Issue 1February 2015 / £3

www.riotmagazine.com

ORGANISED CHAOS“Writing our new album was

hard work, but worth it.”GIG GUIDEALL ABOUT THE GIGS COMING TO YOU

FEAUTURING PARAMORE+FOXES+FALL OUT BOY+YOU ME AT SIX+ALL TIME LOW

READING AND LEEDSYOUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE

THE BEST ALBUMS OF 2015

WHO TO LOOK OUT FOR THIS YEAR

POSTER SPECIAL! FOO FIGHTERS+ARCTIC MONKEYS+GREEN DAY+MORE!

THE BEST SMALLER

FESTIVALSWHAT SHOULD YOU BE

ATTENDING THIS SUMMER?

WIN!EXCLUSIVE

ORGANISED CHAOS!

MEET & GREET

17 Riot! Magazine - February 2015

Growing Pains

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW!

They’re the biggest band at the moment, and we’re here with Organised Chaos’ bassist James Smith who is ready to talk about the

release of their debut album. From festivals and touring, to relationships - we talk about what it’s like to be in one of the most successful bands at the moment.Thanks for coming to meet us today! How are you liking all this publicity recently?James: “Thanks for having me! I don’t usually do the publicity in the band, but I’m happy to be here. It’s been over-whelming but really cool.”Your new album is coming out soon, are you excited?J: “So excited. It feels like we’ve been writing and producing forever and finally we’re releasing it into the music world.”Is a tour coming up soon, maybe some festivals?“I hope so! The best part about it all is touring. Getting to play live music is the best part about being in a band and playing our new album will be even more fun. As for festivals, there may be something coming up!”Has the album been hard work, or was it pretty easy for you guys? “It was hard work, but one-hundred per-cent worth it. We’ve had so much fun and grown as a band during this album and we cherish it. Each song has its own meaning and has had lots of work put into it and we’ve all helped to write it together. As a band we’ve been living off EPs and singles so it will be amazing to have something so big that’s ours. It wasn’t particularly hard or easy, it nev-er really felt like something we ‘had’ to do or a chore, it just felt like something we were enjoying to write as a band and it brought us closer together.”What was it like making it big time? Can you talk us through your journey?“It’s been, well, crazy. We started off performing at small gig venues around Sheffield and perfoming at school, but when we left it felt like the support from under us had dropped, we knew that we were the ones who were going to have to make all the decisions and become independent, which was a huge step. At first we thought of maybe leaving our dream with our school life, but something kept us together. After releasing our first EP Radio 1 introducing started playing our track and we were invited the next year to the introducing stage at Reading and Leeds, which got a lot more coverage and popularity than we expected. From then it was a bit of a whirlwind. Everything went crazy fast and suddenly people knew our names,

after that we wanted to stake our place in the music world, so after a couple more singles we decided to release an album. And that’s where we are today.”If you could sum it up in a word what would you say it’s been like?“Tiring (laughs)! Super fun, but I’m not going to lie, it’s been very tiring.”Do you think a lot about you relation-ship as a band? “Not very often, but through the pro-duction of this album I think we all must have. Before we began writing we were in a dark spot musically with educa-tion and relationships and I writing this has helped us to be more open with each other and our friendships have definitely grown. We respect and appreciate each other a lot more as well which I think is really impor-tant for a band, especially when you spend so much time together!”Help us image what your life on tour with the rest of the band is like?“Very immature! When you put a group of boys in a tour bus for weeks or months on end it’s obviously going to get quite crazy. It’s fun but tiring, we all enjoy it but it gets to the point where we start to miss home and our families and friends and I think sometimes we get angry and rest-less but when we get on stage it all goes away.”You mentioned about missing people back home. Does this ever effect how you act or perform, or does it get to you emotionally?“I think it takes a toll on us all. Some days we’ll be Skyping our families, or girl-friends, or friends and other days we’ll be enjoying our time as a band, but they’re always in the back of our minds. The first time we toured for a long amount of time I really missed my family and girlfriend and it was hard on me as I felt exhausted all the time, but we’ve matured and we know that we can spend lots of time at home. In the end I’m living my dream and I know the people I love are happy for me, which is the best thing ever.”

We know in bands sometimes the bass-ists and drummers are undervalued in the music industry.Are they, more exclusively, in you band?“I think we’re all equal. We’re all respectful of each other and even with the occasional drummer or bassist joke we know how much we all mean to each other and I think the fans appreciate us all just as much as the others. I do think that sometimes we’re forgotten about in the crowded music world, but it doesn’t bother me too much. Bass is my instru-ment and I am totally proud of that.”Before you go, promote your new album!“Buy our new album! It’s great and sounds great (laughs)!”

Organised Chaos’ New Album “Black Diamond” Comes Out May 14th 2015.

“Bass is my instrument, and I’m proud of

that.”

Growing Pains

18 Riot! Magazine - February 2015

FAN PAGE

04 FANS HAVE THEIR SAY

NEWS

06 READING AND LEEDS ACTS ANNOUNCED09 ARE DIGITAL DOWNLOADS KILLING MUSIC?11 WHY DO ROCK MUSICIANS HAVE A BAD REP?13 INTRODUCTING: REAL FRIENDS15 THE BEST SMALLER FESTIVALS

LIVES

59 WHO ARE THE BEST LIVE BANDS?

FEATURES

17 ORGANISED CHAOS OC’s bassist, James Smith, has his say on touring, the band and relationships.

23 PARAMORE On their successful UK tour.

26 FOXES Louisa talks to us about what it was like to tour with Fall Out Boy, and her new single.

29 UPCOMING ACTS FOR 2015 Who to watch in the new year and your new favourite bands.

34 THE BIGGEST BANDS OF 2014 Who rocked the last year?

POSTERS

37 ALL YOUR FAVOURITE BANDS IN ONE PLACE

ALBUMS

GIGS

54 ALL TIME LOW ANNOUNCE THEIR UK TOUR The Baltimore Pop-punk band return to the UK.

55 ALL ABOUT DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL The biggest metal festival is back for another awesome year.

56 THE OFFICIAL GIG GUIDE

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February 2015 - Issue 1

WIN!Win meet and greet tickets to Organised Chaos! See page 5 for more informa-tion.

47 THE NEW ALBUMS OUT IN 2015 The best new albums ready for 2015. Who will appear in your music

library?

50 YOU ME AT SIX One of the biggest Britsh bands talks to us about their new release.