Bebe Stockwell Is Not Who You Expect 

Posted on by joshwurz

Most musicians, by nature, are introverts. This is not a generalization. This is what I have learned after thousands of interviews with artists from Aretha and Adele to ZZ Top and Warren Zevon. 

So, armed with this first-hand experience over decades, when I sat down with self-proclaimed folkie Bebe Stockwell, she of the quiet, introspective, lovely folk songs, I thought I knew exactly what to expect – a thoughtful, soft-spoken, shy singer/songwriter. Well, you know what they say about assuming, for good reason. 

The Los Angeles-based Stockwell is indeed thoughtful, but soft-spoken and shy? Definitely not, as I found out talking to her. Bebe Stockwell — EDM fan, extrovert who laughs constantly — is quite unexpected in a very fun way.

Hit Parader: Congratulations on the project! Listening to “When You Know,” I love the idea of you saying, “It’s not like in the movies.” And yet, every person has that picture of what falling in love with the movies is like. So, when you think of falling in love, what movie do you think of?

Bebe Stockwell: I think of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, or Notting Hill. Which, to me, is like movies I grew up on where I was like, “Oh, it’s going to be that easy.” I also do love rom coms. I think rom coms are blowing up right now, too. There are just so many movies about love and stuff. So, I was talking to my friends. We have this couch we all sit on, my friends in L.A., we usually watch rom coms, and [since] it’s really hard to date in L.A., we were all like, “Oh God, I wish it was this easy.” It’s a classic tale for single girls being, “Oh, I wish it was like how it was in the movies, but it’s the movies.”

HP: If you could live in any rom com and make music there, what would it be?

Stockwell: It would have to be Notting Hill because I have such a love for London that I would want to be in that movie. I would want to either be busking on the street or something. Yeah, I think Notting Hill would be a fun one. It’s a great movie; it makes me cry. I watch it every single time I’m on the airplane. Every single time. 

HP: How’s the European tour going? Have you been surprised by songs and the responses to them?

Stockwell: Yeah, I think because a lot of them I haven’t really shown the world yet because the record’s coming out tonight. I think I’ve played we played “Out of Line,” which is a song I haven’t put out yet and people have loved that live. It’s been really cool to see the response to that, maybe it’s the rhythm but I think people like the story of it and they like the rhythm of it. It’s different usage of my voice. I feel like I can sing really low but, in that song, I say it’s like a vocal warm-up almost because I start so low, then I go really high and then I go back down. So, to me, that song has surprised me how the crowd reacts. “New England Regret” I always say that I’m from New England or Boston, it depends which city I’m in. But people who are from New England really resonate with that song, which is really special to me because that’s why I wrote it, for the people back home. So that song, it was nice to see a reaction from the crowd. When I was writing it, I was listening to a bunch of songs about New England because I wrote the song and I was like, “What else is out there that is about where I’m from? They’re all such cute songs. When you listen to a song about New England all the songs are very “guitar-ian,” except there are a bunch of punk songs about Boston. But I feel like a summer New England song is very familiar.

Cred. Katherine Goguen

HP: Do you feel like having moved away and getting a little older you are feeling closer to New England and those roots?

Stockwell: I’ve always felt close to it. It’s an awesome place. I grew up with my grandparents living on the same street as me and for Christmas we just walked down the street. Then my other grandparents were across the park. So, everyone knows each other there.  I’m always one person, if that, away from knowing someone. It’s so small and I think people are so with it and so fun. And everyone knows how have a good time. It’s my favorite city. And I think as I get older, I am pulled back to it a lot. And I do see myself going back as I get older, but I’m too young. It’s a very chill city. So, I’m excited to go back.

HP: What made you move to L.A.?

Stockwell: I actually was going to move to London. The year before, I went abroad in London. And I was like, “Oh, I really want to move to London. I really like it here.” And I had a group of friends from NYU that had moved to L.A. and they were just having so much fun. At the point I just signed, and my best friend had moved to L.A. I followed her. I was like, “I need to go where she is.” And now we live right behind each other. I think it was more a decision of like, “Where are my friends at right now? Where’s the music at?” I felt good about that decision and I’m lucky that I get to come to London a good amount too now, so I get the best of both worlds.

HP: I find environment very much affects writing and recording so if you had moved to London do you this would have been a whole different project?

Stockwell: I made the record in Woodstock, so I wasn’t even in L.A. for all of it. I was just in the woods and Boston. I left for a really long chunk of time. I wrote all the songs before and then I took them to a producer named David Barron. He’s so lovely and we it was awesome, we just jammed out to all these ideas, and he brought new musicians in every day. I met a lot of new people, which I haven’t done before. I haven’t met as many musicians in my life as I met this year, so that was a super special moment.

HP: What made it so special?

Stockwell: I was friendly with David, so I trusted whoever he brought in and everyone who came in was just a really lovely person and so nice and so talented. So, just to be able to jam out and talk about ideas freely and also in the meantime randomly jam out and make new songs, it was just about having fun. If I’m not having fun, I can tell and it affects me. I talk about this with my friends a lot and it’s important to have fun. I had a very good time making this record.

HP: What was the most fun show you’ve been to? 

Stockwell: I’ve been to two Olivia Dean shows and those have always been my favorite. A Lumineers show and Olivia Dean show have been all-time favorite shows because they’re just having so much fun on stage. Also, I love her outfits and the vibe. And I think feeling comfortable on stage is so hard. I just saw her play her last show at the O2. It was incredible. They were just having so much fun on stage, and I think that the audience could feel that. I was like, “Oh, I hope my show feels like this to the audience.”

HP: When I’m looking at songs like “Going to the Country” or “Wild Love” they feel very quiet and natural, so I pictured you as more of a shyer folk artist?

Stockwell: No, I’m not shy at all. I’m being tame right now. I guess every person who listens to the music is going to probably have their own perception of who I am as an artist. Yeah, those songs, I guess they are introspective. They’re a story and it is a soft record in a way. It’s a nice, soft feeling and vibe. A lot of my artist friends are so not introverted that I always just think everyone’s just out there like that.

HP: Which of your songs would you most love to have remixed and by who?

Stockwell: I would want Calvin Harris to remix “Ant Farm” and make it into like a summer beat. Then, it’s like, “Let’s go swimming in the river creek.” He’s someone I grew up listening to. I feel like I listened to a lot of Diplo and Becky Hill. I loved Becky Hill, for a second, I was like, “Do I want to be Becky Hill? She’s so cool.” Jess Glynne, her voice and Becky Hill’s voice were my favorite voices of the era of listening to pop EDM music. As much as I grew up on jazz, folk and Americana, there was that intermission of EDM music. The lyrics of EDM songs are so simple, yet they make me feel so much when I need it.

Listen to her new album here and catch her on tour here.

Bea on ‘Off Campus’ and Speaking Her Truth

Posted on by joshwurz

Having the song “Rich” on the white-hot Amazon series Off Campus, British artist Bea jokes about going Hollywood. She finds herself spending more time in L.A. “I made it,” she says laughing. “Well, maybe. I feel like being here you get a bit of energy, like the sun’s shining. Life’s good. Life’s always good when it’s hot. It’s cool to be in California when everything feels like it’s bubbling up, which is exciting. And yeah, it’s always great to be here. I was here earlier on in the year doing some writing as well. So, I’ve already been twice this year, which is kind of crazy.” 

As a 22-year-old with a song taking off thanks to a hit series, you’d expect Bea to be partying at Chateau Marmont, hitting clubs, living the party life. So, what does she do first when she gets to Hollywood? 

“I always go straight to Beverly Hills Cookies, to be honest. And I get the Dubai chocolate cookie. Then I go to Crumble Cookie, and I order anything Dubai chocolate style related from there. apart from that, probably another cookie related thing because I’m obsessed,” she says. “I’m such a sucker for a viral trend. Yesterday, I tried the crispy tuna rice from Erewhon. I was like, ‘Yeah, this is what it’s about.’

Bea may be young and riding the Off Campus crest, but she has an extremely level head about her success. Maybe because all of this snuck up on her. In fact, she admits laughing, she forgot about the series at first.

“It’s one of those weird things I basically got an email six months ago saying, ‘Hey, there’s this new series Off Campus, they want to use your song. Are you cool with that?’ They send you the terms and you’re like, ‘Yeah sure.’ I didn’t really know what Off Campus was, I’d never read the books, I had no idea what it would turn into,” she says. “You approve it and then six months later it comes out. I didn’t even realize it had come out and suddenly I started getting all these texts like, ‘Oh, I just heard your song on Off Campus.’ I was like, ‘What is Off Campus?’ I was reading back through my emails and I was like, ‘Oh, no way, it’s that TV show. Okay I’ve got to go watch it.’ So, then I go to watch it and it’s in the first six minutes. I’m like, ‘That’s pretty cool.’ So, yeah, I almost forgot about it and then it resurfaced and it was pretty great. I guess it felt like a surprise even though I technically knew about it.”

Of course, a song’s success in a show or movie also depends on how it is used. Bea says the song was perfectly utilized. 

“It gave me a similar vibe because I guess she was slightly pied off. Hannah was in her independent era, cycling on the way to class, like having no time for boys kind of vibe, which is, I guess, in a similar vein to how I imagined the song. I was really sad when I wrote the song. And I guess I wrote the song in an attempt to find some sort of joy,” she says. “It was kind of used in a similar way in the show, which is nice. I wouldn’t say the lyrics are very obscure. I think if they were quite obscure and I’d left them open to interpretation, fine. But I feel like they’re quite direct.”

However, Bea recognizes and acknowledges that any song is open to interpretation. Take a song like Hall & Oates’ iconic “Sara Smile,” literally named after Daryl Hall’s girlfriend at the time, yet beloved by millions. So, even the most personal song, written to one person, can be reinterpreted and adopted by the whole world. To Bea, that is part of the beauty of music.

Cred. Edward Cooke

“Music’s one of the things that connects with people with such individuality, it’s so specific to how you’ve lived your life. As soon as you put out a song it’s not your song anymore, it’s theirs. When people hear a song, they don’t think of you, they think of them and it’s crazy how many people will message and be like, ‘This song changed my life for x, y and z reasons.’ You’re like, ‘That’s so cool that one of my songs that I wrote from this place could have such an impact on you in that alternate way.’ It’s just really powerful. And I feel like music’s one of the only things that really does that,” she says.

Growing up, what were the songs that had a similar impact on her?

“I was obsessed with ‘Jar of Hearts’ by Christina Perri. I feel like, for some reason, everyone was obsessed with that song,” she says. “But anyone who went to school with me will remember this: when I was nine years old, and I was so terrible at singing I don’t even know why I ever wanted to be a singer because I just had no hope whatsoever. But I basically started giving singing lessons to my peers at nine years old and teaching them ‘Jar of Hearts’ by Christina Perri in my break times. That was probably the song that had a lot of impact on me. I don’t know what I was going through to resonate to that song so deeply because it’s so sad. But clearly, I was going through it.”

Looking back on it, Bea doesn’t fully understand why such an intense and sad song resonated so deeply with her nine-year-old self, but she quips it might have something to do with the fact she sought the spotlight and was breaking hearts from a very young age.

“Honestly, it’s still pretty nonsensical to me. The song is like, ‘Who do you think you are running around leaving scars, collecting your jar of hearts, tearing love apart?’ That must have been a pretty bad heartbreak. Maybe it was a boy in the playground. I used to have quite a lot of young lovers back in the day. We used to play Lego in the playground and have fake marriages. Our friends would marry us off; we’d create fake wreaths and put them on our heads and have fake diamond rings. So, maybe he broke my heart and that’s what I was thinking of. My first divorce. It’s so heartbreaking,” she jokes. “What was pretty heartbreaking actually is I hosted a birthday party when I was eight and we basically went into this back room at my birthday party and we had our first kiss. And then all our friends walked in as we were kissing behind the curtain. Then I think he got really embarrassed and run off. That was the end of that. Maybe if I listen to my songs now and think of that situation, I could draw some parallels.”

If Bea sounds like she was a bit precocious as a child, she explains that it was her way of fighting through the crowd. “I’m the youngest of four. And I think when you’re the youngest of four, you’ve got to fight for your voice to be heard and make them think that you’re not totally useless,” she says.

Ultimately, those early experiences with emotion helped teach Bea about the importance of open, vulnerable songwriting. When she thinks of the music that reaches through the crowd and speaks to her, it is music that screams authenticity. 

“I fucking love honest artists,” she says excitedly. “It’s like Hayley Williams, Lily Allen, Regina Spector, Fiona Apple. I just read all the lyrics. I just find it so fascinating when people are like, ‘This is it,’ like Kate Bush. There are so many, like Amy Winehouse. She’s so punchy and direct and poetic, but it just feels like she’s just saying, she doesn’t give a shit about anything else going on around her.”

It taught her how to always speak her truth as artist. “I just try and write things that fulfill me and try and fulfill an emotion that I’m thinking, and I just want things to always be brutally honest. I’ve always been brutally honest, growing up as a kid, I’ve never really been afraid to speak my mind whether that’s for good or for bad. I just want to try and incubate that and never lose the ability to be as honest as I can just because of what other people might be thinking. I’m trying to navigate that at the moment,” she says proudly. 

Cartel Announces First New Album in 13 Years

Posted on by joshwurz

Alternative-rock/ pop punk mainstays Cartel have announced their first new full-length LP since 2013’s hit record Collider. The record, titled Learning How To Cope and set to release September 18th via Field Day Records, features the band’s two most recent singles, “Oxy Moron” and “Give Or Take”. Regarding the record, vocalist Will Pugh states…

“This music saved me. It helped me reconnect with empathy, with community and with the idea that everybody belongs. That ethos – honesty, openness,and taking care of your people – is what this record is built on. It feels different, but it still feels like Cartel.”

Alongside the album announcement, they’ve released two brand new tracks. The first is “Deadbeat Drag”, full of the beefiest guitars, punchy drums, and classic Cartel ferocity, with the second track “Shirts & Skins” released earlier this year via Bandcamp in the wake of the Minneapolis ICE murder, carrying the same punch: a heavy hitting dissonant intro, bitcrushed synths, and lyrics making it blatantly apparent they don’t plan on staying silent about the things that should be talked about. About “Shirts & Skins”, Pugh said…

“We’re way past the point of being able to sit back and just provide the safe space that people can go and get away from everything. Society has been doing that long enough and not having difficult conversations – and that’s just kind of over. If you’re not going to say something now, when are you ever going to fucking say something?”


Fans can expect to hear parts of the new album live, as the band is gearing up for a string of live performances, including festival appearances at Vans Warped Tour Montreal, Soundtrack Of Your Summer Festival, Riot Fest, Four Chord Music Festival, and Furnace Fest. The band also plans to celebrate the new record with a release-day show in Atlanta at both Shakey Knees Festival and a late-night album release show at the Masquerade. Furthermore, Cartel will serve as direct support for pop-punk mainstays State Champs starting in November for their Around The World And Back Again Tour.

Listen to “Deadbeat Drag” + “Shirts & Skins” here.

Get tickets for upcoming shows here.

Upcoming Festival Appearances
August 22 – Montreal, QC – Vans Warped Tour Montreal
August 29 – Boston, MA – Soundtrack of Your Summer Festival (w/ Boys Like Girls)
September 18 – Atlanta, GA – Shaky Knees
September 18 – Atlanta, GA – Album Release show at Masquerade (Purgatory) **
September 20 – Chicago, IL – Riot Fest
September 26 – Pittsburgh, PA – Four Chord Festival
October 10 – Birmingham, AL – Furnace Fest
** – Indicates headline show

Upcoming Tour Dates w/State Champs:
November 5 – Allentown, PA – Archer Music Hall
November 6 – Buffalo, NY – Riverworks
November 7 – Indianapolis, IN – Deluxe @ Old National Centre
November 8 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant
November 10 – Dallas, TX – Echo Lounge
November 12 – Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren
November 13 – Las Vegas, NV – Brooklyn Bowl
November 14 – Riverside, CA – Riverside Municipal Auditorium
November 15 – Sacramento, CA – Ace of Spades
November 17 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
November 18 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox
November 20 – Salt Lake City, UT – Rockwell at The Complex
November 21 – Denver, CO – Summit Music Hall
November 23 – Davenport, IA – Capitol Theatre
November 24 – Louisville, KY – Mercury Ballroom
November 25 – Columbus, OH – Newport Music Hall
November 27 – Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom
November 29 – Baltimore, MD – Nevermore Hall
December 1 – Richmond, VA – The National
December 3 – Nashville, TN – Brooklyn Bowl
December 5 – St. Petersburg, FL – Jannus Live
December 6 – Orlando, FL – House of Blues

Surviving to Create Something I Love: Des Rocs on To Hell and Back 

Posted on by joshwurz

Though the bustling streets, grimy clubs, and the never-ending skyline of New York are a place where music thrives most fruitfully, there’s a specific mentality that powerful modern rock band Des Rocs’ Danny Rocco still holds with him, even after all the years of success in the city: ‘Do or die.’

“There’s a certain survivalist mentality from my earliest years that continues to this day, and that’s just so integral to the DNA of the music. I put so much thought and care into every word and every note because you never know when it’ll be your last,” says Rocco, a line that resonates with most creatives at their core. Art is incredibly important and deeply personal, and when you’ve put this much heart into your craft as Rocco has, you are always going to give it your all. This directly ties to the themes in his most recent records of self-perseverance and ‘getting knocked down and getting back up.’ The questions of “Can I really do this thing? Can I really make music that I believe in, that I would fight and die for, and that I would tour all over the world for?” are posed by Rocco throughout the record but are easily answered once you just listen to the music: of course. 

Photo Cred. Sam McGIll

Des Rocs has always pushed the boundaries of rock ’n’ roll while paying homage to the greats who came before, which has helped him get noticed, share the stage with, and earn co-signs from some of the greats: The Rolling Stones, The Struts, and Muse, to name just a few. Channeling classic rock grit through a modern lens has always been Rocco’s forte, and it has never been more apparent than on their new record, To Hell and Back, releasing June 12th. An extension of everything Des Rocs, yet pushing the boundaries further, the record slaps you in the face with its powerful riffs but also asks you questions that might be tough to hear. Described as a ‘new chapter’ for Des Rocs, Rocco says that To Hell and Back differs from previous releases because, emotionally, it “deals a lot with physical pain and existential dread, and then also delves into the duality of the onstage performer versus the vulnerable human being offstage.” It also differs in sound because “we recorded it live as a band, and that was a big distinguishing factor.” 

Recording the whole band live in the studio felt like the only choice for Rocco, as he said, “We really wanted to capture the raw energy of the band that we have live, and it’s super electric, but it’s hard to pin down in the studio,” and what better way to capture the energy of a live band than to perform the record live. To “go off the grid (click),” to “not rely on technology,” to “not rely on copying and pasting,” to be able to “do the album as full takes front to back” allowed Rocco to do something that is difficult to put into words: “to capture that kind of intangible magic that defines so many of my favorite records.” Once you listen to it, you know exactly what he means; music is meant to be human, and music that feels human draws you in in an unexplainable fashion. 

Another thing on a long list of factors that really sets Des Rocs apart from the rest is Rocco’s vulnerability in his lyricism, which only adds to why his music connects with so many people. Self-described as “hard rock with a heart,” he states, “I love big, powerful, masculine riffs, and then I love to be extraordinarily personal and have a much more modern approach with the lyrics.” He adds, “To really connect with people, you have to reveal yourself, and for me, making music is a real form of letting go and letting things out that I can’t express in any other non-musical way.” Deep, personal emotions combined with screaming guitars are what Rocco’s songwriting thrives on, though that level of self-revelation could feel alarming to others not in Rocco’s shoes. The line for what is right to share is an ever-shifting thing, changing song by song, to what feels right at that time. “When you start writing, and you pick up the pen or the guitar, wherever it takes you lyrically is where it’s meant to go. Sometimes that can be a very surface-level statement, or sometimes it can get very deep and get under the hood… I don’t really draw lines. I’ll dive into some pretty dark, deep, and personal subjects, but at the same time, I’m not going to reveal my home address [laughs],” he states. Even though that line is always changing, To Hell and Back is a perfect representation of lyricism that’s personal enough to feel cathartic, yet accessible enough to connect with the millions of Des Rocs fans. 

Photo Cred. Sam McGill

With Rocco wanting this record to feel like a band playing live in your headphones, it’s only natural to infer that Des Rocs puts on a hell of a live show and has always been a point of pride for the band. The end goal has always been “to create something that is real and something that is extremely entertaining. If you’re going to come out, spend money, and buy a ticket, maybe get a babysitter or take off from work the next day, you’d better get your money’s worth and get a show,” which is the mentality every performer should have. The live show, in and of itself, is a separate art form from simply playing music. As Rocco states, “It also has to be dynamic. It can’t be one note. I’m not going to just hit you over the head with bangers for 90 minutes. It needs to play like a good film where there are highs and lows. You will be entertained, you’ll cry, you’ll hit all these different emotional notes that make for a well-balanced modern rock and roll performance.” 

This hyper-intentional live show curation isn’t something Rocco perfected overnight, and he has even admitted it’s still being worked on. He states that “I go through many different variations of the shows before I get to one that I like, and even when I get to one I like, I’m still tweaking on the road. I still leave in little blank spaces for a choose-your-own-adventure kind of thing, where it’s like, okay, we could go here, we could go there at some point,” which shows even further how incredibly dedicated to the craft he is and that, ultimately, he will always put on a show he’s proud to put the Des Rocs name on. 

Photo Cred. Sam McGill

All of this artistry, all of this success, and all of this vision have been quite the journey for Des Rocs. With To Hell and Back as the third studio album and music released since 2018, Rocco has come a long way in those eight years. In reference to that growth and what might surprise 2018 Des Rocs with To Hell and Back, he said he’d be surprised by “how fantastical some of the records have gotten, how larger than life some of them are, because I’ve always wanted to make humongous rock music that’s really ambitious in its scope and its artistic sentiment. I think I’d be very pleased and satisfied with how expanded I’ve gotten.” A true testament to all the years grinding away as an artist in New York, with a sense of contentment with how his art has progressed, one couldn’t ask for more. All of this hard work shows what Rocco’s ethos and mindset embody: a fighter, a dreamer, and a survivor, which he also says the record is for. But if he had to pick one group for the record to be heard by, it would be the survivors. He says, “So much of what I do is just about surviving and creating something that I love and believe in.” Isn’t that something that we can all latch on to.

See Des Rocs + More in Issue 7 of Hit Parader Magazine.

I Hope They Find Us As Funny As We Do: An Interview with Panic Shack

Posted on by joshwurz

If you’re not performing music with your best friends and having a blast doing so, you might just be doing it wrong, and nowhere is this clearer than in the riot grrrl group Panic Shack. Formed in 2018, the Cardiff-based group, consisting of Sarah Harvey on lead vocals, Meg Fretwell and Romi Lawrence on guitar and backing vocals, Em Smith holding down the low end and singing, and Nick Williams on drums, earned a respected reputation for their highly entertaining live shows, witty lyricism, and an obvious enjoyment of their craft. Their sound is rooted in the punk classics that came before them, but having grown up on music far from it, the tongue-in-cheek powerhouse of a band has been building one of the best modern punk catalogs over the past few years, culminating in their highly acclaimed self-titled debut, Panic Shack, released last year, and earning a deserving stamp of approval from UK legends Sex Pistols by opening the US leg of their upcoming tour. 

Not that they need that endorsement, as Panic Shack’s ethos makes one thing abundantly clear: They love making music, they love putting on a memorable live show, and they are not slowing down. On the cusp of their first headline run of US shows, the group is ready to bring their chaotic, humorous, hard-hitting set to the other side of the Atlantic. Before Panic Shack packs their bags and brings their Welsh energy to the US, Hit Parader sat down with Meg and Emily to chat about their fantastic single “grin & bear it”, the North American shows (and the dangerously long drives in between), my obvious lack of understanding of Welsh slang, and much more. 

Cred. Panic Shack

Hit Parader: Just for an icebreaker, if you had to give your top three favorite things that have happened to you as a band this year, what would they be, and why?

Meg Fretwell: One is this single coming out, “grin & bear it”, because I love it. I just love it, I think it’s class, and another one was announcing the tour, the North American dates, because that feels like the biggest thing in our career.

Emily Smith: Going to Texas as well. Going to Texas was great – the second time we’ve been, so fun. 

HP: Love that. Congrats on “grin & bear it” coming out; that’s super exciting! I read that the track was sparked during a night shift in 2023. I’d love to know what was going through your mind that led you to get those lyrics out in that scenario?

ES: I think it was at the time; it was over lockdown, so everything was so fucking stagnant, and nothing was going on. You just kind of felt like jobs, there were no gigs, literally working overtime, still skint (broke), so yeah, I think it’s just been a theme of ours forever. We’ve always just been a bit skint and worked really hard, and it’s getting more and more challenging, juggling a successful band and working too. So yeah, it’s about struggles.

MF: Yeah, it feels super poignant now. It feels like the perfect time to drop the track. It’s had many versions, but it feels like the right time.

HP: And with it having a lot of versions before landing on the final version that came out, what changed between those versions, and what changed the most since the first iteration?

ES: The music, the vibe.

MF: It sounds a lot darker now, heavier, grittier, angrier.

ES: Yeah, your feelings just get stronger and stronger the more fed up you are. So I think we really channeled some rage into this.

HP: That’s fair. Out of curiosity, what was the signifier that the track was on its final iteration, and you finally got it to the point where you were ready to put it out?

ES: We didn’t finish writing until probably the day before. We were changing things up. I think the main “you’ve got to get this done” thing was we needed to release a single, and we work really well under pressure.

MF: I mean, we always work best under pressure. We need someone to give us a deadline. Otherwise, we will procrastinate.

ES: Dilly dally a little bit.

Cred. Panic Shack

HP: And we all do that. I understand that so much as well. I mean, completely fair. I’d love to know a little bit more about working with Ross [Orton] on the track as well.

MF: Yeah. It was kind of funny because we had been reworking the song on GarageBand. We’re kind of novices in our own production realm. Emily’s actually really good; Emily can set up a really sick Kyle drums on GarageBand, which we use for all of our projects really, until we can get Nick on them, or we put an 808 down. So we sent it to our management, and we had no idea they had sent it out to Ross, because we always wanted to work with Ross, and we didn’t know he’d been sent it. He came back and said he really liked the sound of it. And we were ultimately just embarrassed but also chuffed (excited) because he liked it, and then when we got to the studio in Sheffield it just went so smoothly and it was so chill, and we just clicked. We just really got on with him. 

HP: Out of curiosity, you said that on your debut self-titled album, you consciously moved away from the label of just being in the category of punk. I’d love to know what genres, sounds, or other forms of inspiration you drew from that might surprise fans and that you haven’t discussed before.

ES: I think we all just really don’t want to put ourselves in a box, and I guess we call ourselves a punk band, or other people call us that because of the way that we write songs, and the Riot Grrrl movement. But we all love dance tracks and girl bands, like Sugababes, Confidence Man, we love little dance-y tracks.

MF: Yeah. We like to party and dance, and we really wanted to experiment, adding synths and stuff to the record. We got to do that, and yeah, it is very ‘us’, but we wouldn’t really have been able to do that outside of the studio, because we just don’t have the means. We have our guitars, and that’s it, so it was fun to go in and experiment with more dance-y stuff.

HP: That’s awesome, and I would argue that genre lines are blurring more than ever in today’s music industry as well.

MF: Yeah, I think so. I don’t even like some of the genres that people come up with. They’ve come up with “indie punk” and stuff like that. We were raised on indie guitar music. We totally collectively bonded over that when we first got together, aside from going on nights out and listening to dance music, we love classic indie rock.

HP: What originally drew you towards Riot Grrrl and that sort of cathartic form of emotional expression?

MF: I think it’s just that we happen to be women making music. But if we’re speaking actual Riot Grrrl inspiration, there’s a film about Bikini Kill and Kathleen Hanna called The Punk Singer, and this was before I was even in a band, that was so inspirational to me. You can watch it on YouTube still, and that pretty much changed my life, before band stuff. I think we just get lumped into that category because we’re women who are angry and making music. But specifically, yeah, Bikini Kill and Kathleen Hanna.

ES: Yeah, I remember listening to The Slits for the first time when I was 15 and I’d never heard anything like it, and I was obsessed. I thought it was so fucking cool. 

HP: So you formed in 2018 as a metaphorical middle finger to exclusionary music scenes, and you’ve been vocal about making it feel more accessible to play music, especially for women. What’s one concrete change that you would wish could happen, either socially or structurally, that could help people wanting to make art take that first step?

ES: I think I didn’t even know that being a sound engineer or being a tour manager was even a possibility until I started gigging. I was like, being a lighting person or a sound person is such a cool job, but you don’t see many women doing that. I just think you’re not exposed to it, or you don’t see the representation, so maybe some programs where you can get into those things, because it’s not just about being on stage and being a performer, it’s everything that goes with it as well.

MF: And particularly people from working-class backgrounds, those jobs or being in the arts and creative industries, you don’t even know about them. So, like Em said, more programs, more resources, free resources for people to get into the creative industries and be able to express themselves creatively, and those being taken seriously as a job. Because in our working-class communities, it’s not taken as seriously, and that sucks. So you’re always pushed into doing something that makes you money. I think it’s just about accessibility and realizing that you can do that. 

Cred. Panic Shack

HP: Completely agree. And you have some shows coming up in the US! What about Cardiff, Wales, or the UK music scene do you want American audiences to understand through your music and live performances?

ES: I just want them to have a good time.

MF: Obviously, I hope they get our sense of humor, because we don’t take ourselves very seriously, and I hope the people in North America find us as funny as we find ourselves. I hope that doesn’t get lost in translation.

ES: I don’t think I’ll be talking much on the mic. I’m gonna say that. Nobody ever knows what I’m saying [laughs]. They don’t in the UK really, to be honest.

HP: Has that ever been an issue, from the touring that you’ve been doing through different parts of Europe, with the Welsh accents? 

ES: Yeah, I’d say so. It’s crickets a lot of the time when I’m talking. I’m either seriously not funny, or they’ve got no clue what I’m saying.

MF: That’s crazy. You are seriously funny to me, I’d be pissing myself. I’ll have to translate Emily’s accent sometimes for people, but it’s funny. I think just double down on it. I understand the Irish, there’s a lot of Irish bands out at the moment, I can always understand them, so I don’t get why people can’t understand the Welsh accent. 

HP: Oh man, that’s great. Out of curiosity, what aspect are you most excited for, and what are you most nervous about, for the upcoming shows?

MF: I am most excited to play the shows and connect with people and figure out who is turning up to a Panic Shack show. We’ve got an idea here and in Europe, but I’m really excited to be able to connect with people. The thing I’m most nervous about is the long drives. We’ve never experienced doing a 10-hour drive, that’s not happened before. 

ES: Yeah, I agree, that’s the same as me.

HP: To start to wrap up, if you could keep one thing about how Panic Shack is remembered 15, 20, 25 years from now, beyond chart positions, songs, accolades, what would you wish that to be?

ES: When people see us, they can tell that we’re best friends, and I think it would be nice for them to remember that we’re real tight mates who just love each other.

MF: Like girlhood, just a representation of that, and that being something to be remembered, and also just how fit we are.

ES: Yeah, like how bangin’ our asses are.

MF: Yeah, it would be nice to be remembered for people thinking we’re funny and best mates, and that against all odds we managed to do this.

HP: If you’re not making music with your best friends, then you’re not doing it right.

ES: Exactly.

Catch Panic Shack on tour here.

See Panic Shack + much more in this month’s issue of Hit Parader Magazine.

Radio Free Alice’s New Single “Kick in the Shins” Pulses With Dramatic Energy

Posted on by joshwurz

Post-Punk Australian band Radio Free Alice released a new single today called “Kick in the Shins”. The vocalist, Noah Learmonth, shared that “at its core, [Kick in the Shins] explores the feeling of being confused by the culture around you, and the isolation that often comes with that confusion.” Learmonth also shared that “‘Kick in the Shins’ is a fusion of two songs that never felt all the way complete. We loved the verse of one of them and the chorus of the other, and it worked when we combined the two.” The track was produced by familiar names, Ewan Pearson and Peter Katis. Pearson has worked with Depeche Mode and Franz Ferdinand, while Katis has worked with Interpol and The National. Radio Free Alice noted that they “wanted to create a song you could jump around to.” This is evident through the driving bass lines and energetic drums that are paired with hooky electric guitar riffs and rhythmic acoustic strumming. “Kick in the Shins” pulses with dramatic energy, dragging the listener along for a wild ride. You can stream the song today and watch the visualizer to fully jump into Radio Free Alice’s new release.

Radio Free Alice has been busy with constant shows and releases this past year. “Kick in the Shins” follows Radio Free Alice’s debut single under Atlantic Records from last month called “Lunch Money” along with other recent releases within the past year, their EP Empty Worlds and their breakout single “Rule 31”. They have been playing summer festivals in Europe and the UK recently, including playing at Rock Werchter and Bilbao last weekend. RFA has been recently added to Chicago’s Riot Fest for September 18th. Look below to see all future tour dates, and buy tickets here.

★ RADIO FREE ALICE LIVE 2026 ★
JULY
24 – Sheffield, UK – Tramlines Festival
25 – Abingdon, UK – Truck Festival
31 – Derbyshire Dales, UK – Y Not Festival
AUGUST
8 – Newquay, UK – Boardmasters Festival
14- Gothenburg, SE – Way Out West Festival
22 – Saint Pölten, AT – Frequency Festival
23 – Istanbul, TR – Babylon Soundgarden Festival
27 – Oost-Vlieland, NL – Into The Great Wide Open Festival
29 – Reading, UK – Reading Festival
SEPTEMBER
18 — Chicago, IL — Riot Fest

Remembering Ozzy Osbourne One Year Following His Death

Posted on by joshwurz

“Ozzy Osbourne” by Ted Van Pelt is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Today, July 22, tragically marks one year since we lost arguably the greatest figure heavy metal will ever see, the “Prince of Darkness,” Ozzy Osbourne.

If there is one artist who best epitomized Hit Parader, it is Osbourne, who appeared on over a dozen covers from the start of his solo career in the ‘80s to the end of the original Hit Parader run in 2008.

Just like the magazine, Osbourne was loud, brash, irreverent, hilarious, edgy, and unapologetically himself. We remember the “Prince of Darkness” today with an interview he did with Hit Parader 19 years ago.

Hit Parader Archive

Ozzy Osbourne: The Godfather Returns

July 2007 – By Andy Secher

Hit Parader: Does it surprise you that six years have passed since you released your last solo album?

Ozzy Osbourne: It is a little hard to believe that so much time has passed. But it’s not like I’ve been sitting on my ass all that time doing nothing. I toured behind that album for a long time, and then the Sabbath stuff came along, and that kept me very busy. Then we had the TV show in the middle of it all, and there’s always been Ozzfest. So it’s been a busy time, but it’s nice to finally have this album done. This is the first album in my life that I’ve recorded while being completely clean and sober. I’m very proud of that, especially when I consider how satisfied I am with the results.

HP: It traditionally takes you a long time in the studio to complete a solo disc. Why?

OO: It’s hard work! (laughs) If you don’t include the first few albums with Sabbath, which we usually did in a day or two, I’ve never been the fastest worker in the studio, and thankfully at this point in my life I don’t have to be. But I do work at it as hard as I can. I know some fans think that I’m just relaxing around the pool, but what they don’t know is that I’m actually out back, in my new studio, working on music. It did take a long time to finish this album, over a year of on-and-off work, but the key thing is that this music is exactly what I wanted it to be.

HP: You mentioned your new home studio, how did that work out for this album?

OO: It was wonderful! The only “negative” was that Sharon could drop by unannounced at any time to see if we were all focused on what we were supposed to be doing. That really kept us on our toes! But it really worked out better than I could have imagined. Any time I had a bit of inspiration, I could just run out to the studio and work on it. I did a lot of the recording of this album with Kevin Churko, who used to work with (legendary producer) Mutt Lange, and he was so important in getting the songs together and making them sound right. We have a full-size mixing board out there, and it’s outfitted with the latest ProTools gear so my studio is totally state-of-the-art. Kevin knows exactly how to work with all that stuff… I don’t have a clue about it.

HP: The album has already gotten an incredible response. How satisfying has that been for you?

OO: You know, despite all the good things that have happened to me over the years thanks to rock and roll, I’m still a very insecure person a lot of the time. When I finish an album I go back and forth from thinking it’s the best thing I’ve ever done to thinking it’s a total piece of rubbish. Having fans respond to it the way they have means more to me than they’ll ever know. It’s the proof that I’m still doing this at this stage of my life.

HP: Let’s talk about some of the songs on the album. Is there one particular track that stands out for you?

OO: Maybe it would be Lay Your World On Me. Some people think it’s about my relationship with Sharon, and her battle with cancer a few years ago, but that’s not totally true. While it may have been originally inspired by Sharon, I think it’s a message that many people can relate to. Then I imagine the song that has drawn the most attention is Countdown’s Begin, which takes a look at the war in Iraq. I’ve never been very political in my music, and I don’t see a reason to start now. But just as the events of 9/11 impacted me greatly, watching what’s gone on during this war and seeing first-hand how it has affected the lives of so many soldiers and their families is something that I felt I wanted to address in my own way.

HP: The title Black Rain seems to have a rather ominous tone. Was that the intent?

OO: That seems to be a theme running through a lot of the songs, from Black Rain to Silver to The Almighty Dollar to Countdown’s Begin, which take a look at the world around us. It’s not a very pretty picture, is it? I’m not trying to preach to anyone… just make them aware of what I see happening. Actually, Black Rain was inspired by footage I’ve seen of the original nuclear tests back in the 1940s. They’d blow up a bomb, and a few hours later it would rain and it would be black with fallout and everything else. People who didn’t know better back then would just stand out in the open and let it fall down on them.

HP: Your recording and touring band now consists of Zakk Wylde on guitar, Mike Bordin on drums and Blasko on bass. How does this unit compare to some of your previous solo units?

OO: I don’t particularly like to compare bands I’ve had as a solo performer because they’ve all been wonderful in their own way. But this one is excellent. I mean working with Zakk is always a pleasure, he’s there for me whenever I need him. He truly is my right arm. And I think that he’s done some of his best playing on this album. Zakk and I just have to be careful in the studio because we can just sit around telling old war stories and never get enough work done. And we know that Sharon will walk in right in the middle of that.

HP: How much of the new album do you figure you’ll put in your live set once you hit the road?

OO: That’s hard to say at this point. I mean there is so much material to cover… so many albums. What I might do this time is shy away a bit from the Black Sabbath material. Sharon has suggested that I don’t play any of the Sabbath songs this time, but I don’t know if that will work. The fans still want to hear “War Pigs.” I may just wait until that band tours again to play those songs, but I’m not sure at the moment. I have more than enough material from my solo albums to make a great set. I imagine we’ll bring in a number of the new songs, but it’s too early to know exactly how many.

HP: You bring up the name of Black Sabbath. Earlier in the year, a statement came out from your camp indicating that you wanted to record and tour with Sabbath during 2007. Is that possible?

OO: I imagine anything is possible. But with this album coming out in early summer, then with me scheduled to tour for months after that, I don’t see much time for that to happen. I hope Sabbath will come back together at some point, and I look forward to that happening, but I just can’t see it happening this year.

HP: How did you feel about Tony Iommi and Geezer Butler reteaming with Ronnie James Dio as Heaven and Hell?

OO: Even when Sharon and I first heard about that, and it did catch us a bit by surprise, we wished everyone involved the best of luck. It’s not really fair to expect Tony and Geezer to sit around waiting for me. They knew that I was heavily involved in getting this solo album completed, and that Sabbath wasn’t going to be my priority for a while. So they did what they felt they needed to do. Good for them!

HP: But you and Sharon made a big deal out of making sure that everyone knew that Heaven and Hell had nothing to do with Black Sabbath.

OO: Well, I would like to have people think that Sabbath is Tony, Geezer, Bill (Ward) and myself. We’ve worked hard over the last few years to reestablish that idea. I know that fans enjoy the music they made with Ronnie and that’s fine. But it really doesn’t have anything directly to do with Black Sabbath as it stands today. I think calling it Heaven and Hell was a very clever idea on their part.

HP: When would you imagine that you might consider doing something with Sabbath, and might that finally mean recording a new album?

OO: For some reason I feel more pressure doing an album with Sabbath than on my own. There would be so many expectations surrounding that… especially since we haven’t really done a full album together in something like 27 years. I would like to think that we’ll eventually do that album, and that it will live up to the Sabbath legacy, but of course, that remains to be seen.

HP: Let’s change subjects. What made you and Sharon decide to make Ozzfest a free festival this year?

OO: It was all Sharon’s idea, and I think it’s brilliant. Ticket prices have gone through the roof for most rock and roll concerts. We think it’s time that we gave something back to the fans, and this is the best way we could think of doing it. Not only will they get to experience a great day of music, but a lot of young bands will be exposed to the audience they need in order to grow. So it’s a situation that works for everyone involved.

HP: You only played 10 shows at last summer’s Ozzfest. Do you plan on performing at all of them this year?

OO: That is the plan… At least it’s Sharon’s plan! (laughs) She keeps adding new dates in Europe and America, and she just says, “You’ll play them!” I guess I will! Actually, I’m looking forward to it. I’m feeling really good these days, so I’m up for it. We’ve got a very exciting bill, with bands like Lamb of God and Lordi, so I’m excited about getting back on the main stage this year after headlining the second stage last year.

HP: One last question. How do you view the current state of the heavy metal form?

OO: You know, each year at Ozzfest I have the chance to see and hear a lot of new bands. Some of them I may have heard before, and a lot of them that I haven’t. I must say that I’m almost always impressed by the degree of originality and inspiration that they bring to their music. It makes me feel proud to know that I may have served as an influence on so many great, young musicians.

It Just Fell Into Place: Mayday Parade On Their Toughest Project Yet

Posted on by joshwurz

It is, and will always be, a major undertaking to write, record, mix, master, market, and release a full-length album to the public. The emotions, the lyrics, the musicianship, all the audio work, and the business side are an incredibly time-consuming process and will leave even the most well-oiled machine of an artist or band exhausted. 

Imagine going into the studio to record half of an album, only to leave hellbent on going through the entire process of releasing an album, three whole times in succession, as part of a continuous trilogy of albums, all within a two-year period, all after being over two decades into their career, and all while playing countless shows on the road. What was once a very difficult and arduous process became a task that would drain even the most passionate of their craft, but even that wasn’t enough to slow down the face of third-wave emo, Tallahassee mainstays Mayday Parade. 

It is just as obvious now as it was all those years ago, with all those records and tours, how committed they are to their craft and how in love with it they are. No better place to find proof than the first two installments of the trilogy, Sweet (released April 18th, 2025) and Sad (released October 3rd, 2025). The trilogy’s final chapter, Sugar, arrives on July 24th, 2026, and while bringing the tri-body work to a close, and being written after both Sweet and Sad, even lead singer and emo cornerstone Derek Sanders admits it: Sugar might be his favorite of the three releases. Hit Parader sat down with Derek to chat about the record, what it took to make the trilogy a reality, and what is happening next. Whatever they do after this, it’s a pretty sweet place to start.

Cred. Eli Ritter, @eazyeli

Hit Parader: The final part of the trilogy is coming out in approximately a month, which is super exciting. Congratulations. You’ve said that the three-part concept didn’t fully materialize until everything for Sweet was tracked. What kind of conversations or realizations during that period convinced you that the projects had to become a trilogy, and how did the themes of each project evolve from that starting point?

Derek Sanders: We were in the studio recording what would become Sweet Part One, and at the time our intention was to record basically half of an album, roughly seven songs, and then go back into the studio later and record another seven or so, and put together an album and B-sides out of that. That’s typically how we would have operated up until that point. We were actually discussing the album title early on, and at the time, there was a lyric with “Sweet Sad Sugar” as a line in a song. Somebody suggested that as an album title, and that just kind of sparked something. On top of that, we had the realization that this body of music was going to come out on our 20th anniversary, so it was like, what if we did Sweet Sad Sugar and made it a trilogy, a three-part release? There were a lot of things that were appealing about that. It was something bigger and grander than we had ever done before. It felt like the right time to do something like that, to celebrate 20 years as a band. It also meant that the seven or eight songs we were already recording could just be Part One, that’s Sweet. There’s something I really enjoy about going in, doing a whole project, wrapping it up, and it being done, versus coming back to it months later and trying to add to it and build upon it. So that was really appealing as well. It just kind of fell into place. It took a little bit of convincing for everybody; we were a little hesitant to fully commit to something as big as that, but I’m so happy and so proud of how it’s all turned out. I’m very excited about Sugar. It’s just cool to be able to switch it up and do something different. It can start to feel, especially after 20 years, like you just repeat these cycles of writing an album, recording it, releasing it, touring for a year or a year and a half, and then starting the whole cycle over again. It’s refreshing to break out of that a little bit and try something new.

Cred. Eli Ritter, @eazyeli

HP: And while you were going through the process of recording these three records, it’s not like you had an off year by any means. You were doing a lot of shows, playing with All Time Low, doing the North American Tour, returning to Warped [Tour], all of that. How did playing all those shows and doing all that work on top of working on nearly 30 songs sonically and lyrically affect what went into those three projects?

DS: It was tough, I’ll be honest. Right now things have finally chilled out and slowed down after what feels like at least two years of pretty consistently touring and playing shows, writing and recording, releasing music, shooting music videos, conference calls, brainstorming creative and artistic ideas, it’s been pretty go, go, go. When we started Part Three, Sugar, I was a little worried that we were just too burnt out. At that point, we probably didn’t have as much material going into the studio that we felt strong about as we typically would like to, and I was nervous about that. But we tend to, in those moments, pull it together , a handful of last-minute ideas came together that were really strong, that we all felt great about, and it kind of all worked out really well. To the point where Sugar might be my favorite of the three releases. It definitely pushed us and tested us, but that was part of the appeal; we wanted that challenge. It’s nice to get through it and know that we can do that, that we did do that. Now we get to take the rest of this year and have a little more downtime, a little more family time, while still going out and doing weekend shows and festivals and gearing up for this release. Then next year we’ll jump into all of the 20-year A Lesson in Romantics stuff, and I’m sure it’ll be a pretty busy year with everything that entails, and then we’ll kind of see what happens from there.

HP: That’s super exciting. With you talking about how the ideas felt a little wrung dry by the time you got to Sugar, apart from ‘Weekend Music’, which you mentioned was kind of a catalyst that made you realize things were still happening and still possible, were there other turning points during the recording process that made it clear in your mind that you were still ready to finish the trilogy?

DS: Yeah, for sure, I’d say there were a couple. ‘Weekend Music’ was one. ‘Blame It on the Youth’ was kind of a late idea that came in, and then there’s a song called ‘What Happens Next’ that is the last song on Sugar that didn’t exist at all on day one in the studio. We had listened to what we had and felt good about everything, but I had the realization that we did not have a piano ballad across Sweet, Sad, or Sugar. That first day in the studio, after we wrapped up around six, I just spent the rest of the afternoon and into late that night sitting at the piano, thinking I had to write some kind of piano ballad. By around two in the morning, I had the demo finished for ‘What Happens Next’, showed the guys, and it made it onto the album. It was a handful of those moments, right at the final moment, things came in and pulled it together, and sometimes that’s just how it operates. Maybe it’s the pressure, or whatever it is, but all of that together helped put me at ease, because I didn’t want the quality to suffer. I didn’t want it to be noticeable by the time we put out Sugar that the steam wasn’t there. It’s really nice that it all came together in a good way.

Cred. Eli Ritter, @eazyeli

HP: Out of curiosity, how do the singles, ‘Weekend Music’ and ‘Blame It on the Youth’, show fans what to expect from Sugar, and how do they not fully paint the picture of what Sugar is as a complete project?

DS: In a lot of ways, ‘Weekend Music’ just kind of checks the boxes of a Mayday Parade song, hopefully a strong Mayday Parade song. Blame It on the Youth feels like a little bit of a venture into different territory. It feels very Green Day to me, a little different than what we’d usually do , just a very straightforward pop-punk song. It’s such a catchy song, and when the idea came in, it just immediately raised its hand, like there’s something good there, something special. There’s more of that Mayday Parade brand, what we’ve established and identified as just a Mayday Parade song, but there are also things where we’re incorporating new elements. Even the piano ballad, ‘What Happens Next’, when I sat down, my thought was something like ‘Miserable at Best’ or ‘Stay’, something in that wheelhouse, but it almost has this Adele-like quality, at least in the music. So yeah, that’s kind of always what we’re attempting to do, have those check-the-box Mayday Parade songs, and then not get too stuck within that. Always trying out new ideas, taking off down different paths, seeing what works, refining it. That’s kind of the idea.

HP: That’s awesome. With Sugar being described as a blend of that nostalgic Mayday Parade sound, forward momentum, and lyrical and career reflection, which of those three do you see as most prominent, and how do you hope that comes through to fans?

DS: It’s tough to say, honestly. I feel like we’re just trying to do our best with all of it. We can have ideas of what we want it to feel like, what we want it to say, but at the end of the day, it always just comes together how it comes together. When I or we collectively do have something in mind for what it’s supposed to be, it usually isn’t going to come together exactly how you imagined. There are going to be a lot of left turns; it’s a collaborative group effort between us and between Zach and Ken, the producers. It kind of just becomes what it becomes. It’s tough to answer that one.

HP: Fair enough! For a fun one, can you tell me a little about the evolution of the flowers across the album covers of the trilogy?

DS: I wish I knew more about all of it. We had Benjamin Lieber as our creative director artistically; he did all the album artwork across all three releases, and we kind of let him run with it. Once we started talking about the three-part release, I was brainstorming what that could look like artistically for the album covers. I really liked the idea of what we ended up with, this circle motif, with the pink background for Sweet, black for Sad, and white for Sugar, with something different within each circle. Originally, it was a very different concept: flowers in one, maybe someone with an umbrella in another, and I think I had a black cat or something. We presented that to Benjamin, and he took it and ran with it, coming up with the theme of the flowers. I know there’s meaning behind what each flower represents, but at this point it was so long ago I couldn’t tell you what type of flowers are on each one or what they’re meant to convey. I feel bad for not being able to articulate that better, but I know there was intention behind it and a real effort to capture a vibe.

Cred. Eli Ritter, @eazyeli

HP: Don’t feel bad at all, It’s still very cool, and I love the way it all ties in. To wrap up, with all of the work you’ve been doing live, as well as putting out three albums in two years, how has juggling all of that helped you see what’s still possible for the band after 20 years, and how is it influencing what you want to do next, whether in music or shows or something else?

DS: I think it just solidifies things. We’ve been doing this for so long, and for a while, especially in the first 10 years, it felt so fast-paced. We were constantly working, putting out music and touring, and it felt like we were in this race where we had to pour everything into it, or it was going to fail. At a certain point, it felt like we had established strong enough roots that it wasn’t just going to fall apart overnight. There have been several things since then that have anchored that idea even more, and doing this trilogy feels like part of that. It was a challenge; there was uncertainty about whether it was the right thing to do or whether we’d be able to pull it off in a way that felt good. But the fact that we did just kind of solidifies the idea that we’ve built something meaningful, to us, and hopefully to a lot of people. It’s really cool to finish projects like this and take a step back and feel great about it. As I mentioned, we know what our focus is next year, but we really have no idea what comes after 2027, and 2028 feels like this wide-open future.

HP: A blank slate of sorts.

DS: Yeah, whatever we want to do, as much or as little as that might be. And knowing that, after 20 years, we’ve seen a lot of bands come up and go, and the fact that we can still play these big rock festivals alongside bands like Taking Back Sunday, Jimmy Eat World, and New Found Glory, bands that have been doing it even a little longer than us, and have our place there, and that it hopefully isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. It’s a really nice feeling.

HP: Super exciting! Thank you so much for taking the time to do this; it means a lot, seriously.

DS: Of course. Thank you for having me, it was a lot of fun.

Mayday Parade’s new album Sugar is out July 24th, 2026, distributed via Many Hats Endeavors. 

See Mayday Parade + much more in this month’s issue of Hit Parader Magazine.

Honoring Chris Cornell: The “Architect of Grunge”

Posted on by joshwurz

Today, July 20, 2026, is Chris Cornell’s birthday. The legendary frontman of Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, and Audioslave, as well as a successful solo artist, would have been 62 today.

As grunge exploded in the 90s and Hit Parader became a major chronicle of the scene, Cornell was an unmistakable presence in the mag, appearing both on covers, like August of ’94, and frequently inside the pages.

It was impossible to document the grunge scene without Cornell, who basically co-founded the scene with his Soundgarden bandmates.

While Nirvana are thought of as the instigators of the grunge movement, the reality is Soundgarden was the first act signed to the legendary Sub Pop label in 1986. In fact, Sub Pop co-founder Jonathan Poneman was so impressed with Soundgarden he offered $20,000 in funding to Bruce Pavitt, turning Sub Pop into an actual label.

That was just the first of many firsts in Soundgarden’s run to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year. After Sub Pop, they then were the first of the big four to sign with a major label (A&M in 1989) and the first of the quartet to get a Grammy nod (Best Metal Performance in 1990). Soundgarden paved the way in creating the interest from the music industry in what would go on to become the grunge scene. 

How big was Cornell’s influence on the scene? He founded Temple of the Dog as a tribute to his late roommate Andrew Wood. Temple was the band that united Eddie Vedder with the members of Pearl Jam. And rock photographer Greg Watermann, who shot Nirvana’s first national cover for Spin, and Stephen Webster, former art director of the mag, recounted how it was Cornell recommending Nirvana to listen to during his photo shoot that led them to the cover.  

“I remember this vividly, Chris Cornell walked over to his army duffle bag – digs around, comes back to me with a CD in his hand – it’s a CD with a naked baby floating underwater. He casually says, ‘This is a brand-new album from our buddies in Seattle, they rock and you guys should check them out,”” Webster told me.

Simply, you cannot write about grunge or the mark it made on music without acknowledging Chris Cornell as the true catalyst for the movement that changed music.  

Hit Parader Magazine – September 1995

By Steve Atkins

It’s a little hard for Chris Cornell to accept the level of public acclaim that now surrounds his band, Soundgarden. No longer are these quintessential Seattle rockers the “underground” sensations they were when albums like Louder Than Love created an international uproar back in 1989. And no longer are they a force struggling to make their mark on the rock world. Today every sound they make, every word they speak, seems to set new precedents for rock and roll; every musical utterance issued by Cornell and bandmates Kim Thayil, Ben Shepherd and Matt Cameron is studied, analyzed and dissected by their rabid horde of followers, all of whom are on a continual search for any hidden meanings behind the band’s Holy Grail of fire-breathing tunes. Even mainstream rock society, most of which didn’t even know of Soundgarden’s existence prior to the platinum success of their most recent release, Superunknown, has started casting votes of recognition the group’s way, going so far as to bestow upon them a prestigious Grammy Award for top heavy metal song. Even if Cornell finds such recognition a bit humorous, he’s still more than happy to accept any awards that might come Soundgarden’s way.

“I don’t know if | really feel comfortable with being classified as a heavy metal band,” the vocalist said. “But if that’s what they wanted to do, we won’t argue with them. We were proud to even be nominated, and we were glad to win. Hey, we got the chance to stand up on national television and say a few words. That was kind of interesting. Maybe in a couple of years we’ll get the chance to be nominated for best ‘rock’ act. That would really be something special.”

Whether or not Soundgarden’s hard-edged rock attack is truly “metal”, that is of course, if metal as we’ve long known and loved it still even exists in these ever-shifting musical times, the fact is that they have now solidified their position as one of the hard rock form’s premier exponents. Lacking the moody selfishness of Pearl Jam or the quirky unreliability of Alice In Chains, Soundgarden has established itself as a “music first” juggernaut that seems designed both for immediate success and long-term stability. Having already spent nearly a decade slowly cementing their credibility and creating a smoothly functioning internal chemistry, Cornell and company are something of an anachronism in present-day rock society, a band whose members actually seem to like one another and who appear to enjoy what they’re doing. In fact, guitarist Thayil can’t help but note the irony when he contrasts the relatively sedate inner workings of Soundgarden with the turmoil that characterizes so many of his band’s Emerald City rock brethren.

“Obviously a lot of those guys are our friends,” he said. “We know them, and we know what’s up with their bands. One of the best things about being part of what happened in Seattle during the late ‘80s is that you share a real camaraderie with all the musicians you hung out with in those clubs. You all want everyone to do well and be happy. It’s too bad that not everyone we grew up with in a musical sense has been able to stay happy, or even stay alive. Back in the early days | think we were all pretty happy. We just enjoyed playing music. We didn’t know which of us, or if any of us, would make it. And we certainly didn’t know how we’d react if we did.”

While success proved to be too much for the likes of Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain to handle, and seems to be the continual bane of Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder and Alice In Chains’ Layne Staley, Soundgarden has begun to almost relish their ever-expanding role as rock and roll superstars. If, in fact, Cornell’s vocal problems hadn’t forced the band prematurely off the road last summer, sales for Superunknown may have exceeded the double platinum sales status the album still managed to attain. And now, with the band making plans to release their next album by year’s end, it appears as if Soundgarden is perfectly positioned to emerge as hard rock’s Band Of The ‘90s, the group most responsible for providing shape, style and sound to an entire era. What Nirvana may have started back in 1991, and Pearl Jam expanded a year later, Soundgarden now seems prepared to take to the next horizon, a lasting place in the rock history books. While Cornell acknowledges that it’s usually only one band that emerges as the flag-bearer for their era (as Led Zeppelin was for the ‘70s and Motley Crue for the ‘80s), the singer’s still not sure that his outfit is destined to hoist the ‘90s banner to its greatest height.

“I’m not the one who’s gonna guess how history might view Soundgarden,” he said. “That would really be kind of silly to me. When you start thinking like that, you’re destined for a big fall. All we can do is make sure we make the best records we can, and then hope that people like them. We’ve always made records to please ourselves, and that attitude isn’t going to change. Just because more people may know who we are and what we’re about doesn’t mean we’re gonna start changing the way we work. To me that sounds like a very dangerous way of working.”

It’s still a bit too early to let anyone in on the “secrets” contained on Soundgarden’s upcoming album, but according to Thayil it seems safe to say that if you enjoyed Superunknown or its platinum predecessor, Badmotorfinger, you’ll probably like the new one too. That’s not to say, however, that the new disc won’t be radically different in some ways from its illustrious forbearers, in fact, you can count on that. The success Soundgarden has enjoyed in recent years has spurred the band to strive for new creative heights, motivating them to continually reach deeper into their musical bag of tricks in the hopes of pulling out even more radical and stimulating rock musings. Quite honestly, they couldn’t care less about their future role in the rock history books; all they want is to keep making some of the best music the rock world has ever heard, and maybe pick up another Grammy Award or two along the way.

“Being given credit for your work is fun,” Cornell said. “I may not have felt particularly comfortable standing on stage thanking people for our award, but it was the right thing to do. My wife (the band’s manager, Susan Silver) is always good at advising us about the right things to do in those situations. You’ve got to get out there and let the people know you appreciate the fact that they like your music. It might seem cool to just stay at home and ignore them, but it’s not smart, and as we get older we’re trying to be cool and smart.”

Radkey: The Art of Doing Whatever It Takes

Posted on by joshwurz

The rock trio Radkey has always occupied a space in the rock sphere that falls between reverence for those who came before and pushing the genre they grew up on further and further. The Missouri-raised brothers built their signature sound on a solid foundation of heavy riffs, hard-hitting melodies and solos, and a flexible ‘anything goes’ philosophy that takes even the most unexpected idea seeds into something that will rock, and rock HARD. With their new project Bedroom Sand, that opportunistic mindset was put on full display by Dee, Isaiah, and Solomon Radke, as a golden opportunity was dangled in front of them in an unconventional manner: a window of time to record their new record, as fast as possible, in a studio they’re not supposed to be in. That spontaneity is a defining characteristic of the band, showing that they will do whatever it takes to create, produce, and record, and to share the art they believe in so deeply with the world. It’s evidently working, as the group has earned co-signs from some of the biggest names in rock, such as Foo Fighters, Jack White, and Living Colour, to name just a few.

In this conversation with Hit Parader, the three brothers open up about the incredible circumstances behind their new record, how their upbringing led them to the music they love today, and the concrete mindset that helps them keep moving forward. Because for Dee, Isaiah, and Solomon, it’s never truly been about sticking to a script, following a formula, or staying inside the lines: it’s about chasing what feels honest, loud, unmistakably their own. 

Cred. Sarah Jaben

Hit Parader: With y’all growing up in the Kansas City area all together, what was it like making music as brothers under the same household, and how did that upbringing affect the way that you approached making music together?

Isaiah Radke: Man, it was really a really easy thing, because we were homeschooled, and we all listened to the same music. We all had our own preferences. We all liked the same music, but some of us were into other genres as well, and it really helped. We always liked each other’s ideas, which was cool, because they were all coming from different things that we enjoyed. And we were just home all the time watching movies. We love Led Zeppelin, and they wrote about Lord of the Rings, so we thought, well, we could write about Megamind, or superheroes, or write about Tom and Jerry, and if it’s vague enough, then it just sounds scary or serious, because our song “Evil Doer” is based on this story of Megamind, how the villain kills the superhero, then his life has no meaning. You take that story and make it serious.

HP: But if you don’t say a lot of specifics, it completely takes on a new meaning.

Dee Radke: Yeah, people interpret it.

HP: That’s super cool. Out of curiosity, what were the main artists that you listened to growing up, and how did those different influences affect the way that you approached making music together?

IR: For me, I loved Van Halen, Metallica, and I was absolutely into Iron Maiden and Elvis Costello as well; those are big ones. 

DR: Yeah. For me, Weezer was a big influence, and Nirvana, especially with how they do their guitar solos. I really take influence from that, and I like to have the guitar solo call back to a chorus melody or something like that in some way. There’s still some shredding, but at some point it ties into that.

Solomon Radke: Yeah, and my favorite was Weezer, listening to them probably more than anything, and [The] Offspring, and Local H is a big one for us too.

HP: Out of curiosity, I read that a lot of your father’s punk and metal records were a big part of your upbringing. If you had to choose three records that your father introduced you to that had a major influence on the music you create today, what would they be?

IR: I think Weezer’s Maladroit is one for sure. For me, Ride the Lightning (Metallica) and This Year’s Model, by Elvis Costello.

DR: Nevermind (Nirvana), and The Color and the Shape by Foo Fighters.

SR: Yeah, I’d say Blue Album (Weezer), Maladroit, and Dookie (Green Day).

HP: Yeah, can’t go wrong with that. To pivot a little bit toward the recording process of your new record, Bedroom Sand, how did you guys end up recording the record at Syracuse [University] in upstate New York as a band from Missouri?

IR: It’s wild, because sometimes you’re looking for a New York show and you don’t get one, so you do upstate, you do Syracuse, you do Rochester. We were in Syracuse, and we met this professor of Sound Recording and Technology, and they had a state-of-the-art recording studio on campus. It was like, we need to make a record, we have all these songs, maybe we should do it there. We’ll come in while the students are away and blast through the album, while also experimenting with arrangements, which was wild for us because we usually come in with everything locked in. This time we were loose with it. It was a challenge, but it was cool.

HP: So you’re producing and recording all at the same time in a time crunch.

IR: Right, and in a crazy environment as well. The studio was cool, though.

Cred. Sarah Jaben

HP: How did you first connect with that professor?

IR: He does gigs and sound engineering, too. He wasn’t working that night, but we met at a show, and he was into what we were doing. Usually, you meet people and don’t follow up, but this time it was like, we’re behind on albums, we need to do one fast [laughs].

HP: How did the day-to-day look for that recording, and how long were you in the studio?

SR: It was about a week.

IR: Yeah, and it was a pretty inspiring environment too, because we’d never been to that campus.

HP: What did the day-to-day look like, and did the pressure of not really being supposed to be there influence the creation/production of the record?

IR: The time crunch was definitely an influence. We didn’t feel too much pressure about being there, because we had the professor. We didn’t look too crazy [laughs]. Yeah, it made it fun. Some people had never seen us before and heard rock music going on in there, since they usually use it for archiving and some jazz, so it was completely different. 

HP: That’s so cool. How much production versus tracking did you do?

IR: A lot was dedicated to tracking. Post-production came later. We were doing experimental stuff and had to commit and be happy with it in the moment. We were adding the last synthesizer to “Falling Out of Grace” in the last 20 minutes while things were getting packed. Yeah, we were cutting it close [laughs].

HP: Wow. You said the record is about doing “whatever it takes” to make the music happen. How did the Syracuse session embody that?

IR: It was just unorthodox. We usually work in the same studio in Kansas City, but this time we did something pretty different.

SR: We had to just go for it and hope it turned out fine.

IR: I was listening the other day and couldn’t believe we got it to sound like that in the time we had.

Cred. Sarah Jaben

HP: For the record, being called Bedroom Sand, how did you land on that title, and what does it mean to you guys?

IR: It’s an interesting concept; we’re going to make it into a music video. It’s like an hourglass with magical sand, with stars and moons in it. You take a Q-tip, dip it in the sand, put it in your ear, and it makes everything psychedelic. We might do the Bedroom Sandman [laughs]. It’s a way to make a psychedelic video without getting parental advisory issues. It’s a made-up thing.

HP: How does this project feel different from previous releases, whether it’s the sound, the songwriting, or the mindset going in?

IR: We were trying to go backwards in some ways. With Victory, we had gone crazy on arrangements before, so this time we wanted to simplify, go back to hard rock melodic stuff with some punk influence.

SR: But we also tried new things, like our longest guitar solo.

IR: I clocked it, it’s a minute and seven seconds.

HP: That’s super cool. People say your live show is where Radkey ‘clicks’. What do you want people to feel after seeing you live?

IR: I want people to remember why rock exists and why people love to go to rock shows. Being free, being silly, doing whatever you want, being loud, going nuts, but there’s a reason why for everything going on on stage. It’s tight but free. I want people to think, “I want to be a rock musician.”

HP: And if a new listener only had the ability to listen to one song off Bedroom Sand, what would you recommend?

IR: I think “Victory” is a really good one, and we actually lead the record with that, because it is really fun to hit people with that song; it’s got the falsettos in there, it’s got the solo, it’s got the screaming, it’s got everything. 

HP: Just to wrap up, what are you most excited about for the rest of the year? 

IR: For me, it’s getting on the road.

DR: Yeah, getting on the road, playing a bunch of shows in front of big crowds. 

SR: Yep, and I’m excited to see the response to the album from the fans. 

Bedroom Sand by Radkey is out now. 

See Radkey + More in Issue 7 of Hit Parader Magazine