Features

Nessa Barrett: “I want to help people because I know there’s a lot of people that felt the same way that I did”

Growing up with severe mental health issues that her uber-religious family didn’t understand, Nessa Barrett has always felt different. But through dealing with traumatic loss and finding new connections in therapy, the Gen Z superstar-in-the-making has finally found a place to belong and be happy…

“A kebab nearly took my life”: 13 Questions with The Dirty Nil’s Luke Bentham

Fearlessly facing Kerrang!’s randomly-selected 13 Questions, The Dirty Nil frontman Luke Bentham relives the time a kebab almost killed him, as well as thinking about a world without memes, the wonder of dogs, educational Slipknot masks, and more…

The People Vs. Joe Perry: The Aerosmith guitar hero on rock’n’roll advice, Wayne’s World and the future

As Hollywood Vampires prepare for their UK return in July, Aerosmith gear up to mark 50 years of their self-titled debut, and his reloaded sixth solo album Sweetzerland Manifesto MKII readies for release, we invited you to send your most burning questions to legendary guitarist Joe Perry...

The rise of The Offspring, as told through their most important gigs

These days, The Offspring headline arenas and festivals all over the place. But they started out with a debut show in a hallway. Dexter Holland tracks their entire live journey…

Kid Brunswick: “I had to kind of kill the momentum that I had… but I’m not going to disappear again”

Following 2021 mixtape XFOREVER, Kid Brunswick had been earmarked as one of the most exciting young artists to watch. A messy label situation put a pause on things, but now he’s back with The Fall: Part 1 – and the promise that even more music is “consistently” on the way…

Andy Cairns: “We always tried to leaven the pain through our way of dealing with life itself – and that was to laugh at it”

On the release of their 16th album, Therapy? mainman Andy Cairns reflects on his introduction to punk, growing up in northern Ireland, overnight success, and determinedly doing things his own way…

The Used: “We’ve been an emo band for 23 years. We never stopped, we never broke up, we never went anywhere!”

Among emo’s most enduring heroes, Utah quartet The Used continue to set a scintillating, soul-baring standard on superb ninth album Toxic Positivity. As Bert McCracken explains, this story of struggle might be the most sincere he’s ever written…

Lambrini Girls: “The goal is to cultivate as big of a platform that we can in order to incite change”

Lambrini Girls don’t take themselves too seriously – but they do wholeheartedly believe in their music. Just as much about “popping the p*ssy” as it is empowering others, debut EP You’re Welcome is the thrilling start of what’s to come…

OTTTO: “We like to have fun, but that doesn’t mean our songs can’t be dark and aggressive”

Meet Californian surf punks OTTTO: the hyper-ambitious trio who refuse to be pigeonholed and just want to have fun…

Nita Strauss on her new solo album, being an In Flames megafan and working with Demi Lovato

Bona fide guitar hero Nita Strauss has just announced her new solo album The Call Of The Void for this summer. We get into the record, her love of In Flames, collaborating with other artists and how it feels to own a real-life Super Bowl ring…

Graphic Nature: “I want kids to listen to us who are like me – introverted kids. I want that kind of connection”

Graphic Nature’s rise has been fast. They’ve made one of the heaviest debuts we’ve heard in ages, and the London metal crew are about to hit Download. But for frontman Harvey Freeman, fame is a daunting prospect. It hasn’t stopped him being disarmingly open about mental health in his lyrics, though…

Dayseeker: “We were the underdog for a really long time… now people care enough to come to the shows, which is amazing”

With Dayseeker returning to the UK for their biggest headline tour so far over here, vocalist Rory Rodriguez looks back at the band’s journey so far, how they’ve hit their stride, and the importance of putting so much emotion into their music…

Farewell Sum 41: A career of pain and pleasure

As Sum 41 call time on a career of fat lips and underclass heroes, we look back on how the Canadian party-starters cemented their spot in the pop-punk hall of fame…

grandson: “I felt like the only way to be taken seriously as a songwriter was to sacrifice part of your health or sanity”

On grandson’s ace 2020 debut album, he found himself becoming a political mouthpiece in alternative music. On poignant and personal follow-up I Love You, I’m Trying, though, the songwriter reckons this is the record to really get to know him…

Polyphia: “We can do whatever we want. That’s all I know how to do”

Certain corners of the press may have you believe that guitar music is dead, but Polyphia are here to say otherwise. At the beginning of a sold-out UK tour, off the back of knockout LP Remember That You Will Die, the Texan instrumentalists are taking heavy music to new horizons and inspiring a new legion of fans along the way…

Billy Corgan: “If you identify with something, that’s all that matters. I don’t think young people have any responsibility to give a sh*t about what’s come before”

On the release of the third act in their ATUM trilogy, The Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan looks back on a career of risk-taking, the future of his band, and the rejuvenation of rock music…

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