INTERVIEWS
Go Deep With EDM.com: Wax Motif Talks Musical Origins, Making Fake IDs, DJ Soccer League & More
With an increasingly boundless list of accolades and the talent and work ethic to back it up, Wax Motif is carving his own path in the music world. The celebrated DJ and dance music producer released his stunning, 17-track debut album House of Wax in early 2022 via his own Divided Souls imprint. He’s now hot off the heels of an electrifying performance at EDC Las Vegas amid a prolific 2022 that has seen him release one of the year’s biggest house tracks, “On The Low,” a collaboration with longstoryshort that samples Mario Winans’ 2004 R&B hit “I Don’t Wanna Know.” But before he became the force he is today, Motif came from humble beginnings, discovering raves at the age of 16 and even making fake IDs at one point. And ...
The Regrettes on the Magic of Making A ‘Fuck It’ Album
Lydia Night is raging against the machine. And the machine drinks a warm cup of lemon water first thing in the morning. “Seeing all these people that are doing so well, drinking lemon water, and going on a run at 5 am and they’re so happy because of that,” said Night. The 21-year-old singer and rhythm guitarist of L.A. pop-rock upstarts, The Regrettes, is talking of the kind of people who inspired the songs on their energetic third album, Further Joy. The rest of the band chuckles. Guitarist Genessa Gariano says Night was always someone she could turn to when it came to mental health. When they formed their band, normalizing those teen insecurities — exploited by a multi-billion-dollar wellness industry — became a central focus of the music on their debut, Feel Your Feelings Fool! [embedde...
Obi-Wan Kenobi Writer on Reviving Vader and Leia For the Disney+ Series
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode 3.] The morning after the first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi premiered on Disney+, writer and executive producer Joby Harold went to Disneyland with his kids. “We were at Rise of the Resistance, doing the Star Wars Disney of it… Please click the link below to read the full article. Obi-Wan Kenobi Writer on Reviving Vader and Leia For the Disney+ Series Liz Shannon Miller [flexi-common-toolbar] [flexi-form class=”flexi_form_style” title=”Submit to Flexi” name=”my_form” ajax=”true”][flexi-form-tag type=”post_title” class=”fl-input” title=”Title” value=”” required=”true”][flexi-form-tag type=...
Get a Chance to Get on With It Twice: The Return of Algernon Cadwallader
A decade of tireless advocacy from unofficial street teamers, emo “best of” lists, Twitter threads and worshipful bands shaped in the image of “Spit Fountain” has finally willed an Algernon Cadwallader reunion tour into existence. But it’s the intrepid and typically unsung YouTube cover artists that will ensure that these shows might actually happen. “I’m looking forward to announcing so I can ask people to show me how to play this stuff,” guitarist Joe Reinhart jokes. “Who’s got tabs?” Both Algernon Cadwallader and those lucky enough to witness them in their heyday remembers the band’s music the same way – a cracked, anthemic take on Cap’n Jazz and their Midwest emo progeny, distinguished by inventive instrumental technique that would’ve been hailed as wizardry had it not been played with...
Japanese Breakfast Breaks Down Her First Pitch Debut
In case you missed it, last week Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner celebrated a career milestone. No, we’re not talking about performing on Saturday Night Live, we’re talking about throwing out the first pitch at the Phillies vs. Mets game at Citi Field. On Saturday, we caught up with Zauner backstage at Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival to learn more about her pitching technique and how she prepared for her Major League Baseball debut. (Credit: Elsa/Getty Images) SPIN: How did the pitch-throwing opportunity come about? Japanese Breakfast: My manager told me that we got asked to do it and I was like, “oh no.” But then I felt I had to do it. My drummer and our producer Craig Hendrix used to play baseball and he’s a big baseball fan, so I felt like it was something I had to do for the team. [L...
Maneskin Shares How the ‘Mix of Emotions’ While Living in L.A. Inspired ‘Supermodel’
Maneskin unveiled their latest single, “Supermodel,” on May 13, and members Damiano David, Ethan Torchio and Thomas Raggi recently sat down with Billboard to discuss the meaning behind their ode to Los Angeles’ clout-chasing culture. The song, which features lyrics such as “When you’re not looking, she’s stealing your Basquiat/ Low-waisted pants on OnlyFans, I’d pay for that,” was inspired by living in L.A. for a long period of time, which frontman David says felt like “a mix of emotions.” Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news “What shocked us was there’s a lot of people who only try to get something from others and they want to be at the top of the spots and under the spotlight,” he explains. “But then you see that they’re playing a characte...
Saba Is Building an Independent Rap Legacy With His Friends
Saba was overwhelmed with memories in the glare of a thousand fans’ phone screens. The 27-year-old rapper shouted “We was 16, in the library!” as he introduced members of his band on stage at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom earlier this month, reminiscing about the teenaged studio sessions that led him to headline in his hometown a decade later. In the early 2010s, Saba practiced rapping at open mics, libraries, and eventually a studio constructed in his grandmother’s home. He emerged from neglected West Side neighborhood Austin and stood out among a talented class of young Chicago musicians (Lil Durk, Noname, Mick Jenkins, Chief Keef) thanks to his vivid writing and tongue-twisting style, indebted to Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and fellow West Siders Crucial Conflict and Twista. In 2018, Saba earned g...
5 Seconds of Summer Just Needed a Second to Breathe
Just as they intended, and never once doubted, 5 Seconds of Summer has lasted significantly longer than five seconds. In the over-300 million seconds since they formed in 2011, the Australian pop-rock quartet’s output has left fans with four albums, two live records, seven EPs, and enough tour dates to see this world from top to bottom. They’ve been on one hell of an impressive run ever since their self-titled 2014 debut that made them global superstars, and now they’re just months from launching their fifth LP as a band. But when you’re running like 5SOS has for the last decade, you need a breather. Thankfully, they were able to catch their breath on the way to creating 5SOS5, an opportunity that bassist Calum Hood could’ve used when guitarist Michael Clifford smoked him in the 800-meter ...
Gene Simmons on Life After KISS, Battling COVID and What’s Next for Rock
“I shit gold,” says Gene Simmons with a smile. “That’s your headline, SPIN magazine.” The KISS singer-bassist can’t help himself, forever basking in the good fortune he’s enjoyed ever since his band first stormed into pop culture in the 1970s, with flamboyant rock riffs, radio hits and pyrotechnics. Then and now, Simmons was the Demon on stage right, “Dr. Love” in dragon boots and kabuki makeup, breathing fire and flapping a lengthy tongue at fans from behind the mic. There were multiple platinum albums across the 1970s and 1980s, comebacks in the ‘90s and after, and now a final run before KISS retires from live performing, the End of the Road Tour, set to end in 2023. It’s been a decade since the band released a new studio album, 2012’s Monster, but for Simmons and his musical life-partne...
Dehd Are Embracing the Blue Skies
One of Dehd’s greatest strengths is their ability to write disarmingly simple songs. As a trio, they’re a band that embraces their limits to make the most of what they have: Emily Kempf’s powerful, shout-sung vocals and effortless basslines, Jason Balla’s reverb-heavy, single-string guitar melodies, and Eric McGrady’s insistent, pulsing percussion. The Chicago indie rockers don’t need anything more than that. “Really cool stuff can happen when you’re only given three tools, so figure it out,” Kempf tells SPIN over the phone. “You can only rely on your imagination when there are not a lot of tools.” On the group’s fourth album, Blue Skies, Dehd refused to second-guess themselves. After their 2020 breakthrough record, Flower of Devotion, catapulted them to new levels of success and critical ...
Duran Duran’s John Taylor: ‘I Wouldn’t Want to Be in Any Other Band’
When Duran Duran‘s John Taylor and Simon Le Bon co-inducted Roxy Music into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2019, the pair’s reverent, insightful speeches were informed by their own personal experiences with the Bryan Ferry-led band. Le Bon recalled Roxy Music performing “Virginia Plain” in 1972 on Top of the Pops, and how the group’s cumulative look and sound was akin to “pulp science fiction.” Taylor, meanwhile, told the story of the time he and future bandmate Nick Rhodes saw Roxy Music in 1974 in Birmingham and followed the band from the venue to their hotel. Taylor recorded the show and listened to the homemade cassette the following night; he didn’t have tickets to the second show. Nearly five decades later—a Friday morning Zoom in early May 2022—the bassist vividly recalls that ...
Samara Weaving on the Joys of Playing a Diva in Hulu’s The Valet
“It is quite fun being a little bit evil. It’s just a bit more interesting than being nice all the time,” says The Valet star Samara Weaving, who didn’t realize until this interview how many times she’s played a “crazy actress” (her words) in the past few years. The Australian actress (and niece of Lord of the Rings star Hugo Weaving) got her first screen credit in 2008, and since then has appeared in projects including the Oscar-winning drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, the Showtime dramedy SMILF, and the delightfully twisty horror film Ready or Not. But she also played aspiring actress (and daughter of the studio head) Claire in the Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan Netflix series Hollywood in 2020, and in The Valet, she’s Olivia, a major star who convinces titular valet Antonio...
