TALK SHOW

here’s a community of parrots that flock together in Los Angeles. Free from their former lives in household captivity, they squawk merrily amongst their new tribe, peppering our call with the shapeshifting artist known as Poppy with vibrant bursts of noise. Their presence is appropriate, she decides. “They were previously pets but they’ve found a group together, and I feel like there’s a bit of myself in that. I escaped and I found friends outside as well, in the most unexpected of places.” This idea of escaping could refer to a number of moments throughout her life. Aged 15, the woman born Moriah Rose Pereira in 1995 moved alone from Nashville to Los Angeles to pursue her creative dreams with - as she has previously spoken about - little support from her family. More recently, ahead of the release of 2020’s ‘I Disagree’ - a vibrant, saturated pop-metal hybrid of an album that earned the singer the first ever GRAMMY nomination for a solo female in the Best Metal Performance category - she parted ways with previous long-term collaborator Titanic Sinclair, releasing a statement that highlighted “manipulative patterns” of behaviour that she’d been subjected to during their relationship. For a long time, Poppy’s output - from her first internet forays that saw her playing with ideas that were more performance art than pop star, releasing stylised, uncanny videos of her interviewing a plant, ASMR flexing a rubber glove and talking to a mannequin called Charlotte - could be seen more abstractly as one huge exercise in escapism itself. The early years of her career seemed intent on subverting the norm to extreme degrees, revealing almost nothing about herself that would break the illusion.

in deep DIY Out BLACKof the theWORDS: LISA WRIGHT. PHOTOS: JESSE DRAXLER.

With ‘I Disagree’, however, emotion came crashing down in abundance. Setting fire to her previous era - or, as opener ‘Concrete’ began, “bury[ing it] six feet deep” - Poppy’s third LP was one that reported from the trenches. “I disagree with the way you continue to pressure me,” shouted its title track; “When I said that I’m OK/ All the power you had, it just slipped away,” she countered on ’Nothing I Need’. And if that album was one made from the eye of the storm, then ‘Flux’ is one that’s had time to take a step back, assess the damage and start to rebuild. “I feel like I’m always in flux. I feel like I’ll always be bending in such a way, moving and changing. I think of a rubbery kind of dancing man when I think of flux,” she says with a giggle. “I see it as a positive, absolutely. It’s the exploring of the unknown, and being willing to accept the uncertainty. It can be quite peaceful, actually…”

Peace, you suspect, is a concept that’s potentially fairly new for Poppy. Throughout today’s conversation she makes references to compassion and people’s lived experiences - that you never really can know what’s going on under the surface of what you might see.

Despite her purposeful former artistic detachment, full of robotic references and assertions that she was raised by the internet, Poppy has, of course, always been a living, breathing person - one who, time has gone on to show, has had far from an easy ride. Speaking of her GRAMMY nomination for ‘I Disagree’ track ‘BLOODMONEY’, it’s the symbolism of being the first woman recognised in her category that resonates the strongest. “There are so many things to overcome as a girl in the industry. And I never want to be the one that’s getting down and out and sad about it, but truthfully it’s still very much an issue, and there are so many hoops that a female artist has to jump through in comparison to a male artist, especially when you have to deal with the politics with record labels and management - it’s never ending and it can make your head spin,” she begins.

“That’s why I go back to [the idea that] I don’t take it lightly that I was nominated, and that I was the first solo female; it meant a lot to me. It’s a really unfortunate world out there, and whenever I see younger artists coming up in it, it kinda makes me a little bit sad when they start out with the stars in their eyes because I just want to protect them.”

the way, and a pulsing, electronic new direction to match. Words: Lisa Wright.

ance and punk have always “Drubbed shoulders,” considers Talk Show frontman Harrison Swann. “You see photos of Blondie at Studio 54, and then there were bands like Suicide who mixed electronica and punk, and The Prodigy in the ‘90s. So it didn’t feel weird to try and mix these things, it felt natural.”

Having charged into the ring with a series of antagonistic, bullish clarion calls a couple of years back, the past 12 months have been a transformative time for the London quartet. Having ditched a slew of material written and recorded at the start of 2020, it was when Harrison was drafted in for a writing session with house DJ Eli Brown - eventually resulting in collaborative single ‘Trouble’ - that things started to click.

“We recorded the Eli song with Joe and Al from Hot Chip, and after that we thought we’d do anything to make it work and happen again,” he continues. “I remember coming out of the session being like, THIS is what we should be doing. It’s what we’d always wanted to do but never quite figured out how to get there.” “We had all this material and had come to a dead end, and then it was a ‘right place, right time’ [situation] of being introduced to someone who does something vastly different,” bassist George Sullivan adds. “It was the push we needed to break the framework we had for writing and have the confidence to go for it.” Embracing the dance music - The Chemical Brothers, Faithless etc - that they’d always been fans of and pushing those elements to the front, the first taster of Talk Show 2.0 came with last month’s ‘Underworld’ - an homage to ‘Born Slippy’, and a fizzing, pulsing elevation of their previous work. Next up there’ll be a full EP that picks up that mantle and runs with it, prioritising positive mantras and simple but strong ideas.

“Being in a room with [Joe and Al], armed with this music we really love, made me want to work really hard - to prove to ourselves that we could do it and not leave a stone unturned,” Harrison enthuses. “This EP feels hopeful and positive. I wanted it to feel open and big and grandiose; I stopped caring what anyone thought of me or my lyrics and that was the biggest help. When I listen back to old stuff I can hear myself trying to impress other people, and now it’s such a weight off my shoulders and I think we’ve all felt that in the band. It’s been really freeing.”

Allowing themselves to strip away any former parameters of what Talk Show ‘should’ be, the band’s next phase is set to be just as visceral, and even more fun. “There was definitely some excitement [when we were in the studio],” grins George, “that when things do go back to normal, and you’re at a gig with a capacity crowd, don’t you wanna write something that really grabs that moment?” DIY

These days, even yer gran is posting selfies on Instagram. Instagran, more like. Everyone has it now, including all our fave bands. Here’s a brief catch-up on music’s finest photo-taking action as of late.

The first installment saw Katy J Pearson and Bull charm the pants off of Walthamstow’s Signature Brew venue, and you can read all about last month’s second show with Pixey, Molly Payton and Wooze below.

For our next gigs, we’ll be hopping over to East London’s Shacklewell Arms. Stay tuned for more announcements very soon...

Signature Brew, Walthamstow

A triple header of new talents, September’s edition of DIY IRL takes in everything from vibrant, Bowie-influenced shimmies, to grunge-flecked indie catharsis to infectious, shimmering alternative pop.

First up are London-via-Korea’s WOOZE, whose sartorial extravagances (core members Theo Spark and Jamie She wear voluminous yellow creations, while their live bassist dons a top hat and tails) are only outdone by their ‘80s-drenched, new wave-esque swaggering allure. They’re an effervescent sight, the likes of ‘Witch Slap (IOU)’ and ‘Hello Can You Go’ accompanied by riffy guitar tricks and some Hives-eque choreography.

Liverpool’s Pixey is on bubbly, excitable form as well she should be; tonight marks the singer’s first ever London headline show, but judging from the palpable stage presence that radiates from the singer, who helms her short-but-sweet set like a seasoned pro, it’ll be far from her last. A cover of Cornershop’s ‘Brimful of Asha’ weaves impressively well into her own material, bringing out the ‘90s swagger of irrepressible closer ‘Just Move’ and the psych twang that nudges the edges of ‘Free To Live In Colour’. Pixey might be over and out in little over 20 minutes, but like any good entertainer, she knows to always leave the crowd wanting more.

What New Zealand’s Molly Payton lacks in flamboyance, she more than makes up for in fuzzy, emotive magnetism. With a touch of the Ellie Rowsells to her quietly confident stage presence, recent single ‘When Skies Were Always Blue’ swells from quiet beginnings into a full on cathartic belter, while ‘Honey’ is as bittersweet as you like - think Sixpence None the Richer’s classic ‘Kiss Me’ reimagined with ten times more emotional grit.

Year released: 2017 How has it aged? The song that launched the career of the Norwegian pop favourite, ‘Don’t Kill My Vibe’ remains one of her best moments - a big, yearning anthem to following your heart. What’s it saying? “You think you’re so important to me, don’t you?” posits our young protagonist before dispelling those notions with some hearty, sing-along “woah-oh-oh”s and a reaffirmation of her message. Don’t kill her vibe, mate! Didn’t you hear her the first time?! Banger rating out of 10: A solid 7. If we were directing a teen coming of age film, we would definitely consider this to soundtrack a pivotal scene.

Year released: 2012 How has it aged? Still one of King Kendrick’s most famous tracks (a casual 400 million streams, no biggie), this cut from ‘good kid, m.A.A.d city’ remains an understated slammer nearly a decade on from its release. What’s it saying? “That’s really one big subliminal at everybody getting mixed in a situation where everyone wants to have creative control. That’s the vibe I wanted to kill,” said the Compton rapper at the time. In short, record label bosses step back: Kendrick ain’t taking any of your shit. Banger rating out of 10: Without ever stepping much past an easy, breezy, mid-tempo drawl, Kenny still manages to score an easy 8.

Kendrick takes it by an inch, but the lesson we can all learn here is just not to kill anyone’s vibe. Jeez! Is it so hard?!