakenly woven into these golden palettes, creating a collage of rhythms, grooves and vivid melodic visuals. Approaching the rock genre with respect, Black Crosses in the Sun honors the genre’s rich history while stepping into the conversation of its future.
The visionary record sees an intricate, masterful work of fusion that hosts each individual ideas and allows them to fly even higher. The organic exchange of love and passion is so rich in the music that it feels infectious. The lyrics, coming from the space of introspection and history, carry much weight and poetry. Its poignant beauty and unapologetic evocation feel refreshing and transcending.
Aurora By Noon is a phenomenon band. They certainly create some noise in the world with a message much needs to be heard.
Emily Mac “Kills Me To Love You”
Emily Mac pulls the hard punches in “Kills Me To Love You,” loaded (pun intended) and fire. With darkly satisfying explosive-sensitive percussion and hard-hitting lyrics, “Kills Me To Love You” is wickedly empowering with sinister guitars crawling in the background, not without a hint from Mac’s haunting blues phantom.
Her words are sharp, like swords piercing through pages of lies. “Kills Me To Love You” is disillusioned, channeling the inner bad girl, pointing a middle finger at the ex. From punchy beats, dirty guitar licks, to sexy sassy punk allure, “Kills Me To Love You” unleashes two mountains of burden. Though flamboyant and black in color, the vulnerable lines in the track hit harder than ever: “I died in your arms,” “It kills me to love you.”
The imagery of dying is fully accompanied by gunfire in the sounds. There’s violence and darkness in “Kills Me To Love You,” but it’s not there on its own. Instead, it originated from a trauma that one seeks to put behind. In a way, “Kills Me To Love You” is bleak, much like the way how early blues documented the truth in the barebones of a song. Perhaps there’s no proper way to vocalize the dark places that one journeys to after having endured something traumatizing, but “Kills Me To Love You” understands it. The track gets there through vivid sonic symbolism that hits where it hurts, so that it may heal.
Mac offers a much-needed catharsis and closure to an unfortunate end. Sometimes, when the hurt is deep, forgiveness isn’t enough. There’s a need for resolution, a need for justice and fairness, a need to tell one’s story. “Kills Me To Love You” punches through the anger and hurt. And with Mac’s eerily haunting blues in the mix of hard rock, she gives listeners a moment alone, punching a hole through these dark thoughts.
Punk Head: I love how you explored darker themes such as toxic relationships and heartbreak in "Kills Me to Love You." The intimacy and the lyrics hit me quite hard. What was the creative progress like?
Emily Mac: It means a lot to me that my lyrics connected with you. Writing and recording “Kills Me To Love You” was intense, I was working through the trauma that past relationships had left on me and realizing that my desire for love had led me down some dark paths. Being a very empathic person it’s easy for me to take other people’s energies on as my own. So with this song, I gave that darkness back and took my power back. I feel like no matter what hard stuff you go through in life you can always walk away and start over.
PH: Hitting 50K stream with your first 2 singles is quite an achievement. How do you feel about this initial success?
Mac: It makes me so happy to see that so many people around the world are listening to and connecting with my music. It’s wild ‘cause when I was recording this album we were still in a partial pandemic lockdown and the world felt super small. I look forward to reaching even more people with my music and getting to meet them at my live shows.
PH: Can you tell us more about you as an artist?
Mac: When I’m the best version of myself, I’m channeling my experiences into art. The world is both beautiful and broken and a lot of things don’t make sense to me… but what does is music, connection: humanity. Sometimes I find it hard to express everything I want to say in my day-to-day life so I put it in a song. Rock is the perfect outlet for my emotions because it's raw and rebellious at its heart.
PH: Who are your biggest inspirations?
Mac: There are many. Some of my classic rock inspirations are Heart, The Rolling Stones and Stevie Nicks. I’m also really inspired by Dorothy, The Rival Sons and Beware of Darkness.
PH: What would like to say to your fans out there?
Mac: You are not alone, everything about you is ok; the dark parts, the weird parts and the sassy sexy parts. Be your free wild self and on the days that life feels hard turn up the volume on your rock music and let it lift you up.
Ruby Nixxons “Set Me on Fire”
Rock trio Ruby Nixxons unleash their hard-hitting second single, “Set Me on Fire,” following their heartfelt debut “Keep on Keeping On,” returning to the core of what makes rock n roll great. The new track lays more the heavy side, with psychological guitar riff, soaring vocal and flaming chorus. Elevating and escalating, “Set Me on Fire” is really to storm the world with its raw, irresistible energy.
With “Set Me on Fire” playing on the background, you don’t need no alcohol to get drunk. The rich atmosphere and stadium-filling vibe is already able to make a crowd go crazy, forgetting about themselves in the music. Ruby Nixxons’ anthemic chorus is probably one of the best of the best about this track. They don’t shy away from hitting it hard and true. As a song about irresitibility, it does exactly that to listeners.
The way guitar riff plays out with the recurring chorus and verse structure feels like a mad sonic poetry on its own. The six-minute song gets under your skin and ignites your primal desire to scream and move along with it. Even though “Set Me on Fire” is a studio version, it brings a natural quality of a live performance to it that feels authentic and spiritually transforming.
The metal-infused solo is pretty maddening, a little polyrhythm in the mix to spices things up. Ruby Nixxons also play with the different pacing of speed through the track, which takes collective effort. Although it’s longer than most songs, the track takes listeners on an emotional roller coaster, one never lack of the fun of high and low.
Kinghorn “Kinghorn” EP
Pairing with the melancholy dreamfulness of shoegaze, Kinghorn evoke so many different feelings and visual imageries in this project.
Kinghorn Unleash Post-Punk Shoegazing Bangers in “Kinghorn” EP
I fucking love this EP. There, I said it. For anyone who craves the destruction, extremity, and experimentation of grunge and post-punk, Kinghorn will hit that spot hard and good. Pairing with the melancholy dreamfulness of shoegaze, Kinghorn evoke so many different feelings and visual imageries in this project.
Screaming of a storm, the album opener “Now Is All We Need” is a statement and a declaration of what they are capable of doing. “1:30 Am” taps into loneliness and depression with a speck of introspection. The soundscape starts to change and develop further in “Black Sea,” where it surpasses personal emotions into something grand and impressionistic. The track brings out a very unique quality where the vocals and the instruments have all smashed into the mixture of a canvas. “Sadless” instantly contrasts “Black Seia” in a fresh and unapologetic manner. It turns into the struggles and conflicts that are still raw and sharp.
“I Am Now” turns to noise and impressionistic industrial experimentation where the chaotic, flickers of sounds fly in the wind, indistinctive at first, and then a blurry scream or a distant note started to emerge, and then the percussion slowly recalls the order. “I Am Now” is undoubtedly an immersive track in this EP.
“Death Secrets” and “Pariah” take on a darker built-up spiraling inwards and land on an emotional high with post-rock aesthetic in “Drugs.” Kinghorn saved the best to the very last. Captivating and haunting melodies with the constant ring of fast stroke electric guitar passage. “Drug” is one track that you definitely don’t want to miss in this album.
Strangelight “The World Needs Laughter”
The World Needs Laughter was a cathartic experience that was almost moving and contagious at the same time.
Strangelight Unleashes Cathartic Bangers on The World Needs Laughter
When I listened to Strangelight’s The World Needs Laughter for the very first time, I immediately felt a great deal of release and understanding from the band and their music. The World Needs Laughter was a cathartic experience that was almost moving and contagious at the same time. Strangelight dives into the unfulfilled needs and overdue emotions and lets them out in a complete, full-length release. From the very first sound to the last, they never disappoint.
The level of intensity and energy is so perfectly choreographed into the change of aspects throughout the tracks. “To Do List” is about the endless, life-long tasks that one is constantly on the chase to fulfill, yet all it does is to add up to the underachieved disappointment one has towards himself.
“Headache Aesthetic” pays attention to the modern over-caffeinated, underslept toxic lifestyle that is on the loop to repeat itself day after day. “Lead Blanket” talks about the futility of work, while the end track “The World Needs Laughter” offers a compassionate aspect towards the overall situation.
Through shedding light onto those common frustrations and anxieties that are so often overlooked in adult life yet affect our mental and physical health, Strangelight’s music is a place where those feelings are validated and then released into the air.
Contagious beat, cathartic noise, and a great deal of banging distortion create this environment where the negative, unwelcomed, ugly, unfulfilled aspects of thoughts and emotions get to fully resonate, and that itself offers a very effective healing effect and emotional satisfaction.
Acoustically, the different shapes of extremes vibrate and create frictions between one and another. and present a unique and immersive sonic universe.
Written by Katrina Yang